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By His Grace Bishop Reweiss
The trips of His Holiness Pope Shenouda III are characterised by new and additional pastoral works. On this trip, His Holiness lit a new candle in the field of theological colleges by establishing and opening the first theological college in Europe, The Saint Athanasius the Apostolic Coptic Theological College, in Stevenage, U.K..
He spoke about the first theological college, the Catechetical School, which was established by Saint Mark in Alexandria to face the strange thoughts at the time, from which many elites graduated, such as Pantaenus, Origen, and Didimus the Blind, who later became dean of the College. Other deans also became popes of the Coptic Church.
This is the fourth college established by His Holiness outside Egypt. In 1989, he established two colleges in America: in New Jersey and Los Angeles respectively; and a third in Sydney, Australia. This is in addition to the many theological colleges that His Holiness has established in Alexandria, as well as in Upper and Lower Egypt.
His Holiness arrived to London Airport at noon on Friday 12 September, where he was received by delegates from the Egyptian Embassy and Consulate, a representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and a number of bishops and priests from our churches in the United Kingdom and Europe.
His Holiness went directly to the Coptic Church Centre in Stevenage, where he was met by a great number of his children who came from all over the country to receive his blessing..
It was a very joyful celebration, attended by Their Grace: Metropolitan Seraphim, Bishop Weissa, Bishop Missail, Bishop Antony, Bishop Bernaba and the writer of these lines, and Bishop Daniel, who arrived later due to a delayed flight.
The celebration was also attended by many representatives of the non-Coptic Churches and from the Embassy and Consulate of Egypt, and several foreign officials who delivered speeches, thanking His Holiness for his love for education, and commenting on the theological college as being a great work through which a generation is brought up with sound faith and spiritual values that witness to our God. The Church youth choir presented some spiritual hymns in Arabic, Coptic and English, which greatly pleased the audience.
His Holiness concluded the celebration with a speech, thanking all those who attended, and then spoke of the Coptic Church as being favoured and blessed with a prophesy in the Book of Isaiah (14:14).
His Holiness also spoke about Saint Athanasius the Apostle as being the champion of the Faith, who laid down the Creed, approved by the Council of Nicea of 325 AD, and which is believed in by all Christendom. Saint Athanasius was and still is popular in all Churches.
His Holiness pointed out that the revival in the Church at the present time is due to two reasons:
l. The re-establishment of the Theological School
2. The concern given to Sunday School which involve thousands of servers.
His Holiness mentioned that the aim of the Theological College is not to increase the knowledge that nourishes the mind, nor is it merely preparing candidates for priesthood. The aim is to build a life of abidance in the Lord; a holy communion with the Holy Spirit, that we may become, virtually, holy temples for His dwelling, as Saint Paul taught us on more than one occasion in his epistles. The true aim is to prepare individuals with the sound faith and spiritual values needed in our society today. That is why the college enrols women, who according to our Orthodox belief, are not candidates for priesthood, in order to prepare them to be the mothers of spiritual leaders in the Church.
His Holiness concluded his speech by congratulating the new students, and wishing them a blessed spiritual life. He also thanked the beloved priest Father Angelos Anba-Bishoy who paid a great effort in organising the celebration. On the following day, His Holiness delivered the first lecture in Comparative Theology to the new students, who numbered over ninety, thus marking the beginning of the first study year of the new Theological College.
May the blessing of Saint Athanasius, after whom the new candle is named, and the blessing of our blessed father His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, be with us all. Amen. <
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