During the reign of Al-Muizz – who was the first Fatimid ruler of Egypt – the Islamic government was ambivalent in its treatment of the Copts, alternating sympathy and abuse with atrocity and brutality.

Finally the bishops and Coptic community leaders assembled in the Church of St. Serguis and Bacchus in Cairo in order to choose possible candidates.

While they were convening, Abraham the Syrian, a man devoted to religion and piety, entered the church.

[3] Immediately upon taking office, Abraham suppressed the practice of simony which had become a significant problem during the last several patriarchates.

He then turned his attention to the often degraded morals of the church archons, who frequently kept concubines as well as their legal wives.