His Holiness Anba Shenouda III

Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the Preaching of St. Mark, of Egypt, the Near East and All Africa

His Holiness Shenouda III is considered by Copts to be the 117th patriarch of Alexandria in direct succession to Saint Mark the Evangelist, author of the second Gospel. Elected to the Coptic papacy in 1971, he celebrated his silver jubilee in 1996. During his reign, the Church has been extensively reformed and expanded: there are now some 75 bishops in the Holy Synod, compared to 20 when he took the throne; in 1971 there were three Coptic parishes in North America, and today there are dozens, and hundreds in the worldwide Egyptian diaspora. Shenouda has visited the US on several occasions.

Shenouda III was born Nazir Gayyed on August 3, 1923. He graduated from the University of Cairo prior to entering the Coptic Theological College, which at the time was an unusual preparation. He worked as a journalist before joining the monastery, and then and later also wrote poetry. In 1954 he was ordained a priest in the monastery of Deir al-Suryan, one of the ancient desert monasteries of the Wadi al-Natrun, where he was known as Father Theodosius al-Suryani. In the tradition of the desert fathers, he would live for weeks at a time alone in a cave in the desert; one such cell is said to have been seven miles from the monastery and one 25 miles away.

Recognized as a promising and talented priest from early in his career, he was named in 1959 as Private Secretary to the recently elected Coptic Pope, Cyril VI. Three years later, in 1962, he was named Bishop for Religious Education, with the episcopal name of Shenouda. As the church underwent modernization and rebirth in the era of Cyril VI, bishops with specialized talents were appointed to such general positions rather than to geographical sees. But in addition to his emphasis on education, Shenouda has also always been an advocate of the rebirth of Coptic monasticism, and spent half of each week at his monastery, at one point going back for an extended period. In 1965, he became Editor-in-Chief of the church magazine, al-Kiraza, a post he continued to hold after becoming Pope. He also served as a Professor of Theology at the Coptic Theological Seminary.

Cyril VI died in 1971. In keeping with an ancient tradition of selecting the final candidate by drawing lots, Bishop Shenouda on October 31, 1997 was chosen the 117th Patriarch of the See of St. Mark. Even as Pope, he continued to spend part of his time in a monastery, keeping a residence at another Wadi Natrun monastery, Deir Anba Bishoi.  An activist patriarch from the beginning, Shenouda in 1977 became the first Coptic Pope to visit the United States. (He was here again in 1996, part of many trips marking his 25th anniversary on the throne.) During the 1970s, however, growing sectarian tensions in Egypt led to protests among Copts in the US and elsewhere, and President Anwar Sadat came to blame Shenouda for fomenting complaints by Copts abroad. In 1980, with tensions between Islamists and Copts deepening, Shenouda openly criticized government encouragement of the Islamists, and the Coptic bishops called for limiting the usual Easter celebrations and calling for prayers for the church instead. When Sadat cracked down on all opposition forces in September 1981, Shenouda was among those arrested (as was the Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood). Sadat suspended the Pope and restricted him to his monastery, naming a five-bishop panel to run the church. The Pope remained in the monastery for a year after Sadat’s assassination but was eventually restored to authority. He has since been supportive of the Husni Mubarak government’s positions.

Shenouda has held ecumenical meetings with a wide variety of Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, Muslim and other religious leaders. In keeping with the tradition of the eastern churches, in which there are married parish priests but bishops are always chosen from the celibate monks, Shenouda is of course celibate.

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