The Pastoral Staff
News and Commentary – The Pastoral Staff¹
The Pastoral Staff: Is it permissible to present it to bishops who differ from us in faith?!
When the Holy Church presents the pastoral staff to a bishop—from the hand of the Pope—it is entrusting this bishop with the care of her children and with leading them in the faith of the Church. But for the Church to present the pastoral staff to a bishop who differs from us in faith is a matter that carries danger! A bishop may visit us and we may present him with any gift, but we do not present him with pastoral care…
Therefore, we read in the Coptic magazines—with great astonishment and pain—a piece of news which we hope is not correct… stating that the pastoral staff was gifted in Alexandria to the Archbishop of Finland, who differs from us in the nature of Christ, who believes in the Council of Chalcedon which was anathematized by Saint Dioscorus, and in the Tome of Leo which all our saints rejected, and because of which Saint Macarius, Bishop of Edko (one of the three Macarii), was martyred. Abba Samuel the Confessor lost one of his eyes, and Saint Dioscorus was exiled from his see, as well as all our patriarchal fathers from the year 451 AD to the year 641 AD, and hundreds of thousands of the sons of the Church were martyred.
Presenting the pastoral staff to the Archbishop of Finland means that we are implicitly entrusting to him the care of our children there, as if we are encouraging them to do so regardless of the doctrinal differences!! His Eminence understood the matter in this way, and was very pleased with the pastoral staff…
And he said: “With this staff I can gather large numbers into ‘Orthodoxy’,” and he of course means “Chalcedonian” Orthodoxy, because he differs from us in faith…
We do not want to fall into the error of the World Council of Churches, which aims at dissolving doctrinal differences and uniting the churches in a superficial manner while forgetting doctrine and theology!!
We recall with pride the firm positions taken in our generation by the late Pope Kyrillos V and the late Pope Macarius III, as each of them refused even to raise his cross in blessing over the head of one of the non-Orthodox leaders, lest this be exploited in a manner dangerous to the Church.
The canons of the Church absolutely prohibit handing over the pastoral staff to one who differs from us in faith… As for the unity of the churches, it comes first through understanding in doctrine, an understanding approved by the holy councils.
Unity… but in faith
An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – in Al-Keraza Magazine – Second Year – Issues Eight and Nine, October and November 1966.
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