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Election Process

PopeKyrillosPopeKyrillos
edited December 1969 in Coptic Orthodox Church
Hey,

How is a new pope elected? And do metropolitan bishops, and important bishops such as HG. Bishop Tadros, and H.G. Bishop Paula have an advantage?

Comments

  • gregorytheSinnergregorytheSinner
    From what i heard what goes down is
    A list of possible Popes is comprised
    then
    three names are brought forth
    then
    the Holy Liturgy is held with the names on the altar
    after that
    a child is chosen to choose a name (i heard the name has to be picked three times)
    He is then elected Pope.

    Bishops/Metropilitians dont have an advantage whatsoever, if anythign they'd have a disadvantage because Popes are usually chosen from monks.

    In the enitre history of the COC there have only been 4 Bishops (HH Pope Shenouda III is one of them )to reach the Papacy and all 4 of them were elected in the 20th century.

    Also from what i also hear from a servant a Bishop with a diocess can not be elected Pope because it will leave his people without a shepard.  Thus General Bishops are usually the ones elected.
  • hbjameenhbjameen
    Couldn't have said it better. However i was also told that they put a blank paper without a name in the drawing so that if God didn't want any of these three ppl to be the pope then the blank paper would be pulled by the child.
  • kokiiekokiie

    In the enitre history of the COC there have only been 4 Bishops (HH Pope Shenouda III is one of them )to reach the Papacy and all 4 of them were elected in the 20th century.

    What does that mean?
    Don't they only elect bishops to become pope?
  • gregorytheSinnergregorytheSinner
    Actually No lol
    It's mostly Monks who are elected Popes
    but there have been the few exceptions where Bishops have been elected, but this is a rather new trend
    i.e. Other than Pope Shenouda III, who was enthroned in 1971
    the only other Bishops to become Popes are Anba(s) Yuannis XIX, Macarius III, Yusab II (all in enthroned in teh 20th century)
    *you can check this out on wikipedia under Pope Shenouda III

    Also to note, although rarely, it has a occured were a layman was elected to the Papacy. The best example of this would be
    Anba Abraam the 62nd who was a Syrian Merchant when chosen to be Pope.  He was the Patriarch who presided over the miracle of the Moqqatam Hill moving, with St. Simon the Shoe Maker.

    God Bless
  • kokiiekokiie
    Interesting... I had no idea..

    Thanks Heaps!

    :D
  • markoc pi apostolomarkoc pi apostolo
    also if u read on wikipedia anba mikahil of Assiut because he ios the oldest metropolitan by ordination date takes over the papcy until they find the new pope and patriarch and the anba mikahil will preside over the ordination
  • PopeKyrillosPopeKyrillos
    It would be very interesting if Anba Mikhail of Assiut ordained the next pope. That is because of 2 reasons. First is because He ordained Pope Shenouda, and he's one of my relatives ;D

    BUt how did he ordain Pope Shenouda, he must have been a very young bishop at the time. No?
  • SeverusSeverus
    Indeed, what is the story behind Pope Shenouda's ordination? Why was a Bishop nominated instead of the usual monks?
  • jydeaconjydeacon
    Well first thing i would like to say is that if a bishop is presiding over a certain area and is appointed to a throne then he cannot be ordained Pope, HH was able to be ordained because he was a general bishop and did not preside over a throne. Why he was picked, the actual story i don't know but Gods will basically
  • gregorytheSinnergregorytheSinner
    Well, it was God's will that he be picked among the other two nominated holy men:
    Abouna Matta el Meskeen and Anba Samuel
    but the Pope before ascending ot throne asked the crowd if agreed to him being their shepard
  • SafaaSafaa
    Dear gregorytheSinner,

    Well, it was God's will that he be picked among the other two nominated holy men:
    Abouna Matta el Meskeen and Anba Samuel

    At the start of the election process they were 9 nominees. Abouna Matta Al Maskeen was eliminated in the first ballot and the number was then reduced to 5 and again to 3. The Alter Lot then decided the Pope.
  • gregorytheSinnergregorytheSinner
    hmm interesting
    i knew that the orignal nominees were 9 who eventually were reduced to 3
    but what i didnt know was that Abouna Matta was eliminated in the first ballot
    i alwasy heard it was his name, Anba Samuels, and Anba Shenoudas Names that were put on the altar
    thanks
  • stgeorgebrooklyn23stgeorgebrooklyn23
    [quote author=gregorytheSinner link=topic=5729.msg76521#msg76521 date=1189062730]
    Actually No lol
    It's mostly Monks who are elected Popes



    well the Bishops that we know today were from the Monastaries, they were just assigned a group of church, or like south east or w/e to take care of, doesnt mean that since they are not from the Monastaries so they can't be a pope.

    - correct me if im wrong

    Pray for me.
  • PopeKyrillosPopeKyrillos
    I believe it was Anba Timothawes who died in 1999 was the third candidate. Him, Anba Samuel, and Anba Shenouda

    "As we all know, that Abouna Anba Timothawes was one of the three final candidates names placed on the alter and chosen for the position. It was the Holy Spirit's will to choose our beloved Pope Shenouda for the position."

    http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/coptic/timothy.html
  • gregorytheSinnergregorytheSinner

    well the Bishops that we know today were from the Monastaries, they were just assigned a group of church, or like south east or w/e to take care of, doesnt mean that since they are not from the Monastaries so they can't be a pope.

    - correct me if im wrong

    well ya exaclty htey were monks who became bishops and were assigned to their dioces which they cant' just leave to be elevated to the papacy thus Popes who are elected from the Holy Synod can only be General Bishops.
  • SafaaSafaa
    The concept of general bishops is new to the Coptic Church, was introduced by the reposed Pope Kyrolos V1 and continued by HH Pope Shenouda 111. Before that the Holy Synod used to choose either a sitting bishop or a monk from a monastery.
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