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The Communion of Love

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What are Patristics? The study of the Early Church Fathers? The continual tradition or theology of the Church Fathers? If the last definition is right, then Matthew the Poor's "The Communion of Love" will give a clear refreshing read. Most ancient Patristics dealt with defending against that days heresy or refining the dogmas or mystery of the Church. Some did write about how to read the Bible, the meaning behind certain verses, & how to live your Life with spiritual power, but most lacked a vision of modern problems, or how modern thinking (Rationality or Subjectivity) could cloud spiritual reality.

Matthew the Poor is a modern Coptic monk, part of the Oriental Orthodox Christian Church. He was a rich pharmacist living in Egypt, who just after World War II gave up everything & went to the desert to start a monastery. In 1971 he was one of 3 men to be nominated to become the Coptic Pope (not like the Roman Catholic Pope, but the highest Bishop in Egypt). Before his death he could heal people & feed the animals by his hands (like St. Francis of the Roman Catholic or St. Seraphim of the Russian Orthodox). Therefore in this book Matthew the Poor as a converted modern man writes to modern man revealing issues & topics with such spiritual wisdom that few can do today. Read didaskalex's great review below & the others for a listing of the topics.

Matthew the Poor is a professional pharmacist who left a life of worldly success to seek the face of God in silence in the desert. That he was called to this vocation by a strong and authentic yearning is clear from his concise, but riveting theological explanations. There is no waste in this book. Every sentence is packed with insight into scripture and wisdom not easily matched in today's theological bookstores. No fluff, no self-aggrandizement, just humble and pure exposition of his learnings from his personal communion with Love Himself. Among countless spiritual and theological treatises available today, this one stands with the great masters. The final chapter on unity in the Church through ecumenism is alone worth the cost.

This is the only book available in English written by this Egyptian Christian monk and holy man. It is a collection of some of his writings, and presents an illumination of the Gospel that begins with a chapter titled 'How to Read the Bible' that cuts deep into the heart of our understanding. We in the west always seem to be subjecting the words of the Bible to our understanding of them, and this Father shines a light on the way of reading that brings one into proper relationship with God's word without the error of subjecting it to the intellect, but in fact subjecting the intellect to it...

A [partial] list of chapter titles might prove helpful:

Christ of the Old and New Testaments The Christ of History: A Living Christ The Hidden Aspect of the Nativity The Righteousness of Humility Repentance and Asceticism in the Gospel The Deep Meaning of Fasting Between Ressurrection and Ascension The Holy Spirit in Dogmatic Theology and in Ascetic Theology The Virgin in the Theology of the Church

Abba Matte is not yet well known in the west. He will become more well known as more and more of his works gets translated into English, and as this little book makes its rounds from person to person. His monastery in the desert, some 50 miles southwest of Cairo, draws as many as 500 visitors a day now...

Fr Matthew the Poor is certainly a hidden treasure. His depth, spiritual insight and understanding in his writings can be benefitted from by anyone. There are very few Coptic Orthodox writers who's works are this readily available.

He does not write about topics for monks, but topics that will touch the heart of every beliver. I recommend this book to anyone who is searching for the depths of Orthodox spirituality.

Communion is a Verb:
The Title Communion of Love; Koinonia, in both Coptic and Greek means fellowship or communion of the Christians with each other and with The Father through His only begotten Son IC XC: Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit; "God is Love, who abides in love abides in God, and God in him". 1 John 5:16. Accordingly, the abbot of St. Macarius narrates in his tightly packed confession of Orthodox Christianity the tradition of 16 centuries on Alexandrine tradition of salvation and it's history, through the narrow way, always tried for those who received the monastic habit: sometimes missed or achieved, and few times mastered by the ascetic desert dwellers.

20 Thematic essays:
The book starts from its logical beginning: "How to read the Bible", and takes you in twenty steps: chapters of 10 pages each to the Eschatological Unity of John 17 in its last two chapters. This book whose 20 concise but instructive chapters focus on the Living Christ of history and faith, reveals goal and essence of Christian living. Fr. Matthew uses simple, yet profound imagery of the typical ascetic tradition of Coenobitic communities of Sketes and Kellia in the Egyptian desert. The subjects of the essays contain some typical Orthodox issues: Humility, Asceticism, Repentance, fasting, and Suffering. It reflects on Jesus human experience in Gethsemane, His passion, Resurrection, and Ascension. Last chapters on Pentecost, and Holy Spirit in Ascetic theology vs Dogmatic's.

