SSCN Voumes 1-10, 1994-2004

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

Title: The Church Tradition of Electing Monks to Episcopal and Patriarchal Ministries Presenter: Dr. Saad Michael Saad and Nardine M. Saad (Los Angeles, CA) Abstract: The favored or required qualifications of candidates to the episcopal and patriarchal seats in the Coptic Orthodox Church evolved over twenty centuries. Based on apostolic tradition (1Tim 3:1- 7), the early church required from her episcopal candidates a record of ministry, sacrifice, piety, and teaching. Gradually, celibacy gained preference because of the high demands of the episcopal ministry. From the fifth century, candidates from monastic orders became predominantly favored because monasteries developed into cradles of pious, learned, self- denying, committed, and dedicated servants. Candidates from non-monastic ranks, however, were occasionally elected to both the episcopal and patriarchal offices. New bylaws, decreed in 1958, limited the eligibility for the patriarchal seat to candidates from monastic orders. This paper will discuss the theological, historical and organizational dynamics that influenced these developments. ------------------------- Title: Panel Discussion: Coptic Culture in a Pluralistic Society Organizer: Dr. Saad Michael Saad (Los Angeles, CA) Abstract: Coptic monasticism, theology, art, music, architecture, and medicine are among many fields in which the Copts have made significant contributions to world civilization. This panel session will discuss major aspects of Coptic culture and their relevance in the pluralistic societies in Egypt and the United States today. Among important questions to be addressed: why it is necessary and beneficial to promote positive interaction between Coptic and others cultures,

------------------------- Title: Monasticism, Prayer, and Penance in Late Antiquity Presenter: Dr. Claudia Rapp (UCLA) Abstract: The importance of Egypt as the cradle of the monastic movement in the fourth century AD is universally recognized, and the story of the growth of eremitic and cenobitic monasticism has been charted in numerous works of scholarship. In this paper, I wish to propose some new thoughts on the impetus of monastic spirituality and the social relations this may have generated. I am particularly interested in the practice of intercessory prayer. The prayer of holy men was highly valued by their followers. The exchange of prayers between a holy man, his monastic associates and the lay people with whom he was in contact resulted in social ties that were expressed in kinship terms and can be conceptualized as concentric circles. The holy man at the center of a prayer community is surrounded by his ‘brothers’, while his ‘sons’ and ‘daughters’ form the outer circle. This is the picture that emerges, as I have shown in a recent article, from the correspondence of holy men that survives on papyri and ostraka from the fourth and fifth centuries. This paper will explore these ideas further and investigate the relations between a holy man and his ‘brothers’. The purpose of the intercessory prayer of holy men is sometimes stated as ‘relieving the burden (of sins)’. Indeed, some holy men offered to bear part of the burden of sins of their close associates. In this manner, they were doing vicarious penance on behalf of their ‘brothers’. Tim Vivian has recently drawn attention to the importance of metanoia (repentance) in the monastic spirituality of Upper Egypt. My paper hopes to contribute a further facet to our understanding of the central role of this concept in the religious and social experience of Egyptian monasticism. -------------------------

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

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