Pope Shenouda III laid to rest

Tens of thousands of Christians packed into St Mark's Cathedral on Sunday and Monday to pay their respects the Pope Shenouda III, head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, who died on 17 March. His funeral was held today at St Mark's Cathedral in Cairo. After the service, Pope Shenouda's body was flown some 100 kilometres by military aircraft to Beheira province in the northwest, where the motorcade took it to St Bishoy monastery in Wadi Natroun. He was buried in the 4th century monastery with a large cross of flowers over his tomb.

Trubutes have been pouring in Pope Shenouda who led the Coptic Church for more than 40 years, amid growing sectarian tensions in the country including increasing attacks on churches by Islamists.

In a message, to the Coptic Orthodox Church expressing his "most sincere brotherly compassion" Pope Benedict said: "I recall with gratitude his commitment to Christian unity, including his memorable visit to my predecessor Pope Paul VI and their signing of the Joint Declaration of Faith in the Incarnation of the Son of God together in Rome, on 10 May 1973, as well as his Cairo meeting with Pope John Paul II during the Great Jubilee of the Incarnation, on 24 February 2000."

The Pontiff added: "The Catholic Church shares the grief that afflicts the Copts and stands in fervent prayer asking that He, who is the Resurrection and the Life, might welcome his faithful servant."

Aid to the Church in Need's Neville Kyrke-Smith described him as "an eminent Christian leader who led his flock through tumult and turmoil".

Mr Kyrke-Smith said: "In this time of change and trial in Egypt a figure such as Pope Shenouda will be hard to replace. The country's Christian communities have been destabilised by recent events and the prayer and support of Christians around the world will be essential at this time.

"We will be praying for the Coptic Orthodox Church and for the repose of the soul of this eminent Christian leader who led his flock through tumult and turmoil."

Pope Shenouda III was born Nasir Gajed on 3rd August 1923 in the southern Egyptian town of Assiut. At the age of 31 he entered the monastery of the Virgin Mary in Scetes, where he remained until 1962, when Pope Cyril VI ordained him as Bishop of Ecclesiastical Education and appointed him Dean of the Coptic Orthodox Theological Seminary.

After the death of Cyril VI in 1971 Shenouda was chosen to be his successor as Patriarch of Alexandria. A committed ecumenist, he also opened the International Commission for Inter-Orthodox Theological Dialogue's first conference in 1989.

In April 1994 he oversaw the reception of the British Orthodox Church into the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria. The British Orthodox Church was set up as a Syrian Orthodox mission to the British Isles in 1866, but it became estranged from its mother church in the early years of the twentieth century.

There are about ten million members of the Coptic Orthodox Church worldwide, of which about eight million are in Egypt, making them the largest Christian minority in the Middle East.