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HIS HOLINESS POPE SHENOUDA III

The 117th Pope of Alexandria & Patriarch of the See of St. Mark

His Holiness Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria (born 3 August 1923), born Nazeer Gayed, is the 117th Pope of Alexandria and the Patriarch of All Africa on the Holy Apostolic See of Saint Mark the Evangelist of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria.

By definition of his post he is the head of The Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria.

A graduate of Cairo University and the Coptic Orthodox Seminary, Nazeer Gayed became a monk under the name Fr. Antonios the Syrian after joining the Syrian Monastery of the Ever-Virgin Mary the Theotokos, where he was later elevated to the priesthood.

Pope Cyril VI summoned Fr. Antonios to the patriarchate where he ordained him Bishop of Christian Education and Dean of the Coptic Orthodox Theological University, whereupon he assumed the name Shenouda, which was the name of a Coptic Saint and two Previous Popes Shenouda I (859- 880) and Shenouda II (1047 - 1077).

He has served as Pope of Alexandria since November 14, 1971, presiding over a worldwide expansion of the Coptic Orthodox Church. During his papacy, His Holiness Pope Shenouda III has appointed the first-ever Bishops to preside over North American dioceses that now contain over two hundred Churches, up from four in 1971, as well as the first Bishops in Australia and the first Coptic Churches in South America.

He is known for his commitment to Christian unity and has, since the 1970s, advocated inter-denominational Christian dialogue.

Early Life

Born on August 3, 1923 in Asyut, Upper Egypt, he is the youngest of a family of eight children. By the age of 16, Pope Shenouda was active in the Coptic Sunday School movement.

Mr. Gayed was very active in his church and served as a Sunday School teacher, first at Saint Anthony's Church in Shoubra and then at Saint Mary's Church in Mahmasha.

After graduating from Cairo University with a degree in history, he worked as a high school English and Social Studies teacher in Cairo by day, and attended classes at the Coptic Theological Seminary by night. Upon graduation from the seminary in 1949, he was chosen to teach New Testament Studies.

Monastic Life and Educational Service

On July 18, 1954, Mr. Gayed was led to the monastic life at the Syrian Monastery in Scetes; he was given the name of Father Antonios el-Syriani (Anthony the Syrian, or Anthony of the Syrian Monastery). For six years, from 1956 to 1962, he lived a life of solitude in a cave about seven miles away from the monastery, dedicating all his time to meditation, prayer, and asceticism. Antonios el-Syriani was among the candidates nominated for the papal throne in 1956, but Pope Cyril VI was the one ultimately chosen for the post.

Later, at the Syrian Monastery, he became a monastic priest under the name of Fr. Antonios el-Syriani. He lived as a hermit.

Ordination as a bishop

On 30 September 1962,^[1]Pope Cyril VI appointed Fr. Antonios the Syrian to the bishopric of Christian Education and as Dean of the Coptic Orthodox Theological Seminary, whereupon he called him Shenouda. The relevance of the name emanates from the fact that the most renowned scholar and writer in Coptic was Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite.

Under Bishop Shenouda's leadership, the number of students at the Coptic Orthodox Theological Seminary tripled.^[2] Bishop Shenouda was suspended in 1966 by Pope Cyril VI.^{[1], [2]} This was essentially the result of Bishop Shenouda's (as well as his students') enthusiastic 'campaigns for change' that used rather strong words, such as supporting peoples' right to choose their bishops and priests, a principle that Bishop Shenouda later applied when he became Pope of Alexandria. This conflict between Pope Cyril VI and Bishop Shenouda was later resolved.

Enthroning as Pope of Alexandria

He was enthroned as Pope Shenouda III, the 117th Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark on November 14, 1971 , nearly 9 months after the departure of Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria. As he was a Bishop already he could not assume any different name from Shenouda.

The ceremony was the first and yet the only enthroning of a Coptic Pope to take place in the new Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo.

Period of Exile

On September 3, 1981, Egyptian president Anwar Sadat ordered Pope Shenouda into exile at the Monastery of Saint Pishoy after Pope Shenouda's refusal in spring 1981 to hold public Church celebrations of Easter and to receive that year the President's delegates who are regularly sent to greet the Church and Coptic Orthodox Christians on such occasions (this move by Pope Shenouda III was very embarrassing to President Sadat, both nationally and internationally).

In addition, eight bishops, twenty-four priests, and many other prominent Copts were placed under arrest. Sadat replaced the church hierarchy with a committee of five bishops and referred to Pope Shenouda as the "ex-Pope." On January 2, 1985, more than three years after Sadat's 1981 assassination, President Hosni Mubarak released Pope Shenouda from exile. He returned to Cairo to celebrate the January 7th Christmas liturgy to a crowd of more than ten thousand.

