54th patriarch of Alexandria

THE FATHER ANBA COSMAS THE PATRIARCH, AND HE IS THE FIFTY-FOURTH OF (THEIR) NUMBER 5. [A. D. 851-858]
When the father Anba Khael went to his rest, there took (his) seat upon the throne, by the grace of the Holy Spirit and by the agreement of the fathers, the bishops, and the Orthodox people of the city of Alexandria, Cosmas. He was a deacon of the church of Saint Abu Macarius, and a native of Samannud. And they assembled at the church and consecrated him patriarch on the fourteenth of Abib in the year five hundred and sixty-seven of the pure Martyrs [Jul. 8, AD 801].
There was peace and tranquillity in the Church, but Satan, the hater of good, stirred up a thorn of evil and caused the Church to stumble. When, in that year, the feast of the martyr Saint Menas drew near, the faithful people from the towns and the villages came together for it (the feast) to present their offerings and their prayers in that church which is the delight of all the Orthodox. There came together there people in whom were devils, and one of them leaped upon and attacked another one similar to him, and they did not cease strangling one another until one of the two died. When the amir, the wali of Alexandria, whose name was Ahmad ibn Dinar, heard of this affair, he commanded that the father Cosmas should be seized, and he took him and tortured him until he had received from him all the contributions which had been 4 paid to him (the patriarch) on the day of the feast that year, and he left (him) none of them. He (the amir) was going to bring down afflictions upon the patriarch and to cause him to lose (his) wealth, and he ordered him (the patriarch) not to depart from Alexandria.
Now there were at that time two archons in Cairo (Misr), lovers of God. One of the two, whose name was Macarius ibn Joseph, was the secretary of the head of a diwan and occupied a position among all those who governed Fustat of Cairo (Misr). Th.e other. Abraham ibn Severus. was the superintendent of the treasury, and was charged with collecting all the taxes on wealth, that he might bring them to the royal coffers. When news reached them (the two archons) of what had happened in the church of the martyr Saint Menas and of what the father, the patriarch, had lost, they took counsel together wisely, and they came to the wali of Cairo (Misr), namely, ‘Abd al-Wahid ibn Yahya the wazir 6, and they said to him: "We are sending to Alexandria to bring the patriarch here, that we may impose on him the tax on property, since he has been newly appointed these days". These archons who loved God did this thing, in order that they might find a means of getting the patriarch away from Alexandria and of delivering him from the hand of that amir. Then the wazir sent people, and he wrote that they should bring the father, the patriarch. When the amir (of Alexandria) learned that this was on account of the taxation, he was unable to prevent him (the patriarch) from going. Having journeyed, he (the patriarch) reached Cairo (Misr), and he saluted the wazir in Cairo (Misr). There was chosen for him a town of the eastern (part) of Egypt (Misr), known as Damirah, all the inhabitants of which were Christians, and the father, the patriarch, dwelt there, on account of the afflictions that were at Alexandria. The two aforesaid archons took care of the affairs of the Church, and they caused the father, the patriarch, to be without anxiety about the affairs of the Sultan, for the time was favourable 5 to them. Abraham entered in his accounts the tax on the property of the Church, and he paid it off from his own money, and he did not allow anyone to speak with the father, the patriarch (about this matter). There was. by the grace of God, a body of the faithful which was in charge of the diwan of the Sultan, and all of them devoted themselves to the Church earnestly and assiduously because of their Faith. They procured tranquillity for the patriarch, the Church and the faithful, and they lived in quietness and peace, and there was no trouble anywhere in those days. They continued the prayers and the liturgies, thanking God for what He had bestowed upon them, as David says: "In the light of Your countenance shall they walk: and in Your Name shall they rejoice all the day, and in Your truth shall they be exalted. For You are the glory of their strength, and in Your truth shall our horn be exalted".
