A Silent Patriarch - Kyrillos VI, Life and Legacy (FR Daniel Fanous)
A Silent Patriarch - Kyrillos VI, Life and Legacy (FR Daniel Fanous)
A Silent Patriarch - Kyrillos VI, Life and Legacy (FR Daniel Fanous)
Kyrillos VI (1902–1971)
Life and Legacy
Rev. Dr Daniel Fanous
I n 1910, a few years before the death of his wife, Youssef moved with
his six children to Alexandria, a city along the coast of the
Mediterranean Sea.51 It was a time of radical social transformation. e
literal exodus of Egyptians from the rural countryside to Cairo and
Alexandria had far-reaching socioeconomic and ecclesial consequences. A
century earlier, at the time of the French occupation, Alexandria had a
population of some six thousand residing in what was then a modest and
sleepy fishing village. By the time Azer would leave Alexandria for the
monastery in 1927, it was a thriving seaport harboring a population of half
a million.52
* * *
e passing of their mother meant that the six children were oen le to
their own devices. As the boy Azer became a young man, his family found
his demeanor trending in a singular direction. His elder brother, Hanna,
reminisces that Azer would grow increasingly uncomfortable whenever
the conversation was spent in empty jest and idle laughter. ey would
oen find him quietly retreating to his room, only to return a short while
later with a generous smile, gently coaxing them to a more productive and
edifying conversation.53
But he was not always so tame. On one occasion, Hanna recalls that he
returned home to a rather odd sight. As he neared the house, he heard the
wild screams of his lile sisters, only to enter and find the young girls
ascending various pieces of antique furniture, frantically trying to escape
their now-pubescent brother. ere Azer was, at the base of a provincial
cupboard, twirling a dampened towel and snapping the towel at his
hysterical and petrified sisters. When Hanna managed to calm them all
down (and negotiate the towel’s release from Azer’s hands), he asked the
reason for the theatrical scuffle. Azer’s response was not unusual:
“Because they are annoying me!” “Yes,” Hanna pressed further, “but how
are they annoying you?” “Because,” Azer quickly retorted, “I can’t seem to
find a Bible in their midst, and they refuse to read it.” Hanna could only
shake his head and chuckle while quickly puing the house to order before
their father returned from work.54
Youssef, in the meantime, had found employment as a general manager
for a successful coon trader by the name of Ahmad Yahya Pasha.55
Ahmad had accumulated vast agricultural properties and businesses, and
was, significantly, a founding father of the Wafd political party. His son,
Abdel Faah Yahya Pasha (1876–1951), would eventually go on to become
the prime minister of Egypt from 1933 to 1934. And it was there at the
Pasha residence that the patriotic Wafd Party would meet in its early days;
there the first illicit mentions of revolution were uered. In his memoirs,
Hanna notes that these influences found their way into the home of
Youssef Aa, thereby forging a robust patriotism in the maturing Azer.56
Words of revolution were slowly seeping from the marketplace to the
palace, from the mosque to the church. But in the family home, Azer was
fond of repeating with slight irritation, “You fill the air with talk. . . .”57 One
thing was certain: revolution was in the air.
* * *
Decades earlier, in 1882, the British had quelled the Urabi revolt against
the Khedival regime of Egypt. eir initial intention had been to establish
political stability in the face of a looming Egyptian economic crisis, as well
as to insulate British foreign investment. Whatever genuine hopes and
benign promises of a “temporary” occupation the British may have held, it
promptly became evident that a swi withdrawal was nearly impossible.
Financial collapse was imminent, and the Egyptian regime, weakened by
the Urabi revolt, was le impotent and helpless. Meanwhile, a rebellion at
the southern border in Sudan threatened the very stability of the entire
British Empire.58
e burden of establishing financial and political stability rested upon
the shoulders of Sir Evelyn Baring (1841–1917), commonly known as Lord
Cromer, agent and consul-general from 1883 to 1907. Lile can be said
against his masterful economic and political success. Within years, debt
was halved, government revenue doubled, imports strengthened, and the
Sudan was “reconquered.”59 Other policies, however, were not so well
received. And it was these that would channel deeper currents of
nationalist discontent.
Cromer’s view of his subjects was prejudiced and demeaning. He held
to a “frankly racist ideology” of European rule that dismissed higher
education as at once irrelevant and precarious for an ultimately
unintelligent and incapable people.60 Cromer’s was a tenure that sought
only to secure and bolster foreign interests. ere was lile concern for the
“primitive” subjects, who at any moment, supposedly with a lile
education, could stir up nationalist discontent against the British. at had
been the mistake of British colonialism in India—a mistake Cromer cared
not to repeat.61
Coptic Christians fared lile beer in Cromer’s estimation. e only
distinguishing feature between Copts and Muslims, in his mind, was that
one worshiped in a mosque and the other in a church.62 Cromer’s own
memoirs are telling: “e modern Copt has become from head to toe, in
manners, language and spirit, a Moslem, however unwilling he may be to
recognise the fact.”63
is has in part led to claims that the Christian population was an
insignificant minority of lile concern to the British.64 Vivian Ibrahim has
convincingly shown this to be a fallacy. Cromer’s theoretical indifference
toward the Copts in his memoirs (and imagination) bears lile on actual
history. Particularly in the lead-up to World War I, the British followed a
two-tiered policy regarding the Copts, that of “divide and rule.” First, they
sought to weaken the Church by exploiting the already deepening ris
between the clerical establishment and laypeople. And second, Copts were
given preferential treatment in the allocation of highly-sought-aer
bureaucratic employment.65 ough subtle in method, the clandestine
policy would slowly induce fractures in an increasingly agitated nation.
By June 1906, within months of Azer’s “prophetic” call to monasticism,
things would come to a head.66 On June 13, some seventy kilometers (44
miles) from Azer’s home, five British officers sought recreation in a pigeon
shooting expedition near the village of Denshawai—unaware that the
pigeons were the source of livelihood for the locals. A scuffle ensued. e
wife of the local imam (leader of Muslim prayers) was inadvertently shot
and wounded. Excitement arose, and the villagers descended upon the
officers. A wounded officer managed to escape, only to collapse and die
from apparent heatstroke en route back to camp. An unfortunate innocent
villager, oblivious to the day’s events, tended to the collapsed officer.
When fellow officers found him by the side of the wounded soldier, he was
shot and killed.
e reaction was unprecedented. Fiy-two Egyptians were arrested.
ey were brought before a court in Shibin al-Kom presided over by the
minister of justice, Boutros Ghali Pasha, and three British officials.67 Aer
a hasty trial, on June 27, the British hand fell heavily in the hope of
warding off any future uprising. e punishment was disproportionate and
unnecessarily brutal. Four of the Egyptians were sentenced to death, and
one of them was allegedly hanged in front of his own house the very next
day. At least six others were severely flogged in front of fellow villagers,
who were forced to watch.68 Many others were sentenced to terms of
imprisonment with hard labor.
What should have been dealt with as a routine maer, as a minor
disturbance of spontaneous self-defense in which there were only two
casualties, became immortalized. e Denshawai Incident embodied the
humiliation and barbarity of British rule.69 Rather than heading off an
imagined insurgency, it baptized a revolution.
It would, unfortunately, be the Church that would suffer most. From
this explosive incident we can accurately date the “reactivation of the
Islamic versus Christian dimension of the Egyptian question.”70 One simple
explanation for this is that the judgment and sentencing were presided
over by a Copt. British preferential treatment (part of the “divide and rule”
policy) meant many Copts had been allocated senior bureaucratic
positions within the government; one of those was Boutros Ghali Pasha
(1846–1910)—the Copt in question.71 A few years later, on November 8,
1908, Ghali was appointed prime minister. Within a brief time, he had
further succeeded in infuriating public opinion.72 e identification of a
leading Copt with the unpopular British administration, heightened by his
involvement with the Sudan Condominium and his support for the Suez
Canal concessions, did lile to appease the simmering sectarianism.73
Before long a “press war” was raging, with rapidly developing hate
propaganda, reflective of the currents of intracommunal tension.74 It began
in June 1908 when an article surfaced in a Coptic newspaper, al-Watani,
that was critical of Islamic history. Sheikh Abdel Aziz Gawish retaliated
tactlessly in the National Party’s newspaper al-Liwa:
[Copts] should be kicked to death. ey still have faces and bodies
similar to those of demons and monkeys, which is proof they hide
poisonous spirits within their evil soul. . . . You sons of adulterous
women, have you become so foolhardy that you should start and
abuse the Muslim faith. e curse of Allah on you! . . . you tails of
camels, with your monkey faces! You bones of bodies! You poor,
dreaming fools! You sons of mean rogues!75
A heightened state of anxiety ensued. On February 29, 1910, as he le
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Coptic prime minister, Boutros Ghali
Pasha, was shot by a twenty-three-year-old Muslim, Ibrahim el-Wardani.
Ghali died from his wounds the next day. ough the alleged motive was
political and not religious, it was not popularly celebrated as such. One
could hear the Cairo mobs chanting, “El-Wardani killed el-Nossrani [the
Nazarene, i.e., Christian].”76 e Christian populace was understandably
unnerved. A Coptic Congress was convened to air grievances on March 6,
1911, in Asyut, Upper Egypt.77 Muslim Egyptians responded in kind with a
General Egyptian Congress a month later. Sectarian conflict seemed
imminent, and violence certain. Christians feared the worst. But just as
suddenly, the tide turned. e archduke of Austria was assassinated on
June 18, 1914, and the world, with Egypt enmeshed, abruptly spiraled into
the First World War.
* * *
Despite British guarantees that the empire would shoulder the entire
burden of the war, its millstone fell upon the neck of more than a million
Egyptian conscripted men, and its scourge upon the widowed and
fatherless. Masses of imperial troops landed in Egypt, inflation soared, the
peasantry suffered labor exactions, property was requisitioned, and
unemployment was endemic. On November 5, 1914, Britain declared war
on the Ooman Empire. Fearful of any “pan-Islamic sentiments” among
the Egyptians, the British established a formal protectorate over Egypt.78
Rather than preparing for withdrawal from their “temporary occupation,”
the pro-Ooman Khedive was deposed and replaced with a pro-British
puppet. By war’s end, all Egyptians—Christian and Muslim, wealthy
landowners and fellahin (peasants)—were seething with disgust and
indignation. When would the oppression of the British come to an end?
As the war neared its end in 1918, the dissolution of the Ooman
Empire meant pan-Islamism was fading. Common enmity toward the
British, the distraction of war, and a more secular intellectual climate all
aligned to reverse the fortunes and fates of the Copts dramatically.79 As it
was once said, “the enemy of mine enemy is my friend.”80 e fears of a
sectarian religious conflict were displaced by the zeal of revolution.
Two days aer the armistice of World War I, on November 13, 1918,
Saad Zaghloul (1859–1927), along with an Egyptian delegation (wafd),
sought a meeting in London to demand political independence. His
demands were rejected. Simultaneously, a grassroots movement of civil
disobedience was simmering. By early March 1919, Zaghloul, who by now
had enamored the Egyptian people, was arrested and exiled to Malta.81
Egypt erupted in protest and riot. Cairo and Alexandria were set alight
with anarchy. Azer, now a young man of sixteen years, would have hidden
in his home and watched in frightful awe from a boarded window. In just a
few weeks, villages were reduced to ashes; martial law, enforced; landed
properties, plundered; railways, ravaged; and British officers, murdered.82
It was the eruption of revolution! e religious tensions of the prewar
years were swept away by a tide of nationalist fervor.
Archpriest (Hegumen, or Qommos) Sergius recalls the moment. In
early March, he had been visiting a Coptic family near the al-Fagallah
church in Cairo when he heard chanting in support of Zaghloul: “I felt a
strange shaking and my blood was boiling in my veins. I le the family
and found my feet taking me straight to al-Azhar!”83 He quite literally
marched in his cassock to the al-Azhar Mosque and became the first ever
Christian priest to stand and preach from its pulpit.84 Between March and
April 1919, he preached for fiy-nine consecutive days in al-Azhar against
the British. Zaghloul named him the “Orator of Egypt.” On one occasion,
Sergius was standing in Ramses Square and enraptured the crowds with a
teasing question: “Guess what I did today?” All eyes were transfixed on
him, as he continued, “I chanted a Christian wedding for a Muslim girl!”
Eyes grew wider, as he added, “I joined Egypt in Holy Matrimony to
Independence.” e applause was deafening.85 Slogans could be heard:
“Long live the Crescent and the Cross”; “Religion is for God, and the
nation for all.”86 It was the first time in the nation’s history that the
Crescent and Cross were seen on one and the same flag.87 ough the next
two years were to be painfully scarred by acrimony and anarchy, priests
and sheikhs walked arm in arm against a common enemy. Copts, it would
seem, had finally found a political home in Zaghloul’s Wafd Party.88
In November 1919, the Milner Commission investigated the emergent
revolution and reported that the state of the protectorate was, quite
simply, unsatisfactory. By February 22, 1922, the British government
abolished the protectorate and unilaterally declared Egypt an independent
sovereign state.89 Egyptians were justifiably infatuated with Zaghloul, and
in 1924 he was elected the prime minister of the first Wafdist government.
In that very moment, “the Crescent and the Cross” were united—albeit
ever so briefly.
* * *
Unfortunately, we have no record of Azer’s life for most of this period. His
brother, Hanna, briefly mentions that their father, Youssef, was the general
manager for Ahmad Yahya Pasha, in whose home the Wafdist movement
would find its roots. e memoirs are altogether succinct: “Azer’s exposure
to this environment helped him develop a strong patriotism.”90
But it is important to discern at least two points within this “exposure.”
From 1906 to 1914, sectarianism was rife, and the gathering forces of
conflict between Christian and Muslim would have been burned deep into
the memory of the primary-school-aged boy. is conflict would have
been at odds with the love that Azer felt toward his Muslim neighbors and
the sheikh who had tutored him in Tukh al-Nasara. It was a mournful and
acute awakening to the realities of religious prejudice. Yet from 1914 to
1922, Azer, now a young man, would have been exposed to just the
opposite. He would have become aware of the capacity for religious
dialogue and the brilliance of standing patriotically under one united flag.
So, before he had reached his twenties, Azer had seen both irrational
hate and the vigor of solidarity. One would serve as an impending
warning; the other, an all-too-fleeting ideal.
e Path to the Monastery, 1920–1927
“Saints by their nature are as disturbing as they are inspiring.”
—Susan Ashbrook Harvey
A zer was not born a saint. It was a path he chose. Not in the
sense that one can seriously or consciously elect to be a saint;
rather, in the sense that he yearned absolutely for a solitary life with God.
To say this desire was met with disapproval would be an understatement.
His family was devastated.
* * *
Only a year aer the revolution, in 1920, Azer completed his schooling.
While Egypt awaited independence with increasing impatience, he
anxiously sat his final secondary exams and received his baccalaureate.
Intermient martial law, scaered violence, and the occasional uprising
formed the backdrop to his graduation into uncertain times. But the
anxiety was short-lived. e unilateral declaration of independence in 1922
granted some measure of stability to the nation. Within a brief period,
Azer was able to secure employment managing the accounts for an
English company by the name of omas Cook and Son.91 e firm had
been founded in 1841 by its namesake, omas Cook, as a travel company.
Oddly enough, it was originally established with a religious purpose—
transporting parishioners to temperance and Sunday School meetings in
and around central England. By the 1880s the firm was involved in military
transport and postal services for the British in Egypt, as well as the odd
travel tour.
A rare photograph of Azer from the period, found on a national ID
card, reveals a tall, handsome, and almost athletic young man in a single-
breasted suit, with a dapper mustache and a typical Egyptian nose. His
eyes are deep, deliberate, and penetrating—almost as though one were laid
bare before him. He is wearing a conical, flat-topped, brimless red hat with
a tassel, commonly known as a fez or tarboosh—a symbol of social status
and “badge” of a white-collar worker in the Ooman Empire.92 Other than
his discerning and somewhat riveting eyes, Azer looks, at first glance, an
ordinary young Egyptian man.
During these years, Hanna notes, Azer would pray each morning at St
Mark’s Cathedral in Mahatet al-Ramleh, Alexandria, before walking to
work.93 e general manager at omas Cook, an Australian man, was
known to be a tenacious (and perhaps stubborn) man who would oen
keep watch at the entrance of the building, carefully noting what time his
employees arrived. He was all too aware that he was feared, and that
many would oen plan their arrival at work to avoid him. One morning,
his brother recollects, Azer arrived at work aer morning prayers at the
church and purposefully made to greet the general manager at the
entrance directly. “Why are you so late?” the manager asked. Azer calmly
looked at his watch and firmly replied that it was exactly nine o’clock, and
therefore he was not late. e general manager walked away silently and
found Azer’s immediate manager, commenting that he was “proud of this
young man who respected himself and did not avoid him, as many others
did.”94 ough an everyday—even ordinary—event, it indicates a
fundamental disposition, at once noble and firm, that would play out time
and time again throughout Azer’s ecclesiastical career.
* * *
During the year 1922, when Azer was twenty years old, he experienced
what would be a decisive and irresistible turning point. ough the change
in demeanor had been progressive since his childhood, the movement now
accelerated. is turning point or epiphany has never been properly
appreciated in the literature. Yet all three of the most credible sources
agree that something happened.95 In Hanna’s memoirs, the account of Fr
Raphael Ava Mina (his future disciple), and an anecdote of Archdeacon
Iskander (his mentor), the moment of change is given as 1922, five years
before Azer entered the monastery.96 But what specifically took place is
unfortunately lost to us. We may only look in, ever so cautiously, from the
outside.
“Since my early youth,” Azer reflected decades later in a handwrien
fragment,
I was inclined to quietness, seclusion, and would wear black
clothing. When I reached the age of maturity, I heard much of the
monasteries and the monks, and my heart became alight; I longed so
much to join a monastery.97
We may suggest that it was this suddenly expansive and overwhelming
desire for the monastic life that was at the epicenter of the change.
“[Azer’s] love for God,” his brother notes, “was very evident in his
behavior at this stage of his life.”98 While other young men were
accumulating wealth, searching for appropriate partners, and reveling in
momentary pleasures, Azer spent the entirety of his spare time absorbed
in liturgy and prayer. His family soon noticed dramatic changes. He spent
every evening locked in his room in prayer and reading the Scriptures.99
Even his own brother had lile idea as to what was happening; in keeping
with monastic practice, Azer carefully guarded his room and absolutely
denied his family entry.100 ey were privy only to the outward
manifestations of what was happening interiorly in Azer. It is therefore
unsurprising that the details of this “turning point” are lost to history. Fr
Raphael, in turn, claims (we may assume from what was told to him in
confidence) that it was during these five years that Azer began to practice
the life of solitude in his room, unknown to his family. He ate very lile
and abandoned his comfortable bed for the austerity of the ground.101
Monasticism and the yearning for a life of solitude had well and truly
embraced the young man.
A decade later, Azer (then a monk) wrote a leer to his brother that
grants us a glimpse into his carefully guarded life of those five years:
Commit yourself to go straight from home to work and vice versa,
likewise to church and spiritual meetings. Do not hurry in walking
except when necessary. Do not turn right and le when walking in
the street. Look straight ahead while walking, praying in your heart,
“Lord take care of me; hide me under the shadow of your wings. Oh,
my Lord Jesus Christ deliver me from any offences. . . .” When you
come back from work, take off your clothes, wash your face and rest
for a lile. If you want to have some recreation, you can go outside
far from noise, and ponder the works of the Creator and the beauty
of nature. . . . Do not reflect too much on the affairs of life. Do not
worry about anything. Cast your burdens on the Lord, and he shall
sustain you. Do not stay too late outside; it is beer not to be out
aer eight o’clock.102
We may infer that the advice was founded upon his own practice when he
longed for the monastic life. e leer continues,
Go to bed early and awake early . . . when you awake, do not remain
in bed. . . . Start your day worshipping God in prostration twenty or
thirty times or as many times as possible, for, among all other
virtues undertaken by people, there is none beer than this. . . .
Aer that go and wash your face and stand before God and thank
him for watching over you this night and keeping you alive until the
morning. . . . Read the Holy Bible with care. Give it time, as you do
with the newspapers, for the word of God is sweeter than honey.103
And so those five years passed, with Azer living as a monastic within
his bedroom, and his family looking on bewildered, somewhere between
inspired and disturbed. ietly, without fuss, Azer was preparing for
another life. He lived as an “urban monastic,” a precursor for the mode of
much of his monasticism. ough the imminent decision was glaringly
obvious in retrospect, his brother noted in his memoirs that his family
members still were in the dark. Azer had not divulged anything to them.
And when Azer finally made his decision known, it would “surprise
everyone.”104
* * *
On an unassuming morning in early June 1927, Hanna received an
unseling phone call. Azer’s general manager, the same Australian, asked
very sharply to meet with him immediately. Lile was given away. As
Hanna made his way to omas Cook & Son, he recalls that his heart
became heavy. He knew too well that Azer was responsible for the
company’s accounts and expenses, and, playing out the possible scenarios
in his mind, Hanna feared the worst.105 When Hanna sat with the general
manager, he was met with impossible news. Azer had apparently, earlier in
the morning, suddenly tendered his resignation with a cryptic explanation:
“As I have a very important task to fulfil, please accept my resignation as
of the end of June 1927.”106 e manager then asked, what could possibly be
a higher priority than Azer’s vital role in the company? Hanna, still in the
dark, pled ignorance and promised to investigate promptly.
In the evening, when the family had customarily gathered, with his
father siing expectantly, Hanna demanded to know what exactly was
going through his younger brother’s mind. “Which is preferable,” Azer
meekly challenged, “a holy life and real internal happiness, or the suffering
and painful life one must live in the secular world?”107 ese words, in
Hanna’s memoirs, reveal Azer’s inner turmoil and disclose what had been
consuming him day and night these past five years. He wished solely,
undividedly, to be alone with God. Life in the world, for Azer, was
unbearable. e resignation, though seemingly impetuous and abrupt,
came as a dramatic, overpowering, and impassioned climax to what was a
sustained, burgeoning, and thoroughly sober aspiration. Long immersed in
his “urban monasticism,” Azer’s desire to leave and be with God enthralled
and engrossed him. He could no longer wait. He had waited long enough.
He yearned for solitude; every moment until then was nothing short of
intolerable.
In his own memoirs, a decade later, Azer writes teasingly that the
moment of his resignation was not random or impulsive, but that the “day
came that God had appointed.”108 What those words mean, like the five
years that preceded them, remains concealed, locked away in his room,
hidden from history. But Azer certainly remembered the tense
conversation that evening, albeit in considerably calmer words, he recalls:
I longed so much to join a monastery. . . . When the day came that
God had appointed, I discussed my intentions with my father and
brothers. At first, they objected strongly, but this did not make me
change my mind. I constantly prayed to God that they would permit
me to go the monastery.109
at was puing it lightly. His family and friends (only frantic phone calls
away) gathered to force a change of mind.110 How could he, a twenty-five-
year-old man, just throw away a successful life for something worse than
a peasant’s existence? In all ages, those who live in security have found it
difficult to appreciate how someone could turn from comfort to a monastic
alternative that “appears to them at best incomprehensible, at worst
downright perverse.”111 e situation in early-twentieth-century Egypt was
far more dramatic. Monasteries were effectively in ruins, without
electricity, running water, or any of the basics of contemporary urban
society. For the most part, they were spiritually and physically derelict, in
a state of neglect and abandon. No one educated or from a decent family
would even contemplate such a life. Monasticism was for the uneducated,
unsuccessful, and unmarriageable. Azer’s family’s dismay was therefore
understandable, if not perfectly reasonable. In the end, the exchange
remained intense and unresolved. Hanna’s memoirs confess the family’s
lament: “All their petitions and advice were in vain. He could not be
convinced to change his mind.”112
Without their consent, and no doubt frustrated, Azer met with
Youannis, the metropolitan of Beheira and Menoufia, who was also
responsible for the Baramous Monastery.113 Youannis (1855–1942) learned
that the young man was the son of Youssef Aa, whom he knew well.
Sensing that something was amiss, the metropolitan sensitively asked as to
why his father and brother had not accompanied him. Azer replied that he
was prepared, with or without their consent, to embark on this path.
Youannis, for his part, could do no such thing. Without the family’s prior
permission, the maer, sadly, could proceed no further.114
Azer returned home dejected. His hopes and dreams of the previous
five years lay in taers. Seeing that he was distressed, the family seized
upon what they thought was the perfect opportunity to relay the
apparently tempting news. Azer’s general manager had called again to
offer an “exceptional raise” if only he would change his mind. e words
fell on decidedly deaf ears.115
At this point, according to Hanna’s account, their father, Youssef Aa,
surprisingly relented. Perceiving his son’s spiritual strength and will, he
advised Azer to aend Liturgy, receive the Eucharist, and then make his
decision. e family, Youssef professed, would accept and support the
outcome, no maer how painful that might be.116
It is, however, unlikely that the resolution came about so swily and
smoothly, especially given the preceding controversy and tension. A step,
it seems, is missing from his brother’s memoirs.117 Archdeacon Iskander
Hanna (1880–1944), a famous and influential preacher of the period,
recounts an event that came just before—and certainly explains—Youssef
Aa’s rather sudden change of heart. e Arabic wrien account is for the
most part unknown, and to my knowledge has never been reproduced in
any study.118 According to the anecdote, Azer had long aended the
archdeacon’s lectures at St Mark’s Cathedral, as well as at the “Society for
Spiritual Renaissance” that met at Moharam Bek in Alexandria. Iskander
recalls well the family’s reaction to Azer’s decision for monastic life: “ey
became furious and ridiculed his idea and tried to make him change his
mind, sometimes with rational dialogue, and at other times by frightening
him concerning his uncertain future. Meanwhile, Azer was steadfast and
determined. e most agitated and furious of them was Azer’s older
brother Hanna.”119
Azer, aer the heated exchange with his family and the rejection by
the metropolitan, sought advice from Iskander. “Your family, my son,”
Iskander reassured, “do not know anything about you and speak the
language of the flesh.”120 Azer, vindicated, returned home and relayed these
words. In disbelief, Hanna went the very next morning to the society’s
office and awaited an opportunity for a private meeting with the
archdeacon. “Hanna, leave your brother alone and do not block his road!”
Iskander declared before Hanna could even say a word. “Azer,” he
continued,
has been coming to me aer work nearly every day for the past five
years, asking questions of the difficult verses of Scripture. He already
has a diary organized in alphabetical order, in which he writes the
verses along with whatever explanation I have given him. He has
read the entire Scriptures and knows their every meaning. . . . He
conducts his life in accordance with the biblical demands. Hanna,
leave him alone, for he has a bright and joyful future.121
Iskander makes clear Azer had not made an erratic or fanciful decision;
it was five years in the making. ere is no reason to doubt the
authenticity of the account. It is remarkably consistent with the image of
Azer that is developing in the other sources. And when asked in an
interview in 1959, aer his enthronement, as to his greatest mentors before
monasticism, Azer (then Kyrillos VI) replied with a few words:
“Archdeacon Iskander Hanna and the great Hegumen Youhanna Girguis of
Alexandria [Azer’s spiritual father/confessor].”122 We might, therefore,
suggest that Iskander’s influence on Azer, at least in some part, was related
to the pivotal role the archdeacon played at that crucial moment.
Only aer this decisive meeting did Hanna return and convince his
father of Azer’s path. eir father, it seems, took the advice of the
authoritative archdeacon to heart, and at that point advised his son to
aend the Liturgy to discern the will of God. Azer obeyed. At next
opportunity, Azer and his father earnestly prayed and received the
Eucharist. By the liturgy’s end, there was no need for further debate;
Youssef Aa reluctantly surrendered. Azer’s (and Yousse’s) spiritual
father, a popular and wise priest by the name of Youhanna Girguis, was
resolute; this path was God’s will for the young man.123
* * *
Azer returned (no doubt grinning) with his father and brother to
Metropolitan Youannis. Hanna’s memoirs reveal, however, that the maer
was still far from seled. Youannis was forthright and direct. He held
significant reservations: monasticism was a treacherous path; every step
was filled with anguish, insult, and diverse temptation; and Azer would
not have a single day of peace.124
Hanna notes that Azer was equally adamant. For the past five years,
Azer insisted, he had already traveled this road alone in his room, and so,
“what [he] would face would not be new to him.”125 “Son,” Youannis,
skeptical, in turn replied, “I have seen through my experience that the
young men coming from major cities seldom proceed with life in the
monastery.”126 Monasticism at the time was not approached except by the
poor, peasants, or illiterate. Azer, on the other hand, was educated relative
to his peers (and had even mastered English); came from a relatively
wealthy family; and was, most significantly, a city dweller. e objection
was, as far as Azer was concerned, trivial and irrelevant.127 “My hope and
trust in God are very strong,” managed Azer, “I believe that if you bless
and ask the Lord to grant me strength and success, I will succeed. e Lord
Jesus Christ is fair and will not forget those who love him.”128 Youannis,
perceiving the strength and tenacity of the young man, could not resist
and conceded, blessing him saying, “I will prepare your path towards
monasticism.”129
According to Hanna’s account, Azer could hardly contain his ecstasy
and prostrated himself before the metropolitan many times. But, in Azer’s
own autobiographical fragments, the resolution ultimately came about by
divine intervention: “I constantly prayed to God that they would permit
me to go the monastery. God heard my plea.”130 Azer’s words to his family
were but a faint reflection of his inestimable joy:
Who am I, the wretched one? What is my situation compared to the
sons of the kings, Maximus and Domadius, who abandoned the
kingdom of the world to gain the everlasting kingdom, giving up
kingdoms and wealth for the sake of the love of the King of the
heavens? . . . I wish I could be the dust under their feet.131
As they le the metropolitan and arrived home, emotions began to
sele, and reality acutely set in. at evening they knew Azer’s decision
was necessary; inescapable; and, in the end, the will of God. Still, it meant
the agonizing loss of a beloved brother and cherished son. “Truly,” said
Hanna, “it was a very hard night for all of us.”132
Notes
1
Hegumen Mina the Recluse [Kyrillos VI], “Autobiographical Fragments” [in Arabic], in FRC-1:
Leer 1 (Old Cairo, n.d., probably between 1945 and 1949). e autobiographical fragments have
previously been published in pieces. I was fortunate to discover them in their entirety. Although no
addressee or date is given, this work was possibly wrien from 1945 to 1949 to the monks of the
Monastery of St Samuel, given it is signed as “Hegumen Mina el-Baramousy the Recluse.”
Unfortunately, he appears to have le it unfinished, for he stopped writing half way down the page
—with the words: “I will explain them in later details.” Fr Raphael Ava Mina states the account was
discovered in the patriarch’s personal drawers, indicating perhaps that he changed his mind and
never sent the autobiography to the intended addressee(s).
2
I. H. al-Masri, e Story of the Coptic Chur: 1956–1971 [in Arabic], vol. 7 (Cairo: Maktabat al-
Mahabba, 1988), 17; Nashaat Zaklama, e Spiritual Life and Pastoral Message of Pope Kyrillos VI [in
Arabic], vol. 1 (Cairo: Sons of the Evangelist, 2007), 20.
3 Most accounts in Arabic, and all in English, place Azer’s birth in Tukh al-Nasara, Menoufia.
is apparently is secondary to the ambiguity of the Arabic sources in placing his birth, for instance
in Hanna’s memoirs Azer’s birth is described, and then the relocation from Tukh al-Nasara to
Damanhur is mentioned. However, the impression is that the author begins with the birth and then
recounts the history of the family. ere is thus a degree of ambiguity concerning the birthplace,
and thus it is likely the earliest accounts in English have become confused on account of this; see
Hanna Youssef Aa and Father Raphael Ava Mina, e Life of Pope Kyrillos the Sixth (Cairo: Sons of
Pope Kyrillos VI, 2002), 1. In English, biographical accounts have all followed Wakin (who wrote in
1963) and Meinardus (in 1970): see Edward Wakin, A Lonely Minority: e Modern Story of Egypt’s
Copts (New York: William Morrow & Company, 1963), 110; Oo Meinardus, Christian Egypt: Faith
and Life (Cairo: e American University in Cairo Press, 1970), 43. See also Oo Meinardus, Coptic
Saints and Pilgrimages (Cairo: e American University in Cairo Press, 2002), 73.
