Is the Sisi Bandwagon Starting to Roll?

Adly Mansour (Ahram)

Now that the Egyptian Constitution has passed, giving the Interim President (Adly Mansour, if you've forgotten, as I frequently do) the power to decide when to schedule the first Parliamentary and Presidential elections, Mansour has announced that he has been told decided to move Presidential elections ahead of Parliamentary elections, after "several dialogues with political groups, which saw a majority in favour of holding presidential elections first." This departs from the "roadmap" announced last July, and most observers think it would lead to an opportunity for the new President to entrench himself in power before having an elected Parliament to deal with.

The decree said that "procedures" for the polls must begin within a minimum of 30 to a maximum of 90 days of the adoption of the Constitution, which means February 17-April 18; an Ahram Online report assumes the vote itself will take place within that window.

Assuming General Sisi plans to run for President himself, which isn't exactly a daring assumption, all this guarantees an election while he is still enormously popular and before the growing violence can get out of control.

Meanwhile General Sisi, whose only job at the moment is Defense Minister and head of the Armed Forces, is performing such normal command functions as meeting with Coptic Pope Tawadros II and a senior delegation of Coptic bishops on the occasion of the third anniversary of the January 25 revolution.

At least he took off his sunglasses. Looking for the Coptic vote? Or asking the Pope for military advice? You decide.

Copts Caught in the Crossfire: Sectarian Attacks by Islamists since July 3

In an unusual move, Coptic Pope Tawadros II has canceled his activities in Cairo this week, reportedly fearing attacks. Earlier, the Church had denied reports that the Pope had survived an assassination attempt. This rather unusual announcement does not occur in a vacuum.

Since the July 3 military intervention to remove President Muhammad Morsi, Egypt has been torn by continuing clashes that left 300 dead in a little over a month. The bulk of those killed died in clashes between pro- and anti-Morsi demonstrators or between pro-Morsi groups and the security forces. But there has been a troubling (if all too familiar) subset of violence in the form of Islamist groups attacking Coptic Christians individually or collectively (destroying Coptic homes or shops or, in several cases, churches). These attacks, which have occurred sporadically since the 1970s, were greatly stepped up during and after the 2011 revolution, but further accelerated in the wake of the deposition of Morsi.

One of the more disturbing elements has been in the form of charges by Islamists that the Coptic Church is somehow responsible for the coup that toppled Morsi, including slogans such as "the Military Republic of Tawadros" and suggesting that General Sisi (who just a few months ago the Muslim Brotherhood was hinting was one of its own) is somehow under the Church's thumb. Certainly the Church was not enthusiastic about Morsi or his Constitution, and Copts privately will mostly have welcomed his fall, but the Church played no active role in the coup, though the Pope did appear with other public figures, including the Sheikh al-Azhar, at the announcement of the road map for the future.

As attacks on Coptic targets have been stepped up, security forces have often been accused of inaction. This is not new, but a recurring issue, particularly in the countryside, where the police may have family or clan links with the Islamists.

Although the Western media is only just beginning to note the sectarian clashes (The Washington Post here, AP here), human rights groups have been on the case. Human Rights Watch, in a recent report, noted that "Since Morsy’s ouster on July 3, at least six attacks on Christians have taken place in governorates across Egypt, including Luxor, Marsa Matrouh, Minya, North Sinai, Port Said, and Qena." HRW not that several were killed in Luxor Governorate on July 5, and subsequently three were killed in Sinai, including a priest.

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights has also reported details of the July attacks. (Fuller report here.)

Some of the worst violence has been in familiar places, particularly in Upper Egypt. Cities such as Minya and Asyut have large Christian populations (Asyut is believed to have the largest percentage of Copts of any major Egyptian city) but also are hotbeds of Islamist radicalism (Asyut rose up at the time of the Sadat assassination in 1981 and was a focus of the Islamist insurgency in the 1990s.)

Not all the signs are negative. In late July not only security forces but. reportedly, organized groups of Muslim youth helped defend two churches in Minya from attacks.

The Pope's cancellation of meetings may help focus more attention on the sectarian question; what is also clear enough from past experience is that if violence in Egypt continues to spread, the Copts will find themselves caught in the crossfire of radical Islamists and the secular state, as has too often been the case in recent decades.

