A previous article tackled Sultan Salah al-Din IbnAyyub who took over the ministry of Egypt in 564 AH (1169 AD), nicknamed Al-Malik al-Nasir, and he prayed for“Bani al-Abbas”, and then assumed Egypt’s rule after the death of Caliph Al-AdidBillah.
As for the patriarchs of that era and the conditions of the Coptic Church, we last talked about the 69thPatriarch of Alexandria, Pope Makarah II (1102 – 1128), whose days witnessed several events, including: the arrival of the Franks’campaign to Al-Farma, they looted and burnt the city, then they plotted to attack Egypt. However, their plot was foiled by the illness then death of their leader. Besides, Minister Al-Afdal bin Badr Al-Jamali was murdered, so was Caliph Al-Amir Billah in 524 AH (1130 AD). Pope Makarah II passed away in 1128, after spending 26 years and a few months on the See of Saint Mark the Apostle, he was succeeded by Pope Ghabrial bin Trek.
Pope Ghabrial II (1131- 1145 AD)
He is the seventieth patriarch of the See of Saint Mark. Archbishop Manasseh Youhanna, the ecclesiastical historian, reminds us that the Church remained for a while without a patriarch after the departure of Pope Makarah II as the caliph then was mad at the Christians because two clerks working in his office gossiped against the Christians, claiming that they were providing the Franks with money; the Copts were unable then to request the ordination of a father patriarch. After a while, soldiers were stirred up against these two clerks and killed them both, their posts were given to a royal man, so the Copts asked him to intervene and ask permission from Minister Ahmed ibn al-Afdalto have a patriarch ordained; he responded to their request and a man was selected. He was one of the scribes, his name is Aba Al-AlaaIbn Trek, an unmarried celibate, the son of an ancient Coptic family, famous for his integrity and honesty. When he became a deacon in the Church of Abu Sifen, the minister asked him to stay in his jobfor his sincere fidelity. SawirisIbn al-Muqaffa said about him: “A middle-aged man, sane, righteous, knowledgeable, expert, with a good conduct and abundant charity and piety, loving for prayers, liturgies, serving churches, strangers and the sick, visiting the widows and orphans and those in prisons and distress, diligent in reading books and interpreting its meanings and searching for it, a good Coptic and Arabic scribe… he served in the correspondence office and in the treasury. He was taken from working in the treasury when selected to be a patriarch.”
Father MorcosibnZar’aa, the biographer of Pope Ghabrial II, mentions that the See of St. Mark remained vacant for so long, so the chiefs gathered to choose a patriarch, they went to the Monastery of St. Macarius, the monks there advised them to head for one of the holy monks in Al-SorianMonastery whose name is Abu Youssef to seek his blessing and consultancy.When they met him and told him about the patriarchate and who shall befit it, he said: “Go back to your homes; for you have tired yourselves coming here, your patriarch is in Egypt!”He mentioned his name to them: The son of Trek. So they returned and followed his words.”
Thus, the Copts had a patriarch ordained when they presented his name, and he was ordained patriarch in Alexandria, then in the monasteries of Wadi al-Natroun in 1131 during the era of Caliph Al-Hafiz le Din Allah (524- 544 AH) (1130- 1149 AD).
This patriarch forbade dead priests to be buried in churches;he honorably translocatedthe body of Pope Makarah II from the Hanging Church in Ancient Cairo to the Monastery of St. Macarius.
During the papacy of this patriarch, one of the state’s princes, Radwan bin Walakhshi, assumed the ministry of Egypt – he was the governor of Ashkelon and then Al Gharbia before assuming the ministry. The Copts suffered from him a lot, as it is mentioned that: “He was the first minister to ban the Christians from being appointed in high offices, neither as overseers, nor as managers, commanding that they shall tighten belts around their waists, they shall not ride horses, double taxes were imposed on Christians and Jews as well…”, and … stories about beautiful Egypt never end!
The General Bishop
Head of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center
