Pope Shenouda III
The  Lord Jesus Christ said that He is the First and that He is the Alpha,  This  means that there is none before Him. This phrase can not be interpreted  other than that He is God  Himself, otherwise God would not have been  existing because there is  none before the First and none before the  Alpha. How can the saying of  Christ that He is the First fall in with  the saying of God: "I am He,  before Me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after Me"? The  only conformity is that the two sayings were said by the same Speaker.