Meanwhile, the Coptic Orthodox Holy Synod is meeting today at the papal headquarters in the Cairo district of al-‘Abbāssīyah to elect a committee which will make a list of nominees for the patriarchic chair. The committee, known as the 18-member committee, includes nine bishops and nine members of the Millī Council and the Coptic association for endowments.

Bishop Bakhomius (Pachomius), the caretaker patriarch, will hold a press conference after the meeting to name the 18 members elected. [Reviewer’s Note: newspaper misspelled Bishop Bakhomius name and wrote “Baphomius”]

This meeting will only be valid if 86 bishops and 20 out of the 24 members of the lay council have attended the earlier meeting that chose the caretaker.

[Reviewer’s Note: Article 3 in the Statute on the Patriarch Election for year 1957 states:

A committee of the acting patriarch as chairman and 18 members to be selected by the Holy Synod, half of them are metropolitans and bishops and the other half are members or current or former deputies of the Millī Council, shall make a list of nominees for the patriarchic chair.

The committee shall be set up within a month at the most since the patriarchic chair became vacant. The meeting of this committee shall be upon a call by the chairman. If the chairman is absent or fails to appear for any reason, the metropolitan who is the oldest to have been ordained shall deputize the chairman in calling and presiding over the meeting.

The meeting shall be only valid when it is attended by two-thirds of the members of the two organizations composing the committee. If the quorum is not observed, the meeting shall be postponed to a later session and that session shall then be valid regardless of the number of persons attending and decisions of the committee shall be taken by absolute majority of attending members.]

Please read full text of the Statute in English and Arabic

[Ashraf Sādiq, al-Ahrām, March 27, p. 14] Read original text in Arabic