A Brief Description of the Monastery

The Monastery of Saint Macarius (Dayr Abu Maqar) is the southernmost monastery in Wadi al-Natrun. It can be seen to the west from the Cairo-Alexandria desert highway about 129 kilometers from Cairo, or 86 from Alexandria. One reaches the monastery by turning into the desert at the road sign on the desert highway that points to the monastery.

From a historical point of view, the Monastery of Saint Macarius is probably the most interesting monastery in Wadi al-Natrun. It has supplied more patriarchs (twenty-nine) than any other monastery. The foundation of Dair Abu Maqar is closely associated with the life of Saint Macarius the Great (300-90). He was the son of a village priest. As was the custom, his parents decided for him to be married, but Saint Macarius avoided association with his wife, because of his high esteem for virginity. His wife died very young. One day when he was working as a camel driver, Saint Macarius saw a vision of a cherubim who promised him that his followers would inhabit the desert to which he had taken the camels.

After spending some time with an a hermit on the edge of town, he withdrew to the inner desert, where, at that time, no ascetics had settled. His first settlement was in the vicinity of the present Dayr al-Baramus. Saint Macarius was then led by an angel to the rock of Piamoni (“endurance,” in Coptic), that became to be known as “St Macarius’s Rock,” and there he was told to build a church. This church, then, with the cells around it, formed the nucleus of the present monastery. The monastery’s system was lauritic (from the Greek word “laura,” path). This means that monks lived alone during the week days and met together on Saturday and Sundays for the Divine Liturgy and for the common meal (agape). After the death of Saint Macarius, Saint Paphnutius became his undisputed successor.

Three times in the course of the fifth century, the monastery was sacked by Berbers. In the third sack, in 444, forty-nine monks gladly submitted themselves to the swords of the invading Berbers. Toward the middle of the sixth century, the monastery acquired great importance when it became the official residence of the Coptic patriarchs, who were no longer permitted by the Byzantine rulers to reside in Alexandria. In the seventh century, the monasteries, which were widely devastated by the fourth Berber attack, were rebuilt. The consecration of the new Church of Saint Macarius by Patriarch Benjamin I took place in 650. Some of the outstanding monks of this period were Saint John the Hegumen (d.675), and Saints Abraham and George of Scetis, also of the seventh century. By the beginning of the ninth century, the Laura of Saint Macarius contained a thousand cells. The monastery was sacked again in 866. The patriarch Shenute I rebuilt the church and provided the monastery with a fortified wall. In the beginning of the eleventh century, the Monastery of Saint Macarius gained prominence, especially during the widespread persecutions of al-Hakim (996-1021). The patriarch Zacharias and most of the bishops had found refuge in Wadi al-Natrun. It was at that time that a Turkish prince obtained the head of Saint Mark the Evangelist. On learning that the Christians would pay a large sum of money for it, he took the head to Cairo and sold it for three hundred dinars. Later, it was carried to the patriarch at the Monastery of Saint Macarius. In the middle of the eleventh century, the Monastery of Saint Macarius claimed more than half of the total number of monks in Wadi al-Natrun. As this monastery became the patriarchal residence, it became customary for the patriarchs to consecrate the myron (chrism) there, in a ceremony that took place on the Thursday of Holy Week. From the middle of the fourteenth century this monastery began to deteriorate, on account of the Black Death and the subsequent famine and the political pressures exerted by the Mamluk rulers. The monastery was visited by many European travelers. Josef von Ghistele (1481), Arnold von Harff (1497) who discovered many underground caves like chapels, Villamont (1590), Sandys (1611).

When Thevenot visited the monastery in 1656, he described it as the most dilapidated of the four monasteries of Wadi al-Natrun, and Du Bernat (1710) noticed only four monks there, while Granger (1730) found the monastery in ruins. By 1799, though, Andreossy counted twenty monks at the monastery.

From the Middle Ages onward, the monastery had sheltered a considerable library. The library remained intact until the seventeenth century, when European bibliophiles discovered the treasures. The library was successively carried off by Cassien (1631), Agathangelus (1634), Goujon (1670), Huntington (1678), Sicard (1712), Assemani (1714), Sevin (1729), Tattam (1839), Tischendorf (1844), Chester (1873), and Evelyn White (1921).

