His Holiness Pope Shenouda III explains that the church’s and the priest’s stance toward sinners must be built on mercy and pastoral care, not on expulsion and humiliation. Christ accepted sinners and called them to repentance, and the priest as shepherd is responsible for the returning and the sinner before the righteous.

Pastoral and educational principles

• Distinguish between him who sins out of weakness and him who sins out of negligence, and between the shepherd who mixes with sinners to draw them and the ordinary man who mixes and is led astray.

• Rebuke must be present but in a gentle and meek manner, not with hurtfulness or violence or expulsion that may drive the person away from the church permanently.

• The biblical examples (Zacchaeus, the sinful woman, the prodigal son, the lost sheep) show the Lord’s joy at their return and His tender guidance toward them.

Practical application in ministry

• Instead of expulsion, prefer positive work: follow up with sinners by special lessons, establish children’s classes, teams for order trained in kindness while maintaining order.

• Patience does not mean leniency or permitting laxity; at the same time there must be a balance between firmness and gentleness.

• General harshness or sermons aimed at wounding remove the church’s spirituality and distance people instead of guiding them.

Coptic Orthodox spiritual dimension

The spiritual conclusion is that the richness of God’s kindness and long-suffering calls us to the same conduct: love, intercession, and patience with sinners until they return to repentance, while preserving the sanctity of the congregation through firmness that respects human dignity.

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