With God’s grace, the Papal Nominations Committee of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church has thoroughly examined the list of 17 candidates for Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria. After giving each candidate much consideration, the list of 17 was reduced to a list of 5 names, which include:
- His Grace Bishop Rofail, General Bishop for the Downtown Cairo Churches
- His Grace Bishop Tawadrous, General Bishop in the Metropolitanate of El Beheira
- Fr. Raphael Ava Mina
- Fr. Seraphim al Souriany
- Fr. Bakhomios al Souriany
The next step is to reduce this list of five candidates to only three through an election that will take place on October 29. The Coptic Orthodox Church around the world will observe a strict three-day fast from Monday, October 22 to Wednesday, October 24 to ask for God’s blessing and will in this election.Once the election reduces the list to three candidates, the list will go through the Altar Lot process on Sunday, November 4 after the celebration of the Divine Liturgy. From this process, a single name will be chosen as the 118th Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria. The Coptic Orthodox Church around the world will observe a strict three-day fast from Wednesday, October 31 to Friday, November 2 to ask for God’s blessing and will in this process.
We pray that our Lord Jesus Christ guide us through this process and help us to choose a good shepherd for His church according to His will.
