group	CoptsⲚⲓⲢⲉⲙ̀ⲛⲭⲏⲙⲓ ̀ⲛ̀Ⲭⲣⲏⲥⲧⲓ̀ⲁⲛⲟⲥ
Population	About 10 to 20 million (estimates vary)
Region1
Pop1	estimations range between 5 to 15 million
Ref1	for example the CIA World Factbook , , Encyclopædia Britannica (1985), or Macropædia (15th ed., Chicago). For a projected 83,000,000+ Egyptians in 2009, this assumption yields the above figures.In 2008, Pope Shenouda III and Bishop Morkos, bishop of Shubra, declared that the number of Copts in Egypt is more than 12 million. In the same year, father Morkos Aziz the prominent priest in Cairo declared that the number of Copts (inside Egypt) exceeds 16 million. and Furthermore, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy Encyclopædia Britannica (1985), and Macropædia (15th ed., Chicago) estimate the percentage of Copts in Egypt to be up to 20% of the Egyptian population.}}

(see Religion in Egypt) |region2 = |pop2 = ca. 0.5 million |ref2 = |region3 = |pop3 = ca. 0.2 to 1 million |ref3 = |region4 = |pop4 = ca. 0.2 million |ref4 = |region5 = |pop5 = ca. 75,000 (2003) |ref5 = | rels = Predominantly: Coptic Orthodox Christianity.Minorities: Coptic Catholicism; various Protestant minorities | scrips = Bible | langs = Egyptian ArabicLiturgical: Coptic}} The Copts are the native Egyptian Christians (Coptic: ⲟⲩⲢⲉⲙ̀ⲛⲭⲏⲙⲓ ̀ⲛ̀Ⲭⲣⲏⲥⲧⲓ̀ⲁⲛⲟⲥ ''ou.Remenkīmi en.Ekhristianos''; , ), a major ethnoreligious group in Egypt and the largest Christian group there. Christianity was the majority religion during the 4th to 6th centuries AD and until the Muslim conquest of Egypt and remains the faith of a significant minority population. Historically they spoke the Coptic language, a direct descendant of the Demotic Egyptian spoken in the Roman era, but it has been near-extinct and mostly limited to liturgical use since the 18th century. They now speak Arabic.

Copts in Egypt constitute the largest Christian community in the Middle East, as well as the largest religious minority in the region, accounting for an estimated 10% of Egyptian population. Most Copts adhere to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. The remainder of around 800,000

The Greek term for Egypt, , is itself derived from the Egyptian language, but dates to a much earlier period, being attested already in Mycenean Greek as ''a₃-ku-pi-ti-jo'' (lit. "Egyptian"; used here as a man's name). This Mycenaean form is likely from Middle Egyptian ("Hut-ka-Ptah"), literally "Estate (or 'House') of the Spirit of Ptah" (cf. Akkadian ), the name of the temple complex of the god Ptah at Memphis.

In their own Coptic language, the Copts referred to themselves as ''rem en kēme'' (Sahidic) ⲣⲙⲛⲕⲏⲙⲉ, ''lem en kēmi'' (Fayyumic), ''rem en khēmi'' (Bohairic) ⲣⲉⲙ̀ⲛⲭⲏⲙⲓ, which literally means "people of Egypt" or "Egyptians"; cf. Egyptian '''', Demotic ''''.

The Arabic word "Copt" has also been connected to the Greek name of the town of Κόπτος ''Coptos'' (modern day ; Coptic ''Kebt'' and ''Keft''). It is possible that this association has contributed to making ''Copt'' the settled form of the name.

In the 20th century, some Egyptian nationalists and intellectuals in the context of Pharaonism began using the term in the historical sense. For example, Markos Pasha Semeika, founder of the Coptic Museum, addressed a group of Egyptian students saying: "All of you are Copts. Some of you are Muslim Copts, others are Christian Copts, but all of you are descended from the Ancient Egyptians".

History

The Copts are one of the oldest Christian communities in the Middle East. Although integrated in the larger Egyptian nation, the Copts have survived as a distinct religious community forming around 10–20% of the population, The legacy that Saint Mark left in Egypt was a considerable Christian community in Alexandria. From Alexandria, Christianity spread throughout Egypt within half a century of Saint Mark's arrival in Alexandria, as is clear from a fragment of the Gospel of John, written in Coptic, which was found in Upper Egypt and can be dated to the first half of the 2nd century, and the New Testament writings found in Oxyrhynchus, in Middle Egypt, which date around the year 200 AD. In the 2nd century, Christianity began to spread to the rural areas, and scriptures were translated into the local language, today known as the Coptic language, but known as the ''Egyptian language'' at the time. By the beginning of the 3rd century AD, Christians constituted the majority of Egypt’s population, and the Church of Alexandria was recognized as one of Christendom's four Apostolic Sees, second in honor only to the Church of Rome. The Church of Alexandria is therefore the oldest Christian church in Africa.

Contributions to Christianity

Egyptians contributed immensely to Christian tradition. The Catechetical School of Alexandria was the oldest catechetical school in the world. Founded around 190 AD by the scholar Pantanaeus, the school of Alexandria became an important institution of religious learning, where students were taught by scholars such as Athenagoras, Clement, Didymus, and Origen, the father of theology and who was also active in the field of commentary and comparative Biblical studies. However, the scope of this school was not limited to theological subjects; science, mathematics and humanities were also taught there. The question-and-answer method of commentary began there, and 15 centuries before Braille, wood-carving techniques were in use there by blind scholars to read and write.

Another major contribution made by the Egyptians to Christianity was the creation and organization of monasticism. Worldwide Christian monasticism stems, either directly or indirectly, from the Egyptian example. The most prominent figures of the monastic movement were Anthony the Great, Paul of Thebes, Macarius the Great, Shenouda the Archimandrite and Pachomius the Cenobite. By the end of the 5th century, there were hundreds of monasteries, and thousands of cells and caves scattered throughout the Egyptian desert. Since then pilgrims have visited the Egyptian Desert Fathers to emulate their spiritual, disciplined lives. Saint Basil the Great Archbishop of Caesarea Mazaca, and the founder and organiser of the monastic movement in Asia Minor, visited Egypt around 357 AD and his monastic rules are followed by the Eastern Orthodox Churches. Saint Jerome, who translated the Bible into Latin, came to Egypt while en route to Jerusalem around 400 AD and left details of his experiences in his letters. Saint Benedict founded the Benedictine Order in the 6th century on the model of Saint Pachomius, although in a stricter form.

The Ecumenical Councils

The major contributions that the See of Alexandria has contributed to the establishment of early Christian theology and dogma are attested to by fact that the first three Ecumenical councils in the history of Christianity were headed by Egyptian patriarchs. The Council of Nicaea (325 AD) was presided over by St. Alexander, Patriarch of Alexandria, along with Saint Hosius of Córdoba. In addition, the most prominent figure of the council was the future Patriarch of Alexandria Athanasius, who played the major role in the formulation of the Nicene Creed, recited today in most Christian churches of different denominations. One of the council's decisions was to entrust the Patriarch of Alexandria with calculating and annually announcing the exact date of Easter to the rest of the Christian churches. The Council of Constantinople (381 AD) was presided over by Patriarch Timothy of Alexandria, while the Council of Ephesus (431 AD) was presided over by Cyril of Alexandria.

Council of Chalcedon

In 451 AD, following the Council of Chalcedon, the Church of Alexandria was divided into two branches. Those who accepted the terms of the Council became known as Chalcedonians or Melkites. Those who did not abide by the Council's terms were labeled non-Chalcedonians or Monophysites and later Jacobites after Jacob Baradaeus. The non-Chalcedonians, however, rejected the term Monophysites as erroneous and referred to themselves as Miaphysites. The majority of the Egyptians belonged to the Miaphysite branch, which led to their persecution by the Byzantines in Egypt.

The Arab-Muslim Invasion of Egypt

In 641 AD, Egypt was invaded by the Arabs who faced off with the Byzantine army, but found little to no resistance from the native Egyptian population. Local resistance by the Egyptians however began to materialize shortly thereafter and would last until at least the 9th century.

