This quote is awesome!

ReturnOrthodoxy

"Let us not forget that Unorthodox worship can pollute our being, leading to forgetfulness. It can cause one's mind to drift quite far, rendering him unable to value the Traditional Orthodox melodies and style of Church Worship.[...] Orthodox worship is distinct in its constant reminder of the real presence of Christ and his Saints in our lives. We must be careful to ensure that the worship songs we use are Orthodox in their origin, lyrics, melodies and in their spirit. Communion and unity with Christ ought to be embedded within their meaning." - H.H. Pope Tawadrous II, 118th Patriarch of Alexandria

Yep, we got a good one!

RO

Stavro

The quote is great.

I hope words turn into actions. Powerful men were not able to fend off the unorthodox wave of worship. If H.H. is able to heal the church from this massive cancer, he would be a new Athanasius. H.H. really does not need to do anything else afterwards. 

Eli the priest knew what is wrong and right, and he spoke against it, and he did nothing whatsoever to stop the evil when he had the authority to do so. He was condemned due to his lack of action and soft approach.

One priest, Fr. Anderawes Iskander, from Damanhour, Behera, where H.H. Pope Tawadrous II used to be a general bishop, is a standard feature and many time key note speaker in unorthodox worship meetings and unity prayer nights. Maybe H.H. can start there.

If it is not in his jurisdiction anymore, H.H. can start with Mukatam, Cairo, or the old Cathedral in Azbakeya.

ReturnOrthodoxy

Father Tadros Malaty issued this letter.

Would anyone care to translate or summarize? It would be much appreciated by the native English speakers.

RO

qawe

.

Remnkemi

Don't listen to rumors. I highly doubt there will be a major shift in organization among the Synod any time soon. I doubt anyone will take Metropolitan Pishoy's place as secretary of the Holy Synod. I doubt anyone in the Synod will take the new patriarch's enthronement as an opportunity for political and/or ecclesiastical dissensions and promotions. They are all brothers. There is no competition or ill-will.

And we have to stop throwing around the words heterodoxy, unorthodox worship, heresy, cancer within the Church, etc. We benefit nothing by dropping names and criticizing our leaders. If there is something truly heretical and unorthodox, pray to God that he solves it His way (Isaiah 55).

And no. The altar lot was not rigged. They went out of their way to have complete transparency. Additionally, if you look at the video of the case, it was handled by multiple bishops without being opened. The balls have to have moved randomly within the case. When it was opened, the case was turned and Metropolitan Pachomius turned the balls multiple times. So unless Metropolitan Pachomius or anyone else had a clear textured mark that he can identify a specific ball less than 1 second, there is no way physically or statistically that a specific ball could be placed in the exact spot of a blindfolded boy's hand. In addition, unless Metropolitan Pachomius coached all 12 boys on how to recognize a specific textured mark that they couldn't see, Metropolitan Pachomius could not have known ahead of time, which boy was going to pick. Statistically, the probability that Metropolitan Pachomius or someone else rigged this election is so astronomically high and nearly equivalent if this person used this superpower to win the Lottery everyday for the last 20 years. It's time to stop casting doubt in the process. Conspiracy theories like this only fuel hatred and anger.

ReturnOrthodoxy

Anybody have a translation?

mabsoota

it's not just that the arabic is difficult, the concepts are difficult too.
i managed 1.5 paragraphs before realising my dictionary and i need help!

the first paragraph is about the power of communal repentance, and it looks like abouna tadros is talking about the period of time after the voting and before the altar lot.
he then goes on to explain that baba shenouda was 'sitting on the mouth of a volcano'.
after that i have given up!

i agree that communal repentance is a good thing, but maybe someone else can explain about the volcano...

ReturnOrthodoxy

But what exactly are we going to communally repent from? I agree that we all need repentance, but communal repentance=communal sin. Thanks for trying, though, Mabsoota! I appreciate the effort greatly!

Pray for me!

RO

mark.naguib7

I read it and it seems that this was not for publishing. He says, "What I write now is not for publishing by any means, but I write for my own self to come back to it every once in a while, so I might remember God’s amazing ways.  I wish that what I am writing right now would be far away from personal attacks or judgment."

