The Spiritual Treasury of Fr. Matthew

Among the God-pleasing ascetics in our era whose dedication and sanctity have illumined the craggy wilderness of Scetis (or Scete), the name of Abfna Matta al-Maskin [Father Matthew the Poor] stands exceptionally striking as a vivid example of the spiritual animation of Coptic monasticism and the profound conviction of the superiority of the world of the spirit and everything that is otherworldly. As a contemporary luminary of the highest order, he bears the everburning torch of desert asceticism which was initially kindled by the great fourth-century anchorite, St. Antony the Star of the Desert