Copts in modern Egypt

The position of the Copts did not begin to improve until the rule of Muhammad Ali in the early 19th century, who abolished the Jizya (a tax on non-muslims) and allowed Egyptians (Copts as well as Muslims) to enroll in the army. Conditions continued to improve throughout the 19th century under the leadership of the great reformer Pope Cyril IV, and in the first half of the 20th century (known as the ''Golden Age'' by the Copts) during Egypt's liberal period. Copts participated in the Egyptian national movement for independence and occupied many influential positions. Two significant cultural achievements include the founding of the Coptic Museum in 1910 and the Higher Institute of Coptic Studies in 1954. Some prominent Coptic thinkers from this period are Salama Moussa, Louis Awad and Secretary General of the Wafd Party Makram Ebeid. Following the 1952 coup d'état by the Free Officers, the conditions of the Copts have been slowly deteriorating and their human rights are often violated.

In 1952, Nasser led some army officers in a coup d'état against King Farouk, which overthrew the Kingdom of Egypt and established a republic. Nasser's mainstream policy was pan-Arab nationalism and socialism. The Copts were severely affected by Nasser's nationalization policies because, though they represented about 10–20% of the population, they were so economically prosperous that they held more than 50% of the country's wealth. In addition, Nasser's pan-Arab policies undermined the Copts' strong attachment to and sense of identity about their Egyptian pre-Arab, and certainly non-Arab, identity; permits to construct churches were delayed, Christian religious courts were closed, and the regime confiscated land and Church properties from Copts. As a result, many Copts left their country for Australia, North America, or Europe.

Today, members of the non-Chalcedonian Coptic Orthodox Church constitute the majority of the Egyptian Christian population. Mainly through emigration and partly through European, American, and other missionary work and conversions, the Egyptian Christian community now also includes other Christian denominations such as Protestants (known in Arabic as Evangelicals), Roman and Eastern Rite Catholics, and other Orthodox congregations. The term ''Coptic'' remains exclusive however to the Egyptian natives, as opposed to the Christians of non-Egyptian origins. Some Protestant churches for instance are called "Coptic Evangelical Church", thus helping differentiate their native Egyptian congregations from churches attended by non-Egyptian immigrant communities such as Europeans or Americans.

In 2005 a group of Coptic activists created a flag to represent Copts worldwide.

The last head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria, died 17 March 2012. , no successor had been appointed.

Copts in modern Sudan

Sudan has a native Coptic minority, although many Copts in Sudan are descended from more recent Egyptian immigrants. Copts in Sudan live mostly in northern cities, including Al Obeid, Atbara, Dongola, Khartoum, Omdurman, Port Sudan, and Wad Medani. They number up to 500,000, or slightly over 1% of the Sudanese population. Due to their advanced education, their role in the life of the country has been more significant than their numbers suggest. They have occasionally faced forced conversion to Islam, resulting in their emigration and decrease in number.

Modern immigration of Copts to Sudan peaked in the early 19th century, and they generally received a tolerant welcome there. However, this was interrupted by a decade of persecution under Mahdist rule at the end of the 19th century. As a result of this persecution, many were forced to relinquish their faith, adopt Islam, and intermarry with the native Sudanese. The Anglo-Egyptian invasion in 1898 allowed Copts greater religious and economic freedom, and they extended their original roles as artisans and merchants into trading, banking, engineering, medicine, and the civil service. Proficiency in business and administration made them a privileged minority. However, the return of militant Islam in the mid-1960s and subsequent demands by radicals for an Islamic constitution prompted Copts to join in public opposition to religious rule.

Gaafar Nimeiry's introduction of Islamic Sharia law in 1983 began a new phase of oppressive treatment of Copts, among other non-Muslims. After the overthrow of Nimeiry, Coptic leaders supported a secular candidate in the 1986 elections. However, when the National Islamic Front overthrew the elected government of Sadiq al-Mahdi with the help of the military, discrimination against Copts returned in earnest. Hundreds of Copts were dismissed from the civil service and judiciary.

In February 1991, a Coptic pilot working for Sudan Airways was executed for illegal possession of foreign currency. Before his execution, he had been offered amnesty and money if he converted to Islam, but he refused. Thousands attended his funeral, and the execution was taken as a warning by many Copts, who began to flee the country.

Restrictions on the Copts' rights to Sudanese nationality followed, and it became difficult for them to obtain Sudanese nationality by birth or by naturalization, resulting in problems when attempting to travel abroad. The confiscation of Christian schools and the imposition of an Arab-Islamic emphasis in language and history teaching were accompanied by harassment of Christian children and the introduction of hijab dress laws. A Coptic child was flogged for failing to recite a Koranic verse. In contrast with the extensive media broadcasting of the Muslim Friday prayers, the radio ceased coverage of the Christian Sunday service. As the civil war raged throughout the 1990s, the government focused its religious fervour on the south. Although experiencing discrimination, the Copts and other long-established Christian groups in the north had fewer restrictions than Christians in South Sudan.

Today, the Coptic Church in Sudan is officially registered with the government, and is exempt from property tax. In 2005, the Sudanese government of National Unity (GNU) named a Coptic Orthodox priest to a government position, though the ruling Islamist party's continued dominance under the GNU provides ample reason to doubt its commitment to broader religious or ethnic representation.

Demographics

Living in a country of Muslim majority, the size of the population of Copts is a continuously disputed matter, frequently for reasons of religious jealousy and animosity. Some official estimates state that Christians represent from 5% to 10% or less of a population of over 83 million Egyptians while other independent and Christian sources estimate much higher numbers, up to 23% of the population.

Coptic population in Sudan is at about half a million or 1% of Sudanese population.

Diaspora

Outside of Egypt and Sudan, the largest Coptic diaspora population is in the United States and Canada, US population numbering about 200,000 (estimates of Coptic organizations ranging as high as a million).

Smaller communities (below 100,000) are found in Australia, Kuwait, Libya, the United Kingdom, France , South Africa., and Canada.

Minor communities below 10,000 people are reported from Jordan Germany Switzerland Austria and elsewhere.

It is noted that Copts also live in Denmark, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia and Sweden.

Persecution and discrimination in Egypt

Religious freedom in Egypt is hampered to varying degrees by discriminatory and restrictive government policies. Coptic Christians, being the largest religious minority in Egypt, are also negatively affected. Copts have faced increasing marginalization after the 1952 coup d'état led by Gamal Abdel Nasser. Until recently, Christians were required to obtain presidential approval for even minor repairs in churches. Although the law was eased in 2005 by handing down the authority of approval to the governors, Copts continue to face many obstacles and restrictions in building new churches. These restrictions do not apply for building mosques.

The Coptic community has been targeted by hate crimes and physical assaults. The most significant was the 2000–01 El Kosheh attacks, in which Muslims and Christians were involved in bloody inter-religious clashes following a dispute between a Muslim and a Christian. "Twenty Christians and one Muslim were killed after violence broke out in the town of el-Kosheh, south of Cairo". International Christian Concern reported that in February 2001, Muslims burned a new Egyptian church and the homes of 35 Christians, and that in April 2001 a 14-year-old Egyptian Christian girl was kidnapped because her parents were believed to be harboring a person who had converted from Islam to Christianity.

In 2006, one person attacked three churches in Alexandria, killing one person and injuring 5-16. The attacker was not linked to any organisation and described as "psychologically disturbed" by the Ministry of Interior. In May 2010, The Wall Street Journal reported increasing "waves of mob assaults" by Muslims against Copts, forcing many Christians to flee their homes. Despite frantic calls for help, the police typically arrived after the violence was over.

Boutros Boutros-Ghali is a Copt who served as Egypt's ''acting'' foreign minister twice under President Anwar Sadat (1977 and 1978–1979). Although Boutros Boutros-Ghali later became the United Nations Secretary-General, his appointment as an only ''acting'' foreign minister depicted Egypt's systematic elimination of Copts from all governmental influential positions. Today, only two Copts are on Egypt's governmental cabinet: Finance Minister Youssef Boutros Ghali and Environment Minister Magued George. There is also currently one Coptic governor out of 25, that of the Upper Egyptian governorate of Qena, and the first Coptic governor in a few decades. In addition, Naguib Sawiris, an extremely successful businessman and one of the world's 100 wealthiest people, is a Copt. In 2002, under the Mubarak government, Coptic Christmas (January the 7th) was recognized as an official holiday. However, many Copts continue to complain of being minimally represented in law enforcement, state security and public office, and of being discriminated against in the workforce on the basis of their religion. Most Copts do not support independence or separation movement from other Egyptians.

