History of the Monastery
The Monastery of St. Macarius lies in Wadi
Natrun, the ancient Scetis, 92 kilometers from Cairo on the western side of
the desert road to Alexandria. It was founded in 360 A.D. by St. Macarius
the Egyptian, who. was spiritual father to more than four thousand monks of
different nationalities-Egyptians, Greeks, Ethiopians, Armenians, Nubians,
Asians, Palestinians, Italians, Gauls and Span-lards. There were among them
men of letters and philosophers, and members of the aristocracy of the time,
along with simple illiterate peasants. From the fourth century up to the
present day the monastery has been continuously inhabited by monks.
[(1) Fr. Matta el-Meskeen has written
a major work (in Arabic) on the history and archeology of the Monastery of
St. Macarius entitled "Coptic Monasticism in the time of St. Macarius" Cain,
1972, 880 pp.]
In 1969 the monastery entered an era of restoration, both spiritually and
architecturally, with the arrival of twelve monks with their spiritual
director, Fr. Matta el-Meskeen. These monks had spent the previous ten yearsliving together entirely isolated from the world, in caves in the desert
area known as Wadi el-Rayyan, about 50 kilo-metres south of Fayyum. There
they had lived the monastic life in the fullest sense, in the spirit of the
desert fathers, with that same simplicity and the same total deprivation of
all the goods and cares of this world, the same deep sense of the divine
love, and the same complete confidence in divine providence in the midst of
the most austere natural environment and the dangers of the desert. For
these twelve monks, this was a time when they were bonded together in the
crucible of the divine love, uniting them in Christ, in the spirit of the
Gospel.
It was the late Patriarch Cyril vi who in 1969 ordered this group of monks
to leave Wadi el-Rayyan and go to the Monastery ofSt. Macarius to
restore it. The patriarch received them, blessed them, assured them of his
prayers and asked God to grant their spiritual father grace that the desert
might bloom again and become the home of thousands of hermits. At that time
only six aged monks were living in the monastery and its historic buildings
were on the point of collapse. The new monks were warmly received by the
abbot of the monastery, Bishop Michael, Metropolitan of Assiut, who through
his wisdom and humility was able to create an atmosphere favourable to the
renewal they hoped for.
At the present time, under the patriarch Shenouda III, who is himself busily
engaged in restoring the two monasteries of St. Bishoy and Baramos, and
after fourteen years of constant activity both in reconstruction and
spiritual renewal, the monastic community numbers about one hundred monks.
Most of them are university graduates in such diverse fields as agriculture,
medicine, veterinary medicine, education, pharmacology and engineering, and
have had job experience before entering the monastery. The monks live in
strong spiritual unity, according to the spirit of the Gospel, practising
brotherly low and the unceasing prayer of the heart. They are all directed
by the same spiritual father who watches over the unity of the spirit of the
monastery. The renewal is also revealed in the diligent prayer of the daily
office and other liturgical services, for it is the aim of the monks to
revive in the Church the spirit of the first centuries of Christianity, both
by their rule of life and by conscientious study.
The
reconstruction of the monastery
The new monastery buildings, designed and constructed by the monks qualified
in these fields, are now nearing completion. They include more than 150
cells (each comprising a room for prayer and study, a bedroom, bathroom,
kitchen and small balcony), a large refectory where the monks gather daily
to share an agape meal, a new library with space for several thousand
volumes, and a spacious guest house comprising several reception rooms and a
number of single rooms for retreatants and other guests. Buildings to house
various utilities have also been constructed, including a kitchen, bakery,
barns, garages and a repair-shop. The new buildings occupy an area of ten
acres, six times that covered by the old monastery.
In addition, the historic buildings in the monastery have been care-fully
restored. This difficult and delicate task has been supervised by prominent
archeologists [Drs.
Gamal Mehriz, Gamal Mokhtar, Abdel Rahman Abdel Tawwab and Zaki Iskandar,
and the German archeologist Dr. Grossmann.] under the auspices of the
Department of Antiquities. These specialists have expressed their admiration
for the way in which the archeological work has been carried out by the
monks, who, under their guidance, have restored and fortified the historic
buildings, while at the same time demolishing the recent and dilapidated
constructions, which encroached upon and even covered the ancient monuments.
