White Monastery
Encyclopedia
The Coptic White Monastery is a Coptic Orthodox monastery
named after Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite. It is located near the Upper Egypt
ian city of Sohag, and about four kilometers south east of the Red Monastery
. The name of the monastery is derived from the color of the white limestone of its outside walls. The White Monastery is architecturally similar to the Red Monastery.
Following the death of Shenouda, the monastic community of the White Monastery continued strong throughout the 5th century under the leadership of Saint Wissa and later Saint Zenobius. However, the monastery began to slowly decline following the Arab
invasion of Egypt in 641 AD. The state of decline can be attributed in part to the heavy taxes that the monasteries in Egypt had to endure. Such taxes literally put a great number of monasteries out of existence.
In the middle of the 8th century, the Arab
governor Al-Kasim Ibn Ubaid Allah forced his way into the monastery church with his female concubine on horseback. This resulted in the concubine falling to the ground and eventually to her death along with the horse she was riding.
The monastery served as a host for Armenian
monks in the 11th and the 12th centuries. This is indicated in the inscriptions found on the paintings of the central apse of the church, which date between 1076 and 1124. Among these Armenian monks was the Armenian Vizier Bahram, who became a monk after having been banished from his office during the Caliphate of the Fatimid Al-Hafiz
(1131-1149 AD). In 1168, the monastery was attacked by the Muslim
commander Shirkuh
.
The monastery underwent major restorations between 1202 and 1259 AD. In the 13th century, in the work attributed to Abu Salih Al-Armani, it is mentioned that the monastery included a keep, which was probably built during the Middle Ages to protect the monastery from the attacks of the desert's bedouin
s. Abu Salih Al-Armani also tells of an enclosure wall around the monastery within which a garden full of all sorts of trees existed. The lack of literary manuscripts after the 14th century indicate that the monastery was in an advanced state of decline from that time onwards.
The monastery was visited by Johann Michael Vansleb
in 1672 and by Richard Pococke
in 1737. Both of them made an incorrect attribution of the foundation of the monastery to Helena of Constantinople
, Emperor Constantine
's mother. During the second half of the 18th century, the southwest corner of the surviving church-complex collapsed. In 1798, the monastery was sacked and totally burned down by the Mamluk
s. The destruction was mentioned by the French traveler Dominique Vivant
, who visited the monastery on the day following its destruction. In 1802, under the direction of Muhammad Ali
, parts of the monastery were rebuilt. In 1833, Robert Curzon
visited the monastery and left a written record of his visit. In 1893, Fergusson published a plan of the church complex. However the most significant contribution to the study of the monastery and its church were made by such visitors as Wladimir de Bock (1901), C. R. Peers (1904), Flinders Petrie (1907), Somers Clarke
(1912), and Ugo Monneret de Villard (1925).
In 1907, the church complex experienced another repair which included the removal of the encrustation of brick work and the undercovering of the doorways. Then in the 1980s more restoration work took place on the walls and the columns of the church.
ian Temple. It has an interesting combination of exo- and eso-narthex leading into the body of the original church. This body, which is now an open courtyard, contains a nave flanked by two isles. They are being separated from the nave by long rows of columns with a returned isle in the west to define the eso-narthex. There existed atop these isles mezzanine galleries, as evidenced by the two rows of windows seen on the walls. To realize the grand style of this 5th century basilica, one needs only to observe the dimension of this open courtyard (no roof). It measures 172 feet long by 76 feet wide, of which the nave occupies half that width .
The current Church now occupies what used to be the choir and the sanctuary areas. This is separated from the open court by a solid red brick wall, of Middle Ages construction with doors and windows. The original sanctuary was built in a trefoil style with three apses. It is a step higher than the nave in the open court. The rectangular space defined by the apses to its north, south, and east sides; used to serve as the altar for the greater basilica. Now the altar is located within the central or eastern apse. The rest of the space is now integrated into the nave of the current Church. There is also a new iconstasis made with solid wood and adorned by small icons on its top register. The current sanctuary in the central apse is actually divided into three. The middle one is dedicated to Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite, the southern one to the Virgin Mary
, and the northern one to Saint George
.