While freedom of religion is guaranteed by the Egyptian constitution, according to Human Rights Watch, "Egyptians are able to convert to Islam generally without difficulty, but Muslims who convert to Christianity face difficulties in getting new identity papers and some have been arrested for allegedly forging such documents. The Coptic community, however, takes pains to prevent conversions from Christianity to Islam due to the ease with which Christians can often become Muslim. Public officials, being conservative themselves, intensify the complexity of the legal procedures required to recognize the religion change as required by law. Security agencies will sometimes claim that such conversions from Islam to Christianity (or occasionally vice versa) may stir social unrest, and thereby justify themselves in wrongfully detaining the subjects, insisting that they are simply taking steps to prevent likely social troubles from happening. In 2007, a Cairo administrative court denied 45 citizens the right to obtain identity papers documenting their reversion to Christianity after converting to Islam. However, in February 2008 the Supreme Administrative Court overturned the decision, allowing 12 citizens who had reverted back to Christianity to re-list their religion on identity cards, but they will specify that they had adopted Islam for a brief period of time.

The Egyptian Census of 1897 reported the percentage of Non-Muslims in Urban Provinces as 14.7%( 13.2% Christians, 1.4% Jews). The Egyptian Census of 1986 reported the percentage of Non-Muslims in Urban Provinces as 6.1%( 5.7% Christians, 0% Jews). The decline in the Jewish representation is interpreted through the creation of the state of Israel, and the subsequent emigration of the Egyptian Jews. There is no explanation for a 55% decline in the percentage of Christians in Egypt. It has been suggested that Egyptian censuses held after 1952 have been politicised to under-represent the Christian population.

Language

The Coptic language is the last stage of the Egyptian language.

Coptic should more correctly be used to refer to the script rather than the language itself. Even though this script was introduced as far back as the 1st century BC, it has been applied to the writing of the Egyptian language from the 1st century AD to the present day. Coptic remained the spoken language of all Egyptians until it was slowly replaced by Masri (colloquial Egyptian Arabic) around the 17th century, although it may have survived in isolated pockets for a little longer.

Today, Coptic is the native language of only about 300 Copts around the world. It is also the liturgical language of the native Egyptian Churches (the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Coptic Catholic Church). It is taught worldwide in many prestigious institutions, but its teaching within Egypt remains restricted.

Dialects of Coptic language:

Sahidic: Theban or Upper Egyptian.

Bohairic: The dialect of the Nile Delta and of the medieval and modern Coptic Church.

Akhmimic

Lycopolitan (also known as Subakhmimic)

Fayyumic

Oxyrhynchite

Calendar

The Coptic calendar, also called the Alexandrian calendar, is used by the Coptic Orthodox Church and also by Ethiopia as its official calendar (with different names). This calendar is based on the ancient Egyptian calendar. To avoid the calendar creep of the latter, a reform of the ancient Egyptian calendar was introduced at the time of Ptolemy III (Decree of Canopus, in 238 BC) which consisted of the intercalation of a sixth epagomenal day every fourth year. However, this reform was opposed by the Egyptian priests, and the idea was not adopted until 25 BC, when the Roman Emperor Augustus formally reformed the calendar of Egypt, keeping it forever synchronized with the newly introduced Julian calendar. To distinguish it from the Ancient Egyptian calendar, which remained in use by some astronomers until medieval times, this reformed calendar is known as the Coptic calendar. Its years and months coincide with those of the Ethiopian calendar but have different numbers and names.

Coptic year

The Coptic year is the extension of the ancient Egyptian civil year, retaining its subdivision into the three seasons, four months each. The three seasons are commemorated by special prayers in the Coptic Liturgy. This calendar is still in use all over Egypt by farmers to keep track of the various agricultural seasons. The Coptic calendar has 13 months, 12 of 30 days each and an intercalary month at the end of the year of 5 or 6 days, depending whether the year is a leap year or not. The year starts on 29 August in the Julian Calendar or on the 30th in the year before (Julian) Leap Years. The Coptic Leap Year follows the same rules as the Julian Calendar so that the extra month always has six days in the year before a Julian Leap Year.

The Feast of Neyrouz marks the first day of the Coptic year. Ignorant of the Egyptian language for the most part, the Arabs confused the Egyptian new year's celebrations, which the Egyptians called the feast of ''Ni-Yarouou'' (the feast the rivers), with the Persian feast of Nowruz. The misnomer remains today, and the celebrations of the Egyptian new year on the first day of the month of Thout are known as the Neyrouz. Its celebration falls on the 1st day of the month of Thout, the first month of the Egyptian year, which for AD 1901 to 2098 usually coincides with 11 September, except before a Gregorian leap year when it's September 12. Coptic years are counted from AD 284, the year Diocletian became Roman Emperor, whose reign was marked by tortures and mass executions of Christians, especially in Egypt. Hence, the Coptic year is identified by the abbreviation A.M. (for ''Anno Martyrum'' or "Year of the Martyrs"). The A.M. abbreviation is also used for the unrelated Jewish year (''Anno Mundi'').

Every fourth Coptic year is a leap year ''without exception'', as in the Julian calendar, so the above mentioned new year dates apply only between AD 1900 and 2099 inclusive in the Gregorian Calendar. In the Julian Calendar, the new year is ''always'' 29 August, except before a Julian leap year when it's August 30. Easter is reckoned by the Julian Calendar in the Old Calendarist way.

To obtain the Coptic year number, subtract from the Julian year number either 283 (before the Julian new year) or 284 (after it).

More Information on the Coptic Calendar

Prominent Copts

Many Copts are internationally renowned. Some of the most well known Copts include Boutros Boutros-Ghali the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations, Sir Magdi Yacoub the internationally renowned cardiothoracic surgeon, Hani Azer the world leading civil engineer, billionaire Fayez Sarofim one of the richest men in the world, and Naguib Sawiris the CEO of Orascom.

See also

Aigyptos, in Greek mythology

Coptic art

Coptic Catholic Church

Coptic flag

Coptic identity

Coptic language

Coptic Museum

Coptic Orthodox Church

Coptic Saints

Coptic Wikipedia, currently in incubator stage

Coptology

Christianity in Egypt

Egypt

Egyptian diaspora

Egyptians

List of prominent Copts

Footnotes

Further reading

Capuani, Massimo et al. ''Christian Egypt: Coptic Art and Monuments Through Two Millennia'' (2002) excerpt and text search

Courbage, Youssef and Phillipe Fargues. Judy Mabro (Translator) ''Christians and Jews Under Islam'', 1997.

Denis, E. (2000). ''Cent ans de localisation de la population chrétienne égyptienne''. Astrolabe(2).

Ibrahim, Vivian. ''The Copts of Egypt: The Challenges of Modernisation and Identity'' (I.B. Tauris, distributed by Palgrave Macmillan; 2011) 258 pages; examines historical relations between Coptic Christians and the Egyptian state and describes factionalism and activism in the community.

Kamil, Jill. ''Coptic Egypt: History and a Guide.'' Revised Ed. American University in Cairo Press, 1990.

