Archdeacon Habib Girgis

(1876–1951)
Habib Girgis1

Worship is vain if Jesus is not in it. Sermons are vain if they do not aim at Jesus. Memorising and studying and discourse are vain if their centre is not Jesus. Sweetness and comfort and repose are vain if they do not aim at Jesus alone. Vain is every thing, if Jesus is not in it. Vain is every thing in which the name of Jesus is not repeated time and time again … What is more beautiful than Your name, O Jesus, and what is sweeter? … My heart finds nothing sweet in which Your Beloved Name is not present, and it finds nothing good in any writings if it does not find Your name sketched out in every line.

(The Mystery of Godliness, 1947, p. 4–5)

Biography

St. Habib Girgis (1876–1951) was the founder of the Sunday School Movement that initiated sweeping educational and theological reforms in the Coptic Church in the late 19th and early twentieth centuries. For much of his ministry, he was supported by Pope Kyrillos V. In 2012 he was canonised as a saint of the Coptic Church, along with Pope Kyrillos VI.

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Bibliography

A. Works

A comprehensive bibliography of Habib Girgis’ works can be found in Bishop Suriel, Habib Girgis: Coptic Orthodox Educator and a Light in the Darkness (Crestwood, NY: SVS Press, 2017): 264–67.

B. Further Reading

Jayson, Casper. “How Sunday School Sparked Revival in Egypt’s Oldest Church” Christianity Today, June 19, 2018, https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/2018/june/habib-girgis-coptic-revival-sunday-school-movement.html.

Nasim, Sulayman. 1991. “Habib Jirjis”, in Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia, vol. 4. Macmillan/Claremont Graduate University, School of Religion, 1189a–1189b.

Shenouda III (Pope). “Our Teacher Archdeacon Habib Girgis”. Translated by S. M. Saad. Watani, August 22, 2013, http://en.wataninet.com/coptic-affairs-coptic-affairs/religious/st-habib-girgis/1440/.

Suriel (Bishop). Habib Girgis: Coptic Orthodox Educator and a Light in the Darkness. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladamir’s Seminary Press, 2017. (Amazon)

Yanney, Rodolph. “Light in the Darkness: Life of Archdeacon Habib Girgis (1876–1951).” Coptic Church Review 5, no. 2 (1984): 47–52.

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