During this week in 1994, one of the most remarkable Coptic scholars, Iris Habib Elmasry, passed away. She was a pioneering historian, politician, and theologian. Her life was not merely a personal achievement but a testament to what it means to serve one’s people with intellect, faith, and consistent devotion.
Elmasry’s magnum opus, the nine-volume Story of the Coptic Church, retells Coptic Orthodox history with unmatched comprehensiveness and devotion. In addition to publishing around 100 books, she wrote feminist pieces advocating for women from a biblical and historical position and many book chronicling Coptic indigenous ties to Ancient Egypt. Somehow, in between publishing, lecturing, and travelling the world; Iris Habib Elmasry would go on to become a politician, both within the Church and inside Egypt’s Shura Council.
The daughter of Habib Pasha Elmasry, Secretary of the General Millet Council of the Copts, service to the Coptic people seems to have run in her veins. It is clear that not only did her father have a tremendous influence on her, since she would go on to follow in his footsteps as an MP, but also the woman in her family. Her mother was educated at the American Girls School in Azbakeya, and her sister, Eva, was continuously credited in Iris’ books for her help with her work.
As a young woman, Elmasry travelled to London to study a BA in Education at the Maria Grey College, University of London. When she returned to Egypt, she founded the ‘Coptic Women’s Association for Childhood Education’. Later she would continue her studies in the US and travel to London to access the National Gallery’s archives. Elmasry’s busy early life would be a signal of how much she would go on to achieve and inspire until she passed.
In 1954, His Holiness Pope Joseph II appointed Elmasry as the female delegate of the Coptic Church to the Second Assembly of the World Council of Churches.
But Elmasry also stood to change history as well as to preserve it. In 1959, Elmasry alongside 35 other Coptic women registered to vote for the Pope in an attempt to demonstrate that women had the right to elect the Patriarch. But the representative of the National Council crossed out their names. Elmasry was a pioneer who was relentless in her struggle.
In 1966, Pope Kyrillos VI appointed her as a Counsellor to Coptic girls. For decades of her life she would continue to serve at youth meetings in churches across Egypt. Later, in 1972, Pope Shenouda III commissioned Elmasry as part of a committee to rewrite the Coptic Synaxarium (also known as the Synaxarium Alexandrinum which is a liturgical text that historicises and remembers the lives of saints, martyrs, church fathers, and church events – a key document for Copts).
President Sadat in 1980 appointed Iris as a member of Maglis al-Shura, (the Shura Council which is the Upper House of Egyptian Parliament, primarily as a consultative advisory function). Within the Shura Council, one-third is elected by the President, and Elmasry was selected by Sadat. Sadat openly praised her work thrice: firstly, after the passing of His Holiness Pope Kyrillos VI, secondly during a speech in 1977, and thirdly in a meeting in 1980. During the 1980 meeting Sadat lowered his head slightly and said in front of all the Copts present:
“I owe you [Iris Habib Elmasry] a lot and I was a student of your books and writing”
In a lecture, an American woman said to Iris: “If you don’t write about your church in a language we can read, why do you blame us for our ignorance of it?” Rising to the challenge, Iris began to publish her books in English, then translated them into Arabic. A lesson to learn is that those in the diaspora can do the same in sharing Coptic history. Elmasry in many of her books notes her appreciation for her spiritual fathers, Abuna Bishoy Kamel and Abuna Matta al Maskeen (Matthew the Poor).
Iris wrote in the ‘History of the Coptic Church’ that her primary goal was to provide tangible, material evidence to the Western world of Coptic women’s capacity. The second goal was to demonstrate to all Egyptians (both Copts and Muslims) the role of the Coptic Church nationally in Egypt.
Elmasry saw Coptic identity through her love of Christ, enabling her to uncover its most beautiful dimensions. In ‘The Most Prominent Egyptian Characteristics’, she promotes racial and ethnic harmony, highlighting Abydos Temple paintings depicting black people, Libyans, and Syrians, affirming a theology that recognises the dignity of all peoples.
Her books were monumental not only in their theological and ecclesiastical contributions to women’s roles in the Church but also in their affirmation of the indigenous nature of Copts. In works such as ‘Our Christ Above Time’ and ‘Events More Wonderful than Imagination’, she drew connections between ancient Pharaonic prayers and Coptic liturgies, underscoring the unbroken cultural and spiritual continuity of the Coptic people.
Elmasry mastered the Coptic language – an extraordinary accomplishment – studying under Professor Yassa Abdel-Masih. Her curatorial work at the Coptic Museum immersed her daily in the heritage she so passionately preserved. She was also a key contributor to the establishment of the Institute of Coptic Studies, funding and teaching within its Church History Department.
Towards the end of her life, His Holiness Pope Shenouda III visited her at Al-Salam Hospital in Mohandessin, Cairo. She passed on July 7th, thirty-one years ago this week.
Iris Habib Elmasry’s life challenges us to ask: What does it mean to love one’s people with both intellect and sacrifice? Her legacy calls Copts today to remember that history is not merely a memory of the past, but essential for our future.
