The 117th Pope of the Coptic Church between 1971 and 2012. A prominent Christian cleric, he enjoyed a strong personality and attractive charisma. He loved isolation and alienation. He loved living among mountains and caves, contemplating and contemplating life. He was quick-witted and loved humor and banter.

Birth and upbringing

Pope Shenouda was born on August 3, 1923, in the village of Salam, Assiut Governorate, to Orthodox Christian parents.

Before the monastic order, his name was Nazeer Jaid Raphael Gad, and he had two brothers Raphael Jade, who is 22 years older than him, and the priest Boutros Jade.

His mother died after giving birth to puerperal fever, and the Pope said that "his mother's Muslim neighbors breastfed him after her departure."

Pope Shenouda was distinguished by a strong personality, and enjoyed clear charisma. Since his appointment as successor to Pope Kyrollos VI in 1971, he has been the patriarch of the Egyptian Church, the "Patriarch of the Epistle of Mark", which is the Orthodox Church of St. Mark, which includes Eastern Orthodox Christians, especially in Egypt, Africa and some countries of the Diaspora.

Study and formation

Pope Shenouda III studied the preparatory and primary stages in the cities of Damanhour, Alexandria, Assiut and Banha, accompanying his older brother Raphael on his practical travels.

Then he attended "Al-Iman Secondary School" in Badran Island in the Shubra district of Cairo, and completed his secondary education in the literary section of "Ragheb Morgan" School in the Faggala district.


In 1947, he continued his university studies at the Faculty of Arts at Fouad I University (currently Cairo University), in the Department of History, specializing in Pharaonic and Islamic history and modern history, and he obtained a BA (Bachelor’s) with an excellent grade.

Then he joined the seminary and graduated from it after obtaining a bachelor’s degree in 3 years, to become a teacher of Arabic and English.

He also attended evening classes at the College of Coptic Theology, and was a student and professor at the same college, and he received the sacrament of holy baptism in the monastery of St. Anba Shenouda in Sohag Governorate.

Pope and Ph.D

The head of the Coptic Church received 9 honorary doctorates awarded by the universities of the United States of America, Germany and Hungary:

  • Ph.D. from Bluefield University, New Jersey, April 2, 1977.

  • Ph.D., St. Peter's University, Jersey City, June 22, 1977.

  • Ph.D., University of Saint-Vincent, USA, September 28, 1989.

  • Ph.D., Catholic University, Bonn, November 17, 1990.

  • Ph.D., North Park University, Chicago, April 30, 2001.

  • Ph.D. from Nachota House University, Wisconsin, May 2, 2001.

  • Ph.D., University of Toledo, USA, August 30, 2002.

  • Ph.D., Lawrence University, Michigan, August 23, 2007.

  • Ph.D., Catholic University, Hungary, August 19, 2001.

Jobs and responsibilities

In 1946, the Pope began his service at the Church of St. Anthony in the Shubra neighborhood (north of Cairo), where it was the main headquarters for his service in church education before his monasticism.

He worked as a teacher, then devoted his life in 1949 to service and teaching in the seminary.

He was the editor-in-chief of the "Sunday Schools" magazine during the travel of its founder, Edward Benjamin, to Ethiopia from October 1949 until his monasticism in July 1954.

In 1952, he was chosen as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Sunday School House, then he resigned from it to devote himself to the seminary and service, and after that he held the position of teacher at the Monks School in Helwan in 1953.

Shenouda was ordained a monk under the name of Anthony the Syrian in 1954, and lived isolated in a cave from 1956 to 1962. A year after his monasticism, he was ordained a priest and spent 10 years in the monastery without leaving it, and worked as a private secretary to Pope Kyrollos VI in 1959.

In the aftermath, he was ordained bishop of religious institutes and church education, and was the first bishop of Christian education and dean of the seminary college on September 30, 1962.

After the death of Pope Kyrillos in 1971, Shenouda III was elected Pope of the Coptic Church in the Greater Mark Cathedral in Cairo, thus becoming Pope No. 117 in the history of the Patriarchs.

He was prominent and considered the word among the people of this sect, but during 4 decades he disagreed and reconciled several times with the authorities.