Since this grace and peace continued, the father Cosmas began to occupy himself with the writing of a synodical letter to the father John, patriarch of Antioch 7. He wrote it and sent it by the hands of the saintly bishops Anba Severus, bishop of Daluh and Anba Khael, bishop of al-Basrubin, and with them there were priests. When they reached him (John), he welcomed them with great joy and unity of love and faith. All the churches of Antioch blessed the Lord, and they rejoiced to learn of his (Cosmas) safely and of the safely of the Church of Egypt (Misr) and her provinces. After some days, he (John) dismissed them (the bishops) with glory and honour, and be wrote (letters of) peace expressing love and unity, and he prayed in his letters that the Lord might cause this peace to continue.
It came to pass soon after this, that the hater of good (Satan) did not wait, but he began to sow tares of evil in the heart of the king of the 6 Muslims, namely Ga‘far al-Mutawakkil. He (al-Mutawakkil) brought down upon the churches in every place innumerable afflictions which were that he ordered all the churches to be demolished, and that none of the Orthodox Christians, Melkites, Nestorians, or Jews should wear white garments, but that they should wear dyed garments, so that they might be distinguished among the Muslims. He ordered that frightful pictures should be made on wooden boards and that they should be nailed over the doors of the Christians. He forced most of them (to embrace) al-Islam, and ordered that Christians should not serve in the employment of the Sultan at all, but only Muslims and those who had gone over to al-Islam. In consequence of this, love and patience were diminished m the hearts of many, so that they denied the Lord Christ; some of them denied (Him) on account of the worldly positions which they loved, and others, on account of the poverty they suffered.
When Satan learned that this defiled matter bad been sown in the foreign lands, he began to disseminate it in the land of Egypt by putting into the heart of al-Mutawakkil to continue extending it (the persecution). He (al-Mutawakkil) sent from himself to the land of Egypt a man who was not a Christian, but a Pharisee, named al-Ghair ‘Abd al-Masih 8 ibn Isaac 9, and he appointed him to be overseer of the taxes in Egypt and to be governor. He ordered him to deal with the churches of Egypt and the Christians, even as he had dealt with the city of Baghdad and the East.
When he (al-Ghair ‘Abd al-Masih) arrived in Egypt he began to bring down trials upon the Christians, and he humbled them exceedingly with various afflictions, as he was instructed by Satan. The aforesaid man pretended before the Muslims to perform 7 the commandments of their law, which, (however), he did hypocritically, so that they could say "We have not seen anyone who has come to Egypt and fulfilled the commandments of the religion of al-Islam as this (one)". On Fridays he used to go on foot with his army through the midst of Cairo (Misr) to the mosque for prayer. He detested the Lord Jesus Christ and His Holy Cross and those who clothed themselves with it. Then this odious man began to hide away any appearance of the sign of the Cross, that it should not be seen at all. and they began to break down completely every cross in the churches, and it was not permitted to any of the Christians to walk abroad with an emblem of the Cross. He vexed our religion, so that the Christians began to be unable to pray in the churches, except in a low voice, and if a man passed by a church, he would not have heard the sound of a word from him who was praying. They (the Christians) were forbidden to pray over a Christian who had died 10, and the striking of the nawakis 11 was prohibited. He (al-Ghair ‘Abd al-Masih) became even as Diocletian, and his deeds were as his. Not contented with this, he began to forbid the Christians (to celebrate) the liturgies, and that they might not celebrate (the liturgy) at all, he ordered that (the making) of nabidh 12 should be forbidden in all his province, especially in the city of Cairo (Misr), so that it was not seen at all, neither was it sold nor bought, and all those who dealt in it became poor. His object in all this was that there should not be any wine with which to celebrate the liturgy. As there ceased to exist (any wine), the Christians began to take the wood of vine-stalks and lo soak them in water and press them out, so 8 that they might not be deprived of the Eucharist. Grief and affliction befell the Christians. and they said, as the Three Children said: "You have delivered us into the hands of lawless enemies, hypocritical and contumacious, and to a king unjust, and the most wicked beyond all that are upon the face of the earth. And now we cannot open our mouth, for shame and reproach have befallen Your servants and them that worship You: yet deliver us not up for Your Name's sake".
