Monastery of Saint Anthony
Encyclopedia
The Monastery of Saint Anthony
is a Coptic Orthodox monastery standing in an oasis
in the Eastern Desert
of Egypt
, in the southern part of the Suez Governorate. Hidden deep in the Red Sea
mountains, it is located 334 km (207.5 mi) southeast of Cairo
. It is one of the oldest monasteries in the world, together with Saint Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai
, which also lays claim to that title. The Monastery of Saint Anthony
was established by the followers of Saint Anthony, who is considered to be the first monk
. The Monastery of St. Anthony is one of the most prominent monasteries in Egypt and has strongly influenced the formation of several Coptic institutions, and has promoted monasticism
in general. Several patriarchs have been pulled from the monastery, and several hundred pilgrims
visit it each day.
. In the original settlement, his followers established only the most essential buildings. Isolation was stressed. They lived in solitary cells surrounding a communal worship center where they performed the Divine Liturgy
. They took their daily meals in a basic refectory
. As time passed, the focus on ascetics diminished, and St. Anthony’s followers began to develop closer relationships with one and other in order to foster safety, convenience, and mutual fellowship. The life of an Antonian monk thus slowly evolved from one of solitary asceticism to one that allowed for a communal way of living.
monks from the east. In 615, St. John the Merciful, the Melkite
Patriarch, sent St. Anastasius
, the head of the Monastery of St. Anthony at that time, large sums of money and asked him to take some Melkite monks who were persecuted by the Persians. These Melkite monks then continued to oversee the monastery until the late 8th century.
In 790, Coptic monks from the Monastery of St. Macarius
in the Desert of Scetis disguised themselves as Bedouins in an attempt to steal the earthly remains of St. John the Short, who had lived and died in the Monastery of St. Anthony in the 5th century. The Ethiopian Synaxarium
describes how they deceived the Melkite monks to accomplish this task:
, who partly destroyed it in the 11th century. There was also a rebellion
by the Kurds and the Turks during this time. When their leader Nasir ad-Daula was defeated, the remains of his army invaded and pillaged the Monastery of St. Anthony as well as the nearby Monastery of St. Paul
. The monastery was restored in the 12th century, and it flourished throughout the next few centuries. A fortress-like structure was also built around the monastery for protection from invaders. Abu Salih the Armenian describes the unparalleled excellence of the monastery in the beginning of the 13th century:
, European priests and diplomats began to tour Egypt as a part of their pilgrimage to the Holy Land
. Ludolph of Suchem, a parish priest in the diocese
of Paderborn
, mentions his visits to the “many cells and hermitages of holy fathers,” many of which live under St. Anthony. In his “Description of the Holy Land”, he describes the miraculous fountain of St. Anthony: “In this desert there is a place beneath an exceeding tall and narrow rock, wherein St. Anthony used to dwell, and from out of the rock there flows a stream for half a stone’s throw, until it is lost in the sand… this place is visited by many for devotions and pleasure, and also by the grace of God and in honor of St. Anthony many sicknesses are healed and driven away by the fountain.”
In 1395, during the Crusade of Nicopolis, Ogier VIII d'Anglure journeyed to Egypt with several French pilgrims
. He compared the Monastery of St. Anthony to the Monastery of Saint Catherine, stating that it was even more beautiful and noted the holiness and charitable of the Jacobite
monks. By the early 15th century, the monastery had become an established pilgrimage destination and it was commonplace for pilgrims to inscribe their name, coat-of-arms, and date of arrival on the walls of the monastery.
In the late 15th century, the monastery was devastated by the same Bedouins the monastery employed, and all of the monks were killed. It then followed that Syrian monks began to occupy the monastery, and helped in the rebuilding of the monastery at the beginning of the 16th century. After the restoration of the monastery, Ethiopian and Egyptian monks co-inhabited the monastery for some time. However, the monastery slowly fell completely into ruin and the few monks that lived there greatly relied on the support from the nearby village of Bush. From then until the 19th century, there are various accounts of travelers who stopped by the monastery, but the monastery is only briefly mentioned in passing. It is known that Franciscan
missionaries sometimes used the monastery as a base to prepare missionaries in the 17th century. However, the monastery was in such disarray that it lacked even a door, and travelers had to enter through a pulley
system of rope and basket.
which brought in food and other necessities from the nearby village of Bush. A journey along the desert path that extended from Kuraymat, a city along the Nile in between Beni Suef
and Helwan, to the monastery used to take three to four days. The monastery received very few visitors, but those who did come were often distinguished in status, such as Georges Cogordan, the French ambassador to Egypt in 1901, and Johann Georg
, Duke
of Saxony
.