4
e birth certificate gives a date of August 8, 1902, whereas the actual birth was on August 2,
1902. e discrepancy is accounted for by the well-aested delay in birth registrations. e place of
birth is given as Abu Hummus, which was the administrative center for birth registrations in the
governorate of Beheira. Interestingly, a later ID card as he entered adulthood also gives the
birthplace as Abu Hummus. If Azer had been born in Tukh al-Nasara, the birth registration would
have taken place in the governorate of Menoufia. In personal correspondence with Marcos Hanna
Youssef Aa, also known as Reda Marcos (the nephew of Pope Kyrillos VI and the son of his
primary biographer), I was able to confirm this. Marcos Hanna Youssef Aa, “Personal
Correspondence, January 28, 2015,” ed. Daniel Fanous (2015). Marcos’ memory is rather impeccable
in that he was made blind in rather unfortunate circumstances as a child and accordingly bears an
almost photographic memory of circumstances and dates.
5
Zaklama, Pope Kyrillos VI, 1:20.
6
e biographical details of Pope Kyrillos’ family and his early childhood are scarce and
exceedingly difficult to verify. e dates of Pope Kyrillos’ parents’ births and deaths have been
identified from correspondence with Marcos Hanna Youssef Aa, and have been confirmed from
correspondence of other family members.
7
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 1.
8
Ibid.
9
Ibid. Esther’s biographical details are nearly impossible to come by. Her name in fact was lost
to history, never once being mentioned in any biographical account. As I approached her
grandchildren and great-grandchildren, not one was able to recollect even her name, let alone her
date of death. I was, however, able to discover several biographical details in correspondence with
her grandson, the aforementioned Marcos Hanna Youssef Aa. I suspect the reason for her
disappearance in history is threefold: her husband remarried aer her death; women were oen
only remembered fleetingly relative to men in what was then a somewhat patriarchal society; and
finally, she died more than a century ago, in 1912, when her children were extremely young. Her
early death accounts for her brief appearances in her son Hanna’s memoirs. Also, we should note
that on Azer’s birth certificate, the mother’s details are not given.
10
Ibid.
11 Ibid.
12
Despite many oral accounts suggesting Azer was baptized at St George’s Church in Tukh al-
Nasara in the governorate of Menoufia, it is unlikely given the above evidence for his birthplace in
the governorate of Beheira and not Menoufia. Pope Kyrillos’ nephew mentioned in personal
correspondence, “I really have no idea why people have confused his birth and baptism place;
perhaps it is because the family moved to Tukh al-Nasara when Azer was about five years old.”
Aa, “Personal Correspondence, January 28, 2015.”
13
Interestingly, one Arabic historian states that his closest advisers were Hanna and Mikhail.
e laer was ordained on December 8, 1962. Mikhail died on November 13, 1975, and Hanna on
February 8, 1976. See Fr Samuel Tawadros el-Syriany, e History of the Popes of the Chair of
Alexandria, 1809–1971 [in Arabic] (Cairo: Hijazi Press, 1977), 200.
14
I am immensely indebted to the grandchildren of Youssef Aa and their families for
providing these almost lost biographical details.
15
Mina the Recluse [Kyrillos VI], “Autobiographical Fragments.”
16
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 1. e Baramous Monastery, also known as
“Parameos Monastery” and the “Monastery of the Romans,” was founded by Macarius the Great and
is located in the Wadi al-Natrun desert in the governorate of Beheira, some 110 km (68 mi) from
Damanhur.
17 Ibid. Of interest, I. H. al-Masri notes that the visit of Fr Tadros took place in Damanhur,
further granting weight to the claim that Azer lived in Damanhur from 1902 to 1907; see al-Masri,
Story of the Coptic Chur, 7:17.
18
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 1.
19
Ibid.
20
Mina the Recluse [Kyrillos VI], “Autobiographical Fragments.”
21
Aa, “Personal Correspondence, January 28, 2015.” is is contrary to most English accounts,
which claim that Azer aended primary school in Damanhur and high school in Alexandria;
Meinardus, Christian Egypt: Faith and Life, 43.
22
It is impossible to date this incident, but according to Hanna’s account it occurred aer the
prophetic visit of Fr Tadros, and Azer’s mother, Esther, was still alive at the time. is places the
incident between 1906 and 1912. Given the family moved to Tukh al-Nasara in 1907, and le for
Alexandria in 1910, it is likely that it occurred there. Accordingly, Azer was between five and eight
years of age.
23 Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 1–2.
24
Hanna’s account omits the name of the Sheikh, whereas other Arabic sources and popular
accounts provide it. For instance see, al-Masri, Story of the Coptic Chur, 7:18.
25
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 2.
26 e claim of Watson is representative: “Having once taken the saint’s name [Menas] as his
own name in religion, Kyrillos was always determined to emulate Abu Mina in every way possible.”
See John H. Watson, “Abba Kyrillos: Patriarch and Solitary,” Coptic Chur Review 17, nos. 1–2
(1996): 20.
27
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 1.
28
is may be claimed on the basis of three facts: in Hanna’s memoirs Esther plays a primary
role in these celebrations of the feast days; Esther died in 1912; and Tukh al-Nasara (28 km / 17 mi
from Ibyar), where the family lived from 1907 to 1910, was significantly closer to Ibyar than
Damanhur (50 km/31 mi). is places the annual pilgrimage during this period, though it certainly
may have continued when the family moved to Alexandria (albeit at a greater distance).
29
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 1.
30
Meinardus, Christian Egypt: Faith and Life, 216.
31
Ibid., 218–19.
32 e Church of St Menas had been there since at least the twelh century, and one may
presume the festivals dated to then. According to the Arabic version of the saint’s life, Menas was
born in Ibyar, though this is unlikely given the other sources.
33
Hatour 15, in the Coptic Calendar.
34
Aa, “Personal Correspondence, January 28, 2015.”
35
De Lacy O’Leary, e Saints of Egypt (New York: Macmillan, 1937), 196.
36
Oo Meinardus, Two ousand Years of Coptic Christianity (Cairo: e American University
Press in Cairo, 1999), 151.
37
Oo Meinardus, Monks and Monasteries of the Egyptian Deserts (1989), rev. ed. (Cairo: e
American University Press in Cairo, 1999), 170–78.
38 We have the histories of no fewer than ten different saints named Menas, eight of which are
in the Coptic Synaxarion. Drescher suggests four different options for the historicity of St Menas:
he was either (1) an Egyptian martyr; (2) a Phrygian martyr; (3) two different martyrs; or (4) a
confusion of a Phrygian god. Drescher himself suggests the third option as most likely but warns “a
lack of evidence precludes anything like certainty.” See James Drescher, Apa Mena: A Selection of
Coptic Texts Relating to St. Menas (Cairo: Publications de la Société d’Archéologie Copte, 1946), IV.
e sources may be further divided into genres of martyrdom, synaxarion (collection of saints’
biographies), encomium (speech praising a figure), and miracle collections.
39
e Arabic Synaxarion is in part derived from the Coptic Encomium. e Encomium was
authored by John the Archbishop of Alexandria, about whom Drescher suggests three different
options, as there were in fact three different archbishops by the name of John. is would place the
manuscript anywhere from AD 640 to 893 (ibid., 129). Where consistent, the other sources will be
reasonably considered, especially when the material converges.
40
Ibid., 132.
41
E. A. Wallis Budge, Texts Relating to Saint Mena of Egypt and Canons of Nicaea: In a Nubian
Dialect (London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1909), 23.
42
Drescher, Apa Mena, 102.
43
Ibid., 135.
44
e Ethiopian Martyrdom of St Menas; see Budge, Texts Relating to Saint Mena, 46.
45
Ibid., 46–47. e Coptic Martyrdom states that it was only aer a “long time” in solitude that
Menas received the revelation and the call to martyrdom. See Drescher, Apa Mena, 102. Notably, all
sources agree to the first and third crowns. e second crown is variously given as “asceticism,”
“patient endurance,” and “solitude.”
46 Budge, Texts Relating to Saint Mena, 47.
47
Ibid.
48
Ibid., 53–54.
49
Mina the Recluse [Kyrillos VI], “Autobiographical Fragments.”
50
Voile is the only scholar who has seen beyond the superficial in the relationship of Azer to
Menas, but even she stops short, tracing the affinity to “his family’s special devotion as well as
certain features that may have aracted him.” See Brigie Voile, Les Coptes d’Égypte sous Nasser:
Saintété, Miracles, Apparitions (Paris: CNRS Éditions, 2004), 192–95.
51
is is dated on the basis of Azer’s (Kyrillos VI) stating in a 1968 interview that the family
was living in Alexandria from 1910—and, fascinatingly, at that time St Mary “healed a sick person in
that house.” One can only suggest that it was his mother, Esther, who would die a few years later in
1912. See Michael Khalil, “Interview with Pope Kyrillos” [in Arabic], al-Akhbar, May 11, 1968; Aa,
“Personal Correspondence, January 28, 2015.”
52 Robert L. Tignor, Egypt: A Short History (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010), 248.
53
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 3.
54
is account was told to me by Hanna’s son, Marcos, who was in near hysterics telling me
the story. He mentioned that the story stuck clearly in his memory because every time his father
told it, they would all break out in uncontainable laughter. Aa, “Personal Correspondence, January
28, 2015.”
55
See al-Masri, Story of the Coptic Chur, 7:18; Zaklama, Pope Kyrillos VI, 1, 25; Aa and
Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 3.
56
See Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 2.
57
Al-Masri, Story of the Coptic Chur, 7:19.
58 M. W. Daly, “e British Occupation, 1882–1922,” in e Cambridge History of Egypt: Modern
Egypt, from 1517 to the End of the Twentieth Century, ed. M. W. Daly (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1998), 239.
59
Ibid., 242.
60
Ibid.
61
Tignor, Egypt: A Short History, 231. For a fair and succinct assessment of Lord Cromer’s rule,
see P. J. Vatikiotis, e History of Egypt: From Muhammad Ali to Mubarak, 3rd ed. (Baltimore: e
Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985), 172–77.
62
Evelyn Baring, Earl of Cromer, Modern Egypt, vol. 2 (New York: Macmillan, 1908), 206.
63
Despite the fact that this quote is oen aributed to him, Cromer was in fact quoting from
Klunzinger’s work Upper Egypt (ibid., 203). at said, Cromer cites in complete agreement. He was
willing to at least concede that Copts had “developed certain mediocre aptitudes” that made them
somewhat more useful in the sphere of economics (ibid., 207–8). Vatikiotis further cites Sir John
Bowring’s Report on Egypt: “[Copts] are the surveyors, the scribes, the arithmeticians, the
measurers, the clerks, in a word, the learned men of the land. ey are to the counting house and
the pen what the fellah is to the field and the plough.” See Vatikiotis, e History of Egypt, 206–7.
64
S. S. Hasan, Christians versus Muslims in Modern Egypt: e Century-Long Struggle for Coptic
Equality (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 35. Intriguingly, a survey of scholarship on the
modern history of Egypt reveals very lile indeed as to the role of the Coptic Church. In the words
of Gorman: “ere is a tendency in academia to marginalize Coptic history as peripheral or
irrelevant to the national narrative” (Anthony Gorman, Historians, State, and Politics in Twentieth
Century Egypt: Contesting the Nation [New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003], 153). e words of Ghali
Shukri are especially poignant: “It is astonishing that we do not recognize a Coptic Egypt, that is, a
Christian Egypt, an Egyptian Egypt. is is even more astonishing in light of the fact that . . . what
has survived [from] Coptic Egypt . . . are people who live among us like an authentic scarlet thread in
the weave of the Egyptian nation. . . . As if the Islamic conquest was the beginning of the history of
Egypt, and the non-Muslims are the uninvited guests of this history” ( ibid.). ere is consequently,
for instance, great difficulty in assessing the reign of Kyrillos VI historically vis-à-vis the Nasser
government, given that most of secular scholarship of the period marginalizes the impact of Coptic
history on the fabric of Egypt in the ’60s and ’70s.
65
Vivian Ibrahim, e Copts of Egypt: Challenges of Modernisation and Identity (New York:
Tauris Academic Studies, 2011), 42.
66 Daly has called it the “most important milestone in Anglo-Egyptian relations between 1882
and 1914.” See Daly, “e British Occupation,” 243.
67
Vatikiotis, e History of Egypt, 205.
68
Tignor, Egypt: A Short History, 238.
69
Daly, “e British Occupation,” 243.
70
Tignor, Egypt: A Short History, 205.
71
Mohamed Heikal claims the choice of Boutros Ghali Pasha “more than anything else
compromised the position of the Copts.” See Mohamed Heikal, Autumn of Fury: e Assassination of
Sadat (London: Corgi, 1984), 157.
72 Ibrahim, e Copts of Egypt, 55. For a discussion of the controversy in the appointment of
Boutros Ghali, see Samuel Tadros, Motherland Lost: e Egyptian and Coptic est for Modernity
(Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 2013), 121–22.
73
Boutros’ signing of the Sudan Condominium effectively gave complete control of the Sudan
to the British Empire and thereby clearly identified Ghali with the British administration.
74
Vatikiotis, e History of Egypt, 208.
75
Egyptian Gazee, August 27, 1908, cited in Douglas Sladen, Egypt and the English (London:
Hurst and Blacket Limited, 1908), xxi–xxii. For an analysis of the “press war,” see B. L. Carter, e
Copts in Egyptian Politics (London: Croom Helm, 1986), 10–11.
76
Carter comments: “e Muslim and nationalist press naturally described the crime as a
political act; the Copts, just as naturally, saw it as a religious one. Wardani was, in fact, celebrated
publicly not only as a nationalist but as a Muslim who had rid his people of an intolerably arrogant
Christian. Storrs, the Oriental Secretary, reported that groups of Muslims roamed the street singing
about “Wardani who killed the Nazarene,” and he noted that the assassin “had become a national
hero.” See Carter, e Copts in Egyptian Politics, 12–13. Interestingly, Mohamed Heikal, an advisor to
Nasser and Sadat, remembered Wardani as a “Moslem fundamentalist.” See Heikal, Autumn of Fury,
157.
77
Meinardus, Christian Egypt: Faith and Life, 39–40. eir main concerns were the calling for
Sunday to be a day off, the removal of any discrimination in employment or government funding,
equal access to education, and their representation in parliament. Only one demand seems to have
been met. In 1913, Kitchener became the British consul-general of Egypt and increased political
representation of the Copts.
78
Tignor, Egypt: A Short History, 240.
79
J. D. Pennington, “e Copts in Modern Egypt,” Middle Eastern Studies 18, no. 2 (1982): 161.
80 Ancient Sanskrit proverb.
81
Vatikiotis, e History of Egypt, 264.
82
Ibid., 264–65.
83
Cited from Ibrahim, e Copts of Egypt, 64.
84
Ibid.
85
I. H. al-Masri, e Story of the Copts: e True Story of Christianity in Egypt, vol. 2 (California:
St Anthony Coptic Orthodox Monastery, 1982), 375.
86 Gorman, Historians, State, and Politics, 156.
87
Meinardus, Christian Egypt: Faith and Life, 41.
88
Gorman writes, “e spirit of this unanimity of purpose and basis for collective identity
among Egyptians was institutionalized in the Wafd, whose leadership included prominent Copts,
the so-called ‘Coptic pillars’ of the party, such as Makram Ubayd, Wasif Ghali, and Wisa Wasif. . . .
In short, the Wafd was the ‘political home of the Copts’ (bayt al-aqbat al-siyasi).” See Gorman,
Historians, State, and Politics, 156. Cf. Anthony O’Mahony, “Coptic Christianity in Modern Egypt,” in
e Cambridge History of Christianity: Eastern Christianity, ed. Michael Angold (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2006), 497.
89
ere were, however, four “Reserved Points” as they came to be called. e British Empire
retained the rights to the security of imperial communications within Egypt, defense of Egypt
against foreign aggression, protection of foreign interests and minorities, and the Sudan. See
Vatikiotis, e History of Egypt, 270. Severe limitations to the independence were inevitable, and
Anglo-Egyptian relations would be embiered for another thirty years. See Daly, “e British
Occupation,” 250.
90
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 2.
91
Ibid., 4; al-Masri, Story of the Coptic Chur, 7:18. ere is an occasional reference in the
secondary literature that before joining omas Cook & Son, Azer first found employment at a
Dutch firm with his brother (Voile claims he remained there until 1924). For instance, see Wakin, A
Lonely Minority, 110; Voile, Les Coptes d’Égypte, 190. Unfortunately, the source of this claim remains
elusive and impossible to confirm.
92 See Figures 1 and 4. e photograph, perhaps the earliest extant, comes from a family portrait
and is in keeping with a national ID card in 1925, when he was twenty-three years old. Oddly, it
lists his place of residence as Bab al-Sharia, which is in Cairo, even though it is signed three various
times giving the location of signature as Alexandria. His nephew, Morcos Youssef Aa, likewise
finds it odd that that place was listed as his place of residence, as the family never le Alexandria
once they moved there in 1910; see Marcos Hanna Youssef Aa, “Personal Correspondence, March
5, 2015,” ed. Daniel Fanous (2015). e ID card also makes mention of a taoo on his wrist (the
classic sign of a Coptic Orthodox Christian in Egypt), as well as bilateral facial mark identifiers. e
ID card gives his height at 175 cm (5’9”), though other photographs reveal a considerably taller
man. Nelly van Doorn-Harder came to a similar, and humorous, conclusion: “is man was a
towering personality, not only in charisma but, judging by the size of his house shoes . . . in
physical size as well.” See Nelly van Doorn-Harder, “Kyrillos VI (1902–1971): Planner, Patriarch and
Saint,” in BDC, 223–24.
93
Watson has claimed that Azer aended a “daily Liturgy” before work; see John H. Watson,
Among the Copts (Brighton: Sussex Academic Press, 2000), 49. It is actually very unlikely that he did
so, as the practice of daily Liturgies was incredibly rare if not nonexistent at the time. Liturgy was
generally celebrated only on Friday (the official day o) and Sunday. e practice of daily Liturgies
was only introduced in widespread practice by Kyrillos VI himself, first as a monk-priest and later
as patriarch. See Rudolph Yanney, “Pope Cyril (Kyrillos) VI and the Liturgical Revival in the Coptic
Church,” Coptic Chur Review 4, no. 1 (1983): 32 (hereaer “Liturgical Revival”).
94
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 4.
95 e accounts of Hanna Youssef Aa, Father Raphael Ava Mina, and the autobiographical
fragments.
96
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 4; Father Raphael Ava Mina, Pope Kyrillos VI
and the Spiritual Leadership (Cairo: Sons of Pope Kyrillos VI, 1977), 7. In his own autobiographical
account a specific period of years is not given. But it should be noted that his brother, Hanna, places
the revelation that he had been preparing for the monastic life for five years in a quotation at the
mouth of Azer.
97
Mina the Recluse [Kyrillos VI], “Autobiographical Fragments.”
98
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 4. Interestingly, Meinardus (and Watson
who seems to follow him) suggests that it was “during his days in Alexandria, while working for
omas Cook and Sons, that he began reading e Lives of the Desert Fathers, an experience that
determined the course of his life.” See Meinardus, Two ousand Years, 78; Watson, “Abba Kyrillos,”
8. While altogether likely, given it is a seminal work and familiar literature for any monastic (or
seeker of monasticism), there is no reference to this in the Arabic sources. I suspect it is a mistaken
reference to an interview in which the patriarch recalls the events of July 1927 when he was
awaiting his departure to the monastery and had access to the library of the eological College for
Monks in Alexandria. For a transcript of the interview, see Ramzy Wadie Girguis, Pope Kyrillos: e
Heavenly Harp, trans. Safwat Youssef (Cairo: Sons of Pope Kyrillos VI, 2003), 12.
99
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 4.
100
Ibid.
101 Raphael Ava Mina, Spiritual Leadership, 7.
102
Monk Mina el-Baramousy [Kyrillos VI], “Leer to Hanna Youssef Aa, undated, ?1930” [in
Arabic], in FRC-1: Leer 489 (Cairo: undated; ?1930). It is similar in content to another leer, and
therefore is indicative of his own teaching and behavior; see Father Mina el-Baramousy [Kyrillos
VI], “Leer to Aia Labib, March 1933” [in Arabic], in FRC-2: Leer 19 (Cairo: 1933). ese leers
have been amalgamated in Father Raphael Ava Mina, Christian Behaviour: According to the Saint
Pope Kyrillos the Sixth (Cairo: Sons of Pope Kyrillos VI, 2000), 9–12. ese leers are suggestive of
his familiarity with the “Jesus Prayer,” albeit in varying forms.
103
Mina el-Baramousy [Kyrillos VI], “Leer to Hanna Youssef Aa, undated, ?1930.”
104
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 4.
105
Ibid.
106
Ibid.
107 Ibid., 5.
108
Mina the Recluse [Kyrillos VI], “Autobiographical Fragments.”
109
Ibid.
110
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 5.
111
S. P. Brock, “Early Syrian Asceticism,” Numen 20, no. 1 (1973): 1–2.
112
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 5. e fact that he approached
Metropolitan Youannis without his father or brother itself speaks volumes to the contention that
followed the conversation the night Azer announced his intentions.
113
Metropolitan Youannis was also the vicar of the diocese of Alexandria because the
incumbent (Cyril V, referred to as “Cyril” to avoid any possible confusion with Kyrillos VI, though
in the original the form of the name is the same for both) was elderly and needed assistance, and in
fact would die only a month or so later, on August 7, 1927.
114 Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 5.
115
Ibid.
116
Ibid.
117
is is likely for the sake of brevity rather than any ulterior motive.
118
Anonymous, Ardeacon Iskander Hanna (1880–1944) [in Arabic] (Nasr, Cairo: Sons of Pope
Kyrillos VI, n.d.). Archdeacon Iskander Hanna became famous when preaching in St Mark’s
Cathedral in Alexandria; for a brief biography see Wolfram Reiss, Erneuerung in der Koptis-
Orthodoxen Kire: Die Gesite der Koptis-Orthodoxen Sonntagssulbewegung und die
Aufnahme ihrer Reformansätze in den Erneuerungsbewegunen der Koptis-Orthodoxen Kire der
Gegenwart (Hamburg: Lit Verlag, 1998), 152, n. 317. Reiss briefly mentions Iskander’s relationship
with Azer but does not give the abovementioned details.
119
Anonymous, Iskander Hanna, 23.
120 Ibid.
121
Ibid.
122
Interview from Saint George’s Magazine, April/May 1959, reproduced in Girguis, e
Heavenly Harp, 13.
123
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 5. I. H. al-Masri claims that Father
Youhanna told Youssef Aa: “I see that he [Azer] has planned the straight way, as God has called
him for monastic life.” See al-Masri, Story of the Coptic Chur, 7:19. is seems to be a quote placed
in the mouth of Father Youhanna that was in a sense created by I. H. al-Masri from Hanna’s
account: “Aer the Divine Liturgy, the priest advised Youssef to help Azer fulfil his plans and that
Azer clearly knew what he was doing. He personally felt that this was God’s choice for Azer.” See
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 5. Also it should be noted that Father Youhanna
was the confessor of the whole family, including Youssef himself—hence the efficacy of his words;
see Aa, “Personal Correspondence, March 5, 2015.”
124
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 5.
125
Ibid.
126 Fr Raphael Ava Mina recalls Metropolitan Youannis’ words: “My son, the people who get
used to urban life are incapable of pursuing the severe route of monasticism.” See Raphael Ava
Mina, Spiritual Leadership, 7.
127
Ibid.
128
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 5.
129
Ibid.
130
Mina the Recluse [Kyrillos VI], “Autobiographical Fragments.”
131
Hanna Youssef Aa and Father Raphael Ava Mina, My Memories about the Life of Pope
Kyrillos VI [in Arabic] (Cairo: Sons of Pope Kyrillos VI, 1981), 12. e English translation of this
book, while generally good, at certain points misses details, or in this case, the entire quotation; see
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 5.
132
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Memories about the Life of Pope Kyrillos, 12. e English
translation again misses this.
2
W hen azer awoke the next morning, he knew his life had
changed—inescapably so. From that day on, circumstances
pending, he was a monk, albeit still in the world. While awaiting his
departure to the monastery, he spent the Apostles’ Fast (June 13 to July 12
that year) absorbed day and night in prayer.1 During this period, Azer was
fortunate to accompany monks who had traveled from their respective
monasteries to study at the Monastic eological College in Alexandria. “I
was given a great opportunity,” he recalls in a later interview,
. . . to meet many of the monks; I sat with them and listened to the
stories of their lives, as well as the lives of the saints, so I loved
them. From the Church I began to borrow books and the histories of
the saints, and I aspired to aain this life of dedication to the
Church.2
It was a time of profound preparation, Azer’s first sustained exposure
to authentic monasticism. Pilgrimages or retreats to monasteries at the
time were all too rare, most oen impossible. Yet here, amid monks in
Alexandria, Azer tasted patristic and monastic works, foremost of which
was e Paradise of the Desert Fathers.3 Not only would this experience
determine the course of Azer’s life, as one scholar notes, but it would also
place “many questions against the life of the Church as he saw it.”4 What
he read of the saints and monastic fathers was, to some degree, tragically
removed from the Church of his day.
By the fast’s end, the young man’s elation had grown considerably. On
the Apostles’ Feast, July 12, his family brought him a large basket of oily
pastries (feteer) to distribute to parishioners for the Feast of the Archangel
Michael—which happened to fall a few days later.5 Incapable of restraining
his joy at the prospect of monasticism, Azer arrived grinning at St Mark’s
Church dressed in his finest suit, with a peasant’s oil-soaked basket on his
shoulder. e sight was unusual, bordering on scandalous for the middle
class. Azer was unbothered and remarked, “If the Lord’s disciples each
carried a basket of the remaining leovers aer the miracle of feeding the
multitudes, am I beer than they?”6 Carried away by excitement, Azer
went so far as preparing a curriculum vitae—which, of course, was hardly
necessary.7
At the end of the semester at the eological College, the monks began
preparing to return to their monasteries. Azer waited, nervous and
expectant. Finally, Metropolitan Youannis called—the date was set. Within
a few weeks, Azer would depart with a recently ordained monk-priest, Fr
Bishara el-Baramousy (1906–1980).8 Youannis gave Fr Bishara a leer of
recommendation for the abbot concerning the young postulant. e
metropolitan, Hanna recalls, also quietly whispered to the accompanying
monk, “Be careful to hold on to the young man’s clothes and belongings.”9
He reasonably anticipated that perhaps Azer would not last long in the
austere and unrelenting desert.
* * *
In the early hours of Wednesday, July 27, 1927, Azer awoke (if he slept at
all) and packed to anticipate his immediate needs.10 His father, brothers,
and sisters slowly walked with him to the Mahaat Misr Railway Station
in Alexandria, a kilometer (0.6 mi) away.11 ere, his family and friends
gathered to see him off. We can only imagine the tearful embraces, painful
kisses, and last words. His direct manager from omas Cook & Son,
Alfred Fadel, was also present. He had come to communicate the well-
wishes of the general manager and, notably, to remind Azer that his job
would indefinitely be waiting for him should he change his mind. Azer
quietly smiled, Hanna notes, and thanked him for his generous words. All
presumed or at least hoped that this was an impetuous and short-lived
foray into the world of monasticism. But they had only the faintest idea of
the unquenchable desire for solitude burning deep within the heart of the
young man. “ey took me to the train station and gave me their blessing,”
wrote Azer in a revealing autobiographical fragment, “[and] that day, on
which I forsook the world, was the happiest day of my life.”12
Lile else was previously known of his journey to the monastery and
his first days there. Yet at the end of the first two issues of the periodical
Harbor of Salvation—which Azer would write in early 1928—there are
autobiographical depictions of the journey. ese priceless comments have
never been studied, reproduced (in any language), or even acknowledged.
ey were seemingly glossed over, given their rather abrupt place in the
“narrative section” of the periodicals.13 ey were lost to history—until
now. Azer, according to the account, along with Fr Bishara and the monks
who had been studying in Alexandria, le the world. “e train departed
from Alexandria station and was going so fast,” Azer writes,
. . . then it stopped at Damanhur Station, so we met the honorable
Awad and Hanna Effendi, who were waiting for us; we exchanged
greetings, and then they bade us farewell, wishing us success. en
the train went forth and stopped at Itay al-Baroud Station, so we
changed to the train going to al-Khatatba, where we had a break at
the rest house. ere we ate with the fathers—fried fish and
watermelon.14
At four in the aernoon, they boarded an old train of the Salt & Soda
Company to al-Hokaria (Bir Hokir).15 “I was amazed,” Azer recalls, “at the
look of the train, as it was extremely ancient, as if from the days of the
Prophet Noah.”16 ey arrived at al-Hokaria at ten o’clock at night.17 As he
le the train, according to the account of Fr Raphael (his later disciple),
Azer asked the conductor why he was not wearing the customary tarboosh
(or fez). e conductor replied that he did not have the funds to purchase
one. Azer promptly took off his tarboosh and gleefully handed it to the
conductor. Moments later, he gave his suit jacket to another, an
impoverished train driver. He promised to also send his shirt and trousers
the moment he arrived at the monastery (and he actually did so).18 Fr
Bishara never had a chance to honor the metropolitan’s request to
preserve Azer’s clothes should he change his mind. e metropolitan may
have had reservations, but the young man was absolute in his renunciation
and consecration. He had no intention of ever returning to the world.
ere at the station, one of the monks awaited them, to begin the final
journey on foot:
We walked through this magnificent endless mountain. While
walking, I was looking around for the monastery, and aer an hour
and fieen minutes, we saw from afar a glimpse of light coming
from the top of the mountain. I was so peaceful, and God knows that
I had never felt that comfort before!19
Azer and the monks approached the monastery in the stillness and
silence of the desert. As they drew closer, its obscure form became
clearer.20 Finally, they reached the place Azer had long dreamed of, the
home of his enduring hopes. He stood before the monastery’s remarkable
wall, some ten meters (33 feet) high and two meters (7 feet) thick, covered
in an ancient plaster long weathered by the golden sands of the Wadi al-
Natrun. Atop the walls, a walkway spanned its entire length, so that
monks could stand guard against raiding Berbers and Bedouins.
“I was so astounded,” Azer writes as he neared the whitewashed tower,
. . . and was looking for the door; then the father pointed to a door
that was very small compared to this huge building. It was a very
solid iron door, two meters high and one meter wide [7 feet by 3.3
feet], at the top end of the door there was a bell. [is was] so that
whoever arrived at the monastery would ring it, [and] then the
priest responsible for the door would come and, through a window
overlooking the door, could see the visitor. . . . We rang the bell,
[and] they opened.21
* * *
e Baramous Monastery, the earliest-known monastic selement in the
desert of Scetis, was founded in or around AD 340. In Abba Serapion’s vita
of St Macarius of Egypt (300–391), Maximus and Domadius, two Roman
princes and sons of the Emperor Valentinian, arrived in Scetis aer a
pilgrimage in Palestine. ere they met Macarius, the priest of the desert.
Aer witnessing the profound lives and deaths of these two “lile
strangers,” Macarius consecrated their cells, declaring, “Call this place the
Cells of the Romans.” e monastic community that gathered around
Macarius dwelt near these Roman cells, hence the name Baramous (Coptic:
Paromeos, “that of the Romans”).22
Foreign visitors to the monastery, contemporary with Azer, paint an
intriguing picture of the time. e reality is likely to be found somewhere
in the middle of these accounts. Konstantin von Tischendorf, who
discovered one of the earliest extant biblical manuscripts (the Codex
Sinaiticus), visited the monastery in 1844, and noted that there were
twenty monks: “Here the cells were the blackest of all . . . they live
carelessly from day to day. To such an existence, what is the past and what
is the future?”23 In October 1913, Johann Georg noted the refectory looked
more like a prison than a dining hall.24 A decade later, in 1923, Doctor
William Hatch was rather impressed by the state of the library and
monastery, counting some thirty monks.25 And Prince Omar Toson, who
visited in 1931, claimed from his studies that the monastery was the
wealthiest of the Wadi al-Natrun.26 One visitor even shared Azer’s awe in
approaching the monastery. H. V. Morton, a renowned travel writer, was
intrigued by the monastery’s wall and the vast archway that stood in stark
contrast to the unusually small gate:
e archway was made for giants, but the gate for dwarfs. ere was
no need to ask the reason for this narrow postern; it spoke
eloquently enough of desert raids. . . . I spent some moments
examining the door. Never have I seen one so loaded with chains,
bolts, locks, and wooden cross-bars.27
* * *
“When I entered I felt as though I had walked into Paradise, and the monks
were like angels,” Azer recalls.28 Once through the disproportionately small
door, there was a six-meter corridor with a barrel-vaulted roof leading to
another fortified-iron door that opened into the heart of the monastery. As
Azer passed through the gates, he was euphoric. e previously
undiscovered autobiographical account describes the scene:
All the monks came out from their cells. . . . ey greeted us and
then led us to the palace prepared for guests. It was a two-story
luxury palace; the ground floor contained four rooms, and [there
were] another four on the top floor, which were very well furnished.
