The Coptic Orthodox Church has welcomed the endorsement of the Patriarch Election Law.by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi
The Church spokesperson, Father Boulos Halim, said the president has safeguarded the interests of the Church by introducing the citizenship principle.
However, Coptic activists disagree with many of the bylaws of the Holy Synod, which raised the age of candidates from 40 to 45 years, limited the nomination of the Diocese Bishops to cases of necessity and expanded the voter base of the 1957 list.
Kamal Zacher, a secular thinker and writer, said the bylaws have maintained the structural lot, in spite of the demands to abolish it.
According to a Coptic researcher, Suleiman Shafiq, the 1957 list was an exception introduced by President Nasser. He pointed out that the structural lot was an innovation of Jewish origins, and that only five out of the 118 patriarchs have been chosen this way.
Coptic activist John Talaat said that Pope Tawadros II promised to amend the patriarch election bylaws to allow the Coptic people to participate in the election of their patriarch. According to him, the structural lot represents the divine election.
Fady Youssef, the coordinator of the Copts of Egypt movement, said the new regulation confirms the Pope’s approach to the development of the Church.
The new regulation stipulates that the candidate for the Coptic Holy See must be an Egyptian Coptic Orthodox monk or bishop of Egyptian Coptic Orthodox parents, who has never been married, while Diocese Bishops may not be nominated except in cases of extreme necessity.
The candidate should not be younger than 45 years of age or older than 64, he should have spent at least 15 years in a monastery, be able to prove his and his family’s good conduct inside and outside the Church, and not support any extremist currents disapproved of by the Church.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