The original three apses are of magnificent construction. Each contains two registers of columns separated by a decorative firese and surmounted by architraves. Between the columns there lie the niches. The horizontal cross-section of the niches in each register alternate between rectangular and circular. The semidome of each is decorated with beautiful design. Above the registers lies the majestic semidome. There paintings than can be distinguished in these semidomes. The one in the central apse has a painting of the Pantokrator
and the four evangelists. In the northern apse, there is a depiction of the dormition of the Virgin Mary. The southern apse has a representation of the resurrection with the two Mary's and two angels.
The church complex has several annexes along the east and south walls. The most significant one of these is the great hall that runs alongside the south wall. This probably served the function of a woman chamber in the early days. It has a chamber at each of its east and west ends. The west chamber contains a well and it underwent reconstruction in the early 19th century. There are also two chambers south of the central apse and a third one to the north. On the south side, one chamber is rectangular with a font which is now used as a baptistery, and the second is circular with niches. On the north side, the chamber is square. There is another rectangular chamber west of the circular chamber and it is divided in half by two projecting buttresses.
There is a variety of building material employed in the construction of the church complex. This reflects the different stages that the monastery went through since the time of its foundation. The outer walls are of white limestone set in mortar with no bonding. They are sloped 6 degrees from vertical on the outside (original construction). The gargoyles and the door lintels are also of limestone with the door jambs being made of red granite. The source of these limestone is probably from ruins of nearby Ancient Egypt
ian temples, which Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite contributed to their demise figuratively and literally. The original nave columns are made of marble or granite with few later ones being of red bricks. Many of these columns are no longer standing. The paving of the nave is of limestone or granite slabs.
The original sanctuary is now roofed with vaults of burnt bricks, originally it had a wood roof. The nave, isles, and the great south hall (lateral narthex) are now without a roof, originally they had wood gabled roofs with galleries atop the isles. The wall between the exo-narthex and the body of the original church is of limestone. The great wall that defines the western boundary of the current church is made up of red bricks which encase the original columns and arches. This now is covered with a cream-color stucco layer. The four arches carrying the squinches of the central, original, sanctuary dome are also made up of red bricks except for the one toward the east witch is of marble construction.
. This testimony is not only in the number of codices identified, but also in the wide variety of subjects it possessed.
Today the library is scattered all over the world. Codices were dismembered with individual folios ending up in different libraries or museums. At times, even an individual folio ended up in different libraries which were thousands of miles apart. Serious efforts has been done to artificially regroup these codices from their Diaspora with photographic means. Bishop Lefort of Louvain made the first comprehensive attempt toward achieving this monumental goal. However his collection was a tragic victim of World War II. Currently this task has been taken up by Prof. Tito Orlandi and his associates in the Sapienza University of Rome. There, they formed the Corpus dei Manoscritti Copti Letterari. They were able to identify hundreds of separate codices with the aid of the prior works that Copt
ic scholars had previously done.
The library contents, as mentioned above, has adorned many libraries and museums around the world from as early as the 19th century. The following is a partial list of those places that possess such fragments:
The ancient library of the White Monastery is rich in many categories such biblical, hagiographical, liturgical, etc. This provides the researcher with good knowledge about what the monks were reading and what they were allowed to read at different stages of the monastery development. However, the early times are not too well represented in the surviving fragments, This can be either attributed to their frequent use or simply they were victims of time and of decline of the monastery in later times. The dialect of these manuscripts were predominately in Sahidic Coptic, which was perfected in its literary form by Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite. There were also some bilingual manuscripts. The early ones were in Sahidic Coptic and Greek
, while the latter ones had Sahidic Coptic and Arabic
. The writing material employed were mostly parchment, because of its prevalence, but some of the later ones were found on paper.