Forward:
The late Fr. Nouwen was a friend and admirer of the monastery of Saint Macarius in the West Wadi Natroun (Sketes) and of its spiritual abbot, Father Matta El-Maskeen. Fr. Nouwen once observed that the "Western world must listen to this penetrating message coming to us from the Egyptian Desert." In the same essay he says, "Fr. Matta 's radical God-centeredness stands in contradiction to our pervasive human-centeredness. All that Father Matta says is guided by the question: 'How do I make God the center of my life?' The Rev. Dr. John Watson: Coptic Ch. Rev., vol 21, no 4, (2000), pp 139. An introduction of the Macarian Abbot and Coptic monastic revival is reported by fellow monastic Nun Julian the Alien.

The Author:
In 1969, at the request of Abba Kyrillos VI, the solitary Patriarch of the See of St. Mark (1959-71), and former Abbot of the ancient monastery of Samuel the Confessor, where Fr. Matta and his disciples left the caves around that ancient monastery moving to the then deserted monastery of St. Macarius (6 monks), to rebuild the present community of the most serious monastic vocation in the Sketes, since its existence with Nitria and Kellia in early Monastic Egypt. In his small libretto; "The Power of the Name", Bishop Kallistos Ware, posted on the front page of his book on Jesus prayer, a saying of a contemporary Coptic Monk is quoted to represent the Coptic tradition of Communion of Love, and unceasing prayer. This monk is Abbot Matthew the poor, it was confirmed.

Matthew the Poor strikes one as a modern Desert Farther, with the same sympathy, clarity, and rectitude of those earlier Christian writers. This book is one to study and digest, using insights to enhance one's own spiritual struggles and understanding. It is as important as his earlier works.

I was once told by a Coptic-priest-turned-Orthodox that some Coptic sources may contain questionable spirituality; I thus read "The Communion of Love" with caution. From the perspective of an Orthodox Christian in the very-elementary stages of the spiritual life, however, I found very little objectionable in these essays but rather found them to be edifying, thought-provoking, pious, and Patristic.

This book contains various essays regarding theological issues, pastoral texts, and ascetic/spiritual guidance. My favorite chapters were "How to Read the Bible," "Christ of the Old and New Testaments," "The Righteousness of Humility," "Repentance and Asceticism in the Gospel," "The Deep Meaning of Fasting" (my favorite of all), and "Gethsemane and the Problem of Suffering."

Fr. Matta's writings regarding humility, fasting, and suffering were the most profound and penetrating for me. Fr. Matta clearly had an ability to write elegantly but simply about very complicated issues, and he seemed to intentionally simplify the spiritual life in general to make it accessible to all while being elevated enough for both the spiritually-advanced and the scholar. Though this seems like a contradiction, he manages to achieve it nonetheless... and with seeming simplicity.

I read this book slowly, taking notes and writing a lot in the margins. This helped me a great deal to organize and clarify some of Fr. Matta's thoughts while connecting a lot of the chapters which I would not otherwise have placed together. I look forward to reading the other two books by the author published in English - "Orthodox Prayer Life" and "The Titles of Christ" - in the near future. This book was diverse in topics but always profound, and I recommend it highly.

I have no more than saying that this is a very high and unique extremely profound style of Christian writing by an author who is commonly described as a Christian school for his many writings and oral teaching on different aspects of Christianity. The writer is a *Coptic monk who spent most of his life in prayers in the deserts of Egypt. You really need to read this book. AND EVEN before this you may want to read his first book; a masterpiece titled "ORTHODOX PRAYER LIFE - The Interior Way" published by (St. Vladimir's Seminary Press". Thanks to Amazon for making these available for that reasonable price.

Wish you all the best.
Adel

*the Copts are currently the christians of Egypt (mostly Orthodox) and they are the descendants of the Ancient Egyptians - Different from the Arab of Egypt. the words Copt and Egypt are mainly derived from the Greek word 'Aiguptos' different from the current Arabic name of Egypt 'Misr' which means 'country' in Arabic.

Matthew the Poor is a monk in saint macarius and is one of the holy monks and the father of this monestery,