Pope Christodoulos of Alexandria

Head of the Coptic Church from 1047 to 1077

Pope

Christodoulos of Alexandria

Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark
Papacy began| 1047
Papacy ended| 1077
Predecessor| Shenouda II
Successor| Cyril II
Personal details
Born|

Egypt

Died| 1077
Egypt
Buried| Monastery of Saint Macarius the Great
Nationality| Egyptian
Denomination| Coptic Orthodox Christian
Residence| The Hanging Church

Pope Christodoulos of Alexandria (also known as Abd-el-Messiah) (died 1077) was the 66th Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark.

He joined the Paromeos Monastery in the Nitrian Desert before becoming a Pope. During his tenure Cairo became the fixed and official residence of the Coptic Pope, when he moved the Seat of the Coptic Orthodox Pope of Alexandria to Saint Mary's The Hanging Church in Cairo.

Infighting between the Saints Sergius and Bacchus Church and the El Muallaqa Church broke out due to the wishes of that patriarch's desire to be consecrated in the Hanging Church, a ceremony that traditionally took place at Saints Sergius and Bacchus.

Pope Christodoulos was the one who ordered that the Copts should standardize on the Bohairic Dialect, which was the dialect of parts of Northern Egypt and the monasteries of the Scetes. This was the dialect that was starting to weaken and give way to Arabic. His intention was to strengthen the weakening Coptic. However, he inadvertently helped weaken the Coptic further in the region where it was still going strong, the Sahidic region (Upper Egypt). It is not unexpected that Sahidic Coptic survived to the 15th and 16th century. We know of an Italian visitor to Upper Egypt in the 17th century who wrote that he met a Coptic priest and an old woman who could still speak Coptic

## Relations with Antioch

[edit]

The Patriarchs of Antioch and the Pope of Alexandria had for many years kept in close touch with one another. More than once their relations were strained, as happened particularly in the time of Patriarch John IX bar Shushan, and Christodulus, when they fell out over the proper presentation of the Eucharistic oblations, in which the Lyrian Jacobites were in the habit of mingling a little oil and salt (Neale, Patriarchate of Alexandria, II, 214). Christodulus insultingly rejected the practice, and John of Antioch wrote in its defence. In 1169 a new controversy, about the use of auricular confession severed the once friendly relations between the two communions.

## Ethiopia

[edit]

Following the death of the Abuna of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, the Emperor of Ethiopia sent an embassy asking Pope Christodoulos to ordain a new one. He replied that he was unable to ordain one due to persecution against the Christians in Egypt at the time. As a result, an adventurer named Abdun took advantage of this interregnum and presented himself to the Ethiopian Emperor with forged documents, claiming to be the newly appointed Abuna.[1]

## References

[edit]

* The canons of Christodoulos (1932). Arabic text with translation by British Coptologist Oswald Hugh Ewart Burmester(1897–1977). In Le Muséon,[2] XLV (1932), pp. 77–84.
* History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria, by O. H. E. Burmester

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ J. Spencer Trimingham, Islam in Ethiopia (Oxford: Geoffrey Cumberlege for the University Press, 1952), p. 63.
2. ^ Le Muséon. Louvain [etc.].

Preceded by

Shenouda II

|  Coptic Pope
1047-1077  | Succeeded by

Cyril II

|
|

* v
* t
* e

Patriarchs of Alexandria

Patriarchs prior to the
Chalcedonian schism
(43–451)|

* Mark I the Evangelist (founder)
* Anianus
* Avilius
* Kedronos
* Primus
* Justus
* Eumenius
* Markianos*
* Celadion
* Agrippinus
* Julian
* Demetrius I
* Heraclas
* Dionysius
* Maximus
* Theonas
* Peter I
* Achillas
* Alexander I
* Athanasius I
* Peter II
* Timothy I
* Theophilus I
* Cyril I
* Dioscorus I

Coptic Orthodox
Popes and Patriarchs
(451–present)|

* Timothy II
* Peter III
* Athanasius II
* John I
* John II
* Dioscorus II
* Timothy III
* Theodosius I
* Peter IV
* Damian
* Anastasius
* Andronicus
* Benjamin I
* Agathon
* John III
* Isaac
* Simeon I
* Alexander II
* Cosmas I
* Theodore I
* Michael I
* Mina I
* John IV
* Mark II
* James
* Simeon II
* Joseph I
* Michael II
* Cosmas II
* Shenouda I
* Michael III
* Gabriel I
* Cosmas III
* Macarius I
* Theophilus II
* Mina II
* Abraham
* Philotheos
* Zacharias
* Shenouda II
* Christodoulos
* Cyril II
* Michael IV
* Macarius II
* Gabriel II
* Michael V
* John V
* Mark III
* John VI
* Cyril III
* Athanasius III
* John VII
* Gabriel III
* John VII
* Theodosius III
* John VIII
* John IX
* Benjamin II
* Peter V
* Mark IV
* John X
* Gabriel IV
* Matthew I
* Gabriel V
* John XI
* Matthew II
* Gabriel VI
* Michael VI
* John XII
* John XIII
* Gabriel VII
* John XIV
* Gabriel VIII
* Mark V
* John XV
* Matthew III
* Mark VI
* Matthew IV
* John XVI
* Peter VI
* John XVII
* Mark VII
* John XVIII
* Mark VIII
* Peter VII
* Cyril IV
* Demetrius II
* Cyril V
* John XIX
* Macarius III
* Joseph II
* Cyril VI
* Shenouda III
* Tawadros II (current)

