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I would like to ask His Grace a question in light of his feature article on terrorism. I quote:

"Have you ever thought about the fact that we read of the persecution of Coptic martyrs but never about the Coptic martyrs having persecuted others? Christians do not persecute others. Christians do not wage wars of terror and horrific acts against others. History can attest to this."

The Life of St. Shenoute, as written by Besa, venerates St. Shenoute of Atripe as a hero of faith. Coptic tradition readily depicts him as "taking matters into his own hands”. However, persecution, torture, and murder of those who were opposing Christian beliefs were never documented as taken up by St. Shenoute to solve  problems he  had encountered  in early Christianity.

St. Shenoute lived to be 118 years old. The fourth and fifth century monastic movement in Egypt  had begun. During that time, tolerance was not an objective, because  the mere survival of Coptic beliefs and traditions was at stake. Coptic tradition tells of his zeal against heretics.

The Archmandrite lived in an age full of negative  emotions and upheavals that ran rampant in the area. His was an age of the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus and the Council of Chalcedon. The rift between churches occurred; paganism  along with Egyptian nationalism  had to be swiftly dealt with. I believe God in His mercy, intervened at the right time to grant ability  to those who were deeply spiritual to take action in order to preserve  the Coptic Christianity to the fullest. That is why  Abba Shenouda had to be a political and social reformer alongside his deep spirituality. I doubt one who sought seclusion as he did, would bother to  be involved in politics and therefore be in the midst of throngs of people with constant oppression and problems.

Certainly history tells us Abba Shenouda entered temples and destroyed idols. Was this torturing others or bravery in the name of the Lord? I see no torture of human beings here. This saint himself  was in danger of being massacred.

Certainly history tells us that he sank an island, Paneheou. The farmers on that island, oppressed and violently mistreated by the pagans, sought out  the help of St. Shenoute. He went over to the island at nightfall, struck the soil of the island with a small palm branch and the island sank. Who sank the island? The touch of a small palm branch by St. Shenouda, or was it God who intervened and put an end to the brutality of the pagans?
Did our righteous father destroy the homes of pagans? If so, does history document how he beheaded the inhabitants of the homes or hang them upon crosses for the beasts of the fields to ravage their bodies? I have not read this.

What I have read was that he was in the company of St. Cyril at the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus. He created Coptism, ridding Coptic literature from  Hellenistic cultural influences. His love and compassion for others was great.  He provided the homeless with shelter using his monastery even for months, as homes to prisoners who had been released from tribal attacks.
He is considered a liberator of Egyptian thought and a genius of his day. His disciple, St. Wisa wrote his biography which gives an accurate perspective of his zealous life and personal writings. This bibliography is contained in the Coptic Literature.