This tyrant did not cease to lay his yoke heavily upon the Christians on account of the violence of his hatred of them, and he began to perform every evil thing against them. He dismissed the Christian ministerial secretaries from the diwan of the Sultan and substituted Muslims in their stead. When he had performed all these things, even as he had done in the lands of the East, he commanded that Christians and Jews should dye their garments, and he placed over their doors the frightful pictures, which, as we have mentioned before, (he did) in the lands of the East. The subject of this picture portrayed a devil which had many heads and faces with two canine teeth. It was placed above a picture representing a wild pig of very terrifying aspect. He ordered that no Christian should ride upon a horse at all. This that evil man did according to the thoughts of Satan, and for these reasons they (the Christians) forsook their religion. Many people could not endure (these conditions), and they did not trust in their God, but denied the Name of the Saviour in those days of adversity, and they forgot what is said in the Holy Gospel: "But he that endures to the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel (of the Kingdom) shall be preached".
As regards the faithful secretaries who have been mentioned before, they were in great affliction and trouble on account of this one who was not a man. yet through the strength of their belief, when they were dismissed from their employment, they trusted in the mercy of God, 9 Whose remembrance is exalted, and they besought Him not to abandon them.
As regards our father, the patriarch, when he saw the afflictions which had befallen the archons through that devil, and their unemployment and the taking away of their means of livelihood, and that it was those who were taking charge of the affairs of the Church, he was exceedingly sorrowful. Letters reached the father, the patriarch, from the faithful, beseeching him to pray for them. They wrote also to the pious fathers who are dedicated to God in the mountains and in the monasteries that they (the fathers) should continue to pray for them and for the faithful of Christ, that God might remove from them this distress and not forget them and leave them under His wrath and indignation. And the fathers, the monks, were continuing in prayer night and day to preserve the holy Name through which there is deliverance from punishment.
There was also at that time a Christian man who went over to the sect of Islam with his children, and his name was Stephen ibn Anthony. The Devil made him a vessel through which to speak. He (the man) remembered the faithful with every evil, and he said that Christians before this day did not put on garments with sleeves, but that they wore garments without sleeves, even as the monks did, whom they called their fathers, and if the fathers wore this (kind of) garment, there was all the more reason that their children should be like them. -- O you, the Shaikh Anba Zachariah, if you had not done this thing, they would not enter your religion, nor obey in what you desire of them''. He (the man) imagined that the secretaries would refuse to wear these clothes (garments without sleeves) and, (consequently), deny their religion, but the Lord, the Lover of mankind, made their counsel worthless, and He brought it to nothing, as it is written in the Book of Job (Ayyub) which is filled with wisdom: "Who subverts the counsel of the wicked''. Even so God did to this impious man and returned his counsel upon his own head, as Jeremiah the prophet says: "Return, you who 10 take hidden counsel; sow good seed and sow not among thorns, lest my wrath go forth, lest my wrath burn and be not extinguished". Thus did this befall this evil (man).
At that time, a letter from the king reached (al-Ghair ‘Abd al-Masih) ordering him to return and to bring to him (the king) the money of Egypt and what he had collected for him together with the account of the two lands (probably Egypt and the East) and of the Muslim secretaries whom he had employed since he had dismissed the Christians. This happened through the providence of God, Whose Name is glorious. When he (al-Ghair ‘Abd al-Masih) had learned the contents of this (letter) and had read it, he learned from it the bad opinion that the king had of him. He (al-Ghair ‘Abd al-Masih) had married in Egypt and had acquired concubines, and had built houses, and had been granted children (by God), and had received many countless blessings.
Immediately, he was seized with paralysis, and the movements of his hands and his legs were arrested, and he died an evil death, a few days after this affair. They (the days) were counted by Theodore the scribe who used to write the letters for his (al-Ghair ‘Abd al-Masih's) predecessor. He (Theodore) had acquired great renown in his art, and had a beautiful handwriting, and his choice of words was praised by all who read them. He records that they were twenty-one days 13.
