Shenouda III Led Faithful For 40 Yrs.
Coptic Orthodox Christians in Ridgewood mourned the loss of their church’s leader, Pope Shenouda III, who died in Egypt last Saturday, Mar. 17, at the age of 88 following years of illness.
Known to followers as Baba Shenouda, he presided over the Coptic Church for over four decades, working to expand the faith’s reach around the world and in Egypt. The church’s situation in Egypt is partic- ularly tenuous in recent months as a result of the rise in Muslim groups following the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.
Following the pope’s death at his residence in Cairo, tens of thousands of Coptic Christians in Egypt converged at the main cathedral in the nation’s capitol in mourning. In Ridgewood, St. Mary’s-St. Antonio’s Coptic Orthodox Church held memorial services on Sunday, Mar. 18, following their regular liturgies at their Woodward Avenue and 60th Place churches.
“His Holiness leaves behind a flock of millions of Coptic Orthodox Christians spread over six continents who grieve for his departure, but rejoice in the knowledge that he has gained the reward for which he struggled,” according to a statement issued by Rev. Michael Sorial of St. Mary’s- St. Antonio’s on the church’s website. “Despite his innumerable competing responsibilities and obligations, he never desisted from his weekly lectures, continuing to prepare and offer them even while in the throes of illness.”
Shenouda III came to Ridgewood in 1989 to celebrate the opening of St. Mary’s-St. Antonio’s Church on Woodward Avenue.
Born Nazeer Gayed Roufail in August 1923 in the Egyptian city of Asyut, Shenouda graduated from a Coptic Theological Seminary in Egypt in 1949 and later entered into the Syrian Monastery. For a six year period, he lived as a hermit in a cave, devoting his time to great meditation and prayer.
He would later be ordained a priest and in September 1962 was appointed by Pope Cyril VI as the bishop of Christian Education and the dean of the Coptic Orthodox Theological Seminary. As a result of his appointment, he was renamed Shenouda in honor of Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite, a scholar and writer.
Nine months after Pope Cyril VI’s death, Shenouda III became the 117th Pope of Alexandria in November 1971. Sorial noted that during Pope Shenouda III’s 40 years in the papacy, the church “saw an unprecedented expansion,” including “revivals in Sunday School education and monasticism that will impact generations of Coptic Orthodox Christians to come.”
In an effort to prevent the persecution of Coptic Christians, who live as a minority in Egypt, Pope Shenouda III worked to forge strong and friendly ties with Muslim leaders in the nation. He also worked to build greater ties with other sects of Christianity; in meeting with Pope Paul VI in 1973, he became the first Pope of Alexandria to meet with the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in over 1,500 years.
The Coptic Orthodox Archdiocese of North America will be hold- ing a liturgy in memory of Pope Shenouda III on Sunday, Mar. 25, at 3 p.m. at St. Mary Coptic Orthodox Church of East Brunswick, located at 433 Riva Ave. in East Brunswick, New Jersey
For more information, visit www.copticchurch.org.
