H. H. Pope Shenouda III Delivers a Lecture at the BA
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His Holiness Pope Shenouda III Patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria paid his first visit to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina on 23 February 2003. After his tour, H.H. delivered a lecture on Coptic History. In his speech, at the beginning of the seminar, Dr. Ismail Serageldin, Director of the Library highlighted the historical background of H.H. Pope Shenouda III that dates back in the Egyptian heritage to the past 2000 years since the era of the Patriarchs of the Church who lived in Alexandria till this day. He also confirmed that this heritage is an extension to long eras of spiritual Christian dimensions, which was originally established by the Egyptian Church throughout its long history. Dr. Serageldin also pointed out that H.H. has a very special character, being a learned man who spends all his days in researching and studying. The concepts and attitudes of H.H. reflect the noble Egyptian origin.
H.H. donated a collection of 16 CDs containing a large number of manuscripts, which consist of 67,000 pages, and 350,000 titles that were collected by the owners of the Mary Marcus Foundation for Coptic History for the Library as well as a similar copy of this valuable collection to Dr. Serageldin.
H.H. pointed out in the press conference that was held at the end of the visit the efforts and the role that H.E. President Hosni Mubarak played in solving the Arab and international affairs. H.H. also sent a message to the Arab Summit saying, “You must unite, act and think as one entity. The Arab unity in thought and in action will force the West to respect this stance”. H.H. also emphasized the role of the Church in trying to solve the Iraqi, Palestinian and other Arab issues.