Moses

Moses, also called Abba Musa, was the Coptic bishop of Awsīm (or Wasīm) in Giza from about 735 until after 767. He was an influential churchman in Islamic Egypt.

Moses was a monk before he became a bishop. His predecessor, Gamul, was bishop about 728 and Moses had succeeded by about 735. He was a companion of the Patriarch Michael I. When in 743 there was a deadlock between northern and southern factions in the election of a new Patriarch of Alexandria, Moses successfully put forward Michael as a compromise. His influence probably stemmed in part from his proximity to the Egyptian government in Fustat.

Moses was repeatedly imprisoned for refusing to pay new taxes imposed on ecclesiastical landholdings. He secured lenient treatment for the Copts from the Abbasid governor Abū ʿAwn when, at the governor's request, he interceded with prayer and the waters of the Nile rose three cubits. Late in Michael's patriarchate, Moses succeeded in bring back into the church some Melitians, remnants of a 4th-century schism. Under Patriarch Mina I (767–774), Moses fought to keep Christian holy places. He also wrote a letter to Mina and all the Christians of Alexandria urging them to continue keeping the Lord's Day. He worked to keep the peace between the Copts and the Melkites in Alexandria.