The monastery became much more accessible after the opening of the Suez
-Ras Gharib
Road in 1946, and can now be reached from Cairo in just five to six hours. During the first decade after construction, the number of foreigner visitors greatly increased, with about 370 visitors between 1953 and 1958. Since then, the monastery has become a more popular destination for Egyptians, offering Egyptian Christians religious retreats as well as family excursions. Now on holiday weekends there are typically more than a thousand visitors.
and the American Research Center in Egypt
, restoration has been undertaken on the paintings. The oldest paintings in the monastery date to the 7th and 8th centuries, while the newest date to the 13th.
This church dates back to the 12th century and has a central sanctuary
with a very small apse, two lateral sanctuaries, and a small choir. The nave
has two bays with two large domes and a wide arch between them. Most of the church's walls and domes are covered with frescos. There is a small sanctuary dedicated to the four beasts of the Apocalypse
in the southwestern corner, and their representations are depicted on the walls. The soffit
of the arch above the door is decorated with a scene of Christ in mandorla flanked by busts of the twelve apostles. This is the oldest painting in the church, and dates from the 7th century. A figure of a decorated cross is in the apse
. The body of St. Justus the monk is kept in a passage along the outer southern wall that connects to the adjoining Church of the Apostles.
This church, dedicated to the saints Peter and Paul, was renovated in 1772 A.D. by the Copt Lutfallah Shaker. The church has twelve domes. Nine of the domes roof the nave and the other three are over the sanctuaries, which are characterized by inlaid wooden screens. In 2005, the monks' cells dating to the 4th century – the oldest ever found – were discovered beneath the Church of the Apostles.
This church was renovated in 1766 by Hasaballah al-Bayadi and also has twelve domes. It was built in the 15th century on the spot of Saint Mark the Ascetic's cell.
These two churches are north of the Church of St. Anthony and their structures resemble towers. The western building houses storage rooms and the refectory
on the ground floor. The Church of the Virgin Mary is on the upper floor and has an inlaid screen extending over the whole breadth of the church. The eastern building is the tower of the monastery, and the Church of St Michael the Archangel is on the third floor of the tower.
, but because of its deviation from the eastern direction it was never consecrated and thus became the library. It contains a rich collection of printed books and the largest collection of Coptic manuscripts in Egypt, which amount to some 1,863 volumes. The library contained many more volumes in the past. The present collection has been significantly reduced by the Bedouins who plundered the monastery and used many of the manuscripts as cooking fuel.
lived as a hermit is a 2km hike from the monastery and is 680 meters above the Red Sea level. It is a small natural hole in the rocks adjacent to the southern part of Mount Galala. Visitors can ascend the winding trail of stairs from the monastery to the cavern in about one hour. The hermitage of St. Anthony is an extremely small space about 7 meters from the narrow opening of the cave.
restored paintings inside the Saint Anthony
's Church.
During the renovations, archeologists uncovered the ruins of the original monks' working quarters from the 4th century. The remains are now covered by a glass floor and are viewable by visitors. The restored monastery is now open to the public. The renovations were unveiled shortly after a violent attack on Christians in Egypt and have been touted by the government as evidence of peaceful Muslim-Christian coexistence.
, the metropolitans
, and the bishops have always been recruited from among the desert monks. In the 1960s, Anba Shenudah
initiated the Sunday School
movement, which inspired educated young men to forsake the worldly pleasures and to instead join their desert fathers. Since the movement began, the total number of monks had more than tripled within the first 25 years, and many of these young ascetics have also been promoted to the episcopacy. At the Monastery of Saint Anthony, the number of monks jumped from 24 monks in 1960 to 69 in 1986. Today, there are about 120 monks and priests currently living in the community.
In the past, the overwhelming majority of the monks in residence were 50 years of age or older, and through the tradition of the other desert fathers, their piety was linked to a quality of anti-intellectualism
. St. Macarius the Great was a camel herder; St. Macarius of Alexandria was a small shopkeeper; St. Apollo was a goat herder, and St. Paphnutius
and St. Pambo were illiterate. This trend has reversed since the revival of monasticism in Egypt in the 1960s. Today, monks are well-educated young men with extensive academic and professional backgrounds in the scientific fields such as engineering, medicine, pharmacy, and architecture.
days under the Patriarchate of Anba Kirillus VI
(1959–1971), and has significantly contributed to a revival in the spiritual vitality of the Coptic church. The construction of a desert road leading to the monastery has lifted the monastery out of geographic isolation and brought it within reach of the masses. It has now become a popular pilgrimage
site that can be reached within a few hours by bus or car from a major city. Over a million people, including both Egyptian Christians and foreigners, visit each year. Contrary to the exclusive ascetic functions of monasteries in the past, the monastery now also serves as a center for Coptic Christians where they can organize and attend spiritual retreats, youth programs, and religious conferences. Today, the monastery is accessible from Cairo
, Suez
or Hurghada
.