Most of the Muslims rejoiced at it (al-Ghair ‘Abd al-Masih's death), since he had not raised their fortunes, but had reduced their sources of livelihood and had caused the merchants to lose their wealth, and had taken away from them by force the best dwelling-places which they possessed, and had taken them by violence. Whenever any dwelling-place pleased him, he would summon its owner and buy it from him and write the deed (for the sale) of this dwelling-place, and he would deliver to him (the owner) the money for it in the presence of witnesses at the time. After the sale had been concluded he would send and demand back the money, and no one got back the money from him which 11 he (al-Ghair ‘Abd al-Masih) had taken, except two men who were brothers. They had a residence, a beautiful building, inherited by them from their father who had spent much money on it. It was like a paradise and did not lack anything in the way of trees and fruits. It overlooked the river of Egypt, and was known (by the name of) their father ‘Ali ibn Sa‘id al-Isfihani. When he (al-Ghair ‘Abd al-Masih) summoned to him these two men who were brothers and required of them the aforesaid residence, they said: "We will not take the price of it, nor write the deed (for its sale), but we present it to you. and we will not go back on what we have said to you, and God Who is exalted is our witness". And they said to him: We will go out of it immediately, and leave it vacant for you within three days".
He thought that God would ignore his wickedness against the two of them. They went out from his presence, and they removed what belonged to them in the residence, and they left it vacant for him. and he dwelt in it. This was the place in which he was afflicted with, paralysis, and his hands lost their use. When he died, as we mentioned, the Egyptians (Misriyyun) stole the money and the property which he possessed. These two brothers then came to the residence, and stood at the door of it and said to the people: "This residence is ours with all that is in it, and this man took it from us by force". The Egyptians (Misriyyun) knew that this which they had said was correct, and no one contested (their right) to it. So they took possession of it and of what was in it, and they became rich, because of what they found in it.
He (al-Ghair ‘Abd al-Masih) had a grown-up son as evil as his father, and even more so. He took the place of his father. He stated that letters had reached him from the king (appointing him) to be in place of his father, after he had remained six months without being seen or his place (of residence) known, until he had prepared the letters (purporting to contain) the mandate of the Khalifah.
When he was installed, he began to do evil, as his father, and he thought that he would take revenge on the Egyptians (Misriyyun) for what had been done to his father, his family and his children. The 12 Egyptians feared him and they said: "God, indeed, was wrathful with us through this man and his father who was before him. What shall we do with regard to him?" The saying of Isaiah the prophet was fulfilled: "Sinners and those who transgress the Law shall perish together, and they that forsake the commandments of the Lord shall be crushed, for they shall be ashamed".
The trials increased each day for the Christians through this mutawalli, and his evil deeds increased each day. He who never grieved, grieved for the inhabitants of Egypt, most of all for the Christians. O my brethren, hearken to this, when the Cross of Christ was broken in every place and no one was able to let it be seen, in order that Christians might hold fast through seeing it and hope for salvation through it, and likewise, the sacred nakus, the voice of which drives away Satan and his hosts, and which rouses the sluggard to the remembrance of his God, (when) he (the mutawalli) ordered that it should be cut down, so that the saying of Paul the Apostle was fulfilled: "They chastise us and we endure and we are become as contemptible men" and the Christians were tormented more than all this, until they denied their Faith and passed from life to death, hearken to what happened at that time, for it is an admonition to you. O brethren who believe in Christ, that you should know that the Lord Most High is terrible (and) fearful, and that He manifested His wonders, even as He did not conceal His might at the time when He was crucified by the disbelieving Jews who did not believe in the miracles they saw, as the rending of the veil of the Temple which was rent from the top to the bottom, and as the dead who rose from the graves, and as the rocks which were rent, and as the dividing of the day in two. In like manner also, He caused His elect who believe in His Name to know His perfect mysteries, that everyone might know that He abases the nations that obey Him not.