We waited in a room on the ground floor ready for dinner, then they
brought some water, and everyone participated in washing our feet,
the younger monks and the elders. We were ashamed, but they
informed us that it was a very old custom since the early fathers. We
were served dinner and thanked God. Aer a lile while they took
us to the top floor to sleep, so we slept calmly and peacefully.29
Azer awoke early ursday morning, to the bell of prayer, with
uncharacteristic energy aer only a few hours of sleep. He thought lile of
the fact that this monastery seemed a world away from Metropolitan
Youannis’ austere and onerous description, and he immediately made for
the church, where he “enjoyed its beauty which no one could describe.”30
“We aended the Divine Liturgy,” Azer recalls, “and by chance, the priest
who served was an honorable pious elder praying with the spirit . . . we
le so happy and thanked God.”31 In another autobiographical account, he
is all too brief: “I went to the church, aended the Divine Liturgy, and
received abundant grace.”32
Aer the Liturgy, Fr Bishara presented the abbot, Hegumen Shenouda,
with the metropolitan’s leer. e abbot’s face suddenly contorted. Azer
had spent the night in the guest palace, but he was no guest. e “guest
palace,” a nineteenth-century Levantine villa, had been built by
Metropolitan Youannis himself in 1911.33 It was hardly a residence for
monks, let alone beginning novices. In Hanna’s memoirs, Azer’s treatment
was a mistake in the confusion of night. Fr Bishara had inadvertently
introduced the young man as a “visitor” from Alexandria, a spiritual son of
Metropolitan Youannis.34 For this reason, he was treated to relative luxury:
he was served dinner, and the generator was even switched on to provide
lighting.
Nevertheless, it was still a momentous, albeit curious, arrival. Novices
were few and far between, and rarely, if ever, were they educated city
dwellers. e abbot ordered the bell rung and informed the gathered
monks that their young “guest” had, in fact, come to join them. Many of
the monks cautiously whispered and murmured, wondering what manner
of monk this would be.35 It was the first time a novice had spent the night
in opulence.
“We ate breakfast,” Azer reminisces,
. . . then Father Shenouda, the Abbot, showed me the room I would
stay in, that is, until they found a cell for me. It was a beautiful room
next to the altar and was previously customized for the Pope, but
now it was used by visitors. I stayed there for a week and rejoiced in
abundance.36
e room in question was once the accommodation for Pope Cyril V
(1831–1927)—in altogether unpleasant and unfortunate circumstances. As
the week went on, Azer would have certainly reflected upon the infamous
incident. In 1892, Cyril had been exiled to the Baramous Monastery
following a prolonged contention with the Community Council (maglis al-
melli).37 e six months of his exile were catastrophic. A puppet
replacement, Athanasius, was excommunicated. Churches throughout
Egypt were desolate, sacraments went unadministered, and the once-
faithful became disillusioned. ough Cyril V would return shortly aer,
the episode would be burned into the monastery’s desert memory and
would stand as a future word of warning concerning the maglis for all
who dared to enter (and later exit as bishops) the monastery’s unusually
small gates.
As the week came to an end, the abbot at last found a permanent cell
for Azer. e abbot proceeded to show him where the bread was kept and
then le without another word.38 “I went to have a look,” Azer remembers:
It was a cell in a one-hundred-fiy-year-old building. It had two
rooms: an outer room, and an inner one called the “hermitage.” I
cleaned and organized it, hanging some icons and the kandil [lamp]
that I had brought with me, and it became so beautiful.39
e cell had previously been inhabited by a blind and saintly monk,
presumably Awad el-Barhemey (d. 1878).40 Since then, it had been le in a
state of neglect and disrepair. Hanna notes that the cell was “old and
deserted,” initially uninhabitable. Azer painstakingly scrubbed the ground,
sprinkled crushed gypsum, and resealed the floors. He placed his suitcase
at the center of the outer room, and this became his makeshi table.41 e
young man donned his cherished black cassock, placed a black covering
over his head, and, according to Hanna’s memoirs, “looked like he had
been a monk for many years.”42 Azer’s irrepressible dreams and hopes of
the last five years had finally been realized. For the next few days, he lived
in prayer. When the bell rang for the midnight psalmody (tasbeha), he
would rush to the church. When the service concluded at seven in the
morning, Hanna is careful to note, he would silently return to his cell
“without mingling with the other monks.”43
e accounts here, we should note, are unanimous. Other than the
brief and moderately mistaken welcome, Azer was apparently isolated. No
one had helped him, and he had not asked for help. He had neither spoken
to the others, nor they to him. Already, it would seem, he was very much
alone.
Novitiate under Fr Abdel Messih el-Masudi, 1927–1928
“An elder is one who takes your soul and your will, into his soul and his
will.”
—Fyodor Dostoyevsky
I n early march 1928, six workers from the Suez Canal Company in
Northern Egypt met with a young “firebrand” schoolteacher by the
name of Hassan el-Banna (1906–1949). It was the beginning of the
infamous “Muslim Brotherhood.”83 Almost simultaneously, only days
earlier, a young novice’s profession instituted a very different movement.
Both would become deeply entrenched and enduring, both in contention
for the heart of the nation.
* * *
“Aer my novitiate of about nine months,” Azer warmly recalls,
God wished that I become a monk. e reverend fathers
unanimously agreed to nominate me, and the abbot was in
agreement. I was tonsured in the Old Church that contained all the
relics of the saints.84
And so, it was on Friday night, the eve of February 25, 1928, that the
twenty-five-year-old Azer entered the ancient Church of the Holy Virgin—
as “God wished”—to be tonsured a monk.85 e basilica, near the eastern
wall of the monastery, the oldest of the Wadi al-Natrun, was originally
built in the late sixth century. Its lengthy history would not have been lost
on the novice as he made his way into the nave of the candlelit church,
surrounded by thirty or so other monks, gazing at the ethereal
iconography clothing the walls. As he stood there, at the threshold of
certain consecration, his tears could not be restrained.
e abbot, in accordance with the Rite of Tonsure, devoutly drew the
curtains in front of the main sanctuary for the beginning of Vespers,
placing the new monastic clothes (cassock, head covering, and leather
girdle) upon the intricately hand-carved wooden altar.86 Azer was asked to
stand in front of the sanctuary’s door, while the abbot asked, “Does
anyone object?”87 e church remained silent. Azer prostrated himself in
front of the sanctuary, between the relics of St Moses the Black and St
Isidore, then in the direction of the monastery’s door (a symbol of
obedience), and finally before his fathers, begging for absolution and
forgiveness. Aer conferring with the other monks as to the choice of
monastic name (apparently a cause of some debate), the abbot thrice made
the sign of the Cross over the garments while pronouncing the new name.
“e fathers had been arguing,” Azer reminisces,
. . . as to what name to give me, and finally they decided to name me
aer the saint of the day in the Synaxarion and that would be the
will of the Lord; it happened that it was the commemoration of the
departure of Menas [Mina] the monk, and so I was named by the
blessed name of Menas. . . .88
We have no record of Azer’s reaction to hearing the words “Fr Mina”—the
uering of the name of his revered saint. But we can well imagine. Once
more, it would appear, St Menas had chosen the young novice.
e significance of the name—personal and ecclesial—should not be
overlooked. Although certainly mistaken in claiming that Azer chose the
monastic name of Mina himself, a few scholars have at least perceived the
ramifications.89 Following the discovery of the Menas shrine in Mariout in
1906, the saint was quietly rediscovered. Decades later, in August 1929, a
Muslim lawyer by the name of Ahmad Hussein famously denounced the
ongoing British presence, citing St Menas, surprisingly, as a national hero
who had resisted foreign oppression, and in doing so, suddenly catapulted
the saint into the national consciousness.90 In receiving the name,
therefore, Azer was inescapably entwined with one whom Voile has called
a “complete figure,” a saint of profound sanctity, beyond reproach; an
authentically Coptic figure who was revered also by Muslims, practically
being “erected as a national symbol.”91 Whether prescience, mere
coincidence, or divine intervention, the name would bear within it the
hopes of the nation.
e night continued in solemn prayer and psalmody. Early in the
morning, as the later rite maintains, Azer lay on his back on the ground
before the relics of the saints, crossing his hands on his chest, as though he
were dead in a coffin. It was his funeral. According to the rite, the
Scripture readings and hymns were chanted in the “mournful” tone, and
over the body of the reposed young novice, the Litany of the Departed was
prayed. Having died to his old self, the novice now arose as a monk in
Christ. Aer cuing his hair five times in a cruciform paern, the abbot
clothed Azer in his monastic cassock, head covering, and leather girdle.
Azer was no more. Henceforth he was Fr Mina el-Baramousy.
Immediately aer the Divine Liturgy, according to Hanna’s account,
the monks gathered. Fr Yacoub el-Masudi el-Baramousy, the brother of
Abdel Messih el-Masudi, casually entered their midst. All eyes turned to
him, first curiously, and then expectantly. Yacoub, known as the “silent
monk,” had not spoken in many years. Yet now he slowly began to open
his mouth. e monks (and Fr Mina with them) stared on in disbelief.
“Dear son,” Yacoub whispered,
. . . may God’s blessing be with you and may he grant you his grace,
and pave your path so that you will be successful in all you do. May
he fill you with his Holy Spirit so that you will be honest to your
last breath with the talents the Lord Jesus Christ will give you, to
invest them and make them grow.92
e monks, new and old, were speechless: Why had the silent monk
finally chosen to speak now?
* * *
“From that day forward,” Fr Mina writes in an autobiographical fragment,
I began to learn the rules of monasticism from the fathers and
started studying the books of the saints, especially those wrien by
the great St Isaac [the Syrian]. I felt the grace of God growing within
me day by day. . . . I was obedient to all, and thus, took their
blessings. I was very keen on serving the elders, so I spent one year
serving the learned Fr Abdel-Messih el-Masudi. I was taught the
psalmody by Hegumen Pakhoum, who was my father in confession.
I also served Fr Anthony for one year.93
Day by day, the grace of God was “growing within” the young monk.
In his brother’s memoirs, Fr Mina’s meticulous care for the elderly fathers
never faltered even though he was now their equal. He refused to
relinquish the blessing of baking the qorban (eucharistic bread),
painstakingly siing the flour in the early hours of the morning. Not yet a
priest, it was the beginning of his almost organic union to the Eucharist
that would remain until his last breath.94 He was meek, his brother
recounts, tolerating all manner of discomfort; was invariably forgiving,
habitually calm, forever avoiding anger, and he “never expected nor looked
for praise or glory.”95
is period was marked most by the influence of Abdel Messih el-
Masudi. A few weeks before his monastic tonsure, Masudi had requested
Fr Mina (then Azer) to publish a theological periodical.96 On February 9,
1928, the first volume of the Harbor of Salvation (Mina al-khalas)
appeared.97 While searching through a number of patristic and monastic
works in preparation for the periodical, he came across a description of the
monastery as an “earthly harbor of salvation,” and hence the name.98 Each
handwrien volume was divided into three sections: a personal
theological discourse; excerpts from patristic or monastic fathers; and a
narrative section that at times was autobiographical, though mostly it
contained excerpts from contemporary spiritual writings.99
e theological periodical was published monthly from February 1928
to January 1930, with at least seventeen volumes still extant. Ranging from
seven to thirteen pages, each volume was laboriously scribed into some
fiy copies by Fr Mina.100 Fragments have only occasionally appeared, with
the majority of the exquisite writings remaining unknown until now.101
Needless to say, these once-hidden periodicals shed revealing light on the
intellectual world of the young monk, exposing a penetrating mind that
was immersed in patristic and monastic thought—a mind absorbed in
(especially eucharistic) theology, scriptural exegesis, the lives of the saints,
and occasional philosophical thought. Mina’s writings forcefully challenge
the popular and o-repeated notion that he was merely an unlearned
ascetic. As Fr Raphael Ava Mina (his future disciple) once noted, a
preference for silence is not necessarily synonymous with “inaptitude or
deficiency.”102 e future patriarch, lest we forget, came under the tutelage
of some of the greatest scholars of his day and spent years immersed in
patristic literature.103 “[He] himself told me,” Raphael recalls, “that what he
gained from silence greatly exceeded what he would have achieved by any
other means.”104 Silence hardly warrants nearsighted and premature
judgment.
Much of Mina’s time during these years was spent in the monastery’s
library under the guidance of the inexhaustible Masudi. e southern
sanctuary of the Church of St John the Baptist had been transformed into a
well-appointed library through the efforts of Masudi, who classified
thousands of manuscripts, as well as translating and scribing many
himself. ere, Fr Mina shared in his spiritual father’s labors, restoring and
transcribing manuscripts; and there, Hanna recounts, the “doors of
knowledge were opened to him.”105
But of all the works in the library, there was one that would indelibly
mark his innermost soul: the Ascetical Homilies of St Isaac the Syrian.106 In
this, he followed in the hallowed footsteps of Abdel Messih el-Masudi, and
Girguis el-Masudi before him. ite possibly, it was the most prodigious
and sublime gi he would inherit from them; practically, it was the most
instrumental and, evidently, the most influential too. Fr Mina was so taken
by the Ascetical Homilies that he scribed the work into five volumes,
devouring and memorizing them.107 All the more infatuated, he studiously
scribed the work a further four times, making them readily available to his
brethren.108 Each reading, transcription, and memorization was a vigorous,
determined, and consummate immersion in the thought-world of the
Syrian.
How, and to what extent, this shaped the worldview of the young
monk has rarely been appreciated. For now, we should at least note that
early in his study of the Ascetical Homilies he came across a saying that
would become a lifelong maxim. His brother recalls that it was a law unto
him for the rest of his days, and his future disciple notes that it was even
wrien above the door of his patriarchal cell.109 Yet none have noticed—
then or now—that it was an aphorism borrowed and memorized from the
writings of St Isaac the Syrian: “Love all men, but keep distant from all
men.”110
* * *
For Fr Mina, these words were a paradigm. On January 17, 1929, he
somewhat characteristically replied to a concerned leer wrien to him by
his brother Hanna. On a recent visit to the monastery, Hanna could not
help but notice that Fr Mina rarely le his cell, and looked to be at enmity
with his fellow monks. e leer in reply, perhaps the earliest extant (and
hence quoted in full), substantiates the emerging portrait of an early
recluse yearning for what may be termed “solitude within solitude.”111
“My beloved, I received your kind leer,” Fr Mina writes in response,
. . . and I thank you for your warm feelings and valuable advice. As
for me, God knows, I am quite content with my life. I live as
peacefully as I can with everyone, refusing to side with anyone. I
live in solitude in my cell, welcoming all who come to see me, doing
my utmost and respecting all, young and old. I do not interfere with
what does not concern me. I go back and forth straight from the
church to my cell, as well as aending to whatever task is entrusted
to me. In this, I am the same man before and aer monasticism. Do
not be concerned about me, as I am depending on God. Have you
ever known anyone that trusted in God and was disappointed?
Never!
Mina does not deny the charge: he lives in solitude, even within the
borders of the cloister, just as he had in his private room before
monasticism—as his brother undoubtedly recalls. “Be assured,” the young
monk continues,
. . . I am not biased toward anyone. Nor do I avoid some and
socialize with others; rather, I remain in seclusion from all—even if
some of the fathers feel this is a sign of bias. You should know, my
beloved, that I have taken the advice of respected fathers such as
Hegumen Mansour and Hegumen Boctor, and remained in seclusion
in my cell, refusing to interfere in that which does not concern me. I
have found complete peace in heeding their advice. Our fathers, the
saints, said, “e one who sits in his cell reciting the psalms is like a
man that beholds the king; and he who sits in solitude weeping over
his sins, is like a man in conversation with the king.” ere is
nothing greater than for a man to remain alone in his cell, constantly
begging God to grant him a fountain of tears to weep over his sins,
that God may forgive him.
When Hegumen Phillip, the monastery’s superintendent, read
your leer, he was very surprised and said, “My son, from the day
you came to the monastery, I have never seen you biased against
anyone nor avoiding anyone. You do not mingle with anyone, but
have always been happier alone, in your cell.”112
ough he does not deny the charge, his solitude was not out of bias,
nor enmity, nor avoiding any specific monk; rather he sought to avoid
them all. Mina is explicit: his primary concern is to “remain alone” with
God. But to avoid any place for self-deceit, he first sought the advice of his
superiors and went so far as to show his brother’s leer to the monastery’s
superintendent. ough he genuinely perceived his brethren to be as
angels and carefully served all who were in need, he was something of a
realist. “My beloved,” Mina concludes,
. . . from the first day I did not always keep to myself, but aer I
dealt with all, I found that not all were suitable for conversing with;
some are of good character, and others, not so much. e monastery
is but a net that has caught various kinds. e almighty God has
directed me to this path of seclusion. We thank him that he has
always directed our steps to the road of peace.113
Solitude was hardly a personal choice, nor was it merely a reaction to
his occasionally distracting monastic brethren. Even at this early stage he
sincerely felt that the call to solitude was above all a call from God. More
than a maxim or aphorism, Fr Mina would deeply breathe, inhabit,
incarnate, and exhale the words of Isaac the Syrian all the days of his life:
“Love all men, but keep distant from all men.”
Helwan eological College: Earliest Euaristic Reform,
1931–1933
“I am convinced that the genuine revival of the Church begins with
Eucharistic revival.”
—Fr Alexander Smemann
S ince his monastic tonsure three years earlier, Fr Mina’s heart had
ached for solitude. It would be a solitude endured, nourished, and
revived at the liturgical altar.
On Saturday, July 18, 1931, he was ordained to the priesthood by
Bishop Demetrius of Menoufia (d. 1950).114 Fr Mina, now twenty-eight
years of age, wept uncontrollably for the duration of the ordination, and in
his brother’s recollection, provoked all present to tears.115 Upon the specific
request of Pope Youannis XIX (1858–1942)—Youannis had since become
patriarch—Fr Mina was called to St Mark’s Cathedral to “receive the
oblation.” Aer ordination, a new priest undertakes an immersion into the
rites of the Church for forty days, at the end of which he officiates at the
Liturgy of the Eucharist, holding the body of Christ (the “oblation”) for the
first time. Curiously—and it is no small maer—this instruction apparently
took place at the hands of the patriarch himself.116
Discovering that Fr Mina was in Alexandria, only a short walk from
the family home in Moharem Bek, his father, Youssef Aa, requested that
the patriarch permit his son a short visit. Despite the patriarchal
concession, in Fr Raphael’s memoirs, Mina initially refused, though
eventually (and reluctantly) he complied. Awaiting the much-loved and
sorely missed son and brother was an imposing banquet. But—to perhaps
no lile surprise—the monk-priest refused to eat, and was “content with
only a cup of coffee.”117 Immediately aer the visit, with (we may imagine)
some impatience, Fr Mina returned to the cathedral, much to the
patriarch’s admiration. “e asceticism was not paraded,” an English
scholar notes, “but it was there.”118
* * *
Sometime in 1931, most likely aer his ordination, Fr Mina was chosen to
study at the prestigious and newly founded Monastic eological College
in Helwan.119 e new priest was neither impressed nor remotely flaered.
“Just to be obedient to [Youannis] . . . I studied at the eological School
for two years,” Fr Mina recounts in an autobiographical fragment, “but I
had always longed for the path of solitude.”120 ough the study was
something of a distraction, Mina reluctantly obeyed.
Youannis, at the outset of his papacy, had perceived the dramatic
potential of theological education for monastics—especially for those
eventually called to the episcopacy—and he knew, just as dramatically, the
tragic aermath of inexperienced and theologically illiterate bishops. With
this vision as background, the institution was officially opened on March 4,
1929, to much celebration.121 In his inaugural address, Youannis
pronounced, in elation, that for fiy years he had dreamed of reforming
monastic formation. He exhorted his future monastic candidates to give
themselves diligently to their theological studies, cognizant that they
might one day be called upon to serve the Church.122 Youannis’ intentions
were hardly veiled; he sought to transform monastic learning, and in
doing so, to lay the foundation for future episcopal candidates. He also
promised to visit the College regularly—as we shall soon see.
e college was founded at the complex of St Mary’s Church in
Helwan, 140 kilometers (87 miles) from the Baramous Monastery, just
south of Cairo. Among the generous and resplendent gardens of the
compound stood several large houses, four of which were transformed
into residences for the monastic students, while the fih served as a
lecture hall. e first cohort was of thirty hand-selected monks from
various monasteries around Egypt. Students were engaged in a rigorous
five-year degree, involving an unusually advanced and thorough
curriculum of twelve subjects: theology; New Testament; Old Testament;
Church chant; homiletics; canon law; languages, including Coptic, Arabic,
English, French, Biblical Greek, and Hebrew; biblical geography; history,
both Church and modern; philosophy; rhetoric; and finally, psychology.123
It made for grueling study. But by the same token, it stood to cultivate and
forge bishops who were competent, dynamic, and capable.
At the helm stood the dean, Mikhail Mina (1883–1956), who was, by all
accounts, something of a genius and one of the most eminent theologians
of his time—which in part explained the progressive and ambitious
curriculum. Mikhail, the son of a learned priest, was born in Nag
Hammadi.124 In 1897, Bishop Morcos of Esna and Luxor (1848–1934) was
celebrating the Liturgy at the local church, and aer chanting the gospel in
Coptic he was unable to locate an Arabic Katameros (daily lectionary).
Mikhail, aged fourteen at the time, stood up before the Coptic lectionary
and proceeded, in the sight of the visibly shocked bishop, to translate the
Gospel “on the fly” from Coptic, chanting it in Arabic. Without the need
for further inquiry, the bishop immediately sent the young boy to be
admied directly to the eological College in Cairo.
ere, under the tutelage of Youssef Manqarius (d. 1918) and the
recently appointed Habib Girgis (1876–1951), he studied for five years and
continued to surprise his colleagues with his unusual aptitude.125 at
Mikhail, Youssef Manqarius, and Habib Girgis all shared various
classrooms in varying capacities in the same institution is fascinating, to
say the least.126
Aer graduating, Mikhail was appointed dean of a small monastic
college in Bush, where St Antony’s Monastery had a dependency.127
During this time he was apparently forced into marriage by his father, but
his wife sadly died only eight years later. In 1929, he was finally named the
dean of the Helwan eological College for Monks. Lile known to most,
aer his wife’s death, he was tonsured a monk and ordained a priest (a
rare occurrence) on the same day (even rarer) in July 1932 at the Baramous
Monastery.128 Later in life, he wrote a three-volume compendium on
systematic theology, as well as several exegetical and pastoral works.
Hegumen Mikhail served as dean for twenty-seven years, until his
death on August 7, 1956. During that time Youannis’ blueprint of episcopal
reform was evidently fruitful. A plethora of bishops studied and graduated
at the hands of Mikhail, including the future Pope Kyrillos VI and future
Bishops Morcos of Abu Tig, Abraam of Giza, Demetrios of Menoufia,
Antony of Souhag, Makarios of Qena, Mina of Gerga, and omas of
Gharbeya—to mention but a few.
* * *
ough Fr Mina had been reluctant to leave the monastery for theological
study at Helwan, his time there was of inestimable significance. Regarding
his academic experience, his brother is all too concise: “[Mina] was very
successful.”129 However distinguished he may have been, it was not this
that was of primary interest.
One of the first things that Fr Mina did at Helwan was to strike a up
friendship with a like-minded monk by the name of Fr Kyrillos—the future
Metropolitan of Beliana (d. 1970)—who had come from St Paul the
Anchorite’s Monastery near the Red Sea.130 Each evening they would pray
Vespers, and in the early morning before classes, they celebrated Matins
and the Divine Liturgy. Fr Mina would have had to rise even earlier to
bake the qorban (eucharistic bread). e two young monks continued in
this practice for several months.131
Just before three o’clock one morning, still in the trance of slumber, Fr
Mina went to knead the qorban only to find that the oven had been
deliberately destroyed. Apparently, according to Hanna’s account, their
daily liturgical habit had become the cause of some contention.132 We may
also reasonably suggest that at the time, in early-twentieth-century Egypt,
the very notion of a daily Liturgy was unheard of; and, therefore, their
practice may have understandably provoked some jealousy, or at the least,
disturbance, given the unavoidable noise in the quiet of the night. Had
anyone else been in that helpless situation, the maer would have been
concluded at a more reasonable hour. Not so for Fr Mina. He rushed to Fr
Kyrillos, awakening him with some panic and explained the disaster:
without the qorban, it would be impossible to celebrate the Divine Liturgy.
But Mina had an ingenious idea. Recalling that the bakery across the street
opened in the early hours of the morning, he asked the owner whether he
could bake the qorban in its oven. And so, undeterred by the momentary
delay, the Liturgy was “celebrated as usual.”133 Perhaps it was on that
occasion that Fr Mina minted his famous adage: “If the priest is present,
flour is handy, and the altar is available,” he would repeat with conviction,
“[then] if we don’t pray, what shall we say to God?”134
It is vital to discern here the beginnings of a eucharistic devotion, or
even more, a modus vivendi (“way of living”).135 It should again be noted
that at that time the practice of celebrating the Liturgy daily, which could
take some two to three hours, was unknown.136 e single exception was
the Muharraq Monastery, which offered a daily Eucharist on an altar
above a stone that, in tradition, had been the cradle for the infant Jesus
during his family’s sojourn in Egypt. ough, to be precise, it was not a
single specific monk, but rather a roster of monks that celebrated the
Eucharist sequentially.137 Never before, at least for several centuries, had
any one monk or priest been the sole celebrant of a daily Eucharist. It
would be the one constant of Mina’s life, as a monk, hermit, and somewhat
sleepless patriarch. Even to the reach of old age, no maer whether he was
enfeebled or exhausted, his practice persisted, uninterrupted and
unceasing.
A glimpse into his eucharistic devotion, something of a godly
obsession, may be caught in a volume of the theological periodical, Harbor
of Salvation, which he wrote in August 1928. ough this was wrien in
his first years of monasticism, and hence before priesthood, it is at least
revealing of his thought. e Eucharist is, for Fr Mina, above all, kenotic.
e “self-emptying” of Christ, he writes,
[who] abandoned his loy glory and most-honorable status to
release his servants from the bondage of death, and who, through
the shedding of his blood as a propitiation on their behalf, and the
offering of his body on the Cross as a remission for their sins,
brought them unto himself. And then he chose, out of his
inexpressible generosity, to delight believers under the visible form
of bread and wine, with the very same body and blood he sacrificed
on the Cross.138
Just as the Cross reveals the self-emptying of Christ, the Eucharist is
the counterintuitive revelation of Christ under a visible form. If there is,
Mina continues, a “healing medicine” or “renewal of the covenant” or
“forgiveness” or “sustenance,” it is only because of the self-giving and self-
emptying of Christ.139 Christ’s unwillingness to negotiate the terms of his
declaration—“He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and
I in him”—is simply an affirmation of this. “In essence,” Fr Mina writes, “he
legally sealed and declared that should even his disciples abandon him . . .
the words he spoke were immutable . . . he was about to offer himself as a
sacrifice.”140 Citing from John Chrysostom and Cyril of Alexandria, Mina is
resolute: we may partake in the life of God only because he was sacrificed
and emptied himself for our sakes.141
It would be hard to exaggerate the meaning of these words not only in
his eucharistic life but also in his entire way of living, in his personal
ascesis and as manifest in his future ecclesial reform. Self-emptying love
was the one necessary means of healing the tensions of human existence,
personal, ecclesial, and national. If the “genuine revival of the Church
begins with Eucharistic revival,”142 as Fr Alexander Schmemann once aptly
noted, then the revival of the Church, at least in twentieth-century Egypt,
first began in the eucharistic life of Fr Mina. His life was essentially fixated
upon the place where heaven and earth met, the Eucharist; and
consequently, heaven and earth would meet in unfathomable ways in the
personal, ecclesial, and national life of the future patriarch.143
Here we should follow Schmemann in drawing a subtle and yet
imperative distinction that is of infinite value in exploring Fr Mina’s
eucharistic vision:
For the early Christians, the Body of Christ is on the altar because
he is among them. For the contemporary Christians, Christ is here
because his body is on the altar. It seems to be analogous, but in fact,
there is an essential difference between the early Christians and us.
For them, everything is in knowing Christ, loving him. For us,
everything is in the desire to be enlightened.144
In his disciple’s reckoning, Fr Mina, like the earliest Christians, was
“motivated by his instinctive eagerness to stand within the hands of the
Lord.”145
* * *
Seeking a more permanent solution, and conceivably wishing to avoid any
further unexpected “aacks” upon their beloved eucharistic oven, Fathers
Mina and Kyrillos sought a meeting with the dean, Mikhail Mina. ey
suggested that their “out of bounds” daily Liturgy be officially
incorporated into the theological program, and as such the daily schedule
would begin with Matins and the Liturgy of the Eucharist in the morning
and conclude with Vespers in the evening. Each monk would serve
according to a rotating roster and give a sermon when officiating at
Vespers.146 Mikhail was very much in agreement. is reform—mild,
limited, and modest in scale that it was—needs to be staunchly
emphasized. For the first time, at least in many centuries, theological
education formally and intelligibly pivoted around, and was contingent
upon, Liturgy—not a mere performance, but in a mystical communion in
the self-emptying, self-giving life of God. Any recitation, instruction, or
tutelage in theology otherwise, in the mind of Fr Mina, was but a parody.
e Eucharist was once more at the creative center.
Meanwhile, this humble and yet urgent reform would play out in a
personally unexpected way in early 1933.147 Pope Youannis had made good
on his promise to regularly visit the College. As fate or otherwise would
have it, Fr Mina was praying Matins and Vespers that day, and thereupon
was forced to deliver his evening homily in the intimidating presence of
the patriarch. e sermon apparently lasted a full hour, his brother recalls,
and drew from patristic works, especially the thought of St Isaac the
Syrian.148 Youannis was mesmerized, aerward blessing Fr Mina and
praying that “he would be a pillar of the Church of God.”149 Still
unsatisfied, however, Youannis approached the dean and told him of his
plans to ordain Fr Mina as a bishop over his previous diocese.150 at a
single sermon could so move Youannis makes Fr Mina’s future preference
for silence all the more shocking and, at the least, argues strongly against
any claim of inability or intellectual simplicity.
Mikhail, ecstatic that another of his students was on the cusp of the
episcopal rank, relayed what he thought was joyous news. But Fr Mina
returned to his room heavy-hearted and despondent. His dear friend, Fr
Kyrillos, tried as best he might, until the early hours of the morning, to
console the grieving monk. “Leave it in God’s hands,” Kyrillos encouraged,
“and accept God’s blessing.”151 It was a futile effort. Fr Mina refused to be
comforted. e night drew long, with sleep eventually overcoming them
both. Fr Kyrillos awoke, as was his habit, at daybreak to prepare for
Matins and the Liturgy. As he entered the church, he looked, as he had for
the last two years, for the heartening face of Fr Mina. But he was not to be
found. He had simply vanished.
Notes
1
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 5. e fast is variable in length, from the
Monday aer Pentecost to the Apostles’ Feast.
2
Interview from Saint George’s Magazine, April/May 1959, reproduced in Girguis, e Heavenly
Harp, 12.
