Bishop of Ismayliah (Coptic)
Msgr. Pola Ayoub Matta Usama Shafik Akhnoukh was born on 19 February 1971 in Assiut, Egypt. In 1993 he was awarded a degree in social assistance from the University of Assiut, and went on to study philosophy in the Saint Leo XIII Seminary in Maadi, Cairo. He was ordained a priest on 27 June 2002 for the eparchy of Assiut. For three years he served as parish priest of Al Nikheila-Assiut, and then parish priest of the Coptic community in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia. He is currently director of the Office for Human Development of the eparchy of Assiut. Besides Arabic, he knows English and French. Election of bishop of the eparchy of Al Qusia, Egypt The Holy Father has given his assent to the election by the Synod of Bishops of the Patriarchal Church of Alexandria of the Copts of the Reverend Thomas Esam William Bolos Faragalla, currently parish priest of the Cathedral and protosyncellus of the eparchy of Assiut, as bishop of the eparchy of Al Qusia, Egypt. The prelate has taken the name Morqos.