- Title: EGYPT: Monasticism in the heart of Egypt's desert
- Date: 30th May 2008
- Summary: (MER-1) AL-ZAAFARANA, EGYPT (RECENT) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF ST. ANTHONY'S CHURCH AND MONASTERY SEMINARY STUDENTS ENTERING THROUGH MONASTERY GATES SIGN READING IN ARABIC: ''MONASTERY OF ST. ANTHONY THE GREAT'' CHURCH STEEPLES AND COURTYARD CHURCH BELL RINGING CROSS OVER STEEPLE/ PIGEONS PERCHED BENEATH MONK WALKING THROUGH COURTYARD (SOUNDBITE) (English) MONK RUWAIS EL-ANTHONY SAYING: "If you look back you will see the oldest part of the monastery. One of the very old cells here is that one - it goes back to one thousand, one thousand years, okay? And the other building for the old refectory and the keep, which was built by Justinian, yes, one thousand and five hundred years." VIEW OF ANCIENT BUILDINGS IN COURTYARD PIGEON PERCHED IN STEEPLE / WIDE OF STEEPLE AND MOUNTAINS IN BACKGROUND (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MONK ATHANSIOUS EL-ANTHONY SAYING: "So with the revitalization and rebirth that is happening in the country, the road to the monastery, the desert path was paved, and the number of tourists increased and the number of visitors to the monastery, Egyptian and others, the number of visitors has greatly increased." VIEW OF CHURCH GROUNDS AND PALM TREES INTERIOR OF CHURCH CLOSE OF MURAL OF CHRIST FRESCO OF SAINTS ON CHURCH WALL (SOUNDBITE) (English) MONK RUWAIS EL-ANTHONY SAYING: "He should come to visit the monastery so many, many times, in order to see, to hear, to get familiar with what is going on. And in the meantime we push him back - 'not now, we are over, come later, we don't have room for you' - okay, to be sure that he is insisting and he serious to be a monk." HANGING LANTERN / FRESCO OF CHRIST ON CHURCH WALL (SOUNDBITE) (English) MONK RUWAIS EL-ANTHONY SAYING: "Our life is very happy if we take it seriously and it doesn't matter to be married or to be a monk, but it is very important to be pure. Without purity we can't be close to God." INTERIOR OF CHURCH MONK RUWAIS EL-ANTHONY SAYING A BLESSING OVER TOMB OF A FORMER HEAD OF MONASTERY RUWAIS EL-ANTHONY WALKING DOWN PATHWAY ON MONASTERY GROUNDS EXTERIOR OF CHURCH SET AGAINST DESERT
- Embargoed: 14th June 2008 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Egypt
- Country: Egypt
- Topics: Religion
- Reuters ID: LVA2NXM5MG8MR6E1Z6WXCMWUFQTC
- Story Text: Monks at St. Anthony's Monastery, set in the heart of the Egyptian desert and considered to be the world's oldest active Christian monastery, preserve their traditions and follow in the footsteps of their predecessors.
A speck of green in a sea of desert sand, Egypt's St Anthony's Monastery attracts those seeking God amid silence broken only by the sound of the wind.
Nestled around a water spring where Egypt's eastern desert meets the craggy Red Sea mountains, Monks at what is considered by many to be the world's oldest active Christian monastery still rise before dawn to chant and pray just as their predecessors did for over 1,500 years.
The monastery, which was founded in 356 AD, has survived Bedouin raids, the Islamic conquest of Egypt, and wars between Egypt and Israel that turned the area into a combat zone.
Nowadays, bearded monks in black robes lead tours through narrow paths between stone churches, monk cells, an ancient refectory monks say was built by the Roman emperor Justinian, and a library containing over 1,700 manuscript books.
Ruwais el-Anthony, who co-ordinates tourist visits, points out the monastery's centuries-old artefacts.
"If you look back you will see the oldest part of the monastery.
One of the very old cells here is that one - it goes back to one thousand, one thousand years, okay? And the other building for the old refectory and the keep, which was built by Justinian, yes, one thousand and five hundred years," Ruwais told Reuters Television.
Visitors could once enter only by climbing a rope cast down from a 10-metre wall by monks wary of Bedouin invaders, but the monks now welcome daily busloads of foreign tourists that keep the monastery thriving.
Other monks raise chickens, grow fruit, and lead tour groups through the compound's 15th century church, where monks claim the oldest monk cells ever discovered lie beneath the floor.
When 62-year-old monk Athansious el-Anthony first arrived, the only visitors were Egyptian soldiers demanding water during the 1967 war with Israel. Now a recently paved road through the desert brings busloads of visitors and pilgrims, most from Europe and Russia, through an iron door with Coptic writing flanked by tall towers topped with crosses.
"So with the revitalization and rebirth that is happening in the country, the road to the monastery, the desert path was paved, and the number of tourists increased and the number of visitors to the monastery, Egyptian and others, the number of visitors has greatly increased," Athansious said.
Only the most gregarious of the 120 monks at St. Anthony's deal with visitors. The others isolate themselves in their rooms or spend their days in nearby mountain caves.
Described as the earliest Christian monk, St. Anthony set off into the desert around the year 280 A.D. and settled in the mountain caves around this desert oasis.
He is considered to be one of the first Christians to withdraw completely from society, living in the desert with only animals for company.
The monastery, about 155 km (100 miles) southeast of Cairo, is now attracting so many prospective monks that it has to turn away new applicants, in part to ensure that only the most dedicated actually join.
"He should come to visit the monastery so many, many times, in order to see, to hear, to get familiar with what is going on. And in the meantime we push him back - 'not now, we are over, come later, we don't have room for you' - okay, to be sure that he is insisting and he serious to be a monk," Ruwais told Reuters Television.
Ruwais says monks live simple lives in order to gain an understanding of God.
"Our life is very happy if we take it seriously and it doesn't matter to be married or to be a monk, but it is very important to be pure.
Without purity we can't be close to God," he said.
Almost all the monks here are Egyptian Coptic Christians, a minority faith in the most populous Arab country, which is about 90 percent Muslim.
Most Christians in Egypt belong to the Coptic Orthodox church, which gives allegiance to its own Pope in Egypt, Shenouda III.
The monks descend from the jagged mountains only as the sun begins to set, the tourists leave, the chatter subsides, and only the howling of the wind across the sand can be heard. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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