Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said last week he would not intervene in the affairs of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church, after the controversial announcement by a priest to form a splinter church.
"I do not intervene in religious affairs", Mubarak said in an interview with the state-owned daily Al-Messa.
"The Copts are able to resolve their own problems without any intervention".
On July 3, the self-proclaimed Archbishop Maximus announced plans to start appointing bishops around the country and split from the Coptic Orthodox Church.
Mubarak stressed that when he recently spoke to Pope Shenouda III, who heads the Coptic Orthodox Church, it was only to welcome him back after a month of medical treatment abroad.
Pope Shenouda, leader of the Church since 1971, sought to play down the importance of the challenge by the dissident bishop, saying the Church "has never been harmed by the dangers threatening it and it will not be affected by this development".
At a press conference Maximus has offered his own program of "liturgical, social and cultural" reforms, saying that his priority was to bridge the gap (between Christians and Muslims) and to "re-establish the status of Copts as citizens, not a religious community".
Maximus also defended divorce, which is banned by the Coptic Church other than in exceptional circumstances.
The 57 year old Maximus, whose real name is Max Michel, has had friction with the Church to which an estimated 10 percent of the 73 million Egyptians belong since 1976.
In 2004, he announced the creation of the Church of St. Athanasius and was consecrated archbishop by three US Orthodox bishops at a church in Nebraska.
© Monday Morning 2006
