Coptic pope writes to Pope Francis asking for one Pascha date

Cairo (Agenzia Fides) - The Patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church Tawadros II sent a letter to Pope Francis, on the occasion of the first anniversary of their meeting at the Vatican, in which among other things invites the Bishop of Rome to find a single date for the Easter celebration in all Christian Churches.

As Fides learns, the spokesman of the Coptic Orthodox Church has stated that the Patriarch’s letter addressed to Pope Francis was delivered to the Apostolic Nuncio to the Arab Republic of Egypt, His Exc. Mgr. Paul Gobel, received yesterday, Tuesday, May 6 at the headquarters of the Coptic Patriarchate. The papal representative in turn submitted to Patriarch Tawadros an invitation to send a representative of the Coptic Church to the next Assembly of the Synod of Catholic Bishops, to be held in October and dedicated to the theme of the family.

The unification of the dates of the Easter celebration of the Resurrection is a particularly felt urgency in North Africa and the Middle East, where in the same area Churches and Christian communities live together and each have different Easter dates due to the fact that some have the Julian calendar and others the Gregorian.

Comments

  1. A readerMay 8, 2014 at 10:09 AM

    I do not understand why a Coptic hierarch would believe that a Catholic pope would have any influence over non-Catholics. It might make sense if the request were for the Catholic church (and Protestant spin-offs) to resume calculating the date of Pascha according to the method which it abandoned. That would place all Christians with a common date. I look forward to reading other responses.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. GasparesMay 8, 2014 at 10:24 AM

      The Pope has no influence over Protestant spin-offs too.

      Delete
  2. Byzantine, TXMay 8, 2014 at 10:29 AM

    How do you think the Protestants are picking the date of Pascha? Do you think they're all sitting down to agree or just checking to see what the Catholic calendar says?

    If you want to start the process, either go from the smallest group to the largest or go for the head of a billion people first and see if that moves the smaller groups too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DebDMay 8, 2014 at 7:21 PM

      There is a saying: "When Rome sneezes Protestants catch a cold."

      Delete
  3. Isa AlmisryMay 8, 2014 at 2:50 PM

    Celebrate Christmas on the right date, and the rest will follow.

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownMay 9, 2014 at 8:33 AM

    If we consider the spiritual side of a common date for Easter as well as Christmas it would be a great outpouring of grace on the church.United in adoration and prayer to Our Lord by all His children and a greater spirit of unity among christians.Of course there will opposition on both sides of the fence ,but that is expected by those who cling to the letter of the old law.

    ReplyDelete

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