The Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church held its annual meeting on Friday, under the chairmanship of His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the see of St. Mark and HG Anba Raphael, Secretary of the Holy Synod, and participation of 111 members of the Holy Synod.
The Holy Synod expressed its sincere thanks and appreciation to President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi and his assistants and to all concerned bodies in Egypt and to the Libyan authorities for the sincere efforts that they have made with great efficiency to return the bodies of the martyrs of Egypt and the Church who were beheaded in Libya.
They also appraised the sincere efforts of the state to revive the path of the Holy Family, making it one of the important monuments of religious tourism in Egypt.
The Holy Synod payed great tribute to Archdeacon St. Habib Girgis for his leading role in ecclesiastical education and founding of Sunday schools 100 years ago which the church celebrated this year.
Decisions and recommendations of the Holy Synod were as follows:
1- First: Recognition of St. George “Margegis” Monastery – Ireland
2- Setting ecclesiastical and legal procedures of recognition of saints from several items, the most important of which is passage of at least 40 years after the Saint departure.
3- Approbation of a new article in the bylaw of the Holy Synod, regarding the composition of the Standing Committee, its role and membership duration .
4- Approbation of the amendment of the article in the bylaw of the Holy Synod concerning choosing Main Committees rapporteurs to be by secret ballot.
5- Election of HG Anba Daniel, Bishop of Maadi as Secretary of the Holy Synod
and the Secretariat Committee including:
– HG Anba Gabriel, Bishop of Beni Suef
– HG Anba Gabriel, Bishop of Austria
– HG Anba Julius, General Bishop of Old Cairo churches
For the next 3 years
Recommendations
1- His Holiness Pope Tawadros proposed holding rapprochement meeting between all the patriarchs of the Orthodox churches of the two communities in Alexandria Church. The Holy Synod welcomed this pioneering idea and a committee of metropolitans and bishops was formed to follow up the implementation of this proposal.
2- Forming a committee consisting of 5 members of the Holy Synod to study and review the educational delusions issued by some church teachers.
The Holy Synod called the Coptic congregation not to follow some of the suspicious and untruthful websites that unfortunately carry Christian names, that promote fake news and facts, and harm the established traditions of our glorious Church and distort its image before its congregation.
At the end of the meeting, Anba Raphael thanked His Holiness Pope Tawadros, the Fathers of the Holy Synod, the Committee of Secretaries and the Priests members of the Technical Committee of the Secretariat of the Holy Synod, and congratulated the newly elected members of the Committee of Secretaries, wishing them a successful service under the patronage of His Holiness Pope Tawadros II.
