Metropolitan Pachomius of Beheira
Metropolitan Pachomius or Pakhomious was the serving Metropolitan bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Beheira and Matrouh, Titular Archbishop of Pentapolis and the Five Western Cities, and Abbot of the Monastery of Saint Macarius of Alexandria, located in Beheira. He was also a member of the standing committee of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church.
Early life
He was born as Samir Khair Sokkar, on 17 December 1935 in Shebein el-Kom, Menoufia, Kingdom of Egypt. His family relocated to Tanta around 1945 then to Zaqaziq in 1949. In 1949, at the age of thirteen, he began to serve in Sunday School, at the behest of Walim Shenouda, one of the early deputy servants of the movement. He served in various cities and villages establishing classes and youth meetings. During this time, he met with Nazir Gayed and learned from him the essentials of service. In 1952, he moved to Greater Cairo to attend Ain Shams University; during this time, he was one of the founding members of a college meeting and served in the villages of Giza.After receiving his Bachelor of Commerce, in 1956, he moved to Damietta where he found employment first in the Ministry of Finance, and later as an accounting manager in the Ministry of Health. He also became the general secretary of Sunday school at this time. In 1959, he returned to Greater Cairo to live as a consecrated servant. He managed a house for deacons in Giza, and began attending the Coptic Theological and Clerical College, and then the Higher Institute of Coptic Studies. In 1961, he was sent on a pastoral mission to serve as a Deacon in Kuwait.
Monastic life
In 1962, he returned to Egypt and joined the Syrian Monastery, being tonsured a monk under the name Antonius the Syriac. He was ordained as a priest on 2 January 1966, and entrusted with preparing servants and missionaries for Africa.In 1967, he was sent to serve in Sudan, and there he preached the Gospel and baptized many of the indigenous people who lived there. On 28 July 1968, he was elevated to the rank of Hegumen by Bishop Daniel of Khartoum. In 1971, he was sent by Pope Cyril VI to Ethiopia, and later to London, where he established the first Coptic Church in the United Kingdom.
During this period he was also chosen to represent the Coptic Church in the World Council of Churches, the Middle East Council of Churches, and the All Africa Conference of Churches.
Episcopate
Consecration as Bishop
On 12 December 1971, he was recalled to Egypt and consecrated as Pachomius, Bishop of Behira and Pentapolis, by Pope Shenouda III. He was the first bishop to be consecrated by the then-newly elected Pope Shenouda III.He accompanied Pope Shenouda III on many of his pastoral and diplomatic visits, including those to the Vatican City, Ethiopia, the United States, and Sudan.