A recent Supreme Administrative Court ruling, which gives divorced Copts the right to second marriage, is still the subject of heated arguments, especially in Coptic circles. [See AWR hot issues published on May 31, 2010].
On June 4, 2010, Al-Ahrām published an interview with Pope Shenouda III discussing the issue:
Q: How can the church declare its respect for the judicial rulings and at the same time announce that it will not abide by them?
A: It will not abide by them because it abides by Biblical teachings. It happens quite often that, with all respect to judicial rulings, people file appeals to a higher court. Appealing a ruling does not reflect a lack of respect; there are reasons for the appeal.
Q: Why does the church refuse the judicial rulings concerning Orthodox Copts’ marriage and divorce? Who can a wronged Copt turn to in the issues of personal status? What is the church’s responsibility and what is the State’s responsibility in this response?
A: Marriage is merely a religious act performed by men of religion. The State’s role is to document marriage and not to perform it. The church’s duty in this response is not a system dictated by the patriarch or the clergy; it is something dictated by the Bible and the teachings of Jesus Christ. All these teachings assert that there is no divorce except for in cases of proved adultery. In other places it is mentioned that the married couple may separate in case of adopting different beliefs.
The second point concerning divorce and marriage; I want to say that they are not the pope’s responsibility; however, it is a general Christian system, and the churches of the different Christian denominations approved the unified law for personal status that was offered to the relevant governmental institutions in 1980, and once again in 1998. So it is not a system related to Pope Shenouda; it is rather something related to the Christian doctrine of marriage in general. It is not true that Pope Shenouda has founded a system for marriage and divorce. What we are adopting in this response has been applicable since the early ages of Christianity.
The problem lies in the list of regulations of 1938 that was established by a group of laymen who were members of the Community Council of the Coptic Orthodox Church, which failed to take into account the Biblical instructions, or maybe they were not aware of them. The list gave more excuses for divorce and was issued during the mandate of Pope Yu’annis XIX. His successor, Pope Macarius, however, announced in the Holy Synod in 1942 that there was no divorce except in case of proven adultery. In October 1962, Pope Kyrillos VI sent the personal status document to the minister of Justice and sent it again in 1967 confirming that divorce is only permitted in case of proven adultery. As such when Pope Shenouda [Pope Shenouda speaks about himself in the third person] talked about the reasons of divorce he brought about nothing new.
[….]
Pope Shenouda then stated that those people who got divorce by a court ruling and want to marry again are free to do what they want, but away from the Coptic Orthodox Church. He also stated that the adultery of a person before marriage can be forgiven, but committing adultery while bound to marriage is not permitted. He also explained the doctrine of marriage in Christianity, how the married couple becomes one body, and how adultery is akin to having a strange body between the two bodies that have become one in marriage. As such the third body breaks the unity of the married body. He also spoke about the purity and chastity that must characterize marriage.
As for other factors, like the illness of one of the two partners, Pope Shenouda stated that there are illnesses that can prevent marriage. In case one of the two partners had such an illness before marriage and did not inform their partner, the marriage can be annulled. However, when illness appears after marriage then each one of the married should support and endure their partner.
Responding to the number of Coptic Orthodox who are asking for divorce, Pope Shenouda stated that estimates of hundreds of thousands and millions of cases who demand divorce are exaggerated. He called on those who claim such high figures to present their documented proofs.
Pope Shenouda stated that according to the Coptic Orthodox Clerical Council the number of cases asking for divorce is no more than 4,000. This number however, is not that of the cases filed this year only; but the total cases filed over approximately five years. Pope Shenouda further stated that if Copts numbered 12 million in Egypt then the 4,000 cases do not really comprise a high percentage.
Finally al-Ahrām asked: “what is hindering a unified personal status law for all the Christian denominations in Egypt?”
Pope Shenouda answered: “This is a question that should be addressed to the governmental apparatus; the Ministry of Justice and the People’s Assembly.”