The old toilets in particular needed to be removed, since their inefficient
drainage system was liable to cause real damage.
The discovery of the relics of St. John the Baptist and Elisha the Prophet
During the restoration of the big Church of St. Macarius,
the crypt of St. John the Baptist and Elisha the Prophet was discovered
below the northern wall of the church, in accordance with the site mentioned
in manuscripts from the 11th & 16th centuries found in the library of the
monastery. This is also confirmed by the ecclesiastical tradition of our
Coptic Church. The relies were then gathered in a special reliquary and
placed before the sanctuary of St. John the Baptist in the church of St.
Macarius. A detailed account of this discovery and an assessment of the
authenticity of the relies have been published by the monastery.
Income
Up to the present time the community has spent about 5 million Egyptian
pounds on restoration and construction. The monastery has no regular source
of income and no bank account. We do not sollicit donations, publicize the
monastery's financial needs or receive financial support from any
organization. And yet, when the monastery'sneeds are put
before God in our communal prayers, donations are received daily,
miraculously meeting our needs exactly. The monks therefore have no
doubt that God has undertaken responsibility for this enormous work, not
only in the spiritual, but also in the material realm.
Agriculture
and stock firming
The monks have been
reclaiming and cultivating the desert land around the monastery since 1975.
First they planted fig and olive trees, varieties of fodder crops and other
crops, especially water melons. Large farm buildings have been constructed
one kilometre to the north of the monastery to house cows, buffalo, sheep
and poultry. The Egyptian government has recognized the importance of the
work of the monks in these areas, for the monastery is thus participating in
solving the country's food supply problems. Particular appreciation has been
expressed for our achievements in introducing and adapting to Egyptian
conditions new strains of livestock, poultry and crops.
Particularly noteworthy
is a new type of fodder crop (fodder beet), which the monks have cultivated
for the first time in Egypt. This experiment holds promise of relieving
problems of stockfarming once it is established throughout the country. In
gratitude for this pioneer work, President Sadat donated to the monastery in
1978 a thousand feddans of desert land, two tractors and a new well, drilled
to obtain sub-soil water, which was more important than the three already in
use.
The Rule of the monastery
The single requirement the spiritual father lays down for the acceptance of
a postulant is that he should have sensed within his heart, even though it
be only once, a feeling of love for God, for it is the love of God which
unites and rules our community day by day. We have no other law than
submission to the will of God through loving Him. And as the will of God is
declared principally in the Bible, attention to God’s Word, in both the Old
and New Testaments, has become our main work and the source from which we
continually satisfy our thirst for Him and nourish our love towards all
mankind.
The only law of the monastery is love, without rules or limitations, as it
was revealed to us on the cross. This love is at once the motive and aim of
all our actions, efforts and sacrifices, and most of the monks have acquired
a profound experience of the divine love.
The spiritual father, who has spent 35 years in the monastic life, is the
director of the whole community and of each monk individually. It is he who
helps each one of us discern the plan of God for his life, and it is he who,
as it were, takes the place of a monastic rule. He is a living rule which is
adapted to each life, to each monk, to each vocation, and which is itself
constantly renewed, progressing with each monk along the path that leads to
God. The spiritual father is himself being continually renewedin his
inner life, and this renewal overflows to the whole community. We are not
guided by predetermined principles, but by the Spirit of God in us and
especially in the spiritual father, who guides us. "Where the Spirit of the
Lord is, there is freedom" (IICor. 3:17). The aim of the spiritual father is
first to live according to the Spirit himself, through inner illumination,
taking care to maintain conformity with the tradition of the early Fathers
of the Church and the monastic life. He then leaves to the Lord the task of
communicating this inward experience to his spiritual sons by a special
grace, so that they too may live in the inner liberty of the Spirit. He is
therefore careful never to impose his own personality, but to leave each man
to develop freely in his own vocation, fulfilling his own spiritual
character. Any perceptive visitor notices the united spirit of all the monks
as well as the clear personality of each. In this way spiritual men are
formed among us, who have acquired an experience of God and know how to be
spontaneously led by the inner light of the Spirit. It is men of this kind
that the world needs.
