Bishop Athanasius (1923–2000), the Late Bishop of Beni Suef

His Eminence the late Bishop Athanasius (1923–2000), Metropolitan of Beni Suef was among the greatest pioneers of social development and ecumenical relations. He played a significant role in the growth and evolution of the service in Beni Suef, on the pastoral level as well as on the level of development. He came from a long line of priests; his family was known by the name Qassīs (i.e. priest). His uncle was the late Pope Macarius III (1944–1945), the 114^th Patriarch of the Coptic Church. However, the family’s connection to the priesthood goes back much further, with roots going back six generations to his paternal ancestor, Hegumen Abdelmasih, who was a priest in al-Mahalla who departed in the year 181 and was succeeded by his son, Hegumen Mikhail, who departed in 1840. In addition, Anba Athanasius’ elder brother was Hegumen Mikhail Bishara, a priest in the church St George in al-Mahalla al-Kubra, who was ordained on February 26, 1948 and departed on December 19, 1985.

Church Administration

As regards his labours in the diocese, immediately after his ordination as a bishop, he wrote a short pamphlet titled Administrative Organisation in Dioceses, published in 1963, which contained three headings:

1. Diocese Administration
2. Church Administration
3. Scheduling

As part of this organisational effort, he set up lay committees, including a Committee for Diocese Administration which he named the Standing Committee.

Social Services

As for his efforts in the fields of social service and general development, they can be summed up in the following points:

1. He established clubs in all the churches of the diocese where sporting, cultural and spiritual activities were held for young men and women. He insisted on attending the competitions and handing out the prizes himself.
2. He encouraged the setting up of research teams and the holding of sports and service camps to conduct activities like campaigns to promote hygiene, raise health awareness and eradicate illiteracy.
3. He supported the establishment of lending libraries in every church, making sure that they grew and developed at a steady pace.
4. He completed a school-building project initiated by his predecessor, the late Anba Athanasius. His Grace set up new schools in Matai, Beni Mazar, Maghagha and El Fashn, among other places. Some of these schools are renowned for excellence in language teaching. He also restored the schools which were damaged in the 1992 earthquakes at the diocese’s own expense.
5. He set up nurseries to care for breast-feeding infants. The diocese ran a constant training program for nursery workers. In His Grace’s time, the number of nurseries reached 31.
6. His Grace established student houses managed by the diocese directly. There were about ten of these houses which provided for about 600 young men and women.
7. Clinics and health service centres were established to raise awareness about essential health issues through lectures, films and seminars. There were 23 of these clinics.
8. A nursing home was established for elderly men and women managed by the nuns of the Convent of the Daughters of Mary. They were assisted by a group of male and female servants who were well-trained in aged care.
9. His Grace was a pioneer in the field of pastoral care for those with special needs. He started the first school for them in the Convent of the Daughters of Mary, run by the nuns of the convent. The school then moved to Deir al-Meimoun, east of the Nile. This school was particularly concerned with developing the skills and abilities of these special needs groups.
10. He set up retreat centres for spiritual exercises and training in Dayr Bayad, Sadment al-Gabal and Dayr al-Sanquriya, west of Beni Mazar. These centres provided opportunities for reading, quietness and a spiritual atmosphere suitable for servants and church leaders.
11. Women were a great concern for His Grace Bishop Athanasius. He established an institute for the training of female servants which provided training in sewing and needlework, and held awareness-raising programs on health and family. His Grace also established centres for girls’ development — about 34 of them — in which girls studied for a year and a half at least and learned needlework, general principles of health and child care, etc.
12. His Grace took an interest in agricultural, industrial and manufacturing programs.
13. His Grace had taken an interest in brickmaking since 1968, when he had rock-breaking equipment imported and set about the establishment of a brickmaking factory, providing high-quality training in this industry for the youth.
14. From 1966, the diocese had taken an interest in the production of solar-powered heaters. The diocese of Beni Suef was a pioneer in the production of bricks and cement using solar power.

The Convent of the Daughters of Mary

His Grace established the convent in 1965. He set up its first constitution in late 1965 which began to be implemented in 1966. His Grace laid down seven principles for this convent: poverty, obedience, work, service, fellowship, quietness, silent meditation. There are special prayers for each day relating to practical and contemporary needs. Branches of this convent were set up in Izbat al-Nakh, al-Muqattam, Tura, Abu Sultan in addition to a centre for mentally disabled in Giza.^[3]Bishop Athanasius’ pioneering work in the establishment of orders of consecrated women is documented in detail in Pieternella van Doorn-Harder, Contemporary Coptic Nuns (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1995).

Education and Church Service

As for his efforts in the fields of education and church services, they can be summed up in the following points:

1. His Grace believed in the importance of books for the education of young Copts, and therefore established a publishing house called Dar al-Nashr wa-l-tawzī‘ bi-Maṭraniyyat Beni Suef. Its first publication was Bustān al-Ruhbān (The Monk’s Paradise), whose first edition was published in 1968. They also published educational programs for students and teachers, and Coptic pictures and drawings to assist the service and development of Sunday Schools. The committee also printed ritual books like the Katameros, the Liturgy Book, the Difnar and the Rite of the Laqqan and the Sagda, etc. They also published a series of spiritual books, and a celebrated series titled A Series of Simple Lessons in Coptic Culture,^[4]Silsilat al-Ma‘ārif al-Qibṭiyya al-Mubassaṭa which provided simplified information on faith and history. The committee also published a series of ritual books and biographies of saints by His Grace Bishop Mettaous, and a biography and account of the miracles of Abouna Abdelmasih al-Menahiri.

