Bishop Marqus (*1944)

Bishop Marqus is Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Shubrā al-Khaymah, Cairo since 1978. Bishop Marqus is known to be a loyal supporter of Pope Shenouda III, and occasionaly he has functioned as spokesman of the Coptic Orthodox Church. Since 2005, he is supervisor of the Coptic television channel CoptSat.⁽¹⁾

He was born in Cairo in January 1944, and was baptized with the name Najīb Nasīm Narūz. In 1968, he graduated with a Bachelor in Engineering from Ain Shams University, and thereafter obtained a BA from the Faculty of Theology. Afterwards in September 1976 he went to live as monk in the Monastery of Bīshūy, located in the Wādī Natrūn desert between Cairo and Alexandria. In 1978, he was elected as bishop of the Shubrā al-Khaymah diocese in Cairo and upon consecration was given the name Marqus.

From 1998 to 1999, Bishop Marqus was chairman of the Coptic Orthodox Holy Family Committee, which was formed after the Ministry of Tourism asked the Coptic church for a map showing the locations that the Holy Family visited.⁽²⁾                        

He also served on several church committees dealing with relations between the church and the government, including the investigation of the al-Kushh killings in 2000.

On Succession of the Pope

In the debate about candidacy for papal succession (which has become more pressing due to Pope Shenouda III's advanced age), opinion is divided about who can legally succeed the pope. There are those who believe the pope can be succeeded by:

1) Monks only.
2) Monks and general bishops.
3) Monks, general bishops, and diocesan bishops.

Bishop Marqus espouses the second position, which excludes himself from candidacy. He stated that it would require a synodal decision, during the lifetime of a functioning pope, to change the law to include diocesan bishops.⁽³⁾

Relations with the Government and the Coptic Diaspora

On more than one occasion, Bishop Marqus has rejected Coptic activists' allegations that Copts in Egypt are persecuted by the Egyptian government or by Muslims in general.

In 2001, he rejected a press release issued by Michael Munīr, president of the U.S. Copts Association, claiming that the Egyptian government's persecution of the Copts was evidenced by the destruction of a wall around a plot of land meant as the site of a church in Bishop Marqus' diocese.⁽⁴⁾ The bishop explained to Munīr that the destruction had nothing to do with harassment of Christian Copts, but was rather a matter of a lack of communication between the local priest, who built the wall without a permit on land donated by the government for church-building, and the local governor, who hastily decided to destroy the wall. It was a matter to be peacefully solved by the involved parties, and Bishop Marqus asked Munīr to stop interfering in local Egyptian issues, which he believes Munīr generally misunderstands.

The Bishop said that foreign interference would do more harm than good in the Egyptian context, and that Coptic affairs should only be discussed between the Pope and the authorities. He does not approve of organizing conferences outside Egypt addressing the situation of Egyptian Copts.⁽⁵⁾ In 2002, Bishop Marqus and a number of other Coptic thinkers said that they "found the information of the U.S. Copts Association rambling, anti-Islamic, and polarizing."⁽⁶⁾ His discourse is diplomatic and he wishes to maintain a good relationship with the government.

Bishop Marqus does not make aggressive accusations like the U.S. Copts, but rather pursues a more moderate course of action. He expresses concern for the equality of Coptic citizens before the law in Egypt and he stresses that there are matters to be addressed to improve the situation for Copts in Egypt. An article in Egypt Today [2005] quotes Bishop Marqus:

"There is no persecution of Copts, but there are some laws and traditions that we want to change. We want a unified code for the construction of houses of worship, freedom of belief in a sense that allows Christian converts to Islam to embrace Christianity if they change their minds, especially since Islam stipulates that there is no coercion in faith. We also want Christians to have space in the media."⁽⁷⁾

Bishop Marqus has expressed his happiness with President Mubārak and his approach to Coptic concerns in Egypt. The bishop agrees with Pope Shenouda III that, since Mubārak came to power, the Copts' situation has improved.⁽⁸⁾ The bishop thanked the president for his support in rebuilding a church building that had been demolished by local authorities in 2001.⁽⁹⁾ Marqus also praised Mubārak's decision to make it easier for Christians to obtain permits to build and restore churches, by delegating the issuing of such permits to local governors in 2005.⁽¹⁰⁾

On Interreligious Dialouge

Bishop Marqus supports dialogue and overcoming prejudices that are present in both Muslim and Christian circles. He joined the Arab Christian-Muslim Working Group and participated in a conference organized by this group in 2001, which resulted in a charter entitled, "Christians and Muslims Together - A Charter for a Dialogue of Life and Common Action."⁽¹¹⁾