Supervised growth of the Church Worldwide

The papacy of HH Shenouda III has coincided with a worldwide expansion of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria: while there were only four Coptic Orthodox churches in all of North America in 1971, today there are more than two hundred.^[6]

The growth of the American Coptic Orthodox Church has been such that in 1996, Shenouda installed the first two Diocesan Bishops for the United States — one for Los Angeles, California and the other for the Southern United States plus two General Bishops, Exarchs of the Throne in the Archdiocesan Center of North America in New Jersey.

In the Caribbean, Mission churches have been founded in Bermuda, St. Kitts, and in the U.S. Virgin Islands in St. Thomas.

Moreover, Shenouda's tenure has also included the founding of the first Coptic Orthodox Church in South America (in São Paulo, Brazil), and the second, in Bolivia. In February 2006, His Holiness visited and consecrated the church of St. Mark in São Paulo, Brazil and the church of St. Mary and St. Mark in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Later, on the Feast of Pentcost 2006, the two monk priests of the two churches were consecrated bishops, Bishop Agathon of Brazil and Bishop Youssef of Bolivia.

In Australia and New Zealand, there are currently 28 churches, and in 1999, Shenouda enthroned Bishop Suriel, the first bishop for Melbourne, Canberra, Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia and New Zealand. Recently, Bishop Suriel established two churches in Fiji.

In 1994, under the guidance of Pope Shenouda III, the British Orthodox Church, which was originally established in 1866 as a part of the Syriac Orthodox Church, became canonically part of the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate. At the feast of the Pentecost that same year, Pope Shenouda ordained Metropolitan Seraphim of Glastonbury as Metropolitan for the British Orthodox Church, and thus joined the British Orthodox Church, as an Autonomous Church, into the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria.

In June 2002, Bishop Daniel was officially ordained and appointed the first bishop with jurisdiction for the Australian states of New South Wales, Queensland, and the Northern Territory, as well as South and North East Asia.

In Europe, there are currently over fifty churches and ten bishops. Africa currently has two bishops serving, as Patriarchal Exarchs, in missions in nine African countries.

When Eritrea gained political independence from Ethiopia, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki requested that the local Church be made independent from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which required a Patriarch enthroned by the Coptic Orthodox Pope of Alexandria.

Previously, the church in Eritrea was an Archdiocese of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church. The Patriarch and Synod of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church reluctantly agreed to the elevation of the Church in Eritrea. Pope Shenouda III thus anointed the first Patriarch of Eritrea with the name Patriarch Philip I (Abuna Philipos of Eritrea). This was the second consecration of a Patriarch by the Pope of Alexandria in the twentieth century (the first Patriarchal consecration in the twentieth century occurred when Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria consecrated the first Catholicos-Patriarch of Ethiopia in 1959.)

Commitment to Christian Unity

In 1973, Pope Shenouda III became the first Coptic Orthodox Pope of Alexandria to meet the Pope of Rome in over 1500 years. In this visit, Popes Shenouda III and Pope Paul VI signed a common declaration on the issue of Christology and agreed to further discussions on Christian unity. There have also been dialogues with various Protestant churches worldwide.

Pope Shenouda III is well known for his deep commitment to Christian unity. In an address he gave at an ecumenical forum during the International Week of Prayer in 1974, he declared, "The whole Christian world is anxious to see the church unite. Christian people, being fed up with divisions, are pushing their church leaders to do something about church unity and I am sure that the Holy Spirit is inspiring us."

Under his leadership, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria has become a full member of the World Council of Churches, the Middle East Council of Churches, the All-African Council of Churches, the National Council of the Churches in Christ in the U.S.A., the Canadian Council of Churches, and the Australian Council of Churches. In May 2000, he established the Office of Ecumenical Affairs, in the Archdiocese of North America.

Pope Shenouda III has emphasized Christian Unity in his work, believing it to be founded upon a unity of faith and not of jurisdiction. As a result, he has paid many visits to the various sister Orthodox churches and their patriarchs, such as those of Constantinople, Moscow, Romania, and Antioch, with the goal of a full communion of these churches with the Oriental Orthodox Churches.

He also won, in the year 2000, the UNESCO Madanjeet Singh prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence by UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura on the recommendation of an international jury.

May our Lord Jesus Christ protect and grant  peace and a Long life to our Beloved Father Pope Shenouda III.