As head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, circumstances ensured that Pope Shenouda III was both a religious leader and a politician to his fingertips. His passing marks a watershed in Christian-Muslim relations, writes Gamal Nkrumah death of Pope Shenouda III presents a three-headed hydra of expressions of a heightened state of political uncertainty. As news came in on Saturday of the Pope's passing, it became paramount to understand how the new post-25 January Revolution political system was evolving. First, with the rise of political Islam paranoid mumbo-jumbo -- real or imagined -- was aggravated, exaggerated and magnified. Moreover, the triumph of various strands of Islamisms, and in particular the Muslim Brotherhood -- grouped in the Freedom and Justice Party, the primary political grouping in the People's Assembly -- and the various Salafist groups under the umbrella of Nour Party in the parliamentary elections, the disquietude of Coptic Christians was intensified. Second, the realisation that a generation gap became clear within the Coptic Christian community itself with the emergence of a secularist trend among the younger members of Egypt's Christian congregations. The so-called Maspero Movement and the Coptic youth in general tended to be rather critical of the role of the Church in general and especially the alleged close association of the late Pope Shenouda III with the regime of ex-president Hosni Mubarak. Last but not least, the sharpening ascendancy of the Coptic Christian émigrés particularly those in the United States signalled that they were destined to play a more dominant role in Church affairs. A fracas with the Holy Synod became inevitable. For some, the full nauseous panoply of political options open to Coptic Christians culminated in Pope Shenouda III's passing. Many Christians propelled by a sense of foreboding and impending danger, which cannot be easily discounted precisely because it is derived from the fear that the 25 January Revolution that many Coptic Christians fully participated in was carrying political Islam to its logical extreme. Christians, it is feared in some quarters, would be especially sidelined and perhaps even persecuted. The greatest concern of many Coptic Christians is that their citizenship rights would be eroded. "Egypt is a nation that lives within us and not a nation we live in," was one of Pope Shenouda III's more popular political statements. He encouraged the Coptic Christian community's right to full participation in the political life of the country. It is his patriotism that prompted eulogies to pour in from Muslim religious leaders who appreciated the late Patriarch's political positions and his behind-the-scenes conciliatory politicking. "Egypt has lost one of its rare men at a sensitive moment when it most needs the wisest of its wise -- his expertise and purity of mind," Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayeb mourned the passing of the pope. The Grand Mufti of Egypt Sheikh Ali Gomaa, too, extolled the merits of the late Patriarch. Gomaa described the death of Pope Shenouda III as a "terrible tragedy and a big blow to the people of Egypt". Chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Freedom and Justice Party Mohamed Mursi applauded Pope Shenouda III's "long journey of big contributions in various fields domestically and abroad". The purveyors of hate begged to differ. Militant preacher Sheikh Wagdi Ghoneim embarked on an odious tirade against the late Patriarch. "Let us celebrate the demise of the head of the infidels," he declared on YouTube, to which incitement some viewers responded by calling for the introduction of hate-crime laws in Egypt. Pope Shenouda, it should be remembered, regarded the ravings of such zealots as a distortion of Islam, a dressing of terrorism in religious trappings rather than the representative of anything enduring in Islamic thought. Pope Shenouda III encouraged the participation of Coptic laypersons' civil society organisations to participate fully in the evolving political process in post-25 January Revolution. He was careful, however, not to encourage Coptic Christians to form separatist political parties based along religious grounds. Shenouda's papacy boosted the prestige of the Coptic Orthodox Church enormously. It brought renewed interest in Coptic learning, and saw a major expansion in monasticism. He ascended the throne of St Mark at a time when Egypt was suffering the effects of a series of debilitating wars, the 1956 Suez Crisis, the June 1967 Arab- Israeli War and the 1973 October War. The seemingly interminable series of setbacks Pope Shenouda faced at the outset of his papacy appeared almost inexplicable. They continued on and on, decade after decade. Sectarian conflict erupted in many parts of the country. Shenouda III's favoured method of voicing his protest at such events was to retreat in silence to the desert monasteries of Wadi Al-Natroun, from where he had sat out his most famous quarrel, with president Anwar El-Sadat, who had sought to replace Shenouda with a Coptic figure more sympathetic to his Camp David's Accords cause, especially after the 1979 Peace Treaty with Israel. Following the death of the Pope the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) released a statement praising the late Patriarch for "preserving the unity of Egypt and the unity of its social fabric". Politicians and