- Aug 27, 2014
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Not sure how I missed this one until now. I knew of the talks between HH Pope Tawadros II and the current Saudi crown prince Salman, because it was huge news in the Coptic world when the crown prince visited the Cathedral in Cairo, but I was not aware of anything happening in Saudi proper until I read this just now. From The Arab Weekly:
CAIRO - Egypt’s Christians are optimistic following the first Coptic mass in Saudi Arabia. Dozens of Coptic Christians attended the mass at a tourist facility in Riyadh.
The mass, Egypt’s Christians said, reflects the tremendous changes happening in Saudi Arabia.
“It even portends more change in that great country in the future,” said Father Polis Halim, spokesman of the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church. “Saudi Arabia is showing an admirable degree of tolerance that gives us a lot of hope.”
The story began in May when Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz visited Saint Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo and met with Coptic Pope Tawadros II. The crown prince invited Tawadros to visit Saudi Arabia and check on the condition of the Copts — mostly expat Egyptians — living there.
Bishop Ava Morkos, a senior Coptic official, travelled to Riyadh and was received by the head of the pan-Islamic NGO Muslim World League Mohammed al-Eissa. On December 2, Morkos said the first Coptic mass in Saudi Arabia.
(Continues at above link)
Terminology issues aside ('mass'), and the fact that it was not in a proper church because there isn't one (yet!), the fact that this happened at all is absolutely astounding! I'm not sure how to feel about what appears to be a new level of cooperation between the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Saudi government, but on the other hand if the single largest indigenous Middle Eastern/North African Christian Church can help pave the way so that all Christians may some day worship openly in Saudi Arabia, I can't see that as anything but a good thing.
To me it is significant and very, very good that the prince reached out specifically to the Coptic Orthodox, since I know from talking to many people from different parts of the Middle East (including places that are much more secular and truly pluralistic than Egypt, like Jordan and Lebanon) that they are often treated like strangers in their own countries even if they are not outright persecuted, because everything is assumed by some Muslims (not all, but certainly the extremist types) to be "Muslim land" by virtue of the Islamic conquests, so the pre-existing Christians are treated like a "foreign element", in line with the West, with 'Rome' (not necessarily the actually Rome/RCC in an ecclesiological sense, but in a medieval "Christian crusaders vs. noble and holy Muslim defenders" sense), and hence with evil, decadence, godlessness, etc. The Salafis in Egypt chant stupid things in their dumb rallies like "The Copts are our guests!", and -- even more insanely, in this context -- in the 1960s-70s when the Somalis were trying to decide what writing system they should use for their language on an official level (Latin, the indigenous Osmanya script, or Arabic), those against the adoption of the Latin script even came up with a popular slogan against it: Latiin laa diin ("Latin is faithless", i.e., those who would use the Latin script are thereby promoting anti-Islamic behavior/belief...by choosing a particular writing system...somehow!). So to reach out to an indigenous Christian minority -- and to recognize it as such -- is important and good. The Copts are not a threat to the Islamic status of Saudi Arabia, even if there are 1.8 million Christians in Saudi (most of whom are foreign Roman Catholics). They are indigenous to the Middle Eastern/North African area, and to have an Arab-Muslim leader, particularly a Saudi, recognize that and act upon it by allowing us to hold our religious worship in Saudi Arabia, even if it wasn't in a proper church, is pretty amazing, I think. I hope the Coptic representatives quoted in the article are right, and churches will come next. There are already the ruins of what is often argued to be a church, indicating the pre-Islamic presence of Christians in what is now Saudi Arabia (the famous Jubail Church, the 4th century Nestorian building that was discovered in 1988 and then closed off to further examination), who we all already know from the martyrs of Najran and other accounts written by Simeon of Beth Arsham and others.
It is a good sign that the authorities of this long-maligned country are waking up to the fact that Christianity did not end in the land that the Arabs conquered (either Egypt or Arabia), and the descendants of those who would not convert to Islam still have their God-given right to worship, which it is wrong to deny them. Muslims praise their religion for its leader having decreed that there be no compulsion in religion and other things that supposedly show the tolerance of their religion. Okay then, let's see it in action. This is a good first step. Let us now build a holy Church upon the chief cornerstone that is Christ in the land that both St. Paul and the Muslims' prophet Muhammad are supposed to have preached in!
