Anthony Byrne (Holt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise, as others have here today, to speak on this condolence motion and to extend my deepest condolences to my friends in the Coptic community including the Mayor of the City of Casey Councillor Sam Aziz, Father Abanoub Attalla, and His Grace Bishop Suriel the Bishop of the Coptic communities of Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and the ACT, and many of my friends in the Coptic community on their grief that they are sharing on the passing of His Holiness Pope Shenouda III.

In any way Pope Shenouda III was an incredibly powerful voice for unity, for tolerance and for reconciliation. He was also a much loved leader of Coptic Christians around the world and a great leader of his church who had a strong commitment to Egypt's national unity. Pope Shenouda III reigned for over 40 years and for many Copts, which make up about 10 per cent of Egypt's population of about 80 million people, and Australia's 80,000-strong Coptic community, he was the only pope that they had ever known.

For Bishop Suriel the death was particularly poignant. He had been secretary to Pope Shenouda III for over five years. Bishop Suriel said the pope, 'has left his mark on his church and his people. He got on well with Muslims, was a great ascetic and scholar and wrote more than 120 books and some very beautiful poetry in Arabic.' Bishop Suriel also reminded the Coptic faithful in Australia of the six visits that Pope Shenouda III had made to Australia, and of his love of the country and pride in the work being carried out by the Coptic Church and Coptic schools in Melbourne and Sydney. During Pope Shenouda's reign he remained committed to his country of Egypt and was seen as a protector of Egypt's Coptic Christians during recent attacks on Copts by Islamist militants in recent years. Accordingly to Councillor Sam Aziz, Pope Shenouda was also committed during his reign to spending at least three days a week in the monastery in order to write sermons and to continue to educate the Coptic community about the Christian faith. According to Councillor Aziz, who is a member of the Coptic community in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Pope Shenouda III was an amazing pope. When he became Pope in 1971 there were only a handful of Coptic churches around the world but now there are hundreds. This is Pope Shenouda's main legacy, which saw a huge expansion of the Coptic Orthodox Church beyond its traditional Egyptian base to countries like the US, Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand, as well as parts of South America and Europe.

Another important legacy was his commitment to the concept of unity of Christian churches that took him to the Vatican in 1973 to meet Pope Paul VI—the first Coptic Pope for over fifteen-hundred years to go to Rome. He believed that Christian unity was a matter of faith rather than of jurisdiction. As he told a forum in 1974, 'Christian people, being fed up with divisions, are pushing their church leaders to do something about church unity and I am sure that the Holy Spirit is inspiring us.' Importantly, Councillor Aziz said that Pope Shenouda always had an amazingly happy disposition and, when you fell down, he was always someone you could listen to in order to cheer you up.

Councillor Aziz has also told me an amazing story of when Pope Shenouda went to a Melbourne field in Hallam in my electorate of Holt in the early 1990s and explained his vision for a church to spring out from the field with a cattle shed on it. Soon after making this announcement, Councillor Aziz said that Copts throughout Melbourne started to make donations in order to make this vision a reality. Fortunately, prior to Pope Shenouda's passing this year, this vision became a reality with the opening of a beautiful new $6 million St Mina and St Marina church, the sixth church in Melbourne, which now sits on the former field and serves 800 Coptic families in the local community. It is a magnificent church, and the minister for immigration has attended that church. It is an adornment to the Coptic community. You can see it from the Princes Highway at night. It is a sparkling symbol of the hope and faith of a vibrant community that lives in my area. The story about the Hallam field, otherwise known as the 'cattle-shed story' to the Melbourne Copts, is a reminder of Pope Shenouda's greatness and his vision to strengthen the Coptic community's presence around the world even in periods of adversity. This should be remembered.

According to Councillor Aziz, Pope Shenouda felt like a father to him. When he had lost his own father six years ago, Pope Shenouda provided him with the inspiration and the fatherly advice through his sermons. Pope Shenouda was, in many ways, a father-figure for so many Copts and now that he has passed away, Councillor Aziz has said that many Copts like himself feel that they are orphans due to the passing of this great father-figure.

Pope Shenouda's funeral will take place later tonight, as has been discussed, in St Mark's Cathedral in Cairo. A very large crowd of about 100,000 mourners are expected to gather. We pray for them, that they can mourn the passing of this great figure in peace and pay their respects, as is their entitlement.

The Coptic church was established in the city of Alexandria around 43AD. I have no doubt that Pope Shenouda's reign will long be remembered for many years to come by Coptic Christians as a time when a modest pope with a positive disposition led an unprecedented expansion in the Coptic faith to all parts of the world, including, thankfully, to my federal electorate of Holt.

See this speech in context