Coptic Monasticism in Question
Samuel Tadros on the state of monasticism
A new thread is in order to discuss the state of Coptic monasticism which the recent decisions by the Holy Synod's Monasticism committee sought to address:
Monasticism had been a key feature of the Church of Alexandria in the 3rd to 5th centuries with names like St. Anthony the Great, St. Macarius the Great & St. Pachomius the Great achieving world renown.
There are numerous texts from this period with writings by these Desert Fathers and others that continue to influence monks worldwide and numerous Saints from around the world visited Egypt's deserts during this period to learn
Monasteries were never away from theological debates and disagreements. Role played by the Tall Brothers with St. John Chrysostom and Pope Theophilus for example, or role of Shenoute the Archimandrite at Ephesus and Chalcedon
Monasticism suffered greatly and declined significantly after Muslim invasion and especially as a result of the Berber attacks. We see this in both the decline in number of monasteries, monks, and quality of theological production
By beginning of 19th century, monasteries were in a deep crisis. There were only seven male monasteries left: 4 of Wadi Al Natrun, St. Anthony & St. Paul in Eastern Desert and Virgin Mary in Asyut & 5 nunneries in Cairo
Monks in these were often illiterate and poor. Monasteries had few sources of income due to the general state of the Coptic community outside of land allocated to them throughout the centuries.
Even in those decades there were of course shinning lights such as Bishop Abraam of Fayyoum, a man who you could have just as easily placed next to St. Anthony or any of the great Fathers
40's and 50's bring a blessing and a challenge. In 1948 the first college graduates become monks. Youssef Iskandar (Fr. Matthew the Poor) and Saad Aziz (later Bishop Samuel), and many soon follow
At the same time the policies of the Nasser regime destroy the church financially in tow ways: they destroy Coptic landowning class which was sources of church donations and they take over religious endowments making monasteries without an income
An example is the old monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor. Fr. Matthew the Poor writes in his memoirs about life there, how monks had no food for months, how they would in times of non-fasting pour water on a single piece of cheese and dip into that water for food
So monasteries were forced to self fund. With university graduates joining that became possible. A former engineer now monk would run a workshop in the monastery to produce wooden artifacts, a former Agriculture graduate would start working the land
Part of that was of course always part of monasticism. Desert Fathers encouraged hand work, but modern industrial production went way beyond that. Monasteries started having workers, then hundreds & thousands of them. Part of this was also supplying jobs for Copts denied in Egypt
The result was that the modern monastery became a small village. No female workers of course, but largely connected to world through selling products, buying machinery, employing Copts
Then there was changes in transportation. Desert Fathers chose places of exclusion. Modern transportation made that impossible. Roads were soon connecting monasteries to the world. It takes an hour to visit any of Wadi El Natrun monasteries from Cairo
Again some of the changes had little to do with monasteries themselves. Unable to afford a vacation or a trip anywhere, trips to monasteries became the only possible means of vacation for Copts. Church buses would carry thousands daily to monasteries for a one day trip
It became harder and harder for Monks to maintain a quite life modeled on Desert Fathers. The world came to them with all its vices and problems.
Now there were differences in how each dealt with this. St. Macarius Monastery was generally closed to such trips due to both its own choice and dispute between Fr.. Matthew and Pope Shenouda. St. Anthony & Paul fared better due to distance
But places like St. Mary Al Surian, St. Mina and especially St. Bishoy (because of the Papal residence) became a zoo. Thousands would visit every day, some on local St. day would sleep over. It often became a festival. People ignored rules and smoked inside, you get the picture
Another challenge was the growing need of the church for these monks. Under Pope Shenouda the Holy Synod expanded from 20 to 100+ members. That meant monks of course being ordained as Bishops.
Even more challenging was the need for priests in the Diaspora. Early immigrants could not afford to sustain priests with families and kids who need housing, schools, ... Instead much cheaper is to send a monk who would not need much money.
Now imagine a young monk being sent to run the Coptic Church in Hawaii. Some monks hardly spent much time inside the monasteries moved from one church in America to another in Holland. Not the best environment to develop a monastic revival
And while monks were not supposed to take women confessions, with a monk being the only available priest in the area that was impossible to sustain. These poor fellows who made a choice to go to the Desert were suddenly solving marriage problems
Social media made things even worse. Monks were all over social media. It started naturally, they used it as a means to share sayings of Fathers, but soon these guys were adding friends on facebook, exchanging messages, people asking them for advice ...
