my coptic friend told me this morning that the predecessor of the current pope of alexandria, pope shenouda, had been declared a saint. this raised a few questions in my mind since i was under the impression (based on something i heard on ewtn) that the catholic church was the only religious body that still produced saints.
We Orthodox produce them in spades.
If you are refering to Pope Cyril VI, I don’t know if he has officially been glorified, but it is just a formality I am sure. He was quite a Pope on many levels.
can anyone shed some light on what my friend meant by this? do the copts have a process of canonization just as the catholic church does (after all they have a patriarch named “pope” so … )? i know i could just ask him but i don’t want to appear critical or questioning of his church without knowing more about the topic.
There has been some formalization of the process as of late, a waiting period, etc. (and, as I understand it, restricting it to monastics and martyrs, which would be an innovation).
The process is called glorification in Orthodoxy. The Orthodox may prayer to any of the Faithful departed. If a consensus grows among the Faithful, eventually the local bishop will examine the the devotion to the person to see if God is revealing that that person has entered heaven. Once the Faithful and Hierarchy agree that God has glorified the saint by revealing that he has entered heaven, a final memorial is held where we go from praying for, to praying to them. In any case, it is formally acknowledging a fact God has revealed. It does not make them a saint.
The process is also very local. My old Church, for instance was consecrated and served by two saints, Patriarch Saint Tikhon and Fr. Saint John Kochurof (first neomartyr of the Bolsheviks). Because both had returned to Russia, and although served in the United States for much of their ministry, the Russian Church has the right to canonize. They did, however, come here to see the local devotions to them before the ROC glorified them.
Once glorified, icons are written, hymns and an office composed, a date put on the local calendar, etc.
Saints often go from local Church to local Church. St. Seraphim is very popular outside of Russia, for instance.
Btw. Pope Shenoudah is the OO Pope. There is also an EO one, Pope Theodore, who ranks just after the EP. Only the uniate primates in Alexandria, both Coptic and Melkite, lack the title “Pope,” which was original to Alexandria.