We have no rules of
penance or set methods of chastisement, for love is more effective than any
disciplinary measure. Our sense of being pilgrims in the world makes it easy
for us to submit to each other out of love for Christ.
The monk's Day
We have no very precise timetable; each monk arranges most of his own time
under the guidance of the spiritual father. But a bell wakes us at three in
the morning for private devotions, each monk in his own cell saying the
midnight office, malting prostrations and saying personal prayers. A second
bell at four o’clock summons us to the church where we chant together in
Coptic the midnight hymns of praise. These are mostly of biblical canticles
(Ex. 15, Ps. 135, Dn. 3, Ps. 148-150) in praise of God, the Creator and
Saviour of the universe. These are the most beautiful moments of the day in
the monastery. We have taken great care to perfect our liturgical chanting
and have been helped by the oldest and most authoritative canters in the
Coptic Church.
We attain such harmony
in the singing of these melodies that our voices are blended together,
expressing the unity of our spirits. We do indeed sing the praise of the
Lord with one heart and one voice (Rom. 15:6). All the monks are aware that
by participating in this daily worship and sharing the common meal we
receive a daily foretaste of the blessedness of the Kingdom to come. At
about six o’clock this service of praise ends and we say matins.
The Union of Work with prayer
After matins each monk takes up the task assigned to him by the spiritual
father, which usually corresponds with the profession he followed in the
world, while his spirit is uplifted by the atmosphere of worship in which he
has spent the first few hours of the day in church. In this way the monks
begin to experience the mysterious unity that can exist between work and the
worship of God, and with perseverence their work is spontaneously
transformed from a source of fatigue, a burden and a curse (“You will eat
your bread through the sweat of your brow”), into an expression of unceasing
praise of God and love for the brethren.
All the work of the monastery thus becomes a spiritual activity, whether it
be on the scaffolding around the buildings, in the machine shop, the
carpenter's shop, the forge, the fields, the farm, the guest house, the
dispensary or the enormous kitchen.)
[
Cf.
Zech. 14:20-21 “And the pots in the house of the Lord shall be as the bowls
before the altar, and every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be sacred to
the Lord of Hosts, so that all who sacrifice may cane and take of them and
boil the flesh of the sacrifice in them.” Thus the mat mundane daily last,
such as caking, becomes a sacred work, and the whole monastery is
transfigured into the Temple of the Lord. Are we not living in the messianic
times proclaimed by Zechariah?] This latter caters for the labourers
[All our labourers receive, apart
from their wages, fm accommodation, food, clothing and medical care. we also
provide them with religions, moral and vocational training.], who may
number up to four hundred, as well as for our visitors, of whom there may be
about fifty on normal days, or up to a thousand on holidays.
The monastery
dispensary is staffed by several of our monks—two qualified physicians, an
ophthalmologist, a dentist and several pharmacists. It serves the labourers
and visitors, as well as the monks, providing all kinds of medical care and
treatment.
All these activities are carried out under the attentive concern of the
spiritual father, who has a wide practical and theoretical knowledge of
these different fields, as well as in how to direct the labourers. He gives
constant advice, pointing out what needs to be done, criticizing and
correcting, and exposing the spiritual faults revealedby the manner
in which work is carried out. Thus the practical things of life become, for
the monk, an indispensible meansof learning, progressing, putting
into practice the spiritual principles he has learned, becoming aware of his
failings and correcting them. Labour, of teneven very hard labour,
is a means the spiritual father chooses to detect spiritual weaknesses and
correct them psychologically and spiritually, but we have come to understand
that work itself and its success or failure are of no consequence to the
spiritual father; his interest is always in the integrity, growth and'
maturity of the spirit.
We never divide the material and spiritual. Our whole life, even in its most
material details, must contribute towards the spiritual progress of each
monk and the whole community towards the worship of God, “to equip the
saints for~ the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Eph.
4:12). It is our deep conviction that we attain our heavenly vocation
through the carrying out of these commonplace tasks on earth.
