I was reading the Coptic Church Review (2006 issue volumes 3 and 4) which happened to be dedicated to Father Matthew the Poor. He reposed in the Lord June of that same year. The Coptic Review to honor his memory dedicated the entire quarterly about his life and work within the church. In the middle of those writings Dr. George Bebawi, a modern Coptic Theologian, and a student of the late Pope Cyril (Kirolos) the 6th, wrote an Elegy for Father Matthew. I thought I would share the beauty spoken through the thoughts of Dr. Bebawi. The following is taken from the Coptic Church Review Quarterly 2006 Volume 27 Issue 3 and 4 pages 101-102:
Dr. George Bebawi
In the quiet
seas of the sane of Scete
You sleep like
its eternal rocks
The rocks are
silent
Your lips no
longer speak
Your death now
speaks louder
Before you the
old theology of the isolated church
Battered by
storms from inside and out
The greatness
of Christ went under tons of folklore
The love of
God was buried under false teaching
We loved our
darkness and thought it is light
We loved our isolation and considered it holiness
We even believed
that we are the only true Christians
Christ became
the property of the Copts
It is hard to
say to the blind that the sun is shining
It is impossible
to convince the deaf
That the world
is full of great melodies
It is shameful
to say that we are the best Christ
As if God was
a prisoner of our worship
As if the Holy
and Divine Trinity resigned his ministry
From the womb
of the divine providence you were born
Like many of
our great ones
For you, like
them, solitude became bread
Never once you
replied to insults
Like a lamb
you lived
Like a lion
you preached the gospel
Being a mystic you opened for us the highest level of awareness
Our decaying Christian Arabic received new words
For you faith was a revelation of the Person of Christ
From Christ we receive divine life
Deification was very new to us
Fear of Islam had reduced Jesus to a collection of ideas
Legalism filled our empty life
Replaced the grace of God in Christ
It is not false to call you the Dawn of our history
The light that shined in our inner life
Before you the Holy Spirit was known by name
Truly the Holy Spirit was in our prayers
But you came to tell us that his Hypostasis lives in us
Many of our little ones were disturbed
They wanted to speak only of the Charisma's
They never had one Charisma to share with us
It goes back to the fear of God indwelling in us
They believed in Allah who abhors our humanity
The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ loves to be in us
His love makes us loved like his Son
This love was too much to be proclaimed in Egypt
Where, since the days of the pyramids our humanity has been crushed
Your writings remind us of the beautiful branches of a tress
In the heat of the summer of Egypt
Many will sit under their shade
Many will eat from their divine food
Many will regret that they never met you
Believing in the written words as the treasure of the future
We write, as you said once, for the coming generations
We have to put into their hands our tools
You opened our mind to the universal Christian heritage
A minf that has perceived freedom
A mind that has received the light of Christ
Will never go back to the darkness of slavery to ignorance
You will not hear these words
As you are now plunged in the sea of divine love
But like you I wrote this for the coming generation
In the coming years your greatness will shine
Dr. George Habib Bebawi was the Director of Orthodox Christian studies at
Cambridge University in England.
He is presently teaching in universities in the U.S.A.
LOVE!
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