The Coptic Orthodox Church has said that proponents of divorce rights denied by the church can join other divorce-friendly sects as confrontations escalate over the expansion of divorce prerequisites.
“Whoever finds terms for marriage and divorce at the Orthodox Church to be difficult can search for other sects with less restrictive terms,” said Bishop Raphael, secretary general of the church’s Holy Synod.
Late Pope Shenouda III disposed of a 1938 by-law which allowed Copts to request a church-sanctioned divorce under certain conditions, replacing it with another that limited the reasons for divorce to adultery or faith conversion by either spouse.
“The 1938 by-law was adopted unilaterally by the denominational council at the time without referring to the Holy Synod,” Bishop Raphael stated during a seminar in downtown Cairo on Tuesday.
Demands by several members of the Coptic community on the adoption of civilian marriage and the right to divorce have been highly contentious for years.
Egyptian churches have yet to approve a law proposed by the government in late 2014, which unifies personal affairs' regulations for non-Muslims. Civilian marriage advocates’ hopes are pinned on the document for resolving their clash with the Church, which has for a long time adhered to the prohibition of divorce, except in the case of adultery or conversion by either spouse.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