He is very ambiguous, at least for me, but here is what I understood from it:
The first paragraph as mabsoota said is the power of communal repentance. He does not mention directly what are we repenting from.

The second and third paragraphs are titled “Sitting on the mouth of the volcano” and he mentions a story of a Bishop that says that H.H Pope Shenouda is sitting on a mouth of volcano. He then goes on saying that "the volcano actually erupted at the start of the papal election, until the grace of God intervened to save the church, but what is amazing is that God allowed the volcano to temporally erupt for the growth of many souls, and to know God’s thoughts and purposes more."

The fourth and fifth paragraphs are where he said that this is not for publishing, but for his own self edification.

In the 6th-10th paragraphs, he is talking about a story of persecution against Christian students in Alexandaria. He conclude the story by saying, “even through all of this, the church was growing and God was glorified in wondrous ways.”

In the next portion of the letter, he is talking about how the Church is “caught in a dangerous wave.” He then goes on describing this wave in points that I had hard time understanding, but it was about how the church is paying more attention to building new buildings and celebrating the ordinations of their clergy rather than paying attention to the spiritual life of its members.

He concludes saying that we should pray for the next pope that God may protect him from all of those who are occupied with formalities, over the spirit. 

Sorry for the crappy summery, but that is about all what I understood.

mikeforjesus

Walk in Unity

4 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, 2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, 3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you[a] all.

mina6462

Hey RO,
the article has been translated on Coptic world
here is the link http://www.copticworld.org/articles/1405/
ppfm

ReturnOrthodoxy

Thank you very much Copticandproud, and Mina6462!

It was a good read, though I do have many questions for Abouna. Regardless, the man is a spiritual giant, and certainly an experience spiritual guide.

RO

qawe

[quote author=qawe link=topic=13839.msg160985#msg160985 date=1352191892]
But if the rumour is true that Anba Rafael will be the new Secretary of the Holy Synod


[quote author=Remnkemi link=topic=13839.msg160991#msg160991 date=1352214889]
Don't listen to rumors. I highly doubt there will be a major shift in organization among the Synod any time soon. I doubt anyone will take Metropolitan Pishoy's place as secretary of the Holy Synod. I doubt anyone in the Synod will take the new patriarch's enthronement as an opportunity for political and/or ecclesiastical dissensions and promotions. They are all brothers. There is no competition or ill-will.


I told you so, Rem!!!!

http://www.copticworld.org/articles/1448/

The first ever Holy Synod meeting chaired by Pope Tawadros II took place this morning and lasted several hours. The meeting was attended by 91 bishops. Seven bishops were absent. The Holy Synod will meet every six months.
Bishop Raphael, bishop of churches in central Cairo, and one of the final candidates for Papacy, was appointed secretary of the Holy Synod, a positioned considered to be the second most powerful in the Coptic Church.  He will be replacing Bishop Bishoy of Kafr El-Sheikh, Damietta, who has held this position since 1985. Bishop Thomas of Qusiya, Bishop Youssef of the southern United States and Bishop Apollo of South Sinai were all appointed as his secretaries.
Fr Seraphim Al Soriany, one of the final candidates for papacy, was appointed as secretary for affairs of the diaspora. He served in three churches in the United Kingdom for 12 years. These were St George & St Athanasius in Newcastle, St. Mary & St. George in Nottingham as well as one of the churches in Wales.
The church also announced a plan to increase its online presence. A new website is being built for the Cathedral of St Mark. New Facebook and Twitter accounts are being made for His Holiness Pope Tawadros. For the first time in the history of the church, there is a push to use modern technology to facilitate communication to the congregation.
Also, a committee was formed under the leadership of Bishop Pakhomious to rewrite the outdated laws of patriarchal elections which were written in 1957.  Bishop Pakhomious acted as the interim pope after the passing of His Holiness Pope Shenouda III till the appointment of His Holiness Pope Tawadros II. The committee will write a preliminary draft of the new law in the next four months. The draft will be sent to all the bishops for study and feedback. Another committee will have four months to study and examine the feedback from bishops.  Yet another committee will have four months to write the final draft and present it to the Holy Synod. Once approved by the Holy Synod, it will be submitted to the Egyptian government to be written into law.

qawe

bump