Papas Prof. Martin Zammit

Academic Qualifications

Ph.D. in Arabic and Semitic studies, University of Malta
Master of Theology in Orthodox Studies University of Winchester
Bachelor of Divinity, Heythrop College, University of London
Bachelor of Arts Honours in Arabic, University of Malta
Bachelor of Arts General in Arabic and Classics, University of Malta

Biography

Born in Valletta, Zammit received his secondary education at the Lyceum, Ħamrun. Prior to his university studies, he was employed at the Libyan Cultural Centre in Valletta and at the Libyan Embassy in Malta. He was afterwards employed as an Arabic interpreter and translator at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and later moved on to the Office of the Prime Minister, covering the duties of interpreter and translator and private secretary to the prime minister (1978–86). Zammit read Arabic, Greek, and Latin at the undergraduate level (1988–92) and specialised in Arabic and Semitic studies at the post-graduate and doctoral levels at the University of Malta (1992–98). He served as assistant executive director of the Mediterranean Institute (1996–1999). In 1999, Zammit was appointed a lecturer at the Department of Arabic and Near Eastern Studies. He also served as director of the Institute of Linguistics at the University of Malta (2010–12). From 2010 until 2018, Zammit headed the Department of Oriental Studies at the Faculty of Arts of the same university. For many years, he coordinated the Arabic programme within this department. Zammit has published his academic research in a number of local and international journals and books in the fields of Arabic dialectology, Semitic studies, and Maltese. His publications include a study on the qur’ānic lexicon, a Syriac chrestomathy, a translation into Arabic of a collection of Maltese short stories by Oliver Friggieri, and a Maltese translation of the Qur’ān.

Apart from his Semitic and Arabic studies, Zammit obtained a bachelor’s degree in divinity from Heythrop College (London) and a master’s degree in Orthodox studies from the University of Winchester. On June 11th, 2017, Zammit was ordained priest (papàs) of the Byzantine rite and serves at the Greek-Catholic Church of ‘Our Lady of Damascus’, in Valletta.

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