Anba Mikhail (4 July 1920–23 November 2014) served as Metropolitan of Asyut for over sixty years, from 1946 until his departure in 2014. Born Matyas Hanna in 1920, he became a monk at the monastery of St Macarius in 1939, taking the name Matyas al-Makari. In 1942, he went to the Monastic School at Helwan where he received a two-year Diploma with high distinction.[fn]Joseph Mamdouh, A Biography of the Thrice-Blessed Anba Mikhail, Metropolitan of Assiut and Abbot of the Monastery of St Macarius (Joseph Mamdouh, 2017), 8.[/fn] 

In 1946, he was expelled from the monastery after calling out his abbot for certain wrong practices, only to be ordained immediately as Metropolitan of Asyut by Pope Yusab II. The previous patriarch, Pope Macarius III, had been the Metropolitan of Asyut, and his death in the previous year had left the seat vacant (at this point, diocesan bishops were still eligible to hold the office of patriarch). As his successor on the patriarchal throne, Pope Yusab needed to find a suitable replacement, and it was rumoured that on the same night that Matyas was expelled from the monastery, St Mary appeared to Pope Yusab and instructed him to go immediately to St Macarius’ monastery and ordain the monk Matyas as the new metropolitan of Asyut.[fn]Monks of St Macarius, “The Departure of His Eminence Metropolitan Mikhail, Metropolitan of Asyut and Abbot of the Monastery of St Macarius (1920–2014).” The Monastery of St Macarius the Great, http://www.stmacariusmonastery.org/ava_michael.htm/, accessed June 28, 2020.[/fn] 

In addition to managing the Diocese of Asyut through the reigns of four successive patriarchs (Yusab II, Kyrillos VI, Shenouda III and Tawadros II), Metropolitan Mikhail was the Abbot of the Monastery of St Macarius. However, for most of his time in this role, he left the daily management and spiritual leadership of the monastery to Fr Matta al-Miskin.

Fr Matthew the Poor (20 Sept 1919—8 June 2006) was the spiritual leader of the Monastery of St Macarius and one of the most renowned Coptic ascetics and theologians of the twentieth century. In the words of his abbot, Metropolitan Mikhail of Asyut, Abouna Matta was “a brilliant scholar, a turning point, a new level of writing and literary activity through the long period of his monastic life”.[fn]Met. Mikhail, “Obituary for Fr Matthew the Poor” in Autobiography of Fr Matta al-Maskin, iii.[/fn] As recently as 2013, the scholar Samuel Rubenson could describe Fr Matthew as “by far the most discussed and most influential theologian in Arabic-speaking Christianity today.”[fn]Samuel Rubenson, “Matta El-Meskeen”, 415.[/fn]

Biography

By Monks of the Monastery of St Macarius

He was born Yūsuf Iskandar in Banhā, a town in the Delta, 45km north of Cairo, on September 20, 1919. He graduated with a degree in Pharmacy in 1944 and practiced as a pharmacist until 1948.

On August 19, 1948, he became a monk in the poorest monastery in Egypt, the Monastery of St Samuel the Confessor in Upper Egypt, taking the name ‘Mattá’ (Matthew). At the Monastery of St Samuel, he started writing his first book, Orthodox Prayer Life.

He was forced to move to Dayr al-Suryān (Monastery of the Syrians) in Wādī al-Naṭrūn in 1951 where he was ordained a priest. He lived a solitary life, a fair distance from the monastery. After two years, Abba Matta was asked to be the spiritual father of the monastery. At that time he greatly contributed to the revival of the Coptic monastic life. He rediscovered the spirit of the great Fathers of the Desert and became a leading model, having received great grace in matters of fatherhood.

In 1952 at Dayr al-Suryān, he published his first book in Arabic, Orthodox Prayer Life. The second and expanded edition was published in 1968. Orthodox Prayer Life was later translated into French in 1977, Italian in 1998, English in 2002, German in 2007, Ukrainian in 2011 and Hungarian in 2016.

In 1954 Pope Yūsāb (Joseph) II, Patriarch of Alexandria, appointed him as patriarchal vicar for Alexandria after elevating hi clerical rank to hegumen. Abba Matta stayed in this position for two years. At the beginning of 1955, he chose to return to the life of stillness in the desert at Dayr al-Suryān. In mid-1956, he left Dayr al-Suryān and returned to the Monastery of St Samuel, seeking greater solitude. He lived as a hermit in the cave of Wādī al-Rayyān ith his disciples from 1960–1969.

In 1969, Pope Kyrillos VI called Abba Matta and his disciple monks to move to Dayr Anbā Maqār (the Monastery of St Macarius), situated halfway between Cairo and Alexandria in the desert of Wādī al-Naṭrūn. The monks found the fourth century monastery in ruins. Since that time, a great revival within the monastery occurred, both spiritually and architecturally. In 2019, there were 130 monks in addition to great land that surrounds the monastery for agriculture.

At Dayr Abū Maqār, Abba Matta penned, until his last breath, many different works that cover vast topics such as mystical spirituality, monastic, spiritual books, in addition to historical researches and Biblical commentaries. His books are now translated into 18 languages.
 

The late Bishop Epiphanius (1954–2018), Abbot of the Monastery of St Macarius was one of the most beloved and widely-respected Coptic scholars of the 21st century.  Originally a doctor from Tanta, Tadros Zaki Tadros became a monk of the Monastery of St Macarius in 1984 at the age of 29, taking the name Epiphanius al-Makary. As a former doctor, he provided medical care to ill and elderly monks at the monastery, often accompanying them on trips abroad to receive treatment and providing palliative care. His keen intellect and eye for detail caused him to be singled out by the monastery's famous abbot, Fr Matthew the Poor, to work in the monastery's library. At Fr Matthew's command, he was ordained a priest in 2002 (despite his protestations). In 2013, he was elected to succeed Fr Matthew (who had passed away in 2006) as Abbot of the monastery, and was ordained a bishop by Pope Tawadros II: a role he carried out with deep, often confronting, humility (e.g. sitting at the back of churches and lecture halls, and refusing to allow people to make the prostration customary for greeting a Coptic bishop, insisting: "If you prostrate before me, I will prostrate before you!").  Pope Tawadros drew heavily on Bishop Epiphanius' theological learning and his deep monastic experience, appointing him to many delegations and committees, attracting the ire of those who opposed the much debated theological legacy of Fr Matthew the Poor. He was tragically murdered in 2018.