Pope Shenouda served in the Egyptian armed forces as a reserve officer, and worked as a journalist and wrote poetry.

Pope Shenouda said about the days he spent in the army as a military officer that "he was serious and was the first graduate in the infantry."

In September 1981, the Pope was exiled internally to the Wadi Natrun Monastery in the middle of the desert, because of his conflict with President Anwar Sadat.

On the contrary, his relations with the regime of President Hosni Mubarak were more flexible, to the extent that he publicly supported the idea of ​​his son Gamal Mubarak's candidacy for the presidency of Egypt.

Pope Shenouda was a poet and teacher, in addition to his prominent role in the Orthodox Church (Reuters)

Relations between Pope Shenouda and the late President Anwar Sadat, who decided to limit his residence within the scope of measures against his opponents, were strained, due to his refusal to sign the peace treaty with Israel due to Israel's measures in the city of Jerusalem and against the backdrop of sectarian incidents that occurred in the late seventies of the last century.

In 1985, the late President Hosni Mubarak reinstated the Pope, and a good relationship was built between the two.

The Pope refused the participation of the Copts in the revolution that brought down Mubarak in 2011, but he blessed it and Christians who opposed his position participated in it.

Pope Shenouda lived with 3 presidents of the Egyptian Republic, namely: Muhammad Anwar Muhammad Sadat, Muhammad Hosni Mubarak, and Muhammad Hussein Tantawi (the acting president in his capacity as head of the Military Council).

In 2001, Shenouda confirmed that he would never visit Jerusalem, until he could do so on a Palestinian visa and with the Mufti of the Arab Republic of Egypt.

Pope Shenouda was famous for his call for calm in the midst of unrest between Muslims and Christians after the revolution that overthrew Mubarak. He also defended the rights of the Palestinian people and was considered an Arab nationalist.

He visited many countries of the world, where he participated in conferences for peace and dialogue between followers of religions.

A child in the Coptic Church in Cairo in 2019 (Reuters)

Awards and honors

  • In 1971, Shenouda received the Solomon the Great Medal, the most expensive medal in Ethiopia, from Emperor Haile Selassie.

  • In 2003, he received the Human Rights Award from Libya.

  • August 2011, and the President of the Republic of Hungary decorated him with the Hungarian State Medal.

  • In 2011, he was awarded the German Augsburg Peace Prize.

  • In the same year, he was awarded the Order of the Grand Cross of St. Ignatius from the Syriac Church.

  • A year later, he was awarded the Diamond Award by the Cardinal King Catholic Foundation in Vienna, Austria.

literature

The writings of Pope Shenouda III amounted to nearly 150 books and abstracts in various fields: spiritual, theological, doctrinal, biblical, historical, and social.

In the year 1939, the patriarch began his service in the Church Education Schools at the Church of the Virgin in Muhamshah, Cairo, to learn the rules of poetry.

When Shenouda III reached the age of 17, his right hand wrote a national anthem for the workers of Egypt, and he sang on Labor Day in 1940.

During the period between October 1947 and November 1948, he began publishing his articles in Al-Haq magazine, which was published by Father Youssef Al-Dairi, priest of the Church of the Great Martyr George in Shubra Al-Balad, in which he published 7 articles.

He began writing spiritual poems for the Sunday Schools magazine, then began writing spiritual articles for the Sunday Schools magazine in April 1947.

Pope Shenouda was fond of writing, especially writing poetry, as he worked as an editor and then chief editor in the Sunday Schools magazine for several years, and at the same time he was pursuing his postgraduate studies in the Department of Ancient Archeology.

The period between 1946-1962 was the most prolific and productive period of poetry in his life, so he wrote 25 spiritual poems.

Death

Pope Shenouda III died in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, on Saturday, March 17, 2012, after suffering from illness and numerous treatment trips, at the age of 89.

He was buried in the Monastery of Anba Bishoy in Wadi al-Natrun in Buhaira, and the churches rang their bells in grief and pain over his passing.

His funeral was attended by large delegations of heads of sects and dignitaries of Christianity and Islam.

Pope Shenouda III left an important literary and cultural legacy, and a great influence on the hearts of the followers of the Coptic Orthodox Church.