Christmas visit from old Christian church [1]
Monday, December 19, 2005 - 16:03. Updated on Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - 16:46.
Visiting Tonga for Christmas is His Grace Bishop Suriel of the Egyptian Orthodox Church, who arrived on December 14 on a 14-days visit.
While in Nuku'alofa HG Bishop Suriel, who is accompanied by four delegates, conducted a Coptic Church service at the Catholic Basilica on Friday December 16.
Bishop Suriel said that on his arrival in Tonga, from the air he was very impressed with the lush green land, "with the beautiful palm trees, I felt that I was coming to a land full of love and friendship."
The Egyptian Orthodox Church, better known as the Coptic Orthodox Church, is one of the oldest Christian churches in the world. It was established by the apostle Saint Mark in Alexandria, northern Egypt in 55 A.D. - and so it has taken two millennium for a follower of Saint Mark and a representative of the Coptic Orthodox Church to land in Tonga. The current leader of the church is His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, the Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of Saint Mark, the 117th successor of Saint Mark, the Evangelist.
Bishop Suriel said that the church has 12 million members through out the world, but most members are in Egypt where they face persecution. The worst was in 2000 when 21 members of the church were massacured by a fanatical Islamic group.
HG Bishop Suriel is based in Melbourne, Australia, where he is the bishop for Melbourne, Canberra, Tasmania, South and Western Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific Islands. They also have a church in Fiji.