The first Category, and most abundant, is the Biblical manuscripts. Nearly every book of the Old Testament
, including the Deuterocanonical Books
is represented. The only exception is some of the Historical books, which were always in short supply in Egypt
ian monasteries. The New Testament
on the other hand is represented in its entirety though in a fragmentary shape.
A second category is the apocryphal Gospels, Acts, and Biblical lives that were frequently read in Egyptian Monasteries. These include the Gospel of the twelve apostles, Gospel of Saint Bartholomew, Acts of Saint Thomas, Acts of Pilate
, Life of Virgin Mary, and Life of Joseph the Carpenter.
A third category is the historical manuscripts, which are rare in any of the Coptic libraries found thus far. However in the White Monastery one finds a substantial part of an ecclesiastical history manuscript. That manuscript deals with the history of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria in the 4th and 5th centuries. In addition, there are several fragments of codices that record the acts of the great Councils of Nicaea
and Ephesus.
Another important category found in the library is the hagiographic texts. These are found in relative abundance in all monastic libraries, and the White Monastery is no exception. They are primarily intended for the spiritual edification of the monks rather than being accurate historical records of the saints. They include acts and related texts of many martyrs such as Saint Colluthus the Physician, Saints Cosmas and Damian
, St. Philopater Mercurius
, Saint Psote, Saint Theodore, Saint Victor
, and many others. There are also the lives of many important saints of the Egyptian Church like Saint Anthony
, Saint Athanasius
, Saint Pachomius
and his disciples, Saint Samuel the Confessor
, and Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite to name just a few.
The richest and most significant category available is the writings of the fathers. This library has yielded a great number of manuscripts, preserving texts of the composition of Egyptian
writers, as well as Coptic
translation of Greek
writings of Church Fathers
. The most significant part of it is that of the remarkable works of Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite. Other writings includes those of Saint Wissa's sermons, the writings of Saint Pachomius
and his disciples, and the Apophthgamata Patrum. Other texts of original Coptic composition include those of Constantine of Asyut, John of Burulus, and Rufus of Shotep. The group of Coptic translations of Greek writings includes those of Saint Peter of Alexandria
, Saint Athanasius
, Saint Theophilus, Saint Cyril the Great
, and Saint Dioscorus. The Greek translations of non-Coptic Fathers include Saint Cyril of Jerusalem
, Saint John Chrysostom
, and Saint Severus of Antioch
. Works of other authors are also found in that collection.
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
named after Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite. It is located near the Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt is the strip of land, on both sides of the Nile valley, that extends from the cataract boundaries of modern-day Aswan north to the area between El-Ayait and Zawyet Dahshur . The northern section of Upper Egypt, between El-Ayait and Sohag is sometimes known as Middle Egypt...
ian city of Sohag, and about four kilometers south east of the Red Monastery
Red Monastery
The Red Monastery is a Coptic Orthodox monastery named after an Egyptian saint called Pishay . It is located near the Upper Egyptian city of Souhag, and about four Km north west of the White Monastery...
. The name of the monastery is derived from the color of the white limestone of its outside walls. The White Monastery is architecturally similar to the Red Monastery.
Foundation and history
The monastery was originally founded by Saint Pigol, the maternal uncle of Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite in 442 AD. However, it only became renowned after Shenouda succeeded his uncle as abbot for the monastery. From 30 monks, the population of the White Monastery increased to 2,200 monks and 1,800 nuns by the time of Shenouda's death in 466 AD. The monastery also increased in size during this time to 12,800 acres (51.8 km²), an area about 3,000 times its original size. Such area included cells, kitchens, and storehouses, the ruins of which can still be seen to the north, west, and south sides of the church complex.Following the death of Shenouda, the monastic community of the White Monastery continued strong throughout the 5th century under the leadership of Saint Wissa and later Saint Zenobius. However, the monastery began to slowly decline following the Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
invasion of Egypt in 641 AD. The state of decline can be attributed in part to the heavy taxes that the monasteries in Egypt had to endure. Such taxes literally put a great number of monasteries out of existence.
