Abouna is his informative title meaning our father in Egyptian Arabic which is used among Copts to call any Priest in the Coptic Orthodox Church, and until the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries it could be used to call a Metropolitan, a Bishop or even the Pope by the word Abouna meaning my father.
[2] At the unusually young age of 16, he joined the newly opened Coptic Theological Seminary in Cairo.
[4] Putting in mind that he wrote his books to be read mainly by non-academic readers without disregarding academic ones, and that he wrote it in the early 1920s, his style is elegant yet easy to read and his work would be of good use for any person interested in this church's history from the beginnings till early 1920s .
In his attempt to do this he used simple yet correct language, and he tried to put the names in a standardised form; for example, when wrote about the Popes with the Name John he used the name Youhanna and not Youannis so the reader can relate that the name is the same but can be put in different versions When comparing his work with the History of the Coptic Church by Iris Habib Elmasry, Abouna Menassa's account is more concise and neutral, although leaving out some details included in Miss Elmasry's books, which made her work of use to both academic and non academic readers.
[5] Although both of them had notable affection towards the Coptic Church, Abouna Menassa's account was more neutral when approaching the matter of selection of this Pontiff to be the Pope.