Meinardus, Otto Friedrich August. ''Two Thousand Years of Coptic Christianity'' (2010)

External links

The Coptic Calendar by Bishoy K. R. Dawood (1.29MB pdf file – historical development and technical discussion)

An introduction to the Coptic calendar (Gregorian equivalents are valid only between 1900 and 2099)

The Orthodox Ecclesiastical Calendar

Ancient Egyptian Calendar and Coptic Calendar

External links

Coptic Orthodox Church Network

Copts

Copts United

Free Copts

American Coptic Association

European Coptic Association

Coptic Book

Coptic Cairo

France-copte.net France Copte

Coptic Museum

In Search of the Lost Egyptian Identity

Egypt's Copts After Kosheh

Egypt: Minorities and the State

International Religious Freedom Report: Egypt

United Copts of Great Britain

Coptic Orthodox Church French texts

Coptic Christians of Egypt – German Site

Coptic texts and manuscripts at Leiden University Library

Category:Christianity in Egypt Category:Coptic Orthodox Church Category:Ethnic groups in the Middle East Category:Egyptian society Category:Religion in Egypt Category:Ethnoreligious groups Category:Ethnic groups in Egypt Category:Christian terms Category:Ethnic groups in Sudan

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type	Coptic Pope
honorific-prefix	His Holiness
name	Pope Shenouda III
native name
title	Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria
enthroned	14 November 1971
ended	17 March 2012
predecessor	Cyril VI
successor	Metropolitan Pachomious(Locum tenens)
monastic tonsure	18 July 1954
ordination	1954 (Priesthood)
consecration	30 September 1962 (Episcopal)
birth name	Nazeer Gayed Roufail
birth date	August 03, 1923
birth place	Asyut, Egypt
death date	March 17, 2012
death place	Cairo, Egypt
buried	Monastery of Saint Pishoy, Egypt
nationality	Egyptian
religion	Coptic Orthodox
residence	Coptic Orthodox Patriarchal Residence
signature	Pope_Shenouda_III's_Signature.jpg }}

Pope Shenouda III (Coptic: ''''; ; , ; 3 August 1923 – 17 March 2012) was the 117th Pope and Patriarch of the Church of Alexandria. His long episcopate lasted 40 years, four months, and 4 days [From 14 November 1971 till his death on March 17 2012].

As Pope of the Church of Alexandria, he headed one of the most ancient churches in the world, a Church that traces its founding to St Mark the Evangelist, who brought Christianity to Egypt during the reign of Roman Emperor Claudius c. 49 AD [cf. Acts 15:36-41]. The Church of Alexandria is recognized in early Christianity as the Church of outstanding Church fathers and scholars like Pope Dionysius of Alexandria (Episcopate 248–265), Athanasius of Alexandria (Episcopate 328–373), Cyril I of Alexandria (Episcopate 412–444), Clement of Alexandria (lived 150–215) and Origen (lived 184/185–253/254).

His official title was Pope of Alexandria and the Patriarch of All Africa on the Holy Apostolic Seat of Saint Mark the Evangelist of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. He was also the head of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria. He was a conservative figure within the Church; and was also respected within the Muslim community.

Born Nazeer Gayed Roufail on 3 August 1923, he became a monk in 1954 under the name Father Antonios the Syrian after joining the Syrian Monastery of the Ever-Virgin Mary the Theotokos. In 1958, he was elevated to the priesthood. In 1962, Pope Cyril VI summoned Fr. Antonios and consecrated him General Bishop for Christian Education and as Dean of the Coptic Orthodox Theological Seminary, whereupon he assumed the name Shenouda, which was the name of the Coptic saint, Shenoute the Archimandrite (lived 347/348–465/466), as well as two previous popes: Shenouda I (Episcopate 859–880) and Shenouda II (Episcopate 1047–1077). Saint Shenoute the Archimandrite was instrumental in flourishing the Monastic Movement, active in Ecumenical issues, a noted Church teacher and writer, and an Egyptian Leader. Pope Shenouda III maintained the legacy of the name he carried.

Following the death of Pope Cyril VI on 9 March 1971, the selection process resulted in Bishop Shenouda's becoming the new Pope. He was consecrated on 14 November 1971, presiding over a worldwide expansion of the Coptic Orthodox Church. During his papacy, he appointed the first-ever bishops to preside over North American dioceses, which now contain over two hundred parishes (200 in the United States, 23 in Canada and one in Mexico), up from four in 1971. He also appointed the first Coptic bishops in Europe, Australia and South America. Within Egypt, he struggled for the welfare of his people and the Church. Pope Shenouda III was known for his commitment to ecumenism and had, since the 1970s, advocated inter-denominational Christian dialogue. He devoted his writings, teachings and actions to spreading and propagating guidelines for understanding, peace, dialogue and forgiveness.

At the time of his death, Pope Shenouda III was viewed as one of the Great Patriarchs of the ancient Church of Alexandria, a well-known church father and teacher, a chief defender of the faith, and a noted Egyptian leader of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Early life

background	plum
type	Papal
name	Pope Shenouda III
reference	His Most Blessed Beatitude and His Holiness
spoken	Your Holiness
religious	Pope and Patriarch
posthumous	The Thrice Blessed Pope }}

Nazeer Gayed Roufail was born on 3 August 1923 in the village of Salaam, which administratively belongs to the Governorate of Asyut in Upper Egypt but ecclesiastically belongs to the Diocese of Manfalut. He was the youngest of a family of eight children, five girls and three boys – among whom were Raphael (Rouphael) and Shawki (Fr. Botros Gayed, 1918–1996). Nazeer's mother died shortly after his birth. He was raised by his older brother, Raphael, in Damanhur in lower Egypt, where he attended a Coptic Elementary School. Soon after, he studied at the American Middle School in Banha. He then moved to Shubra, a suburb of Cairo, where he enrolled at the Faith Senior Secondary (high school).

From the age of 14, Nazeer began reading poetry and he wrote many poems himself, especially between 1946 and 1962. By the age of 16, he was active in the Coptic Sunday School movement. He served as a Sunday School teacher, first at Saint Anthony's Church in Shoubra and then at Saint Mary's Church in Mahmasha.

In 1943, Nazeer enrolled in Cairo University (then called the University of King Fouad I) studying towards a Bachelor of Arts (B. A.) degree, majoring in English and History. Meanwhile, he spent his summer vacations at the Western Desert Monastery of St. Mary, known as “Deir El-Suryan” (Syrian Monastery). While a university student, he was a trainee in the Egyptian Military Reserve Corps.

In 1946, while still in his final year of undergraduate studies, he was allowed to enroll in the evening classes at the Coptic Theological Seminary usually open only to University graduates but the dean of the Seminary, Archdeacon Habib Girgis (d. 1951), made an exception in the case of Nazeer. The Personality of Habib Girgis was instrumental in shaping that of the future Pope, and Pope Shenouda always spoke highly of Habib Girgis.

Nazeer graduated from Cairo University with a BA in History in 1947. After graduation, he completed his military service as dux (top of group), and began work as a teacher of English, History and Social Sciences in a high school in Cairo. Meanwhile, he attended graduate courses in Archaeology and Classics at Cairo University specializing in the History of Ancient Egypt and Islamic Egypt. He worked as a high school English and Social Studies teacher by day, and attended classes at the Coptic Theological Seminary by night. Upon graduation from the seminary in 1949, he was appointed to teach New Testament and Old Testament Studies at the Seminary.. In the same year, he became the Editor-in-Chief of the Sunday School Monthly Magazine. In 1950 Nazeer resigned from secular employment to take up a full-time lecturing position at the Seminary.

In 1952 He was elected member of the Egyptian Journal Syndicate. In 1953, he was appointed a lecturer at the Monastic College in Helwan, offering courses in Theology there, and in the same year he began his dialogue with Jehovah's Witnesses, writing articles about their beliefs in the Sunday School Magazine.

Nazeer with others laboured for several years to establish a strong Sunday School and youth group at St Anthony's Church in Shubra. His ministry produced many devoted servants, who began establishing youth groups in neighbouring parishes.

An avid reader, he was a keen student of languages and a man of vast ecumenical insights. He spoke fluent Arabic, English, Coptic and French, and read Greek, Latin and Amharic.

Monastic life and educational service

On 18 July 1954, Nazeer joined the monastic life at the Syrian Monastery of the Ever-Virgin Mary the Theotokos in Scetes in the Nitrian Desert (Western desert in Egypt). He was given the name of Father Antonios el-Syriani (Anthony the Syrian). From 1956 to 1962, he lived as a hermit in a cave about seven miles from the monastery, dedicating his time to meditation, prayer, and asceticism.

On Aug 31, 1958, he was ordained as priest by the Late Bishop Theophilus, then abbot of St Mary Monastery (Syrian Monastery).

Antonios el-Syriani was among the candidates nominated for the papal throne in 1959, but at that time, Pope Cyril VI was chosen for the post.

Bishop

On 30 September 1962, Pope Cyril VI appointed him to the bishopric of Christian Education and as Dean of the Coptic Orthodox Theological Seminary, and renamed him Shenouda in honour of the most renowned scholar and writer in Coptic, Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite (lived 347/348–465/466).

