Mazal tov--a new Pope!

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Mazal tov -- congratulations!
A new Pope for the Coptic Orthodox Christians was chosen  yesterday in Egypt.
H.G. Bishop Tawadros' picture can be seen here.
He will soon become the spiritual leader of the Middle East’s largest Christian community, estimated at around 10 percent of  Egypt's population of 83 million.

And here is the video clip of the curious manner in which the pope is picked, by a blindfolded boy drawing out one of three names of the final candidates  written on a ball.

 This is a good opportunity to show you the Coptic liturgy I just by chance wandered into last August 22, which was St. Mary's Fast, down in the Church of Mary in Jerusalem.

Some 2,500 Copts live in Israel.

 Archbishop Dr. Anba Abraham is the Coptic Orthodox Metropolitan Archbishop of Jerusalem and the Near East.
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UPDATE: Archbishop Abraham died on November 25, 2015.  May his memory be a blessing.
UPDATE March 2016: Anba Antonius, the new Archbishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Jerusalem and the Near East. Antonius, who was appointed on February 27 in Cairo as the successor of the deceased Anba Abraham, is the twenty-second metropolitan archbishop of the city.   (see here about his welcome to Jerusalem)
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See more here: http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/post-biblical-period/what-is-coptic-and-who-were-the-copts-in-ancient-egypt/ 
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