ABSTRACT
Matta El-Meskeen (“Matthew the Poor”), or Father Matta as he came to be known throughout the world, is by far the most discussed and most influential theologian in Arabic-speaking Christianity today. While other theologians from the non-Chalcedonian (or Oriental Orthodox) tradition, such as the Indian Metropolitan Paulos Gregorios and the Armenian Catholicos Aram Keshishian have had a great influence on church politics and within the ecumenical movement, the texts that Father Matta sent out from his monastery in the Egyptian desert have reached a wide public both in his own church and internationally. Despite this, his person and his writings have scarcely been noticed at academic theological institutions. 1 The most important reason for this is, of course, linguistic. Father Matta wrote all his voluminous works in Arabic, and only small parts of his writings have been translated into modern Western languages. Besides this, he was not an academically trained systematic theologian, but a spiritual writer who had read deeply both patristic and modern theological literature. His books and articles cover every conceivable theme and genre, from biblical commentaries and theological tractates to historical investigations and contemporary questions of church politics and society.
