Athanasius, Metropolitan of Beni Suef
Egyptian bishop
Metropolitan Athanasius (1923–2000) was the Coptic Orthodox bishop of Beni Suef and El-Bahnasa in Egypt from 1962 until his death in 2000. Like Pope Shenouda III, Bishop Athanasius had his roots in the Sunday School movement, a reform movement in the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt.
Life
Early life
He was born in El-Mahalla al-Kubra on May 2, 1923, with the name Abdelmasih Bishara. His family was known by the name qassis (meaning "priest") because of the large number of Coptic clergy it had produced over at least six generations. Most famously, Bishara's uncle was Pope Macarius III who had served as the 114th Patriarch of the Coptic Church from 1944 to 1945.
After completing high school, he studied at the American University in Cairo, earning a Licenciate in English Literature (1944) and a Bachelor of Education and Psychology (1952), while also working as an English teacher in Aswan and lecturing on the New Testament in the Coptic Theological Seminary in Cairo.
Monastic life
On September 7, 1958, he joined the Syrian Monastery, taking the monastic name of Macarius al-Suryani.
Bishop of Beni Suef and El-Bahnasa
On July 22, 1962, the previous Metropolitan of Beni Suef (also named Athanasius) died. On September 9 of the same year, Pope Kyrillos VI ordained Macarius al-Suryani as the new bishop of Beni Suef and added El-Bahnasa to this bishopric, giving him the name of his predecessor. Thus, he is sometimes referred to as Athanasius II of Beni Suef.
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