2. He asked for all sermons to be simplified so that everyone would be able to understand them. He also asked for sermons to combine doctrine, scripture, and liturgical ritual.

3. He made it a priority to hold weekly Bible study meetings over a period of more than 38 years. He was particularly well-known for his teaching style which was based on discussion, rather than didactically delivering a lecture.

4. His Grace ordained a priest especially for youth service, along with a consecrated deacon, Dr Emil Aziz (who is now His Grace Bishop Moussa, Bishop of Youth).

5. His Grace published a number of books on youth service, including: How to Securely Engage with Contemporary Society, Christ and Human Nature, The Simplicity of Christianity, The Unity of the Holy Bible. In the area of Biblical commentary, His Grace published commentaries on the Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of John and the Acts of the Apostles.

6. His Grace was greatly concerned with developing the spiritual, cultural and physical abilities of the youth. He established sports clubs for the youth in most churches, and also set up retreat houses for them in Bayad and Sadment. He made a point of meeting with them often in these houses, and he also sent a number of them abroad on scholarships.

7. His Grace arranged opportunities for the youth of Beni Suef to build friendships with youth from European countries like Germany, England and Sweden. He furnished opportunities to for mutual visits and meetings so that they could gain experience and openness towards the youth of these countries.

8. His Grace was greatly concerned with strengthening the links between Coptic youth and their national brethren, and to this end, held a number of joint meetings for discussion of general topics of interest to all. A number of popular and executive leaders took part in these meetings.

9. His Grace set up Servants’ Preparation classes for all the different services (children, youth, family, rural, specialised categories, etc.). These later developed into specialised training centres.

Ecumenical Work

As for His Grace’s ecumenical efforts, he was a pioneer in this field alongside the ate Bishop Samuel (1962–1981), Bishop of General and Social Services. He believed that the primary goal of ecumenical work was to the exchange of experience and knowledge. His activities in the ecumenical movement began in 1957, and he served on the World Council of Churches until 1991, where he was a member of both the Central and Executive Committees of the World Council of Churches. He represented the Coptic Orthodox Church in a great number of conferences, including:

1. The first conference of the Chalcedonian Orthodox Churches held on the island of Rhodes in 1961.^[5]This was the first of four Pan-Orthodox Conferences held at Rhodes between 1961 and 1968. Pope Kyrillos the Sixth sent Hegumen Macarius al-Suryani (the late Bishop Athanasius) and Father Yuhanna Girgis, priest of St George’s Church in Shubra, and the counsellor Tadros Mikhail Tadros. In the same year, Pope Kyrillos sent him to conduct tour through the countries of East and South Africa to check on the state of the churches there.

2. He was chosen to be a member of the symposium titled The World Conference of Christians for Palestine which was held in Beirut from 7–10 May, 1970. He was accompanied in the delegation from the Coptic Orthodox Church by the late Bishop Gregorius, Bishop of Scientific Research, and the late Dr William Soliman Kilada.

3. He was chosen as part of the delegation that accompanied Pope Shenouda III in his historic visit to the Vatican on My 10, 1973. With him in the delegation were the late Bishop Basilios, Metropolitan of Jerusalem; the late Bishop Mikhail, Metropolitan of Asyut; the late Bishop Gregorius, Bishop of Scientific Research; and the late Bishop Youannis, bishop of Gharbiyya.

4. He was chosen as a member of the Joint Committee for Mutual Understanding with the Catholic Church which was formed on November 20, 1974. The Committee was headed by the late Bishop Gregorius, Bishop Athanasius, Bishop Samuel, Bishop Youannis and three laymen.
5. He won a number of awards from various nations, including awards from Emperor Haile Selassie, the Emperor of Ethiopia.
6. He took part in the reception of Cardinal König, Archbishop of Vienna, along with the late Bishop Gregorius, in the year 1982, while he was a member of the papal committee.
7. His Grace was part of the delegation that received Pope John Paul II at the Cathedral of St Mark in al-Abbasiyya during his visit to Egypt in February 2000.

National Unity

Regarding his work towards national unity, His Grace was extremely eager to build bonds of love with our Muslim brethren. His Grace was the first to set up iftar-tables during the holy month of Ramadan, and many metropolitans and bishops have since followed his example. His Grace was also eager that respects should be paid to the departed of all the people of Beni Suef, Muslim and Christian alike: he called on the priests of Beni Suef pay their respects to every departed person in the governorate of Beni Suef, whether they were Muslim or Christian. His Grace also insisted on maintaining cordial relationships with all the religious, political and executive leaders at all occasions, in good times and bad, and accordingly, he advocated for love and harmony between the nation’s factions. He was also zealous about holding general seminars in the diocese attended by Muslims and Christians together to discuss general issues that were of concern to the nation.

Another of his national efforts was his participation in a function held by the Citizen’s Wartime Committee^[6]al-Lagna al-‘Āmma  li-l-muwāṭinīn min ājl al-ma‘raka. This committee was set up after the Six Day War of 1967 to prepare the Egyptian people for a potential war with Israel. which was held in the Hall of St Mark’s Cathedral in al-Abbasiyya on May 20, 1970. He was accompanied in this by the late Bishop Samuel, Bishop of Social Services and the late Bishop Gregorius, Bishop of Scientific Research.

Perhaps one of His Grace’s most affecting sayings about Egypt was this: “I have visited most countries in the world, but I have never found one sweeter or more beautiful than Egypt.”

May God repose his soul in the Paradise of Joy, and grant us the benefit of his blessing and his prayers.