Bishop Marqus does not abstain from addressing actual problems between Muslims and Christians in Egypt. Following the tragic events in al-Kushh (see below), he said:

"Facts needs to be addressed in Egypt. Negative publicity abroad is doing us no good, we need to discuss issues in Egypt and find solutions for those issues in Egypt, not abroad."⁽¹²⁾

In an article in Sawt al-Ummah newspaper [2006], Bishop Marqus blamed the media and the educational system for Muslims' lack of knowledge about Christianity. He believes that insufficient time is given to Christian topics and issues in the media and schools add to fanaticism.⁽¹³⁾

The bishop took a clear stance in the debate over the play shown in the Mar Girgis Church in Alexandria in 2005. The play was the source of a great amount of public Muslim anger, as the play was considered offensive to Islam. Bishop Marqus called for severe consequences for those involved in the play if the accusations turned out to be true.⁽¹⁴⁾ AWR reporting showed that the local church was indeed responsible, but that the church's response to what Christians see as a genuine concern about Christian conversions to Islam was characterized by a "lack of wisdom," in the words of Father Tadrous-Malaty.⁽¹⁵⁾

The al-Kushh Murders

In the beginning of year 2000, Pope Shenouda III sent Bishop Marqus and Bishop Serabamun to the village al-Kushh to investigate the tragic killings of twenty Christians and one Muslim villager, which had taken place a few hours earlier.⁽¹⁶⁾ The incident apparently started as an argument between a shopkeeper and a vendor and ended in shootings and house burnings.⁽¹⁷⁾

Due to the scale of this tragedy, it was mentioned in media worldwide and was, in many cases, described as a case of Muslim persecution of Christians in Egypt. In an interview for the magazine Christianity Today, Marqus' comments on the tragedy were balanced and pragmatic:

"Our main problem is the poisoned climate between Muslims and Christians among large parts of the population. We should not neglect this but deal with it. After all, Christians only have a future in Egypt if Muslims and Christians live together in harmony and we should work towards that end."⁽¹⁸⁾

Although he was deeply disappointed and shocked by the result of the trial in February 2001, in which none of the accused was sentenced.⁽¹⁹⁾ He was still firm in his rejection of accusations of discriminatory motives sanctioned by the government when he met with the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom. He maintained that the verdict was judicial and not political. Additionally, at this meeting, he downplayed the existence of sectarian strife in Egypt, saying:

"We are not dealing with matters out of a sectarian attitude but out of a patriotic one towards all the children of this country. This is the prevailing climate among Egyptians."⁽²⁰⁾

The West and the Muslims

In an interview by Cornelis Hulsman for the Dutch newspaper Reformatorisch Dagblad, Bishop Marqus emphasized the media's role in creating either understanding or tension between the West and Egyptian Muslims and Muslims in the West. He believes that the media has a vital role to play and a great responsibility. He criticized media coverage both in the West and in the Arab world of being too one-sided and inflaming hatred between Muslims and Christians.⁽²¹⁾

In this interview he was asked to comment on the war against terrorism after the 9/11 attacks. He agreed with many Muslim commentators that Muslims are faced with a simplistic and generalized representation of Islam. He believes it is an error to blame Islam for the actions of a few extremist men. On the other hand, he did not join the chorus of clear-cut criticism of U.S. foreign policy so often heard in the Arab media.

Marie Lunddahl, February 2007

Sources

1. http://www.tbsjournal.com/Archives/Fall05/SalamaCoptic.html

2. RNSAW 2002, 12, art.1

3. RNSAW 2002, 46, art.1; 2002, 48, art.22

4. RNSAW 2002, 3, art. 12

5.  http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=6070

6. RNSAW 2002, 16, 12

7. http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=6070

8. RNSAW 2002, 3, art.12

9. RNSAW 2001, 9, art.10 and 2001, 22, art.7

10. AWR 2005, 51, art.17

11. RNSAW 2001, 50, art. 8

12. RNSAW, 2000, week 49A, art. 1

13. AWR 2006, 17, art.53

14. AWR 2005, 45, art. 22

15. AWR 2005, 46, art. 25

16. RNSAW 2000, 1, art.34

17. RNSAW 2000, 1, art.15

18. RNSAW 2000, 1, art.34

19. RNSAW 2001, 8, art.9

20. RNSAW 2001, 12, art.4

21. RNSAW 2001, 41, art. 35