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Desert Father Matta al-Miskeen and Church Unity

In this (draft) paper I describe and interact with some of the writings of Father Matta al-Miskeen (1919-2006) on the subject of Church unity. Your input is kindly invited. I am sure I made mistakes in my description and in my conclusions. Teach me, dear reader.

Father Matta's views are relevant as, for decades, he was the spiritual father of the popular Monastery of St. Macarius (Dayr Anba Maqar) in Wadi al-Natrun in Egypt. He wrote a series of articles and booklets on this issue. These are Christian Unity (1965), Christ of the Whole World (1970), One Christ & One Catholic Church (1972), The Church and its Ability to Unite (1975) and True Unity will Inspire the World (1984). It seems that after this last booklet, Mattá lost his interest in the ecumenical process. However, even after his death, the Monastery of St. Macarius continues to spread his views, both in Egypt and beyond. Download the pdf here.

The Rise and Fall of Egyptian Radio

(1 May 2009, Cairo) T

his article is about the question why Egyptian transnational radio was tremen-dously popular in Egypt and all over the Arab World during the 1950 and 1960s, and why its popularity declined steeply after those decades.
In order to understand the role of Egyptian radio in the Arab world, this paper will first focus on the beginnings of European and American transnational Arabic broadcasts. It will also look at the beginning of the radio industry in some major Arabic countries including Egypt.
Then, the heyday of Egyptian radio (1953-1967) will be treated. After that, this paper describes the reasons for the decreasing impact of the radio broadcasts of Egypt (1967-1990), and the reasons for the decreasing popularity of radio in the Arab World in general (after 1990).

Download the whole article HERE

God our Healer (Mark 5:21-43:)

27 june 2009, St John the Baptist, Maadi
Psalm 30 - Mark 5:21-43

O LORD my God, I cried out to you,
and you restored me to health.
You brought me up, O LORD, from the dead;
you restored my life
as I was going down to the grave.

Hardly anything in our life is so important as our health and the health of family and friends. We have one life only and it is so great to grow old, and to do so in body that works fine. If this is what the Lord our God gives us, we must thank him for this blessing.

Worldwide many children and adults suffer from a lack of basic healthcare, and this is often in countries where people are plagued by diseases. Here in Egypt, Bilharzia, Hepatitis C and Diabetes are just some of the very prevalent diseases. What a pain we see around us…

Download HERE the pdf file with this whole sermon.

At the death of Mahmud Darwish (1941-2008)

Jesus in Arabic poetry

One of the

Arab world’s most beloved poets, Mahmud Darwish, passed away on 9 August 2008. Darwish was born in a Palestinian village east of Acre into a landowning Muslim family in 1941. He fled with his family to Lebanon during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. By the time the Darwishes stole back into the country a year later, their village had been razed. ‘We were defined, and rejected, as refugees’, Darwish said. ‘This gave me a very strong bitterness’. Darwish often used the image of Jesus in his poetry; Read the whole article about how the image of Jesus is used by Darwish and other Arab poets.

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Just Chatting

Thus all Israel shall be saved

For about 30 years I have been reading, thinking and discussing about the apostle Paul's verse thus all Israel shall be saved, from Romans 11. That is why I maintain a blog, where I study the letter to the Romans with that one verse in
mind. Have a look and discuss with me, at my blog!

Studying the Qur'an

Under 'studies' I have placed some self-study I am doing in the Qur'an - just a feeble beginning. Have a look and let me know my mistakes ;-)

Coptic Studies

Under the Studies button, you can find some lectures I have recently (February- March 2008) held in our church here in Maadi (Egypt). I will probably continue to work on them as I happen to be a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to historical truth and the shape of documents. Oh, if only I had been a native English speaker. I hope you enjoy these and the other papers of mine that will slowly appear here.