In the middle of the 8th century, the Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
governor Al-Kasim Ibn Ubaid Allah forced his way into the monastery church with his female concubine on horseback. This resulted in the concubine falling to the ground and eventually to her death along with the horse she was riding.
The monastery served as a host for Armenian
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
monks in the 11th and the 12th centuries. This is indicated in the inscriptions found on the paintings of the central apse of the church, which date between 1076 and 1124. Among these Armenian monks was the Armenian Vizier Bahram, who became a monk after having been banished from his office during the Caliphate of the Fatimid Al-Hafiz
Al-Hafiz
Al-Ḥāfiz was the eleventh Caliph of the Fāṭimids Al-Ḥāfiz assumed the caliphate as the cousin of the murdered Al-Amir . Since al-Amir had not named an heir when he died, the succession of al-Ḥāfiz was not uncontested - a group of Shī‘ah recognised al-Amīr's son Ṭayyib Abī al-Qāṣim as rightful...
(1131-1149 AD). In 1168, the monastery was attacked by the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
commander Shirkuh
Shirkuh
Asad ad-Din Shirkuh bin Shadhi , also known as Shêrko or "Shêrgo" was an important Kurdish military commander, and uncle of Saladin....
.
The monastery underwent major restorations between 1202 and 1259 AD. In the 13th century, in the work attributed to Abu Salih Al-Armani, it is mentioned that the monastery included a keep, which was probably built during the Middle Ages to protect the monastery from the attacks of the desert's bedouin
Bedouin
The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
s. Abu Salih Al-Armani also tells of an enclosure wall around the monastery within which a garden full of all sorts of trees existed. The lack of literary manuscripts after the 14th century indicate that the monastery was in an advanced state of decline from that time onwards.
The monastery was visited by Johann Michael Vansleb
Johann Michael Vansleb
Johann Michael Vansleb was a German theologian, linguist and Egypt traveller. He converted to Catholicism and was a member of the Dominican Order from 1666....
in 1672 and by Richard Pococke
Richard Pococke
Richard Pococke was an English prelate and anthropologist. He was Protestant Bishop of Ossory and Meath , both dioceses of the Church of Ireland...
in 1737. Both of them made an incorrect attribution of the foundation of the monastery to Helena of Constantinople
Helena of Constantinople
Saint Helena also known as Saint Helen, Helena Augusta or Helena of Constantinople was the consort of Emperor Constantius, and the mother of Emperor Constantine I...
, Emperor Constantine
Constantine I
Constantine the Great , also known as Constantine I or Saint Constantine, was Roman Emperor from 306 to 337. Well known for being the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, Constantine and co-Emperor Licinius issued the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed religious tolerance of all...
's mother. During the second half of the 18th century, the southwest corner of the surviving church-complex collapsed. In 1798, the monastery was sacked and totally burned down by the Mamluk
Mamluk
A Mamluk was a soldier of slave origin, who were predominantly Cumans/Kipchaks The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior...
s. The destruction was mentioned by the French traveler Dominique Vivant
Dominique Vivant
Dominique Vivant, Baron de Denon was a French artist, writer, diplomat, author, and archaeologist. He was appointed first director of the Louvre Museum by Napoleon after the Egyptian campaign of 1798-1801.-Biography:...
, who visited the monastery on the day following its destruction. In 1802, under the direction of Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali of Egypt
Muhammad Ali Pasha al-Mas'ud ibn Agha was a commander in the Ottoman army, who became Wāli, and self-declared Khedive of Egypt and Sudan...
