By the grace of God, Bassem Matta 'Matthew' is an Egyptian-trained Pulmonologist with extensive experience in clinical research and hospital care. His professional background includes serving as a Certified Clinical Medical Assistant at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and within the walk-in care department of Graves Gilbert Clinic. Dr. Matta holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and an MBBCh from Zagazig University in Sharqiyah, Egypt.
In addition to his previous clinical work, he is a deacon in the Coptic Orthodox Church and a published author. Through his publishing house, Smiling Lungs Books—represented by the lady tortoise mascot, Ms. Hikmat Matta—he produces both medical and non-medical literature.
Matthew lives with his wife, Dina, a preschool teacher assistant, their two daughters, Gloria and Elinor, and their purebred Shih Tzu, Aengus.
13 "When the Wise Men had left, Joseph had a dream. In the dream, an angel of the Lord appeared to him. “Get up!” the angel said. “Take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you to come back. Herod is going to search for the child. He wants to kill him.”
Matthew 2:13
The Coptic Church was established in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by St. Mark the Evangelist in the city of Alexandria around 43 A.D. The church adheres to the Nicene Creed. St. Athanasius (296-373 A.D.), the twentieth Pope of the Coptic Church, effectively defended the Doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ's Divinity at the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. His affirmation of the doctrine earned him the title "Father of Orthodoxy" and St. Athanasius "the Apostolic".
The term "Coptic" is derived from the Greek "Aigyptos" meaning "Egyptian". When the Arabs arrived in Egypt in the seventh century, they called the Egyptians "qibt". Thus, the Arabic word "qibt" came to mean both "Egyptians" and "Christians".
The term "Orthodoxy" here refers to the preservation of the "Original Faith" by the Copts, who, throughout the ages, defended the Old Creed against the numerous attacks aimed at it.
Commemoration of the Entry of the Lord Christ into Egypt
On this day, June the First, our Lord Jesus Christ came to the land of Egypt when He was a two years old child, as the Bible says in (Mt. 2:13) that the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying: 'Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.' This was for two reasons:
A. If He fell into the hand of Herod, and Herod could not kill Him, he would have thought that His flesh was a phantom.
B. The second reason was to bless the people of Egypt by being among them, so that the prophecy of Hosea (11:1) could be fulfilled, which says: '... out of Egypt I called My Son.' And also the prophecy of Isaiah (19:1) be fulfilled: 'Behold, the Lord rides on a swift cloud, and will come into Egypt, the idols of Egypt will totter at His presence, and the heart of Egypt will melt in its midst.'
The Lord Jesus came to Egypt with Joseph, His Virgin Mother, and Salome. They passed in an estate called 'Basta' where the Holy Family drank from a well, and the water of the well became a cure for all sicknesses. Then they went to 'Meniet Samannoud' and crossed the Nile to the western side. In this place, the Lord Jesus put His foot on a stone, and the trace of His foot appeared, and the stone was called 'Picha Isos' in Coptic (or The heal of Jesus). From there, they went westward to Wadi El-Natroun, and St. Mary blessed the place, with her knowledge that many monasteries would be built there. Then they went to 'Al-Ashmoneen' where they settled for several days, after which they went to Mount 'Qosqam', where the monastery of St. Mary was later built, which has been known by the name 'El-Moharrak monastery'.
When Herod died, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying: 'Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young Child's life are dead.' (Mt. 2:20-21). They came back to Cairo, and on their return, they stayed in a cave, which is today located in the church of Abu-Serga in Old Cairo. Then they passed by El-Mataryia, and they washed there from a well, and the well has been blessed since, and a tree of Balsam grew beside it, from its oil the Chrism (El-Myroun) is made, which is used to consecrate new churches. From there, the Holy Family walked to El-Mahama (Mustorod), and from there to Israel. We ought to celebrate this feast spiritually with joy, for Our Lord Jesus honored our land.