statesmen lined up to praise the late Patriarch for his patriotism. Former Arab League secretary-general and current presidential contender Amr Moussa called Pope Shenouda III "a great man who worked for the interests of the country". Moussa stressed that the late Patriarch was "working for Egypt to present a unified front against the challenges facing the nation". Former prime minister Ahmed Shafik concurred, noting that Pope Shenouda III was a "unique religious leader and a distinguished character in the national history". Prime Minister Kamal El-Ganzouri paid tribute and said: "I convey my sincere condolences to our Coptic Christian brothers at home and abroad." Shenouda's papacy saw the number of Coptic churches overseas multiply to the extent that they far exceed the number of churches in Egypt itself. "What's needed is an articulate Pope who can communicate in modern parlance and who can deal with émigré Coptic communities in North America, Europe and Australia," Coptic Christian MP Emad Gad told Al-Ahram Weekly. The priority now, says Gad, is to foster a climate of friendliness and fraternity between Copts and Muslims. Since the 25 January Revolution an estimated 350,000 Copts have left Egypt for North America, Australia and other parts of the world. The exodus will have negative repercussions on the Egyptian economy, though remittances from overseas are an important source of income for poorer Copts at home and a major foreign exchange earner for the country. Pope Shenouda's weekly column in Al-Ahram and his writings in other newspapers were a strong voice for national reconciliation. Christians and Muslims alike heeded his voice of moderation. "Pope Shenouda III was an inspiration for everyone, and especially for disadvantaged Coptic Christians," MP Gad expounded. The Church of the Khanka incident was a turning point in the modern history of the Coptic Church. After decades of relative peaceful co- existence during the Nasser era, sectarian conflict flared in the Delta village of Khanka in November 1972. While the propertied and elite class was busy making money under Sadat's "open door" policy of economic liberalisation, more modest folk were busy making ends meet. Unknown arsonists burnt down a chapel in the poverty-stricken village of Khanka that led to a collective mass Christian protest and prompted a parliamentary inquiry. Sadat was moving Egypt to the right, politically, economically and religiously, and Pope Shenouda refused to play along. "He always kept his cool," Gad stressed. Meanwhile, similar incidents to Khanka erupted in Upper Egypt especially in the vicinity of Assiut and Sammalout. "Pope Shenouda III managed to contain the conflict with his characteristic moderation. That was his strength." "Pope Shenouda was a man of principles. He never spoke to me personally in his capacity as head of the Coptic Church, but always as an Egyptian nationalist. He was a keen Pan-Arabist and was dedicated to Arab nationalism which is why he clashed with the late president Sadat," politician Mustafa El-Feki told the Weekly. "The 118th pope will be obliged to focus more on spiritual matters and less on political affairs. Pope Shenouda III's papacy took place under exceptional circumstances. It was a time of high tension, social and political and sectarian strife," says Kamal Zakher, a Coptic Christian intellectual and secular activist who supports the separation of religion and politics and champions citizenship rights. Successive popes have long tried to maintain a good working relationship with Egyptian heads of state and government. Pope Cyril's friendship with the late president Gamal Abdel-Nasser was proverbial, and indicative of the importance of personal qualities to such relationships. Nasser had a soft spot for Cyril after the latter supposedly healed Nasser in a miraculous supplication to God. A grateful Nasser was ever after sympathetic to the Coptic Christian cause. A similar relationship developed between Mubarak and Pope Shenouda III, though it was not as affectionate as that between Nasser and Cyril. The late Patriarch often harboured controversial political opinions but he stuck to his guns. This is especially noticeable in his championing of the Palestinian cause. "They do not see any alternative but to blow themselves to pieces in the face of an enemy that uses all the power at its disposal without mercy," Pope Shenouda said in defence of Palestinian suicide bombers in one of his most political statements. The Kosheh massacre of January 2000, and before that in 1998 in the same extremely poor village, incited hatred and sectarian violence further and the aggrieved parties -- the Coptic Christians -- often took matters into their own hands. Mob rule ensued and there was another occasion on which Pope Shenouda III spoke his mind openly. He vehemently opposed the court ruling that he felt compromised Coptic Christian rights. "We want to challenge this ruling. We don't accept it," Pope Shenouda III declared, fearing more carnage of which Kosheh would be just a portent. Before his ordination Pope Shenouda III served in the Egyptian army, a fact that earned him the respect of many Arab pundits. One such commentator, Abdel-Bari Atwan, the editor-in-chief of the Pan-Arab daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi, noted that Shenouda's death was "a loss for our Christian Coptic Brothers, for Egypt and the entire Arab world".
