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

APPENDIX IX
LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS POPE PAUL VI TO COPTIC CATHOLIC
PATRIARCH, CARDINAL STEPHANOS I SIDAROUSS
September 12th, 1974
My Lord Cardinal and Dear Brother in Christ,
The visit that His Holiness Shenouda III, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the
Preaching of St. Mark, paid to us last year, should be the beginning of a new era in
relations between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Coptic Church. The
Catholics of Egypt are aware of the importance of these steps, which they have
accompanied with their prayers, and they are concerned to see what the real effects
will be both in the life of the Church in Egypt and in the gradual reconciliation
between Christians.
Examining with our illustrious visitor "the concrete means to overcome the obstacles
existing on the way to real collaboration", we had recalled together that "true charity
is an essential element of this search for perfect communion". Assured of your
collaboration and of that of the Bishops of your Synod, we had continued our joint
declaration rejecting, in the name of this charity, "all dealings by which persons seek
to disturb the communities of others by recruiting new members among them with
methods or in states of mind contrary to the requirements of Christian love or to what
ought to characterise the relations between Churches".
Reaffirming these principles, we wished to create the serene atmosphere necessary for
the fruitful work of the mixed commission that we and the Bishop Shenouda III set up
between our Churches on the occasion of our meeting. We are grateful to the
Catholics of your country for the collaboration they have already given to this
commission. It has just recommended the creation of a local mixed committee with
the task of ensuring contacts between the Catholics and the Orthodox Copts with a
view to seeking the ways leading to a greater and more brotherly collaboration
between Christian brothers. It would also have the task of examining and trying to
overcome the difficulties that will not fail to oppose this effort.
Knowing that your Beatitude agrees with this proposal of the commission, we
willingly approve the formation of this committee and we would like to recommend
its work to your pastoral solicitude and to that of the members of your holy Synod
and of all the Catholic Bishops of Egypt, over whose assembly Your Beatitude
presides. We hope that this committee will be able to contribute effectively to the
work of reconciliation and growth in communion which is now undertaken and which
will sometimes call, on both sides, for a renewal of certain attitudes and certain
pastoral practices in order to adapt them to the new situation gradually created. This
situation will be the fruit of this deep conversion of the heart that the Second Vatican
Council tells us is one of the first conditions of progress in unity (Unitatis
Rediiitegratio, n. 7).
May the Holy Spirit, who arouses and guides this effort of Christians, inspire the work
of this committee and give its members the courage of faithfulness and docility.
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