The Churches

The most significant building in the monastery is the Church of Saint Macarius. The present church is merely a remnant of a once beautiful building, large portions of which have been destroyed. The church has three sanctuaries, one dedicated to Saint Benjamin (center), the other to Saint John the Baptist (north) and the third to the Three Young Men of Babylon (south). The eastern niche of the central altar was at one time the seat of the patriarch. The northern altar is interesting because of its twelfth-century frescos. Next to the north wall of the church stands the reliquary with the bodily remains of St John the Baptist and St Elisha the Profet. A little west, another reliquary contains the three Macarii and the relics of the ten patriarchs of the Coptic Orthodox Church who were originally monks of the monastery.

The Church of Saint Iskhyron of Qallin goes back to the fourteenth century. It shows a beautiful dome made of concentric squares, an ancient door that brought to the Church of St Macarius and an arch identical to that one sees entering the monastery. It also homes the relics of St John Kolobos (the Short).

The Church of the Forty-Nine Martyrs was built in the eighteenth century. It serves as the place of burial for the forty-nine monks who submitted to the Berber swords.

The Fortress

The fortress of the Monastery of Saint Macarius is by far the most interesting one of its kind because of its many chapels and churches. One enters the fortress by a narrow drawbridge that leads to the first story of the building. The interior of the tower is divided into three floors: the ground floor and the first and second stories. On the first story of the fortress is the Chapel of the Holy Virgin, with three sanctuaries. The sanctuary screens, which may be the work of a thirteenth century artist, are worth seeing. On the second story are three churches that are remarkable for their wall paintings. The Church of Archangel Michael is the northernmost church. The south wall of the church is decorated with pictures representing a whole gallery of saints: Saint Eusebius, Saint Basilides, Saint Justus, Saint Apoli, and Saint Theoclia. On the north wall within the choir screen is a painting of Archangel Michael. The Church of Saints Antony, Paul, and Pachomius is situated south of the Church of Saint Michael on the second floor. On the north wall of the chapel are paintings of the three founders of Egyptian monasticism to whom the church is dedicated. The Church of the Hermits, or Church of the Wanderers (al-Suwwah) is the southernmost of the three churches on the second floor. The wall paintings of the church represent nine hermits: Saint Samuel, Saint John the Hegumen, Saint Onuphrius (Abu Nofr), Saint Abraham, Saint George, Saint Apollo, Saint Apip, Saint Misael, and Saint Pidjimi.

The 1969 Reconstruction

In 1969 Cyril VI ordered Father Matta al-Miskin (Matthew the Poor) and his twelve monks to leave Wadi al-Rayyan, where they had lived for ten years, and to settle at the Monastery of Saint Macarius. This was the beginning of a spiritual and architectural restoration of the monastery. Only six monks used to live at the monastery, and the historic buildings were on the point of collapse.

One of the most urgent tasks was the restoration of the old buildings, many of which were pulled down and replaced by more than 150 new cells, a refectory for the daily agape-meal, a library, a spacious guest house, several reception rooms, and visitors’ quarters. The new buildings occupy an area of ten acres, six times that covered by the old monastery.

During the restoration of the Church of Saint Macarius in the autumn of 1978 the monks claim to have discovered the relics of Saint John the Baptist and those of the ninth-century-B.C. prophet Elisha. These were found in a crypt below the northern wall of the church. They were placed in a special reliquary outside the sanctuary of Saint John the Baptist in the Church of Saint Macarius.

The modern printing press, installed in 1978, produces the monthly magazine Saint Mark and other publications in Arabic and foreign languages. About one kilometer north of the monastery, large farm buildings have been set up to house cows, buffaloes, and sheep.

The monastic community life centers on the daily prayer, common meal, or agape, in the refectory. Monks meet at 4am for morning prayers, then noon, and finally at about 6pm for vespers. Once a week, between 2 and 7am, the Divine Liturgy is celebrated, followed by the agape.

Today around 120 monks, many of whom are university graduates, make up the monastic community.