Under Bishop Shenouda's leadership, the number of students at the Coptic Orthodox Theological Seminary tripled. Bishop Shenouda was suspended in 1966 by Pope Cyril VI, essentially because of "campaigns for change" instigated by Shenouda and his students. These campaigns, among other things, called for popular election of 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.

Pope and patriarch

He was enthroned as Pope Shenouda III, the 117th Pope of Alexandria and patriarch of the See of St. Mark on 14 November 1971, nearly nine months after the death of Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria. The ceremony was the first and, as yet, the only enthroning of a Coptic Pope to take place in the new Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo. He was the third Alexandrian Partriarch to take the name Shenouda; his namesakes were Shenouda I (859–880) and Shenouda II (1047–1077).

Some Copts argue that the choice of Pope Shenouda III as Pope (and Bishop) of Alexandria was not canonical, as Shenouda was already a bishop (although without a diocese), arguably violating Canon 15 of the Council of Nicea against the translation of bishops from one See to another. This issue caused an ongoing dispute in the Coptic Orthodox Church since 1928, and although the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church considered in the 1960s the General Bishops to be secretaries to the Pope in the degree of a Bishop, Pope Shenouda III was sometimes considered to be the fourth Bishop to become a Pope after Popes John XIX (1928–1942), Macarius III (1942–1944) and Joseph II (1946–1956).

Less than one year after becoming Pope of the Church of Alexandria, in October 1972, Pope Shenouda visited the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople and the Pope of Rome, becoming the first Alexandrian Pope to do so since the Christological schism of the Council of Chalcedon in 451 CE. In May 1973, he penned a Christological statement that was agreed upon with the Roman Catholic Church and the Oriental and Eastern Orthodox Churches on the Nature of Christ, in a step towards settling the 15-century-old dispute of 451 and moving towards Christian unity. On 10 May 1973, he celebrated the return by the Roman Catholic Church of part of the relics of St Athanasius of Alexandria. From 25 to 30 September 1974 he went on a pastoral trip to visit the Ethiopian Church during the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia.

Between 14 April and 23 May 1974, he became the first Archbishop of Alexandria to visit North America when he visited the USA and Canada. It was to become the first of many visits to that part of the world during his long Episcopate. He also visited Australia six times, in 1989 (18 November – 10 December); in 1991 (5–26 February); in 1993; in 1995 (August–September); in 1996 with his sixth and final trip having taken place in November 2002. He conducted an extended Silver Jubilee tour from 18 May to 20 December 1996, which took him to the Europe, Canada, USA and Australia. From 11 to 13 April 2008, he made a second historical trip to Ethiopia following the resolution of the strain in the relationship between the two Churches caused by the communist coup in Ethiopia years earlier.

Political stances

Fallout with President Sadat

Ten years into his papacy, in 1981, Pope Shenouda III had famously fallen out with President Anwar Sadat of Egypt. The relationship between the two men deteriorated due for several reasons.

[1] Since coming to power, President Sadat had started encouraging the growth of Islamic extremism in the country as means to fight communist groups and solidify his own power. During the term of office of Sadat's predecessor, Gamal Abdul Nasser, Islamic groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood had been suppressed.

[2] Sadat had also pushed forward a constitutional amendment that would have allowed him to stand for re-election as President more than twice. To make the constitutional amendment more appealing to the populace, Sadat bundled it with another constitutional amendment declaring Islamic Sharia law the main source of legislation, an action viewed as a step towards a more radically Islamic Egypt.

[3] Under Sadat, the Government released a census in 1977 that understated the number of Christians even contradicting earlier released censuses.

[4] The years from 1972 to 1981 saw an escalation of violence against the Christians of Egypt culminating in a massacre of Christians in a poor district of Cairo in 1981.

[5] Pope Shenouda was of the opinion that Sadat's Peace Treaty with Israel was ill-timed and should have bean part of a larger comprehensive Peace in the Middle East.

President Sadat, was seen by Shenouda as becoming increasingly dictatorial following his acclaim in the international arena for the Peace accord with Israel. In September 1981, President Sadat rescinded the presidential decree of 1971 recognizing Bishop Shenouda as Pope of Alexandria. Pope Shenouda was banished by Sadat to an ancient desert monastery; however, the Christians of Egypt continued to view Pope Shenouda as their only leader, and he continued to conduct his duties from his desert monastery. Ecclesiastically, Sadat's decision was of no value. Administratively, Pope shenouda was confined to a monastery. However, Sadat was assassinated a month later, on 6 October 1981, by Islamic extremists, and in January 1985 Pope Shenouda was fully reinstated by Sadat's successor, Hosni Mubarak.

Israel

Pope Shenouda had arguments with then President Anwar Sadat over both the Camp David Accords and what he said was the president's deficient response to growing Islamism. After a series of protests that led president Sadat to depose Pope Shenouda, he was exiled by Sadat and sent to the Nitrian Desert, to return three years after Sadat's assassination following an amnesty by Sadat's successor Hosni Mubarak.

His stance toward Israel was encapsulated by his words:

From the Arabic national point we should not abandon our Palestinian brothers and our Arabic brothers by normalising our relations with the Jews ... From the church point of view, Copts who go to Jerusalem betray their church in the case of "Al-Sultan Monastery" that Israel refuses to give to the Copts.

He also warned that Copts who visited Jerusalem would face excommunication on the premise that there was "no pilgrimage duty in Christianity and it is not a religious pillar, so since this visit can do harm to our national cause and [to the] Muslim and Christian people then we better not visit Jerusalem." He added that Copts should only go to Jerusalem after peace was established in the region. Some of the Coptic property within the compound of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (including the Coptic monastery known as Deir El-Sultan) was delegated to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Upon the application of some bishops, the Coptic Orthodox Holy Synod, based on the direction of Pope Shenouda, also decided to ask Copts not to visit Jerusalem until the Church possessions and the monastery be returned. In 2006, the Holy Synod renewed the decree, urging Copts not to visit the Christian holy places in Israel, including Jerusalem.

His view on Palestinian suicide bombers was that it was a "natural reaction to the pressure and depression in which Palestinians live. They do not see any alternative but to explode themselves in the face of an enemy that uses all the means of power with no mercy."

Suicide bombers

In the light of the September 11 attacks, he said of suicide bombing as a tactic that:

People who support and found reasons to feel good over these incidents are doing more than one wrong thing: first, ignoring the tragedy of killing an innocent group of people. Second, not thinking about the reaction of showing they found satisfaction in the incidents. Third, they are considered accomplices in the crime. Fourth, they are committing a wrongful act not approved by religion.

Persecution of Christianity In Egypt in his time

Pope Shenouda III struggled for his persecuted people on many fronts including against successive Egyptian Governments as well as against the rise of militant Islam. Particularly in Upper Egypt, the rise in extremist Islamist groups such as the Gama'at Islamiya during the 1980s was accompanied by attacks on Copts and on Coptic churches. The police have been accused of siding with the attackers in some of these cases.

Hundreds of Christian Coptic girls have been kidnapped and forcibly converted to Islam, as well as being victims of rape and forced marriage to Muslim men.

On Sunday 2 January 2000, at least 21 Christians were killed by Muslims in Al Kosheh in southern (Upper) Egypt. Christian properties were also burned.

On Sunday, 2 January 2000, 21 Coptic Christians in Kosheh village in Upper (southern) Egypt, 450 kilometers south of Cairo, were massacred by Salafists. Christian properties were also burned.. Later, a criminal court in Sohag governorate released all 89 defendants charged in the New Year's massacre in Kosheh without bail. Pope Shenouda III rejected the verdict openly, and told reporters, "We want to challenge this ruling. We don't accept it." As the court sentence could not be appealed, Pope Shenouda III said: "We will appeal this sentence before God."

In April 2006, one person was killed and twelve injured in simultaneous knife attacks on three Coptic churches in Alexandria.

In November 2008, several thousand Muslims attacked a Coptic church in a suburb of Cairo on the day of its inauguration, forcing 800 Coptic Christians to barricade themselves in.

In April 2009, two Christian men were shot dead and another was injured by Muslim men after an Easter vigil in the south of Egypt.

On 18 September 2009, a Muslim man called Osama Araban beheaded a Coptic Christian man in the village of Bagour, and injured 2 others in 2 different villages. He was arrested the following day.

