Cairo - A
few days ago, the Egyptian Ministry of Awqaf banned donation funds in mosques, claiming to eliminate the suspicion of corruption that included some officials of financial aid funds, which prompted some to question the fate of donations inside Christian places of worship.
The question about donations in churches comes in light of the existence of different forms of the resources of donation funds for the church inside Egypt, all of which are linked to a religious obligation or a free tendency of faith, namely tithes, first-borns and vows, at a time when the church does not issue any statements regarding the disclosure of the value of donations.
In this report, we review the most prominent information related to donation funds in Egyptian churches:
Types of donations
Tithing for Copts is similar to zakat among Muslims, as the church receives a tenth of a Christian’s money, whether it is the proceeds of a salary, property, grants, or emergency funds.
It is not required that a Christian direct tithe money to church donation funds, as he can spend from it on the sick, the needy, and orphans.
Firstborn, which is an obligation like tithe, and it means every virgin money that a Christian earns, such as the first salary he receives or the first bonus and so on.
Vows, which in Christianity are the money donated by the believer in implementation of the intercession that the Coptic Orthodox believe in, and it is not a divine obligation like tithes and first-borns, but it is related to the Coptic vow something to the patron saint in the event of the divine response to his request, according to church rituals.
There are many types of donation boxes within the church, some of them are designated to contribute to the construction of places of worship, others support the poor, a third support church activities, and the fourth concerns vows, provided that the donor chooses the appropriate fund to put his money in.
According to the pastor of the Church of the Virgin Mary in Mostorod, Reverend Abdel Masih Basit, in previous press statements, there is a methodology for distributing tithes money, such as the families of the Lord’s brothers, families that do not have a breadwinner or their breadwinner is disabled, families that do not have a good salary, and Coptic girls who are unable to afford equipment costs Marriage, and a school student whose family is unable to complete his education.
In the same statements, Basit says, "Therefore, there are no beggars (beggars) or Christian street children, because with tithes we eliminate this phenomenon."
How to manage church donations money
The Priests’ Affairs Regulations issued in June 2013 stipulate that donations and tithes from Copts must be received through official receipts sealed by the church in its own books.
A committee consisting of the church priest, the treasurer and the head of the church committee in the church convenes during the two days in which the mass prayers are held, which are Sunday and Friday. With the approval of the majority of the committee members.
Article 60 of the Church Council Regulations provides for the appointment of an auditor from outside the Church Council to review the annual financial statements of each church, and to submit a report thereon to the ecclesiastical presidency every year.
The ecclesiastical presidency means the pope, the patriarch, or his representative among the bishops, as well as the father the metropolitan or the father bishop of the diocese.
According to the list of churches councils, a financial committee is formed from the financial official, a member of the church council, two accountants and the treasurer from outside the council, to follow up on the church’s accounts, and its work includes submitting a monthly report on the church’s financial situation to be presented to the church council.
The regulation obliges the Church Council to hold a general meeting after the end of each financial year in the presence of the auditor to discuss the consideration of approving the church’s general financial statements, which include all its various activities, and to consider disclaiming the church council members’ responsibility for their actions for the previous fiscal year, provided that the minutes of the meeting are raised Detailed ecclesiastical presidency for consideration and adoption.
refusal to censor
Despite the ecclesiastical regulations that seem strict in self-censorship regarding the management of tithes, firstborns and vows, as well as various donations, there is a refusal to have government oversight over the funds of their places of worship, unlike mosques that are subject to the supervision of the Central Auditing Organization, a government agency concerned with financial control in both its accounting aspects. and legal for all public bodies and institutions.
The Copts argue that their churches do not obtain a budget from the state to monitor it, and that the church is self-financing.
In August 2012, the Acting Coptic Patriarch of the Coptic Church, Anba Pachomius, refused to impose governmental control over the finances of the Orthodox Church during the preparation of the new constitution for the country, considering the state’s control over the Church’s financial resources as “outright persecution of the Copts,” since donations to the Church “private funds” should not be To be subject to censorship, according to Anadolu Agency.
In September 2018, Coptic movements called for the control of the church system, especially with regard to financial matters, proposing the formation of a higher council to inspect all churches and their financial affairs alongside the committees formed within each church, to stop what they called theft of donations or defrauding Copts in the name of religion.
In a previous press statement, the founder of the Association for the Victims of the Copts, Hani Ezzat, explained that there is a council responsible for managing the financial affairs and donations for each church, which is made up of the church’s sons. proper guidance.
In August 2015, Al-Youm Al-Sabea newspaper published a story stating that Coptic activists had submitted a notification to the Ministry of the Interior to organize a demonstration inside St. Mark’s Cathedral in Abbasiya, in protest against some ecclesiastical conditions, and to demand the Financial Council to tighten control over the church’s revenues from donations. The demonstration was not organized and its organizers were not announced about the reason for that.
Hundreds of millions of services
Last February, the magazine Al-Keraza, which is supervised by Pope Tawadros II, published a detailed table of the services of the Episcopate of public and social services of the Church of St. Mark for the year 2020.
The episcopate provided its services in 42 societies, with a value of about 95 million pounds (a dollar = about 15.7 pounds).
The magazine published a detailed table under the title "Shepherd and Mother of Light Activities - Episcopal Public, Social and Ecumenical Services for the year 2020," with a financial value of more than 45 million pounds (about 3 million dollars).
The financial report of the Diocese of Services during the period from November 2017 to the same month of the following year indicated that the episcopate spent more than 14.5 million pounds on brides’ marriage, shelter and housing.
Steps to hold violators accountable
If a clergyman is involved in any financial irregularities, he is held accountable through secret church trials, the laws of which are regulated through church regulations, and the method of accountability varies according to the church position. There are differences in terms of punishment between the priest, the monk and the bishop.
The regulations set 3 degrees of accountability for the priest who is involved in financial or other violations, according to the regulation regulating the service of priests. It begins with advice and guidance if the violation is simple, and the punishment can reach a two-week suspension from the service.
And the second degree, during which the violator is referred to the Clerical Council for Priests’ Affairs to consider being held accountable for major mistakes, and one of his powers is to be suspended from service for a period of two years.
As for the third degree, it is referred to the General Seminary Council, and its powers reach to disqualify the priest from the priesthood after the approval of the Pope.
Monks have 3 degrees in the accounting regulations, the first of which is a warning, followed by presentation to the monastic discipline committee inside the monastery, and the last accountability is through the monastic discipline committee of the Holy Synod. from monasticism.
There are 5 degrees of accountability for bishops. The first requires the Pope to meet with the violating bishop to discuss the possibility of correcting errors, and the second is for the Pope to send a third party to the bishop to try to correct the error. If he fails, the third degree is to refer the matter to the dioceses committee of the Holy Synod, which submits an investigation report and recommendations to the Pope.
The fourth degree is the meeting of the Pope one last time with the bishop and an attempt to remedy the errors. The last degree is the presentation of the bishop’s order to the Holy Synod of the Church to take the appropriate decision, and the presentation of the punishment in a secret vote of the members of the Synod that amounts to returning to the monasteries and leaving the diocese.