So, What Do a Coptic Pope and a Catholic Pope Do When They Meet?

The second day of Coptic Pope Tawadros II's visit to the Vatican and Catholic Pope Francis (two Popes!  No waiting!) was today. Assuming it would be rude for them to rehash the disagreements over the Council of Chalcedon, what DO they do? Based on press photos, they exchange gifts:

That looks heavy.

And work on the official statements in which we avoid discussing the differences that have separated the churches for over 1500 years, but congratulate each other on becoming Pope:

Coptic Pope Meets Catholic Pope

Coptic Pope Tawadros II, elected late last year, is visiting the Vatican for his first foreign trip since his installation, and is meeting with the nerwly elected Roman Catholic Pope, Francis I.

It is 40 years since Pope Shenouda III went to the Vatican and met with Pope Paul VI in 1973; that was the first meeting of the Coptic and Catholic leaders since the churches split after the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD. Pope John Paul II also met with Pope Shenouda in Cairo in 2000 while visiting the Middle East, but it is the first trip to the Vatican by a Coptic Pope since that 1973 visit.

If we could have gotten Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI to drop by they'd have had three Popes in the Vatican at once.

New Coptic Pope to Visit New Catholic Pope

Both the Coptic Church and the Catholic Church have chosen new leaders in the past year, and now Coptic Pope Tawadros II has told the Vatican Ambassador to Egypt that he will visit his new Catholic counterpart, Pope Francis, at the Vatican soon.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the late Pope Shenouda III's 1973 visit to Pope Paul VI at the Vatican, which marked the first direct meeting between the Roman and Alexandrian Popes since prior to the Council of Chalcedon in 451AD. Pope Paul VI had earlier repatriated a relic of Saint Mark from Venice to Egypt on the occasion of the dedication of the new Coptic Cathedral in Abbasiyya in 1968, as a gesture to Shenouda's predecessor, Pope Cyril VI. Subsequently, in 2000, the late Pope John Paul II visited Egypt and met with Shenouda prior to making a pilgrimage to Mount Sinai and the Holy Land. The two churches have also maintained an ecumenical dialogue at lower levels.

A Nervous Coptic Christmas in the Morsi Era

Today is Eastern Christmas. The largest Christian church in the Middle East is the Coptic Church, and traditionally Egyptian heads of state, though Muslim, often attend Christmas Eve services at Saint Mark's Cathedral. As Husni Mubarak aged, his son Gamal and senior ministers attended, and last year most of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces were there. When Pope Tawadros II was installed, Prime Minister Qandil attended, With a new and controversial constitution in place, that many minorities feel reduces their rights and protections, there was speculation about whether President Morsi would attend.

Instead, he phoned Pope Tawadros to wish him a Merry Christmas. The highest-ranking figure from the government was apparently the President's Chief of Staff.

The Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood also sent greetings, but the presence was so reduced from previous years as to further increase minority jitters, especially since the Education Minister has announced that Baha'is can't enroll their children in public schools as the Constitution only recognizes Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

A number of media seem to have decided the future of the Copts is an appropriate subject for an Eastern Chrtistmas feature, so you can find articles here and here and here, though as I've said before, the Western Churches tend to forget the Eastern Churches exist except once or twice a year.

Pope Tawadros gave an interview with Al Jazeera English which is worth watching; his message seems to be that the Church will concentrate on its teaching and charitable work and avoid politics, at least in these uncertain times:
A brief excerpt from last night's Christmas service here:

And for those of you with a great deal of patience and nothing else to do today, the whole thing (no, I haven't watched it all):

Pope Tawadros' Enthronement and The Man Who Wasn't There

Yesterday, Coptic Pope Tawadros II was enthroned as the 118th successor of Saint Mark. The picture at left is of him being greeted by Egyptian  Prime Minister Hisham Qandil. Don't worry if you didn't immediately recognize the Prime Minister. Many Egyptians have the same problem. What is more important is the man who isn't in the picture: President Muhammad Morsi. My previous post this afternoon was moderately favorable to Morsi. Here's the other side of the coin.

