He was born in El-Mahalla al-Kubra on May 2, 1923, with the name Abdelmasih Bishara. His family was known by the name qassis (meaning "priest") because of the large number of Coptic clergy it had produced over at least six generations. Most famously, Bishara's uncle was Pope Macarius III who had served as the 114th Patriarch of the Coptic Church from 1944–1945.[1]