ABBA KYRILLOS - Coptic Church Review

6 INTRODUCTIONhis death, but still seated upon the patriarchal throne of Saint Mark: large electricfans cool his body as the patriarch receives the final, tearful farewells of the faithful.A few of these extraordinary images are available in photographic collections,others enliven the pages of numerous monographs and books devoted to the studyof the life and miracles of the Coptic “Pope Kyrillos the sixth, the Most Holy Popeand Patriarch of the great city of Alexandria and of all the land of Egypt, ofJerusalem the Holy City, of Nubia, Abyssinia and Pentapolis, and all the preachingof Saint Mark” 3A student of the Coptic Orthodox Church, visiting Egypt in the 1900s, quicklydiscovers that the iconographic presence is an accurate reflection of the impact ofthis solitary monk upon the Egyptian Church. His importance for modern Churchhistory in Egypt is the equivalent of Mao Tse Tung’s in contemporary Chinese history.Both deserve their status as icons. The church in Egypt at the end of the twentiethcentury is the church created during the primacy of Abba Kyrillos.3 Quoted in Edward Wakin A Lonely Minority: The modern story of Egypt's Copts (The challenge ofsurvival for four million (sic.) Christians. Wm. Morrow, New York, USA, 1963 p. 103.