, parts of the monastery were rebuilt. In 1833, Robert Curzon
Robert Curzon, 14th Baron Zouche
Robert Curzon, 14th Baron Zouche , styled The Honourable Robert Curzon between 1829 and 1870, was an English traveller, diplomat and author, active in the Near East. He was responsible for acquiring several unimportant and late Biblical manuscripts from Eastern Orthodox monasteries.Curzon was the...
visited the monastery and left a written record of his visit. In 1893, Fergusson published a plan of the church complex. However the most significant contribution to the study of the monastery and its church were made by such visitors as Wladimir de Bock (1901), C. R. Peers (1904), Flinders Petrie (1907), Somers Clarke
Somers Clarke
George Somers Clarke was an architect and English Egyptologist who worked at a number of sites throughout Egypt, notably in El Kab, where he built a house. He was born in Brighton and died in Egypt....
(1912), and Ugo Monneret de Villard (1925).
In 1907, the church complex experienced another repair which included the removal of the encrustation of brick work and the undercovering of the doorways. Then in the 1980s more restoration work took place on the walls and the columns of the church.
Description of the monastery
The only surviving piece of the original monastery is its church complex, which was built in the Basilica style. It has six entrances; three centrally placed in the north, south, and west walls. The other three are located south of the west wall, east of the south wall, and east of the north wall. Its outer appearance shows an astounding resemblance to that of an Ancient EgyptAncient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
ian Temple. It has an interesting combination of exo- and eso-narthex leading into the body of the original church. This body, which is now an open courtyard, contains a nave flanked by two isles. They are being separated from the nave by long rows of columns with a returned isle in the west to define the eso-narthex. There existed atop these isles mezzanine galleries, as evidenced by the two rows of windows seen on the walls. To realize the grand style of this 5th century basilica, one needs only to observe the dimension of this open courtyard (no roof). It measures 172 feet long by 76 feet wide, of which the nave occupies half that width .
Mary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
, and the northern one to Saint George
Saint George
Saint George was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier from Syria Palaestina and a priest in the Guard of Diocletian, who is venerated as a Christian martyr. In hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic , Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox...
.
The original three apses are of magnificent construction. Each contains two registers of columns separated by a decorative firese and surmounted by architraves. Between the columns there lie the niches. The horizontal cross-section of the niches in each register alternate between rectangular and circular. The semidome of each is decorated with beautiful design. Above the registers lies the majestic semidome. There paintings than can be distinguished in these semidomes. The one in the central apse has a painting of the Pantokrator
Christ Pantocrator
In Christian iconography, Christ Pantokrator refers to a specific depiction of Christ. Pantocrator or Pantokrator is a translation of one of many Names of God in Judaism...
and the four evangelists. In the northern apse, there is a depiction of the dormition of the Virgin Mary. The southern apse has a representation of the resurrection with the two Mary's and two angels.
The church complex has several annexes along the east and south walls. The most significant one of these is the great hall that runs alongside the south wall. This probably served the function of a woman chamber in the early days. It has a chamber at each of its east and west ends. The west chamber contains a well and it underwent reconstruction in the early 19th century. There are also two chambers south of the central apse and a third one to the north. On the south side, one chamber is rectangular with a font which is now used as a baptistery, and the second is circular with niches. On the north side, the chamber is square. There is another rectangular chamber west of the circular chamber and it is divided in half by two projecting buttresses.
There is a variety of building material employed in the construction of the church complex. This reflects the different stages that the monastery went through since the time of its foundation. The outer walls are of white limestone set in mortar with no bonding. They are sloped 6 degrees from vertical on the outside (original construction). The gargoyles and the door lintels are also of limestone with the door jambs being made of red granite. The source of these limestone is probably from ruins of nearby Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
ian temples, which Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite contributed to their demise figuratively and literally. The original nave columns are made of marble or granite with few later ones being of red bricks. Many of these columns are no longer standing. The paving of the nave is of limestone or granite slabs.
