Pope Peter VII of Alexandria (Abba Boutros El-Gawly), 109th Pope of Alexandria & Patriarch of the See of St. Mark. He was born in the village of El-Gawly 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 ...

, and known as Mankarius while a

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

at the

Monastery of Saint Anthony The Monastery of Saint Anthony is a Coptic Orthodox monastery standing in an oasis in the Eastern Desert of Egypt, in the southern part of the Suez Governorate. Hidden deep in the Red Sea Mountains, it is located southeast of Cairo. The Monas ...

on the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...

. During his papacy, sensing intimations of pressure from

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

, the Coptic Church intensified her teaching, her preaching, and her pastoral work, and the Coptic Pope himself intensified his writing on matters of faith and doctrine. During the period, many private and public patriarchal libraries were founded. When the Russian

Tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East Slavs, East and South Slavs, South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''Caesar (title), caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" i ...

sent his delegates with an offer to put the Coptic Church under his protection, Pope Peter declined the proposal by asking, "Does your Emperor live forever?" When the envoy answered that he would die, like all humans, the Pope told him that he preferred the Protector of the Church who would not die. The papal throne stood vacant for a little over one year before his successor, Cyril IV, was elected. Also during the papacy, Saint Sidhom Bishaybr>
was

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

ed at the hands of

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...

Damietta Damietta ( arz, دمياط ' ; cop, ⲧⲁⲙⲓⲁϯ, Tamiati) is a port city and the capital of the Damietta Governorate in Egypt, a former bishopric and present multiple Catholic titular see. It is located at the Damietta branch, an easter ...

. His martyrdom made possible the raising of the Cross openly during

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

funeral processions, for this practice was previously forbidden. His feast date is 28

Paremhat Paremhat ( cop, Ⲡⲁⲣⲉⲙϩⲁⲧ), also known as Phamenoth ( grc-gre, Φαμενώθ, ''Phamenṓth'') and Baramhat. ( ar, برمهات), is the seventh month of the ancient Egyptian and Coptic calendars. It lies between March 10 and April ...

Source and further details

Coptic Orthodox Synaxarium (Book of Saints)
Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:Peter 07 Of Alexandria, Pope 1852 deaths Peter VII, Pope Year of birth missing People from Asyut Governorate