The Seminary Celebration
In Its Eighty-First Year

There are currently six bishops in the Holy Synod who are graduates of the Seminary. The establishment of a specialized institute for each discipline is a prelude to establishing the theological university. Be a positive, effective factor in the body of the Church and a reference in every subject. It is not the certificate that presents you for service, but rather your talents, your activity, and your spirituality. Make the Church feel your importance and its need for you, and long for the date of your graduation.

Last Friday, 29/11/74, marked the commemoration of the passage of 81 years since the establishment of the Seminary in its new form in 1893, after the Theological School of Alexandria—whose fame had spread everywhere—had ceased.

The Word of His Holiness the Pope

His Holiness thanked those present. He said, before I speak, I would like to remember with goodness our fathers and teachers who served the Seminary and were transferred to the triumphant Church. He mentioned among them: Archdeacon Habib Girgis, Father Philotheos Ibrahim, Professor Youssef Manqariyous, Professor Simon Seledis, and the language teachers Father Tawadros Tadrus, Professor Shenouda Abdel-Sayed, and Professor Issa Abdel-Masih. Then he said, and I also remember with them the marvelous lyre of the Church and its immortal melody, the teacher Mikhail.

Then His Holiness said: The Seminary college, in truth, was not immortalized by its buildings nor by its curricula, but it was immortalized by its scholars, such as Pantaenus, Clement, and Didymus the Blind. If we wish to restore the Seminary to what it was in the third and fourth centuries, we must first and foremost be concerned with graduating scholars from the college, for the college, and for this purpose the specialized institutes were established.

His Holiness said that the proposal presented by Dr. Maurice regarding the establishment of a specialized institute for each science of the Seminary is a proposal that must be implemented at the appropriate time when the necessary capabilities become available.

Then His Holiness explained in detail how the Seminary has grown in building and in meaning. Its buildings have advanced and multiplied, its students have increased and their level has risen, its institutes have multiplied, its branches have increased, and the scientific level of its professors has risen. Its mission has expanded to include Kenya and Ethiopia and evangelism abroad. Currently, there are six bishops in the Holy Synod who are graduates of the Seminary college.

His Holiness addressed the subject of compassion toward the Seminary college. He said, “I do not find the expression ‘compassion’ agreeable, for it befits the weak. The weak seminarian cries out seeking to be helped or ordained, but the strong are snatched up by the churches. I do not want the graduate of the Seminary to be like a spinster searching for a groom and not finding one, but rather like a beautiful bride whose hand many seek.”

Then His Holiness directed advice to the Seminary students, saying to them: If you want success for yourselves, do not sit in an ivory tower in the Seminary college. Rather, enter into the Church: serve, preach, participate in every church activity, make the Church feel you and your service, and sense that it cannot do without you. Enter into the general movements of the Church, participate in conferences and revivals, express your opinion on the problems of the Church and on general intellectual problems.

An example of this: I have ordained a Chorepiscopus, and God willing I will establish deaconesses. Has any of the seminarians thought to present to me a comprehensive study about the Chorepiscopus or about the deaconesses, from all legal, liturgical, practical, and historical aspects? Or are we in one valley and you in another?

I am currently, with God’s help, setting a financial and administrative system for the Church. Has the Seminary intervened to offer its intellectual assistance?

I want you to be a positive, effective factor in the body of the Church. I want you to be a reference in every ecclesiastical subject. Do not be content with merely obtaining the bachelor’s degree of the college; the certificate alone has not acted upon anything. What presents you for service in the Church is not your certificates, but your talents, your spirit, your service, your interaction with the Church and its needs and problems, and the Church’s sense of your presence. Make people desire the date of your graduation and await it eagerly because of their confidence in your service, productivity, and activity.

Then His Holiness spoke about the proposals necessary for the advancement of the Seminary, and these will be published in the next issue, God willing.

An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – Al-Keraza Magazine – Year Five – Issue Ten – 7 December 1974.

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