3 Meinardus (and Watson, who seems to follow him), suggests that Azer began reading
monastic literature while working for omas Cook & Son. According to the Saint George’s
Magazine interview in 1959, the reading likely took place while he was awaiting his departure to
the monastery. at said, Watson’s conclusion that it would have opened his eyes about the true
calling of the Church is quite accurate. See Meinardus, Two ousand Years, 78; Watson, “Abba
Kyrillos,” 8. is may well have also been the period of another influence. Nasr makes a brief and
unreferenced claim that Azer was inspired by the life of Anba Abraam (1829–1914), bishop of
Faiyum and Giza; see Amir Nasr, Readings in the Life of Abouna Mina el-Baramousy the Recluse [in
Arabic] (Cairo: Al-Nesr Press, 1996), 13. ough Nasr does not substantiate his claim, there may be
something to it. First, the fame of the bishop, especially his love for the poor, was widespread
throughout Egypt. Second, Anba Abraam, then a monk, actually spent a period of exile at Baramous
Monastery from 1861 to 1881. ird, aer the death of Abraam in 1914, Fr Abdel Messih el-Masudi
(the future spiritual father of Azer) wrote a biography of the bishop. And fourth, interestingly,
Azer’s first issue of the Harbor of Salvation periodical, in February 1928, features a biography of
Anba Abraam; see HS [in Arabic], vol. 1 (Wadi al-Natrun: Baramous Monastery, Amsheer 1644;
February 1928). Finally, on June 10, 1964, Azer (then Pope Kyrillos VI) canonized Anba Abraam.
4
Watson, “Abba Kyrillos,” 8.
5
is particular delicacy, feteer, is classically distributed on the commemoration of Archangel
Michael, which falls on the twelh of each Coptic month. ough Hanna claims it fell on the same
day as the Apostles’ Feast, here is a difficulty in that July 12, 1927, was in fact the fih of Coptic
month. e two events seem to have merged in the mind of Hanna, his brother.
6
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 5.
7
Ibid.
8
In Coptic monasticism, the last name of a monk is derived from his monastery. In this case the
last name is “Baramousy,” given the monk is from the Baramous Monastery. Fr Bishara entered the
Baramous Monastery in 1921; was ordained a priest on May 8, 1927; was ordained a bishop (Anba
Morcos of Abu Tig, Tama, and Tahta) in 1934; and died in 1980. Given he was only twenty-one at
the time, and returned to the College in September 1927, it is very likely he was a student there. See
Father Augustinos el-Baramousy, e Baramous Monastery: Past to Present [in Arabic] (Cairo:
Baramous Monastery, 1993), 177–78.
9 Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 6.
10
Ibid.
11
ough the specific railway station is not given, the family lived in Moharrem Bek, which was
only 1 km (0.6 mi) away (a thirteen-minute walk). e only other railway station in Alexandria
(which would also have to be passed through to go to Damanhur) was Sidi Gaber Railway Station,
which was about 4 km (2.5 mi) away.
12
Mina the Recluse [Kyrillos VI], “Autobiographical Fragments.”
13
Each periodical is concluded with a narrative or story section. e first two issues had details
of his journey to the monastery in this “narrative” section with lile explanation, and thus they
may have been ignored previously as mere stories. Also, the periodicals have been held tightly in
the possession of Father Raphael Ava Mina (who kindly shared them), and in consequence much of
what they contain has been hidden for decades. Unfortunately, aer the first two issues, the
autobiographical comments were abandoned in favor of excerpts from John Bunyan’s e Holy War.
is was much to my dismay especially given that the second issue teasingly concluded with the
words “to be continued.” See Monk Mina el-Baramousy [Kyrillos VI], HS [in Arabic], vol. 2 (Wadi
al-Natrun: Baramous Monastery, Baramhat 1644; March 1928), 8.
14
Mina el-Baramousy [Kyrillos VI], HS, 1:8. Alexandria to Damanhur is some 60 km (37 mi); Da
man hur to Itay al-Baroud is 27 km (16.8 mi); and Itay al-Baroud to al-Khatatba is another 68 km (42
mi).
15 Zaklama, Pope Kyrillos VI, 1, 43. It was apparently a common route; see, for another visitor’s
account, Meinardus, Monks and Monasteries (1989), 66.
16
Mina el-Baramousy [Kyrillos VI], HS, 1:8.
17
Mina the Recluse [Kyrillos VI], “Autobiographical Fragments.”
18
Raphael Ava Mina, Spiritual Leadership, 8.
19
Mina el-Baramousy [Kyrillos VI], HS, 2:7–8. ey arrived at the monastery between 12 and 2
am. e walk from el-Hokaria station (Bir Hokir) to the monastery is some 10 km (6 mi) and takes
approximately two hours.
20
Around the same time, in 1931, a British woman by the name of Mary Rowla wrote as she
neared the monastery on foot aer their cars had broken down, “We did the last bit on foot, as both
cars had stuck, so we approached the first monastery in absolute silence. And the silence of the
desert can be absolute. e only live things in view were a few swallows which circled round our
heads, swooping forth and back again in great curiosity. On arrival we clanged the great bell in a
whitewashed tower above us and waited. Eventually a young bearded monk opened a postern gate
and welcomed us.” See Meinardus, Monks and Monasteries (1989), 66.
21 Mina el-Baramousy [Kyrillos VI], HS, 2:7–8.
22
Meinardus, Monks and Monasteries (1989), 52–53.
23
Constantin von Tischendorf, Travels in the East (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2010), 53.
24
Cited in Meinardus, Monks and Monasteries (1989), 66.
25
William Henry Hatch, “A Visit to the Coptic Convents in Nitria,” American Sool of Oriental
Resear Annual, no. 6 (1924): 100.
26
Cited in Meinardus, Monks and Monasteries (1989), 67.
27 H. V. Morton, rough Lands of the Bible (London: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1938), 234.
28
Mina the Recluse [Kyrillos VI], “Autobiographical Fragments.”
29
Mina el-Baramousy [Kyrillos VI], HS, 2:7–8.
30
Ibid., 8.
31
Ibid. is refers to the Liturgy of St Gregory the eologian, one of three eucharistic
Anaphoras still used by the Coptic Orthodox Church.
32
Mina the Recluse [Kyrillos VI], “Autobiographical Fragments.”
33 Meinardus, Monks and Monasteries (1989), 69; Augustinos el-Baramousy, e Baramous
Monastery, 175. Youannis, having begun his monasticism at the Baramous Monastery, was known to
visit the monastery at least annually, and continued this practice first as metropolitan and then
eventually as patriarch.
34
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 6.
35
Ibid.
36 Mina el-Baramousy [Kyrillos VI], HS, 2:8.
37
For a lay perspective for the reasons of the exile, see al-Masri, True Story of Christianity in
Egypt, 2:352–53.
38
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Memories about the Life of Pope Kyrillos, 13. is detail is missed
from the English translation.
39
Mina el-Baramousy [Kyrillos VI], HS, 2:8.
40
e autobiographical account in the Harbor of Salvation concludes with the story of the
previous anonymous occupier of the cell. e account may be found in the appendices. I suspect—
given the monk was blind in Azer’s account and that the cell had been deserted for some time—that
this refers to a blind monk by the name of Awad el-Barhemey (d. 1878) who at one stage was the
only monk in the monastery for three years. He was remembered as having a very keen intelligence
and a clear mind, being tall with a long beard, and being fond of saying, “e monk is a monk from
his father’s house; good in his father’s house, good in the monastery. . . .” See Augustinos el-
Baramousy, e Baramous Monastery, 232.
41
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 6.
42 Ibid.
43
Ibid. e aitude is confirmed in a leer Azer (then Father Mina) wrote to his brother in 1929;
see Monk Mina el-Baramousy [Kyrillos VI], “Leer to Hanna Youssef Aa, January 17, 1929” [in
Arabic], in RC-2: Leer 57 (Baramous Monastery, 1929).
44
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 6. is certainly makes sense of the delay in
the allocation of his cell.
45
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Memories about the Life of Pope Kyrillos, 13. e English
translation does not give mention of the names, which are present in the Arabic.
46
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 6, and their Memories about the Life of Pope
Kyrillos, 13. Masudi, while exploring the cell, commented, “He has sown and is waiting for the rain.”
is is missing from the English translation. e Arabic also adds the following explanation: “which
means he has prepared himself and is waiting for the rain of the grace of God.”
47
Mina el-Baramousy [Kyrillos VI], HS, 2:8.
48 Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 6. e final sentence was mistranslated in
the printed edition, but it is corrected above. See Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Memories about the
Life of Pope Kyrillos, 13.
49
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 6.
50
For instance, Watson, among many others, somewhat forgivably, suggests that Azer was a
spiritual son to Abdel Messih ibn Abdelmalek el-Masudi, and that he became an assistant to the
librarian, Abdel Messih ibn Salib el-Masudi; see Watson, “Abba Kyrillos,” 9. is, of course, was
impossible given that ibn Abdelmalek was at Muharraq Monastery, and likely reposed before the
time of Fr Mina’s monasticism.
51
Augustinos el-Baramousy, e Baramous Monastery, 234.
52
Ibid. His wife’s name is given as Mary.
53
I. H. al-Masri, e Story of the Coptic Chur: 1870–1927 [in Arabic], vol. 5 (Cairo: Maktabat al-
Mahabba, 1986), 107.
54
He was the son of Abdelmalek, according to his name. Lile else is known of the figure, other
than that throughout the literature he has been confused with Girguis el-Masudi, who spent
twenty-two years at the same monastery. See Bishop Gregorious, Muharraq Monastery: History,
Description, Content [in Arabic] (Al-siya: Muharraq Monastery, 1992), 329; al-Masri, Story of the
Coptic Chur, 5:109.
55 Augustinos el-Baramousy, e Baramous Monastery, 234. Note that he came to Baramous at
the time of Awad and Hanna the Scribe (the future Pope Cyril V).
56
Gregorious, Muharraq Monastery, 325.
57
Augustinos el-Baramousy, e Baramous Monastery, 235.
58
See ibid., 236; Gregorious, Muharraq Monastery, 327; al-Masri, Story of the Coptic Chur,
5:108. It should be noted that Baramous Monastery was also the home (at least for a brief period) of
a Syrian monk, Naoum, at the turn of the twentieth century—a monk who, despite being
temporarily excommunicated for “insubordination,” was also a well-accomplished scholar; see
Meinardus, Monks and Monasteries (1989), 64. at such scholars converged at the Baramous
Monastery just before the arrival of Azer is fascinating.
59
Sisters of Abu Sefein, Abu Sefein: Biography and History of the Convent [in Arabic] (Old Cairo:
Abu Sefein Convent, 1989), 319.
60
One record of breaking this vow of silence is at Azer’s monastic tonsure. See Aa and
Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 8. Lile else is known of his life, other than that he entered
the monastery just aer his brother, Fr Abdel Messih ibn Salib el-Masudi; see Augustinos el-
Baramousy, e Baramous Monastery, 236.
61 Augustinos el-Baramousy, e Baramous Monastery, 236.
62
Many of the following intimate insights into the life and movements of Abdel Messih el-
Masudi are from a leer wrien in January 1969 by another disciple of Masudi, Fr Daoud el-
Baramousy. e leer was reprinted in Youssef Habib, Goodbye Pope Kyrillos: Among the Fathers and
Leaders [in Arabic] (place and publisher unknown, 1971), 20.
63
For references of his works, see Aziz Suryal Atiya, “‛Abd al-Masih Salib al-Masu‛di,” in CE, 7b;
al-Masri, Story of the Coptic Chur, 5:108.
64
Atiya, “‛Abd al-Masih Salib al-Masu‛di,” 7b; Johannes Den Heijer, “History of the Patriarchs of
Alexandria,” ibid., 1241a.
65
Habib, Among the Fathers, 20; Atiya, “‛Abd al-Masih Salib al-Masu‛di,” 7b.
66
Atiya, “‛Abd al-Masih Salib al-Masu‛di,” 7b.
67 Habib, Among the Fathers, 20.
68
Girguis, e Heavenly Harp, 13.
69
Ibid., 12.
70
Habib, Among the Fathers, 21–22.
71
Augustinos el-Baramousy, e Baramous Monastery, 238.
72
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 6.
73 Ibid., 8.
74
Ibid.
75
Ibid.
76
Ibid.
77
Ibid. According to the account, Azer was still a novice, and the episode followed the
departure of his fellow monks to Alexandria in September 1927. is places the event sometime
between October 1927 and January 1928.
78
Ibid.
79 Ibid.
80
He was made abbot of the monastery aer the resignation of Fr Barnaba el-Baramousy on
March 9, 1948; was ordained as its first bishop on January 23, 1949; and died on January 5, 1965. See
Augustinos el-Baramousy, e Baramous Monastery, 226.
81
Anonymous bishop, “Interview about the Life of Pope Kyrillos,” audio recording, ed. Daniel
Fanous (2016). From his very earliest days as a novice—though it is a surprise to many—he
reportedly fell victim to abuse and ridicule from some of his fellow monks.
82
e expression “vocation of loss” is borrowed from a leer Fr Lev Gillet wrote on March 9,
1928, to his bishop, Metropolitan Andrei Szeptycky: “e more I examine myself. . . . What aracts
me is a vocation of loss—a life which would give itself freely without any apparent positive result,
for the result would be known to God alone. . . .” It is a phrase that speaks eloquently to the life of
the subject of this study. See Elisabeth Behr-Sigel, Lev Gillet: A Monk of the Eastern Chur, trans.
Helen Wright (Oxford: Fellowship of St Alban and St Sergius, 1999), 9.
83
For an analysis of the period, and contributing factors see Vatikiotis, e History of Egypt,
317–28.
84
Mina the Recluse [Kyrillos VI], “Autobiographical Fragments.”
85 Some discrepancy has appeared in the literature as to the date of his monastic tonsure. is
may be traced to a mistranslation in Hanna Youssef Aa’s account. In Arabic the date is given as
“February 25, 1928 at the beginning of Lent,” whereas the English translation has—for some
unknown reason (perhaps from some confusion as to which St Menas was intended; 17 Amshir,
Menas the monk, versus 15 Hatour, Menas the Miracle Worker)—mistakenly translated it as
“November 25, 1928, at the beginning of the Christmas fast.” e date was mistranslated and hence
the Fast was changed to make sense of this (given the Nativity fast began on November 25, 1928).
See Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Memories about the Life of Pope Kyrillos, 15, and their Life of Pope
Kyrillos, 8. In any event, the autobiographical fragments place the tonsure at “nine months” aer he
entered the monastery in July 1927, thereby confirming the date of tonsure as February 1928; see
Mina the Recluse [Kyrillos VI], “Autobiographical Fragments.”
86
For a description of the church and its altars, see Augustinos el-Baramousy, e Baramous
Monastery, 62–65.
87
e Rite of Tonsure is described in great detail in Bishop Meaous, e Sublime Life of
Monasticism (Puy, Egypt: Saint Shenouda Monastery Press, 2005), 89–98, and this coheres
extremely well with the description given in Hanna’s account: see Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life
of Pope Kyrillos, 7.
88
Mina the Recluse [Kyrillos VI], “Autobiographical Fragments.” It should be noted that the
saint commemorated on that day (17th of Amshir) was Menas the monk, and not Azer’s patron
saint, Menas the Miracle-worker (commemorated on 15th of Hatour).
89
It would appear, from the autobiographical fragments, that there had been some contention
as to the new name of the novice, before final agreement upon the saint commemorated on that
day. is is an important corrective to a number of sources that have suggested that Azer himself
chose the name; for instance, see Voile, Les Coptes d’Égypte, 196; van Doorn-Harder, “Planner,
Patriarch and Saint,” 230; Watson, “Abba Kyrillos,” 20.
90
Cited from Voile, Les Coptes d’Égypte, 195. Voile notes that this may be at first glance quite
odd, but the union of sorts between Copts and Muslims in the 1920s and 1930s against the British, as
well as the original reverence given to Menas by Muslims in the seventh to tenth centuries
(especially the Bedouins), account for Ahmad Hussein’s reference.
91
Ibid., 196.
92 Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 7.
93
Mina the Recluse [Kyrillos VI], “Autobiographical Fragments.”
94
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 8.
95
Ibid.
96
Another reason, likely in combination with the request of Masudi, is given in the preface of
the first volume: “Aer I had noticed that many people would like to know the characteristics and
rules of the monastery, especially M. Michael, who has asked relentlessly concerning this issue, I
decided—with the grace of God—to write something about this subject. ough I cannot describe
the beauty of the monastery, I will do my best. . . .” See Mina el-Baramousy [Kyrillos VI], HS, 1. In a
later volume, December 1929, a further reason is given: “e only aim of publishing this magazine is
related to my repeated reading of the sayings of the saintly fathers, and the benefits and comfort whi
fill the soul. As I found myself being filled with these teachings I thought that I would share them
with my brethren.” See Monk Mina el-Baramousy [Kyrillos VI], HS [in Arabic], vol. 16 (Wadi al-
Natrun: Baramous Monastery, Kiahk 1646; December 1929). It also appears Hanna may have played
a role in determining the length and structure; see Monk Mina el-Baramousy [Kyrillos VI], “Leer
to Hanna Youssef Aa, November 21, 1930” [in Arabic], in RC-1: Leer 11 (Baramous Monastery:
1930).
97
Mina el-Baramousy [Kyrillos VI], HS, 1.
98 Ibid., 1.
99
Fr Mina had originally planned to write according to three divisions: “a spiritual section, a
historical section, and an administrative section; in this last section I will write about the rules and
characteristics of the monastery.” See ibid. But it appears the periodical evolved otherwise.
100
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 7.
101
All seventeen volumes have been kindly passed on to me by Fr Raphael Ava Mina, who
holds the originals in his possession. e contents will be consulted when relevant throughout this
work.
102
Raphael Ava Mina, Spiritual Leadership, 21.
103
Archdeacon Iskander Hanna and Hegumen Abdel Messih el-Masudi.
104 Raphael Ava Mina, Spiritual Leadership, 21–22.
105
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 8. Other than the work of St Isaac the
Syrian, Hanna states that he also gave himself to a study of the monastic fathers, such as Sts
Anthony, Macarius the Great, and Shenouda the Archimandrite.
106
In a later interview, a month before his enthronement as patriarch, when asked as to his
favorite book, he replied: “e works of Mar Isaac the Syrian which examine the life of solitude and
silence”; see Galal el-Gowaily, “Interview with the Monk at Will Become Patriarch” [in Arabic],
al-Ahram, April 25, 1959.
107
e English translation misses that he learned to bind the books from an elderly monk
whom he was serving, named Pakhoum, who in an autobiographical fragment is identified as his
confession father. See Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Memories about the Life of Pope Kyrillos, 17, and
their Life of Pope Kyrillos, 8; Mina the Recluse [Kyrillos VI], “Autobiographical Fragments.”
108
One copy eventually found its way into the possession of Fr Maa el-Meskeen, who
referenced the work as: “‘e Four Books of St Isaac the Syrian, Bishop of Nineveh,’ copied from a
manuscript in the possession of Father Mina el-Baramousy.” See Fr Maa el-Meskeen, Orthodox
Prayer Life: e Interior Way (Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2003), 292. We should
note that the classification of Part I and Part II (and III) of the Ascetical Homilies was somewhat
unknown to the Arabic world. Rather, there are “Four Books” in the Arabic version—the version
that Fr Mina would have been familiar with. ese four books primarily consist of Part I, but also
contain sections from Part II and III, as well as other Syriac Fathers under the name of Isaac. is
makes it oen difficult to appreciate which “part” Fr Mina is referring to—though as mentioned,
Part I primarily dominates the Arabic “Four Books.” See Sabino Chiala, “e Arabic Version of Saint
Isaac the Syrian: A Channel of Transmission of Syriac Literature,” in St Isaac the Syrian and His
Spiritual Legacy, ed. Hilarion Alfeyev (Yonkers, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2015). Also, for a
discussion of Eastern and Western recensions, see Hilarion Alfeyev, e Spiritual World of Isaac the
Syrian (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 2000), 29–31.
109
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 8; Father Raphael Ava Mina, “Interview
about the Life of Pope Kyrillos VI,” audio recording, ed. Daniel Fanous (2016).
110 St Isaac the Syrian, e Ascetical Homilies of Saint the Syrian (Boston: Holy Transfiguration
Monastery, 2011), 64. 457 [the citations to this this publication will give the homily number first,
then, aer a period, the page number]. e maxim is more revealing in context: “Instead of an
avenger, be a deliverer. Instead of a faultfinder, be a soother. . . . Beseech God on behalf of sinners. .
. . Conquer evil men by your gentle kindness. . . . Love all men, but keep distant from all men.”
111
Mina el-Baramousy [Kyrillos VI], “Leer to Hanna Youssef Aa, January 17, 1929.”
112
Ibid.
113
Ibid. It should also be noted that a leer he writes in 1933 further develops his reasoning,
whereby he seeks solitude out of weakness, not out of thinking he is beer than others; see Father
Mina el-Baramousy [Kyrillos VI], “Leer to Hanna Youssef Aa, December 3, 1933” [in Arabic], in
RC-2: Leer 8 (Baramous Monastery: 1933).
114
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 8. In aendance were his brothers, Hanna
and (Hegumen) Mikhail, Youssef Girguis (the future patriarchal secretary), and another Mikhail (the
head cantor of the patriarchate). e English translation misses these details: see Aa and Raphael
Ava Mina, Memories about the Life of Pope Kyrillos, 17. ere appears to be some confusion in the
sources as to the location of the ordination, but it is likely it took place in the monastery before
Father Mina was summoned to Alexandria. e opposing view seems to have stemmed from the
account of his future disciple; see Raphael Ava Mina, Spiritual Leadership, 8.
115
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 8.
116 His “reception of the oblation” in Alexandria is recounted by his future disciple, Fr Raphael
Ava Mina, and though not specifically mentioned by his brother, Hanna, it certainly is in keeping
with his account where Hanna obviously was in close communication with Pope Youannis aer the
ordination. Raphael Ava Mina, Spiritual Leadership, 8; Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope
Kyrillos, 8, and their Memories about the Life of Pope Kyrillos, 17.
117
Raphael Ava Mina, Spiritual Leadership, 8.
118
Watson, “Abba Kyrillos,” 9.
119
Few, if any, scholars have noticed several contradictions here. It is exceedingly difficult to
date when precisely he began at Helwan: (1) Fr Mina claims, in the autobiographical fragments, to
have studied there for two years aer four years in the monastery, which is unanimously supported
by all accounts; (2) Hanna suggests this began aer priesthood (July 1931) and that he sought
solitude soon aer when he was thirty (at least aer August 1932); (3) Hanna later on mentions that
Bishop omas of Gharbeya studied with Fr Mina at Helwan, and yet he was ordained a bishop in
October 1930—suggesting that Fr Mina studied at Helwan before then; (4) there is also the
discrepancy about the diocese for which he was to be ordained. While at least one scholar
(Zaklama, Pope Kyrillos VI, 1:69–72) has noticed these discrepancies and has aempted to maneuver
through these somewhat conflicting details by suggesting that Fr Mina began studying at Helwan
before October 1930, this is unnecessary. One possibility is that Bishop omas may have
reasonably continued at Helwan aer his ordination. at Fr Mina was not in Helwan from at least
December 1930 is certain, given that leers to his brother, Hanna, in the period October to
December, were wrien from the Baramous Monastery—one of these specifically states that Mina
felt he would soon be asked to study and wished it would not happen. See Mina el-Baramousy
[Kyrillos VI], “Leer to Hanna Youssef Aa, November 21, 1930.” Interestingly, we have in our
possession no leers from his hand from December 10, 1930, to December 3, 1933, suggesting a
period away from his monastery. A likely chronology for these years is as follows: July 1927–July
1931 at Baramous Monastery; July 1931 to early 1933 at Helwan; period at the Monastery of St
Shenouda in Souhag; and in late 1933, Fr Mina enters solitude at Baramous Monastery. e laer
two periods will be examined as we progress.
120
Mina the Recluse [Kyrillos VI], “Autobiographical Fragments.”
121
Many metropolitans and all heads of monasteries were present, as well as Archdeacon Habib
Girgis, the esteemed (and recently canonized) dean of the eological College in Cairo; see I. H. al-
Masri, e Story of the Coptic Chur: 1928–1946 [in Arabic], vol. 6 (Cairo: Maktabat al-Mahabba,
1988), 40–42; Nasr, Readings in the Life of Abouna Mina, 45.
122 Al-Masri, Story of the Coptic Chur, 6:41; van Doorn-Harder, “Planner, Patriarch and Saint,”
232.
123
Al-Masri, Story of the Coptic Chur, 6:42–43.
124
Some otherwise reliable sources claim he was born in 1880, but most suggest 1883, which is
consistent with the anecdote that he was fourteen in 1897 when “spoed” by Bishop Morcos; for
instance, see Augustinos el-Baramousy, e Baramous Monastery, 237–38.
125
For a brief biography of Manqarius, see al-Masri, Story of the Coptic Chur, 5:8.
126
Of note, Nazir Gayed, the future Pope Shenouda III, was appointed a full-time lecturer at the
Helwan eological College in 1953; see Meinardus, Two ousand Years, 4.
127
Before long he managed to open another, significantly overcrowded, elementary school, for
the poverty-stricken children; see Augustinos el-Baramousy, e Baramous Monastery, 238.
128 Ibid. He was elevated to hegumen the next month.
129
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 8.
130
Kyrillos was the metropolitan of Beliana from 1948 to 1970; thus he died the year before his
friend.
131
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 8.
132
Ibid.; Fr Raphael Ava Mina, My Memories about the Life of Pope Kyrillos VI: Part II [in Arabic]
(Shoubra: Sons of Pope Kyrillos VI, 1985).
133
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 8.
134 Raphael Ava Mina, Spiritual Leadership, 11.
135
Fr Mina’s eucharistic vision may even be carefully traced to his daily practice in baking the
qorban even before priesthood, and hence before he had personally officiated at a Liturgy.
Conceivably, it may have been further deepened by Fr Abdel Messih el-Masudi’s pioneering
translation and study of the Coptic Liturgies. We should also note that Fr Mina had aended his
local church daily (though not for Liturgy, as the practice was then unheard o) to pray, before
becoming a monastic.
136
His daily practice would lead to unfounded accusations, including even heresy, in his later
time as a public monastic. Importantly, Fr Mina would pray the Liturgy more quickly than the
classical rite—oen taking only one to two hours.
137
Yanney, “Liturgical Revival,” 32.
138 Monk Mina el-Baramousy [Kyrillos VI], HS [in Arabic], vol. 7 (Wadi al-Natrun: Baramous
Monastery, Misra 1644; August 1928), 1.
139
Ibid.
140
Ibid., 2–3.
141
Ibid., 3–4.
142
Fr Alexander Schmemann, e Euarist: Sacrament of the Kingdom (Crestwood, NY: St
Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1988), 242.
143
One question that has intrigued me for years, and that has been asked of me on more than
one occasion, is whether Isaac the Syrian’s eucharistic theology had any influence on Fr Mina—
given his pervasive discipleship. It is almost impossible to say, given that, first, the extant writings
of Isaac rarely discuss the Eucharist and, second, Fr Mina rarely cites Isaac in connection with the
Eucharist. e exception, as far as I am aware, is a leer Mina wrote to Fr Antonious el-Syriany (the
future Pope Shenouda III) congratulating him on the occasion of his ordination to the priesthood.
Mina instructs Antonious in a beautiful eucharistic teaching of Isaac the Syrian; namely, that
celebrating the Eucharist unites the solitary to the world; see Hegumen Mina the Recluse [Kyrillos
VI], “Leer to Father Antonious el-Syriany, September 6, 1958” [in Arabic], in FRC-1: Leer 443
(Old Cairo: 1958). Fr Mina seems to be following (or perhaps citing) his version of Isaac the Syrian;
see Ascetical Homilies, Part II, 5, 26–30; cited in Alfeyev, World of Isaac the Syrian, 205.
144 Father Alexander Schmemann, e Journals of Father Alexander Smemann, 1973–1983
(Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2000), 31.
145
Raphael Ava Mina, Spiritual Leadership, 11.
146
ough the English translation claims that a “council of monks” made this suggestion, the
original account in Arabic specifies that it was Frs Mina and Kyrillos who made the suggestion; see
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 8, and their Memories about the Life of Pope
Kyrillos, 18.
147
It is impossible to date precisely when Fr Mina le Helwan. But given that he evidently
began there aer priesthood in July 1931 and his autographical writings clearly state he was there
for two years, we may suggest early 1933. He then spent some months at the Monastery of St
Shenouda in Souhag, before returning to the Baramous Monastery before his thirty-first birthday
(in August 1933), which we can gather from Hanna’s account; see Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life
of Pope Kyrillos, 9. Also, a leer wrien in December 1933 to his brother indicates that there was
contention in the monastery as Fr Mina intended to leave for solitude at that point; see Mina el-
Baramousy [Kyrillos VI], “Leer to Hanna Youssef Aa, December 3, 1933.”
148
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 8.
149
Ibid.
150 Ibid., 9. Hanna claims that Pope Youannis wanted to ordain Fr Mina a bishop for the diocese
that he vacated in ascending to the papacy, which was Gharbeya and Beheira (Menoufia was added
aer its bishop reposed). is is problematic in that Bishop omas was ordained for Gharbeya
(October 1930 to March 1956) and Bishop Demetrius for Menoufia (March 1931 to October 1950). Yet
Fr Mina le Helwan the day aer Youannis aempted to ordain him, which must have been at least
aer his ordination to priesthood in July 1931, since he officiated at Vespers that evening. erefore,
the aempted ordination of Fr Mina to episcopacy could not have been for the dioceses of
Gharbeya or Menoufia, since they had been occupied from October 1930 and March 1931,
respectively. It is entirely feasible, however, that Pope Youannis may have considered annexing
Beheira into its own diocese—as was done decades later.
151
Ibid.
3
e Windmill of Moqattam: An
Unsuspected aumaturge (1936–1941)
An Odd Choice of Residence: e Fated Windmill, 1936
“Be simple, hidden, quiet, and small.”
—Fr omas Hopko
“I wish,” said the grayed and broken man, “I listened to you and
stayed in my diocese.” Aer a few moments of uneasy silence,
with his tears tracing his face and disappearing into his beard, he added,
“When I was metropolitan, God answered each of my prayers immediately
through people or words sent to me. But now as patriarch”—his hands
began to shake visibly—“God has turned his back on me.”1
ose tormented words of Pope Macarius III (1872–1945) might have
been spoken just as well by the patriarchs before and aer him. For a lile
less than a century, whoever dared to ascend that precarious throne of the
patriarchate (legitimately or not) would be thrown against the unrelenting
rocks of the infamous Community Council, the maglis al-melli.
Unfortunately, such words are how this melancholic interlude must begin.
* * *
Aer the death of Demetrius II in 1870, Bishop Marcos of Beheira, as
locum tenens, took the fateful step of selecting several lay notables to
“assist” him, especially in the maer of financial affairs. us was formed
the nucleus of the Community Council (maglis al-melli).2 Eventually, the
arrangement was formalized, and a Khedival decree on February 5, 1874,
approved the formation of a council of twenty-four lay members under the
patriarch.3 Meinardus suggests that three streams of lay reform merged at
this point: one group calling for the Church’s increased support of the
poor; another insisting on the broader education of clergy; and another
still—this would be by far the most significant and problematic—insisting
that the clergy should concern themselves only with “spiritual maers,”
leaving all other affairs—financial, legal, and educational—to “capable
laymen.”4 e move echoed many of the calls for reform that were
resounding throughout the nation and Ooman Empire. But it had its own
internal dynamic: the cardinal concern was the legitimization of lay
representation within the Church.5
It was very much a pressing concern. Lay leaders at the time were far
more educated than most clergy, and they had crucial monetary
experience. Moreover, I. H. al-Masri notes, the problems of Personal Status
Laws (marriage, divorce, and inheritance) were quite reasonably
considered to be the “domains of fathers of families” and not that of
celibate bishops.6 In other words, as Carter discerns, the maglis was the
“chief mechanism by which [the lay reformers] sought to gain control of
the community.”7 Masri’s and Carter’s comments, though accurate, are far
more revealing than perhaps intended, and they, along with most
scholarship, fall short of explicitly articulating what is obvious. e
concerns of the maglis al-melli and its condensation of lay reform was not
simply the legitimization of laymen, but rather their legitimization over
and against—so they claimed—incapable, incompetent, and relatively
illiterate clergy. It could never have been received as anything else. Indeed,
when Cyril V was ordained patriarch in late 1874, only months aer the
formation of the maglis, his reaction was in a sense understandable, if not
expected. e first council under his chairmanship was dissolved and the
second never held a meeting. Whenever they tried to assemble at the
patriarchate, they found the doors locked.8
* * *
e saga of the maglis under the patriarchs of the late nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries is hardly edifying. Cyril V (1874–1925), to begin,
rejected the council almost from its inception, refused to chair its meetings
for nearly a decade, decried its very existence, and dreamt feverishly of its
dissolution. His lay opponents, however, were formidable. ey counted
among their number well-educated and wealthy landowners; a few
governors; and the first-ever Copt to become a “pasha,” Boutros Ghali.9 On
March 22, 1883, they forcefully “requested” Cyril V to reconvene a new
maglis. “ere is no need for the Council,” wrote Cyril V in a leer that he
delivered by hand to the Prime Minister,
which some members of the congregation seek to create. . . . When
we assumed the patriarchy, our experience with the Council led us
to the conclusion that it is useless and can serve no purpose
whatsoever and we, therefore, dispensed with it.10
e Khedive had lile interest in the protests of the patriarch and
instead looked favorably upon the reforming laymen. An apparent
compromise was struck with the maglis’ constitution of May 14, 1883. It
granted the maglis, in cooperation with four clergy, authority over all
personal status issues, monastic endowments (waqf), Coptic schools,
theological institutions, and benevolent societies; it also directed the
maglis to audit and keep records of all parishes, monasteries, and
convents; and finally, it empowered the maglis to work for the education
and spiritual development of clergy.11 is “compromise” was expansive,
and would clearly step on clerical toes.
