His Holiness Pope Tawadros II Participates in the Opening of the “Coexistence, Tolerance and Acceptance of the Other” Conference at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina
On November 22, 2022, His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, participated in the opening session of the conference of “Coexistence, Tolerance and Acceptance of the Other.. Towards a Better Future”, that was organized by the Coptic Studies Centre at the Conference Centre in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
In the opening speech, His Holiness Pope Tawadros II indicated that coexistence is life, tolerance is a way of life and acceptance of others is a quality of life.
About coexistence, His Holiness Pope Tawadros II said that we give a great value to the idea of coexistence and that we, as Egyptians, have an expression for the idea of coexistence which says “ bread and salt”, as there will be coexistence between me and the person whom I eat bread and salt with, regardless of any differences that may exist between us.
As for tolerance, His Holiness said that a person can tolerate and forgive others when he has peace with himself, peace with God and peace with others, and about coexistence, His Holiness said that we reach it through love and having a big heart that loves everyone.
His Holiness Pope Tawadros II cited an old Christian tradition which is using a pomegranate fruit as a sign of love to others, as it has many heart-shaped seeds contained in the outer peel and they used to resemble these seeds as the hearts of other people that are contained in the outer peel which is the human’s heart…
This news was originally published on the Coptic Orthodox Church website. Please click here to read the full text.