On the eve of 7 January 2010, after the Eastern Christmas Mass finished (which finishes around midnight), Copts were going out of Mar-Yuhanna (St. John) church in Nag Hammadi city when three Muslim men in a car near the church opened fire killing 8 Christians and injuring another 10.

On 2011 New Year's Eve, just 20 minutes after midnight as Christians were leaving a Coptic Orthodox Church in the city of Alexandria after a New Year's Eve service a car bomb exploded in front of the Church killing more than 23 and injuring more than 75.

On 7 May 2011, an armed group of Islamists, including Salafists, attacked and set fire to two churches including Saint Menas Coptic Orthodox Christian Church and the Coptic Church of the Holy Virgin, in Cairo. The attacks resulted in the deaths of 12 people and more than 230 wounded. It is reported that the events were triggered by a mixed marriage between a Christian woman and a Muslim man.

Successive Egyptian governments have long hand in place laws that hampered the freedom of Christian worship and restricted the right to build or even renovate churches. They maintained and enforced an Ottoman era Hamayouni Decree restrictions on building or repairing churches. These governments also restricted Christians from senior government, diplomatic, military, and educational positions, and there has been increasing discrimination in the private sector. The government allowed various media outlets to attack Christianity and restricted Christians access to the state-controlled media to defent themselves or speak their minds.

Security agencies sporadically persecuted Muslim converts to Christianity. In Egypt the government does not officially recognize conversions from Islam to Christianity; because certain interfaith marriages are not allowed either, this prevents marriages between converts to Christianity and those born in Christian communities, and also results in the children of Christian converts being classified as Muslims and given a Muslim education..

Many colleges dictate quotas for Coptic students, often around 1 or 2% despite the group making up 15% of the country's population. There is also a separate tax-funded education system called Al Azhar, catering to students from elementary to college level, which accepts no Christian Coptic students, teachers or administrators.

Church growth

The papacy of Pope Shenouda III saw an expansion of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Australia, Asia, Europe, North America and South America. While there were only four Coptic Orthodox churches in all of North America in 1971, today there are more than two hundred.

Relations with other churches

Pope Shenouda III was well known for his deep commitment to ecumenism. He believed that Christian unity was a matter of faith rather than of jurisdiction. 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, Pope Shenouda III and Pope Paul VI signed a common declaration on the issue of Christology and agreed to further discussions on Christian . There were also dialogues with various Protestant churches worldwide.

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."

Ethiopian Church conflict

Following the arrest and imprisonment of Abune Tewophilos, Patriarch of Ethiopia, by the Marxist Derg regime that had deposed Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974, Pope Shenouda III refused to recognise the cleric who was installed as the Ethiopian Patriarch's successor. He, along with the Holy Synod, argued that the removal of Patriarch Abune Tewophilos was illegal and contrary to canon law, as it was an act of political interference. In the eyes of the Church of Alexandria, Abune Tewophilos remained the legitimate Patriarch of Ethiopia.

Though Patriarch Tewophilos was said to have been executed, the government of Ethiopia did not acknowledge that this had happened. Thus, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria refused to recognise any other Patriarch as long as Abune Tewophilos' death had not been confirmed. Formal ties between the Coptics Church and Ethiopia were then severed, although they remained in full communion. Formal relations between the two churches resumed on 13 July 2007.

Theological disputes

Pope Shenouda III was involved in theological disagreements concerning the issue of theosis—the transforming effect of divine grace; he published eight booklets explaining his view of theosis and lectured on the issue in the theological seminary of Cairo and also in the seminary of Alexandria. Following the death of Father Matta El Meskeen, who held an opposing view, Pope Shenouda III issued warnings against those views.

Illness and death

In the months prior to the Pope's death, rumours had spread through Cairo's Coptic community that he had fallen into a coma. The Holy Synod denied these reports. He regularly flew to the United States for medical treatment and, according to his doctor, Dr. Sherif Doss, he "[suffered] from kidney disease and diabetes."

Pope Shenouda III died on 17 March 2012 (8 Paremhat 1728 in the Coptic calendar) of lung and liver complications at his official residence shortly after returning from medical treatment abroad. He had stopped taking medication because he was too weak. However, Al Jazeera English's Coptic Egyptian reporter Sherine Tadros reported that he had been in good spirits prior to his death. His political advisor, Hany Aziz, said that his death was a result of "complications in health and from old age." The funeral took place following three days of laying in state . On 20 March, he was buried at the Monastery of Saint Pishoy in Wadi el-Natrun, in accordance with his wishes.

Reactions

During the night an estimated over 100,000 mourners were said to have visited his body at St. Mark's Cathedral, causing traffic jams stretching for kilometres, that was taken out of a coffin and lay in a seated position on a ceremonial throne dressed in gold and red embroidered vestments, a golden mitre upon his head with a gold-tipped staff in his hand. Many Coptic figures from across the world started to return to the country in order to both pay their respect and work towards the selection of a new pope. Father Anglos Ishaq, the head of the church on the northern coast, said of his replacement that "it is too early to know what will happen next, but what is known is that the oldest bishop in the Holy See will be chosen as Locum tenens until a new pope gets chosen by elections from different church councils in the different provinces". Metropolitan Pachomious of Beheira and Pentapolis was appointed to take over papal duties being the second most senior Metropolitan in the Holy Synod in age after Anba Mikhail, but due to his failing health and age had to delegate this duty to Metropolitan Pachomios during the first meeting of the Holy Synod after the death of their Pontiff, for the interim period until a new pope could be selected. Mourners from across Egypt went to Saint Mark Cathedral in Abbaseya to pay their final respects. Bells also tolled in Cairo's Abbasiya district, where the primary cathedral of the Coptic Church is located.

Political and religious reactions to his death came from across the Egyptian spectrum and internationally. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces issued a statement on ''Facebook'' that expressed his wish of "preserving the unity of Egypt and the unity of its social fabric" should be achieved. It added that with the loss the country should "consolidate with each other in order to pass with Egypt towards security and stability." Its leader, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, decreed three days of mourning for Christians working for state institutions. The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party speaker of parliament, Saad Katatni, said of Shenouda's death that Egypt had lost "one of its national icons, a man who left a void in the political arena at a critical time." The party also issued a statement signed by the party's chairman Mohamed Morsi that read Shenouda's life was "a long journey of big contribution in various fields domestically and abroad." Prime Minister Kamal el-Ganzouri's statement read: "I give my sincere condolences to the Coptic brothers home and abroad. [He was a] national character and a symbol for patriotism and he gained wide respect and appreciation from the Egyptian people." Former Prime Minister Essam Sharaf called Shenouda as a "devout clergyman, a good citizen and a valuable leader. His memory will remain in our hearts. His vision was always that Egypt is not the country that we live in; but the country that lives in us." Upcoming presidential candidates also issued statements. Ahmed Shafiq said that his death was a loss to Egypt because he was a "unique religious leader and a distinguished character in the national history. Coptic church will pass this hard moment because of the great legacy of Pope Shenouda;" Amr Moussa added that Shenouda was "a great man who was working for the interests of the country. He was working for Egypt to stand as a unified front against the challenges facing the nation;" and Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh's campaign issued a statement saying that Fotouh had spoken with the Church's bishop of the youth, Bishop Moussa, to express his condolences to both the Coptic Church and Copts. Al-Nour Party's Members of Parliament walked out when a minute silence was held for Shenouda, with a party spokesman saying that "a minute of silence does not exist in Islam."

Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the grand imam of al-Azhar University, said that "Egypt has lost one of its rare men at a sensitive moment when it most needs the wisest of its wise – their expertise and their purity of minds;" he also added that he "greatly remembers his vision towards Jerusalem and its history." Social media was said to be abuzz with memorials as well as criticism for Shenouda.

