Copts and Byzantines Resume Dialogue

Source: FSSPX News

Representatives of the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Byzantine Orthodox Church

Will the current pontificate bring the Orthodox closer together? If this is the case, it is not in the way the Vatican may have expected: the Coptic and Byzantine confessions have signed a joint platform clearly distancing themselves from the Fiducia supplicans Declaration, which allows homosexual and irregular couples to receive a blessing.

On September 16 and 17, 2024, a meeting of local Orthodox Churches and former Eastern Churches was held at the “Logos” Patriarchal Center of the Coptic Church, at the Monastery of Saint Paisios in the Nitrian Desert (Egypt). The event took place at the invitation of Coptic “Pope” Tawadros II.

It had been thirty-four years since they had spoken much to each other. Representatives of the Coptic Church and the Patriarchate of Constantinople—two autocephalous confessions—met in Wadi al-Natrun, to strengthen unity between the local Orthodox Churches.

On the agenda: the seventeenth centenary of the Council of Nicaea (325), with plans to agree on a common liturgical calendar to celebrate Easter on the same date. In 2015, Pope Francis proposed that the Orthodox nebula adopt the Patriarchate of Constantinople’s calculation method. The Pope recently revisited this point, including the Catholic Church...

But what really catches the eye is a section of the final declaration in which Copts and Byzantines affirm a position on homosexuality that is as common as it is firm, rejecting “any justification of same-sex relationships in the name of absolute human freedom,” as reported by katholisch.de, the information organ of the German Bishops' Conference.

“While our churches reaffirm their unconditional commitment to freedom and human rights, they also confirm that the freedom of creatures is not so absolute as to violate the Creator's commandments,” reads the statement by representatives of Egyptian and Greek Orthodoxy.

Although the Declaration Fiducia supplicans is not explicitly mentioned, it is nonetheless targeted. At the time of its promulgation, the Roman document allowing priests to give “non-ritualized blessings” to “same-sex couples” caused an outcry in the Catholic world—on the African continent in particular—as well as within Orthodoxy.

In May, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, even traveled to Egypt to meet with Tawadros II in order to avoid a complete rupture in relations between the Catholic Church and the Copts. At the end of the meeting, Cardinal Fernández Fernandez was anxious to reassure: there were no fundamental theological differences between Catholics and Orthodox in their assessment of homosexuality: it was just a question of words...

This incident has rekindled the dialogue between Copts and Byzantines, a dialogue which took concrete form with the meeting and joint declaration of the last few days.

The Coptic Church of Alexandria is said to have between 7.5 and 15 million followers, depending on the source. Wikipédia writes that this number “is one of Egypt's best-kept secrets.” There is a sizeable diaspora on the American continent. This Church broke away from Roman unity at the Council of Chalcedon (451), which proclaimed the existence of two natures in the one Person of the Son. Today, Copts profess that there is only one nature, both human and divine, in Christ.

The Patriarchate of Constantinople is the world's largest Orthodox confession, with 300 million followers worldwide. It broke away from the Catholic Church at the time of the East-West Schism in 1054.

The Church has never ceased to pray that the dissident Christians will one day return to true Catholic unity, which cannot be achieved by offering them a reduced faith and morality.