The assumption of the Body of Holy Virgin Theotokos Saint Mary
On this day, was the assumption of the body of our pure Lady St. Mary, the Mother of God. While she was keeping vigil, praying in the Holy Sepulcher, and waiting for the happy minute of her liberation from the bonds of the flesh, the Holy Spirit informed her of her forthcoming departure from this vain world. When the time drew near, the disciples and the virgins of the Mt. of Olives (Zeitoun) came and the Lady was lying on her bed. Our Lord, surrounded by thousands and thousands of angels, came to Her. He consoled her and announced her with the everlasting joy which was prepared for Her. She was happy, and she stretched out her hands, blessed the Disciples, and the Virgins. Then, she delivered up her pure soul in the hand of her Son and God, Jesus Christ, Who ascended her to the higher habitations. As of the pure body, they shrouded it and carried it to Gethsemane. On their way, some of the Jews blocked the way in the face of the disciples to prevent the burial. One of them seized the coffin. His hands were separated from his body and remained hanging until he believed and repented for his mischievous deed. With the prayers of the holy disciples, his hands were reattached to his body as they had been before. St. Thomas was absent at the time of St. Mary's departure, but he came after the burial. On his way back to Jerusalem, St. Thomas saw angels carrying St. Mary's pure body and ascending with it to heaven, and one of the angels said to him, 'Hurry and kiss the pure body of St. Mary.' When he arrived at the disciples' location, they informed him about St. Mary's departure. He told them, 'I will not believe, unless I see her body, as you all know how I did doubt the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ before.' They took him to the tomb, to uncover the body but they did not find it, and they were perplexed and amazed. St. Thomas told them how he saw the pure body ascending to heaven, carried by angels. The Holy Spirit then told them, 'The Lord did not Will to leave Her Holy body on earth.' The Lord had promised his pure apostles that they would see her in flesh another time. They were waiting for the fulfillment of this truthful promise, until the sixteenth day of the month of Misra, when the promise of seeing her was fulfilled. They saw her sitting on the right hand of her Son and her Lord, surrounded by the angelic Host, as David prophesied and said, At your right hand stands the queen. Psalm 45:9 St. Mary's life on earth was sixty years. She spent twelve years of them in the temple, thirty years in the house of the righteous St. Joseph, Three years with Jesus and fifteen years in the care of St. John the Evangelist, as the Lord commanded her saying, 'Woman behold your Son,' and to St. John, 'Behold your Mother.'
This story was narrated by Pope Macarius III, the 114th Patriarch, about a man he knew named Uncle Yacoub, from the time when the Pope was the Metropolitan of Asyut.
The Pope recounts that Uncle Yacoub was a simple, God-fearing man who worked in the mountains cutting stones. One day, on his way back through the mountains among the cemeteries, a man called him by name. Yacoub did not know him, but the man said, "Come with me." Yacoub was carrying a bag, and the man asked him, "Give me some of the food you have with you."
Uncle Yacoub was deeply astonished. While they were eating, the food was quickly depleted as if there were other people with them, and Uncle Yacoub realized that he was dealing with a magician who used Satan. Indeed, the man told him that he used demons, but noted that he was unable to enter the homes of Coptic Christians on Sundays and did not know why, and that his demons were unable to work on that day either. Then, the man said, "Let me tell you a story that happened yesterday:
"Do you see the water surrounding this tomb? Yesterday, I saw with my own eyes—and I was not dreaming—a highly radiant lady surrounded by many guards. They came to the tomb of a recently buried man who had abandoned your religion. The lady said: 'Take out the man's body.' There was a pot filled with boiling water. When they threw the body in, an oil floated to the surface of the water, and the Queenly lady carefully collected it with a small spoon into a bottle, saying in a calm yet angry tone:
'Myron, my son! Myron, my son! He does not deserve it!'
"Then, they threw out the water as you can see, and the scene vanished. I was not asleep. What happened?!"
At this, Uncle Yacoub took courage and told the magician about Sunday, the Liturgy, the Resurrection of Christ, and Holy Communion. He explained that the noble lady was the Virgin Mary and that the Myron (Holy Chrism) is the anointing oil. He told the magician about how it is prepared, the prayers said during the process, and how it is originally made from the spices used for the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, given to a Christian only once after their baptism.
The magician listened, astonished by the power and value of this oil.
