Coptic Pope Shenouda III praises Christian-Muslim relations in Jordan, encourages more dialogue

AP Worldstream
Jun 04, 2005

Christians and Muslims enjoy good relations in Jordan, the head
of the Coptic Church, Pope Shenouda III, said in a statement made
available Saturday.

Shenouda made his first visit to Jordan from neighboring Egypt on
Thursday to participate in meetings of the Middle East Council of
Churches held on the Jordanian shores of the Dead Sea.

The council represents some 35 Christian churches from the Orthodox,
Catholic and Protestant denominations of the region.

The pope “praised the brotherly ties between Christians and Muslims
in Jordan and the level of economic development in the country,”
the statement said. Shenouda also called for more “dialogue between
Christians and Muslim and for the honoring of human rights.”

He “encouraged the churches in the Middle East and worldwide to
achieve justice and peace in the region,” the statement concluded.

Jordan’s monarch, King Abdullah II, praised the role of the Coptic
Church in “consolidating Islamic-Christian understanding and dialogue,”
after meeting Shenouda on Thursday.

The Coptic Church was founded in Egypt in the first century after
the birth of Christ and derives its name from the Greek word for
“Egyptian.” It traces its roots to St. Mark, the gospel author who
brought Christianity to Egypt during the reign of the Roman emperor
Nero.

It is part of the family of the Oriental Orthodox Churches of Syria,
Ethiopia and Armenia. Orthodox Christians are similar to Roman
Catholics in their liturgy, but the two groups split in 1054 over
the authority of the pope.

It is unclear exactly how many Coptic Christians there are in the
world; some estimates put their numbers as high as 10 million, most
of whom live in Egypt. There are some 8,000 Coptic Orthodox adherents
in Jordan.