He was given the title ‘Teacher of Generations’ for his great talent at relaying complicated theological and other religious concepts in a simple, understandable and deeply spiritual manner.

After graduation, he completed his military service, and began work as a teacher of English, history, and social sciences in a high school in Cairo.

Nazir with others laboured for several years to establish a strong Sunday school and youth group at St Anthony's Church in Shubra.

On 30 September 1962, Pope Cyril VI appointed him to the bishopric of Christian Education and as Dean of the Coptic Orthodox Theological Seminary.

[citation needed] In May 1973, he penned a statement on the Nature of Christ that was agreed upon with the Roman Catholic Church in a step towards settling the Christological dispute and moving towards Christian unity.

[citation needed] From 25 to 30 September 1974, he went on a pastoral trip to visit the Ethiopian Church during the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia.

[citation needed] Ten years into his papacy, in 1981, Pope Shenouda III had famously fallen out with President Anwar Sadat of Egypt.

[11] Pope Shenouda III came into conflict with then-President Anwar Sadat over both the Camp David Accords and what he said was the president's deficient response to growing Islamism.

His stance toward Israel was encapsulated by his words: From the Arabic national point we should not abandon our Palestinian brothers and our Arabic brothers by normalising our relations with the Jews ... From the church point of view, Copts who go to Jerusalem betray their church in the case of "Al-Sultan Monastery" that Israel refuses to give to the Copts.He also warned that Copts who visited Jerusalem would face excommunication on the premise that there was "no pilgrimage duty in Christianity and it is not a religious pillar, so since this visit can do harm to our national cause and [to the] Muslim and Christian people then we better not visit Jerusalem."

The Coptic Orthodox Holy Synod, based on the direction of Pope Shenouda III, also decided to ask Copts not to visit Jerusalem until the church possessions and the monastery be returned.

Fourth, they are committing a wrongful act not approved by religion.Persecution against Christians during Pope Shenouda III's reign was chiefly conducted by private individuals and organizations, especially radical Salafis, although the state continued to enforce long-standing discriminatory policies and engage in occasional Christian-baiting.

[clarification needed] Particularly in Upper Egypt, the rise in extremist Salafi groups such as the Gama'at Islamiya during the 1980s was accompanied by attacks on Copts and on Coptic churches.

[15] Hundreds of Coptic Christian girls have been kidnapped and forcibly converted to Islam, as well as being victims of rape and forced marriage to Muslim men.

[23] On the eve of 7 January 2010, as worshippers were leaving the Mar-Yuhanna (St. John) church in Nag Hammadi after Eastern Christmas Mass (which finishes around midnight), three Muslim men in a car opened fire, killing 8 Christians and injuring another 10.

[29] Successive Egyptian governments have long held in place laws that hampered the freedom of Christian worship and restricted the right to build or even renovate churches.

[citation needed] In an address he gave at an ecumenical forum during the International Week of Prayer in 1974, he declared, "The whole Christian world is anxious to see the church unite.

He, along with the Holy Synod, argued that the removal of Patriarch Abune Tewophilos was illegal and contrary to canon law, as it was an act of political interference.

[36] Pope Shenouda III was involved in theological disagreements concerning the issue of theosis—the transforming effect of divine grace.

[citation needed] In the months prior to Pope Shenouda's death, rumours, which were denied by the Holy Synod, had spread through Cairo's Coptic community that he had fallen into a coma.

"[39][40] Pope Shenouda III died on 17 March 2012 (8 Paremhat 1728 in the Coptic calendar)[41] of lung and liver complications[42] at his official residence shortly after returning from medical treatment abroad.

[3] The funeral took place after three days of lying in state;[45] on 20 March, he was buried at the Monastery of Saint Pishoy[44] in Wadi el-Natrun,[46] in accordance with his wishes.

Due to his failing health and age, Mikhail delegated this duty to Metropolitan Pachomios during the first meeting of the Holy Synod after Shenouda's death.

[45] During the night, an estimated one million or more mourners[43] were said to have visited his body at St. Mark's Cathedral, causing traffic jams stretching for kilometres.

[45] The body was taken out of the coffin and lay in a seated position on a ceremonial throne dressed in gold- and red-embroidered vestments, a golden mitre upon his head with a gold-tipped staff in his hand.

[48] So large was the crowd of mourners gathering in Cathedral Square to pay their respects that three were killed and 137 injured in a crush as the queue to view the body of the deceased pope stretched for more than one kilometer.

"[52] Its leader, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, decreed three days of mourning for Christians working for state institutions.

[46] The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party's Speaker of Parliament Saad Katatni said of Shenouda's death that Egypt had lost "one of its national icons, a man who left a void in the political arena at a critical time.

Prime Minister Kamal el-Ganzouri's statement read: "I give my sincere condolences to the Coptic brothers home and abroad.

"[53] Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the grand imam of al-Azhar University, said that "Egypt has lost one of its rare men at a sensitive moment when it most needs the wisest of its wise – their expertise and their purity of minds;"[45] he also added that he "greatly remembers his vision towards Jerusalem and its history.

[54] In 2000, Pope Shenouda III was awarded the UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence by UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura on the recommendation of an international jury.