"Ecumenical dialogue at its best is a school of repentance"
My journey to Egypt and the takeaways from a week with Christians from different faith traditions
With the blessing of His Eminence Mor Clemis Eugene Kaplan, Archbishop of the Western Diocese of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch, I departed for Egypt to attend the Lausanne-Orthodox Initiative (LOI) consultation in early November. May this serve as a summary of this blessed journey, and may it generate more interest in LOI!
Should I start with the touristy things to do in Egypt? Here you go!
I got to Egypt a day early, so I got to go on a super-fun tour of the Giza pyramids and the Sphinx with Dr. Lori Peterson Branch, an IOTA board member. We rode camels and climbed into two pyramids, the ones of Khufu and Menkaure. Let me just say, climbing into the pyramids bent over for large parts killed my thigh muscles for three days - I was in a LOT of pain! Guess I don’t use them in that manner much! It felt like Forgiveness Sunday at my husband’s Greek Orthodox church before Lent!
Day Two was dedicated to a tour of Christian Cairo. We visited beautiful old Coptic Orthodox churches, including St Virgin Mary Church in Maadi where the Holy Family crossed the Nile, the Hanging Church from the third century AD, the Church of St. Sergius and Bacchus, the Cave Church (Monastery of St. Simon the Tanner) at Mokattam Mountain, and the Anglican All Saints’ Cathedral Zamalek.
At the Hanging Church, I got to take a blessing from His Grace Anba Julius (General Bishop of Old Cairo Churches). That was a beautiful start to our spiritual week.
After this fantastic introduction to Egyptian Christianity, a relaxing and comfortable bus ride brought us through the dense Cairo traffic toward our destination for the next three days: the Logos Papal Center, located in Wadi El Natrun and co-located with the St. Bishoy Monastery and St. Mary El-Sourian Monastery.
The next morning, the program for our Lausanne-Orthodox Initiative (LOI) consultation began. I wrote about the purpose of the trip here:
A Journey to the Land of the Pharaohs
I’m deeply grateful — and honestly, a bit awed — to be heading to Egypt from November 1–8 for a Lausanne–Orthodox Initiative consultation at the Logos Center in St. Bishoy Monastery, Wadi El Natrun.
We were greeted at the “Navigating the Legacy of Nicea: Community, Conduct, and Creed” consultation by His Eminence Archbishop Angealos, the Coptic Orthodox Archbishop of London, and Leslie Doll, the LOI co-chairs. The next two and a half days were filled with presentations, small discussion groups, and joint prayer times, all intentionally set up to give the 70-plus attendees a chance to meet each other on a very personal level. Those who had joined the LOI consultation came from diverse ecclesiastical backgrounds, including both Oriental and Eastern Orthodox, as well as post-Reformation churches.
Sessions of the consultation, which focused on the legacy of the Council of Nicaea, centered around “Community: One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church?”, “Conduct: The Transforming Witness of Holy Living,” and “Creed: Confessing in Love the Truth That Sets Us Free,” allowed all participants to meet Christ followers from other traditions. Prayer times at night, first led by Archbishop Angaelos in a Coptic Orthodox manner and then by Reverend Nigel Craig from Ireland, a Presbyterian, on the second night, ensured even greater understanding between Orthodox and post-Reformation attendees.
LOI consultations are truly a wonder to behold, as one can see walls melting when people begin to engage with each other. This was my second LOI consultation (the first was in England in 2023), and I had the same observation there as well, including in myself. Dr. Theo Karvounakis said it best when he shared: “Ecumenical dialogue at its best is a school of repentance.” We all realize just how much repenting we need to do if we ever hope to be one body of Christ.
While it is very clear that LOI does not aim to be the body to bring about true reconciliation between the different traditions, it certainly achieves its stated goal: “The Lausanne-Orthodox Initiative exists to provide a space and context for constructive reflection on the history of relationships between Orthodox and Evangelical Christians in order to work towards trust, understanding, shared spiritual growth, reconciliation and healing of the wounds that exist.”
Between sessions, discussions, lunches, and dinners, we were also able to see some of the long (and often painful) Coptic history of Wadi El Natrun when we visited St. Bishoy Monastery and St. Mary El-Sourian Monastery. On one of my Facebook posts, I said after our Christian Cairo tour that I hadn’t kissed that many icons and venerated that many relics in a very long time, and these monasteries certainly added to that count! We venerated, among others, the relics of the fourth-century saints St. Bishoy (St. Paisius the Great), St. Ephrem the Syrian, and St. John the Short. I also got to pray at the tomb of His Holiness, the late Pope Shenouda III. What an immense blessing!
Personally, getting to meet Abouna Kosman, whom I only knew through a WhatsApp group, by the grace of God (I had no clue he was at the monastery at this point in time), and seeing the Nativity scene that is one of my icons in my Etsy shop was the greatest joy, and I thank Archbishop Angaelos for making it possible.
In between, we also got to see the hall where the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church will be meeting in the next few days, as well as the not-yet-opened Nicaea Museum, which we visited during a soft launch. A visit to the Central Papal Library allowed us to see the enclosed cell of the late Pope Shenouda III. He shaped my thinking when I was on my path to Orthodoxy, so this was very special to me.
On our last day, we said goodbye to the Logos Papal Center and Wadi El Natrun and headed to the Coptic Retreat Center Anafora. There, we were greeted by Metropolitan Thomas, whose smile won the day! What a beautiful man of God. I will share this video with you to both show the beauty of the church at Anafora and give you a glimpse of Anba Thomas.
Our final stop was the Papal Residence in Cairo. We were invited by His Holiness Pope Tawadros II to a private audience. Truly a mind-blowing moment! When we were asked whether anyone wanted to ask a question of His Holiness or share their thoughts, I gathered the courage to express my gratitude to him for the gift of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the form of Abouna Makarius, the priest-monk in Germany who has helped me so much on my path to Orthodoxy.
The time in Egypt was one of great blessings for me and for those of us who attended the LOI Consultation. Sadly, I was once again the only Syriac Orthodox there. I pray that more will join. The LOI consultations are heart-enriching and mind-expanding. One suggestion I made to the board was to develop an LOI toolkit, so we can apply what we've learned back in our own communities and thus further the work.
Great thanks go to Archbishop Angaelos, Leslie Doll, and Ralph Lee for all the hard work that has gone into making the ecumenical meetings possible. May the Lord further their work and bless it!