One of these directives would become the acute point of contention
between the patriarch and the maglis, forging deep factionalism within the
community that would last well into the twentieth century. is was the
waqf.12
For centuries monasteries had “reclaimed” their surrounding deserts
for agricultural use, which, given the enormous land holdings, had become
extremely lucrative for the Church. ese monastic endowments, along
with other less significant patriarchal and charitable lands, collectively
known as the waqf, had by the late nineteenth century eclipsed all other
sources of income for the Church.13 And, as the maglis soon discovered,
reform was expensive. e maglis saw the waqf as the means of
establishing, rebuilding, and reinvigorating clerical education, parishes,
schools, and the service of the poor.14 But beyond this, they felt that the
sheer disparity between these monastic endowments and the current state
of the Church was the inevitable result of the misappropriation of such
funds. is, they alleged, was certainly in dire violation of the “vow of
poverty” that these ascetic monks had apparently taken—especially since
these same monks lived in squalor and poverty.15 e maglis cried out for
accountability, urged transparency, demanded integrity, and above all,
sought control.16 In many ways then, the waqf became the symbolic
balefield and flag for reform and, therefore, the singular wedge of enmity
between the patriarch and the laymen.
Needless to say, a failure to agree on the 1883 constitution—primarily
around the supervision of the waqf—lead to a fragile standoff.17 By 1891 the
conflict erupted into popular demonstration. Societies (both pro-maglis
and pro-patriarch) were formed with varying slogans and a mass of
propaganda. Numerous appeals from both sides were made to the
Khedive.18 A year later, Cyril V was forced by the government to concede,
and monasteries were commanded to present their accounts to the maglis
for audit (though the monasteries were, pointedly, allowed to keep the
profits). Cyril then reacted with his own petition. e maglis countered,
leading to a “historically unprecedented dismissal” of the patriarch.19 On
September 1, 1892, a Khedival decree saw Cyril V withdraw to the
Baramous Monastery.20 “e vast majority of the Coptic people,” wrote
Leeder, a British observer,
. . . whatever the reformers might think, were desolated by the
removal of a man who was still their head. And then too, Cyril’s
parting thunders of excommunication had brought the whole
Church to a standstill, drying up the comforting wells of absolution
and benediction. . . .21
e six months of his exile were catastrophic. A new puppet-patriarch,
Bishop Athanasius of Sanabu, was appointed by the government and, just
as promptly, was excommunicated by Cyril.22 Parishes became desolate,
sacraments were not administered, and the once-faithful became
disillusioned. e government grew restless and, along with the now
embarrassed Community Council, called for Cyril’s return. On February 4,
1893, Cyril V (and his government envoy) was received with a triumphant
procession through the streets of Cairo.
As far as history reveals, the action of the maglis in this awkward
episode was a serious misstep. Exiling the patriarch was evidence, Ibrahim
claims, of what “many in the community could not accept, the
infringement of laymen in the spiritual duties of the Church.”23 Reform
may have been welcomed and warranted, indeed even necessitated, but
the exile of the patriarch undermined their very credibility. It also revealed
just how divisive the waqf could be as the focal point for competing
visions of the Church. ere is also a suggestion, as Seikaly argues, that
the Khedive played a far more significant part in the exile than most
sources recognize; with another scholar claiming that the Khedival
intervention politicized the conflict between clergy and laity “on several
levels.”24 e unfortunate episode not only saw lay intrusion in the
spiritual authority of the Church, but it also gave an unfortunate
precedent for government intervention.
e hostility between patriarch and maglis would wax and wane for
the next three decades.25 Various modifications to the constitution of the
maglis were made, for the most part in favor of the patriarchate.26 On July
22, 1927, things would take another dramatic turn. Aer a great deal of
political maneuvering and filing suits against each head of monastery, the
maglis successfully petitioned the government once more. Its constitution
was reverted, granting the maglis their full rights secured in 1883.27 Two
weeks aer hearing the news, Cyril V died at 103 years of age. ough his
patriarchate saw a great deal of controversy, it would appear, ironically,
that many of his efforts were in line with the reformers. Schools were
supported, a theological college opened, churches renovated, and women’s
education championed.28 And, we should take care to note, he was
remembered by all as a man of “purity, great simplicity, and self-denial,
with his personal expenditure not exceeding more than LE 60 a year.”29
* * *
e following patriarch, Youannis XIX (1928–1942), fared lile beer.
Initially there were some promising signs, in part explained by his
sobering exile (while still a metropolitan) with Cyril V in 1892. Before his
elevation to patriarch, as locum tenens in 1927, he issued an effective
system—essentially a supervisory commiee of three laymen and two
bishops—for the management of the waqf. For a short while, it even
satisfied both clergy and laity.30 It was not, however, the waqf that were of
concern during his reign—but rather his very right to become patriarch at
all.
Aer the death of Cyril V in 1927 the Synod and maglis agreed to
overturn more than a millennium of custom (and canon) of selecting the
patriarch from among the monks. ey allowed a bishop to become
patriarch “if no monks were deemed suitable for the position.”31 Youannis’
patriarchate would, unfortunately, from then on be marred by persistent
rumors, inefficacy, and communal strife.32 “I wish,” he was once heard to
have exclaimed, “that the day was doomed when I sought the papacy.”33
Many scholars have argued that Youannis’ patriarchate was the principal
reason for the descent of the Church into darkness for the next three
decades; he would be the first of three patriarchs elevated from among the
bishops to patriarch. Sadly, and yet fairly, one eminent Coptic historian
has gone so far as to entitle her volume of the period, “how the mighty
have fallen.”34
With the death of Youannis in 1942, the debate erupted once more.
Here, however, the lines were not so neatly drawn between clergy and
laity. Many bishops called for the ordination of the patriarch from among
the monks; while some laymen (including the maglis) suggested that
reform could only ever be achieved by an experienced bishop.35 But even
then, many disagreed and the opinions were diverse.36 e ensuing months
saw unseemly election campaigns for candidates that had “increasingly
political overtones.”37 A few, however, cared lile for such maneuvering,
preferring instead to look to the principles of ancient tradition. “You know,
holy father, my love and reverence for you,” Habib el-Masri, a member of
the maglis, recalls warning one of the metropolitans, “but my loyalty to
the principle takes precedence even over my loyalty to you.”38 e
metropolitan’s answer, “e people want me,” did lile to pacify him.39
at metropolitan was the future Pope Macarius III (1872–1945).
As metropolitan of Asyut for forty-seven years, Macarius had a
significant reform legacy and was quite apt at delegating non-spiritual
affairs.40 anks to some enthusiastic supporters, he also had the vote of
the populace. e newspapers of the period abound with pro-Macarius
pieces wrien by Hegumen Sergius (an activist priest we have already met
more than once), as well as the publicized support of the maglis through
their self-proclaimed spokesman Ibrahim el-Minyawi (1887–1958).41 On the
day of the election, February 13, 1944, Macarius III was very much the
people’s choice—the result not of corruption but of electioneering,
lobbying, and enamoring the press; more representative perhaps of a
parliamentary election than of a patriarchal ordination. And, true to his
legacy, Macarius did not shy away from his early reforming tendencies.
“Why are we so concerned with waq?” he asked his fellow bishops in a
resounding aack, just before his ordination,
. . . We are all monks and being that we have given our lawful
inheritance to the Church, is it right for any person to give up his
share and then demand it back thereaer? It is no longer ours.42
Within eleven days of his elevation as patriarch, Macarius had
seemingly resolved a conflict that had been burning for more than half a
century. He came to an agreement with the maglis that monastic
endowments (waqf) would be put exclusively to the use of the community
to initiate and sustain revival.43 All endowments, previously administered
by heads of monasteries, would now be directed by a central office at the
patriarchate in Cairo under Macarius’ direct supervision with the aid of
five members of the maglis. Pointedly, the endowments would be for the
express use of edifying the Church. e decision unsurprisingly “provoked
outcry.”44 Abbots and bishops categorically refused. It must be cautioned,
however, that this was not simply self-preservation or archconservatism
on the part of such bishops. Much of the clerical opposition, as Ibrahim
notes, actually stemmed from the maglis’ own “misconduct and failings.”45
ey too had mishandled non-monastic waqf; and since their governance
of the Great Coptic Schools of Cairo in 1928 there had been a marked and
rapid deterioration in education standards, not to mention the gross
mismanagement of the patriarchal diwan (rent from properties).46 is
challenges the view of many Western and Coptic historiographers that the
maglis was an impeccable, modern, and transparent reformer of a
“reactionary” Church—a maer we do well to remember in the later
maglis-patriarch conflicts of our present subject.47
* * *
Standing in between the powerful bishops and the maglis, it was inevitable
that Macarius would fall foul of both. Both—perhaps unfairly—felt he was
aempting to wrest power away from both the monasteries and the
maglis; that is, to himself.48 Minyawi and the maglis claimed they only
backed Macarius’ nomination as there were “no other suitable
candidates.”49 Once more the newspapers became alight with communal
strife, protests were made to government, and the waqf tore deeper into
the fabric of the Church. Chancing upon Habib el-Masri at a wedding on
August 1, 1944, Macarius embraced him with tears flowing down his long,
gray beard: “You were right; I should have remained in my bishopric; I
should not have allowed the tide to carry me away.”50 A few days later,
seeing no way through, Macarius retreated to the Monastery of St Antony
at the Red Sea in a self-imposed exile. Upon arriving at the monastery, he
insisted on walking to its gates, prostrating himself until he arrived at the
church, crying out, “I sinned when I became patriarch. I never want to
return to the cathedral, may I become lame or blind. . . . I regret it my
Lord, is there any repentance for such a sin?”51 e previous months had
worn heavily upon the old man. “While I have only been a patriarch for
half a year, it feels like half a century,” wrote Macarius from the monastery
to Prime Minister Ahmed Mahir on November 19, 1944,
. . . I remonstrated with Minyawi and his fellow maglis al-melli
members, with a broken heart and tears I begged Minyawi. I asked
him to have mercy on me and to be kind to me and to accept my
plea in such hard times. [I told him that] I cannot breathe, and my
stomach was burning and much more of the similar sayings. But he
never responded or cared about my pain, crying, and remonstration
and had no mercy on me and did not return my requests. I,
therefore, decided to go away to the monastery.52
Several months later he returned. In mid-1945 the Synod passed a
resolution reasserting clerical authority. Factionalism once more erupted.
By the time of Macarius’ death on August 31, 1945, nothing had changed.53
ose who were le in the Church lost hope—and whatever hope still
faintly survived would soon be dashed in a wretched decade that many
have chosen to forget.
Ecclesial Chaos: e Unseemly Events of July 25, 1954
“Lying is a delightful thing for it leads to the truth.”
—Fyodor Dostoyevsky
A mong the memoirs of those who knew Kyrillos VI lies the record
of a lile-known and most curious episode. A certain Fr Benjamin
(1944–1987), a hermit of the Wadi al-Natrun desert, recalls an encounter
with the patriarch (who was unknown to him) in the early 1960s.
Benjamin, then a young man of twenty, had for many years been
infatuated with the idea of monasticism and promised to depart to a
monastery the very moment his compulsory military training was
complete—that is, until the day he was on leave and happened to meet a
prey girl wandering the streets of Alexandria. He was immediately
enamored by the young girl, and they promised to meet the next day
again. “I went to one of the hotels to spend the night there,” recalls the
future hermit,
. . . and in the morning I went out looking for her in different
churches. But I couldn’t find her anywhere, so I went into one of the
churches feeling hurt. I saw Pope Kyrillos VI censing the church, so
I stood in my place in the aisle where he was coming through. When
he was right in front of me, he suddenly took the censer in his other
hand, and slapped me on the face and continued his way without
uering a word as if nothing had happened!. . . . I stood . . . I
regreed . . . and went out immediately to my military unit. I was
very upset with myself, how could I be concerned with such a
thing? And what is even stranger . . . how did the pope know?107
e bizarre encounter is suggestive of Kyrillos’ early years as
patriarch; oen accused of being “heavy-handed”—in this case, literally.
But would the Church, like Fr Benjamin (who eventually became a saintly
hermit), in time, see the workings of an enigmatic and mysterious plan at
play?
* * *
From the very first days of his enthronement, and even nomination,
Kyrillos was aacked and defamed. Intriguingly, though, most Western
sources, perhaps in part from brevity, ignore the almost incessant
tribulations through which he passed. eir Arabic counterparts are only
marginally (if at all) more accurate. And yet, tribulation, humiliation,
defamation, and accusation were the uninterrupted and persistent
hallmarks of his patriarchate, as they had been from his early years as a
monk—mocked and exiled from the Baramous Monastery, later evicted
from the windmill, and perpetually persecuted by the hierarchy during his
years at St Menas’ in Old Cairo.
Much of this has been forgoen, if not ignored, both by scholars and
the everyday believer. Is this, we might ask, due to a lack of access to
historical sources? Certainly, this is part of the story. But I suggest, even
more, that later piety has laudably preferred not to condemn nor even
remember those who opposed Kyrillos. In an aempt to “preserve” his
sanctity, history has for many been reimagined, whereby, if he really was a
saint, then surely all should have accepted and recognized him as such
during his life. Could it be that the derision and hostility to which Kyrillos
was subjected—despite its actually aesting to his sanctity—was
something that most Copts (and scholars, too) sought to forget in an
aempt to “whitewash” and “unwrinkle” the sheets of history? Whatever
the reason may actually be, Kyrillos suffered unceasingly for the greater
part of his clerical life; and, for the most part, at the hands of those in the
Church. “Saints by their natures,” an Orthodox scholar notes, “are as
disturbing as they are inspiring.”108 Kyrillos, it appears, was not what the
people wanted but what they needed.
e reasons for his relentless “persecution,” especially in the earlier
years of his patriarchate, are many. Historically speaking, it was perhaps
to be expected; the previous half-century had seen a deeply divided
Church become increasingly fractured. By the time Kyrillos became
patriarch there were numerous competing voices of reform, with oen
conflicting agendas, and, most importantly, in various states of agitation
(let us not forget the kidnapping of Yusab II). Even then, no maer the
“voice,” and no maer whether it was right or not, reform and change are
rarely well received. We should also remember that his most hostile critics
were in fact bishops, many of whom were guilty of simony, and therefore
exceedingly unlikely to favor a patriarch who made it his initial concern to
condemn that same simony. But it was, oddly, two other maers that most
irritated and vexed his adversaries: the abundant and diverse miracles
(with subsequent accusations of witchcra), and even more than this,
Kyrillos’ singular obsession with prayer.
“e greatest thing that caused difficulty for Kyrillos at the beginning
of his patriarchate,” claims a priest who was close to him, Fr Louka
Sidarous,
. . . that provoked criticism, from elders, bishops, priests, and
foreigners . . . [was that they said], “we wanted a patriarch, and not
a chanter. . . . What is this, all day and night in psalmody, prayers,
Matins, Vespers, Liturgy . . . and you just leave the Church the way
it is? . . . the Church needs reform, healing, it needs one to go on its
behalf to the government and President, one who can understand
these issues and bring results for the Copts. . . .” So arose the tide of
criticism against him because of this one thing: prayer.109
So severe was the criticism at one early point that a movement in the
Synod sought to stand him down because of this same obsession with
prayer—which, they alleged, was at the expense of patriarchal duties.110
“e pope’s behavior was unusual for the people at that time,” remarked
one elderly monk. “e monks could not put up with it. . . . e pope’s
methods were also a surprise for us—us elders. We had never seen
anything like it.”111 Even those closest to him became frustrated—whenever
they approached him with a concern, they were inevitably told to simply
pray. On one occasion a group of priests from Alexandria visited Kyrillos
with a “major” problem. On their way, still some distance off, one “who
talked a lot but had a pure heart,” moaned, “What’s the point? . . . He will
just tell us to pray.” Aer they arrived and exchanged greetings, Kyrillos
turned to that same priest, looked him carefully in the eyes, and asked him
as a maer of fact, “You don’t like prayer, my brother?” To which the
priest mumbled incoherent words of sincere remorse, while Kyrillos
continued, “Can you do anything without prayer?” Needless to say, the
man hid his face, became red, and went awfully silent.112 “e patriarch is a
very holy man,” complained another priest interviewed by Wakin in the
early 1960s. “He is a saint. . . . ere is much praying every day at the
patriarchate, but we need more than prayer. Prayer is not enough.”
Kyrillos, had he had the chance, likely would have replied, “Prayer is
everything.”113
* * *
In the face of this persistent abuse and slander, Kyrillos remained, as far as
one can tell, ever gracious and gentle, always staunchly immediate in his
forgiveness. In late 1959, twelve eminent Cairo-based priests initiated a
movement against Kyrillos—apparently on account of his absorption in
prayer. ey began furiously writing and circulating defamatory
pamphlets, oen staying up into the early hours of the morning. For the
beer part of a year and a half, they persisted in their efforts until
suddenly their printing press malfunctioned. Undeterred, they hurriedly
had it fixed and resumed their efforts. Almost immediately the machine
halted once more. is time, however, they were told another component
had become damaged, rendering the press irreparable. At this point, one of
the leading priests became frightened and rushed to the patriarch,
kneeling down and crying, “I have sinned; absolve me, Your Holiness.”
“What is the maer, my son?” replied Kyrillos. “I insulted you too
much,” the priest started, but before he could finish, Kyrillos interrupted,
“Yes, staying up until 1:30 a.m. each day, printing pamphlets and
distributing them from Alexandria to Aswan until the printing press
broke.” “But”—the priest asks, now extremely uncomfortable—“how do you
know all this? . . . Why didn’t you talk to us?” “I was praying for you,”
replied Kyrillos (which, we should note, was likely their very accusation).
Terrified, the priest begged for absolution, to which Kyrillos gently
assured, “With all my heart I absolve you, my son.” e rest of the priests
were likewise immediately forgiven, becoming, according to the account,
some of his most faithful clergy.114
e episode is characteristic of the period: relentless persecution,
penetrating clairvoyance, and inevitably immediate forgiveness.115 More
curious, though, were the confused accusations leveled at Kyrillos on
account of the endless and bewildering miracles. Meinardus, a German
Coptologist who shared the disappointment of many with this “praying
patriarch,” was at least able to concede: “ere is no doubt that he is a
genuine thaumaturges . . . with extraordinary spiritual gis.”116 Others were
far less charitable—denouncing Kyrillos as a fraud at best, and guilty of
witchcra at worst. Many present bishops (among other numerous
accounts) recall as young novices entering their respective monasteries in
the early 1960s only to be warned to “stay well away” from Kyrillos who,
so they were told, was dabbling in witchcra.117 How else, it was alleged,
could the copious and surreal miracles be explained?
An especially poignant case is that of Nazmy Boutros.118 A solicitor and
leading figure of the maglis al-melli in Alexandria, who was also well
known to many of the most eminent priests of the time, Boutros had lile
patience with the miracles of the new patriarch, though he admits, “I did
not know him well, but heard conflicting stories about him.” He began
writing anonymously, even during the nomination process, in several
newspapers (“the three papers”) against the patriarch, vehemently
accusing him of being a “con man” and a “sorcerer.” When Kyrillos arrived
in Alexandria for the first time in mid-1959, he had never met Boutros or
the rest of the maglis. As Boutros came near to greet the patriarch,
Kyrillos looked at him carefully: “Oh, you are the man of the three papers.”
Boutros fell to the ground. Kyrillos, he recalls, immediately grabbed him
and said, “Don’t worry, these are just words. . . . I am joking with you.”
Boutros was unsure how to respond. Aer a few minutes, Kyrillos asked
him if he had any children. “I have a ten-year-old daughter. . . . God did
not grant any other children.” “Next year,” Kyrillos declared, “you will
have a boy, and I will baptize him.” And so it happened.
Not only was the cheek turned, so to speak, but the very accusation
was returned to the accuser. To those who accused him of miracles, he
replied with miracles. Time and time again, the sources speak of this
selfless forgiveness and reconciliation. In one remarkable case, Kyrillos
went so far as to reconcile the infamous (and reposed) Hegumen Sergius—
during the hegumen’s funeral, of all times—posthumously liing the
excommunication of his predecessor.119
* * *
is brings us to Fr Samuel Tawadros el-Syriany (1911–1983), a monk and
historian. In his Arabic History of the Patriars of Alexandria (an
incredibly difficult book to come by), we find one of the few extant
scholarly criticisms of Kyrillos—one that is, admiedly, an account marred
by a deeply personal slight.120
On August 20, 1960, Kyrillos issued a ruling commanding all monks to
return to their monasteries by September 30, with the threat of
“defrocking” for disobedience.121 Fr Samuel, then a monk serving outside
his monastery in a parish of Mansoura, took no actual issue to the decree
itself—knowing well the problems of monks living within cities—but was
offended at the spirit of “defamation and confrontation” in the decree, and
that exception was not made for those “distinguished monks” (including
himsel) who had successfully served in their parishes.122 What was worse,
Fr Samuel complains, was that Kyrillos himself had been in a similar
situation when he too was a monk in Old Cairo.123 at being said, Samuel
continues, “He was among the first to obey” and returned to his
monastery. But three months later, on December 31, 1960, Fr Samuel
returned once more to Alexandria and met Kyrillos, saying: “I remain
aached to this parish that I labored to build, similar to your aachment to
St Menas’ at Old Cairo; if you do not allow to me to serve there, at least
allow me to pray there for the Feast of the Nativity?” Kyrillos was not
moved and refused the request. Dejected and inconsolable, Fr Samuel
spent the next seven days in Alexandria and on Christmas Eve visited a
quiet church to pray Vespers. ere, by unfortunate chance, was the
patriarch, who happened to be visiting—and it was now some three
months aer the deadline for the monks to return to their monasteries.
Kyrillos, on seeing the disobedient monk, rebuked him publicly and
humiliated him, commanding his immediate return to the monastery.124
As time passed, Kyrillos could not ignore his heavy heart. A few
months later, he visited the monasteries of Wadi al-Natrun. All the monks
greeted him, but he could not see Fr Samuel. Kyrillos kept asking about
him, and on hearing he had remained in his cell, sent for him repeatedly
throughout the day. Samuel, in his own words, “totally refused to meet
[Kyrillos].”125 Aer much insistence, with intervention from the abbot and
threats that Kyrillos would walk all the way to his cell, Fr Samuel made his
way to the church. Kyrillos was waiting there, gently smiling, and he
begged Fr Samuel for forgiveness and absolution. One of the patriarch’s
companions tried to object, to which Kyrillos thundered, “Keep quiet, this
is none of your business!” Overcome, Fr Samuel absolved and also
besought the patriarch for absolution.126 Despite Fr Samuel’s interpretation
of the event, it would appear that he was in fact in the wrong, and yet it
was Kyrillos who “emptied himsel” in seeking reconciliation. It would be
the model of his kenotic ecclesiology.
Fr Samuel’s criticism of Kyrillos, wrien in 1977, must be read within
this context of personal slight and pain (that he himself records).
Nonetheless, Samuel’s is an important—albeit lone—voice. “He was not
without errors but a human like any other,” begins Fr Samuel’s account.127
Kyrillos, he claims, failed to distinguish between those who honored him
and those who deceived him; was oen affected by hearsay slander; would
measure faithfulness by how much one prostrated in front of him; and, at
least in Fr Samuel’s estimation, enjoyed the praise of people. But it was his
dealing with clergy that most affected Fr Samuel, and especially so the
bishops, who found his measures of reform to be “unfamiliar.” Later, he
concedes, Kyrillos’ “sharpness diminshed and he became more amicable
with the clergy.”128 Samuel also readily admits that the patriarch forgave all
who had hurt him when he was a monk—except that is, he claims, for
Hegumen Barnaba el-Bakhouri (1874–1963).
For decades the name of this monk has been carefully forgoen.129 In
April 1936, Kyrillos VI (then Fr Mina el-Baramousy) le the Baramous
Monastery in defense of the expelled seven elderly monks. We must recall,
however, that he did not question the judgement of the abbot, only that
they should not be evicted on Palm Sunday Eve. A recently discovered
leer that was wrien two decades aer the expulsion sheds light on the
incident: Bishop Macarius, then bishop of the Baramous Monastery, makes
mention that the seven monks had challenged Hegumen Basilious (the
superintendent), and that this challenge then developed into a “rebellion”
against Hegumen Barnaba (the abbot).130 It was this same Hegumen
Barnaba who was responsible for Kyrillos’ exile as a monk. Fr Samuel
states in his own account that on March 9, 1948, Barnaba was “forced to
abdicate” as abbot of the monastery (the reason is not given), and served
in various capacities, before eventually becoming the patriarchal vicar in
Alexandria. Here, Fr Samuel makes his final accusation. In 1960, when
Kyrillos VI visited Alexandria, he ordered Barnaba’s “immediate
dismissal.”131 At eighty-six years of age, Hegumen Barnaba was forced to
leave and “unable to find a place in any of the monasteries” lived with his
sister in Kafr al-Dawar in northern Egypt, where he would die on March
13, 1963.132
ough certainly negative, we need to keep in mind that Fr Samuel’s
account was shaded by personal experience. But even were it not, are his
comments on the whole really so troubling? If this is the worst that can be
said of a man’s life, sanctity is near. Fr Samuel, for completeness, accepts
without question that Kyrillos was a miracle worker and that he was
incredibly honorable in his service. As to the above criticisms themselves,
in the first place, it needs to be noted, that by January 1961 Fr Samuel had
returned to his monastery and, therefore, had very few dealings with
Kyrillos for the greater part of the patriarchate. is suggests that
Samuel’s criticisms were consequently founded upon hearsay. Second, the
various primary accounts suggest overwhelmingly that Kyrillos inevitably
ignored hearsay complaints (contra Samuel), for the most part
investigating maers personally. ird, Kyrillos (as we shall see) was in
the habit of keeping company with those who frequently disagreed and
challenged him. And fourth, virtually all accounts are unanimous (other
than Samuel’s) that Kyrillos treated praise with disdain.133 As for the
complaint that Kyrillos acted in a vindictive manner toward the elderly
Hegumen Barnaba, it may be reasonably suggested that his dismissal was
not a punishment, but rather distrust (especially if we consider his “forced
abdication” from Baramous); not revenge, rather a maer of suitability.
is becomes all the more likely when we consider Kyrillos’ treatment of
other clergy who opposed him.
* * *
During the difficult years of the elections aer the death of Yusab II, Fr
Aghabious el-Muharraqi was campaigning for one of the monks from his
monastery. In doing so he actively defamed Fr Mina (now Kyrillos VI),
aempting to “discredit his character,” at times even in front of Mina’s
own family. On hearing of this, Fr Mina replied: “It is out of zeal, my
sons.”134 Aer his enthronement as patriarch, he called for Fr Aghabious
and appointed him as the priest of his former St Menas’ Church in Old
Cairo. Aghabious, fearing the worst, thought it was a ploy to observe him
carefully and eventually seek retribution. Instead, three years later Kyrillos
ordained Aghabious as the metropolitan of the largest diocese in Sudan.
Aghabious (later Metropolitan Stephanos) would tell this story frequently,
always in tears.135
e same kenotic aitude comes across time aer time in the few
extant minutes of the Synod’s meetings. One remarkable account is an
episode concerning Bishop Gabriel of St Antony’s Monastery (1951–1965)
—the same bishop who played a vital role in dismissing Pope Yusab II.
Gabriel had, for undisclosed reasons, been disseminating insulting and
derogatory leers against Kyrillos VI, hoping perhaps he would suffer the
same fate as his predecessor. In reaction, on June 22, 1961, the Synod
assembled to investigate and discuss this, as well as a number of no less
significant accusations (of a theological nature) against Gabriel.136 “I am so
sad at the beginning of my patriarchate,” Kyrillos is recorded as saying in
the minutes, “to stand in a trial of a bishop; in any event, do not mention
any accusations against Bishop Gabriel that are related to me. I forgive
him and am giving up my rights.”137 Echoing once more Philippians 2,
Kyrillos was, with great personal loss, affirming his kenotic ecclesiology. It
would be his patriarchal stance and method of reform.
At the same Synod meeting in 1961, Kyrillos had intended to deal with
another far more serious maer that had caused him great agony and that,
I suggest, may explain the harsh dealings with his fellow bishops.
Metropolitan Youannis of Giza—who was himself ordained, as we have
seen, in painful circumstances of alleged simony at the time of Yusab—
recalled, shortly before his death, the lile-known happenings of that
fateful 1961 Synod.138 Kyrillos, Youannis recollects, had summoned him (as
secretary of the Synod) and requested him, without any further details, to
include in the agenda the “ordinations that took place during the time of
Anba Yusab II.” “I agreed,” stated Youannis,
. . . when the Synod assembled I kept listing the various agenda
items and deliberately ignored the subject of bishops ordained by
Yusab, which he [Kyrillos] requested more than once. At the
conclusion of the session I asked the pope to pray the final prayers;
aer which he le with a somber face.139
Late that night Youannis was awakened by a servant requesting his
immediate presence at a meeting with Kyrillos and Metropolitan
Athanasius of Beni Suef. “You know that I pray a daily Liturgy,” started
Kyrillos, his voice deep and melancholic, “but tonight I felt something
toward you inside me, and I wanted to clear the maer before I celebrate
the Eucharist in the morning. . . . I asked you to raise a certain maer to
the Holy Synod which you knew about and either ignored or forgot, I do
not know.”
“I did not forget,” Metropolitan Youannis recalls saying,
but ignored it deliberately in sympathy to you and to keep you and
us in a holy unity; as the ordinations of bishops at the time of Yusab
were mostly conducted in the same way. So if now you reject these
ordinations, it will mean that you will be forced to strip the Synod
of all its credibility. . . .140
Kyrillos, perhaps realizing how widespread the practice had been and how
scandalous it would be to bring into question the majority of the Synod,
“looked at the floor and aer a period of silence stood up and said, ‘en
give me absolution, my father’. . . . We absolved each other,” concludes
Youannis, “and le on good terms.”141 ough Kyrillos had intended to face
the Synod directly—at least partially explaining his initial dealings with
the bishops on account of their simony—he once more wisely saw that the
forgiveness of even so great an evil was to be preferred over dragging the
Church into another tragic trial. From here on it appears that Kyrillos’
demeanor towards his bishops dramatically changed.
As for Youannis, we can only imagine that he would not have taken
lightly to the (albeit aborted) suggestion. He knew well that Kyrillos was
aware of his alleged simony, especially since Kyrillos’ Sunday School
disciples (two of whom became bishops in 1962) had openly opposed
Youannis’ ordination. Later history would suggest that Youannis did not
leave on such “good terms” as he supposed and claimed.
* * *
“None of those who opposed him had any success,” once commented the
late Pope Shenouda III.142 e consequences for those who dared conspire
against Kyrillos were oen severe; as a “holy man,” it was as though, many
claimed, God himself were protecting him.143 eir unfortunate accounts
are liered throughout the sources.