-
Neue Unterhaltung
One of other issue deserves mention. There is an imbalance in the Coptic Church Synaxarium (Lives of Saints). This is not unique to Coptic Church, many other apostolic churches share the same problem: Most of Saints are either monks or martyrs.
Unintentionally, a message one gets is that a Christian life, a life with Jesus is only possible through these two means: monasticism and martyrdom. There are very few Saints who are neither. We don't stress enough that it is possible to lead a good Christian life in the world
A Coptic boy grows up with his heroes being St. Athanasius and St. Anthony. These are his childhood heroes. The result is that many who are not suitable for monasticism are drawn to it.
There are many in the monasteries today that should not have been there and would have been much better serving the church in other capacities.
0 Antworten
2 Retweets
12 Gefällt mir
Samuel Tadros on the Reaction of Pope Tawadros
- Samuel Tadros @SamueltadrosYesterday, his Holiness Pope Tawadros gave a remarkable sermon. Don't want to overstate things, but the man who emerged yesterday is not the same man who has been Pope since 2012. Let me explain:
-
Neue Unterhaltung
Pope Tawadros's personality is by now obvious. A quiet and mild mannered man, he is not prone to clashes. He would rather have things sort themselves out than act decisively and dictatorially. Unlike his predecessor he has attempted to diffuse power more in the church -
This personality has been utilized by his opponents. They have flooded social media with their minions to attack his every move. This started with the changes he made to myroun (holy anointing oil) making, his visit to Sweden where he met with Archbishop Antje Jackelén
his attempt at uniting dates for Christmas & Easter with Western Churches, his ordination of Bishop Epiphanius, appointment of Fr. Matthew the Poor students as teachers in Theological Seminary, attempt to cancel repabitism of Catholics, list is long of his supposed transgressions
Result is that social media has become rife with groups dedicated to tarnish him and all those viewed as differing from theology of Pope Shenouda.
Not only that, these attacks have succeeded in forcing Bishop Angaelos (not to be confused with his Grace, Bishop of London), to leave his post as Papal representative of North America after they attacked him relentlessly.
Since the murder of Bishop Epiphanius, the Pope has been acting differently. He seems to have taken the murder personally. There is no doubt he viewed the Bishop positively, looked up to him, and took his advice.
So we got decisive decisions for the first time. The 12 decrees by the Monastic Committee of the Holy Synod were driven by the Pope and not anyone else. He pushed for these harsh measures.
But yesterday was still different. The Pope appeared as a changed man, a man aware of the burden and deciding he will take the challenge head on.
First he directly challenged the "Defenders of the Faith", the group set, funded and controlled by the Bishopric of Youth. He made clear he will not accept this nonsense anymore stating that faith needed no defending
Secondly he made it very clear that he will not attempt or accept a cover-up of what led to Bishop Epiphanius murder. It is a criminal matter, there is a victim and a murderer and the church will accept the results of the investigation.
Thirdly he prepared the ground for Copts accepting that the murderer is a monk. He highlighted that among Disciples, chosen and nurtured by Christ was a traitor, so Copts should not be shocked that a monk would kill his Bishop
Fourth, he put some of the burden on Copts themselves, on the way they deal with monks, and asked the community to help him tackle the problems.
Today we get an announcement by the police that indeed the defrocked monk Isaiah is arrested for murder and that other monks might have been part of the conspiracy to kill the Bishop.
We still don't have a motive announced, though those of us who follow the church affairs closely have become aware of that motive. As I have suspected it is personal and scandalous and if ever made public will shock Copts.
I don't want to read too much in yesterday's sermon, but we may chronicle the day in the future as the real date for the beginning of Pope Tawadros's papacy.
There are still numerous challenges of course: how will old guard react? Will they attempt to lay low by having their minions stop their attacks or challenge him further? How will church manage the shock waves of the murder announcement?
But I am confident the Coptic Church will overcome this. Not just because of the Pope's actions, but more importantly because I have utmost confidence in the Head of the Church; Christ
As someone who studies the church history and is well aware of its challenges and shortcomings, no matter all these, there is no doubt that it is the Church of Christ.
It may be on on bended knees today, it may be weak. But this church has inspired the world with the faith of twenty men on a Libya shore. This church has carried the cross of its savior with pride. This church is wounded but never defeated.
For those asking, here is the full sermon
No comments:
Post a Comment