Fa’iq Zakka Bolous was, we are told, Abuna Gawargy Al-Makari. His introduction of himself is not characteristically monastic: He tells us that he " was one of the best, most intelligent and most conscientious" novices. It is not too much to say that he constantly reveals himself to be someone who was unsuitable the monastic life from the first moments in the monastery until his last day. This is not a crime. The monastic life is based upon a conception of death to self and rebirth into a life of poverty, chastity and obedience.