Greek Orthodox
Popes and Patriarchs
(451–present)|

* Proterius
* Timothy II
* Timothy III
* John I
* Peter III
* Athanasius II
* John II
* John III
* Dioscorus II
* Timothy IV
* Theodosius I
* Gaianus
* Paul
* Zoilus
* Apollinarius
* John IV
* Eulogius
* Theodore I
* John V
* George I
* Cyrus
* Peter IV
* Peter V
* Peter VI
* Cosmas I
* Politianus
* Eustatius
* Christopher I
* Sophronius I
* Michael I
* Michael II
* Christodoulos
* Eutychius
* Sophronius II
* Isaac
* Job
* Elias I
* Arsenius
* Theophilus II
* George II
* Leontius
* Alexander II
* John VI
* Cyril II
* Sabbas
* Sophronius III
* Elias II
* Eleutherius
* Mark III*
* Nicholas I
* Gregory I
* Nicholas II
* Athanasius III
* Gregory II
* Gregory III
* Niphon
* Mark IV
* Nicholas III
* Gregory IV
* Nicholas IV
* Athanasius IV
* Mark V
* Philotheus
* Mark VI
* Gregory V
* Joachim I
* Silvester
* Meletius I Pegas
* Cyril III
* Gerasimus I
* Metrophanes
* Nicephorus
* Joannicius
* Paisius
* Parthenius I
* Gerasimus II
* Samuel
* Cosmas II
* Cosmas III
* Matthew
* Cyprian
* Gerasimus III
* Parthenius II
* Theophilus III
* Hierotheus I
* Artemius
* Hierotheus II
* Callinicus
* Jacob
* Nicanor
* Nilus
* Sophronius IV
* Photius
* Meletius II
* Nicholas V
* Christopher II
* Nicholas VI
* Parthenius III
* Peter VII
* Theodore II (current)

Latin Catholic
(1276–1954)|

* Atanasio (Athanasius)
* Egidio da Ferrara (Giles)
* ?Humbert II, Dauphin of Vienne
* Juan (John)
* Guillaume de Chanac
* Arnaud Bernard du Pouget (Arnaldo Bernardi)
* uncanonical Jean de Cardaillac
* Pietro Amely di Brunac
* ? Johannes Walteri von Sinten
* uncanonical Simon of Cramaud
* Pietro Amely di Brunac
* Leonardo Dolfin
* Ugo Roberti
* Pietro Amaury di Lordat
* Lancelotus de Navarra
* Giovanni Contarini
* Pietro
* Vitalis di Mauléon
* Giovanni Vitelleschi
* Marco Condulmer
* Jean d'Harcourt
* Arnaldo Rogerii de Palas
* Pedro de Urrea
* Pedro González de Mendoza
* Diego Hurtado de Mendoza
* Alonso de Fonseca y Acevedo
* Bernardino Carafa
* Cesare Riario
* Guido Ascanio Sforza di Santa Fiora
* Ottaviano Maria Sforza
* Julius Gonzaga
* Cristoforo Guidalotti Ciocchi del Monte
* Jacques Cortès
* Tommaso
* Alessandro Riario
* Enrico Caetani
* Giovanni Battista Albani
* Camillo Caetani
* Séraphin Olivier-Razali
* Alessandro di Sangro
* Honoratus Caetani
* Federico Borromeo
* Allesandro Crescenzi
* Aloysius Bevilacqua
* Petrus Draghi Bartoli
* Gregorio Giuseppe Gaetani de Aragonia
* Carlo Ambrosio Mezzabarba
* Filippo Carlo Spada
* Girolamo Crispi
* Giuseppe Antonio Davanzati
* Lodovico Agnello Anastasi
* Francisco Mattei
* Augustus Foscolo
* Paolo Angelo Ballerini
* Domenico Marinangeli
* Paolo de Huyn
* Luca Ermenegildo Pasetto

Melkite Catholic
(1724–present)|

* Cyril VI Tanas
* Athanasius IV Jawhar
* Maximos II Hakim
* Theodosius V Dahan
* Athanasius IV Jawhar
* Cyril VII Siaj
* Agapius II Matar
* Ignatius IV Sarrouf
* Athanasius V Matar
* Macarius IV Tawil
* Ignatius V Qattan
* Maximos III Mazloum
* Clement Bahouth
* Gregory II Youssef-Sayur
* Peter IV Geraigiry
* Cyril VIII Geha
* Demetrius I Qadi
* Cyril IX Moghabghab
* Maximos IV Sayegh
* Maximos V Hakim
* Gregory III Laham
* Youssef I Absi

Coptic Catholic
(1824–present)|

* Maximos Jouwed
* Kyrillos Makarios
* Stéphanos I Sidarouss
* Stéphanos II Ghattas
* Antonios I Naguib
* Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak

* *Markianos is considered Mark II on the Greek side of the subsequent schism, hence this numbering of Mark III.
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