Coptic Church & Ecumenical Movement - Saint Mina Coptic ...

Anglican/Oriental Orthodox Forum
As a result of informal consultations between some Oriental Orthodox representatives
and Anglicans, an International forum was established to enhance the steps towards
unity. The first meeting of the forum took place at St. Alban’s England on 7-11
October 1985.
The First Meeting
The first meeting of the forum took place in Kent, England following the Lambeth
Conference in July 1988. The purpose was to explore the need and procedure and
budget for setting an Anglican/Oriental Orthodox Commission and submit a report to
the forum together with suggestions of topics to be discussed and possible size of such
a commission.
The Second Meeting
The second meeting of the forum took place at St. Bishoy’s Monastery in Egypt in
March 1990. Attending were 30 Bishops and Theologians from 14 different
countries. The issues discussed were:
1. The source and structures of authority in the Anglican Church
2. Polygamy
3. Homosexuality
4. Ordination of Women
Addressing the opening session of the forum, Pope Shenouda III said:
“Through the Holy Bible we can be one Church; we can have one teaching.
Sometimes the term ‘variety’ is used, but there is a great difference between variety
and contradiction; we may rejoice in variety if this variety is not contradicting any
commandment of God, if it is according to the will of God. For this reason, we
always feel sorry and disappointed when in what is called ‘the new theology’ people
may not believe in many chapters of the Holy Bible, claiming that this is a kind of
mythology – and sometimes the Old Testament is not respected as much as the New
Testament.
These people may also divide the New Testament into two parts: what was said by
Jesus and what was said by the Apostles. Some may say that a particular thing is the
teaching of St. Paul and not of our Lord Jesus Christ, but who is St. Paul? St. Paul is
the Apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ and the words of St. Paul are inspired by the
Holy Spirit. We can therefore take the words of St. Peter in his second Epistle (2
Peter 1:20-21): “knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private
interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God
spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”
I would also like to add what was mentioned in the second Epistle of St. Timothy (2
Timothy 3: 15-17), “and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures,
which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
155