Bishop Samuel

(1920–1981)
Bishop Samuel Author

Service is a natural expression of the life of fellowship with Christ. Service is not a duty or obligation, but a natural part of life for one who has entered into fellowship with Christ; one cannot but serve. Anyone who has reached a stage of fellowship with God and Christ finds that the natural expression of this fellowship is to serve.

(Bishop Samuel, Service and Working with Individuals, 1973, p. 1)

Biography

Bishop Samuel (Dec 8, 1920–Oct 6, 1981) was the first General Bishop of Public, Ecumenical and Social Services. He played a key role in the establishment of communities in the Coptic diaspora, and represented the Coptic Church in numerous ecumenical settings during the reigns of three successive patriarchs (Yusab II, Kyrillos VI and Shenouda III).

Born Saad Aziz, he grew up in Giza, which was a particularly active centre for the Sunday School Movement, in which he became an active participant.[1]On Saad Aziz’s early formation within the Giza School, see Daniel Fanous, A Silent Patriarch: Kyrillos VI (Yonkers, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2019): 164; Samuel Tadros, Motherland Lost: The Egyptian Quest for Modernity (Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 2013): 170–71. He received an extensive university education: a Bachelor of Law from the University of Cairo (1942), a Diploma in Theology from the Coptic Theological Seminary (1944) and Bachelor of Arts from the American University in Cairo (also 1944).[2]John H. Watson, Among the Copts (Brighton, UK: Sussex Academic Press, 2000): 100.

He was consecrated as a monk under the guidance Fr Mina the Solitary (the future Pope Kyrillos VI) in 1948, initially for the monastery of St Samuel, but within a few months he had moved to the Syrian Monastery and taken the name Macarius al-Suryani.

In 1954, he travelled to Princeton Theological Seminary in the United States, where he completed an MA thesis on “Ancient and Contemporary Christian Education in the Coptic Church.”[3]Held in the Alumni Collection at Princeton Theological Seminary Library. He is listed in the alumni record as “Makary, Samuel Souriany”

When Fr Mina the Solitary became Pope Kyrillos VI in 1959, Fr Makary served as his aide and secretary, before being ordained as a general bishop in 1962, taking the name Bishop Samuel.

On October 6, 1981, he was fatally wounded during the assassination of Anwar Sadat and died later in hospital.

Browse Texts on ACCOT

Bibliography

A. Works (partial list)

Bishop Samuel’s written legacy is relatively small: books, articles are listed together here by year of publication with links where available. If you can supply any works that are missing, please, especially letters or voice recordings, please contact us.

Arabic

  • Life and Hope [Al-ḥayā wa-l-rajā’]. Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate, 1964. (PDF, ACCOT)
  • Service and Working with Individuals [Al-khidma wa al-‘amal al-fardī]. Shubra: Jabalawi Press, 1979. (PDF)
  • “The Coptic Household,” al-Kiraza vol. 11, no. 3 (January 1980), 6. (PDF)
  • The Path to Happiness [al-Ṭarīq ilā al-si‘āda]. Bishopric of Youth, 1984.
  • Lectures on Contemporary Problems [Muḥaḍrāt fī mushkilāt mu‘āṣira]. Maktabat al-Tarbiyya, al-Kanisa bi-l-Giza, undated. (PDF)

Appendix: Bishop Samuel in al-Kiraza
The Clerical College’s periodical al-Kiraza featured a Church News section which frequently detailed Bishop Samuel’s movements. See:

  • “Church News: His Grace Anba Samuel Returns to Cairo and Continues His Activity,” in al-Kiraza 6, no. 45 (Nov 1975): 2.

B. Further Reading

Abdelsayyed, Gabriel and Maurice As‘ad. “Samuel, Coptic bishop (1920–1981).” In The Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia, Vol. 7, edited by Aziz S. Atiya. New York: Macmillan, 1991 (PDF).

Fanous, Daniel. The Silent Patriarch: Kyrillos VI (1902–1971). Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2019 (on pages 164, 171, 179, 190, 220, 256, 271, 317–20, 348–49, 354, 379).

Lukasik, Candace. and Akladious, M. “Debating Christmas Day: Copts, Calendars and the Immigrants’ Church.”  Public Orthodoxy, 20 Feb 2020, https://publicorthodoxy.org/2020/02/20/copts-debating-christmas/.

“Makary, Samuel Souriany.” In Bibliographical Catalogue of Princeton Theological Seminary, 1900–1976, edited by Arthur M. Byers. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Theological Seminary, 1977. (PDF)

Mikhail, Phoebe F. and Mikhail, (Fr) Bishoy L. “Letter Writing Isn’t a Lost Art in Egypt. It’s an Ancient Ministry.” Christianity Today, 7 May 2020, https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2020/may-web-only/coptic-leaders-wrote-letters-to-churches-egypt.html.

O’Mahony, Anthony. “Tradition at the heart of renewal: the Coptic Orthodox Church and Monasticism in Modern Egypt”, International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church 7, no. 3 (2007), 164–178.

Romany, E. “The man who helped people help themselves,” Watani, 6 October, 2019, http://en.wataninet.com/news-2/occasions/october-war/the-man-who-helped-people-help-themselves/30675/.

Shenouda III (Pope). Pope Shenouda III to Bishop Athanasius October 15, 1981. Translated by Samuel Kaldas. In Archive of Contemporary Coptic Orthodox Theology, Sydney, NSW: St Cyril’s Coptic Orthodox Theological College. https://accot.stcyrils.edu.au/letter-of-condolence-for-bishop-samuels-departure-pope-shenouda-iii-1981/.

Tadros, Samuel. Motherland Lost: The Egyptian Quest for Modernity. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 2013 (on pages 170–71, 174–7, 180–81, 186, 188,  190, 194–5, 198, 204. (Amazon)

Wakin, E. A Lonely Minority: The Modern Story of Egypt’s Copts. Revised edition. iUniverse, 2000 (listed in the index under Sunday School Movement, as-Suriani, Abuna Makari; pages 111, 115–17, 123, 172).

Watson, John H. Among the Copts. Brighton, UK: Sussex Academic Press, 2000 (on pages 62, 85, 100–2, 129, 131, 145).

Media

Notes:

Notes:
↑1 On Saad Aziz’s early formation within the Giza School, see Daniel Fanous, A Silent Patriarch: Kyrillos VI (Yonkers, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2019): 164; Samuel Tadros, Motherland Lost: The Egyptian Quest for Modernity (Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 2013): 170–71.
↑2 John H. Watson, Among the Copts (Brighton, UK: Sussex Academic Press, 2000): 100.
↑3 Held in the Alumni Collection at Princeton Theological Seminary Library. He is listed in the alumni record as “Makary, Samuel Souriany”