International reactions included: – In a message of condolence to Copts, the Roman Catholic Pope Benedict XVI said: "I recall with gratitude his commitment to Christian Unity, his memorable visit to my predecessor Pope Paul VI, and their signing of the Joint Declaration of Faith in the Incarnation of the Son of God together in Rome, on 10 May 1973, as well as his Cairo meeting with Pope John Paul II during the Great Jubilee of the Incarnation, on 24 February 2000. I can say how the Catholic Church as a whole shares the grief that afflicts the Orthodox Copts, and how she stands in fervent prayer asking that He, who is the Resurrection and the Life, might welcome his faithful servant." He offered prayers for Shenouda on the day of his death and was said to share the pain of Copts over Shenouda's death. :Director of the Holy See Press Office Federico Lombardi said that Benedict XVI desired that "the Lord welcomes this great pastor" and add that "we will never forget the meeting between Pope Shenouda III and Pope John Paul II in Cairo on the occasion of his pilgrimage to Mount Sinai [in 2000]..." A statement attributed to him read: "The Catholic Church shares in the grief and prayers of Coptic Christians in mourning the loss of their spiritual leader...May the Lord welcome this great shepherd and give him the reward he deserves for his service." – Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdullahian praised Shenouda for "constructive and lasting efforts to achieve peace and justice" and offered his condolences to the Coptic Orthodox Church and Copts. – President Barack Obama said of Shenouda that "we will remember Pope Shenouda III as a man of deep faith, a leader of a great faith, and an advocate for unity and reconciliation...a beloved leader of Egypt's Coptic Christians and an advocate for tolerance and religious dialogue." He also added that "Michelle and I are saddened to learn of the passing of Coptic Christian Pope Shenouda III, a beloved leader of Egypt's Coptic Christians and an advocate for tolerance and religious dialogue. We stand alongside Coptic Christians and Egyptians as they honor his contributions in support of peace and cooperation. [His] commitment to Egypt's national unity is also a testament to what can be accomplished when people of all religions and creeds work together." :Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed her condolences on behalf of the United States to the Egyptian people and said: "As we reflect on his life and legacy, we reaffirm our support to the future peace and prosperity of Egypt. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Egyptian people and all those who mourn Pope Shenouda III."

Awards

In 2000, Pope Shenouda III was awarded 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. The award was "for promoting exchange and understanding between Christianity and Islam in today's Middle East and his deep concern to pursue dialogue with all the great religious faiths and his major role in forging ecumenical links with all other members of the Christian family throughout the planet."

See also

List of Copts

List of Egyptians

Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah

References

External links

Official website

Pope Shenouda III – Coptic Orthodox Church Network: Biography, Online Books, and Audio Sermons

Articles by Pope Shenouda III in English from coptichymns.net

More information about the life of Pope Shenouda III – from Saint Takla Haymanout the Ethiopian Church, Alexandria, Egypt

Common declaration of Pope Shenouda III and Pope Paul VI (1973)

Pope Shenouda's story and life in Arabic and English

Pope Shenouda's Life Category:1923 births Category:2012 deaths Category:Cairo University alumni Category:Christian religious leaders Category:Christianity in Africa Category:Coptic Christians from Egypt Category:Deans of the Catechetical School of Alexandria Category:Egyptian Christian monks Category:Egyptian religious leaders Category:People from Asyut Category:Popes of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria Category:UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize laureates

ar:شنودة الثالث (بابا الإسكندرية) arc:ܦܐܦܐ ܫܢܘܕܐ ܬܠܝܬܝܐ frp:Chenouda III d’Alèxandrie be:Шэнуда III Александрыйскі be-x-old:Шэнуда III Александрыйскі ca:Shenouda III cs:Šenuda III. da:Pave Shenouda 3. af Alexandria de:Schenuda III. et:Shenouda III eml:Shenouda III es:Shenouda III eo:Ŝenudo la 3-a eu:Shenouda III.a fr:Chenouda III d'Alexandrie ga:Pápa Shenouda III gl:Shenouda III hy:Շենուդա Գ id:Paus Shenouda III dari Aleksandria it:Shenuda III di Alessandria he:שנודה השלישי ka:შენუდა III la:Sinuthius III Papa hu:III. Senuda alexandriai pápa ml:ഷെനൂദാ തൃതീയൻ മാർപാപ്പ arz:شنوده التالت (بابا اسكندريه) nl:Shenouda III van Alexandrië ja:シェヌーダ3世 (コプト教会アレクサンドリア総主教) no:Shenouda III nn:Shenouda III av Alexandria pl:Szenuda III pt:Shenouda III de Alexandria ro:Shenouda al III-lea ru:Шенуда III fi:Shenouda III sv:Shenouda III tr:III. Šenuda uk:Шенуда III zh:欣諾達三世

name	Michael Coren
influences	Thomas More, C. S. Lewis, Ronald Knox
birth name	Michael Coren
birth date	January 15, 1959
birth place	Essex, England, United Kingdom
occupation	Author, journalist
nationality	United Kingdom, Canada
alma mater	University of Nottingham
religion	Christian, Roman Catholic
movement	Traditionalist conservatism
notableworks	''As I See It'', ''C.S. Lewis: The Man Who Created Narnia'', ''Why Catholics Are Right'', ''J.R.R. Tolkien: The Man Who Created the Lord of the Rings''
website	http://www.michaelcoren.com/}}

Michael Coren (born January 15, 1959) is an English-Canadian columnist, author, public speaker, radio host and television talk show host. He hosted the television talk show ''The Michael Coren Show'' on the Crossroads Television System from 1999 to 2011 when he moved to the Sun News Network to host an evening talk show, ''The Arena with Michael Coren''. He has also been a long-time radio personality, particularly on CFRB radio.

He has written more than ten books, including biographies of G.K. Chesterton, H. G. Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, and C. S. Lewis. His latest book, ''Why Catholics are Right'', was published in 2011.

Life and career

Coren was born in Essex, England. After obtaining a degree in politics from Nottingham University, he moved from the UK to Canada in 1987. For several years, he was a columnist for ''Frank'' and then ''The Globe and Mail'', before he began syndicated columns for the ''Financial Post'' and Sun Media in 1995. Following his departure from ''Frank'', he became a favourite target of that publication, culminating in a spoof ad contest to "deflower" Michael Coren (a nod to ''Frank'''s notorious "Deflower Caroline Mulroney" contest, and a satirical jab at Coren's conservative leanings.) Coren had also been a favorite target of ''Frank'' back in the days before he began writing for them. Coren took exception to being labelled a "literary prostitute" during a 1994 interview.

His career as a broadcaster began in the early 1990s when he co-hosted a political debate segment with Irshad Manji on TVOntario's ''Studio 2''. In 1995, he began an evening talk show on CFRB. In 1999, Coren briefly moved to Talk 640 for a short stint as its morning man. He returned to CFRB, where he hosted a show from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. weekday nights, and regularly filled in for other hosts until November 2005. Coren was dismissed by CFRB as a result of complaints arising from comments ridiculing the weight of an apparent guest. In fact, the guest was an actor and the segment was scripted. According to CFRB's Operations Manager, Steve Kowch, "Pat Holiday, our general manager and myself went through the tape of Monday night's show and were shocked....it was totally out of bounds." Coren argues that it was a satire comparing in his mind public attitude to third world starvation with North America's obsession with slimming and self-indulgence.

Despite this acrimonious termination, Coren made regular talk show appearances on CFRB in July 2006, at the start of the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, as he happened to be in Israel at the time. After receiving 60% approval from CFRB listeners in an August 2006 poll, Coren returned to the CFRB airwaves in September 2006 with a Sunday evening show. As of the 22nd of April 2007, the show expanded from its usual 1 hour 7-8pm to 7-9 pm. Coren celebrated by giving away double the prizes usually given out. In the fall of 2007 he and former Liberal Party of Canada president Stephen LeDrew launched a daily hour-long afternoon show on CFRB called ''Two Bald Guys With Strong Opinions'' in which the two argue about the issues of the day. After the departure of LeDrew, Coren was joined by Tarek Fatah after several on air auditions by potential replacement co-hosts. Coren was again let go by CFRB along with 12 other staff of the Toronto radio station on 27 August 2009.

On television, Coren hosted the ''Michael Coren Show'' on the Crossroads Television System until June 2011 when he left to join the Sun News Network where he hosts ''The Arena with Michael Coren'' weeknights on beginning August 30, 2011. Coren also has a newspaper column published every Saturday in the Sun newspaper chain. He has been a columnist for the ''Western Standard'', ''Catholic Insight'' and ''The Women's Post'' and has contributed to ''National Post'', ''Reader's Digest'' and several other publications. A self-professed Tottenham Hotspur fan, he has appeared as a guest host on The Score's ''The Footy Show''. Coren is also a public speaker, particularly at religious gatherings.

