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

understood and made more explicit in terms of subsequent conciliar decisions and
definitions.
7. The lifting of anathemas should be prepared for by careful study of the teaching of
these men, the accusations levelled against them, the circumstances under which
they were anathematised, and the true intention of their teaching. Such study should
be sympathetic and motivated by the desire to understand and therefore to overlook
minor errors. An accurate and complete list of the persons on both sides to be so
studied should also be prepared. The study should also make a survey of how
anathemas have been lifted in the past. It would appear that in many instances in the
past anathemas have been lifted without any formal action beyond the mere
reception of each other by the estranged parties on the basis of their common faith.
Such a study would bring out the variety of ways in which anathemas were imposed
and lifted.
8. There has also to be a process of education in the churches both before and after the
lifting of the anathemas, especially where anathemas and condemnations are written
into the liturgical texts and hymnody of the church. The worshipping people have to
be prepared to accept the revised texts and hymns purged of the condemnations.
Each church should make use of its ecclesiastical journals and other media for the
pastoral preparation of the people.
9. Another important element of such education is the rewriting of Church history,
textbooks, theological manuals and catechetical materials. Especially in Church
history, there has been a temptation on both sides to interpret the sources on a
partisan basis. Common study of the sources with fresh objectivity and an irenic
attitude can produce common texts for use in both our families. Since this is a
difficult and time-consuming project, we need not await its completion for the lifting
of anathemas or even for the restoration of Communion.
10.The editing of liturgical texts and hymns to eliminate the condemnations is but part
of the task of liturgical renewal. We need also to make use of the infinite variety and
richness of our liturgical traditions, so that each church can be enriched by the
heritage of others.
11.There seems to exist some need for a deeper study of the question: “Who is a Saint?”
Neither the criteria for sainthood nor the processes for declaring a person as a Saint
are the same in the Eastern and Western traditions. A study of the distinctions
between universal, national and local saints, as well as of the processes by which
they came to be acknowledged as such, could be undertaken by Church historians
and theologians. The lifting of anathemas need not await the results of such a study,
but they merely provide the occasion for a necessary clarification of the tradition in
relation to the concept of sainthood.
12.Perhaps we should conclude this statement with the observation that this is now the
fourth of these unofficial conversations in a period of seven years. It is our hope that
the work done at an informal level can soon be taken up officially by the churches,
so that the work of the Spirit in bringing us together can now find full ecclesiastical
response. In that hope we submit this fourth report to the churches.
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