Anthony the Great
Anthony the Great or Antony the Great , , also known as Saint Anthony, Anthony the Abbot, Anthony of Egypt, Anthony of the Desert, Anthony the Anchorite, Abba Antonius , and Father of All Monks, was a Christian saint from Egypt, a prominent leader among the Desert Fathers...
is a Coptic Orthodox monastery standing in an oasis
Oasis
In geography, an oasis or cienega is an isolated area of vegetation in a desert, typically surrounding a spring or similar water source...
in the Eastern Desert
Eastern Desert
The Eastern Desert is the section of Sahara Desert east of the Nile River, between the river and the Red Sea. It extends from Egypt in the north to Eritrea in the south, and also comprises parts of Sudan and Ethiopia.-Features:...
of Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, in the southern part of the Suez Governorate. Hidden deep in the Red Sea
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
mountains, it is located 334 km (207.5 mi) southeast of Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
. It is one of the oldest monasteries in the world, together with Saint Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai
Mount Sinai
Mount Sinai , also known as Mount Horeb, Mount Musa, Gabal Musa , Jabal Musa meaning "Moses' Mountain", is a mountain near Saint Catherine in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. A mountain called Mount Sinai is mentioned many times in the Book of Exodus in the Torah and the Bible as well as the Quran...
, which also lays claim to that title. The Monastery of Saint Anthony
Anthony the Great
Anthony the Great or Antony the Great , , also known as Saint Anthony, Anthony the Abbot, Anthony of Egypt, Anthony of the Desert, Anthony the Anchorite, Abba Antonius , and Father of All Monks, was a Christian saint from Egypt, a prominent leader among the Desert Fathers...
was established by the followers of Saint Anthony, who is considered to be the first monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
. The Monastery of St. Anthony is one of the most prominent monasteries in Egypt and has strongly influenced the formation of several Coptic institutions, and has promoted monasticism
Monasticism
Monasticism is a religious way of life characterized by the practice of renouncing worldly pursuits to fully devote one's self to spiritual work...
in general. Several patriarchs have been pulled from the monastery, and several hundred pilgrims
Pilgrims
Pilgrims , or Pilgrim Fathers , is a name commonly applied to early settlers of the Plymouth Colony in present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States...
visit it each day.
Life of Saint Anthony
Saint Anthony is a Christian saint who was born to a wealthy family in Lower Egypt around 251 C.E. Most of what is known about him comes from the biographical work of St. Athanasius, Vita Antoni. This biography depicts Anthony as an illiterate and holy man who through his existence in a primordial landscape has received an absolute connection to the divine truth. At the age of 34, Anthony gave away or donated to charity all of his property and worldly possessions; he ventured into the Eastern Desert to seek a life of humility, solitude, and spiritual reflection. He made his abode in a small cave where he devoutly practiced an ascetic life. Although St. Anthony was not the first monk, he attracted many followers and disciples, and is one of the fathers of modern Christian monasticism.Origins
A few years after the death of Saint Anthony, his followers settled around the place where the hermit lived. The Monastery of Saint Anthony was built between 361 and 363 A.D. during the reign of Julian the ApostateJulian the Apostate
Julian "the Apostate" , commonly known as Julian, or also Julian the Philosopher, was Roman Emperor from 361 to 363 and a noted philosopher and Greek writer....
. In the original settlement, his followers established only the most essential buildings. Isolation was stressed. They lived in solitary cells surrounding a communal worship center where they performed the Divine Liturgy
Divine Liturgy
Divine Liturgy is the common term for the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine tradition of Christian liturgy. As such, it is used in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches. Armenian Christians, both of the Armenian Apostolic Church and of the Armenian Catholic Church, use the same term...
. They took their daily meals in a basic refectory
Refectory
A refectory is a dining room, especially in monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminaries...
. As time passed, the focus on ascetics diminished, and St. Anthony’s followers began to develop closer relationships with one and other in order to foster safety, convenience, and mutual fellowship. The life of an Antonian monk thus slowly evolved from one of solitary asceticism to one that allowed for a communal way of living.
The Monastery as a Refuge for Others (400–800)
In the sixth and seventh centuries, many monks from the monasteries of Scetes fled to the Monastery of Saint Anthony in order to escape frequent attack by the Bedouins and Berbers. During this time, the monastery experienced a constantly shifting and sometimes mutual occupation by the Coptic monks from Scetes and by the MelkiteMelkite
The term Melkite, also written Melchite, refers to various Byzantine Rite Christian churches and their members originating in the Middle East. The word comes from the Syriac word malkāyā , and the Arabic word Malakī...
monks from the east. In 615, St. John the Merciful, the Melkite
Melkite
The term Melkite, also written Melchite, refers to various Byzantine Rite Christian churches and their members originating in the Middle East. The word comes from the Syriac word malkāyā , and the Arabic word Malakī...