It happened at the time of the coming of this odious man to the land of Egypt, in the year five hundred and sixty-nine of the pure 13 Martyrs [852 AD], that this fearful sign appeared, namely, that all the monks who dwelt in the monastery of Abu Macarius observed the picture of the Lord Christ, the Merciful One. which is in the church of Saint Severus which is upon the Rock, how its side opened and blood came forth from it. All who saw this blood feared and glorified God for His marvellous works. The God-fearing people who are worthy of being believed took of that blood in faith, and they placed it upon people who had various diseases, and they were cured of their diseases immediately. The Lord desired to manifest a sign for the faithful, so that they might abound in hope in Him and in His pure Cross. He manifested in that year many wonders, namely, that the eyes of all the pictures which were in the Wadi Habib, at the monastery of Abu Macarius and elsewhere, gushed with tears like fountains of waters. They knew that this was on account of what the evil and unjust walls did in hiding away the Cross. These miracles caused them to be patient and strengthened them in all that befell them through the walls and kadis.
It was at that time that the wall ordered the building of ships in all the towns which were on the coasts, because it was at that time that the Greeks (Rum) came to Damietta 14 and pillaged it and remained in it for three days, and they went away with captives from it and with its gold and its silver to the land of the Greeks. On account of that there were built many ships of the fleet, and every year they repaired those which were damaged and built new ones in place of those which were broken; and they sailed with them to the land of the Greeks (Rum) and made war on them (the Greeks). Much money was spent every year on the fleet. As regards the Christians, they sent them to the ships, and they did not pay them a single dirham for what they (the Christians) spent on their journey, nor (did they pay them any money as) provisions for the journey, but they provided a ration of food for them only, and forced them to observe this (rule). The 14 mutawalli did this on account of his great hatred for the Christians, and he made a list of all the towns and directed that a large number of men from each village should sail in the ships. Moreover, he did not give to them any weapon, and he examined their circumstances, and he who was found without a weapon, or in whose weapon there was a defect, he (the mutawalli) would ill-treat him and force him to pay a fine and compel him to buy military equipment wherewith to fight. So they would take people who were weak and who had not the strength to travel, and who had no knowledge of the art of sailing or of fighting. These gave what they possessed to him who would travel in their stead. When they (the Christians) complained of the expenses which they had, and when they found a way to escape from these works and (to adopt) others, they did so. Then he (the mutawalli) ordered that two dinars should be given to each of the Christians, and that this should be increased to fifteen dinars for any Muslim who acted as substitute for a Christian. On account of the persecution which they (the Christians) suffered they ardently desired death; but the Lord, the Compassionate and the Merciful One, Who visits His people at all times, beheld (and) saw the sighing of His people and their weeping; and those days were not lengthened, but He (God) shortened them, and He showed forth the abundance of His mercy upon the unhappy land of Egypt, and He heard the voice of the poor, as David the prophet says: "He hath heard the voice of the poor and hath not despised His elect".
When it reached the king 15 what this mutawalli had done in Egypt and what he had done to the Christians, and the straights in which they were, he sent and removed that evil wali who had done this to the Christians, and he sent another man known as Yazid ibn‘Abd-Allah 16. This (man) dealt well with men, and the land of Egypt was at rest. The merchants exposed (for sale) corn, and blessings and good things increased in every place, and affliction was removed from men. The souls of the inhabitants of the land of Egypt found pleasure and saw many good things. This was in the days of 15 Ga‘far al-Mutawakkil ‘ala Allah. This king turned his attention at that time to the cities which were in the land of the East and (in that part of) Egypt which is near the river, because the Greeks (Rum) had plundered Damietta in his day. Then he gave the money for the expenses of building the walls at Tinnis and Damietta, as also at the great city of Alexandria, and for all the works at al-Burullus, Asmun, at-Tinah, Rosetta, and Nastaruh, through fear of the Greeks (Rum). He completed them as was necessary, and erected fortresses and many memorials in the land of Egypt in place of what was done to the Christians, and (he practised) justice and upright rule.
