Pope Shenouda I of Alexandria was the 55th

Coptic Coptic may refer to: Afro-Asia * Copts, an ethnoreligious group mainly in the area of modern Egypt but also in Sudan and Libya * Coptic language, a Northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century * Coptic alphabet ...

Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark (859–880). He is commemorated in the Coptic ''

Synaxarion Synaxarion or Synexarion (plurals Synaxaria, Synexaria; el, Συναξάριον, from συνάγειν, ''synagein'', "to bring together"; cf. etymology of ''synaxis'' and ''synagogue''; Latin: ''Synaxarium'', ''Synexarium''; cop, ⲥⲩⲛⲁ ...

'' on the 1st day of Baramudah. Prior to his election, he had been ''oikonomos'' of the Monastery of St Macarius - one of his early acts as patriarch was the improve the freshwater supply to

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

. He was described as a model of monastic humility who prayed regularly for the forgiveness of his enemies. Shenouda I was elected during the final days of the rule of the 10th Abbasid caliph,

Al-Mutawakkil Abū al-Faḍl Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad al-Muʿtaṣim bi-ʾllāh ( ar, جعفر بن محمد المعتصم بالله; March 822 – 11 December 861), better known by his regnal name Al-Mutawakkil ʿalā Allāh (, "He who relies on God") was t ...

, who was killed by a Turkic guard on orders by his son. His son and successor,

Al-Muntasir Abu Ja'far Muhammad ( ar, أبو جعفر محمد; November 837 – 7 June 862), better known by his regnal title Al-Muntasir bi-llah (, "He who triumphs in God") was the caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate from 861 to 862, during the "Anarchy at Sa ...

, appointed a finance minister who doubled taxes, cancelled exemptions on religious minorities, and devised new ways of extorting wealth from subjects. Shenouda I intermittently went into hiding and conferred with bishops as how to pay the increased taxes. However, the same grievances were shared throughout the caliphate and a rebellion against al-Muntasir and his officers led to the end of his reign. Following this, monasteries in

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south. In ancient ...

were destroyed by the

Berbers , image = File:Berber_flag.svg , caption = The Berber ethnic flag , population = 36 million , region1 = Morocco , pop1 = 14 million to 18 million , region2 = Algeria , pop2 ...

and the

Bedouins The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arabs, Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert ...

. As a result, Pope Shenouda I built walls around the monasteries of the

Nitrian Desert The Nitrian Desert is a desert region in northwestern Egypt, lying between Alexandria and Cairo west of the Nile Delta. It is known for its history of Christian monasticism."Nitrian Desert", in F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone, eds., ''The Oxfor ...

. Their height varies between ten and eleven meters, and their widths are about two meters. They were also covered with a thick layer of plaster. Shenouda I spent much of his early days as patriarch dealing with internal religious disagreements that verged on heresies, i.e. teachers claimed that the

Resurrection of Jesus The resurrection of Jesus ( grc-x-biblical, ἀνάστασις τοῦ Ἰησοῦ) is the Christian belief that God raised Jesus on the third day after his crucifixion, starting – or restoring – his exalted life as Christ and Lo ...

took place on 11 April instead of on 25 March, bishops teaching that the Nature of the Divinity had died, etc. It was suggested that the spread of false teachings among the Copts was because "the scantiness of the knowledge of their shepherds (the bishops) was manifest in those days".

References

Coptic Orthodox saints 9th-century Coptic Orthodox popes of Alexandria 9th-century Christian saints People of the Tulunid dynasty {{Saint-stub