Patriarch, sent St. Anastasius
Anastasius of Persia
Saint Anastasius of Persia , once a member of the Zoroastrian Magi caste, became a convert of the Holy Cross and was martyred in 628....
, the head of the Monastery of St. Anthony at that time, large sums of money and asked him to take some Melkite monks who were persecuted by the Persians. These Melkite monks then continued to oversee the monastery until the late 8th century.
In 790, Coptic monks from the Monastery of St. Macarius
Monastery of Saint Macarius the Great
The Monastery of Saint Macarius is a Coptic Orthodox monastery located in Wadi El Natrun, Beheira Governorate, about 92 km north west of Cairo, and off the highway between Cairo and Alexandria.-Ancient History:...
in the Desert of Scetis disguised themselves as Bedouins in an attempt to steal the earthly remains of St. John the Short, who had lived and died in the Monastery of St. Anthony in the 5th century. The Ethiopian Synaxarium
Synaxarium
Synaxarion, Synexarion, pl. Synaxaria —Latin: Synaxarium, Synexarium—the name given in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches to a compilation of hagiographies corresponding roughly to the martyrology of the Roman Church.There are two kinds of synaxaria:*Simple...
describes how they deceived the Melkite monks to accomplish this task:
- “it was not possible for them to fulfill their mission for the moment, for the body of the saint was guarded by the Melkite Chalcedonians who dwelt in the sanctuary. Then the judge from among the Arabs said to the Melkite bishop who sat in the sanctuary: ‘make all your men get out of the church, for I wish to enter the church myself and stay here this night.’ The bishop did as the judge commanded, and the Coptic Monks made ready their beasts outside the town and entered by night and took the body and returned to the desert of Scetis.”
Peace and Persecution (800–1300)
Although the monastery of St. Anthony enjoyed relative peace and security in its remote area, there were short periods of intense persecution. The monastery itself was plundered a number of times by the Bedouins of the Eastern DesertEastern Desert
The Eastern Desert is the section of Sahara Desert east of the Nile River, between the river and the Red Sea. It extends from Egypt in the north to Eritrea in the south, and also comprises parts of Sudan and Ethiopia.-Features:...
, who partly destroyed it in the 11th century. There was also a rebellion
Rebellion
Rebellion, uprising or insurrection, is a refusal of obedience or order. It may, therefore, be seen as encompassing a range of behaviors aimed at destroying or replacing an established authority such as a government or a head of state...
by the Kurds and the Turks during this time. When their leader Nasir ad-Daula was defeated, the remains of his army invaded and pillaged the Monastery of St. Anthony as well as the nearby Monastery of St. Paul
Monastery of Saint Paul the Anchorite
The Monastery of Saint Paul the Anchorite in Egypt is a Coptic Orthodox monastery located in the Eastern Desert, near the Red Sea mountains. It is about south east of Cairo. The monastery is also known as the Monastery of the Tigers....
. The monastery was restored in the 12th century, and it flourished throughout the next few centuries. A fortress-like structure was also built around the monastery for protection from invaders. Abu Salih the Armenian describes the unparalleled excellence of the monastery in the beginning of the 13th century:
- “This monastery possesses many endowments and possessions at MisrEgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. It is surrounded by a fortified wall. It contains many monks. Within the wall there is a large garden, containing fruitful palm trees, and apple trees, and pear trees, and pomegranates, and other trees besides beds of vegetables, and three springs of perpetually flowing water, with which the garden is irrigated and which the monks drink. One feddanFeddanA feddan is a unit of area. It is used in Egypt, Sudan, and Syria. The feddan is not an SI unit and in Arabic, the word means 'a yoke of oxen': implying the area of ground that could be tilled by them in a certain time. In Egypt the feddan is the only non-metric unit which remained in use...
and a sixth in the garden form a vineyard, which supplies all that is needed, and it is said that the number of the palms which the garden contains amounts to a thousand trees, and there stands in it a large well-built qasrQasrQasr may refer to:* the Arabic for "castle" , see Ksar* Qasr Libya - a town in Libya* Qasr Ahmed - the port for the Libyan city of Misurata* Qasr Amra - a desert castle in Jordan* Qasr Azraq - a desert castle in Jordan...
… There is nothing like it among the other monasteries inhabited by Egyptian monks.”
Early European Visitors (1300–1800)
During the later crusadesCrusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
, European priests and diplomats began to tour Egypt as a part of their pilgrimage to the Holy Land
Holy Land
The Holy Land is a term which in Judaism refers to the Kingdom of Israel as defined in the Tanakh. For Jews, the Land's identifiction of being Holy is defined in Judaism by its differentiation from other lands by virtue of the practice of Judaism often possible only in the Land of Israel...
. Ludolph of Suchem, a parish priest in the diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
of Paderborn
Paderborn
Paderborn is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader, which originates in more than 200 springs near Paderborn Cathedral, where St. Liborius is buried.-History:...
, mentions his visits to the “many cells and hermitages of holy fathers,” many of which live under St. Anthony. In his “Description of the Holy Land”, he describes the miraculous fountain of St. Anthony: “In this desert there is a place beneath an exceeding tall and narrow rock, wherein St. Anthony used to dwell, and from out of the rock there flows a stream for half a stone’s throw, until it is lost in the sand… this place is visited by many for devotions and pleasure, and also by the grace of God and in honor of St. Anthony many sicknesses are healed and driven away by the fountain.”
In 1395, during the Crusade of Nicopolis, Ogier VIII d'Anglure journeyed to Egypt with several French pilgrims
Pilgrims
Pilgrims , or Pilgrim Fathers , is a name commonly applied to early settlers of the Plymouth Colony in present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States...
. He compared the Monastery of St. Anthony to the Monastery of Saint Catherine, stating that it was even more beautiful and noted the holiness and charitable of the Jacobite
Jacob Baradaeus
Jacob Baradaeus was Bishop of Edessa from 543 until his death. One of the most important figures in the history of the Syriac Orthodox Church, and the Oriental Orthodox churches generally, he was a defender of the Monophysite movement in a time when its strength was declining...
monks. By the early 15th century, the monastery had become an established pilgrimage destination and it was commonplace for pilgrims to inscribe their name, coat-of-arms, and date of arrival on the walls of the monastery.
In the late 15th century, the monastery was devastated by the same Bedouins the monastery employed, and all of the monks were killed. It then followed that Syrian monks began to occupy the monastery, and helped in the rebuilding of the monastery at the beginning of the 16th century. After the restoration of the monastery, Ethiopian and Egyptian monks co-inhabited the monastery for some time. However, the monastery slowly fell completely into ruin and the few monks that lived there greatly relied on the support from the nearby village of Bush. From then until the 19th century, there are various accounts of travelers who stopped by the monastery, but the monastery is only briefly mentioned in passing. It is known that Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
missionaries sometimes used the monastery as a base to prepare missionaries in the 17th century. However, the monastery was in such disarray that it lacked even a door, and travelers had to enter through a pulley
Pulley
A pulley, also called a sheave or a drum, is a mechanism composed of a wheel on an axle or shaft that may have a groove between two flanges around its circumference. A rope, cable, belt, or chain usually runs over the wheel and inside the groove, if present...
system of rope and basket.
Modern History (1900-present)
Before the dawn of the 20th century, the only way to get to the monastery was by way of the monthly camel caravansCamel train
A camel train is a series of camels carrying goods or passengers in a group as part of a regular or semi-regular service between two points. Although they rarely travelled faster than the walking speed of a man, camels' ability to handle harsh conditions made camel trains a vital part of...
which brought in food and other necessities from the nearby village of Bush. A journey along the desert path that extended from Kuraymat, a city along the Nile in between Beni Suef
Beni Suef
- Overview :Beni Suef is an important agricultural center, which grew from a small village at the turn of the century and now hosts a population of over 200,000. It was famous for its linen manufacturing in the Middle Ages, and continues to be heavily involved in cotton-spinning and carpet-making....
and Helwan, to the monastery used to take three to four days. The monastery received very few visitors, but those who did come were often distinguished in status, such as Georges Cogordan, the French ambassador to Egypt in 1901, and Johann Georg
Johann Georg
The German given name Johann Georg, or its variant spellings, may refer to:-John George:*John George, Elector of Brandenburg *John George I, Elector of Saxony *John George II, Elector of Saxony...
, Duke
Duke
A duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...
of Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
.
The monastery became much more accessible after the opening of the Suez
Suez
Suez is a seaport city in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez , near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same boundaries as Suez governorate. It has three harbors, Adabya, Ain Sokhna and Port Tawfiq, and extensive port facilities...
-Ras Gharib
Ras Gharib
Ras Gharib is a municipality in the Red Sea Governorate, Egypt, situated on the African side of the Gulf of Suez. It is the second-largest city in the governorate after Hurghada, and one of the leading centers of petroleum production in Egypt, having housed the main operations for first the...
Road in 1946, and can now be reached from Cairo in just five to six hours. During the first decade after construction, the number of foreigner visitors greatly increased, with about 370 visitors between 1953 and 1958. Since then, the monastery has become a more popular destination for Egyptians, offering Egyptian Christians religious retreats as well as family excursions. Now on holiday weekends there are typically more than a thousand visitors.
Structure
The modern monastery is a self-contained village with gardens, a mill, a bakery and five churches. The walls are adorned with paintings of knights in bright colors and hermits in more subdued colors. The wall paintings have been worn over the centuries by soot, candle grease, oil and dust. In a collaborative effort between the Supreme Council of AntiquitiesSupreme Council of Antiquities
The Supreme Council of Antiquities is the branch of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture responsible for the conservation, protection and regulation of all antiquities and archaeological excavations in Egypt...
and the American Research Center in Egypt
American Research Center in Egypt
The American Research Center in Egypt is a scholarly institution dedicated to supporting the conservation of Egyptian antiquities and research in Egyptology, Coptology and all periods of Egyptian history.-History:ARCE was founded in 1948 in Boston by Edward W...
, restoration has been undertaken on the paintings. The oldest paintings in the monastery date to the 7th and 8th centuries, while the newest date to the 13th.
The Medieval Church of St. Anthony
This church dates back to the 12th century and has a central sanctuary
Sanctuary
A sanctuary is any place of safety. They may be categorized into human and non-human .- Religious sanctuary :A religious sanctuary can be a sacred place , or a consecrated area of a church or temple around its tabernacle or altar.- Sanctuary as a sacred place :#Sanctuary as a sacred place:#:In...
with a very small apse, two lateral sanctuaries, and a small choir. The nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
has two bays with two large domes and a wide arch between them. Most of the church's walls and domes are covered with frescos. There is a small sanctuary dedicated to the four beasts of the Apocalypse
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are described in the last book of the New Testament of the Bible, called the Book of Revelation of Jesus Christ to Saint John the Evangelist at 6:1-8. The chapter tells of a "'book'/'scroll' in God's right hand that is sealed with seven seals"...
in the southwestern corner, and their representations are depicted on the walls. The soffit
Soffit
Soffit , in architecture, describes the underside of any construction element...
of the arch above the door is decorated with a scene of Christ in mandorla flanked by busts of the twelve apostles. This is the oldest painting in the church, and dates from the 7th century. A figure of a decorated cross is in the apse
Apse
In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...
. The body of St. Justus the monk is kept in a passage along the outer southern wall that connects to the adjoining Church of the Apostles.
The Church of the Apostles
This church, dedicated to the saints Peter and Paul, was renovated in 1772 A.D. by the Copt Lutfallah Shaker. The church has twelve domes. Nine of the domes roof the nave and the other three are over the sanctuaries, which are characterized by inlaid wooden screens. In 2005, the monks' cells dating to the 4th century – the oldest ever found – were discovered beneath the Church of the Apostles.
The Church of St. Mark the Ascetic
This church was renovated in 1766 by Hasaballah al-Bayadi and also has twelve domes. It was built in the 15th century on the spot of Saint Mark the Ascetic's cell.
The Church of the Virgin Mary and The Church of St. Michael
These two churches are north of the Church of St. Anthony and their structures resemble towers. The western building houses storage rooms and the refectory
Refectory
A refectory is a dining room, especially in monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminaries...
on the ground floor. The Church of the Virgin Mary is on the upper floor and has an inlaid screen extending over the whole breadth of the church. The eastern building is the tower of the monastery, and the Church of St Michael the Archangel is on the third floor of the tower.
The Library
The library was originally intended to be a church by Pope Cyril IVPope Cyril IV of Alexandria
Pope Cyril IV of Alexandria , was the 110th Coptic Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark . He was born David in 1816. Despite his relatively short papacy, he is regarded as the "Father of Reform" of the Coptic Orthodox Church in modern times...
, but because of its deviation from the eastern direction it was never consecrated and thus became the library. It contains a rich collection of printed books and the largest collection of Coptic manuscripts in Egypt, which amount to some 1,863 volumes. The library contained many more volumes in the past. The present collection has been significantly reduced by the Bedouins who plundered the monastery and used many of the manuscripts as cooking fuel.
The Cave of St. Anthony
The cave where Saint AnthonyAnthony the Great
Anthony the Great or Antony the Great , , also known as Saint Anthony, Anthony the Abbot, Anthony of Egypt, Anthony of the Desert, Anthony the Anchorite, Abba Antonius , and Father of All Monks, was a Christian saint from Egypt, a prominent leader among the Desert Fathers...
lived as a hermit is a 2km hike from the monastery and is 680 meters above the Red Sea level. It is a small natural hole in the rocks adjacent to the southern part of Mount Galala. Visitors can ascend the winding trail of stairs from the monastery to the cavern in about one hour. The hermitage of St. Anthony is an extremely small space about 7 meters from the narrow opening of the cave.
