The Church in a Wounded World: Matta al-Miskīn on Martyrdom and Spiritual Freedom

A decade ago, the world witnessed the horrific slaughter of twenty Copts in Libya, who, alongside their Ghanaian fellow Christian, were captured and beheaded by ISIS on the shores of Sirte in February 2015. It was a harrowing tragedy that underscored the enduring plight of Christian minorities in the Middle East. These men, however, were regarded as more than mere victims of religious persecution. Their determination to proclaim Christ’s lordship in the face of death, expressed in their final words, “Ya Rabbi Yasouʿ” (My Lord Jesus), has elevated their legacy, ensuring their veneration within the Coptic “cloud of martyrs.” It is such incidents, across the centuries, that led the Coptic Church to proudly identify itself as the Church of the Martyrs (Kanīsat al-Shuhadā’).

Given this context, this paper examines Matta al-Miskīn’s understanding of “martyrdom” within the framework of his Orthodox ecclesiology and theology of the world. Rather than theologizing for protecting Christian minorities, Matta exalts martyrdom as the pinnacle of Christian spirituality. Through analyzing two of Matta’s works, namely, Al-Kanīsa al-Khālida [The Immortal Church] (1960), and Al-Masīḥī fi-l-Mujtama‘ [The Christian in the Society] (1968), this study argues that, for Matta, martyrdom serves as the primary means through which the world receives its healing and the Church realizes its freedom.

The paper begins by exploring Matta’s paradoxical view of the relationship between the Church and the world, which I propose framing as “freedom-actualized solidarity” – a term meant to capture the interconnectedness and dialectical interplay between the Church and the world in Matta’s thought. On the one hand, Matta critiques the Church’s “lukewarm” detachment from “the world distress” (miḥnat al-‘ālam) which has misguided its mission. Drawing on the biblical imagery of the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Matta portrays the world as grievously wounded, yet “the Church passes by in the spirit of the indifferent priest and Levite.” For Matta, apathy and contempt toward the world lack theological grounding in Orthodox thought. Despite its corruption, the world remains bound to God by a “hidden ladder,” making it an object of divine love and salvation rather than condemnation. Thus, by abandoning the world, the Church severs itself from that mystical bond, not only leaving the world half-dead but also reducing itself to little more than “a handful of salt wrapped in a neglected leaf of paper.” The Church and the world, in this sense, are teleologically interdependent; for the Church to fulfill its calling, it must stand in solidarity with the world. On the other hand, when considering the spiritual nature of the Church, its relationship with the world is marked by profound otherness and mutual independence; “the world is free from the Church, and the Church too is free from the world.” Freedom, here, signifies the ontological distinctiveness rooted in the spirituality of the Church (rūḥāniyyat al-kanīsa). Compromising that freedom by resorting to “unspiritual measures” causes the Church to “dissolve” into the world, rendering solidarity meaningless. The Church, in a nutshell, is destined to remain secretly bound to the world, bearing responsibility for its healing while preserving its ontological otherness. It is by drawing on these elements of sacramental connectedness, active participation, and spiritual distinctiveness, that I formulate Matta’s view of the relationship between the Church and the world in terms of “freedom-actualized solidarity.”

In the second section, the paper examines the “transformative” effect of that freedom-actualized solidarity in Matta’s thought. The Church, for Matta, is “responsible for ushering the Kingdom of God and changing the spirit of the world.” The theological hope is for the world to be “renewed” in anticpation of its “blessed” destiny, where renewal, in the Orthodox sense, means “transformation (taḥawūl).” This should not be mistaken for moral, social, or political forms of transformation aimed merely at preparing the world for the future Parousia. Instead, it is a spiritual transformation that subsumes the world today through the “spiritual presence” of the Church grounded in its “freedom from the world.” The transformative power here is neither political nor social in nature; rather, the secret reality of the world is changed only by means of the gracious, mysterious work (‘amal sirry) of the Holy Spirit. 

Finally, the paper argues that, in Matta’s thought, martyrdom stands as the ultimate and unparalleled epitome of this mysterious, transformative work. The freedom-actualized solidarity is most clearly manifested in the “willingness to die.” It is because God intends to heal the world and sustain the spirituality of the Church that God sends the “spirit of martyrdom.” Matta envisions the world as severely wounded, bleeding from the corrupting work of Satan. In response, God provides blood donors, the martyrs, through whom the angels administer the necessary transfusion to heal and save the world. Thus, he exhorts Christians: “O little sacrifices of God, step forward and do not withhold the light of dawn from the world.” Christians should not see themselves as prey to the world but as sacrifices offered on behalf of the world and for its transformation. On the other hand, martyrdom signifies true spirituality and the ontological freedom from the world as it conquers the demonic spirits that promote violence and retaliation. “The spirit of the Church,” Matta holds, “does not die because of persecution, and its character does not faint because of suffering, because its spirit is divine, and its character bears the marks of Jesus.” Since the Church is the extension of Christ’s incarnation, and since suffering is central to the “purpose of incarnation,” it follows, for Matta, that true “fellowship with Christ” is unveiled in the Church through a “living faith willing to bear witness, even unto the point of shedding blood.” This forms the theological foundation upon which the concepts of “witness” (shahāda) and “martyrdom” (istishhād) are intricately woven together in Matta's thought. Contemplating the Church martyrs of the past, he applauds: “Their living witness (shahāda) is coming forth from the tombs of the martyrs (shuhadā’).” Ultimately, Matta believes that a “living witness” can only be fully validated in death, affirming martyrdom as the highest expression of Christian freedom.