The title Pope has been first adopted by Pope Heraclas as the first Alexandrian Bishop to be known by this title. Papa has been the specific designation for the Archbishop of Alexandria, Patriarch of Egypt, and the See of Saint Mark, whose ecclessiastic title is, Papa Abba, the Abba stands for the devotion of all monastics, from Pentapolis in the West to Constantinople in the East, to his guidance. Abba is the most powerful designation, that for all Monks in the East to voluntarily follow his spiritual authority, it should be assumed he was a bearer of Christ.
Historically, this office has held the title of Papa, Father in Coptic, since Papa Heracleus, 13th Alexandrine Patriarch (232-249 AD) was first to associate with the title three centuries before it was assumed by John I, the Roman Bishop (523- 526), who ratified the Alexandrian computation of the date of Easter. Bestowing the title on Rome's Pontiff did not strip it from Alexandria's, and the Roman Catholic Church recognizes this ecclesiastical fact.[1]
Note: Not all of the dates given are certain. Some of these dates disagree with those given in Coptic publications such as the English Katameros. In some cases this is due to publications errors which have been corrected. In other cases, calendar differences may have caused some confusion.
