Being the founder of the Church in Egypt, St. Mark
is considered its first Pope, and those who sat on his chair
after him are his successors. They have continued in
unbroken line since his martyrdom until the present day. The
resent Pope, Shenouda III, was consecrated on November
12 th 1971, the hundred and seventeenth Patriarch of the See
of Alexandria. The very first successor to St. Mark was
Anianus who was the first convert and who had been
ordained by the Apostle him self.
The successors to St. Mark were the first to be
entitled "Pope," which means "Father of fathers". This is
clearly evident from the old manuscripts. The most
convincing evidence is given to us by the Holy Liturgy legate
by St. Mark himself and written down by Abba Kyrillos I.^1
Today the official title of the head of the Coptic Church is
"Pope and Patriarch of the great city of Alexandria, all of
Egypt, the Middle East, Ethiopia, Nubia and the Pentapolis”.
For a few centuries, the first duty incumbent on each
successor to the Evangelist after his consecration, was to
perform three liturgies: one in the Church of the Evangelists,
the second in the Church of the Archangel Mikhail, and the
last in the Church of St. Mark (all in Alexandria). When he
ended the third liturgy, the Alexandrian Prelate carried on his
arms the cask containing the Apostolic head of the Beholder-
of-God (as St. Mark is still entitled), and marched at the