This unity between the
material and the spiritual in our lives is an important principle in our
spirituality, and is the reason why the spiritual father’s direction is not
restricted to the inner life, but extends to every detail of material,
psychological and physical life. It is also the reason why we have no strict
timetable separating times for prayer from times for work. However diverse
our occupations during the day, we believe that we all have before us one
essential task to which we must constantly address ourselves, whether we be
at work, in our cells or in church, and that is to offer ourselves up as a
sacrifice of love to the Lord Jesus, lifting up our hearts in unceasing
prayer, and remaining continuously at peace, even in the midst of
hard work, with the peace of Christ that passes all understanding (Phil.
4:7).
A visitor, seeing the monks at work, is quite unable to distinguish between
the beginners and those who have been long in the monastic life. Work unites
them in an intimacy full of love and real humility. They move in harmony and
interchange every task, whether great or small, without partiality.
The Common Meal and other
gatherings of the community
At about mid-day we gather in the refectory to sing the ninth hour with its
twelve psalms, and this is followed by the only meal of the day taken
together. While we eat, the sayings of the Fathers are read to us. The
evening meal, and of course the morning meal (for the weaker or sick
brethren), are taken individually in the cells at the time and in the
quantity directed by the spiritual father for each, according to his ability
to fast and the amount of physical labour demanded of him. In this way our
common life does not impede the personal life of anyone.
From time to time the
spiritual father calls us together for a time of spiritual instruction in
the church. This meeting does not take place on regular basis; it remains
spontaneously dependent on the inspiration given by God to the spiritual
father in response to the needs of the community.
On Sunday evenings we meet for open prayer, when each expresses
extemporaneously the movement of his heart. This is the time when we set
before the Lord all the spiritual and material needs of our community. We
believe that this prayer meeting is very important for keeping our community
in “the unity of the Spirit” (Eph. 4:3).
The Eucharistic Liturgy
Following the tradition of the desert fathers, we celebrate the eucharistic
liturgy only once a week, on Sunday morning. It begins with an office of
praise at two o 'clock, ends a t about eight o’clock and is followed by an
agape meal. Our community is transformed by this celebration of the
eucharist from a purely human gathering into the actualization of the Body
of Christ. This is why the liturgy, for us, cannot be said by an individual,
or even by a section of the community; it is essentially the meeting of the
whole community, gathered together as the Church around the Lamb offered at
His wedding feast (Rev. 19:9).
The Place of the Solitary Life
in our Community
Although we live a community life, we believe that the monastic vocation is
most fully realized in a life of solitude in the desert. When a monk is
sufficiently mature to live alone, the spiritual father advises him to go
out into the desert to live as a solitary, usually in a cave in the rock.
Before this decisive step is taken, the spiritual father may allow certain
monks to experience the sweetness of the solitary life for a limited period
of time, either in a cave or in their own cell.
Our Message to the World
The monastery receives large numbers of Egyptian and foreign visitors,
sometimes as many as a thousand in one day. Most are primarily seeking to
receive a blessing from this place, which has been made sacred by the tears
and prayers of generations of saints whose names are famous throughout the
world. Who has not heard of Macarius the Great, Macarius of Alexandria, John
the Short, Paphnutius, Isidore, Arsenius and Abba Moses, Paemen, Serapion,
the elders of Scetis and so many others?
Monks are made
available to visitors, to listen to them, answer their questions and give
spiritual guidance. Most of our visitors experience relief from their cares
and problems as soon as they enter 'he monastery, for the great spiritual
joy which they receive from this blessed place makes them able to overcome
all that grieves them.
Particularly during the summer vacation, the monastery offers to young
people the opportunity of spending a few days on retreat in our community.
They receive spiritual direction and guidance about their life in society
without imposing any commitment to the monastery or a monastic pattern on
their life.
Special priority is given to priests, full-time lay workers and Sunday
school teachers, who come to prepare themselves better to offer their lives
to God in their different spheres of ministry.
