Skip to content
Surf Wiki
Save to docs
people/1320s

From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Pope John VIII of Alexandria

Head of the Coptic Church from 1300 to 1320


Summary

Head of the Coptic Church from 1300 to 1320

FieldValue
typePope
honorific-prefixPope
nameJohn VIII of Alexandria
titlePope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark
enthroned14 February 1300
ended29 May 1320
predecessorTheodosius III
successorJohn IX
birth_nameYohanna Ben-Ebsal
birth_placeBani-Khosaim, Egypt
death_date29 May 1320
death_placeEgypt
buriedShahran Monastery
nationalityEgyptian
religionCoptic Orthodox Christian
residenceSaint Mercurius Church in Coptic Cairo

| honorific-prefix = Pope | honorific-suffix =

John VIII ibn Qiddis (died 29 May 1320) was the 80th pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church from 14 February 1300 until his death.

Pope John VIII was born in Meniat Bani-Khosaim. His real name was Yohanna Ben-Ebsal, but he was known as El Mo'ataman Ebn El-Kedees. He became monk at the Monastery of Shahran and was ordained Pope on 19 Meshir 1016 AM (14 February 1300 AD).

During the papacy of John VIII, severe tribulations befell the Christians in Egypt and heavy taxes were imposed. An official from Morocco was displeased to find the Copts so active in the financial sector. Many churches were closed in Cairo and in different parts of the country. Exceptions were the monasteries in Alexandria and a few churches in other cities. An envoy from the emperor of Ethiopia came to intercede on behalf of the Christians. Two churches were subsequently opened, one of them was the Coptic Orthodox church of the Church of the Virgin Mary (Haret Zuweila), and the other was the Melkite church of Saint Nicholas in El-Hamzawe.

Pope John VIII was a contemporary of Saint Parsoma, and presided over his funeral. He was the last to reside in the church of Saint Mercurius Church in Coptic Cairo. He was the first to relocate the patriarchal throne to the Church of the Virgin Mary (Haret Zuweila). He was residing there in the year 1303 AD. when a severe earthquake caused great destruction in Syria and Egypt. Ebn Kabre indicated that Pope John VIII had made some changes in the Liturgy. He died on 4 Paoni 1036 A.M. (29 May 1320 AD) after 20 years, 3 months, and 15 days on the Patriarchal Throne.

References

before=Theodosius III| title=Coptic Pope| years=1300–1320| after=John IX}}

References

  1. Youhanna Youssef, ''The Interpretations of the Theotokias by the Patriarch John ibn Qiddis'' (Gorgias Press, 2020), p. 2.
  2. 9789774167775, p. 76
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Pope John VIII of Alexandria — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report