His name at birth was Farag-Allah (فرج الله). He was from the city of Qaliub, in the Nile delta, just to the north of Cairo. He was a monk at the monastery of Shahran (دير شهران) who then became a priest at the same monastery and then was assigned to serve at the Church of the Holy Virgin Mary and St Damiana, known as the Hanging Church in Coptic Cairo (كنيسة العذراء المعروفة بالمعلقة). Finally, he became the 84th Patriarch on 5 September 1348 AD.