Responding to the Ideas of Anba Gregorios

In this lecture the speaker (His Holiness Pope Shenouda III) responds calmly and firmly to a set of ideas and positions attributed to others concerning matters of the spirit, the afterlife, and personal status. He clarifies that many of these ideas — such as the soul remaining three days in the body or that spirits are “rebellious” and are expelled by force, or that spirits return to incarnate in gifted children or animals — are not correct interpretations from the viewpoint of the Holy Bible nor from the tradition of the Fathers.

Main points of the reply

• He rejects the idea that a priest goes on the third day to expel a rebellious spirit, and shows that the third-day prayers in the church are readings about the resurrection of the dead and consolation for the family, not exorcisms.

• He argues against interpretations used to prove reincarnation or “re-incarnation” and stresses that the Orthodox Christian creed does not accept it, and that correct interpretations should be drawn from the Fathers’ exegesis.

• He addresses personal status issues (marriage of prohibited close relatives or cases of changed kinship after marriage) and explains that the church and theological laws forbid such marriages to preserve genealogies, inheritance order, and church traditions.

• He defends adherence to the Holy Bible and the Fathers’ interpretation as the basis of dialogue, and announces that he will reply in writing and intends to publish a detailed book on the subject of spirits to deal with misuse of texts and their wrong interpretation.

Spiritual and educational dimension from a Coptic Orthodox perspective

The lecture reinforces the necessity of spiritual discernment and reliance on the Holy Bible and the Fathers’ tradition in interpreting texts, and warns against the danger of superstitions and popular interpretations that raise fear or distort doctrine. The aim is educational and spiritual: to ground the believer in the soundness of the faith, to comfort families, and to protect familial and ecclesial order from intellectual manipulations.

Brief conclusion

The speaker calls for calm when facing controversial opinions, for returning to reliable sources (the Holy Bible, the Fathers’ canons, church tradition) and for rational dialogue guarded by piety. He promises to publish a detailed study on spirits to clarify matters and remove confusion.

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