Fouad Naguib Youssef was a patristic and liturgical theologian. As part of the Sunday School Movement, he was discipled by both Naẓīr Gayyid (Pope Shenouda III) and Fr Matthew the Poor.[fn]Fouad Naguib Youssef, “Fr Matthew the Poor,” Bose Monastery, May 2016.[/fn] He was the chief editor of the Word of Life magazine, an English/Arabic publication of St Mark’s Orthodox Fellowship.

Dr Noshy Abdelshahid (September 28, 1931–July 9, 2022) was a consecrated servant and the founder and director of the Centre for Patristic Studies in Cairo in 1978.[fn]Samuel Tadros, Motherland Lost: The Egyptian Quest for Modernity (Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 2013): 179.[/fn] He was also a prolific translator, having produced numerous translations of patristic texts from their original languages into Arabic, as well as works of modern Orthodox theologians such as Metropolitan Kallistos Ware. After his departure in July 2022, Pope Tawadros II released the following public letter of condolence to the Coptic Church:

Unto the hope of the resurrection we commit Dr Noshy Abdelshahid: a faithful servant, a patristic teacher, a self-sacrificing consecrated servant (mukarras), a powerful author whose many books and translations, which are rich, spiritual and patristic resources, have enriched Coptic libraries. 

He was a father to many who were discipled by him in service of the Church. He encouraged them to read, research and study, and opened to them fields of rich Scriptural and authentic patristic understanding.

Truly, this is a great loss both academically and spiritually in the life of our Coptic Orthodox Church. We bid him farewell as one of great stature in the Church, who was strongly connected to most of the fathers of our Church. We ask him to pray on our behalf, that Christ might bring our journey and our service to completion for the sake of His Holy Name.[fn]Statement on the Departure of Dr Noshy Abdelshahid, July 9 2022, Coptic Media Center [al-Markaz al-I‘lāmy al-Qibṭy al-Urthudhuksy], Facebook.com, https://www.facebook.com/CopticSP/posts/411256357713025.[/fn]

Wahib Helmy Kozman Bulus (1931–July, 2021) was a patristics scholar, liturgical theologian and scholar of the Orthodox Centre for Patristic Studies founded by Dr Noshy Abdelshahid. 

He was one of a number of students whom Dr Noshy Abdelshahid sent to Greece to earn postgraduate degrees in Orthodox theology. Kozman earned a Bachelor of Theology from the University of Athens in 1985, followed by a PhD in theology at Durham University in England, from which he graduated in 1992. His doctoral thesis, supervised by the Very Rev. George D. Dragas, was titled “St Athanasius of Alexandria’s Doctrine of Grace,” which was published in Arabic in 1993.[fn]Wahib Kozman Bulus, al-Na‘ma ‘ind al-Qiddīs Athanāsyūs al-Rasūlī, 2nd edn. (Good Shepherd Group, 2010).[/fn]

He lived a celibate life in Alexandria, where he was discipled by Fr Bishoy Kamel and also mentored younger servants. He remained an active contributor to the conferences and publications of the Patristic Centre throughout his life.[fn]Announcement from al-Markaz al-Urthūdhuksī li-l-Dirāsāt al-Abā’iyya bi-l-Qāhira, “Doctor Wahib Kozman Bulus,” July 23 2021, Facebook.com.[/fn]

He departed peacefully in July 2021 at the age of 90.