Biography
Iris Habib Elmasry was born into a Coptic family 1910, Her family name Elmasry in Arabic language means The Egyptian. Her father Habib Elmasry was the secretary of the General Congregation Council of the Coptic Orthodox Church. She had two brother Amin who was a prominent surgeon, and died in the 1960s, and Sami who was director of the Egyptian State Bureau for Tourism in London, and three sisters; Eva, who helped Iris in her work, Soraya, an avid pianist, and Dora, who was married to Dr Aziz El Masry
Mr Habib Elmasry, was the secretary of the General Congregation council for three terms, and was known for his strong support of ordination of a monk to be the Coptic Pope and not a Metropolitan or a Bishop. This issue caused an ongoing dispute in the Coptic Orthodox Church and although The Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church has considered in the 1960s the General Bishops to be secretaries to the Pope in the degree of a Bishop, Miss Elmasry in her List of Coptic Orthodox Popes of Alexandria she considered Pope Shenouda III (1971–2012), who was a general Bishop before, to be the fourth Bishop to become a Pope after Popes John XIX (1928–1942), Macarius III (1942–1944)and Joseph II (1946–1956).
Iris received her Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in Education from Maria Grey College, University of London in 1932.
Between 1952 and 1954 she pursued her research at Dropsie College, Philadelphia, and in 1955, she went to the National Gallery, London to obtain further materials and documents. In 1954, Pope Joseph II appointed Iris as the female delegate of the Coptic Church to the Second Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Evanston, Illinois, USA.
From 1955 to 1985 Iris continued to lecture in Coptic History at both the Seminary in Cairo and Alexandria and at the Institute of Coptic Studies.
Iris died Saturday, July 2, 1994.
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