Damian (Coptic Bishop)

Bishop Anba Damian

Damian (salutation: Bishop Anba Damian , maiden name: Refaat Ramzi Mikhail Fahmi ; born March 15, 1955 in Cairo ) is bishop of the diocese of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Northern Germany.

With his ordination as bishop by Pope Schenuda III. and the Coptic Holy Synod in June 1995, he is the pastor and contact person for around 6,000 Copts in eight Coptic Orthodox parishes in Germany, where he has been a pastor since 1993. His official seat is the " Monastery of the Holy Virgin Mary and St. Mauritius " in Höxter -Brenkhausen. On June 16, 2013, the previous Bishop General of Pope Tawadros II was elevated to the position of Bishop of the Diocese of Northern Germany in St. Mark's Cathedral in Cairo. The enthronement in Höxter took place on June 29, 2013, on the Coptic Orthodox feast of the holy martyrs Cosmas and Damian, in the presence of all the bishops consecrated in Cairo on June 15 or 16.

Life

Damian grew up in a Coptic Orthodox family in Cairo. After his father, who worked as a civil servant in the Egyptian Ministry of Health, died in 1966, the mother, who worked as a tailor and housewife, took over the management of the family and raised the children alone. Damian studied medicine in Cairo and graduated in 1979. After completing the year of recognition in Cairo, he began working as a civilian doctor in the American military hospital in Stuttgart in 1981. From 1982 to 1988 he completed his specialist training in radiation therapy , nuclear medicine and X-ray diagnostics at the Ludwigsburg district hospital to become a specialist in radiology. From 1988 he worked for three years as a senior physician in radiology at the Mühlacker district hospital (Enzkreis).

In 1991 he decided to dedicate his life to the service of the Coptic Orthodox Church. His goal at the time was a life as a monk in one of the Egyptian monasteries, ideally as a hermit (hermits have an outstanding status within the Coptic Orthodox Church and require the approval of the patriarch for this way of life). In November 1992 he was ordained a monk , and in 1993 he was ordained a priest by Pope Schenuda III. in the Egyptian St. Bishop's Monastery. In the same year he was sent to Germany as a pastor for the Coptic Orthodox youth born in Germany. On December 22, 1993, he took over the ruined monastery in Höxter-Brenkhausen from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia for the Coptic Orthodox Church in Germany and began - with the help of Coptic Orthodox deacons from Egypt - with the restoration of the complex, which has been his official residence ever since . In 1995, he was ordained General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Germany in St. Mark's Cathedral in Cairo.

In his work as Bishop General Damian attaches great importance to work and integration within the ecumenical movement of the Christian churches. Since the beginning of his activity in Germany he has maintained intensive contacts with Catholic and Protestant communities, but also maintains contacts and exchanges with both Jewish organizations and communities, as well as moderate Islamic organizations. Shaped by his own vita , Damian works for the integration and understanding between occidental and oriental culture.

Damian can always be found in the Brenkhausen Monastery and on his travels outside of it in the habit of a Coptic Orthodox monk. The black habit includes a cap that symbolizes the protection of the twelve apostles for the wearer with twelve Coptic crosses. The central seam of the cap goes back, according to legend, to an event that St. Happened to Anthony in the desert. A demon tried to steal his cap, but Antonius held it and the cap tore in the middle. The symbolic seam reminds the Copts today of hostility and attacks that they can expect in this life. Another part of the habit is the Coptic leather cross.

The monastery in Höxter-Brenkhausen made Damian a meeting place. The high number of visitors - both Christian congregations and individual visitors - illustrates both the openness with which Damian and the Coptic Orthodox Church present themselves to interested visitors (without any missionary zeal), as well as the Egyptian hospitality that one experiences when visiting in Brenkhausen learns.

Web links

• kath.net, January 23, 2007: Interview with Anba Damian
• Anba Damian: doctor, monk and Bishop General of the Copts
• Website of the Coptic Orthodox Monastery Höxter-Brenkhausen

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Deutschlandradio Kultur from September 6, 2008: "Anba Damian: Doctor, Monk and Bishop General of the Copts"