Additional Note
His Grace Bishop Gregory used to tell a similar story about a man who held a high-ranking position and lived in front of the cemeteries in Cairo. He witnessed the exact same thing that the man in our first story saw, and when he learned the meaning of the story, he believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.
!والملكة إذا غضبت ميرون ابني
هذه القصة رواها البابا مكاريوس الثالث البطريرك ال114 عن رجل كان
يعرفه اسمه عم يعقوب حينما كان البابا مطراناً لأسيوط، يحكي البابا عن عم يعقوب
انه كان رجلاً بسيطاً محباً لله يعمل في الجبل لقطع الأحجار، وذات يوم قابل رجلاً في
طريقة عودته في الجبل بين المقابر ناداه باسمه ولم يكن يعرفه وقال له تعال معي وكان يعقوب يحمل كيساً وهنا قال له الرجل اعطني طعاماً مما معك. فاندهش عم يعقوب
جداً وبينما هما يأكلان كان الطعام ينتهي سريعاً وكأن معهما ناس و أدرك عم يعقوب انه أمام ساحر يستخدم الشيطان، وفعلاً
قال له الرجل انه يستخدم الشياطين وانه لا يستطيع دخول
بيوت الأقباط يوم الأحد ولا يعرف لماذا ولا تعرف شياطينه أن تعمل يومها ثم قال له سأحكي
لك قصة حدثت أمس. أتري المياه التي تحيط بهذه المقبرة؟ أمس رأيت بعيني ولم أكن احلم
سيدة شديدة البهاء يحيط بها حرس كثيرون وجاءوا لمقبرة رجل مدفون حديثاً كان قد ترك
دينكم وقالت: "أخرِجوا جسد الرجل" وكان هناك قدرٌ مملوء ماء مغلي وعندما القوا الجثة
طفى زيتٌ علي وجه المياه و قامت السيدة الملكة بجمعه بتدقيق بملعقة صغيرة في زجاجة وكانت
تقول بغضب هادئ: "ميرون ابني! ميرون ابني! انه لا يستحقه!" ثم القوا الماء كما تري واختفي المشهد ولم أكن نائماً فما هذا الذي
حدث؟!. هنا تَشَجَّع عم يعقوب وحكي له عن يوم الأحد وصلاة القداس وقيامة المسيح
والتناول، أما السيدة الجليلة فهي العذراء مريم، و الميرون فهو زيت المسحة وحكي
للساحر عن طريقة تحضيره والصلوات التي تتم وقتها وانه في الأصل زيت من حنوط جسد
السيد المسيح و يُعطي للمسيحي مرة واحدة بعد معموديته. سمع الساحر وهو مندهش من قوة هذا الزيت وقيمته .
وكان نيافة الأنبا اغريغوريوس يحكي قصة مشابهة لتلك القصة عن رجل
يشغل منصباً كبيراً ويسكن أمام مقابر بالقاهرة وشاهد نفس ما رآه الرجل في قصتنا الأولي
ولما عرف رموز القصة آمن بالسيد المسيح.
لما
أبصر اللص رئيس الحياة على الصليب معلقاً، قال: لولا أن المصلوبَ معنا إلهٌ متجسد،
ما كانت الشمس أخفت شعاعها ولا الأرض ماجت مرتعدة. لكن أيها القادر على
كل شيء، والمحتمل كل شيء، اذكرني يا رب متى جئتَ في ملكوتك (ذوكصابتري...(
يا
من قبل إليه اعتراف اللص على الصليب، اقبلنا إليك أيها الصالح. نحن المستوجبين حكم
الموت من أجل خطايانا. نقر بخطايانا معه معترفين بألوهيتك، ونصرخ معه جميعاً:
اذكرنا يا رب متى جئتَ في ملكوتك (كى نين...)
عندما
نظرت الوالدة الحمل والراعي مخلص العالم على الصليب معلقاً قالت وهي باكية: أما
العالم فيفرح لقبوله الخلاص، وأما أحشائي فتلتهب عند نظري إلى صلبوتك الذي أنت
صابر عليه من أجل الكل، يا ابني والهي.
