Introducing the New Coptic Pope

Yesterday the Lord of Lords answered the prayers of His Coptic children in the choosing of a new leader for the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. As mentioned earlier, the new pope was chosen by a blindfolded child who drew the name out of a pot holding the names of the three final candidates. While this tradition may sound strange to those of us in the West, there is in fact a lot to be said about allowing God to guide the hand of chance.

If I remember correctly, the Old Testament records use of lots (similar to throwing the dices)to decide major issues. Later on the fifteen to seventeenth century AD the Moravian Church used a similar concept as the Coptic Church to choose their leaders. The only difference was that the Moravians would include a blank piece of paper, effectively giving the Lord the chance to veto the names of everyone in the running (a choice that I think the Coptic Church would be wise in adopting).

But I digress…

The man God chose to lead the 18~ million member Coptic Orthodox Church is Bishop Tawadros. At 60 years of age, Bishop Tawadros used to run a pharmaceutical factory in Egypt and studied medicine before that. He joined the priesthood in 1985, became a monk three years later and then a bishop in 1997. Folks with the church happy with his election as they are hoping his broad experience and managerial skills will help guide them through the craziness and uncertainty of the future.

Bishop Tawadros

To our Coptic brothers and sisters, we rejoice with you all and pray that Jesus will guide your steps as you chase after Him. Grace, peace and blessings be upon you.

P.S.: Pictures of the ceremony can be found here along with a video showing the drawing of the name.

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