Pope Kyrillos V

(1824–1927)
Popekyrillosv(112th)

I look upon you as a father does his son and a shepherd his flock; the look of a high priest upon his people. I look upon you day and night in my spirit and heart and all my strength. For I perceive and feel you pictured and inscribed in my mind and carried in my heart. I look upon you with the tenderest of feelings, and the most pure, and filled with faith, hope and love I say of you: ‘Behold, the children which the Lord has given me’ …

(Patriarchal Edict on Education, Nov 1907, p. 1)

Biography

Pope Kyrillos V (1824–1927) was the 112th Patriarch of Alexandria. He held this office for 53 years (1874–1927), making him the longest serving Coptic Pope. His long reign saw many developments that shaped the Coptic Church into its modern form. Particularly notable is his patronage of Archdeacon Habib Girgis and the burgeoning Sunday School movement.[1]See Anba Suriel, “Habib Girgis: Orthodox Educator” (SVS Press, 2017).

A particularly notable achievement of his papacy was the establishment of the Coptic Theological Seminary in 1893, an institution that would play an essential role in the Sunday School movement and theological revival of the next century.[2]S. Tadros, Motherland Lost (2013), 107.

In the words of Aziz S. Atiya: “He occupied the throne for well-nigh fifty-three years. His loyalty, piety and good intentions were above reproach. But he combined with imperturbable obstinacy, the narrowness of an honest man whose education was limited to the knowledge that he had gathered as a simple copyist.”[3]A. S. Atiya, The History of Eastern Christianity (2013), 108.

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Bibliography

A. Works

Papal Letters

Kyrillos V, Kyrillos V to Habib Girgis, 27 February 1923, in Habib Girgis, al-Kanz al-ānfas fī mulakhkhaṣ al-kitāb wa-l-tārīkh al-muqaddas, vol. 1, i. Cairo, 1923.

Kyrillos V, “Patriarchal Edict” [Manshūr Baṭriyarkī], al-Majalla al-Qibtiyya 1, no. 10 (Jan 1908): 1–16.

B. Further Reading

Atiya, Aziz S. The History of Eastern Christianity. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1968 (on pages 107–111). (Amazon)

Farag, Lois. “Letter of Condolences on the Death of King Edward VII by Pope Cyril V of Alexandria.” Journal of World Christianity 6, no. 2 (2016): 311-17.

Seikaly, Samir. “Coptic Communal Reform: 1860-1914.” Middle Eastern Studies 6. no. 3 (1970): 247–75 (on pages 251–66).

Shoucri, M. “Cyril V”. In The Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia (1991). Macmillan/Claremont Graduate University.

Suriel, Bishop. Habib Girgis: Coptic Orthodox Educator and A Light in the Darkness. Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2017.

Tadros, Samuel. Motherland Lost: The Egyptian Quest for Modernity. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 2013 (on pages 101–8). (Amazon)

Notes:

Notes:
↑1 See Anba Suriel, “Habib Girgis: Orthodox Educator” (SVS Press, 2017).
↑2 S. Tadros, Motherland Lost (2013), 107.
↑3 A. S. Atiya, The History of Eastern Christianity (2013), 108.