CAIRO - Egypt’s Christians are optimistic following the first Coptic mass in Saudi Arabia. Dozens of Coptic Christians attended the mass at a tourist facility in Riyadh.
The mass, Egypt’s Christians said, reflects the tremendous changes happening in Saudi Arabia.
“It even portends more change in that great country in the future,” said Father Polis Halim, spokesman of the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church. “Saudi Arabia is showing an admirable degree of tolerance that gives us a lot of hope.”
The story began in May when Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz visited Saint Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo and met with Coptic Pope Tawadros II. The crown prince invited Tawadros to visit Saudi Arabia and check on the condition of the Copts — mostly expat Egyptians — living there.
Bishop Ava Morkos, a senior Coptic official, travelled to Riyadh and was received by the head of the pan-Islamic NGO Muslim World League Mohammed al-Eissa. On December 2, Morkos said the first Coptic mass in Saudi Arabia.
(Continues at above link)
Terminology issues aside ('mass'), and the fact that it was not in a proper church because there isn't one (yet!), the fact that this happened at all is absolutely astounding! I'm not sure how to feel about what appears to be a new level of cooperation between the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Saudi government, but on the other hand if the single largest indigenous Middle Eastern/North African Christian Church can help pave the way so that all Christians may some day worship openly in Saudi Arabia, I can't see that as anything but a good thing.
To me it is significant and very, very good that the prince reached out specifically to the Coptic Orthodox, since I know from talking to many people from different parts of the Middle East (including places that are much more secular and truly pluralistic than Egypt, like Jordan and Lebanon) that they are often treated like strangers in their own countries even if they are not outright persecuted, because everything is assumed by some Muslims (not all, but certainly the extremist types) to be "Muslim land" by virtue of the Islamic conquests, so the pre-existing Christians are treated like a "foreign element", in line with the West, with 'Rome' (not necessarily the actually Rome/RCC in an ecclesiological sense, but in a medieval "Christian crusaders vs. noble and holy Muslim defenders" sense), and hence with evil, decadence, godlessness, etc. The Salafis in Egypt chant stupid things in their dumb rallies like "The Copts are our guests!", and -- even more insanely, in this context -- in the 1960s-70s when the Somalis were trying to decide what writing system they should use for their language on an official level (Latin, the indigenous Osmanya script, or Arabic), those against the adoption of the Latin script even came up with a popular slogan against it: Latiin laa diin ("Latin is faithless", i.e., those who would use the Latin script are thereby promoting anti-Islamic behavior/belief...by choosing a particular writing system...somehow!). So to reach out to an indigenous Christian minority -- and to recognize it as such -- is important and good. The Copts are not a threat to the Islamic status of Saudi Arabia, even if there are 1.8 million Christians in Saudi (most of whom are foreign Roman Catholics). They are indigenous to the Middle Eastern/North African area, and to have an Arab-Muslim leader, particularly a Saudi, recognize that and act upon it by allowing us to hold our religious worship in Saudi Arabia, even if it wasn't in a proper church, is pretty amazing, I think. I hope the Coptic representatives quoted in the article are right, and churches will come next. There are already the ruins of what is often argued to be a church, indicating the pre-Islamic presence of Christians in what is now Saudi Arabia (the famous Jubail Church, the 4th century Nestorian building that was discovered in 1988 and then closed off to further examination), who we all already know from the martyrs of Najran and other accounts written by Simeon of Beth Arsham and others.
It is a good sign that the authorities of this long-maligned country are waking up to the fact that Christianity did not end in the land that the Arabs conquered (either Egypt or Arabia), and the descendants of those who would not convert to Islam still have their God-given right to worship, which it is wrong to deny them. Muslims praise their religion for its leader having decreed that there be no compulsion in religion and other things that supposedly show the tolerance of their religion. Okay then, let's see it in action. This is a good first step. Let us now build a holy Church upon the chief cornerstone that is Christ in the land that both St. Paul and the Muslims' prophet Muhammad are supposed to have preached in!
