By Carol Glatz
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew of Constantinople was scheduled to attend a peace conference in
Cairo with Pope Francis and Sheik Ahmad el-Tayeb, grand imam of al-Azhar University.
While Patriarch Bartholomew’s office did not release a detailed
schedule of events he would be attending during the pope’s April 28-29 visit to
Cairo, the Vatican confirmed reports April 19 that Patriarch Bartholomew was
invited to take part in the conference and was planning to attend.
Pope Francis also was scheduled to meet Pope Tawadros II,
head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, soon after the conference April 28, making
it a day the heirs of the Apostles Peter, Mark and Andrew all would be present
in the ancient land of Egypt.
While Pope Francis is the successor of St. Peter, the
Orthodox ecumenical patriarchate traces its lineage to St. Andrew and the
Coptic Orthodox Church has St. Mark as its patron. The Catholic, Eastern
Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches are not in full communion with each
other, although they have been working closely together and have been engaged
in theology dialogue aimed at unity.
The Orthodox patriarch of Constantinople is called the
ecumenical patriarch and is considered “first among equals” for the
Eastern Orthodox churches, even though his primacy does not entail direct or
ultimate jurisdiction over them.
The Coptic Orthodox Church is one of six Oriental Orthodox
churches that trace their roots to apostolic times, but distanced themselves
from the rest of Christianity after the Council of Chalcedon in 451.
Like the Eastern Orthodox churches, the Oriental Orthodox
accept seven sacraments and allow ordination of married men to the priesthood
but choose their bishops only from among celibate priests. They are in
communion with one another but not with the Catholic Church or the Eastern
Orthodox churches that split with Rome beginning in the 11th century.
Egypt’s indigenous Christian community traces its faith all
the way back to Jesus who, according to the Gospel of St. Matthew, sought
refuge in Egypt from the wrath of Herod the Great 2,000 years ago.
Coptic Orthodox tradition holds that Christ stayed in Egypt
for three years and that later, around the year 42, St. Mark the Evangelist
arrived to evangelize in the Egyptian port city of Alexandria, before being
martyred there.
Christianity continued to spread and by the third century,
Christianity was the country’s dominant religion. By the time the newer
religion of Islam arrived in Egypt in the middle of the seventh century, Egyptian
Christianity had already provided the church with some of the world’s major
Christian saints and had introduced new forms of monastic life.
The Coptic Orthodox Church, led by Pope Tawadros, represents
95 percent of all Christians in Egypt. The other local Christian groups include
Protestants and Catholics from different rites, including Coptic, Melkite,
Maronite, Syrian, Armenian, Chaldean and Latin.
Egypt’s Coptic Catholic Church is the largest of the
Catholic rites in the country and accounts for as many as 300,000 faithful.
Both Coptic Catholics and Coptic Orthodox refer to their respective leaders as
“patriarch of Alexandria” and see themselves as the
“original” Egyptians because of their ancient ties to the land.
– – –
Copyright © 2017 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.
