What came out of the first Holy Synod meeting chaired by Pope Tawadros

22 Nov. 2012


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REOOArcBGl8&feature=player_embedded

Translated from Christian Dogma

The first ever Holy Synod meeting chaired by Pope Tawadros II took place this morning and lasted several hours. The meeting was attended by 91 bishops. Seven bishops were absent. The Holy Synod will meet every six months.
Bishop Raphael, bishop of churches in central Cairo, and one of the final candidates for Papacy, was appointed secretary of the Holy Synod, a positioned considered to be the second most powerful in the Coptic Church. He will be replacing Bishop Bishoy of Kafr El-Sheikh, Damietta, who has held this position since 1985. Bishop Thomas of Qusiya, Bishop Youssef of the southern United States and Bishop Apollo of South Sinai were all appointed as his secretaries.
Fr Seraphim Al Soriany, one of the final candidates for papacy, was appointed as secretary for affairs of the diaspora. He served in three churches in the United Kingdom for 12 years. These were St George & St Athanasius in Newcastle, St. Mary & St. George in Nottingham as well as one of the churches in Wales.
The church also announced a plan to increase its online presence. A new website is being built for the Cathedral of St Mark. New Facebook and Twitter accounts are being made for His Holiness Pope Tawadros. For the first time in the history of the church, there is a push to use modern technology to facilitate communication to the congregation.
Also, a committee was formed under the leadership of Bishop Pakhomious to rewrite the outdated laws of patriarchal elections which were written in 1957. Bishop Pakhomious acted as the interim pope after the passing of His Holiness Pope Shenouda III till the appointment of His Holiness Pope Tawadros II. The committee will write a preliminary draft of the new law in the next four months. The draft will be sent to all the bishops for study and feedback. Another committee will have four months to study and examine the feedback from bishops. Yet another committee will have four months to write the final draft and present it to the Holy Synod. Once approved by the Holy Synod, it will be submitted to the Egyptian government to be written into law.

Source: Coptic World