Towards the end of 2005, HG Bishop Antonious Markos (HG BAM) was advised by HH Pope Shenouda that he was required as a member of the papal delegation to travel February 2006 to Brazil for the World Council of Churches General Assembly. There, through God’s grace, HH planned to consecrate the new Coptic Orthodox Church in Sao Paulo.

Instead of the longer and less direct routing through North America, HG BAM requested HH to travel via Johannesburg to consecrate the two altars and two baptisteries of Saint Mark Cathedral in Johannesburg, where HH had laid the foundation stone during his first visit to South Africa in January 1994; the building of the Cathedral was fully completed in 2000 and opened for service at Christmas of the same year. HH agreed to the suggestion and arrived in Johannesburg Tuesday, 7 February, 2006, accompanied by His Eminence Metropolitan Bishoy, the Secretary of the Holy Synod, and HG Bishop Yoannes, the Papal Secretary. HG Bishop Paul was also expected but cancelled on the day before his expected arrival.

HH was welcomed by: congregations of Africans- including Egyptians from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and Malawi; Ethiopians; the Egyptian Ambassador- Her Excellency Mrs Hagar el Islambouley and the Egyptian Embassy staff; HG Bishop A. Markos- the Coptic Bishop of African Affairs, three monks serving in South Africa- Fr Abd El Messeh el Samuely, Fr Estefanous El Samuely, Fr Philibos El Samuely, Fr John Ramzy- Cote d’Ivoire, Fr Samuel Boulos- Namibia.

After the morning arrival by Egypt Air, HH was guest of honour at an evening dinner hosted by the Egyptian Ambassador in the Egyptian Embassy in Pretoria.

Wednesday morning, HH prayed the consecration of the altars of the Church- one commemorating Saint Mark and the Virgin Mary, and the other, Saint Anthony. The baptisteries and various Church icons were also consecrated.

With other guests, the consecration was attended by numerous Christian leaders of the country, Ethiopians, Eritreans and African congregations from 12 branches of the COC in SA.

After the consecration, an agape brunch was offered to all, with a special sitting of non COC members with HH. This was a very relaxed and pleasant gathering.

Wednesday evening, there was a meeting with HH and Egyptian Coptic Orthodox members residing in South Africa. The meeting was very well attended and HH answered peoples’ questions and delivered a spiritual talk. Following this, there was a closed meeting with Egyptian elders of the South African Coptic Orthodox congregation; many issues regarding the services of the Bishopric of African Affairs were cleared; false allegations, which had been leveled against the Bishop were proven baseless and shown to have been initiated by some without a knowledge of the truth; before the end of the meeting, three members of the Holy Synod declared that the truth of the Bishop’s declarations were fully supported by HH; attempting defamers were warned to keep within their appropriate limits, as action would most certainly be taken if they continued to attempt to destroy the fruits of the service of the COC in SA.

Thursday morning, HH was interviewed by the South African media. He then visited the residence of the Egyptian Embassy military attaché- Brigadier Ashraf Iskander- a Copt, who hosted lunch for HH and his delegation, a number of embassy staff and some Copts.

Thursday evening, HH attended a banquet in his honour, held at the Johannesburg Hilton, at which the most senior, South African priest- Fr Morcos Khobe- elaborated the history of the Coptic Orthodox Church in South Africa since the 1940s. With HH, the Bishop of Africa Affairs, Metropolitan Bishoy, the Egyptian Ambassador and faithful from Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Zimbabwe, all gave speeches.