In 1960, for instance, Kyrillos deprived a leading and powerful Coptic
family of their “usual prerogative” of selecting the bishop for their diocese
of Girga (Yusab’s former diocese). e stubborn head of the family
proceeded to hold a “miniature election,” selecting the name of one of the
three monks out of a box—all of whom were “local clergy under the
family’s thumb.”144 Shortly aerward that same man suddenly died. e
rest of the family, somehow undeterred by the death, traveled to Cairo to
notify Kyrillos of their selection. He refused, to which they threatened,
“We will convert to Catholicism unless you take our man.” “No, no, no . . .”
thundered Kyrillos.145 eir fates are unknown.
One other unfortunate man, Fr Raphael Ava Mina recalls, pretended to
be the spokesman of a diocese, and voiced disapproval of a monk who was
to be ordained bishop. “If you ordain him for us, we will send him back to
you!” In reply, Kyrillos declared, “I leave you to God, I leave you to God . .
.” e poor man did not make it home, having been struck by a car and
killed.146 Another heard the same words and suffered a massive stroke;147
and one well-known priest who was unrepentant in his fierce verbal abuse
of the patriarch did not see evening before dying of a sudden heart
aack.148
But it was the death of one of his metropolitans that most disturbed
Kyrillos. Towards the end of 1962—triggered perhaps by Kyrillos’
aempted investigation into the maer of simony in the 1961 Synod—
Metropolitan Youannis of Giza sought to appoint a commiee to depose
the patriarch.149 Some, such as Fr Raphael, suggest Youannis’ motive was
that Kyrillos was “an uneducated man . . . who had no priorities other than
prayer.”150 But the timing is suggestive of the former. Youannis traveled
throughout Egypt gathering signatures, turning not a few bishops against
the patriarch, before eventually returning to his diocese. Kyrillos had just
begun Vespers at the cathedral in Alexandria when he was notified of the
plot. As he raised incense near the icon of St Mark, he was heard to say,
“St Mark, this will be the last time I come in here to you . . . I will go to the
desert and never come back if this man’s project succeeds.”151 e next day,
some 250 kilometers (155 miles) away, Metropolitan Youannis of Giza was
found dead at his residence. e Ahram Newspaper reported on February
12, 1963,
Anba Youannis, Metropolitan of Giza and Qalobeya, died yesterday
in his bed at the cathedral building in Giza. e Metropolitan took
one spoon of medicine from the bole next to his bed. He
immediately felt sharp pain . . . one of the doctors tried to revive
him, but he le this life. e doctor was originally treating him for
bronchitis, but the metropolitan mistakenly took the medicine that
caused his death. A police investigation requested that a coroner
examine his body and extract the liquid to determine what was in
this bole.152
Stories abound as to the contents of the bole, with consensus
suggesting a pesticide that had been inadvertently le in the room by a
servant.153 At the funeral, as he prayed over the body, Kyrillos was heard
by many loudly weeping: “. . . all of this . . . for what? A few pieces of
paper with signatures. . . .”154
Classically, this account has been repeated in the literature, especially
in collective and popular memory, with the specific mention of two other
bishops. ey, along with Youannis, allegedly conspired against Kyrillos;
and both, so the accounts state, were killed in a train accident while
collecting signatures. is is problematic for several reasons: first, ecclesial
records make no mention of any bishops in the reign of Kyrillos VI who
were killed in train accidents; second, no two bishops died on the same
day during his reign; and third, the exact same thing was reported in 1956
(and historically occurred) when two bishops sought signatures against
(ironically) Yusab II.155 is is likely, then, a reflection of “hagiographic
synthesis” with the transposition of events, and, therefore, a necessary
correction must be made: Youannis, so far as the evidence indicates, acted
alone.156
But in spite of the conspiracy, at each Liturgy for forty consecutive
days, his disciples recall Kyrillos commemorated Youannis at the altar.
ere was no joy nor triumph. is was not the death of his enemy but of
his son. No maer who it was that opposed him, Fr Mikhail Dawood
comments, Kyrillos “considered himself responsible to heal those souls as a
shepherd searching out his lost sheep.”157 And though he may have initially
been harsh with these same bishops, at a very early point Kyrillos changed
in his demeanor; these bishops—irrespective of simony or worse—were his
sons. When the Synod a few years later punished Anba Abraam of Luxor
(1949–1974), it was Kyrillos who greatly reduced the punishment. On
another occasion Fr Salib Suryal recalls that he implored Kyrillos to
discipline a group of unruly bishops: “What is it to you my brother [ya
akhi]?” replied the patriarch. “ese are my sons . . . I am here to teach
them . . . It’s my choice how I teach them!”158
is teaching, almost invariably, was that of silence. One present
bishop’s recollection is characteristic. As Kyrillos sat with Metropolitan
Daniel of Khartoum (1922–2000) on a balcony at the cathedral, a number of
bishops and clergy (unaware that Kyrillos was above them) began cursing
him—“curses that you could never even hear on the street”—but Kyrillos,
so the metropolitan recalls, was entirely unperturbed.159 It was as though
he simply could not hear them. “Knowing their plans,” writes Fr Raphael of
these and other bishops,
. . . he would still meet them in humbleness and speak to them with
love. All he did was pray with tears, so the Church might walk in
peace and safety, but they were the tears of painful, unjust
treatment. It was but a short time that they all departed from our
world, one aer the other. e pope was mourning them for years,
he would say when any of them died: “It was as if a part of my spirit
was taken from me.”160
* * *
“I once walked into a room,” reminisces a disciple of Kyrillos, “where Fr
Marcos Dawood and Pope Kyrillos were talking.”161 is is perhaps the
only extant record, albeit brief, of an exquisitely private moment—Kyrillos
with his confessor—of which only a few words were overhead. We have
no way of determining their immediate context but can only speculate
that it was in connection with these incredibly difficult years. Fr Marcos
was overheard to speak into the patriarch’s ear quietly, “Did you teach us
this? You never taught us this. . . .” “So what did I teach you?” whispered
Kyrillos in reply. “You taught us to be patient and long-suffering. . . .”162 e
confession, or at least what was overheard of it, ended there.
For several decades Kyrillos had lived a personal kenotic asceticism—a
method of loss—but it seems that as patriarch he initially grappled with
how this should or could be translated into the episcopal milieu. To suffer
personal loss was one thing; but how would “episcopal loss” be perceived,
especially with the almost intractable difficulties of the period, in a Church
ravaged by simony, and ruled for decades by untouchable and inaccessible
patriarchs? It appears that at this early point of his patriarchate he
experienced a concrete and cumulative appropriation of his earlier kenotic
ascesis into the episcopal dimension—one that would alter the
fundamental meaning structures in not only his life but far more
importantly in the life of the Church.163 is may also explain his early
soening toward his fellow (and oen hostile) bishops.
And yet it would be a struggle of great agony, one of tears. A leer to a
dear friend in late August 1962 speaks not only of this “grie” but also of
the enduring mystical “comfort” he was receiving in its midst. “You may
notice,” writes Kyrillos,
. . . that the date of this leer is fieen days ago, I wanted to write to
you daily, but God knows it is because of too much grief and
difficulties . . . I could not write even one line, but the Almighty
Lord, who comforts us at all times with the Comforter, his Holy
Spirit, has comforted us during these days. We thank him from all
our hearts, asking him to provide for the needs of our life according
to his good will.164
Beauty from Ashes: rowing Money in the Desert
“Not every quiet man is humble, but every humble man is quiet.”
—St Isaac the Syrian
“True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself
less . . .”
—C. S. Lewis
K yrillos, we are told, had from his earliest days an intense dislike
for praise. On a visit to a monastery in Alexandria, he sat during
the Liturgy—customarily refusing to preach—to hear the homily of a local
priest. A miracle, the priest began to relay, had just the other day occurred
by the prayers of the patriarch. Kyrillos immediately stood up and le.
When he eventually returned, a disciple notes, “One could see that he had
been weeping.”165
ose closest to him recall Kyrillos’ genuine discomfort when some
supernatural happening was manifest. When, for instance, a young girl
screamed that there was unnatural light surrounding Kyrillos, he turned
his face in anguish and was heard to pray, “Protect me, O God . . . protect
me!”166 At the patriarchate among his disciples, it was no different. He
always felt a stranger. Whenever they fussed over him, he would gently
shake his head mumbling, “e boy became a patriarch.”167
* * *
To come close to Kyrillos’ understanding of humility, we must once more
return to his adopted spiritual father, Isaac the Syrian. Being quiet, gentle,
or meek by nature is not true humility, Isaac begins, for there is a
difference between “natural” and “supernatural” humility.168 True humility,
rather, is a union with Christ’s own humility—and this entails above all
embracing stillness in the face of temptation and tribulation, as Christ
did.169 “Even if,” Isaac declares, “heaven were to fall and cleave to the earth,
the humble man would not be dismayed.”170 One of the most striking
manifestations of this true humility is, therefore, silent endurance of
humiliation.171 “e man who endures accusations against himself with
humility has arrived at perfection.”172 “is,” teaches Isaac,
will be a sign for you: the strength of the temptations you
encounter. . . . e nearer you draw nigh and progress, the more
temptations will multiply against you . . . know that at that time
your soul has in fact secretly entered a new and higher level . . . for
God leads the soul into the afflictions of trials in exact proportion to
the magnificence of the grace he bestows.173
is may explain in part the peculiar increase in Kyrillos’ tribulation as
his miracles became increasingly manifest—and, as for his spiritual
progress, we can only dare to assume the same.174 Humility for the sake of
God, Isaac concludes, makes one like a child—“and the defenselessness of
small children forces God to take particular care of them.”175 In the face of
humiliation, it is God alone who defends the humble; and the beginning of
humility is, therefore, humiliation.
* * *
Around Kyrillos’ patriarchal cell and scaered throughout his leers is
frequently found one particular maxim of St Isaac: “Honor flees away from
before the man that runs aer it; but he who flees from it, the same will it
hunt down, and will become to all men a herald of his humility.”176 In the
periodical, Harbor of Salvation, that he wrote in his first few years as a
monk, no theme is as prevalent throughout the volumes as humility. In a
rare leer to Fr Makary el-Syriany (the future Bishop Samuel), Kyrillos
wrote of his love of humility. “Truly, my son,” he writes, “I am very sad
because I cannot achieve humility up until now. . . .”177 No maer his
spiritual progress and ascetic endeavors, Kyrillos would painstakingly seek
aer humility.
When pressed as to Kyrillos’ greatest strength, Fr Raphael (his closest
disciple), aer a few moments of thought, answered, “He surrounded
himself with those who did not flaer but rather opposed him.”178 ey, in
Kyrillos’ mind, would safeguard his humility. When Kyrillos was a young
monk—as we saw in the heated correspondence with his outspoken
brother—Hanna had rebuked Fr Mina for his desire for solitude. Now,
though a patriarch, Kyrillos kept his brother close for the very same
reason. “I was serving the patriarch for five years,” recalls Fr Raphael Ava
Mina,
. . . there was not a single time that [Hanna] told him you are good,
you are a saint. . . . Instead each time he would ask him why did you
do this or that . . . and precisely because of this, Kyrillos respected
him greatly. . . . If [Hanna] had flaered him, he would have had
nothing to do with him.179
ose who aempted to flaer Kyrillos, on the contrary, were met
with inevitable disinterest. On the day that he was elected patriarch, April
19, 1959, a most unexpected (or perhaps expected) guest arrived. Aer
being expelled from the patriarchate a few years earlier, Yusab II’s valet,
the infamous and corrupt Melek, had become a source of embarrassment
to his hometown of Girga. He took up residence in Clot Bey (and was
rumored to own the building) opposite the Old Cathedral.
“I would like to meet Fr Mina the Recluse,” declared Melek to the
monk-disciples at St Menas’ in Old Cairo. “He isn’t free at the moment,”
they replied. “I need to meet him,” repeated the agitated Melek, “I need to
be his right-hand man and servant . . . the people in the patriarchate are all
wicked . . . I fear for him and can protect him; I don’t even want a cent
from him!” e monks relayed the happenings to Fr Mina, who told them
to give Melek a glass of cordial and send him on his way with the express
instruction: “He is not to stay here.”180 ough aer his ordination Kyrillos
would allow the aging Melek to aend liturgical services at the
patriarchate, he would always keep the sly man at arm’s length. But even
then, so Kyrillos’ disciples aest, he treated Melek with fatherly love, and
on one occasion went so far as to apparently heal him from an abdominal
complaint.181
Whether with his confessor, his brother Hanna, or the numerous
outspoken bishops (and former disciples) that he ordained, Kyrillos
surrounded himself with truth. “Why did he love these people?” Fr
Raphael questions. “Because they opposed him!”182 ey kept him humble.
On one occasion Kyrillos, exhausted by the day’s proceedings, gave his
disciple a stack of incoming leers and asked him to open and read them
to him. Unable to read the derogatory and insulting words, the disciple
informed Kyrillos that they were improper and sought permission to
destroy them immediately. “But the pope insisted,” the disciple recalls,
. . . that I should read them to him. Aer I did, he smiled and said,
“Don’t worry about this, my son, nor become disturbed; may the
Lord look at me and have pity on me. Worse than that has oen
been said, but thanks to the Lord he has saved and watched over
me.”183
e same would occur on several occasions—with Kyrillos invariably
insisting on reading or hearing those painful leers. Aer Kyrillos’ death,
when his private drawers were examined, they were for the most part
empty, except that is, for these and similar leers laden with words of
derision, mockery, and ridicule. ey were, evidently, the only leers
Kyrillos thought worth keeping.184
* * *
Barely a month aer his enthronement as patriarch, on June 22, 1959,
Kyrillos journeyed into the desert at Mariout, forty-five kilometers (28
miles) southwest of Alexandria. It would be his first move at reform; one
that would turn the maglis decidedly against him and provoke an outcry
from both Copts and foreigners. For decades Kyrillos (then a monk) had
been infatuated with St Menas, consumed by an irrepressible dream to
rebuild the monastery at Mariout. And now, ordained a patriarch only
some weeks earlier, it became an urgent priority. As an acute point of
contention—and consequently, a severe test of humility—this action as a
culmination of a history of infatuation must be examined to make sense of
both Kyrillos and his unexpected sense of reform.
In July 1905, a German expedition discovered the Abu Mena shrine and
monastery complex aer almost one thousand years, only for it to be
abandoned once more in 1920.185 Sensing an opportunity, Kyrillos (then Fr
Mina) in early 1937 requested permission from Youannis XIX to rebuild St
Menas’ Monastery at Mariout. “Have we,” mocked Youannis, “finished
rebuilding the cities to begin rebuilding the desert?”186 With the eruption
of World War II in 1939, Fr Mina’s eviction from the windmill in 1941, and
the death of Youannis in 1942, there would be lile progress. But strangely
St Menas had not abandoned the site. In October 1942, various newspapers
recorded an alleged apparition of the Saint at the pivotal Bale of al-
Alamein, protecting, so they claim, the Allies from the onslaught of
Rommel.187
Displaced aer his eviction from the windmill, Fr Mina traveled to
Alexandria in mid–1943 to meet Prince Omar Toson (1872–1944) who
“encouraged” the prospect, should the patriarchate agree.188 In the absence
of a patriarch on the throne, the director of the Ministry of Arabic
Antiquities permied Fr Mina to “practice religious rituals” at the site
pending formal approval. “Please help me to carry out this venerable and
sublime idea,” wrote Mina on June 28, 1943, begging Habib el-Masri for the
maglis’ permission, “before someone else precedes us and does it;
especially as the martyr is an Egyptian, and his monuments should be
under our hands and not anyone else’s.”189 During the stay in Alexandria
he was also able to meet with Banoub Habashy, with whom he cofounded
the St Menas’ Association.190 But with the death of the prince and chaotic
feuding in the wake of Macarius III’s enthronement, the dream again
faded.191 A few years later, undeterred by the turmoil of Yusab II’s election
(and just before Yusab’s enthronement), he tried once more. “During these
circumstances,” wrote Fr Mina to his brother on May 14, 1946,
. . . we are very calm and quiet, thanking the Lord for every
condition, asking his help and support, and to grant us St Menas’
Monastery at Mariout so that we can start refurbishing it and start
offering the oblations there. Please, Hanna, do your best concerning
this issue because it is very, very, very important!192
Fr Mina heard lile in reply. In a small consolation, the Ministry of
Arabic Antiquities granted him formal permission in 1948 to celebrate
liturgical services on feasts at Mariout. e next decade would be spent in
a similar fashion. Every few years a request was made to the patriarch and
appropriate ministers to permanently inhabit the site—always with the
reassurance: “I promise to rebuild [the monastery] at my own cost.”193
On March 5, 1958, amid the feuding—and his own nomination—aer
the death of Yusab II, Fr Mina suddenly received word that the maglis had
decided to rebuild St Menas’ Monastery. “I am writing to you this leer at
midnight,” frantically wrote Fr Mina to Mounir Shoukry (then president of
the St Menas’ Association),
. . . I was so happy and glad for this news to the extent that I could
not go to sleep before writing this leer to you. You might be
astonished, but if you know the reason, you will not be astonished.
You have to know, my dear son, that in 1943 I came to Alexandria
and met the late Mr Banoub Habashy, I presented to him the idea of
praying the Holy Liturgy and living in St Menas’ Monastery . . . but
God’s will did not permit it to happen at that time until the fixed
time was due, and God wanted to fulfil the hopes. During these
days. . . .194
With those words the leer abruptly ends. An hour later Fr Mina,
reconsidering his approach, wrote a leer instead to his brother Hanna. It
seems there were sensitive issues at play, and he hoped his brother could
discuss these issues with Mounir in person. “I am writing you,” started Fr
Mina,
. . . this leer in a late hour of the night, one-thirty am, I do not
know why but perhaps it is from God . . . you know my longing and
desire for around twenty years to reconstruct St Menas’ Monastery
in Mariout. . . . Now, all that I hope for, is to meet Doctor Mounir
Shoukry in Alexandria and discuss with him if St Menas’
Association is registered and if he had informed them of the
decision of overhauling the altar, because I wish to participate in
this project; but my intention is even to register everything in the
name of St Menas’ Monastery, because the ambitious greed of other
directions has been so clear. . . . I cannot wait for the quick reply. . . .
I plead to the almighty Lord Jesus, to declare his will and grant me
the desire of my heart, to see with my eyes the renovation of this
Monastery.195
ings finally seemed to progress. “As for St Menas,” reads a curious
leer from Fr Mina to his brother on June 23, “he is always insisting on
renovating the Monastery at Mariout.”196 Despite the relative popularity
and stability that he had secured (albeit with occasional hierarchical
persecution) over the last two decades in his church in Old Cairo, he was
ready to relinquish it all, in a moment, to depart for St Menas’ at Mariout—
a place inaccessible by road, without water or bare necessities, a desert of
desolation. Comfort, stability, popularity meant nothing to him. It is
precisely for this reason that we depict this history of infatuation. Nothing
so consumed him over the years as this. But just as suddenly, the dream
began to fade once more. is leer would be the last we would hear of
the monastery, for it was cast aside by the more pressing concerns of
communal dissension in late 1958, and, ultimately, by his own nomination
and enthronement as patriarch.
* * *
We can only imagine his elation, as Kyrillos set out to Mariout on June 22,
1959, to consecrate the site.197 Some months later he would return. On
November 27, two convoys of vehicles, one from Cairo and the other from
Alexandria, converged at the deserted site. An altar was erected over the
tomb of St Menas, and an open-air Liturgy was celebrated. When some
present besought him to rest on an exquisite chair especially prepared for
him, Kyrillos curiously refused: “is chair is for St Mark [the founder of
the Coptic Church].”198 Few could possibly understand what he meant.
Aerward, Kyrillos drove to a nearby site and laid the foundation stone
for what would eventually become the monumental Monastery of St
Menas.199 Aer more than a millennium, “Life was breathed into the
shrine.”200 Surrounding Bedouins claimed the patriarch was a “good
omen”—rainfall had marked his arrival, ending a lingering drought.201
Others were not so convinced. Kyrillos’ first move toward reform was
exceedingly unwelcome for most. “In some ways, the incident symbolizes
the reign of the new Patriarch,” wrote Wakin critically in the early 1960s,
. . . religious grandeur demonstrated by a charismatic leader
suffering what the politically-oriented regard as withdrawal
symptoms. e community was besieged, the minority anxious, the
hierarchy, clergy and monks in disarray, the Church wounded by
turmoil, and the Patriarch lays a foundation stone in a deserted
place for another monastery.202
Another British observer was similarly frustrated. “One of the
monasteries struck me in particular as typifying the decline of the
Egyptian Church,” commented James Wellard in his study:
is project, I was told, was dear to the heart of the present
Patriarch . . . It will certainly be an enormous cenotaph [empty
tomb], but who, one wonders, will visit it, who needs it? . . . Who,
then, is to fill the cells . . . when the ancient sites are almost empty
and would be empty if it were not for a few old men who regard
them as places for retirement.203
It was, however, the Coptic reformers (especially the maglis, as we
shall soon see) who were most vocal in decrying the wasted expenditure
and efforts on an “unnecessary” monastery. Even Kyrillos’ closest disciples
began to murmur. “All of us used to say,” recalls Fr Salib Suryal, “‘what is
this man? . . . taking the money of the Copts and throwing it in the
sand!’”204 Many were simply dismayed and perplexed by what they
perceived to be a politically and socially ineffective gesture.205 But “Kyrillos
saw,” comments Fr Raphael, “what we could not see, and knew what we
did not know. . . .”206 Conceivably this is what Kyrillos alluded to when he
enigmatically wrote to his brother that St Menas was “always insisting”
that he rebuild the monastery.
But Wakin was at least in some sense right. Kyrillos’ move to establish
St Menas’ Monastery was indeed “symbolic,” and he most certainly was in
“withdrawal.” It was symbolic both of his person and of his method of
reform, in that it was a rediscovery of the necessity of prayer and holiness.
As for Kyrillos’ “withdrawal symptoms” in departing solitude, it was
representative of the symptoms of the Church at large. It was precisely
because the Church was “besieged,” “anxious,” “in disarray,” and “wounded
by turmoil”—in withdrawal—that Kyrillos by necessity laid the foundation
stone for “another” monastery.
Few at the time could perceive the “brilliance of Kyrillos’ move.”207 At
St Menas’, which would eventually become one of the largest and most
visited monasteries of Egypt, Kyrillos revived the notion of the maulid,
that is, the notion of pilgrimage. In the earlier centuries of the Church, the
maulid acted to unite and revive bonds that crossed social, economic, and
class divisions. ey were profoundly communal in nature, and, therefore,
potent in their capacity to heal the communal and ecclesial factionalism
that had marked the previous half-century.208 Kyrillos was tapping into a
rich and powerful current and at once making it visible, present, and
contemporary for his people. We do well to remember that as a young boy,
Kyrillos had, as far as we can tell, first developed his love of St Menas at
one such maulid. To my knowledge, though, only one scholar, Nelly van
Doorn-Harder, has perceived and explicitly articulated the sheer gravity of
Kyrillos’ move.209
She argues convincingly that raising the memory of a popular yet
“somewhat inactive saint” acted to re-route pilgrimage to the heart of the
Coptic faith; to a location near Alexandria—“not too far and not too
near”—one that was geographically well-placed and thus easily accessible.
ere the monks, under the express direction of Kyrillos, would embody
the radical self-denial and ideals of St Menas that would heal, and be
witnessed and, one hoped, emulated by visiting laymen and women in
their daily lives.210 e restoration of St Menas’ Monastery therefore,
revived the most central of institutions, and in doing so, rehabilitated
Coptic identity.211 Similar in quality to Kyrillos’ paerning of holiness and
subsequent formation of “white habits” in Old Cairo (when a monk), it
would now be amplified on a far wider, perhaps even national level.212
Since then numerous dilapidated monastic sites have been rediscovered
and restored, serving as “crucial centers” for the continual reform and
revival of the Church.213
Wakin, and numerous others in his wake, were woefully mistaken. In
reviving monasticism, and at once making it visible, palpable, and
accessible, Kyrillos was, in fact, laying the foundation stone of reform, a
stone that would in a few short years—and this is no mild nor modest
claim—resurrect the Church. Could this be what Kyrillos meant when he
said that the exquisite chair at the ceremony was “for St Mark”? To
witness, in some mysterious sense, the revival of his Church?
* * *
It is true, to be fair, that Kyrillos was in withdrawal. ough he had for
many decades inhabited an “internalized desert” amid an ever bustling and
deafening Cairo, as patriarch he felt the heightened need for frequent
retreats into desert solitude. ere he would be revived by the fruits of
solitude, of silence and insight, and there he would find comfort in the
midst of the multitudes of his tribulations.214
Many monks observed that he ate lile while at the monastery, and to
his disciples’ uer dismay, he invariably refused to take medication. “With
St Menas,” he would say, “the medications of the world are not needed.”215
On one occasion Fr Raphael Ava Mina recalls seeing Kyrillos downcast on
his arrival, having dealt with several painful maers at the patriarchate.
“My son,” Kyrillos said, “we do not need to go back to the world . . . won’t
we find here one loaf of bread for each day with a small amount of the
mountain salt?” But within a few days, his disciple observed, his joy had
returned, and he hastened back to the “world” to comfort his people.216
is may in part explain Kyrillos’ occasional and unusual practice of
celebrating the major Feasts of Resurrection and Nativity at the monastery
alone before quickly hurrying back to Cairo or Alexandria to undertake
“official” duties.217
Unsurprisingly, abundant miracles are said to have taken place at the
monastery.218 One, however, was burned deep into the desert memory and
was witnessed by numerous monks. In April 1966, a few hours aer
Kyrillos arrived from Alexandria, there was a blinding and suffocating
sandstorm that struck the monastery and the surrounding desert.219 Such
sandstorms (khamseen) would ordinarily last up to some fiy days.220 But
Kyrillos was due back in Alexandria for scheduled appointments that
evening. e monks watched as Kyrillos quietly entered the Church and
prostrated before the icon of St Menas. “Are you upset because we are
leaving you?”—asked Kyrillos while looking carefully at the icon—“we will
be back as soon as we can.” With those words, the patriarch raised his
cross, and at that moment, to the shock of the onlooking monks, the
sandstorm suddenly dissipated.221
St Menas, both personally and through his monastery, was a source of
power and comfort for Kyrillos. At the monastery he received insight and
inspiration for his method of reform, and, invariably, it was there that he
would “solve” the problems of the Church—oen in the most remarkable
ways.222 One of Kyrillos’ closest deacons, a friend from his days at Old
Cairo by the name of Professor Hanna Youssef Hanna, recollects aending
Vespers at St Menas’ Monastery. During the doxologies, Kyrillos stood
silently in the sanctuary. Suddenly he smiled widely and laughed. “A sight
that shocked me,” reminisces Hanna, “for knowing him for so many years,
I knew firsthand how strict he was on himself and others inside the
sanctuary.”223 Aer the service, Hanna asked him for the reason, but the
patriarch evaded. Finally, upon being pressed, Kyrillos promised to tell
him on the strict condition that the incident be concealed until his death:
“When I entered the sanctuary,” Kyrillos said, “I was deeply troubled
by an issue related to the Copts. Suddenly, St Menas appeared to me
and asked why I was distressed. When I explained the reason, he
responded, ‘Do you think you are alone? We are all here supporting
you.’ en, he lightly pushed me, and so I laughed. . . .”224
Notes
1
Wakin, A Lonely Minority, 103.
2
Until the ninth century, it was oen the case that a dying patriarch would select his own
successor, but for the most part candidates were nominated by consultation and elected by “the
people” (both clerical and lay). e following centuries would see much of the same, occasionally in
conjunction with the government or by the casting of lots, and rarely, should a dispute arise, the
elect would be revealed in vision to a holy monk or bishop. e various methods and their history
are detailed in Meinardus, Christian Egypt: Faith and Life, 90–113.
3 e principal concern, stemming from the earliest centuries of the Church, was that a bishop
was in fact “wed” to his diocese, and so for a bishop to become patriarch (the bishop of Alexandria),
would mean to leave one “bride” for another. At each successive dispute concerning this “rule,” two
opposing arguments are generally made: bishops are experienced and proven administrators and,
therefore, are most suitable for elevation to patriarch; whereas others suggest that monks, though
inexperienced, are holy, ascetic, and ideally “untouched” by the world and are, accordingly, ideally
suited to be molded by God and the Church. e laer have, in the Coptic Church, much of history
and the canons in their support, while the former lack historical precedent.
4
O. H. E. Burmester, e Egyptian or Coptic Chur: A Detailed Description of Her Liturgical
Services (Cairo: Printing Office of the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology, 1967), 177–87.
5
Meinardus, Christian Egypt: Faith and Life, 117. Confirming this liturgical practice, until the
early twentieth century most of the patriarchs-elect were monks, four were laymen, one was a
priest, and another a deacon.
6
Ibid., 117, n. 4.
7
Here, I should be clear, I am not engaging in any of the rhetoric that continues up until the
present day as to whether a bishop can be elevated to patriarch; rather, I am simply presenting the
context of the constant communal feuding as to Yusab’s successor. e last two patriarchs,
Shenouda III (1971–2012) and Tawadros II (2012–), were “general bishops” (a practice begun by
Kyrillos VI) before becoming patriarchs, whereby they were never consecrated to any specific
diocese but rather were charged with tasks such as education in the case of the former, and
assistance to a metropolitan in the laer.
8
Meinardus, Christian Egypt: Faith and Life, 139.
9 e very senior bishop interviewed sought anonymity. Anonymous Bishop, “Interview about
the Life of Pope Kyrillos.” Zaklama claims that Athanasius, at one point during the election, was
overheard praying before a portrait of Pope Cyril V, saying, “I received priesthood from your hands
and hope that God grants me my wish and I will give the papal chair to a monk.” See Nashaat
Zaklama, e Spiritual Life and Pastoral Message of Pope Kyrillos VI [in Arabic], vol. 2 (Cairo: Sons of
the Evangelist, 2007), 218.
10
I. H. al-Masri suggests that there were 5,500 voters who could each cast several votes: Fr
Maa el-Meskeen received 5,400 votes; Fr Makary (future Bishop Samuel), 5,300; and Fr Antonios
(future Pope Shenouda III), 5,200. See al-Masri, Story of the Coptic Chur, 7:15.
11
Hasan, Christians versus Muslims, 85. Hasan quotes her interview with Bishop Bemen: “We
felt that if the Pope was chosen from among the members of the SSM, he would be younger, more
energetic, more dynamic, and more moral.”
12
Maa and Makary had been monks for eight years, and Antonios, only two years. I. H. al-
Masri notes that this ignored historical precedence, where St Athanasius was twenty-seven and St
Cyril was thirty-six; see al-Masri, Story of the Coptic Chur, 7:15.
13
It is exceedingly difficult to come across any primary evidence of this, but it is claimed by
Wakin, A Lonely Minority, 106; and al-Masri, Story of the Coptic Chur, 7:26. I. H. al-Masri is
somewhat ambiguous in her claim. Certainly, judging by Fr Mina’s leers in 1958 (which we shall
see), he was hardly concerned.
14 Cited by Wakin, A Lonely Minority, 105. e “certain circumstances” were the Anglo-French-
Israeli invasion of Suez, and in such circumstances it would appear the government could afford no
further embarrassment.
15
Ibid., 107.
16
On November 3, 1957, the government finally ratified the Synod’s earlier decision, which
decidedly excluded the “Sunday School monks,” and specified that nominations would be compiled
by a commiee of nine bishops and nine maglis members, as well as limiting the pool of eligible
voters to the well-educated and established. Voters had to be of good reputation, churchgoers,
educated at a university level, or at least pay over LE 100 of taxes a year. See Mariz Tadros,
“Vicissitudes in the Entente between the Coptic Orthodox Church and the State in Egypt (1952–
2007),” International Journal of Middle East Studies 41, no. 2 (2009): 271. For the regulations
concerning the election and voting see Meinardus, Christian Egypt: Faith and Life, 130–39. Needless
to say, the Sunday School Movement members were outraged, and denounced in their periodical
the Synod’s right to nominate candidates—a “right of the people.” Reiss, Erneuerung in der Koptis-
Orthodoxen Kire, 198–200; anonymous, “e Patriarchal Elections” [in Arabic], Sunday Sool
Magazine 11, no. 7 (1957). e right of the bishops, so they argued, was to lay hands on the people’s
elect.
17
Fawzi, Kyrillos and Abdel Nasser, 20. Fawzi states there were overall eleven nominations, and
six were excluded. Hanna and Nasr suggest Fr Mina’s nomination was put in aer all others had
been submied. Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 17; Nasr, Readings in the Life of
Abouna Mina, 20.