Through the writings of the spiritual father, which amount to more than
seventy books and two hundred articles, the monastery is playing a
significant role in the spiritual awakening of the Coptic Church. Our
monthly magazine St. Mark is addressed especially to the spiritual needs of
young people, and many of the spiritual father’s sermons have been recorded
and are circulated on cassette tapes among Copts in Egypt and abroad. In
1978 the monastery installed a modern printing press which produces all our
publications in Arabic and foreign languages. The few articles that have
been translated into European languages have been warmly received in a
variety of places.
The monastery is characterized by a sincere openness to all men, of whatever
religion or confession. We receive all our visitors, no matter what their
religious conviction, with joy, warmth and graciousness, not out of a
mistaken optimism, but in genuine and sincere love for each person. We offer
to every visitor our hearts and our sincere friendship.
The monastery maintains spiritual, academic and fraternal links with
several monasteries abroad, including the monastery of Chevtogne in Belgium,
Solesmes Abbey and the Monastery of the Transfiguration in France, Deir
el-Harf in Lebanon and the Convent of $be Incarnation in England. Several
monks from these monasteries have stayed with us for various periods of
time.
The monastery enjoys good relations with the various government departments
and organizations. It is well-known that our monks have completed their
military service commitments and many among us spent some time as officers
or in the ranks. The political views of Fr. Matta el-Meskeen are widely
respected for their integrity, humanity and seriousness. In his book “Church
and State,” he declares that politics should be entirely separated from
religion. “Render unto Caeser that which is Caeser’s, and unto God that
which is Cod’s” (Mat. 22:21). In other writings such as “Sectarianism and
Extremism" he warns against the common tendency of minorities to be wrapped
up in themselves and despise others.
A monk is aware of his critical responsibility before a sinful world, a
Church fallen- into division and decadence, the younger generation slipping
further and further away from God. He considers himself a representative
before God of a suffering world and so offers himself every day as a
sacrifice, united with the sacrifice of Christ, for the salvation of the
world. On the practical side, all the monks work towards furthering their
education by serious study, so that they may be ready at any time to serve
the Lord anywhere in any capacity that does not conflict with their monastic
vocation.
The Monastery and Christian Unity
In our monastery we live out fully the unity of the Church in spirit and in
truth, in anticipation of its visible attainment ecclesiastically. Through
our genuine openness of heart and spirit to all men, no matter what their
confession, it has become possible for us to see ourselves, or rather
Christ, in others. For us, Christianunity is to live together in
Christ by love. Then divisions collapse and differences disappear, and there
is only the One Christ who gathers us all into His holy Person.
Theological dialogue
must take place, but we leave this to those who are called to it. For
ourselves, we feel that the unity of the Church exists in Christ and that we
therefore discover in Him the fulness of unity in the measure in which we
are united to Him. “If any one is in Christ, he is a new creation” (II Cor.
5:17). And in this new creation there is no multiplicity but “one new man”
(Eph. 2:15). Although we practise our Orthodox faith, and are aware of all
the truth and spiritual riches it contains, we still recognize that in
Christ “there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised,
barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all, and in all” (Col.
3:11). While wounds in the Body of Christ exist, we would offer our lives
daily in sacrifice for the reconciliation of the Churches.
We have found in the religious life the best means of attaining union with
Christ and hence the best way of fulfilling that new creation which gathers
men “of every nation, race, people and tongue” (Rev. 7:9) into unity of
spirit and heart. This has been a clear feature of the monastic life in
Scetis since the beginning. The particular gift of St. Macarius was that, as
a spiritual director, he was able to gather together men of conflicting
temperaments, different social classes and diverse races. Among his
spiritual sons were Abba Moses, a Nubian bandit, alongside Arsenius, a Roman
philosopher and tutor to the children of the emperor, illiterate Egyptian
peasants side by side with the princes Maximus and Domadius. And they all
lived in perfect spiritual harmony through the great spirit of love which
was thelife breath of St. Macarius, and was passed on by him to
contemporaries andthen· to his spiritual heirs up to our own time.
It is our hope that the desert of Scetis will become once more the birth
place of good will, reconciliation and unity between all the peoples on
earth in Christ Jesus.
This site is issued by the Monastery of St Macarius the Great at Scetis
