A Flock without a Shepard
One might ask how a flock can function without a Shepard to lead the way. Hundreds of sheep that follow the Shepard are weak, vulnerable and can easily be preyed upon by predators. The flock needs a strong Shepard, one who is willing to go the distance to make sure that every member of his flock is safe.
Parallel to this analogy of the Shepard and his flock, is that of the Coptic Pope and his children. The Coptic Orthodox Church which prides itself in protecting the tenets of Christianity through the Creed and being the birthplace of monasticism is on the verge of collapse.
His holiness Pope Shenouda III, came to power after the populist Pope Cyril died in 1971. Pope Shenouda’s III proactive approach openly challenged the discriminatory policies of the Egyptian government by expanding the services and even building new churches without obtaining building permits from the government. His Holiness’s new approach ushered in a bright era within the church, one in which new ideas such as the ‘Protestant’ idea of Sunday School could be accepted and used to educate thousands of children about their religion. During this era thousands of religious books were published, not just in Arabic but also in English and French, reflecting the rise of immigration to the Americas and Europe. The Coptic Church spread throughout the world with new churches being built in major metropolitan areas all around the world. America, Canada, Australia and Europe became the major regions of Coptic immigration.
President Sadat ordered major crackdowns (1979) following great disturbances in Egypt. Mass arrests of journalists, religious leaders, syndicate leaders, political party leaders and followers were perpetrated in hopes of stabilizing a quickly fragmenting society. Even the leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church was imprisoned within the walls a monastery as a measure to show even the Copts who was top dog of Egypt. President Sadat’s paranoia that other groups were secretly plotting against him prompted these harsh measures but they had gone too fat. The man who made peace with Israel in 1979 was assassinated by blood thirsty Islamists.
Five years after the assassination of President Sadat and his appointed Synod, his holiness Pope Shenouda III was finally released from the monastery to rejoin his flock. President Mubarak took on the reins of governance after the assassination of his predecessor Anwar As-Sadat. Mubarak’s rein didn’t differ from that of Sadat’s but became even harsher on those ‘troublesome’ Islamists who wanted to create an Islamic state.
Pope Shenouda came out of the monastery a lot meeker than when he went in. Instead of complaining against the government as his did before, he now worked with the government, instead of building churches without permits, he now urged the President to allow churches to be built, instead of butting heads with the government after sectarian violence, he allowed the authorities to let the inciters of these massacres go free.
The Coptic Church isn’t any stronger than it was before Pope Shenouda’s rule. Our once venerated Church is now filled with corruption and even infested with a clergy that has dhimmitude mentality. We as children of the Coptic Orthodox Church only have ourselves to blame, since we do not ask for more accountability from our Clergy since they are doing ‘God’s will’. We poke fun at Catholics for thinking that the Pope is infallible, yet we never question his decisions because it is simply the will of God. The abdication of Bishop Mathias, the Bishop over the Mahalah district, did not even raise eye brows but only reaffirmed our trust in a Pope that wants to rid any descent within the ranks of the clergy.
Without protest from out Church or any other civilian organizations, Coptic women have been abducted, raped and even forced to convert to Islam. Not a peep has been heard from our ‘infallible’ Pope who comes to America and tells his flock there not to complain about Egypt, because everything there is fine. Pope Shenouda’s monopoly on power has to be broken if we are to move forward in terms of equality, liberty and secularist thought for every Egyptian regardless of race, religion or creed.
Is everything really fine?
Parallel to this analogy of the Shepard and his flock, is that of the Coptic Pope and his children. The Coptic Orthodox Church which prides itself in protecting the tenets of Christianity through the Creed and being the birthplace of monasticism is on the verge of collapse.
His holiness Pope Shenouda III, came to power after the populist Pope Cyril died in 1971. Pope Shenouda’s III proactive approach openly challenged the discriminatory policies of the Egyptian government by expanding the services and even building new churches without obtaining building permits from the government. His Holiness’s new approach ushered in a bright era within the church, one in which new ideas such as the ‘Protestant’ idea of Sunday School could be accepted and used to educate thousands of children about their religion. During this era thousands of religious books were published, not just in Arabic but also in English and French, reflecting the rise of immigration to the Americas and Europe. The Coptic Church spread throughout the world with new churches being built in major metropolitan areas all around the world. America, Canada, Australia and Europe became the major regions of Coptic immigration.
President Sadat ordered major crackdowns (1979) following great disturbances in Egypt. Mass arrests of journalists, religious leaders, syndicate leaders, political party leaders and followers were perpetrated in hopes of stabilizing a quickly fragmenting society. Even the leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church was imprisoned within the walls a monastery as a measure to show even the Copts who was top dog of Egypt. President Sadat’s paranoia that other groups were secretly plotting against him prompted these harsh measures but they had gone too fat. The man who made peace with Israel in 1979 was assassinated by blood thirsty Islamists.
Five years after the assassination of President Sadat and his appointed Synod, his holiness Pope Shenouda III was finally released from the monastery to rejoin his flock. President Mubarak took on the reins of governance after the assassination of his predecessor Anwar As-Sadat. Mubarak’s rein didn’t differ from that of Sadat’s but became even harsher on those ‘troublesome’ Islamists who wanted to create an Islamic state.
Pope Shenouda came out of the monastery a lot meeker than when he went in. Instead of complaining against the government as his did before, he now worked with the government, instead of building churches without permits, he now urged the President to allow churches to be built, instead of butting heads with the government after sectarian violence, he allowed the authorities to let the inciters of these massacres go free.
The Coptic Church isn’t any stronger than it was before Pope Shenouda’s rule. Our once venerated Church is now filled with corruption and even infested with a clergy that has dhimmitude mentality. We as children of the Coptic Orthodox Church only have ourselves to blame, since we do not ask for more accountability from our Clergy since they are doing ‘God’s will’. We poke fun at Catholics for thinking that the Pope is infallible, yet we never question his decisions because it is simply the will of God. The abdication of Bishop Mathias, the Bishop over the Mahalah district, did not even raise eye brows but only reaffirmed our trust in a Pope that wants to rid any descent within the ranks of the clergy.
Without protest from out Church or any other civilian organizations, Coptic women have been abducted, raped and even forced to convert to Islam. Not a peep has been heard from our ‘infallible’ Pope who comes to America and tells his flock there not to complain about Egypt, because everything there is fine. Pope Shenouda’s monopoly on power has to be broken if we are to move forward in terms of equality, liberty and secularist thought for every Egyptian regardless of race, religion or creed.
Is everything really fine?
posted by Koptikjihad at
12:45 PM
2 Comments:
Long Live Pope Shenouda
i'm not following, i'm not asking for our Pope to simply vanish...but i'm asking for him to just comment on religious matters and not meddle in the political affairs of the Copts.
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