The renowned Egyptian theologian and musicologist was born in Iskanderiyya, Alexandria - the historic metropolis known for its philosophers and theologians, the city of the book, in the country that is praised as umm ad-dunya "mother of civilisation".
Michael Ghattas, who speaks eleven languages, followed in the footsteps of the thinkers of his famous home city from an early age: his studies in Orthodox theology and Byzantine church music first took him to Greece, to the Aristotle University in Thessaoloniki, and later to Germany, more precisely to Heidelberg, where he studied theology and papyrology. In 1996, he completed his doctorate in Marburg on the subject of "The Christology of Didymos the Blind of Alexandria in the writings of Tura. On the development of Alexandrian theology in the 4th century" under Prof. Dr Wolfgang A. Bienert. Several research visits to Germany followed. Since 1997, Michael Ghattas has been a researcher and lecturer at the Centre for Patristic Studies in Cairo, since 2001 he has also been a religion teacher at the German Protestant High School in Cairo and since 2002 head of the Department of Coptic Hymns and Music at the Institute for Coptic Studies in Cairo. He regularly gives lectures at theological seminars of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Germany and Egypt and is a sub-deacon of the Coptic Orthodox Church.
To this day, it is important to him not only to study and learn about the cultural and religious heritage, but also to preserve it for future generations and pass it on to them. As a lecturer and teacher, he imparts this heritage to his students; as a researcher, he prepares and safeguards it. One of his research projects was dedicated to securing a real treasure: the audio tapes from the sound archive of the Institute for Coptic Orthodox Church Music in Cairo, which had to be digitised and transcribed. He carried out this backup in collaboration with the Hanover University of Music and Drama and the Centre for World Music. In the presence of the former German ambassador to Egypt, Bernd Erbel, the hard drive storage was ceremoniously handed over to the then Pope Shenouda III in his audience chambers on 6 October 2009.
Michael Ghattas is always working to keep the youth, not least the Coptic youth, in the country and to offer them a future in Egypt. Thanks to his willingness and drive, the Egyptian partner organisation was launched in 2002. It is thanks to him that almost sixty Egyptian students and researchers have been supported in the S1 programme since 2002 and that alumni seminars are regularly held in Egypt. Michael Ghattas invests a great deal of passion, time and commitment in meetings with applicants, scholarship holders and alumni. For this commitment, he was awarded the KAAD's Bene Merenti Medal in April 2018 with great thanks.