The original sanctuary is now roofed with vaults of burnt bricks, originally it had a wood roof. The nave, isles, and the great south hall (lateral narthex) are now without a roof, originally they had wood gabled roofs with galleries atop the isles. The wall between the exo-narthex and the body of the original church is of limestone. The great wall that defines the western boundary of the current church is made up of red bricks which encase the original columns and arches. This now is covered with a cream-color stucco layer. The four arches carrying the squinches of the central, original, sanctuary dome are also made up of red bricks except for the one toward the east witch is of marble construction.
The library
The literacy campaign, which Shenouda the Archimandrite waged in his monastery, reflected positively on the library of the monastery. With everyone in the monastery capable of reading and many skilled in the art of writing manuscripts, the library must have been one of the greatest libraries of Christian 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...
. This testimony is not only in the number of codices identified, but also in the wide variety of subjects it possessed.
Today the library is scattered all over the world. Codices were dismembered with individual folios ending up in different libraries or museums. At times, even an individual folio ended up in different libraries which were thousands of miles apart. Serious efforts has been done to artificially regroup these codices from their Diaspora with photographic means. Bishop Lefort of Louvain made the first comprehensive attempt toward achieving this monumental goal. However his collection was a tragic victim of World War II. Currently this task has been taken up by Prof. Tito Orlandi and his associates in the Sapienza University of Rome. There, they formed the Corpus dei Manoscritti Copti Letterari. They were able to identify hundreds of separate codices with the aid of the prior works that Copt
Copt
The Copts are the native Egyptian Christians , a major ethnoreligious group in Egypt....
ic scholars had previously done.
The library contents, as mentioned above, has adorned many libraries and museums around the world from as early as the 19th century. The following is a partial list of those places that possess such fragments:
- AmsterdamAmsterdamAmsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam - BerlinBerlinBerlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Deutsche Staatsbibliothek - CairoCairoCairo , 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...
, Coptic MuseumCoptic MuseumThe Coptic Museum is a museum in Coptic Cairo, Egypt with the largest collection of Egyptian Christian artifacts in the world. It was founded by Marcus Simaika Pasha in 1910 to house Coptic antiquities. The museum traces the history of Christianity in Egypt from its beginnings to the present day... - CairoCairoCairo , 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...
, Egyptian MuseumEgyptian MuseumThe Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum, in Cairo, Egypt, is home to an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities. It has 120,000 items, with a representative amount on display, the remainder in storerooms.... - CairoCairoCairo , 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...
, Institut Français d'Archéologie OrientaleInstitut Français d'Archéologie Orientale.The Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale , also known as the French Institute for Oriental Archaeology in Cairo is a French research institute based in Cairo, Egypt, dedicated to the study of the archaeology, history and languages of the various periods of Egypt's civilisation.The IFAO is... - CambridgeCambridgeThe city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, Cambridge University LibraryCambridge University LibraryThe Cambridge University Library is the centrally-administered library of Cambridge University in England. It comprises five separate libraries:* the University Library main building * the Medical Library... - FlorenceFlorenceFlorence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, Laurentian LibraryLaurentian LibraryThe Laurentian Library is a historical library in Florence, Italy, containing a repository of more than 11,000 manuscripts and 4,500 early printed books... - Saint PetersburgSaint PetersburgSaint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, Public LibraryPublic libraryA public library is a library that is accessible by the public and is generally funded from public sources and operated by civil servants. There are five fundamental characteristics shared by public libraries... - London, British LibraryBritish LibraryThe British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
- London, Eton CollegeEton CollegeEton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
- LouvainLeuvenLeuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium...
, Bibliothèque de l'Université - ManchesterManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, John Rylands University LibraryJohn Rylands University LibraryThe John Rylands University Library is the University of Manchester's library and information service. It was formed in July 1972 from the merger of the library of the Victoria University of Manchester with the John Rylands Library... - MichiganMichiganMichigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, University of Michigan LibraryUniversity of Michigan LibraryThe University of Michigan University Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is one of the largest university library systems in the United States. The system, consisting of 19 separate libraries in 11 buildings, altogether holds over 9.55 million volumes, with the collection growing at the rate of... - Moscow, Pushkin MuseumPushkin MuseumThe Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts is the largest museum of European art in Moscow, located in Volkhonka street, just opposite the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour....
