The Patriarch's passing sets in motion much introspection among Egypt's Christians, notes Gamal Nkrumah As if Egypt's Coptic Christian community needed any more bad news, word of Pope Shenouda III's death broke on Saturday. It added to the air of uncertainty that has long shrouded the evolving post-25 January Revolution political system. His demise leaves a vacuum that will be hard to fill by his successor, the 118th pope, likely to be elected within two months. Blues and deep feelings of loss shared by millions of Egyptians are only compounded by worries about the future and the need to find answers for a number of hanging questions over the destiny of the country's Copts and their sense of belonging. The Coptic Christian community is bristling with political ideas and bold calls. Citizenship rights are now the centrepiece of the agenda of active members of civil society. Circumspect, uncertain and changeable policy has allowed Coptic Christian laypersons to sleepwalk towards poor parliamentary representation. There are six elected Christian members in the People's Assembly, or Lower House of parliament, plus another five members appointed by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). Even if a secret battle of wills between SCAF and the forces of political Islam becomes more muted as Egypt fast approaches the countdown to the presidential polls, the Coptic Christians of Egypt will be happy to take their place in the hierarchy of the nascent Egyptian democracy. A few marginal successes in the troubled arena of full citizenship rights have been chalked up. However, Coptic Christians can no longer kid themselves. Pope Shenouda III's legacy lives on. His papacy was a mixed bag of moral rectitude, ecclesiastical exactitudes and political and social setbacks. Yet one crucial concern remains paramount in the collective psyche of Coptic Christians and that is their proper place in the post-25 January Revolution politics of a fast-changing Egypt. Under these circumstances will the revered Patriarch's passing make any difference? Yes, of course. "If you had asked me this question before the 25 January Revolution I would have given you a radically different answer," Editor-in-Chief of the Coptic Christian weekly Watani, Youssef Sidhom, told Al-Ahram Weekly. "The relationship between Church and State has changed drastically in the interim period. Before, there was an unspoken pact between ex-president Hosni Mubarak and Pope Shenouda III that the championing of Coptic Christian interests would be delegated exclusively to the Coptic Orthodox Church," Sidhom expounded. "The personal rapport between Mubarak and Pope Shenouda III and that between the late president Gamal Abdel-Nasser and Shenouda's predecessor Cyril, was a guarantor of Coptic Christian social and political stability. That is no longer the case. Today, the Church is not the primary defender of Coptic Christian interests any more, and the late Pope Shenouda III encouraged Coptic Christian laypersons to participate fully in the Egyptian political process," adds Sidhom. "If there are transition problems, it is important to note that Pope Shenouda III laid the foundation stone for change." Put simply, both the Coptic community and Christian laypersons must look themselves in the mirror. The late Patriarch understood that democracy is a prerequisite for advancing the interests of Coptic Christians despite certain negative images conjured up by the resurgence of political Islam. He, therefore, welcomed Christians' willingness to engage more actively in debate about the direction of the new constitution. None of this will yield lasting improvement without a new constitution that permits Egyptian Christians to fully participate in the decision-making process and nurture a sense of belonging to the political establishment of the country. A most imperative move is a more honest and inclusive constitutional settlement that will guarantee Christians full citizenship rights. There are grounds for hope. To begin with, Egyptian courts -- particularly when it comes to questions of personal and family law, and to disputes between Christians and Muslims often settled outside court -- bridle at plea bargains precisely because of the manner in which they fetter judicial discretion. This is particularly the case of disputes concerning the construction of new churches. But even allowing for this aversion, Coptic Christians insist that these cases must satisfy the requirements of justice. It was since Pope Shenouda's enthronement on the Coptic Orthodox papacy that his congregation became increasingly conscious that there was nothing wrong with open demands for equal citizenship rights. So what is the balance sheet? Coptic intellectual and secular activist Kamal Zakher insists that Coptic Christians have more at stake because they cannot afford their citizenship rights to be compromised. The remaining question is how to organise? That is the urgent debate. The judgement of history will take care of whether Pope Shenouda III initiated this radical new outlook. Without Shenouda Copts begin to run out of superlatives. He had been a huge influence on the thinking of ordinary Coptic Christians. Most Copts express their political views without descending into misdoubt or paranoia. "There is now a strong civil society noted for its adamant refusal to downgrade political participation in favour of ecclesiastical discourse," MP Emad Gad told the Weekly. Gad stressed that the elected Coptic Christian members of the People's Assembly and Shura Council are scheduled to hold a third -- and final -- session on Saturday to elect the 100-member Constituent Assembly (CA). The CA is tasked with drafting Egypt's first post-25 January Revolution constitution and will urge fellow MPs to promulgate a secularist constitution. This they will insist on in spite of the tremendous majority Islamist presence in parliament. "We will try to veer the constitution towards a more secular perspective," Gad said. Accordingly, Egyptians who do not particularly appreciate the legacy of the late Patriarch should be wary of dancing on Pope Shenouda III's grave.
