Pope Kyrillos IV (1816-61) Pioneer of Coptic Reform

We are before a pure Egyptian character, Pope Kyrillos IV, one of the great reformers and enlightenment pioneers of the modern age whose name deserves to be added to all the Egyptian enlightenment pioneers such as Mohamed Abdu, Refa'a At-Tahtawi, Ali Mubarak and Qassem Amin.

He is Pope Kyrillos IV (1854-61), the 10th Patriarch of the Orthodox Coptic Church. The Egyptians called him the father of reform due to his enlightenment thoughts which everyone had praised. He was born in 1816 in one of Akhmim's villages.

 Before being a pope, he was called Daoud. He learnt reading and writing in both the Arabic ad Coptic languages, in addition to arithmetic and riding horses. He also helped his father in farming.

 In 1838, he went to "Saint Antonio's" Monastery at the eastern mountain of the Red Sea where he was famous of reading. He gained the trust of the head of the Monastery. At the age of 24, he was chosen as the chief of monastery instead of the late one. He had his prints on the place as he had realized the following achievements: He established the Men of Religion's Library for everyone to benefit from, and a school for teaching the Copts the Arabic and Coptic languages, in addition to the principles of the true religion. As for himself, he was interested in learning the principles of Arabic grammar. He also used to follow up the teaching process in his school and encourage the students on learning.

 He also contributed to restoring the only mosque in his village, as he said, "Isn't it a shame on the monks of this Village to leave the only mosque unrestored, restore it and I will provide you with the needed finance."

In 1853, a difference occurred between the Egyptian bishop of Ethiopia and the Ethiopian clerics. So, Pope Paul VII decided to send Priest Daoud to solve this problem, especially that the missionary activities were then so active.

In 1858, he bought many houses near the Marxist Church in Azbakia, the headquarters of the Pope and demolished them to build a Christian school for education. This school was opened in 1855 to educate all students, regardless to their nationalities, creeds and religion.

Moreover, he paid special interest to women through establishing two schools for girls in Haret al-Saqayeen District and al-Azbakia. He also paid special interest to teaching, beside the Arabic and Coptic languages, both the English and Italian ones.

 He was also one of the Egyptian pioneers who believed in educating and promoting the level of Egyptian women. He wanted his schools to be universities as he saw that the American missions pay special interest to educating the youth the English language and that the Italian is the language of trade.

 As regards the church, he wanted the deacons to master the hymns of the church and he was always keen that the Orthodox Coptic Church would preserve its heritage for the coming generations.

 Moreover, he paid special interest to educating the saints, deacons and the clerics and this was an introduction for the Clerical Church which Pope Kyrillos V had established and administered now by Pope Shenouda III. He also respected the priests, so he gave them monthly salaries but ordered that such salaries would be only given to those who perform the Celebration of Mass in the Coptic language.

 For the second time in his life, Pope Kyrillos IV had visited Ethiopia, but this time was not for addressing a religious problem, but for performing a religious task, as Said Pasha, the Wali of Egypt, had assigned him there to sign a peace treaty with its king Theodore. The choice of the Coptic Patriarch was due to the strong relationship between the Egyptian and the Ethiopian Churches. His mission there had lasted for 18 months, where he faced many difficulties but he succeeded and returned to Egypt with the King's priest and an Ethiopian minister to let Said Pasha sign the peace treaty.

The Pope's Patriotism
Pope Kyrillos had asked Said Pasha to allow the existence of Copts in the municipal councils as their Muslim Brothers, let them join the high schools of medicine, engineering and work as civil servants. He also demanded that the Copts in the military service would not be deprived from promotion.

Furthermore, he established a record to register all the Coptic religious endowments, conciliated between the Orthodox Coptic Church on the one hand, and both the Greek Orthodox and the Angelic Episcopal Church on the other hand, along with his conviction with the necessity of preserving the features of the Coptic Church.

 Pope Kyrillos died at the age of 45 and was buried in the Marxist Church in al-Azbakia district, the then headquarters of the Pope. He will always remain as a symbol for preserving the texture of the Egyptian Muslim and Coptic unity.