There was in Egypt a kadi far from being unjust, who judged uprightly, and he was not a hypocrite, and his name was al-Harith ibn Maskin 17. He replaced the unjust kadi whom we have mentioned before, and whom God had requited for what he had done to the father Anba Joseph, the patriarch. These three mutawallis of that time, the wall, the nazir and the kadi were all alike in justice and good deeds towards everyone, so that people forgot the trials and hunger which, they had experienced, according to the saying of Ezechiel the prophet: "They shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the yoke which is upon them, and I will deliver them out of the hand of those that hate them. And the nations shall not spoil them, and the wild beasts of the earth shall not devour them; and they shall be hopeful, and there shall be none to make them afraid. And I will raise up for them a plant of peace, and they shall no more perish (with hunger) upon the land". God did this thing: for the inhabitants of Egypt in the latter days, the days of Ga‘far al-Mutawakkil, and He did likewise for the great city (Alexandria), so that all who dwelt in and around it enjoyed security. Now the sea 18 of Alexandria had 16 dried up, and there was no water in it, and its (Alexandria's) inhabitants were in great straights on account of this. No ship could reach it (Alexandria) except at the time of (the inundation) of the Nile.
When the king Ga‘far al-Mutawakkil learned of this, he ordered the aforesaid sea to he dug out from its beginning to the interior of the city (Alexandria). Then it (the water-way) filled with water, since the river Nile flowed (into it), and large vessels were able to enter it and to cast anchor in the centre of the city, and the bridges over it (the water-way) were repaired. When it was filled, (the water) flowed out of it into the salt sea. The souls of the inhabitants of Alexandria and of the strangers who came to it found rest, and ships and merchants multiplied in it. The people planted vines and gardens along the canal, on account of the abundance of the water, and in the interior of their dwellings as well as outside the city, for its (Alexandria's) earth is a good and holy earth bearing fruits. The people restored the dwellings, in the ruined (district) until they reached with their rebuilding the place which is called Mamtarmur, the place in which there is the cell of the father, the patriarch. They (the people) glorified God for the graces which they perceived that (He had bestowed) upon them, and they prayed for the king Ga‘far al-Mutawakkil.
The father, the patriarch, Anba Cosmas was living in the town known as Damirah in quietness and peace during (these) days. The archons of Cairo (Misr) were taking charge of his affairs and bearing his burden and they did not let him be in need of (the help) of anyone of the people, or of what (was necessary) for the support of his state and his cell or of his sons and his pages.
These great graces occurred at the end of his days, when his term was drawing to a close. The Christians who had been driven away from Egypt returned to it again, when they heard of the graces which had been bestowed upon them. The affairs of the Christians went well. 17
At that time an overseer called Solomon arrived in Egypt. On his arrival, Macarius, one of the two archons died. As regards Abraham, he continued to perform good deeds and did not cease to do so, and he took charge of the affairs of the Church and undertook the affairs of the father, the patriarch, and he did in like manner with the bishops of the land of Egypt and with the monasteries. He devoted himself to them with regard to their means of existence, and he satisfied their needs out of his great love for Christ and by reason of his position among the walls. He knew that of necessity the Enemy would bring down afflictions upon the churches, as is his custom to do in every age and at every time. The Lord Jesus Christ the Merciful One does not cause anyone to be afflicted beyond the power of his endurance and what he is able to bear, as says the Apostle Paul. God wished to take the father Cosmas to Him and to give him rest from this transitory world and to translate him to the dwellings of the righteous. He (the patriarch) went to his rest and committed his spirit into the hands of the Creator in tranquillity and peace. The duration of his occupation of the Evangelical throne was seven years and five months.
When this father fell sick of the illness which caused him to go to his rest, he went to a district of the provinces of Lower Egypt and built there a church. This district belonged to the diocese of Sakha and it was called Dinusar. The church was dedicated to the Saint and Martyr Ptolemaeus, and he remained there alone so that he might complete the building of it. His illness, however, became more severe, and he returned to the dwelling in which he lodged at Dinusar. Here he went to his rest 18 on the twenty-first day of Hatur, in the evening, in the year of the righteous Martyrs five hundred and seventy-five [17 Nov 858 AD]. They placed his body in the church which he had built, and he received the crown with his sainted fathers, the virtuous fathers, in the land of the living. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. One God, now and at all times and to the eternity of eternities. Amen.