Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak was born on 19 August 1955 in Beni-Chokeir, Asyut Governorate. He studied philosophy and theology at St. Leo's Patriarchal Seminary in Maadi (a suburb of Cairo) and was ordained a priest in 1980. For the following two years he served in the Parish of Archangel Michael in Cairo. He was sent to Rome to study at the Pontifical Gregorian University and received his doctorate in dogmatic theology. Between 1990 and 2001, he was the rector of the Patriarchal Seminary. For a short period in 2002 he served as the parish priest of the patriarchal Cathedral of Our Lady of Egypt in Cairo. In October 2002, he was elected Bishop of Minya, a post in which he served until his canonical election as patriarch.[1]
Sidrak was elected as Coptic Catholic Patriarch of Alexandria on 15 January 2013, succeeding Antonios I Naguib, who had resigned because of poor health. (He had a stroke, suffered partial paralysis and underwent brain surgery.) Sidrak asked for and received ecclesiastical communion from Pope Benedict XVI three days later, on 18 January 2013.[2]