18
Athanasius was born on December 4, 1883; entered Baramous Monastery on July 10, 1903;
became the vicar of the Patriarchate in 1917; and was ordained a bishop by Cyril V on December 27,
1925. He was known for his sense of reform, and was locum tenens aer the repose of Macarius III
and Yusab II. Athanasius died on July 22, 1962.
19
e conversation is recorded by Hanna Youssef Aa (Fr Mina’s brother); Aa and Raphael
Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 17.
20 Ibid.
21
Ibid.; Raphael Ava Mina, Spiritual Leadership, 14.
22
Nasr, Readings in the Life of Abouna Mina, 22; Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope
Kyrillos, 17.
23
Raphael Ava Mina, Service and Humility, 32.
24
Hasan, Christians versus Muslims, 86. e same was repeated to me in various interviews as
will be seen in later chapters.
25
Reiss, Erneuerung in der Koptis-Orthodoxen Kire, 202; Hasan, Christians versus Muslims,
86; van Doorn-Harder, Modern Coptic Papacy, 127.
26 Meinardus, Christian Egypt: Faith and Life, 139. e bishops of Qena, Akhmim, Khartoum,
Atbara, and Asyut.
27
While it may appear to many as “archaic and absurd” to decide the destiny of millions by
chance, there is, as Wakin notes, “on reflection . . . intuitive wisdom.” Wakin, A Lonely Minority, 109.
A vote for a single winner in an environment of dissension and opposing ambition—as we have
already seen—invites manipulation, whereas a ballot at least forces candidates to consider the
possibility that one of the other candidates may one day become their patriarch. Moreover, more
radically, it makes clear that though man thinks, it is God who decides.
28
Samuel Tawadros el-Syriany, e History of the Popes, 176–77.
29 Meinardus, Christian Egypt: Faith and Life, 140. e decision was ratified by President Nasser
on April 23, 1959.
30
Anonymous, “Mina el-Baramousy: e New Patriarch of the Copts” [in Arabic], al-Ahram,
April 20, 1959; Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 17.
31
See Figure 12.
32
Wakin, A Lonely Minority, 104; Anonymous, “e Deserted Windmill.” Hanna states that Fr
Mina said to his followers, aer walking out of the altar, “Glory be to God. e Lord has chosen to
demonstrate his power and glory through my weakness. I tremble with fear in the glory of your
power. You are just and right. You do not forget your beloved. From you we receive power and help,
O our Lord and Redeemer.” Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 17. Also see
anonymous, “Mina el-Baramousy.”
33
For instance, see Wakin, A Lonely Minority, 104.
34
El-Gowaily, “Interview with the Monk.” His full reply was: “Of course not, monastic life is
built on steering away from public office.”
35 Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 18.
36
Samuel Tawadros el-Syriany, e History of the Popes, 178.
37
Shenouda III, “Speech at the First Year Commemoration of Kyrillos VI.”
38
Raphael Ava Mina, Spiritual Leadership, 15.
39
Ps 118.19.
40
Raphael Ava Mina, Spiritual Leadership, 15.
41 e appellation of pope (Gk. papas, “father”) has been the title of the Coptic bishop of
Alexandria since the time of Heraclas (232–248), the thirteenth patriarch. It was a title used for
centuries, before being assumed also by the Roman pontiff. Ecclesiologically, however, it differs
somewhat from the Roman usage, and simply denotes the patriarch.
42
Raphael Ava Mina, Spiritual Leadership, 17; Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos,
18.
43
Raphael suggests that the patriarch had told his brother Hanna of the vision, and that it
occurred at the windmill; see Fr Raphael Ava Mina, e Miracles of Pope Kyrillos VI, vol. 2 (Sydney:
Coptic Orthodox Publication and Translation, 1990), 64–65; al-Masri, Story of the Coptic Chur, 7:28.
e fullest account of the occurrence suggests that the vision occurred aer the results of the
patriarchal election but before the ordination; see Raphael Ava Mina, Spiritual Leadership, 27. is
would suggest that Kyrillos visited the windmill just before his ordination.
44
Zaklama, Pope Kyrillos VI, 1:159.
45
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 18.
46
Zaklama, Pope Kyrillos VI, 1:159.
47 Ibid.; Meinardus, Christian Egypt: Faith and Life, 149.
48
Zaklama, Pope Kyrillos VI, 1:159; Meinardus, Christian Egypt: Faith and Life, 149.
49
Photographs of the consecration indicate he took off the patriarchal vestments aer the
chanting of the Gospel and wore his simple vestments until the end of the Liturgy, aer which he
once more returned to the patriarchal aire. It would prefigure Kyrillos’ simplicity throughout his
patriarchate.
50
Suryal, “Pope Kyrillos VI.”
51 Ibid. Cf. Lk 2.29.
52
Adly, Fr Mikhail Dawood’s Memoirs, 21–22.
53
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 18.
54
He had lived at his monastery only from 1927 to 1933. From early 1934 to 1936, he had been at
the cave in Baramous Monastery; from 1936 to 1941, at the windmill in Cairo; from 1941 to 1947,
between St Samuel’s Monastery and Old Cairo; from 1947 to 1959, at St Menas’ Church in Old
Cairo; and from 1959 to 1971, at the patriarchate.
55
Wakin, A Lonely Minority, 113.
56
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 19.
57 Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Memories about the Life of Pope Kyrillos, 39. is is missed in the
English translation.
58
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 19.
59
A mixture of finely ground cumin, nuts, salt, sesame seeds; this can be added to food, or
dipped into with a piece of bread.
60
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 19.
61
Raphael Ava Mina, “Lecture on the Virtues of Pope Kyrillos.”
62
Ibid.
63 Watson notes, “It is oen the case that those who establish a reputation for lives of inner
depth and strength have quite simple outer lives”; see Watson, Among the Copts, 48.
64
Fr Louka Sidarous, “Lectures on Pope Kyrillos,” audio recording (Alexandria, undated),
Lecture 1.
65
Raphael Ava Mina, “Some Misconceptions”; Raphael Ava Mina, “My Memories,” audio
recording. Raphael states that he kept offering the garments throughout the Liturgy, with Kyrillos
adamant in his refusal.
66
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 20. e archdeacon of the patriarchate,
Youssef Mansour, recalls that when he accompanied Kyrillos on his trip to Ethiopia, he took the
liberty of packing the patriarch’s bags. He noticed that the socks, handkerchiefs, and
undergarments were old, worn, and hardly befiing for the patriarch, and sourced new garments. “I
will never forget,” Youssef recalls, “how His Holiness blamed me when he discovered all the new
clothes. . . . ‘Why aren’t we satisfied with what God gave us,’ said Kyrillos. ‘Many need what we
think is unsuitable for us. We must be satisfied with what we have of food and clothes, without
asking for more.’” See Raphael Ava Mina, Miracles of Pope Kyrillos VI, 1:115.
67
For instance, see Zaklama, Pope Kyrillos VI, 1:190. He records a “day in the life of the
patriarch” on May 17, 1959; also see Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 20.
68
e same is to be found in prepatriarchal leers.
69 Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 20. In another work, Fr Raphael comments
as to Kyrillos’ inevitable answer when people saw his cell: “No maer what it is [referring to his
cell], it is still beer than the manger.” See Anonymous, Sool of Virtue, 12–13.
70
Raphael Ava Mina, “My Memories,” audio recording.
71
Raphael Ava Mina, “Interview about the Life of Pope Kyrillos VI.”
72
Isaac the Syrian, Ascetical Homilies 64.450.
73 Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 22. By this is meant to celebrate without
other clergy. But according to the Coptic canons, there must still be at least three people present:
the celebrant, a deacon, and a member of the congregation.
74
Ibid. Fr Raphael states he would also oen pray the kiahk (Nativity) psalmody by himself,
alone in his cell.
75
Anonymous, Sool of Virtue, 26; Raphael Ava Mina, “Interview about the Life of Pope
Kyrillos VI.”
76
Shenouda III, “Speech at the Tenth Year Commemoration of Kyrillos VI.”
77
See Figure 23.
78
Wakin, A Lonely Minority, 116.
79 Ibid., 115.
80
Anonymous, “Speech of the New Patriarch-Elect” [in Arabic], al-Watani, April 26, 1959. Also
cited in Raphael Ava Mina, Memories: Part II, 15.
81
Fr Tadros Malaty, “Interview about the Life of Pope Kyrillos: Part I,” ed. Daniel Fanous (2015);
Sidarous, “Lectures on Pope Kyrillos,” Lecture 2. Fr Tadros comments, “I believe that even those
who were considered close to him, did not know all the facets of his character or life. For his efforts
were spent in hiding his heavenly gis.” Whereas Fr Louka adds, “No one in the world knows the
life of Kyrillos. . . . e people could only see what was from the outside; but no one could see what
mystery he was living with God.”
82
Raphael Ava Mina, Spiritual Leadership, 22.
83
As we have seen, of all the homilies, it is the one he most oen cites (by far), and,
fascinatingly, most of his maxims are to be found there.
84
Isaac the Syrian, Ascetical Homilies 64.452.
85 Ibid.
86
Ibid. Isaac suggests that though at the beginning it requires voluntary effort, aer some time
“a certain sweetness is born in the heart” and a “multitude of tears is born”; see ibid., 64.453.
87
Ibid.
88
Ibid., 21.235.
89
Ibid., 64.453.
90
Ward, Sayings of the Desert Fathers, 7.
91 Isaac the Syrian, Ascetical Homilies 64.460.
92
Alfeyev, World of Isaac the Syrian, 25.
93
Athanasius, Leer to Dracontius 4.9.560.
94
Rapp, Holy Bishops, 143.
95
Ward, Sayings of the Desert Fathers, 157.
96
Palladius, Dialogue on the Life of St. John Chrysostom 12.7–29, cited in Rapp, Holy Bishops, 149.
97 Paulinus, Life of Ambrose 38.1, cited in Rapp, Holy Bishops, 149.
98
Cf. Philip Rousseau, “e Spiritual Authority of the ‘Monk Bishop’: Eastern Elements in Some
Western Hagiography of the Fourth and Fih Centuries,” Journal of eological Studies 23, no. 2
(1971): 415–16.
99
Sulpicius Severus, On the Life of St. Martin 10 (NPNF2 11:9).
100
Rousseau, “Spiritual Authority,” 407.
101
Ibid., 415.
102 Rapp, Holy Bishops, 149.
103
Jerome, Leer 14, to Heliodorus, 9 (NPNF2 6:17).
104
In the life of St Basil the Great, for instance, though he “encountered a Church beset by
heresy, internecine rivalry, and inadequate and incompetent leadership”—a situation to which
Kyrillos VI could relate, at least in part—ascetical authority, Sterk suggests, had a singular purpose:
the reform of the bishop’s office. See Andrea Sterk, Renouncing the World Yet Leading the Chur:
e Monk-Bishop in Late Antiquity (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004), 63–64. is,
for Basil, and later Kyrillos, was not in the strict etymological sense of a return to an original
condition as opposed to a present state of deformity, but rather in an ontological sense, whereby
the episcopal office is transformed and transfigured into that of the one true Shepherd.
105
Wakin, A Lonely Minority, 118.
106
Watson, Among the Copts, 54.
107
Anonymous, Life of Fr Benjamin the Hermit [in Arabic] (Cairo: publisher and date unknown).
108 Susan Ashbrook Harvey, “Holy Women, Silent Lives: A Review Essay,” St Vladimir’s
eological arterly 42, no. 3/4 (1998): 403.
109
Sidarous, “Lectures on Pope Kyrillos,” Lecture 1.
110
Ibid.; Ibrahim, e Copts of Egypt, 175; anonymous, Sool of Virtue, 27. e laer account
notes, “Some of the clergy were against him. ey complained to the Egyptian government, asking
them to form a patriarchal Council to manage the Church affairs. ey believed that Pope Kyrillos
VI was an uneducated person who knew nothing except prayer. erefore, they concluded, the
Pope purposely intensified his prayers in order to cover his ignorance and his failure at solving the
difficult and accumulated Church problems.”
111
Anonymous, Sool of Virtue, 27.
112
Sidarous, “Lectures on Pope Kyrillos,” Lecture 1. e account is relayed by Fr Louka, who
was traveling with the priests.
113
Mina el-Baramousy [Kyrillos VI], HS, 4:2.
114 Fr Raphael Ava Mina, e Fruits of Love (Cairo: St Mina Monastery Press, 1999), 13–14.
115
For instance, for another typical account, see the story of Albert Girgis in Aa and Raphael
Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 28.
116
Meinardus, Christian Egypt: Faith and Life, 45.
117
is was repeated by several bishops and clergy; Bishop Yostos, “Interview about the Life of
Pope Kyrillos VI,” audio recording, ed. Daniel Fanous (2016); anonymous bishop, “Interview about
the Life of Pope Kyrillos”; Fr Jacob Magdy, “Interview about the Life of Pope Kyrillos,” ed. Daniel
Fanous (2015).
118
e account was told by Nazmy Boutros himself to Fr Tadros Malaty and Fr Louka Sidarous;
Malaty, “Interview about the Life of Pope Kyrillos: Part I”; Sidarous, “Lectures on Pope Kyrillos,”
Lectures 1, 3.
119
Ibrahim Hilal, “Malati Sarjiyus,” in CE, 2097.
120 Samuel Tawadros el-Syriany, e History of the Popes, 171–200.
121
e decree was in a bid to correct four “problems” in the Church: (1) a revival of monastic
life necessitated monastic discipline, best applied within a monastery; (2) monks outside their
monasteries prevented the ordination of new graduates from the eological College, as many
parishes were being served by monk-priests instead; (3) it was contemporary with another decree,
namely, that all new priests be graduates of the seminary; and (4) monks outside of their
monasteries had caused a number of issues for the Church at that time (and judging by the decree
some financial misappropriation). We should also note that Kyrillos was not the first patriarch to
release such a decree; as we have seen, Yusab II did the same in May 26, 1946 (though, admiedly,
that was evidently to silence the contention around Yusab’s enthronement, namely his opponent Fr
Dawood el-Macary). Some also suggest Kyrillos sought to deal with Fr Maa el-Meskeen (which we
shall see). For a discussion see ibid., 180–82; Meinardus, Christian Egypt: Faith and Life, 44–45. I. H.
al-Masri quotes the entire decree, which warns the congregation not to support or raise funds for
any monks disobeying the decree, as well as warning monks that no fundraising for any area of the
Church would be allowed without prior wrien approval. See al-Masri, Story of the Coptic Chur,
7:35.
122
Samuel Tawadros el-Syriany, e History of the Popes, 181.
123
See Chapter 5: “Habib Girgis and the Sunday School ‘Movement’”; Yusab had seemingly
tried to return Fr Mina back to his monastery in 1949 in a move to punish his disciples. See ibid.,
180.
124 Ibid., 182.
125
Ibid., 183.
126
Ibid., 183–84.
127
Interestingly, Fr Samuel’s account contains the subheading “Perfection Belongs to God
Alone” when discussing Kyrillos’ miracles. e agenda is evident.
128
Samuel Tawadros el-Syriany, e History of the Popes, 184. Also see van Doorn-Harder,
“Planner, Patriarch and Saint,” 240. Fr Raphael notes that Kyrillos was occasionally quick to judge in
maers concerning the clergy, but would just as quickly forgive. Raphael also states that this was
exceedingly mild relative to his predecessors, and whatever harshness there may have been was
“necessary for the role.” Raphael Ava Mina, “Interview about the Life of Pope Kyrillos VI.”
129
As mentioned previously, during my research, the monks of the Baramous Monastery stated
that they had only heard rumors and therefore would refuse to discuss the reason of the 1936
incident, nor would they confirm the name of the abbot at the time.
130 Macarius, “Leer to Hegumen Youssef el-Baramousy, August 20, 1956.” e reasons for the
challenge are not given.
131
Samuel Tawadros el-Syriany, e History of the Popes, 199. at he was evicted was
confirmed by the monks at Baramous.
132
Ibid. For a biography that does not include these details, but confirms others, see Augustinos
el-Baramousy, e Baramous Monastery, 225–26.
133
For instance, see Shenouda III, “Speech at the First Year Commemoration of Kyrillos VI.”
Shenouda said, “He was the first Pope in our era to open his doors. . . . Everyone could give him
first-hand information directly to his ears and so he knew the facts of any maer and not through
other channels.” Also see Raphael Ava Mina, “Interview about the Life of Pope Kyrillos VI.”
134
Raphael Ava Mina, Service and Humility, 5.
135
Ibid.
136 is concerned a book he had wrien about “Prophecies from Heaven”; see Samuel
Tawadros el-Syriany, e History of the Popes, 198.
137
Pope Kyrillos VI, “Synod Minutes” [in Arabic] (Cairo: Unpublished, 1961); Fr Raphael Ava
Mina, A Stream of Comfort (Cairo: Sons of Pope Kyrillos VI, 1989), 70.
138
Fr Samuel, a historian, preserves the words that were told to him by Youannis in his
historical survey; see Samuel Tawadros el-Syriany, e History of the Popes, 198.
139
Ibid.
140 Ibid. e sentence is completed by: “. . . if you discuss this maer you may find that some
members of the Holy Synod, perhaps your children, will say ‘tonight is very similar to last night.’”
It seems Youannis was insinuating in a very ambiguous away that some may turn around and
threaten Kyrillos with the same accusation. It should be noted that the editor of the second edition
of e History of the Popes (published in 2002) deletes these sentences, as well as several other of the
author’s criticisms of Kyrillos. e editor of the second edition—apparently without consulting the
author, who died in 1983—gives no reason for the deletions, nor does he mark the place of the
deletions. Future readers should, accordingly, consult the first edition published in 1977.
141
Ibid.
142
Shenouda III, “Speech at the First Year Commemoration of Kyrillos VI.”
143
Brown has made several fascinating comments as to the phenomenon of “cursing” in the life
of the “holy man.” For instance, a representative comment: “e exercise of the curse points
backwards to the position of the holy man as an arbitrator and mediator. e vengeance of God
falls only on the man whose case the holy man has rejected.” Brown, “e Rise and Function of the
Holy Man,” 88. With Kyrillos it would appear this is less as a result of rejection and more as
something of divine defense of the humble “defenseless one” as described by Isaac the Syrian. See
Alfeyev, World of Isaac the Syrian, 121; Isaac the Syrian, Ascetical Homilies 72.499.
144
Wakin, A Lonely Minority, 114.
145
Only some months later he would ordain one of the monks of unsullied reputation, Bishop
Mina (1919–2003), who was one of his trusted secretaries.
146 Raphael Ava Mina, Spiritual Leadership, 26.
147
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 41.
148
Fawzi, Kyrillos and Abdel Nasser, 48–49.
149
We should note that, almost universally, Youannis’ name is not given.
150
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 41. Fawzi suggests that Youannis aempted
to form a custodian commiee claiming that Kyrillos was illiterate (which he obviously was not);
and that it was not enough for a pope to be a man of prayer. Fawzi, Kyrillos and Abdel Nasser, 48.
151
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 41.
152 Anonymous, “Death of the Metropolitan of Giza aer Taking Medicine” [in Arabic], al-
Ahram, February 16, 1963.
153
Some popular sources at the time rumored that the servant confessed to the “murder,” but
this was eventually retracted when it emerged he confessed under duress during torture by the
authorities.
154
Magdy, “Interview about the Life of Pope Kyrillos.”
155
e episcopal records are tabulated in Nasr, Readings in the Life of Abouna Mina, 220–22.
156
Bishop Yacobos of Jerusalem (1946–1956) and Bishop omas of Gharbeya (1930–1956) both
died on March 24, 1956, in a tragic train accident, reportedly en route to collect signatures against
Yusab II.
157
Adly, Fr Mikhail Dawood’s Memoirs, 28.
158 Suryal, “Pope Kyrillos VI.” Also for a related account of Kyrillos’ rescuing from prison one of
his “children”—a man who had wrien profusely against him—see Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life
of Pope Kyrillos, 42. A similar account is that of a metropolitan (whose name was not disclosed) who
ignored Kyrillos and ordained a priest in disobedience. Later it was Kyrillos who emptied himself in
forgiving his “son.” Raphael Ava Mina, “Interview about the Life of Pope Kyrillos VI.”
159
Yostos, “Interview about the Life of Pope Kyrillos VI.”
160
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 41.
161 Raphael Ava Mina, “Interview about the Life of Pope Kyrillos VI.”
162
Ibid.
163
Turning points pivot around epiphanies—“oen, in moments of crisis.” ough Kyrillos had
numerous epiphanies (oen of a kenotic nature) during his monastic life, many of which were of
“major event” type, what we find here is of the quality, in Denzin’s words, of a “cumulative
epiphany.” See Denzin, Interpretive Biography.
164
Pope Kyrillos VI, “Leer to Salama Rizq, August 29, 1962” [in Arabic], in FRC-1: Leer 48
(Alexandria, 1962). e parallels to Isaac are intriguing. God’s hand is discerned, Isaac notes, when
in these trials “are mingled both consolation and griefs, light and darkness, wars and aid.” Isaac the
Syrian, Ascetical Homilies 42.343.
165
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 20.
166
Ibid.
167 If Kyrillos simply asked for a cup of tea, they would all frantically hurry off to meet his
request; Kyrillos in disbelief would shake his head, saying, “His shirt is at his knees and ten are at
his service.” Ibid.
168
Part II/18, cited in Alfeyev, World of Isaac the Syrian, 116.
169
Part II/18, ibid. “Lowly thoughts, discerning, and painstaking reflection,” writes Isaac, “the
insignificance in which a person regards himself, his heart broken, and the flow of tears stemming
from the suffering of mind and discernment of the will . . . you will find that they have none of
these. . . . ey do not meditate and recollect the lowliness of our Lord; they are not pierced by the
sharp pain that comes from the knowledge of their sins.”
170
Isaac the Syrian, Ascetical Homilies 71.497. Also see Part II/37, cited in Alfeyev, World of Isaac
the Syrian, 119.
171
Kyrillos (then Fr Mina) echoes these sentiments to Fr Makary; see Hegumen Mina the
Recluse [Kyrillos VI], “Leer to Fr Makary el-Syriany, undated” [in Arabic], in FRC-1: Leer 497
(Cairo: date unknown).
172
Isaac the Syrian, Ascetical Homilies 5.157.
173 Ibid., 42.341.
174
One perceptive priest has gone so far to suggest that the “gi of miracles” can, accordingly,
be given only to those who undergo one of two excruciating forms of suffering: agonizing physical
disease or perpetual humiliation; Magdy, “Interview about the Life of Pope Kyrillos.”
175
Alfeyev, World of Isaac the Syrian, 121; Isaac the Syrian, Ascetical Homilies 72.499.
176
Isaac the Syrian, Ascetical Homilies 5.166. Fr Raphael’s account has a first part to the maxim
as: “Renounce the world, God will love you; renounce what the people have, they will love you too.
Whoever runs aer dignity . . .” Raphael Ava Mina, Service and Humility, 27. e first part (in italics)
is not actually from Isaac the Syrian and appears to be Talmudic in origin, a rabbinic aphorism.
Interestingly, though, when Kyrillos himself cites the maxim, he only mentions the second part of
the saying, which is actually from Isaac. For an example, see Mina the Recluse [Kyrillos VI], “Leer
to the Monks at the Monastery of St Samuel, January 7, 1950.”
177
Mina the Recluse [Kyrillos VI], “Leer to Fr Makary el-Samuely, October 27, 1950.” Kyrillos
(then Fr Mina) spoke of the fear of demons in the presence of humility, and how fierce animals were
made tame by the scent of humility—evidently his personal experience while a monk at the
windmill.
178
Raphael Ava Mina, “Interview about the Life of Pope Kyrillos VI.”
179 Ibid.
180
Raphael Ava Mina, “My Memories,” audio recording.
181
Ibid. In 1967 Kyrillos would prepare the Holy Chrism (myron), only to find that the large
vessels consecrated for this purpose were missing. Melek—who happened to be present at the event
—had sold them (though he denied it), enraging the patriarchal deacons. at night, Fr Raphael
claims, the family of Melek came to Kyrillos screaming that Melek was dying of a severe abdominal
complaint. “Don’t worry,” reassured Kyrillos, “about the vessels . . . I forgive him; tell him to come
and see me.” e next day Melek recovered. As for Melek’s end: “He lost all his money and lived his
last days in poverty while begging in the streets . . . until he died on May 15, 1973.” See Serapion,
“Choosing the Patriarch: Lessons from the History of Our Glorious Church,” 25–27.
182
Raphael Ava Mina, “Interview about the Life of Pope Kyrillos VI.”
183
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 22.
184
Raphael Ava Mina, “Interview about the Life of Pope Kyrillos VI.” Fr Raphael stated during
the interview that he destroyed the painful leers in 2010—he had preserved them until then—as he
could no longer (aer some four decades) bear to have them in his cell any longer.
185 For a history of the Menas Shrine (which at one point was internationally renowned) and
the site, see Meinardus, Monks and Monasteries (1989), 168–78.
186
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Memories about the Life of Pope Kyrillos, 42.
187
Egyptian Gazee November 10, 1942, cited in Meinardus, Monks and Monasteries (1961), 354.
Winston Churchill said of the bale: “Before Alamein we never had a victory. Aer Alamein we
never had a defeat”; Winston S. Churchill, e Hinge of Fate (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt,
1985), 541. For a discussion of witnesses and sources, see Bishop Kyrillos Ava Mina, e Great
Egyptian and Coptic Martyr: e Miraculous Saint Mina (Mariout: St Mina Monastery Press, 2005),
52–57.
188
Mina the Recluse [Kyrillos VI], “Leer to Habib Pasha el-Masri, June 28, 1943.” Prince Omar
Toson, known as the “scholarly prince,” was the great grandson of Mohamed Ali, and had a deep
interest in archaeology—even becoming the head of the Coptic Archaeological Society.
189
Ibid.
190
Hanna mentions that he met with Banoub in 1943 in Alexandria; see Mina the Recluse
[Kyrillos VI], “Leer to Hanna Youssef Aa, March 5, 1958.” Banoub Habashy was an archaeologist
and the first president of the St Menas’ Association; he died in 1955.
191 Mina the Recluse [Kyrillos VI], “Leer to Mounir Shoukry, March 5, 1958.” e leer is cited
in Raphael Ava Mina, Memories: Part II, 44–45.
192
Hegumen Mina the Recluse [Kyrillos VI], “Leer to Hanna Youssef Aa, May 14, 1946” [in
Arabic], in RC-2: Leer 29 (St Samuel’s Monastery: 1946).
193
For instance, see Kyrillos’ leer begging Yusab’s secretary; Hegumen Mina the Recluse
[Kyrillos VI], “Leer to Hanna Youssef Aa, 1950” [in Arabic], in RC-2: Leer 35 (St Samuel’s
Monastery: 1950). Also see Kyrillos’ leer to the general manager of the Ministry of Antiquities in
the 1950s (date given as 195_), Hegumen Mina the Recluse [Kyrillos VI], “Leer to General Manager
of the Ministry of Antiquities, 195_” [in Arabic], in FRC-1: Leer 37 (Old Cairo, 195_).
194
Mina the Recluse [Kyrillos VI], “Leer to Mounir Shoukry, March 5, 1958.” e leer is cited
in Raphael Ava Mina, Memories: Part II, 44–45.
195
Mina the Recluse [Kyrillos VI], “Leer to Hanna Youssef Aa, March 5, 1958.” e leer is
cited in Raphael Ava Mina, Memories: Part II, 48.
196 Hegumen Mina the Recluse [Kyrillos VI], “Leer to Hanna Youssef Aa, June 23, 1958” [in
Arabic] (Old Cairo, 1958). e leer continues, “Cooperate with Dr Mounir Shoukry. . . . First, we
will build a hermitage or two outside the rest house which is there. en we will start overhauling
the altar through the manager of the Coptic Museum, because he is responsible for this operation.
Once we put our feet there, be sure that the Lord will work with us. It is very important to care and
meet Dr. Mounir Shoukry, and whoever has anything to do with this maer. In the Patriarchate in
Alexandria, there is a leer from the Archaeology Department with a permission to perform
religious rites at St Menas’ Monastery in Mariout.”
197
Mounir Shoukry, “Leer to Pope Kyrillos VI, June 24, 1959” [in Arabic], in FRC-2: Leer 65
(Alexandria, 1959).
198
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 39.
199
Wakin, A Lonely Minority, 112.
200
Meinardus, Monks and Monasteries (1989), 178.
201
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Memories about the Life of Pope Kyrillos, 105. is is missed in
Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos.
202 Wakin, A Lonely Minority, 112.
203
James Wellard, Desert Pilgrimage: A Journey into Christian Egypt (London: Hutchinson & Co,
1970), 198.
204
Suryal, “Pope Kyrillos VI.” e lecture continues, “But we didn’t understand history. . . . For
this reason we need to read the history of our country and Church.”
205
Van Doorn-Harder, “Planner, Patriarch and Saint,” 236.
206
Raphael Ava Mina, Service and Humility, 36.
207
Van Doorn-Harder, “Practical and Mystical,” 230.
208 Meinardus, Christian Egypt: Faith and Life, 214–19; Hasan, Christians versus Muslims, 217.
209
Gruber, “Sacrifice in the Desert,” 154. Gruber aributes the success of the St Menas’
Monastery to Kyrillos’ careful “cultural posturing”—a term he uses to explore the unusually evolved
dysfunctional “divisiveness and collective incompetence” of much Coptic ecclesial bureaucracy as a
means of “exhibiting harmlessness to an ever leery [i.e., Muslim] majority”—that is, the move
appears dysfunctional and ineffective to external eyes and yet subtly and carefully begins an action
that could not have otherwise been taken directly. I have several concerns with this suggestion: it is
philosophical at the cost of historical; Kyrillos’ action was primarily criticized from within the
community (not by the Muslim majority); and finally, it presupposes that Kyrillos was deliberate in
his posturing.
210
Van Doorn-Harder, “Practical and Mystical,” 230; Nelly van Doorn-Harder, Contemporary
Coptic Nuns (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1995), 274; van Doorn-Harder,
Modern Coptic Papacy, 142.
211
Van Doorn-Harder, Modern Coptic Papacy, 142.
212
Gruber, for instance, argues that monasteries are the “cultural nexus of Coptic social and
cultural life, a vital link of ethnic aspiration and spiritual revival.” See Mark Francis Gruber, “e
Monastery as the Nexus of Coptic Cosmology,” in BDC, 81.
213
Van Doorn-Harder, Modern Coptic Papacy, 143.
214
Shenouda III, “Speech at the First Year Commemoration of Kyrillos VI.” He states, “When he
became Pope . . . the life of solitude did not escape him; he oen went to St Menas’ Monastery in
the Mariout desert. . . . He wanted to be filled with the fruits of solitude.”
215 Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Memories about the Life of Pope Kyrillos, 105. is is missed in
the English translation.
216
Ibid. is is missed in the English translation.
217
For instance the comment, “as for him, he prays alone”; see Anonymous, “Kyrillos on the
Meaning of the Feast” [in Arabic], al-Ahram, January 1, 1967.
218
For a remarkable account, see Salib’s account of a young man stranded at a train station;
Suryal, “Pope Kyrillos VI.”
219
We may assume it was in April, as this is the month of spring in which these characteristic
sandstorms occur.
220
e name khamseen means “fiy,” though many accounts suggest these sandstorms oen
resolve within one week.
221 Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos, 30. Also note another similar miracle
mentioned by Fr Raphael: “In 1964, the Pope was at St. Mina’s Monastery when there was a severe
storm. e monks came to him asking for his prayers that the storm would end. He then raised his
cross and said, ‘Put the air of the heavens in a good mood.’ e storm became so calm that there
wasn’t even a breeze. e Pope then said, ‘St Menas, when we asked you to calm the storm, did you
have to stop the breeze as well?’ en a gentle breeze surrounded the area, and all were astonished.”
A similar account is recorded in Raphael Ava Mina, Miracles of Pope Kyrillos VI, 1:79.
222
Fr Raphael catalogues the intersections between Kyrillos’ visits to St Menas’ Monastery and
the achievements of his patriarchate; see Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Memories about the Life of
Pope Kyrillos, 105. is is missed in Aa and Raphael Ava Mina, Life of Pope Kyrillos.