Restoration
In 2002, the Egyptian government began what was to be an 8-year, $14.5 million project to restore the monastery. Workers renovated the main surrounding wall of the monastery, the two main churches, the monks' living quarters, and a defensive tower. A modern sewage system was also added. Archeologists from the American Research Center in EgyptEgypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
restored paintings inside the Saint Anthony
Anthony the Great
Anthony the Great or Antony the Great , , also known as Saint Anthony, Anthony the Abbot, Anthony of Egypt, Anthony of the Desert, Anthony the Anchorite, Abba Antonius , and Father of All Monks, was a Christian saint from Egypt, a prominent leader among the Desert Fathers...
's Church.
During the renovations, archeologists uncovered the ruins of the original monks' working quarters from the 4th century. The remains are now covered by a glass floor and are viewable by visitors. The restored monastery is now open to the public. The renovations were unveiled shortly after a violent attack on Christians in Egypt and have been touted by the government as evidence of peaceful Muslim-Christian coexistence.
The Monks
Coptic leaders, the patriarchPatriarch
Originally a patriarch was a man who exercised autocratic authority as a pater familias over an extended family. The system of such rule of families by senior males is called patriarchy. This is a Greek word, a compound of πατριά , "lineage, descent", esp...
, the metropolitans
Metropolitan bishop
In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of a historical Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital.Before the establishment of...
, and the bishops have always been recruited from among the desert monks. In the 1960s, Anba Shenudah
Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria
Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria is the 117th Pope of Alexandria and the Patriarch of All Africa on the Holy Apostolic See of Saint Mark the Evangelist of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria...
initiated the Sunday School
Sunday school
Sunday school is the generic name for many different types of religious education pursued on Sundays by various denominations.-England:The first Sunday school may have been opened in 1751 in St. Mary's Church, Nottingham. Another early start was made by Hannah Ball, a native of High Wycombe in...
movement, which inspired educated young men to forsake the worldly pleasures and to instead join their desert fathers. Since the movement began, the total number of monks had more than tripled within the first 25 years, and many of these young ascetics have also been promoted to the episcopacy. At the Monastery of Saint Anthony, the number of monks jumped from 24 monks in 1960 to 69 in 1986. Today, there are about 120 monks and priests currently living in the community.
In the past, the overwhelming majority of the monks in residence were 50 years of age or older, and through the tradition of the other desert fathers, their piety was linked to a quality of anti-intellectualism
Anti-intellectualism
Anti-intellectualism is hostility towards and mistrust of intellect, intellectuals, and intellectual pursuits, usually expressed as the derision of education, philosophy, literature, art, and science, as impractical and contemptible...
. St. Macarius the Great was a camel herder; St. Macarius of Alexandria was a small shopkeeper; St. Apollo was a goat herder, and St. Paphnutius
Paphnutius of Thebes
Paphnutius of Thebes, also known as Paphnutius the Confessor, was bishop of a city in the Upper Thebaid in the early fourth century, and one of the most interesting possible members of the First Council of Nicaea in 325...
and St. Pambo were illiterate. This trend has reversed since the revival of monasticism in Egypt in the 1960s. Today, monks are well-educated young men with extensive academic and professional backgrounds in the scientific fields such as engineering, medicine, pharmacy, and architecture.
Popes from the Monastery of St. Anthony
- Pope Mark VIIPope Mark VII of AlexandriaPope Mark VII of Alexandria was the 106th Coptic Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark .HH Pope Mark VII was born in the city of Klosna, in the district of El Bahnasa, and his lay name was Simeon...
- Pope John XVIIIPope John XVIII of AlexandriaPope John XVIII of Alexandria was the 107th Coptic Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark .Pope John XVIII was born in Fayoum. His lay name was Joseph. He became a monk in the Monastery of Saint Anthony. At the departure of Pope Mark VII, he was unanimously chosen to succeed him...
- Pope Mark VIIIPope Mark VIII of AlexandriaPope Mark VIII of Alexandria was the Coptic Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark .He became a monk in the Monastery of Saint Anthony...
Significance for Coptic Christians
The monastic movement in Egypt experienced an unprecedented renaissanceRenaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
days under the Patriarchate of Anba Kirillus VI
Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria
Father Mina became Pope of Alexandria on 10 May 1959 . In accordance with the old Coptic church tradition, Pope Cyril VI was the only monk in the 20th century to be chosen for papacy without having being a bishop /Metropolitan first...
