Sightseeing Sunday, August 14th - The Monastery of St. Anthony

My hope when I set out to write this blog was for it to be about "everything Egypt". Although my great passion in Egypt's history is in its Islamic past, Egypt has many other layers to its story. Its most famous is its ancient history with pharaohs, mummies and pyramids. But there lies another history, very much alive today, that most people brush over (myself included) somewhere between the Ancient past and the Arab/Islamic periods. That's where we find the Coptic Christian story of Egypt. And so, as I attempt to give bits and pieces of Egypt to my readers, I think we are overdue a post on Christian Egypt. 

Before we take a tour of this week's sight, let's first pause to talk briefly about Coptic Christianity and its history.

By tradition, Christianity was brought to Roman Egypt in the middle of the first century by Saint Mark the Evangelist. The church he established in Alexandria was a powerhouse of the early Christian church with such influential theologians as Athenagoras, Clement, Didymus and Origen. That last of whom is considered the father of theology. Out of Egypt's early church also came a duo that changed Christianity forever and whose effects are still fundamental to the religion today: Arius and Athanasius. 

In the fourth century, the two church leaders began a dispute over the nature of Christ that still represents a major divide between various churches today. Arius professed the idea that within the trinity God the Son was inferior to God the Father and was created by Him. This was contrary to Athanasius's position that God the Son was eternal and was one with the Father. This conflict led to the Council of Nicea in 325 AD, which affirmed Athanasius's opinion and led to the writing of the Nicene Creed. Over the next century, further disputes within the greater Christian community occurred. Finally, a dispute between the early churches occurred at the Council of Ephesus in 449 AD, and in 451 AD at the Council of Chalcedon the Coptic Church separated from the rest of Christendom. 

Since that time, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria has continued to give many contributions to modern Christianity, while at the same time remaining rather obscure to mainstream Christians. Its rather quiet anonymity may be due to its isolation as a minority in a majority Muslim population. But regardless, the Coptic Orthodox Church is a major player in Christendom as the largest Christian minority in the Middle East and as a vibrant community in its own right. The church has its own pope, Pope Shenouda III and a large diaspora community. Its ecumenical work in recent years with the Roman Catholic Church and some protestant groups has helped to raise its profile. But at heart, the church is a mystery to most Western viewers. Hopefully over the course of this blog, it will be demystified a bit. 


The Coptic Church has as its focus two major themes, fasting and the monastery. Coptic Christians fast more than any group from any religion that I have ever met. Generally, a fast require an abstention from any animal product including milk and eggs, and occasionally, in high fasts, the fast includes fish products as well. Fasts occur on every Wednesday and Friday, regardless of church season, and before and during various holidays throughout the year. If counted altogether, a devout Copt fasts more than half of the days of the year.


The other point around which the church focuses is on its monastic communities. Many Coptic families make trips to monasteries around Egypt as their major source of vacation time. Indeed, this is encouraged by the churches and trips are frequently organized to travel to monasteries throughout the country. Egypt's tradition of Christian monasticism is the oldest in the world and it was in these monasteries that many of the churches traditions and beliefs were kept alive through many centuries of invasions and later Muslim majority rule. So let's see where it all began, the world's first Christian monastery: the Monastery of Saint Antony (Anthony) the Great.


The Monastery of St. Antony the Great (cc. 4th Century AD)


Of course, the details of the story of St. Antony's life is mostly hearsay and tradition taken with a lot of faith, but St. Antony is supposed to have been born in the area of Beni Suef to a wealthy landholder around 251 AD. Orphaned in his teenaged years and left a small fortune, Antony gave up his wealth at the age of 18 after having read the Bible's repudiations of money and materialism. Shortly thereafter, St. Antony settled himself in the Eastern Desert near the Red Sea in the same area as another hermit, St. Paul. Overtime other Christians throughout Egypt having heard of Antony's asceticism and faith, followed in his footsteps. Soon, a small community developed around him. This was to become the world's first group of monks; the world's first Christian monastery. 


With time, however, the solitude that Antony had sought, disappeared as the monastic community continued to grow. Seeking more quiet and seclusion, St. Antony moved into a cave in the mountains overlooking the fraternity of monks below. It was in this cave that he would spend the last 40 years of his 105 year life. 


This new form of devotion and faith, monasticism, quickly spread throughout Egypt and the Byzantine world. Within one hundred years, monasteries could be found in Italy and France; and shortly thereafter, icons of St. Anthony of Egypt were found as far away as Ireland. Most people cannot imagine traditional Christianity without monks and nuns, but it all started with one man here in Egypt.


Below are a collection of photos from the Monastery of St. Antony. Enjoy!

On the gate to the monastery.

The long stairway to the cave where St. Antony spent his last forty years.  If you look carefully on the upper-right side, you can see the end point.

Here's a close-up of the sight.

Here is the cave where St. Antony lived, packed with pilgrims.

A view of the monastery below. The twin towers are the entrance gates.

Another view of the monastery and the desert beyond.

This drawbridge was the only access to a keep in the middle of the monastery complex.  During the 8th and 9th centuries, Bedouin raiders attacked the monastery frequently. The drawbridge allowed the monks to hide inside the keep and have relative protection from the desert raiders.

The monks of the monastery still eat around this table, continuing a centuries' old tradition.

Icons inside the Church of St. Antony inside the monastery complex. Recently restored with help from Italy, some of the icons are supposed to date from the 5th century.

Icons representing gospel writers: St. Matthew (the winged man) and St. Mark (the winged lion).

And the gospel writers: St. Luke (winged ox) and St. John (winged eagle).

Looking towards the altar and the iconostasis (icon wall separating the congregation from the main altar). The white orbs hanging are ostrich eggs. Present in all Coptic churches, they represent the resurrection and rebirth in Christ.

Looking down the main avenue through the monastery with monks' quarters on both sides.

Sources:

Kamil, Jill. Christianity in the Land of the Pharaohs: The Coptic Orthodox Church. Cairo: American University in Cairo, 2002.