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==Early Life==
His Holiness Pope Shenouda II was born the youngest of eight children (five sisters and two brothers) on August 3, 1923 in the Upper Egyptian province of AssyutAssiut, and was named Nazeer Gayed. His mother passed away shortly after his birth. By the age of sixteen, Nazeer began service in the Sunday School of St. Anthony's Church in ShobraShoubra, Cairo, where he also went to school.
In 1943, Nazeer entered the University of Cairo and completed a Bachelor of Arts in English and History while he spent his summer vacations at the Monastery of St. Mary (Souryan). Although at this time only graduate students were admitted to the evening classes at the Coptic Theological Seminary, Dean Archdeacon Habib Guirguis admitted Nazeer while he was still in his final year of undergraduate study.