- NaplesNaplesNaples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
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The ancient library of the White Monastery is rich in many categories such biblical, hagiographical, liturgical, etc. This provides the researcher with good knowledge about what the monks were reading and what they were allowed to read at different stages of the monastery development. However, the early times are not too well represented in the surviving fragments, This can be either attributed to their frequent use or simply they were victims of time and of decline of the monastery in later times. The dialect of these manuscripts were predominately in Sahidic Coptic, which was perfected in its literary form by Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite. There were also some bilingual manuscripts. The early ones were in Sahidic Coptic and Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
, while the latter ones had Sahidic Coptic and Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
. The writing material employed were mostly parchment, because of its prevalence, but some of the later ones were found on paper.
The first Category, and most abundant, is the Biblical manuscripts. Nearly every book of the Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
, including the Deuterocanonical Books
Deuterocanonical books
Deuterocanonical books is a term used since the sixteenth century in the Catholic Church and Eastern Christianity to describe certain books and passages of the Christian Old Testament that are not part of the Hebrew Bible. The term is used in contrast to the protocanonical books, which are...
is represented. The only exception is some of the Historical books, which were always in short supply in 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...
ian monasteries. The New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
on the other hand is represented in its entirety though in a fragmentary shape.
A second category is the apocryphal Gospels, Acts, and Biblical lives that were frequently read in Egyptian Monasteries. These include the Gospel of the twelve apostles, Gospel of Saint Bartholomew, Acts of Saint Thomas, Acts of Pilate
Acts of Pilate
The Acts of Pilate , also called the Gospel of Pilate, is a book of New Testament apocrypha. The dates of its accreted sections are uncertain, but scholars agree in assigning the resulting work to the middle of the fourth century...
, Life of Virgin Mary, and Life of Joseph the Carpenter.
A third category is the historical manuscripts, which are rare in any of the Coptic libraries found thus far. However in the White Monastery one finds a substantial part of an ecclesiastical history manuscript. That manuscript deals with the history of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria in the 4th and 5th centuries. In addition, there are several fragments of codices that record the acts of the great Councils of Nicaea
First Council of Nicaea
The First Council of Nicaea was a council of Christian bishops convened in Nicaea in Bithynia by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325...
and Ephesus.
Another important category found in the library is the hagiographic texts. These are found in relative abundance in all monastic libraries, and the White Monastery is no exception. They are primarily intended for the spiritual edification of the monks rather than being accurate historical records of the saints. They include acts and related texts of many martyrs such as Saint Colluthus the Physician, Saints Cosmas and Damian
Saints Cosmas and Damian
Saints Cosmas and Damian were twin brothers, physicians, and early Christian martyrs born in Cilicia, part of today's Turkey. They practiced their profession in the seaport of Ayas, Adana, then in the Roman province of Syria...
, St. Philopater Mercurius
Saint Mercurius
Great-martyr Mercurius was a Christian saint and martyr. Born Philopater in the city of Eskentos in Cappadocia, Eastern Asia Minor, his original name means "lover of the Father"...
, Saint Psote, Saint Theodore, Saint Victor
Viktor of Xanten
Victor of Xanten or Saint Victor is a martyr and saint of the Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Church. His presumed bones are kept in a shrine since the 12th century that today is embedded into the high altar of the Xanten Cathedral. His feast day is October 10.Tradition states that Victor was a...
, and many others. There are also the lives of many important saints of the Egyptian Church like 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...
, Saint Athanasius
Athanasius of Alexandria
Athanasius of Alexandria [b. ca. – d. 2 May 373] is also given the titles St. Athanasius the Great, St. Athanasius I of Alexandria, St Athanasius the Confessor and St Athanasius the Apostolic. He was the 20th bishop of Alexandria. His long episcopate lasted 45 years Athanasius of Alexandria [b....