Political controversies

In his earlier, satirical ''Aesthete'' column in ''Frank'' magazine Coren was by his own admission deliberately provocative. In response to a 1994 interview question about AIDS he responded:

:"Look, people are dying all over. When it was blacks in Africa dying of AIDS, no one gave a toss. Nobody gave a toss. Suddenly, it's middleclass men in California and everyone goes crazy about it. It's a double standard. I'm trying to provoke people into rethinking comfortable points of view."

In September 2006, Coren published an article in the ''Toronto Sun'', supporting the use of tactical nuclear strikes against Iran. This position was later retracted.

On the subject of AIDS Michael Coren wrote a column in 2006 titled "Why is AIDS so special?" in which he said "At its most simple, stop fornicating." "AIDS in the West is still overwhelmingly a threat to male homosexuals and intravenous drug users."

In an article which appeared in ''Sun Media'' in 2007, Coren said "As for Jesus not condemning homosexuality, nor did He condemn bestiality and necrophilia."

Religious Views

His articles and speeches often include stories of his own personal spiritual journey. Coren's father was Jewish as was his maternal grandfather, while his maternal grandmother came from a family of Welsh coalminers and converted to Judaism. Coren's father and uncle were cab drivers. Coren has said that his father's family left Poland a few decades before the Holocaust. He has also said that his father's family emigrated from Poland in the 1890s. He said "People have called me an anti-Semite. I thought it quite rich since my father's family was massacred in the Holocaust". Michael Coren was profiled on Credo, on Vision TV, and said that his father told him he could not attend his son's wedding in a Catholic Church without becoming "physically sick."

He converted to Roman Catholicism in his early twenties while still living in England, but that didn't last long. He said that he "converted to an institution." He eventually converted to Evangelical Christianity in the 1990s, after a conversion experience as an adult, greatly influenced by Canadian televangelist Terry Winter.

In 1991 Michael Coren said in a column for a humour magazine: "The evangelical Christians may be intolerant, small-minded, and repellent, but at least they hold a consistent set of beliefs".

In a 1993 book review he said "Can anyone imagine a detective priest? Regrettably, it is easier to conjure up the image of a priest being questioned by secular detectives over abuse charges." Also in 1993, Michael Coren had a falling out with the Catholic Church over an unflattering profile he wrote of Archbishop Aloysius Ambrozic for ''Toronto Life'' magazine. The Bishop, who made Coren a "Knight of the Holy Sepulchre" in a ceremony in October 1992, was quoted using words including "friggin" and "bitch", and said that Francisco Franco was a "conservative Roman Catholic and not a bad fellow." Coren defended himself, saying "He's an archbishop and he was vulgar...obviously what thousands of Roman Catholics expected me to do was lie. I still get hate mail about the article."

After this incident, Coren said that he didn't consider himself a Roman Catholic anymore. He said "My wife is Catholic and the children will be raised Catholic, but that's it. It's just not there for me." Daniel Richler observed that Coren loves scandal, but hates having it come his way. In one of his columns for the satirical humour magazine Frank, Michael Coren depicted Mother Teresa getting drunk in a bar.

In early 2004, he embraced Catholicism again. He cites St. Thomas More, C. S. Lewis, Ronald Knox and his godfather Lord Longford as spiritual influences, and remains connected to the ecumenical scene in Canada and beyond.

Published books

''Theatre Royal: 100 Years of Stratford East'' (1985) ISBN 0704324741

''Gilbert: The Man Who Was G.K. Chesterton'' (1990) ISBN 1557782563

''The Invisible Man: The Life and Liberties of H.G. Wells'' (1993) ISBN 0689121199

''The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle'' (1993) ISBN 0747512299

''The Man Who Created Narnia: The Story of C. S. Lewis'' (1994) ISBN 1895555787

''Setting It Right'' (1996) ISBN 0773729402

''J.R.R.Tolkien: The Man who Created the Lord of the Rings'' (2001) ISBN 0752261568

''As I See It'' (2009) ISBN 0981276709

''Why Catholics Are Right'' (2011) ISBN 0771023219

Awards

Awards Michael Coren has won.

2005: The Ed Murrow Award for Broadcasting.

2006: The RTNDA Radio Broadcasting Award.

2007: The Communicator Award in Hollywood.

2008: the Omni TV Award.

References

External links

Official website

Michael Coren's blog

Coren's column in ''The Toronto Sun''

Category:1959 births Category:Alumni of the University of Nottingham Category:British expatriates in Canada Category:Canadian columnists Category:Canadian people of Jewish descent Category:Canadian pro-life activists Category:Canadian Roman Catholics Category:Canadian talk radio hosts Category:Canadian television talk show hosts Category:Converts to Christianity from Judaism Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism from Evangelicalism Category:Living people Category:People from Essex Category:Roman Catholic writers Category:The Globe and Mail columnists Category:National Post people

Raymond Ibrahim (born in 1973) is an American research librarian, translator, author and columnist. His focus is Arabic history and language, and current events.

Biography

Ibrahim was born in the United States to Egyptian Coptic immigrants. He is fluent in Arabic and English. Ibrahim studied at California State University, Fresno, where he wrote a Master's thesis under Victor Davis Hanson on an early military encounter between Islam and Byzantium based on medieval Arabic and Greek texts. Ibrahim also took graduate courses at Georgetown University's Center of Contemporary Arab Studies and is studying toward a PhD in medieval Islamic history at Catholic University.

Career

Ibrahim was previously an Arab language specialist for the Near East section of the Library of Congress, and the associate director of the Middle East Forum. He is currently a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center.

The 9/11 attacks played a pivotal role in Ibrahim's formative outlook. As he explains in the ''Chronicle of Higher Education'', they occurred while he was doing research for his M.A. thesis which centered on the role of the jihad in early Islamic conquests, causing him to expand from a study of history and theology into politics and current events, reading up on al-Qaeda and other Islamist organizations, and watching Al Jazeera. He claims that he was immediately struck by the continuity evident between the words, deeds, and goals of the 7th century mujahidin ("jihadists"), whom he had been studying for years, and the nearly verbatim words, deeds, and goals of 21st century Islamic radicals. Since then, he has maintained that to truly understand contemporary Islam and Islamism, one must first understand early Islamic history and doctrine.

Ibrahim is the editor and translator of ''The Al-Qaeda Reader'', which he published after discovering hitherto unknown al-Qaeda treatises written in Arabic that he says "proves once and for all that, despite the propaganda of al-Qaeda and its sympathizers, radical Islam's war with the West is not finite and limited to political grievances—real or imagined—but is existential, transcending time and space and deeply rooted in faith".

Reception

An article Ibrahim wrote on taqiyya that was commissioned and published by ''Jane's Islamic Affairs Analyst'' on September 26, 2008, was later characterized by another author in ''Jane's Islamic Affairs Analyst'' as being "well-researched, factual in places but ... ultimately misleading".

References

Publications

''The Al Qaeda Reader'' (editor and translator), Doubleday, 2007, ISBN 978-0-385-51655-6

"How Taqiyya Alters Islam's Rules of War", ''Middle East Quarterly'', Winter 2010, pp. 3–13

"Are Judaism and Christianity as Violent as Islam?", ''Middle East Quarterly'', Summer 2009, pp. 3–12

"An Analysis of Al-Qa'ida's Worldview: Reciprocal Treatment or Religious Obligation", ''Middle East Review of International Affairs'', Vol. 12, No. 3, September 2008

"Studying the Islamic Way of War", ''National Review Online'', September 11, 2008

"Islam's Doctrines of Deception", ''Jane's Islamic Affairs Analyst'', September 26, 2008

"Jesus and Mohammad, Version 2.0", ''National Review Online'', September 10, 2007

"The Two Faces of Al Qaeda", ''The Chronicle of Higher Education'', Vol. 54, Issue 4, p. B3, September 21, 2007

"Islam gets concessions; Infidels get conquered", ''Los Angeles Times'', December 5, 2006

External links

Raymond Ibrahim biography, Pundicity.com

Category:Living people Category:American Middle Eastern studies Category:1973 births

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