A young boy was chosen, brought forward to the alter, then blindfolded. He then picked one of three pieces of paper from a jar. The paper was shown to the congregation. On it was the name of Bishop Tawadros, who will be the new Coptic pope. The congregation broke into spontaneous applause.
It might seem a strange way to choose a new leader for Egypt's eight to ten million Coptic Christians - and many more worldwide.
Yet Copts believe this is the way the hand of God was revealed. That is the view of Youssef Sidhom, editor of the Coptic Watani newspaper:
"We end up presenting three to heaven, and we ask heaven to choose one of them," he explained.
Continue reading the main story
The new pope is a 60-year-old bishop. He has studied in Britain, and worked in Egypt and abroad. He's even run a medicine factory, so he is a man of wide experience, and an accomplished administrator.
Yet no-one believes he will bring radical change to this deeply conservative church. One commentator told me the only change introduced to the church in recent years was to bring in chairs, a mercy as services can last four or five hours.
Change and tradition
The ancient liturgy is still performed in the Coptic language, little understood by most Egyptians.
ليست هناك تعليقات:
إرسال تعليق