WATANI International
25 July 2010
Anba Shenouda the Archimandrite is commemorated every year in a mulid (a popular celebration to mark the birth or death of a saint) held during the Coptic month of Abib—which coincides with July/August—in his monastery at Sohag, Upper Egypt. For a full month, visitors can take part in Holy Masses and spiritual activities on a daily basis.
The highlight of the day is the zaffa, the procession of deacons in their white robes and red sashes carrying Anba Shenouda’s icon along the monastery premises, while singing praises and hymns.
Anba Shenouda was born in 348 in a village in Upper Egypt to devout Christian parents. In a later trip to his uncle Pigol’s monastery, the White Monastery, while in the company of his father, his uncle kept him as a result of a vision. There he stayed until he was made a monk in the austere style of his uncle. He was later entrusted with the training of the new monks. Around 385, he was chosen by his fellow monks to succeed his uncle as abbot of the monastery. He became famous as a staunch man of the spirit, a prolific writer, and even a warrior when needs be.
Because of his popularity in Upper Egypt and his zeal for orthodoxy, he was chosen by St Cyril the Great to accompany him, to represent the Church of Alexandria, to the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus in 431. There he provided the moral support that St Cyril needed to defeat the heresy of Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinopole
After a long blessed life, and following a short illness undoubtedly brought upon by his advanced age of 118 years, he passed away in the presence of his beloved monks in 466. The Coptic Church commemorates this blessed event on the 7th day of the Coptic month of Abib (July 14).