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As he loved the life of contemplation of God, so he joined Virgin Mary's Coptic Orthodox [[Monastery]] "El-Meharrak" in Assiut, Upper Egypt, at the time when Rev. Father Abdel-Malek was in charge of the monastery. He was a very decent, active person, who loved all the [[monk]]s. They recommended him and he was [[tonsure]]d a monk when he was 19 years old, in 1848. His new name was Rev. Paul El-Meharraki.
He was distinguished by his patience and self-control, and his interest in [[alms|almsgiving]]. Anba Yakoubos, the Bishop, heard about him, he asked him to come to the "Bishop's house" and to remain with him. Rev. Paul worked day and night, and he changed the "Bishop's house" to a shelter for the poor.
His deep eagerness for contemplating God caused him to ask the bishop to leave for the monastery again after he spent four years helping the bishop. Then the bishop ordained him as a [[priest]] and allowed him to return to the monastery in 1863. At that time there was a problem regarding Father Abdel-Malek, who was in charge of the monastery, but Father Paul did not interfere with these problems. So the monks chose him (Paul) to be in charge of the monastery. He opened the doors of the monastery for poor people, also young men heard about him and came, asking him to teach them, and after a short time they had forty new monks.