Morsi's decision not to attend the enthronement has not been explained very clearly; but it seems tone deaf that a man who has regularly insisted that Copts and Muslims are all equally Egyptians would not attend the installation of the first new Coptic Pope in 40 years. Among Egyptian bloggers, Zeinobia assumes he's catering to the Salafis; Salama Moussa suggested the Coptic Church should leave one empty seat open in the front row, "to remind all Egyptians that they lack a leader in their President. The gross indecency of his absence can only be confronted by the eloquent silence of emptiness." The Arabist calls it an "absolutely flabbergasting decision."

Readers may recall that when Egyptian troops died in Sinai this summer, Morsi also gave their funeral a pass and sent Qandil, that time blaming "security concerns."

That same link above to Issandr at The Arabist has far nicer things to say about the new Pope himself. He points to the Pope's interview at Daily News Egypt, particularly his response when the Muslim Brotherhood's dominating Freedom and Justice Party visited him:

Two days ago we had a visit from the representatives of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) in Wadi Al-Natrun, where the monastery is located. They asked me what I would wish for from the FJP. I replied that I request two things from the FJP; freedom and justice, only.

Great answer. I think this Pope could prove interesting.

Now That We Know Pope Tawadros II, Who Was Pope Tawadros I?

Newly-elected Coptic Pope Tawadros will be known as Tawadros II, and he is 118th in the line of Coptic Popes. But who, I found myself wondering, was Pope Tawadros I? I may be the only non-Copt who wonders about such things (being a historian of Egypt in my origins), but in case there are others of you out there who wondered the same thing (or will now that I've planted it in your mind), I decided to answer it. He was the 45th Patriarch, and his 12 year reign (731-743) was in the late Umayyad period during the Caliphate of Hisham.

From Severus of Ushmunayn (Sawirus ibn al-Muqaffa), History of the Patriarchs, the official collection of Patriarchal biographies (many close to contemporary in origin), Evetts translation:

THEODORE, THE 45th PATRIARCH. AD 731-743.

And an assembly of the holy bishops met together and consecrated the holy Father Theodore patriarch by the command of the Lord Christ. And the affairs of the patriarchate and of the orthodox church grew and prospered during all his days, until they returned to their former state, and became still more flourishing, so that it seemed as if the church had never been plundered. And Theodore was a good man, tranquil, full of charity towards all men, beautiful in countenance like an angel of God; and in his days nothing evil was done.

But Ubaid Allah, the ruler in Egypt, brought punishments and trials and losses upon the people of Egypt, and added an eighth of a dinar to every dinar of the taxes; and through his oppression of the people the dinar grew rare and rose in value. Yet when he continued long in this course, God would not suffer him, but raised up against him some of the chief among the Muslims, who went to Hishâm the prince, and made known to him the evil which he did, and the troubles that he had caused in Egypt. Therefore Hishâm was filled with wrath against Ubaid Allah, and wrote at once to remove him, and despatched an officer with many attendants to Egypt in great anger. And he commanded that he should be banished with his younger son, Isma'îl, to the land of the Berbers in the province of Africa, |and that Isma'îl should be exiled thence to the land of the Setting Sun, and punished because he did not do what was commanded him. So this was speedily done to him. Hishâm made Ubaid Allah's elder son, Al-Kasim, governor in Egypt, and set him over her affairs instead of his father, who was banished to the Berbers. When he had remained there a short time he ruled over the Berbers in Africa, where his son Isma'îl was, until he was banished whither the prince commanded. For Ubaid Allah wrote to Hishâm, seeking to conciliate him, and expressing repentance of what he had done, and begging him to make him governor of that country; and so he was made governor over the Berbers in Africa. Yet his deeds were again evil, for he seized the daughters of rich men and the daughters of the chiefs and officers, and sent them to Hishâm the prince as maidservants, writing to him that they were slave-girls whom he had bought for him as maidservants. Likewise the sheep, when they- were near parturition, he ripped them open, and took out the lambs just covered with wool, and took their skins and made pelisses of them, and sent them to Hishâm, saying that he had bought them for him; so that he destroyed large numbers of sheep from that country. Therefore the Berbers conspired against him, forming a plot to kill his son Isma'îl and the people of his house; and they seized Isma'îl and his wives and concubines and all that belonged to him, and killed them all in his presence, while he looked on. And they ripped the women open, and took the infants from them, and threw them down before him.

