In Pics: Pope Tawadros leads funeral mass of Bishop Epiphanius

CAIRO – 31 July 2018: Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria led Tuesday the funeral mass of St. Macarius Monastery Head, Bishop Epiphanius.

Pope Tawadros said during the funeral that took place in the monastery in Wadi El- Natrun that Bishop Epiphanius was a model and a high priest, adding that he wrote many books in different fields of knowledge.

Pope Tawadros also added that he always used to consult Bishop Epiphanius because of his knowledge. The pope pointed out that he tasked Bishop Epiphanius with attending conferences; the late bishop attended 20 conferences in five years.



"He was simple in his clothes, his house and his food. Bishop Epiphanius was very simple and he preferred to sit in the last rows,"Tawadros said.

"Despite the bitterness of pain, we raise our hands to the skies where our comfort lies,” the pope said, warning the monks against appearing on the media, and saying "You have been cut off from the world and should not be used in any way."

The church’s statement mentioned that the bishop’s death is being investigated by the security authorities as mystery shrouds the incident.

The late bishop was found dead and covered in blood on Sunday morning. The preliminary security investigation suggested that Bishop Epiphanius was hit by a sharp object. The body of the bishop was transferred to the morgue of the Wadi El-Natrun Central Hospital.

Suggestions that the crime is part of a terrorist attack were reportedly excluded as the bishop was not a famous public figure and did not look different from the monks inside the St. Macarius Monastery.

Wagih Mikhail, head of the Center for Middle Eastern Christianity of the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo, said that Bishop Epiphanius lectured Muslims and Christians in the seminary, adding that he won the hearts of his students.

When Bishop Epiphanius was invited to an international Christian conference, he came early and gave a perfect academic speech, Wagih said. On the following day, Epiphanius sat in the last row in the hall and refused to sit in one of the front rows, saying: “yesterday I was a speaker. Today I came to learn,” Wagih added describing the late bishop’s modesty.

Bishop Epiphanius was born in 1954 in Tanta, Gharbia governorate and graduated from the Faculty of Medicine. In February 1984, he joined the Monastery of St. Macarius in Wadi El-Natrun and only a few months later, he was ordained as a monk. He was ordained as a priest in 2002, and was elected as the head of the monastery in 2013.