Synaxarium
Daily Stories of the Saints
for the Blessed Month of Baramhat
The Sixteenth Day of the Blessed Month of Baramhat
Baramhat 16
Departure of the Saint Anba Khail (Mikhail),
the Forty-Sixth Pope of the See of St.Mark
On this day of the year 483 A.M. (March
12th, 767 A.D.) the holy father Anba Khail (Mikhail), the forty six Pope
of the See Of St. Mark, departed. This father was a monk in the monastery
of St. Macarius and he was knowledgeable and ascetic. When Pope Theodorus
the forty fifth Patriarch, his predecessor, departed the bishops of Lower
Egypt (Delta) and the priests of Alexandria gathered in the church of Anba
Shenouda in Cairo. A Dispute arose among them about who was fit, and finally
they called Anba Mousa, Bishop of Ouseem, and Anba Petros, Bishop of Mariout.
When they arrived, Anba Mousa found the priests of Alexandria obstinate,
he rebuked them for that, and dismissed them that night so their minds
and souls might calm down. When they met the next day he mentioned to them
the name of the priest Khail the monk in the monastery of St. Macarius.
They unanimously agreed to his choice and obtained a decree from the Governor
of Egypt to the elders of the wilderness of Sheahat (Wadi El-Natroun) to
bring him from the monastery. On their way, when they arrived to Geza they
found father Khail coming along with some elders to fulfill a certain task
connected with the monastery. They seized him, bound him, and took him
to Alexandria where they ordained him Patriarch on the 17th. of Tute, year
460 A.M. (September 14th., year 743 A.D.). It Happened that there was a
drought in the city of Alexandria for two years, and on that day the rain
fell heavily for three days and the people of Alexandria considered that
a good omen.
During the reign of Marawan the last
of the Khalifas of the Umayyad rule and during the governorship of Hefs
Ebn El-Walid and during the days of this father many great tribulations
fell upon the believers. A large number of the believers fled from Egypt
and the number of those who denied Christ was twenty-four thousand, and
because of that the Patriarch was in great sorrow until God perished those
were responsible for that. This father endured many difficulties from Abdel
Malek Ebn-Marawan the new governor. He imprisoned, beaten, chained, and
tortured him with many other ways of painful tortures, then he released
him. The Patriarch went to Upper Egypt to collect alms and when he came
back, the Governor took the money from him and threw him back in prison.
When Keriakos king of Nuba knew that, he was extremely enraged, he prepared
one hundred thousand soldiers and marched down to Egypt. Going threw Upper
Egypt he slew all the Muslims that he met, until he reached El Fostat (Cairo),
he camped around the city threatening to destroy it. When Abdel Malek the
Governor saw the army surrounding the city and that all this had taken
place for the sake of the Patriarch, he became terrified, so he released
him from prison with great honor. The Governor entreated the Patriarch
to mediate peace between him and the king of Nuba.
The Patriarch agreed to his request,
so he went with some of the clergy to meet the king and asked him to accept
the peace from abdel Malek which the king accepted and returned back. Abdel
Malek respected the Christians and lifted up all his retribution. When
the father the Patriarch prayed for the sake of the Governor's daughter,
who was possessed with an unclean spirit, and with his prayers the unclean
spirit left her, the Governor increased his respect for the Christians.
This father debated with Cosmas the Melchite Patriarch concerning the Hypostatic
Union. Pope Khail wrote him a letter, signed it along with his bishops,
which said in it: "It is not right to say that in Christ two distinct Natures
or two distinct Persons after the Hypostatic Union." Cosmas was convinced
with that and asked to become a bishop under the authority of Anba Khail.
When Anba Khail completed his strife, he departed to the Lord whom he loved
after he had spent on the Chair of St. Mark twenty-three and half years.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.