223
e account was personally relayed to Fr Tadros; see Malaty, “Interview about the Life of
Pope Kyrillos: Part I.”
224
Ibid.
8
N ineteen sixty-seven was not a good year. But for Kyrillos, there
was evidently no such thing—there were only years with prayer,
and years without prayer. Despite the numerous contentions and struggles
of his disciples, the distasteful maglis financial crisis, and even the
agonizing Six-Day War, Kyrillos seemingly remained immovable. A year
of diverse conflict it may have been, but with prayer, it could not be said to
be a “bad year.” As to the tensions among his disciples, they were to be
expected.
* * *
Monk Pakhoum may have been the architect of the “general bishops”
innovation—two of them, Shenouda and Samuel, were already ordained—
but he could never have imagined how such plans would play out in this
year.
Pakhoum (1919–2001), born Waheeb Atallah, was a “quiet man, a
scholar by disposition.”90 In his late teens he had climbed the rugged hills
to Fr Mina’s windmill to “sit at his feet.”91 ough Waheeb had
“exceptional grades,” he shocked his family by refusing to enter into the
study of medicine, and instead choosing to study under Habib Girgis,
completing a bachelor’s of theology with distinction in 1939.92 Despite
being heavily involved with the Sunday School Movement during these
years, he was never considered a “typical representative of any particular
center.”93 But like many of these young men, he was formed at the hands of
both Fr Mina (Kyrillos) and Habib Girgis—a peculiarity that should not
escape us.
Forever drawn to monasticism, he pushed those sentiments aside and
went on to complete a bachelor of philosophy in 1944 from Cairo
University while simultaneously lecturing at the Seminary.94 Eventually, he
would be appointed dean and professor of theology aer the death of
Habib Girgis in 1951.95 Aer studying for a diploma in Egyptian
antiquities, he completed—the first of any of the SSM—a Ph.D. in biblical
and Coptic studies at the University of Manchester in 1955, under the great
orientalist Walter Till (1894–1963).96 While there, at Manchester, he
developed something of an “international reputation,” even lecturing
before the distinguished Fellowship of St Alban and St Sergius.97 On his
return to Cairo, he continued to do research and to teach, and to mentor
many other consecrated servants.98 Finally, in 1962, under the “persuasion”
of Kyrillos (as we have seen) he was tonsured Monk Pakhoum at the
Muharraq Monastery, eventually becoming the patriarchal secretary for
religious affairs.99
Pakhoum has been remembered by one scholar as “slightly aloof from
the rough and tumble of Church politics.”100 is was most certainly the
case in later life, but under Kyrillos—though few may be aware of it—
Pakhoum was intimately and fiercely involved in laying the foundations of
reform. In an interview with Wakin in the early 1960s, for instance,
Pakhoum placed the number of “good” priests at two hundred, of some
seven hundred in total. “He made it clear,” Wakin reported, “that the rest
are either incompetent or indifferent.”101 It would be this maer of
“incompetent” clergy that would bring Pakhoum into dispute with Bishop
Shenouda in early 1967—one that was not too dissimilar to that of the
Apostles Paul and Peter.
At a 1959 Synod meeting, early in Kyrillos’ patriarchate, it was decreed
that no candidate was to be ordained to the priesthood unless he was a
graduate of the eological College—“no maer the personal or academic
qualifications.”102 Within a few years, this was the case. e effect on the
story of reform was pervasive. And so, when Fr Pakhoum picked up a
fateful copy of the al-Ahram newspaper, he could barely contain himself.
“I have read this morning in al-Ahram,” wrote Pakhoum to Bishop
Shenouda on March 18, 1967,
an invitation to ordain Mr Zakareya Mahrous as a priest on Sunday.
Believe me, my heart is heavy, and about to explode, I want to cry
but cannot. . . . A non–eological [College] graduate is being
ordained in the presence of the director and bishop of the
eological College! Bishop Shenouda, who stayed at the Monastery
for five months protesting against the pope for ordaining non–
eological College graduates is aending the ordination of a non–
eological College graduate. He might as well perform the
ordination. . . . My head is about to explode. . . .103
Such an ordination was nothing new. Kyrillos, despite being the author
of the decree, had—if we recall the maglis conflict—occasionally ordained
non–eological College graduates for rural areas. e concern here,
however, was that the bishop of the eological College, Shenouda, was
involved—the same Shenouda who spent five months protesting in a self-
imposed exile (or perhaps suspension) when Kyrillos acted similarly.104
“My peace and love to a person so dear to my heart,” replied Bishop
Shenouda in a lengthy leer on March 22:
I did not participate in his ordination; Bishop Makarios wished that I
would conduct the whole ordination, but I apologized and explained
my opinion to him. He knows quite well that this is a special
situation. . . .105
e ordination was an exception. In the first place, Shenouda
continued, the congregation adored Zakareya, with some four thousand
people aending the ordination. Zakareya had served within the Sunday
School Movement for sixteen years, was Superintendent of the service at
Nag Hammadi, was “beloved and trusted by everyone,” and was, therefore,
“from our flesh and bones.” ough, Shenouda concedes, theological
education is “without doubt a basic element” of the formation for
priesthood, some candidates may be geographically limited—“Zakareya . . .
is married with children, and has family responsibilities; he cannot resign,
come to Cairo [to study theology], and become a burden together with his
family, so what could he do?” Qena was, aer all, 590 kilometers (367
miles) south of Cairo in Upper Egypt. Knowing this, Shenouda reveals, he
had in fact spent the last year searching for a theological graduate to fill
the vacancy but found no one suitable. e reality was that some rural
areas and villages were unsuitable for educated priests; they needed
someone who could relate to them (and live with them). “is is a good
occasion,” Shenouda concludes,
my beloved teacher, to discuss this maer together because this
could happen again at any time. . . . Blessed father, you know how
much I love the eological College and my faith in it. You know
that I stayed in the monastery for five months for its sake, and I
came back also for its sake, and for its sake—with the grace of God—I
am ready to do whatever I can. . . . us, I hope all my words in this
leer are taken within this context . . . ordinations such as that of
Zakareya are an abnormal situation. . . . Please forgive me; I wish
that my love to you and to the eological College would melt any
error that you might find in me, be safe in the Lord. . . .106
e conflict gave birth to contention and, therefore, a principle of
reform—namely, an ideal may at times require economy. Pakhoum’s reply
a few days later, on March 26, likewise makes clear his only concern was
to discern the principle.107 “Permit it, temporarily,” wrote Pakhoum, “to let
me forget that I am talking to you as a bishop, for here, I wish to talk to
you as a dear friend.” “Do I err, Bishop Shenouda,” questions Pakhoum,
if I say that you have forgoen yourself and your principles. . . .
What has happened, Bishop Shenouda? . . . Zakareya might be very
appropriate for that ordination, he might even be a saint, he might
be beer than all the priests on earth in the present, past, and future,
I don’t know, he might be the best person on earth, I don’t judge, he
might be suitable not only to be a priest but a bishop, a patriarch. . . .
I am not talking about this, but I am talking about the status of
Bishop Shenouda as the director and bishop at the eological
College. . . .108
Pakhoum repeats that his primary concern is that it was done at the
hands of Shenouda.109 ese were only early days in the story of reform; it
was not yet the time of flexibility and economy. “We are still at the stage
of establishing the rule,” Pakhoum continued. It was not the time for
exceptions—most certainly not at the hands of the one “responsible for
establishing the rule.” Without firmness and an unwavering stance in this
early stage, Pakhoum cautions, Shenouda would have no grounds to
oppose other metropolitans or bishops who still feared theologically
trained clergy. “Let us cooperate together,” concludes Pakhoum, “in the
narrow, hard path, full of rocks and dust; we have a long journey ahead, a
heavy mission upon our shoulders. Forgive and absolve me for the pain
which I have caused you, because of my situation, and the harshness of my
leer.”110
Fiingly, Pakhoum makes clear that they were both heavily burdened
with reforming the Church. It is within this context—and it cannot be
reiterated sufficiently—that the contentions of Kyrillos’ disciples must be
understood; here, at the heated coalface of reform.
* * *
A few months later, on May 9, 1967, once things had seled, Pakhoum
received word that the patriarch wished to speak with him. e detailed
account of that lile-known conversation is preserved in Pakhoum’s
memoirs. “I entered [the office o] His Holiness the Pope,” recalls
Pakhoum. en:
. . . he closed the door, and it was only the two of us. e pope said,
“We called you to be a bishop for Dairut and you refused, a bishop
for Manfalout and you refused, a bishop for Menoufia and you
refused, and yet we were not angry.” I said, “Your Holiness, I did not
refuse, but I apologized. . . .” e pope was relieved and smiled . . .
[saying,] “You apologized, as you have said, to stay at the
eological College? . . . then you will stay at the eological
College, and we will ordain you a Bishop for the Coptic Studies
Institute.” I panicked: “What? Your Holiness? Does the Coptic
Studies Institute need a bishop? It is under the authority of Bishop
Shenouda.”111
Despite the intense debate, as well as the pleading of Professor Aziz
Aia (the founder of the Coptic Studies Institute), Bishop Athanasius of
Beni Suef, and Bishop Samuel, Pakhoum could not be persuaded. Kyrillos
felt the maer could go no further. While leaving to his private quarters,
he turned and said, “Will you come this evening?”
“Of course,” replied Pakhoum. “I must come, it is the celebration of
your ordination as patriarch.” “I did not pay any aention,” he later
recalled.112 Nor did he have any reason to. A few years earlier, when
Kyrillos had tried to ordain Pakhoum for the diocese of Dairut, fearing the
same fate as Shenouda, Pakhoum went into hiding for four months until
Kyrillos reassured him, “Would I ordain you against your will? I only did
that for Bishop Shenouda . . . thank God that I did not ordain you, if I had
done so, you would have given me a tough time!”113
“I entered late into the church,” recalls Pakhoum of the anniversary
celebration that evening,
the prayers were at the end . . . the pope came out of the Sanctuary
heading towards me, but I still did not understand, and I thought the
pope would ask me to preach the Vespers homily or a word for the
celebration. He came to me smiling, held me with his le hand, and
held my other hand with his right hand and pulled me into the
sanctuary. en, and only then, I became alarmed. . . . e pope did
not give me a chance to think, and while I was going backward
trying to escape and leave the church, and while trying in vain to let
go of his grasp, politely as much as I could, objecting and saying
words which I cannot remember . . . “Not like this,” “is is not
appropriate,” “Why,” . . . But the pope did not give an ear to my
pleas; his le hand was still strongly grasping my hand. . . . en he
strongly held my forehead with his right hand while saying,
“Gregorious, Bishop of the Coptic Studies Institute. . . .” I was in
incredible shock, and I didn’t know what to do . . . should I leave the
church . . . I kept praying inaudibly, my heart was heavy, I was
perplexed, and some priests told me that my face went pale. . . .114
Several bishops came near to congratulate him. Bishop Gregorious—as
he would soon be known—could only reply, “If there is a must for this
ordination, do not let it be for the Coptic Studies Institute.” As much as he
did not want to be ordained a bishop, he had well discerned the problem of
his “diocese.” And his concern was not misplaced. By morning, his fears
had proved true. A number of those around Bishop Shenouda arrived to
“talk.” Suggestions were made that Pakhoum should escape from the
patriarchate before the consecration. e phone rang relentlessly. And by
12:00 a.m., Shenouda sent a telegram to Kyrillos: “e ordination of two
bishops for the same diocese contradicts the Church canons; God exists!”115
Whenever this episode has been reported in the past—albeit very
rarely—it is invariably narrated negatively. e actual leers and
correspondence show otherwise. Again, we must carefully note that it was
the principle that was of utmost concern.
Gregorious thankfully preserved his phone call to Shenouda
immediately aer the telegram:
“e Church canons,” Shenouda began, “forbid ordaining two
bishops for the same diocese. . . . You know, personally, I don’t mind
leaving everything for you, actually, I was leaving everything for
you, but I am talking about the canonical situation. . . .” I replied,
“Bishop Shenouda, be totally assured that I could never take over
your speciality. I was forced to that ordination; this maer never
came to my mind . . . I tried to escape the church . . . but now, he has
ordained me and uered the ecclesial Apostolic blessing. . . . I spoke
much to the pope about it and informed him that this is an
impossible situation and that the Coptic Studies Institute is the
competence of Bishop Shenouda. e pope agreed to change the
‘uering’ to Higher Studies and Coptic Culture . . . be assured; I
cannot accept intruding on your specializations . . . I am not saying
this out of courtesy to you, but for the sake of my eternity.”116
“I did not sleep for one minute that night,” recalls Gregorious.117 e
next day Kyrillos accepted his suggestion. Gregorious would be ordained
that day, May 10, 1967, as “General Bishop for Higher Studies, Coptic
Culture, and Scientific Research.”118 Gregorious had also asked that
Shenouda aend the ordination, but he never arrived. Instead, two days
later, Shenouda wrote a leer of congratulations:
I am ready—in an official or friendly status—to give up everything to
Your Grace, and I will be in total happiness, satisfaction, and
conviction before God, myself, and people, feeling that you are
beer than I in everything. . . . It is not a maer of specializations
between you and me; our long deep love is higher than that, all that
is mine is also yours, ignoring the officialities and formalities. You
are a part of me, and I am a part of you, we are one, before our
conscience, before God and before people. But what about the
canonical situation of the case? . . . I am ready to officially, in
writing, give up to you any specific specialization that will be
wrien in your rite . . . I can give up Sunday School, and your name
will be the Bishop of Sunday School Services, I can give up the
Coptic Studies Institute or the eological College if you wish. . . . I
am ready for any other solution that Your Grace may suggest; I am
even ready to sacrifice myself for you to make your status
comfortable.119
Shenouda was concerned with the principle. He was happy to give up
his own “specializations” for its sake.120 And though he did not aend the
ordination—which, as we shall see, had more to do with brewing issues
with the patriarchate—he aended and gave the speech at the ceremony of
the “bestowing of the rite” to Bishop Gregorious on May 18.121 e
eloquent speech was replete with genuine love, admiration, and esteem.
Shenouda refused, however, to shy away from discussing the maer of
their overlapping diocese:
Some of you might have asked an important and dangerous
question: what are the specializations of Bishop Gregorious and
what are the specializations of Bishop Shenouda? . . . Everything
which is his speciality is of my speciality, and everything which is of
my speciality is his speciality . . . I am not even exaggerating if I say
that I personally belong to the specialities of Bishop Gregorious.122
Once more, there was more than meets the eye when it came to
Shenouda and Gregorious. e above account is not only a historical and
fascinating corrective—more importantly, it allows us to see that
superficial mentions of a “furious telegram” and a heated personal conflict
distort in some sense the reality and significance of their contention.
ough their relationship would be tested again and again over the
following decades, with no doubt increasing animosity, their
correspondence (at least at this early point) reveals that they were both
struggling to discern truth in treading the path of reform.123 Kyrillos was
all the while watching, guiding, and praying. He could see the potential of
personal conflict, but for him, the invaluable gis that each one of these
disciples would impart to the Church were far more important. Just as
remarkable, all three of Kyrillos’ “general bishops”—his delegates and
agents of reform—were literally forced to become bishops in identical
circumstances.124
* * *
e year, however, was not yet spent. Perhaps most painful and difficult—
other than the Six-Day War a few months earlier—were the events of
October 1967. At its center was one of Kyrillos’ most illustrious disciples,
Bishop Shenouda (1923–2012).
Shenouda began life as Nazir Gayed on August 3, 1923, in the humble
agricultural town of Abnub, Upper Egypt.125 “It may have been,” he later
reminisced, “that my childhood years were short.”126 is was on two
counts. Shortly aer giving birth, his mother died, leaving him with five
sisters and two brothers, one of whom, Raphael, would raise him. e
family moved throughout Egypt, before eventually seling in Shoubra,
Cairo.127 e second was that Nazir was exceptionally gied and, having
far surpassed his peers, gave himself at an early stage to academic
pursuits. At the age of sixteen, he entered the Sunday School Movement at
St Antony’s in Shoubra, quickly becoming a teacher, and later its leader.128
In 1947 he received the degree of bachelor of arts, majoring in English and
history, from Cairo University. While in his final year, he was permied to
enroll at the postgraduate eological College—an exception made by the
dean, Habib Girgis. By day he worked as a high school teacher, studied
towards a diploma in archaeology and classics, and even served as an
infantry officer in the 1948 Palestinian war, while in the evening he
completed a bachelor of divinity degree.129 On graduating in 1949, Nazir
was appointed a lecturer in biblical studies, and in the same year he
founded the Sunday School magazine and became its editor-in-chief. Aer
resigning from secular employment and taking up a full-time lecturing
position at the eological College, he lived from 1950 to 1951 with
Kyrillos (then Fr Mina) at St Menas’ in Old Cairo.130 Once more, the dual
formation under Habib Girgis and Fr Mina is readily, and intriguingly,
apparent.
On July 18, 1954, under Fr Mina’s direction, he was tonsured Monk
Antonious at the Syrian Monastery. ere he was tasked with the care of
the library, before eventually inhabiting a cave three kilometers (1.9 miles)
from the monastery and coming under the discipleship of Fr Maa el-
Meskeen.131 In mid–1956, Fr Maa would leave the monastery aer a deep-
set contention with the abbot, and he was followed by Antonious (and
some twenty others).132 “All that I wish,” wrote Antonious shortly aer, “. . .
is that people might forget all about it, and about us, so that we can live in
the calmness that we aimed at by that action.”133 e monks returned to
their original confessor in Old Cairo, Fr Mina, who directed them to St
Samuel’s Monastery.134 Antonious would stay there less than a year.
ough the exact circumstances remain unknown, his leers—in which
he alludes to that difficult year with tears—suggest severe misgivings and a
distressing dispute with Fr Maa.135 Lile known to most—despite their
publicized conflicts a few decades later—Antonious would, from these
early years, take issue with many of Maa’s writings.136 But at the same
time, Maa’s creative influence on Antonious cannot be denied. eir
conversations in the desert may have formed the foundations of
Antonious’ mesmerizing work, e Release of the Spirit, in which he calls
Maa, “my father-monk.”137 In May 1957, Antonious le Fr Maa and
returned to the Syrian Monastery. Soon aer, Maa effectively
disappeared into the desert for a decade, ensuring that his conflict with
Antonious would largely be suspended and, therefore, postdate the life of
Kyrillos.138
Shortly aer becoming patriarch, in early 1959, Kyrillos appointed
Antonious as his personal secretary.139 “I stayed for only three months,”
Antonious later recalled, “but then I escaped again to my cave in the
mountain . . . I felt I was doing nothing, so I le.”140 In that time a Western
journalist observed that Antonious “never le his room except to perform
his duties.”141 But he did not escape for long (as we have seen) and was
ordained by force as Bishop Shenouda on September 30, 1962. Empowered
by Kyrillos, he fulfilled the vision of Habib Girgis and transformed all
facets of education—“from kindergarten Sunday School classes to
graduate-level seminary education.”142 Under Shenouda, women were
encouraged to study theology for the first time, the “day” students at the
eological College tripled and the “evening” students increased ten-
fold.143 Each Coptic child, lay leader, priest, bishop, and even patriarch,
from here on, would be fed from the spirit of reform. e effects of
Shenouda’s episcopacy are immeasurable. e synergistic revival of
theological education and Sunday schools, in the words of an English
scholar, “create[d] what amounts to a cultural and intellectual renaissance
among the Copts.”144
* * *
“Among Arabic speakers,” writes John H. Watson, “Shenouda became
known for his captivating use of language . . . he is something of a
demagogue, in the beer, classical sense. He is a dangerous mover of
crowds. . . .”145 Unsurprisingly, then, most scholars, if not all, have traced
the events of October 1967 to Shenouda’s weekly lectures.
Aended by thousands, these incredible Friday evening lectures were
Shenouda’s conduit of reform. ey were marked by an unpretentious
spirit of humor, at once uncompromising and charismatic, scholarly yet
delivered in the language of the people. Mohamed Heikal (1923–2016), the
editor in chief of al-Ahram and Nasser’s trusted Minister of Information,
claimed these “lessons of Friday” were intentionally provocative as an
answer to Hassan Banna’s “lessons of Tuesday” for the Muslim
Brotherhood.146 “e activist tenor,” another scholar suggests, “of
Shenouda’s lessons hinted at a criticism of the regime.”147 It was this
“aggressive” and “apparent politicisation of the Sunday School Movement”
that, many suggest, began to “alarm” Kyrillos and provoked the dramatic
suspension of Shenouda.148 ese comments, and the greater part of
scholarship in their wake, have not only dramatically overstated the
political differences of Kyrillos and Shenouda, but they have also unfairly
and inaccurately politicized the conflict. e reality—pieced together by an
analysis of the historical correspondence and interviews—is entirely
otherwise. For the last half-century, the entire episode has been misdated,
misinterpreted, and misrepresented. e title “lesson of Friday,” in the first
place, was not even Shenouda’s—it was an invention of Heikal’s.149 e
lectures were, in fact, of a spiritual, practical, and ascetical nature.150 e
contention, intriguingly, was in fact precipitated by a maer of reform two
years earlier, in 1965.
Aer the death of Metropolitan Kyrillos of Qena, in August 1965,
discussions were held as to his successor. Shenouda wrote publicly in al-
Keraza, “It is the congregation’s right to oose their shepherd.”151 e issue
was not Kyrillos’ suggested candidate (who was very much worthy and
considered by many to be a saint); it was the principle. “It is a beautiful
chance,” carefully wrote Shenouda,
. . . for His Holiness the Pope to win the entire congregation . . . by
ordaining for them the person whom they choose. It is very easy to
let people submit to our authority and then lose them, but it is beer
and acceptable to God, to win their love, and the good shepherd
gives his life for the sheep.152
It had been Shenouda’s mantra ever since, as a young university
student, he had opposed Yusab’s controversial ordination of Youannis of
Giza.153 But, now, it was a public challenge to Kyrillos.154 ough seemingly
mild, Shenouda, in an interview a few decades later, as well as in
correspondence from the period, suggests that it was one of their most
important points of disagreement.155 It was, again, the principle that was of
concern. Similarly, in the mid-1960s, Shenouda spent five months
protesting in a self-imposed exile—possibly suspension—aer Kyrillos
ordained a non–eological College candidate to the priesthood (though
Shenouda, as we have seen, later did the same in 1967).156 Shenouda’s
relationship with Kyrillos was strained further in May 1967, when
Gregorious was ordained for an overlapping “diocese” (more accurately a
portfolio) too close to home; and yet again when Bishop Samuel was
delegated to head a commiee on “evangelism education,” a task that
Shenouda considered to belong to his “diocese.”157 e following events
were simply the last straw.
On July 27, Fr Girgis Asham, the manager of the patriarchate, wrote to
Bishop Shenouda. “We would like to inform you,” the leer began, “that
the patriarchate is overloaded with expenses for the eological College,
at a time when its financial resources have decreased dramatically because
of agricultural pests that have destroyed the crops, resulting in a great
deficit in rent.”158 Consequently, the leer continued, tuition fees were to
be increased, students would no longer be allowed to board, and meals
would no longer be provided.159 Similar leers, that same day, were also
sent to the closely related Didymus Institute as well as the Higher Institute
of Education, both under Bishop Gregorious.160 It was nothing less than a
financial decapitation. But the hands of the patriarchate, though Shenouda
could not see it, really were tied.161
Earlier that year the maglis—which had been managing the finances of
the patriarchate until April—had run into a severe financial deficit
precipitated by the disastrous coon crops that diminished the waqf
endowment income. Simultaneously, an economic downturn, compounded
by the severe losses of the Six-Day War, brought about the financial crisis
that (as we have seen) would force Kyrillos to seek Nasser’s hand in
dismantling the maglis, with the financial management of the patriarchate
and theological institutes transferred to the patriarchate.162 is is vital to
appreciate. Scholarship has not, to any degree, properly situated
Shenouda’s suspension within this context.
At the same time, Shenouda had become exceedingly popular. His
weekly lectures began in a small lecture theater, before rapidly filling St
Mark’s hall, then a small corner of the cathedral, until eventually, people
were overflowing from every entryway and passage.163 e incredible
growth did not go unnoticed. “e world rose against me,” reminisced
Shenouda in an interview, “evil advisers began to provoke the Pope against
me, as if I, as bishop, were taking over the entire Church.”164 At one point,
Shenouda began speaking at several conferences in various dioceses in
succession with each bishop following him to the next conference, until
eventually, a group of bishops began traveling to hear his lectures. “ey
began to say to the Pope,” Shenouda continued, “that I was polarizing the
bishops . . . and the whole world began to turn upside down. . . .”165 Rumors
began circulating.
One Friday morning Shenouda was summoned to the police station.
An engineer produced a leer detailing that the roof of the eological
College was unsafe and could at any moment collapse. Shenouda knew
there was lile he could do; Kyrillos could not be reached by phone. e
lecture was moved at the last moment to the courtyard. en the
electricity was disconnected; Shenouda ordered kerosene lights. en the
water was disconnected. “In the end,” he lamented, “I found the situation
untenable, and so I wrote an article in al-Keraza. . . .”166 Shenouda had thus
far remained silent. But the constant “random” obstructions and financial
withdrawal had le him no choice. “We have been silent for a long time,”
he wrote in al-Keraza, October 1967,
trying to reach a solution through negotiations so that we might not
disturb the congregation with upseing news. . . . en the new
school year scheduled to begin on September 26 was at hand . . . the
budget is on halt, the debts have accumulated to a shameful extent,
there is no water supply in the building, electricity will soon be cut
off, there are decisions to cancel the boarding department and
forbidding students from sleeping over, forbidding meals, in addition
to the fact of insufficient teachers and ancillary staff. . . . It is an
indirect closure of the College, as we know quite well the students’
capabilities. . . .167
Shenouda then proceeded to reproduce in full the July leers wrien
to him by Fr Girgis, as well as his response to each one; he detailed the
water, electricity, telephone, and food invoices that went unpaid; he
lamented over the aforementioned closure of the lecture theater but
refrained from “disclosing details;” and, finally, he expressed his dismay
and embarrassment that theological education was deemed to be worth so
lile.168 It was a very public and traumatic airing of his conflict with the
patriarchate, and therefore with Kyrillos himself. “Aer a long silence, my
brethren,” concluded Shenouda at the end of the article,
I was forced, painfully, to speak frankly; to find a solution for the
fate of your eological College. . . . As for you, my brethren the
students . . . if I am the reason for this great storm, I am ready to
withdraw until things calm down. I am ready to go back to the
monastery, to my beloved cave in the mountain, to spend the rest of
the days of my sojourn, to live in peace and let others have rest,
“sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”169
As a final protest, Shenouda closed the eological College and
withdrew to his monastery.170 e students revolted at the patriarchate.171
Kyrillos swily dispatched a telegram to Shenouda on October 8: “Your
stubbornness, traveling, and insistence on not sending leers to the
students requesting their return to the college judges you; you have no
absolution to return to Cairo except through our permission.”172 is
suggests that it was Shenouda who first le to the monastery, and, in
consequence of his closing the eological College, Kyrillos refused to
allow his return. e rationale for the suspension was therefore
multifaceted; it was a reaction to a constellation of factors, most of which
had to do with the maer of reform.
Shenouda sent a telegram a few weeks later requesting a trial before
the Holy Synod.173 It was, as far as one can tell, ignored. “What happened
was expected,” wrote Shenouda to a dear friend on November 15, 1967,
. . . thus I wasn’t surprised, but rather anticipated it, it is a struggle
which whoever defends the truth should face. . . . But I am sure that
the Lord will work . . . I am not ready at any time to live in peace
and ignore defending the truth; or to gain more privileges and
special services and stop announcing the word of God. . . . I am
trying now to make use—as much as possible—of my solitude,
feeling that it is a blessing from the Lord to have some retreat to do
something for the glory of his name.174
Shenouda would be suspended for eight and a half months. Aer
“numerous negotiations to resolve the problem,” Kyrillos permied him to
return to Cairo for the opening of the new cathedral on June 25, 1968.175
ere he was greeted with Kyrillos’ characteristic wide smile. “[e]
contention,” Shenouda commented, “was not about the person, but about
the principle . . . it never contradicted the sentiments of love.”176 Once more,
the concern was the “way” of reform. “So,” Shenouda concludes, “a period
of disagreement was passed, but the old love had its effect: I used to sit
with Pope Kyrillos to talk and laugh in the same manner as old, but”—now
laughing—“we used to disagree if we entered into a discussion of the
Church canons.”177 e disciples of both Kyrillos and Shenouda make clear
that the animosity ended there and then, with the two returning to their
friendship of old.178
* * *
As to Kyrillos’ purposes in the whole affair, it is difficult to say with any
certainty. But there is a certain though faint glimmer that hauntingly
dances throughout the leers, interviews, and articles of the period.
Almost as though—impossible as it is to verify or even imagine—the entire
episode was intentional, conscious, even calculated. One can only suspect
ever so vaguely that Kyrillos was still “forming” his earlier disciple—
forming him, that is, for the years to come.
e Leaven of Monastic Revival: Matta el-Meskeen, 1969
“Abba Poemen also said about Abba Isidore that wherever he addressed
the brothers in church he said only one thing, ‘Forgive your brother, so
that you also may be forgiven.’”
—Abba Isidore
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Photo Insert
Figure 1
Azer Youssef Atta
Figure 2
Youssef Atta
Figure 3
Hanna Youssef Atta
Figure 4
National ID Card, 1925
Figure 5
Lease of the Windmill, June 23, 1936
Figure 6
Windmill Diagram
Figure 7
Father Mina at the Windmill, 1936
Figure 8
Father Mina as an Urban Monastic
Figure 9
The Windmill on the outskirts of Old Cairo
Figure 10
The Ruins of the Windmills
Figure 11
First Page of Father Mina’s Unfinished Autobiography
Figure 12
Father Mina in Old Cairo on hearing the news of the Altar
Ballot
Figure 13
After the Altar Ballot
Figure 14
Ordination, being lead into the Cathedral next to his
brother, Hanna
Figure 15
Ordination
Figure 16
Ordination
Figure 17a
Ordination, during the Liturgy he returned to his simple
vestments
Figure 17b
Ordination
Figure 18
Ordination, Weeping during the consecration
Figure 19
A rare photograph, as Patriarch, without his shawl
Figure 20
Visit to Abu Mena, Mariout, in 1959 to consecrate the site
for St Menas’ Monastery
Figure 21
Praying for the sick; October 5, 1959
Figure 22
With Mother (Tamav) Irini
Figure 23
Returning to pray in his Church in Old Cairo
Figure 24
Returning to pray in his Church in Old Cairo
Figure 25
With Eastern Orthodox Heirarchs
Figure 26
Kyrillos in his characteristic posture when not celebrating
the Liturgy of the Eucharist
Figure 27
Kyrillos praying Matins
Figure 28
Kyrillos in Ethiopia
Figure 29
With Eastern Orthodox Bishops
Figure 30
Ordination of Bishop Shenouda and Bishop Samuel,
September 30, 1962
Figure 31
Kyrillos Visiting President Gamal Abdel Nasser in his home
Figure 32
Kyrillos with Anwar Sadat (future President of Egypt)
Figure 33
Kyrillos with Sheikh Hassan Mamoun of al-Azhar
Figure 34
Preparing the Holy Myron (Chrism) 1967
Figure 35
Kyrillos with Roman Catholic clergy
Figure 36
Bishop Shenouda (Left); Bishop Gregorious (Center); Bishop
Domadius (Right)
Figure 37
Receiving Relics of Saint Mark from the Vatican, June 25,
1968
Figure 38
Inaugural Liturgy at the New Cathedral, June 25, 1968
Figure 39
Return of Bishop Shenouda from suspension, June 25, 1968
Figure 40
Kyrillos being suprised by the photographer
Figure 41
Kyrillos in his rare patriarchal vestments
Figure 42
Opening the cathedral June 25, 1968
Figure 43
Kyrillos (Right) with Father Matta el-Meskeen (Center) and
Salib Suryal (Left) during their reconciliation, May 9, 1969
Figure 44
The Coptic delegation at Gamal Abdel Nasser’s Funeral;
Bishops Gregorious, Shenouda and Samuel at front centre;
September 28, 1970
Figure 45
Kyrillos’ in his final years
Figure 46
Repose of Kyrillos VI, March 9, 1971