, Saint Pachomius
Pachomius
Saint Pakhom , also known as Pachome and Pakhomius , is generally recognized as the founder of Christian cenobitic monasticism. In the Coptic churches his feast day is celebrated on May 9...
and his disciples, Saint Samuel the Confessor
Samuel the Confessor
Saint Samuel the Confessor is a Coptic Orthodox saint, venerated in all Oriental Orthodox Churches...
, and Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite to name just a few.
The richest and most significant category available is the writings of the fathers. This library has yielded a great number of manuscripts, preserving texts of the composition of Egyptian
Egyptians
Egyptians are nation an ethnic group made up of Mediterranean North Africans, the indigenous people of Egypt.Egyptian identity is closely tied to geography. The population of Egypt is concentrated in the lower Nile Valley, the small strip of cultivable land stretching from the First Cataract to...
writers, as well as Coptic
Coptic language
Coptic or Coptic Egyptian is the current stage of the Egyptian language, a northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century. Egyptian began to be written using the Greek alphabet in the 1st century...
translation of Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
writings of Church Fathers
Church Fathers
The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were early and influential theologians, eminent Christian teachers and great bishops. Their scholarly works were used as a precedent for centuries to come...
. The most significant part of it is that of the remarkable works of Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite. Other writings includes those of Saint Wissa's sermons, the writings of Saint Pachomius
Pachomius
Saint Pakhom , also known as Pachome and Pakhomius , is generally recognized as the founder of Christian cenobitic monasticism. In the Coptic churches his feast day is celebrated on May 9...
and his disciples, and the Apophthgamata Patrum. Other texts of original Coptic composition include those of Constantine of Asyut, John of Burulus, and Rufus of Shotep. The group of Coptic translations of Greek writings includes those of Saint Peter of Alexandria
Pope Peter of Alexandria
Pope Peter of Alexandria was Pope of Alexandria . He is revered as a saint by the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Eastern Orthodox Church.-Life:...
, Saint Athanasius
Athanasius of Alexandria
Athanasius of Alexandria [b. ca. – d. 2 May 373] is also given the titles St. Athanasius the Great, St. Athanasius I of Alexandria, St Athanasius the Confessor and St Athanasius the Apostolic. He was the 20th bishop of Alexandria. His long episcopate lasted 45 years Athanasius of Alexandria [b....
, Saint Theophilus, Saint Cyril the Great
Cyril of Alexandria
Cyril of Alexandria was the Patriarch of Alexandria from 412 to 444. He came to power when the city was at its height of influence and power within the Roman Empire. Cyril wrote extensively and was a leading protagonist in the Christological controversies of the later 4th and 5th centuries...
, and Saint Dioscorus. The Greek translations of non-Coptic Fathers include Saint Cyril of Jerusalem
Cyril of Jerusalem
Cyril of Jerusalem was a distinguished theologian of the early Church . He is venerated as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Anglican Communion. In 1883, Cyril was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII...
, Saint John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom , Archbishop of Constantinople, was an important Early Church Father. He is known for his eloquence in preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical and political leaders, the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, and his ascetic...
, and Saint Severus of Antioch
Severus of Antioch
Severus, Patriarch of Antioch , born approximately 465 in Sozopolis in Pisidia, was by birth and education a pagan, who was baptized in the "precinct of the divine martyr Leontius" at Tripoli, Lebanon.- Life :...
. Works of other authors are also found in that collection.
See also
- Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite
- Codex BorgianusCodex BorgianusCodex Borgianus, designated by T or 029 , ε 5 , is a Greek and Sahidic uncial manuscript of the Gospels, dated palaeographically to the 5th century...
- Uncial 070Uncial 070Uncial 070 , ε 6 , is a Greek-Coptic diglot uncial manuscript of the New Testament. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 6th century....