Then they brought Isma'îl to Africa, taking him bound to his father, and killed him in his presence while he looked on, after ripping him open and striking his father on the head and face with his dead body; and afterwards they drove his father away from their country, following and insulting him, while he was sad and weeping. And our father Theodore lived to see all these things.

Then the Lord visited him, and he departed to him in a good old age and in the grace of the Lord Christ. And the Church was growing, without adversaries or internal divisions, all his days. He remained upon the apostolic throne eleven years and a half, and went to his rest on the seventh day of Amshir.

The governor Ubaid Allah mentioned here is the well-known (for those of us who do medieval Egypt anyway) Ubayd Allah ibn al-Habhab.

And from the Coptic Encylcopedia: 

THEODORUS, forty-fifth patriarch of the See of Saint Mark (731-743). Theodorus (Tawadrus) was a monk at Dayr Tamnurah on the fringe of Mareotis, west of Alexandria. The sources are silent about his early secular life as well as on the date and place of his birth and his activities before he took the monastic vow. However, the HISTORY OF THE PATRIARCHS is explicit about his saintly character and his humility, as well as his love of serving others throughout his life. He aimed always at the execution of Christ's words to his disciples: "Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave" (Mt. 20:26-27). He literally carried out the Lord's words by serving his fellow monks, and as patriarch he continued to serve the whole community in the same way.

His fame spread through Alexandria, and its notables and archons as well as its clergy nominated him for the patriarchal dignity. It is said in the History of the Patriarchs that his spiritual father, ALEXANDER II, had prophesied that Theodorus would succeed to the throne of Saint Mark.

His reign was marked on the whole by an atmosphere of peace and serenity, though for a short time at the beginning this was not so. ‘Ubayd Allah, the governor of Egypt at Theodorus' accession, proved to be a tough extortionist who doubled the capitation tax (JIZYAH) from one to two dinars and even imposed heavier taxation on his fellow Muslims. It is said that the Muslims, not the Copts, were the first to protest against his imposts to the lenient caliph Hisham, who listened to their complaint and removed ‘Ubayd Allah from Egypt to the Maghreb, where he met his end in Morocco. With ‘Ubayd Allah's disappearance from the country, peaceful coexistence prevailed and the people, both Muslims and Copts, lived together harmoniously with no fear of excessive and illegal taxation.

The Covenant of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab was observed by the new governors in relation to the Coptic people. The Coptic community kept growing under Theodorus owing to the return of many Chalcedonians to the mother church.

Now we know.

Pope Tawadros II, 118th Coptic Pope

Pope Tawadros II

Bishop Tawadros, the Auxiliary Bishop of Buheira, was chosen through the process known as the Altar Lot today from the three previously selected finalists to fill the throne vacant since the death of Pope Shenouda III earlier this year, becoming the 118the Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of All Africa and the Preaching of Saint Mark, that is, the head of the Coptic Church.

Pachomius Revealing the Name

A child chosen from the congregation, Bishoy Gerges Mossad, was blindfolded and selected the lot with Tawadros' name on it, which was then announced by the locum tenens  or Acting Pope, Bishop Pachomius.

As it happens, today was also Bishop Tawadros' 60th birthday. Born Wagih Subh Baki Suleiman onNovember 4, 1952 in the Mansura region, Tawadros took a degree in pharmacy in 1975. He has been a monk since 1988 and a bishop since 1997; he was an Auxiliary  Bishop to Bishop Pachomius, the Acting Pope, who is Bishop of Buheira. He's considered more a pastoral than a polarizing political figure. The difficult transitional period since the revolution and the growing strength of the Muslim Brotherhood has polarized sectarian feelings at the time the Copts had no clear communal leader, so this is likely to be a major initial challenge to the new Pope.

Tawadros is the Coptic form of the Greek name Theodoros (Theodore) and the new Pope will be known as Tawadros II. Ironically the current Eastern ("Greek" or Chalcedonian Orthodox) Patriarch of Alexandria is known as Theodoros II.

The new Pope will be formally installed two weeks from today on November 18.