Changes

But more recently, some misunderstandings between both leaders and their followers^{[http://groups.yahoo.com/group/arbible/message/30051],[http://arabi.ahram.org.eg/Arabi/ahram/2006/6/17/WEEK6.htm],[http://masr.20at.com/article.php?sid=571],[http://www.rezgar.com/debat/show.art.asp?aid=68761]} have surfaced, e.g., recent discussions on the concept of [[theosis]]^{[http://www.monachos.net/forum/showthread.php?p=22429],[http://orthodoxchristianity.net/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=32&topic=8933.msg119518#msg119518],[http://www.orthodoxchristianity.net/forum/index.php?topic=8362.0]} and also the position Father Matta held on the [[Mark 16|sixteenth chapter of St. Mark's gospel]]. See: [http://au.geocities.com/coptic_truth01 Web site by some of Fr. Matta's proponents] and , [http://www.stmina-monastery.org/FrMatta/Mark_16.zip a detailed study about the Mark 16 controversy (Arabic)], Pope Shenouda III's reply concerning the theological and dogmatic opinions of Fr. Matta: [http://masr.20at.com/media/matta/01.rm Part 1],[http://masr.20at.com/media/matta/02.rm Part 2] (Arabic RealAudio; recorded in 1991 /2003 - [http://www.zeitun-eg.net/PopeShenoudaIIIs_reply_concerning_the_opinions_of_FrMattaElMeskeen_1991.zip zipped mirror]). Father Matta was suspended twice, first by Pope Yousab II in 1955, and then again by Pope Kyrillos VI for nine years from 1960 to 1969^{[http://www.copticpope.org/modules.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&artid=154&page=6]} for administrative/"political" (e.g., his book HE Metropolitan Bishoy's lecture about the 'Church and the State', in which he called for total separation of the two^{[httpFr Matta://www.rezgar.com/debat/show.art.asp?t=0&aid=69143],[http://www.alstmina-ahalymonastery.comorg/articles/06-06-14FrMatta/1282-inv06HE_AnbaBishoy_aboutFrMatta.htmzip 4 parts zipped together]}(Arabic Audio; recorded on 18 September 2006) rather than for any truly theological or core dogmatic issues.^{[http://www.islamonline.net/arabic/famous/religious/2006/06/01.shtml]} Some say the 1960s suspension was because of Father Matta's objection to the Coptic Church signing of the Catholic Declaration of the Innocence of the Jews from the Blood of Christ.^{[http://groups.yahoo.com/group/arbible/message/31375]} The saintly Pope Kyrillos VI later insisted that Father Matta absolve and forgive him in the presence of H.E. Metropolitan Mikhail of Assiut.

In 1954 Pope Yusab II invited Abba Matta to serve as Patriarchal Vicar, and elevated him to the rank of hegumen. After holding this position for a little over a year, he returned to monastic life, first at Dayr al-Suryan, then at the Monastery of St Samuel.^{[https://accot.stcyrils.edu.au/authors/matthew-the-poor-1919-2006/]} In 1960, after living for a few years in the Monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor, Matta decided to move out into Wadi El Rayan al Rayyan in the late 1950s. There, he lived as a [[recluse]] in the spirit of the ancient [[Desert Fathers]] for twelve years. By 1960, seven other monks joined him. The community expanded to twelve by 1964. These twelve monks were sent by Pope Kyrillos VI to Wadi El Natroun in 1969 to develop the monastery of St. Macarius the Great. At that time only six elderly, frail fathers lived near the road between Cairo and Alexandria. Matta and his twelve companions cared for them while reconstructing the monastery. The administrative, agricultural, institutional, and printing/publishing developments at the renewed Monastery of St. Macarius the Great were staggering. But the spiritual revolution was much greater. By 1981 Matta had over eighty monks in the monastery.^{[http://www.stmacariusmonastery.org/media/clips_1978.wmv],[http://www.wataninet.com/article_en.asp?ArticleID=7947]} The monastery also finances services and projects for the poor, Muslims and Christians alike.^{[http://www.al-araby.com/articles/887/031207-11-887-spc02.htm]}