(1959–1971), and has significantly contributed to a revival in the spiritual vitality of the Coptic church. The construction of a desert road leading to the monastery has lifted the monastery out of geographic isolation and brought it within reach of the masses. It has now become a popular pilgrimage
Pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...
site that can be reached within a few hours by bus or car from a major city. Over a million people, including both Egyptian Christians and foreigners, visit each year. Contrary to the exclusive ascetic functions of monasteries in the past, the monastery now also serves as a center for Coptic Christians where they can organize and attend spiritual retreats, youth programs, and religious conferences. Today, the monastery is accessible from Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, Suez
Suez
Suez is a seaport city in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez , near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same boundaries as Suez governorate. It has three harbors, Adabya, Ain Sokhna and Port Tawfiq, and extensive port facilities...
or Hurghada
Hurghada
Hurghada is a city in the Red Sea Governorate of Egypt. It is a main tourist center and second largest city in Egypt located on the Red Sea coast.- Overview :...
.
See also
- Anthony the GreatAnthony the GreatAnthony the Great or Antony the Great , , also known as Saint Anthony, Anthony the Abbot, Anthony of Egypt, Anthony of the Desert, Anthony the Anchorite, Abba Antonius , and Father of All Monks, was a Christian saint from Egypt, a prominent leader among the Desert Fathers...
- The Temptation of St. AnthonyThe Temptation of St. AnthonyThe temptation of St. Anthony is an often-repeated subject in history of art and literature, concerning the supernatural temptation reportedly faced by Saint Anthony the Great during his sojourn in the Egyptian desert...
- Coptic MonasticismCoptic monasticismCoptic Monasticism is claimed to be the original form of Monasticism as Saint Pachomius the Cenobite, a Copt from Upper Egypt, established the first communal living in the Monastery of Saint Anthonyin the Red sea area. St...
- HermitHermitA hermit is a person who lives, to some degree, in seclusion from society.In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Christian who lives the eremitic life out of a religious conviction, namely the Desert Theology of the Old Testament .In the...
- Coptic Orthodox Church
- Monastery of Saint Paul the AnchoriteMonastery of Saint Paul the AnchoriteThe Monastery of Saint Paul the Anchorite in Egypt is a Coptic Orthodox monastery located in the Eastern Desert, near the Red Sea mountains. It is about south east of Cairo. The monastery is also known as the Monastery of the Tigers....
- Oldest churches in the worldOldest churches in the worldThis article lists the oldest church buildings.The oldest extant buildings identified as early sites of Christian worship date to the 3rd century....
Further reading
- Ed., Bolman, Elizabeth. 2002. Monastic visions : wall paintings in the Monastery of St. Antony at the Red Sea. Cairo, Egypt: American Research Center in Egypt.
- Meinardus, Otto Friedrich August. 1989. Monks and Monasteries of the Egyptian Deserts. Cairo, Egypt: The American University in Cairo Press.
- Evetts, B.T.A. (Trans.) Abu Salih the Armenian. 2002. The Churches and Monasteries of Egypt and Some Neighboring Countries. Gorgias PressGorgias PressGorgias Press is an academic publisher of books and journals covering a range of religious and language studies that include Syriac language, Eastern Christianity, Ancient Near East, Arabic and Islam, Early Christianity, Judaism, and more. Gorgias Press was founded in 2001 by George Kiraz, and is...
. - Dalrymple, William. 1998. From the holy mountain : A journey among the Christians of the middle east. New York: H. Holt.
- Dunn, Marilyn. 2000. The emergence of monasticism : From the desert fathers to the early Middle Ages. Oxford, UK; Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers.
- Gabra, Gawdat, Hany N. Takla, Saint Mark Foundation., and Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite Coptic Society. 2008. Christianity and monasticism in upper Egypt.
- McClellan, Michael W., and Otto Friedrich August Meinardus. 1998. Monasticism in Egypt : Images and words of the desert fathers. Cairo, Egypt: American University in Cairo Press.
- St. Athanasius of Alexandria, 356–362. VITA S. ANTONI (Life of St. Anthony) from the Medieval Sourcebook [Electronic Source] http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/vita-antony.html
- Al-Syriany, Samuel; Habib, Badii. 1990. Guide to Ancient Coptic Churches & Monasteries in Upper Egypt. Cairo, Egypt: Institute of Coptic Studies, Department of Coptic Architecture.
- Gabra, Gawdat. 2002. Coptic Monasteries: Egypt's Monastic Art and Architecture. Cairo ; Egypt : American University in Cairo Press.
External links
- St. Anthony Monastery, Red Sea, Egypt: http://www.stantonymonastery.com/
- http://www.copticchurch.net/
- http://www.coptic.net/
- The American Research Center in Egypt: http://www.arce.org/
- http://www.touregypt.net/