He joined the Al Baramous Monastery in the Nitrian Desert, where he served as abbot prior to his elevation to Pope.
The Coptic Pope
The General Congregation Council (Elmagles Elmelly Ela'am) elected him Pope, with seat in the Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Azbakeya in Cairo throughout his papacy. The secretary of the council was Boutros pasha Ghali بطرس غالي, later Prime Minister of Egypt. Cyril spent most of his papacy at loggerheads with the council and objecting to its interference in church matters.[2] At the beginning of his papacy there was a dispute with the council, which Cyril won.
In general, his papacy was an era of regeneration for the Coptic Orthodox Church and he continued the work begun by Pope Cyril IV (1854–1861) in educational reform.[2]
In 1881 the Ethiopian Emperor Yohannes IV asked Pope Cyril V to ordain a metropolitan and three Bishops for the Ethiopian Empire. Cyril chose the four monks who had left El-Muharraq Monastery with Anba Abraam: Abouna Petros, Abouna Marqos, Abouna Matewos and Abouna Luqas.[3]
When news of his death reached Ethiopia, Empress Zewditu and RasTafari ordered requiem masses to be said throughout Ethiopia, and that government offices be closed for three days.[4]
^Richard Pankhurst, The Ethiopians: A History (Oxford: Blackwell, 2001), p. 169
^Aleqa Gebre-Igziabiher Elyas, Prowess, Piety, and Politics: The Chronicle of Abeto Iyasu and Empress Zewditu of Ethiopia (1909–1930), translated by Reidulf K. Molvaer (Köln: Rüdiger Köppe, 1994), pp. 503f