This article uses dates and years written in the Coptic calendar, using the A.M. calendar era, in addition to the Gregorian calendar, using the A.D. calendar era. Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria also called Abba Kyrillos VI, Ⲡⲁⲡⲁ Ⲁⲃⲃⲁ Ⲕⲩⲣⲓⲗⲗⲟⲩ ⲋ̅ ; born, 116th Pope of Alexandria & Patriarch of the See of St. Mark from 10 May 1959 to his death on 9 March 1971.
Early life
Pope Cyril VI was born Azer Youssef Atta in Damanhour, Egypt, into a Coptic Orthodox middle-class family, the son of a deacon. He resigned from a civil service position to become a monk in July 1927. He passed his probationary period and, on 24 February 1928, took his monastic vows at the Paromeos Monastery, assuming the name of Father Mina el-Baramosy. He was also known as Father Mina the Elder. After helping to resolve a conflict between the abbot of El Baramous monastery and some of its elder monks, he requested from Pope John XIX of Alexandria to live in one of the windmills built in Old Cairo during the reign of Muhammad Ali of Egypt. He spent the start of his time in the windmill with no doors or a roof out of love for solitude. He was then pressured by the priests and an "Archon" of a nearby church to renovate the windmill in order to be a more suitable environment to live. The ground floor served as a place for Fr Mina to live and the upper level he placed a sanctuary with an altar to pray daily liturgies in. He stayed in the windmill for some time before his relocation to the Monastery of Saint Samuel the Confessor. After his death, a church was built around the windmill. In 1944 he was nominated to become the abbot of the Monastery of Saint Samuel the Confessor and played a vital role in building a centre for the monastery in El Zawra, renovating the ancient churches of the monastery and building new monk cells. In 1947, Father Mina built the Church of Saint Mina in Cairo. He also used to pray in the Church of the Holy Virgin in Babylon El-Darag before assuming the papacy.
Coptic Pope
Father Mina became Pope of Alexandria on 10 May 1959. In accordance with the old Coptic church tradition, Pope Cyril VI was the only monk in the 20th century A.D./17th century A.M. to be chosen for papacy without having been a bishop /Metropolitan first. Before him, there were three bishops / Metropolitans who became Popes of Alexandria: Pope John XIX, Pope Macarius III and Pope Joseph II. After him, Pope Shenouda III was also a bishop before becoming Pope. In June 1968, Pope Cyril received the relics of Saint Mark the Evangelist and Apostle, which had been taken from Alexandria to Venice over eleven centuries earlier. The relics were interred beneath the newly completed Cathedral of Saint Mark in Cairo, which was built under Pope Cyril and was inaugurated in a ceremony attended by President Nasser, Emperor Haile Selassie, and delegates from most other churches. Cyril's papacy also marked the alleged apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Zeitoun, Egypt. The Seat of Pope Cyril VI was initially located in Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Azbakeya, Cairo. However, during his papacy, he built the Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Abbasseya, also in Cairo, which then became the Seat of the Coptic Orthodox Pope. Pope Cyril died on 9 March 1971, after a short illness. His funeral was held in the Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Abbasseya. He was buried in a temporary tomb under the altar of the cathedral. His body was then relocated according to his will to the Monastery of Saint Mina in Mariut by Pope Shenouda III in November 1971. Pope Shenouda III spoke about his predecessor: "There is no man in all the history of the church like Pope Cyril VI, who was able to pray so many liturgies. He prayed more than 12,000 liturgies. This matter never happened before in the history of the Popes of Alexandria or the world, or even among the monks. He was wondrous in his prayers." On 20 June 2013, 42 years after his death, he was canonised as a saint by the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church.
