Last weekend, we took a trip through AUC to Wadi Natrun, to the Monastery of St. Macarius.
This weekend we went to Wadi Natrun (a depression or valley northwest of Cairo) to where there are four 4th century monasteries of the Coptic Church. We went to the Monastery of St. Macarius, and John Swanson from the History Department of AUC was our guide. He is very knowledgeable about Coptic history, and lectured on the bus most of the way there and most of the way back. The concept of monasticism began in Egypt, and then was transferred to the Cappadoccia region of Turkey and eventually to Palestine in the Middle East.
What surprised me the most about the monastery was it was so busy! There were families there, children running around, and bus loads/car loads of people coming and going. We were in the main church, and one of the monks was giving a lecture (in Arabic) on some aspect of applied Christianity to Coptic life. I asked John why would families come out here, and why he said on the bus that in some ways the monasteries were more important as an in Coptic life than were the churches. He said that since these 4 monasteries were revived by Father Matta El Meskeen, who lived here from about 1968 through 2006, monastic life has been the pivot of Coptic Christianity. In fact, Father Meskeen rivaled Pope Shenuda in popularity and authority during his day. Families come out every weekend in order, he said, to be Coptic without having to worry about being a minority in a Muslim country. This space is theirs, and they can be themselves. St. Marcarius is not a 12the century Medieval institution, but fully 21st century and monks and laity interact regularly. The monk that guided us through the Monastery was a former pharmacist in Cairo. We bought a guide to the monasteries, and a CD set of the monks doing their 4am chanting.
On the way back to Cairo, we stopped at the Master Rest Stop along the Alexandria-Cairo Highway. There was a zoo, restaurants, gift shops, etc. We had pizza at the same restaurant that I ate with Sussan and Richard and Vagi and Jian on our trip to Alex. We had lunch with Jerry Leach from American Studies.
Here are some photos: