The Monastery of the Syrians in Wadi Natrun by Jimmy Dunn my source: Tour Egypt/monasteries This monastery, one of the four well known of its kind in Wadi al-Natrun, was probably founded in the sixth century, though some might date it later. It is located about five hundred meters northwest of the Monastery of Saint Bishoi. It's establishment is closely connected with Julian's heretical doctrine which spread throughout Egypt under the patriarchate of Timothy III (517-535). The Julianist (Gaianists, after Archdeacon Gaianus, a supporter of Julianist theology who was a bishop in Alexandria c. 550 was an even more extreme approach to Julianist) heresy, which owes its name to its principal exponent Julian, a theologian and bishop of Halicarnassus (Halicarnarsus) in Ionia, is also called Aphtartodocetism (Aphthartcdocetae or Phantasiastae). Julian was exiled to Egypt for having defined the doctrine of the incorruptibility of Christ's body. Julianist basically believe in an extreme view that the body of the Lord Jesus Christ was incapable of corruption. They held that Christ's body was so inseparably united with the Holy Father that its natural attributes made it sinless and incorruptible. To the Orthodox Church, however, Christ had taken human flesh that prevented him from being ideal and abstract and therefore corruptible. Thus, the Orthodox Church reaffirmed and clarified the idea of the real human nature of Christ. Yet, in the monasteries at Wadi al-Naturn (Scetis), the monks embraced the doctrine of Julian. A majority of the monks became followers of Aphtartodocetism, while those who refused the doctrine obtained permission from the governor Aristomachus to erect new churches and monasteries so that they could settle apart from the Julianists. These new facilities were often built along side the old ones, even keeping the same name but adding to it Theotokos (Mother of God, or God-bearer). In this way, they recognized the significance of the incarnation, which Aphtartodocetism seemed to minimize, and thus reaffirmed the charismatic dignity of the Holy Virgin. The Monasteries of St. Pshoi and the Syrians as illustrated in Description de l'Egypte (1809) The Monastery of the Syrians was thus established by those of the St. Bishoi (Pishoi) monastery who were opposed to Julianist doctrines. Hence, it was originally the Monastery of the Holy Virgin Theotokos, but by the beginning of the eighth century, the problems between the Orthodox Christians and the Julianists died out and there was no longer any necessity to maintain two distinct monasteries. Therefore, it was sold to a group of wealthy Syrian merchants originally from Tekrit in Mesopotamia for the sum of 12,000 dinars. They had settled in al-Fustat in Old Cairo, and a certain Marutha from Takrit in eastern Syria converted it for use by Syrian monks who renamed it the Monastery of the Holy Virgin of the Syrians. However, some manuscripts refer to it as the Monastery of the Mother of God of the Syrians at that point. There had actually been Syrian monks at Wadi al-Natrun since the end of the fourth century, living amongst the other monks. Perhaps, the Syrians wished to live in a monastic community that would be ethnically and culturally homogeneous. Overall Plan of the Monastery All of the Monasteries in the Wadi al-Natrun were subjected to horrible attacks by desert tribes, and the fifth of these by Berbers in 817 AD was particularly disastrous to this monastery. Afterwards in 850, it was rebuilt thanks primarily to the persistent labor of two monks, Matthew and Abraham. After having traveled to Baghdad to ask the caliph al-Muqtadir bi'llah to grant tax exemption to the monasteries, in 927 AD, a learned and cultured hegumen (hegomenos, a title given to priests and monks to emphasize their leading roles) named Moses of Nisibis (c. 907-943 AD) traveled to Syria and Mesopotamia in search of manuscripts. After having spent three years gathering material, he returned to Egypt, bringing with him 250 Syrian manuscripts. Soon, the monastery became an a prosperous and important facility, possessing many artistic treasures and a library rich in Syrian texts, making it a fundamental source of history and culture of Syria. We know, from a census taken by Mawhub ibn Mansur, the co-author of the History of the Patriarchs of the Coptic Church, that the monastery was populated by some sixty monks at the end of the eleventh century (1088). At that time it was the third largest in the wadi, after those of St. Macarius and St. John the Little. We are told that sometime in the middle of the twelfth century, it must have witnessed a period of trouble for a period of ten years when "no Syrian priests was present there". In the fourteenth century, as with other monasteries here, it was once again decimated, but this time by the scourge of the plague. Thus, when a monk named Moses from the monastery of Mar Gabriel in Tur Abdin called on this monastery in 1413, he found just one remaining Syrian monk. This time, it was the Patriarch of Antioch, Ignatius XI, who visited the monastery at the end of the fifteenth century and granted to it privileges and donations in order to restore it to its former glory. However, by now, Egyptians were once again beginning to inhabit the monastery and by 1516, only eighteen of the forty-three monks were Syrian. The trend of Egyptian replacing the Syrians continued as the prosperity of the monastery increased. By the time of the patriarchate of Gabriel VII (1526-1569), who himself had been a monk at the Monastery of the Syrians, it was able to supply ten monks to the Monastery of St. Paul and twenty to that of St. Anthony in the Eastern Desert when those two communities were damaged by Bedouin raids. In the seventeenth century, western travelers from France, Germany and England visited the monastery and reported that there were two churches, one for the Syrians and the other for the Coptic Christian monks. They also mention a miraculous "St. Ephrem's tree". Interestingly, according to tradition, Ephrem was a fourth century Syrian theologian and ascetic from Nisibis. He sought to meet the holy monk Pshoi, and thus came to the monastic centers of the  wadi. We are told that he visited Pshoi's hermitage that was located on the future site of the monastery of the Syrians. However, when the two men met, they were unable to communicate because Ephrem spoke only Syrian. Yet, suddenly and miraculously, Pshoi began to express himself in that language, enabling his visitor to understand him. During this exchange, it is said that Ephrem leaned his staff against the door of the hermitage and all at once it became rooted and even sprouted foliage. Near the church of the Holy Virgin, monks will continue to point out even today this tamarind, miraculously born from Ephrem's staff. By the middle of the seventeenth century, there is no evidence that Syrian monks still inhabited the monastery, as evidenced by the visit of Peter Heyling, the Lutheran missionary of Lubeck in 1634. This fact may have surprised the Levanese Joseph Simeonis (Yusuf'Sim'an) Assemani, who was sent to Egypt by Pope Clement XI to seek ancient texts in 1715 and 1735. When he visited the Monastery of the Syrians, he found not a single Syrian monk. Nevertheless, he did manage to visit the monastery library and acquire forty precious manuscripts that today are kept in the Vatican Library. Later, between 1839 and 1851, the British Museum in London was also able to procure about five hundred Syrian manuscripts from the monastery library, concerned not only with religious topics, but also with philosophy and literature. Actually, in 1730, Granger was refused entry to the library and Browne found it impossible to obtain any manuscripts in 1792. However, in 1799 Andreossy removed some manuscripts and Lord Curzon actually purchased a considerable quantity in 1837. Tattam secured many manuscripts for the British Museum in 1839, while Tischendorf obtained only a few parchment sheets in 1844. The British Museum secured over two hundred items from Pacho in 1847, though in 1852, Brugsch was unable to purchase any. Other visitors to the monastery included Lansing (1862), Chester (1873), Junkers (1875), Jullien (1881) and Butler (1883). Afterwards, these very manuscripts inspired intense research on the Syriac language and culture, for until that time, many classical texts from Aristotle, Euclid, Archimedes, Hippocrates and Galen were known to Western scholars only in their thirteenth century Latin translations. Even these were often translations from earlier Arabic sources. Even though many of the manuscripts from the Monastery of the Syrians have reached us in a fragmented state, these documents are the oldest copies of important Greek classical texts, with some dating back to the fifth century. Only two Coptic patriarchs came from the Monastery of the Syrians. They were Gabriel VII the modern Pope, Shenouda III. Both patriarchs shared a common interest in restoring and repopulating abandoned monasteries. The monastery of the Syrians provides a great opportunity to study the development of Coptic wall painting. Between 1991 and 1999, several segments of wall paintings layered on top of each other were uncovered in the Church of the Holy Virgin and the Chapel of he Forty-nine Martyrs, dating from between the seventh and the thirteenth centuries. Undoubtedly, the ongoing project to uncover, restore and conserve wall paintings within this monastery will increase our knowledge about Christian Art in Egypt. The Monastery Buildings The Enclosure Walls The walls of the monastery enclose a rather unusual plan in relationship to others in the Wadi al-Naturn. They form an almost rectangular quadrilateral with the short sides measuring 36 meters at one end and 54 meters at the other. The two longer sides measure some 160 meters. The height of the walls varies between nine and a half and eleven and a half meters. Traditionally, the monks explain this abnormal plan in an unlikely way. According to them, the monastery was built on a model of Noah's ark. These walls most likely date to the end of the ninth century. The entrance to the monastery is located at the west end of the northern side of this enclosure wall. The Keep (Tower) The mammoth keep (qasr) is situated west of the north entrance to the monastery. We believe it was built in the middle of the ninth century, but at any rate it was built after the enclosure walls. It belongs to a less well developed type of tower, of which the oldest examples may be found at Kellia. It consists of four stories, with access granted by a wooden drawbridge to the second floor. This is a somewhat typical configuration, where the bottom floor was used for storage of food supplied as well as the production of flour, oil and wine in order to assure supplies during a siege. In order to further insure the complete autonomy during times of trouble, there was also a water well. The second floor was, for centuries, used to house the precious library of manuscripts that were gradually surrendered, mostly to experts from the West, who sought out these volumes to enrich the collections of the Vatican Library and the British Museum. Some of the niches that once held the manuscripts are still visible. The third story, consisting of a corridor with four vaulted rooms to one side and two on the other, probably provided housing to the monks during time of danger. Like very many of the Egyptian monasteries, the fourth floor of the keep was reserved as a chapel dedicated to the Archangel Michael. Here, one finds a nave and a choir separated by the traditional wooden screen. The sanctuary is surmounted by a brick cupola supported by four pendentives that are adorned with stalactite motifs that might date back as early as the fifteenth century. The chapel has a barrel vaulted roof. The Church of the Holy Virgin (el-Adra) The Church of the Holy Virgin within this monastery is very ancient, dating to probably 645 AD (though some references date it as about 950 AD) and was constructed in the basilican style originally with a wooden roof. Were it not for the court and a side chapel that is dedicated to the forty-nine martyrs of Sebaste, its plan would be almost perfectly rectangular, measuring twenty-eight meters long by twelve meters wide. This church has an entrance on its north side through a court which is square and surmounted by a cupola. It opens into the monastery courtyard. The principal building of this church is clearly divided between the nave, the khurus (choir) and the triple sanctuary. The nave is completely roofed with a barrel vault and flanked by two small side aisles, which join on the west, an arrangement that is typical in Egypt. There is a masonry balustrade somewhat over one meter in height that divides the nave into two sections. There is, almost in the middle of the nave's floor, a laggan, a marble basin that was used for washing feet on Maundy Thursday (and on the feast of St. Peter and Paul). Recent restorations have also revealed a composition on the southern wall of the nave. This is a tableau depicting three patriarchs, including Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Here, they are enthroned in paradise with the souls of the blessed on their laps. Their facial features and hair are schematically treated. They where brown tunics and pallia (a cloak, plural of pallium). The one in the center wears a white pallium. Small, naked figures held on the laps of the patriarchs represent the souls. This scene gives expression to the prayers found on Coptic gravestones from the eighth and ninth centuries, which read, "May God repose his soul [that the dead individual] in the bosom of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This scene, which is also the subject of a daily evening prayer for the dead of the Coptic Church, is the oldest of its kind in Egypt, and can probably be attributed to the eleventh century. Prior to the restoration, a painting that has been preserved from the western half cupola depicted the Ascension of Christ. It dated to about 1225 AD. In the lower register we find the Virgin orans (with hands extended in prayer) flanked by the twelve apostles, who are depicted conversing with one another or looking upwards towards Christ in the mandorla held by two angels in the upper register. Within this upper register, Christ is enthroned and holds a book in his left hand while raising his right in blessing. To his right is the moon and to his left, the sun. All of the elements of this scene are labeled in Syriac, while the names of Christ, the sun and the moon are repeated in Coptic. After the removal of this scene, another beautiful wall painting dating back to the time of the church's construction or a period immediately following was discovered, though this is a matter of scholarly controversy. It has been suggested by art historians that it dates either to the early eighth century, shortly after 900 AD, the time of Moses Nisibis during the first half of the tenth century, the late twelfth century, the 1170s or early 1180s and the beginning of the thirteenth century. The lettering of the inscriptions in Coptic and Greek can be dated to the ninth and tenth centuries. It is very likely that they date to the period of Moses Nisibis. There is no doubt that this painting of the is unique in Egypt. It's style differs completely from medieval Coptic painting. It depicts the annunciation in the traditional way with the Holy Virgin and the archangel Gabriel. Here, the angle Gabriel, who is the bringer of glad tidings, approaches the Holy Virgin from the left. He holds his cross-staff, and looks at the Virgin with his message written in Greek, which reads, "Hail, you full of grace! The Lord is with you!". The enthroned Virgin is turned slightly towards Gabriel, with her left hand supporting her chin and her right hand outwards. In the middle of this scene is a censer with blue flame placed on a column. This imagery of incense is exceptional in medieval Coptic wall painting. This painting is enhanced by the presence of four prophets, including Moses and Isaiah on the left and Ezekiel and Daniel on the right. Moses and Ezekiel wear red tunics and bluish pallia. Isaiah's tunic is beige and his pallium is red, while Daniel on the extreme right wears Phrygian costume with a short tunic and peaked cap. There names are written in Greek. These are the prophets who foretold of the incarnation, and they carry the text of their prophecies, written in Boharic Coptic on an opened scroll. The text of Moses reads, "I saw the bush while the fire was blazing in it, without being consumed." This text was adapted from Exodus 3:2, referring to the common title of the Virgin Theotokos as "the Burning Bush" in Orthodox hymns. The text of Isaiah is the better known prophecy, "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel" (Isaiah 7:14). The prophecy of Ezekiel reads, "Then said the Lord unto me: this gate shall be shut and no man shall enter in by it save the Lord, the God of Israel" (cf. Ezekiel 44:2). The last text is a variant of Daniel 2:34, and reads, "I saw a stone cut out from the mountain without being touched by hands." In the background one sees Nazareth, represented as a walled town with gates, a church, tower, other buildings and gardens. By juxtaposing the ancient prophecies and their fulfillment, the artist has expressed the fulfillment of the divine plan through the intimate union of the Old and New Testaments. On the west end of the south aisle is a door that, according to tradition, leads to a cell where St. Bishoi lived. He should be distinguished from the famous St. Pshoi, who lived in the fourth  century, long before the establishment of this church. The shape and position of this room corresponds roughly with the narthex of Coptic churches, though on the east wall stands an altar. There is also a hook screwed into the ceiling that we are told was used by the saint to attach his hair in order to avoid falling asleep during his many hours of prayer. The staircase leading to the roof lies to the south of this room. There is a grand, wooden portal that separates the center nave from the khurus, upon which a Syrian inscription marks that date, 926. The portal has ebony panels that are richly inlaid with ivory. The upper section of the portal is adorned with the figures of St. Peter, the Holy Virgin, Christ and St. Mark. The choir itself is transverse in relationship to the nave, and is the oldest of its kind in Egypt. It is typically Syrian and somewhat similar to that in the Holy Virgin of Hah in Tur Abdin. The middle part of the choir is caped by a cupola some twelve meters high. It is flanked on the north and south by two half-cupolas that are embellished with fine wall paintings that date to the thirteenth century (c. 1225). The style of these paintings is linear and incisive. The colors are pure and warm and the inscriptions are in both Syrian and Greek lettering. Within the south half-cupola there is a depiction of the annunciation on the left and the nativity on the right. This iconography is Byzantine in style. In the painting of the annunciation, the Holy Virgin is seated, and we see within her expression surprise at Gabriel's announcement. She has her hand raised to her chin, while the angle Gabriel approaches he from the right, extending his right arm in greeting and carrying the herald's staff. In Greek and repeated in Syrian, the angle greets Mary with, "Hail, you who are full of grace! The Lord is with you!". She sits before a house with a small dome and an arched doorway. There is a wide variety of colors including red, purple, brown and ochre against a blue and green background in this painting. In the nativity, Mary dominates the scene. She is in a lying within a cave, resting her left hand upon her knee, while her right is on her breast. The infant Jesus, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lies in a manger constructed of masonry. Above the rocky hill, angels proclaim the good news before a blue sky dotted with white stars. One of the Syriac inscriptions read, "Glory be to God on high, and on earth peace, goodwill among men." Below her we find St. Joseph, and to the far right, the Magi approach the cave bringing their gifts. According to the very ancient convention of Christian iconography, they represent the three ages of life, which include old age, maturity and youth. In the lower left corner of the scene are the shepherds, one of whom is playing a flute. The dormition scene in the north half-cupola of the choir The Byzantine painting in the north half-cupola depicts the dormition (as the Virgin "falls asleep") of the Holy Virgin. Here, Mary is lying on the bed of her transitus (a draped bier) with her hands crossing over her breasts. At her head is Peter, while John is at her feet. Both apostles weep for her, and on either side stand five apostles communicating with on another. Behind the bed, Jesus stands holding in his arms Mary's soul in the form of a baby in swaddling white clothing, a symbol of her rebirth. Above his head, inscribed in Syriac, is the name of Christ. Christ is flanked by two medallions, each enclosing an angel holding a flabellum. In the upper register there is a mandorla carried by two angles. Here also the blue sky is dotted with stars. There can bee seen on the west wall of the choir an inscription which represents the epigraph of the tomb of St. John Kama. His body was most likely moved to this monastery after the one dedicated to him fell into ruins. During the restoration work of this church that began in 1991 after a fire in 1988, a number of layers of plaster were partially removed, revealing many more wall paintings of different periods. Within the khurus on the half column to the right of the entrance of the sanctuary, one such scene is of the enthroned Virgin suckling the infant Jesus (Maria Lactans or Galactotrophousa). She is wearing a blue tunic and bluish green mophorion (a mantle), which is decorated with crosses. On her hap she holds the baby Jesus with her right hand while presenting her breast to him with her left. The quality of this depiction is such that it must have been the work of a master artist. One of the most beautiful of all such paintings in Egypt, it probably dates to about the seventh century. More recent restoration and preservation work in this area of the church has, and will continue to reveal other ancient paintings. Work on the northern wall, which was completely covered with plaster during the eighteenth century, has revealed a number of reasonably well preserved paintings. They belong to the second layer of painting and are probably to be dated  to the first half of the eight century. As most of the other paintings on this layer, they were executed in the encaustic technique (using a paint consisting of pigment mixed with heated fluid bee-wax). Here, one painting depicts St. Pisentios, bishop of Koptos, and St. Apakir. Pisentos is dressed as a traditional sixth century Coptic bishop, while Apakir takes on the attire of a doctor. Then, in the middle of the wall and separated from the other paintings by two blocked windows, there is a figure of a standing patriarch who is possibly St. Damianos, the 35th patriarch of Alexandria. On the far end of the same wall is a depiction of St. Luke and St. Barnabas. There are two large steps that lead into the main sanctuary, called a haykal from the Hebrew hekal. The door that separates the choir from the sanctuary, which was the work of Moses of Nisibis, is simply a wonderful piece of artwork with extraordinary inlays. This door is made of forty-two panels arranged in seven horizontal and six vertical rows. In the panels of the uppermost row, depicted, from left to right, are St. Dioscorus, patriarch of Alexandria, St. Mark who the Evangelist and first bishop of Alexandria, Christ, the Holy Virgin, St. Severus I, patriarch Antioch, and St. Ignatius who was a bishop of Antioch. Significantly, the representations indicate respect for both the Coptic and Syrian patriarchates. Below, the second row of panels shows a repeated pattern of circles interlaced to form crosses. In each of the six fields of the third row, six linked circles are arranged in pairs, each circle containing a cross. The fourth row, though somewhat damaged, has in each panel a cross enclosed in a four-leafed shamrock with a trefoil at the junction of each leaf. The fifth row has in each panel six swastikas, each enclosed in a circle. The sixth row is a dark grille based on linked circles on a white background. A pattern of a plan cross in a double-stepped frame, the design of the cross thus filling the whole of each panel, takes of the seventh row. This door dates to the beginning of the tenth century, evidenced by a Syrian inscription written on the door itself and indicating that it was made during the patriarchates of Anba Gabriel I, the fifty-seventh patriarch of Alexandria (910-921 AD) and Anba Yuannis IV , the twenty-fifth patriarch of Antioch (902-922 AD). The principal sanctuary itself is square and surmounted by a high cupola. Centered under a canopy that dates from the nineteenth century is an altar from the tenth century. It is made of black stone rather than white marble, which was the usual choice of the Copts. There are interesting stucco friezes, dating as far back as the tenth century, that adorn the walls that bear a striking resemblance to the stucco reliefs of Muslim workmanship. In fact, at Samarra, the Abbasid capital located north of Baghdad, there can be found very similar stucco decorations. It was probably Ibn Tulun, the governor sent to Egypt in 868, who brought this type of decoration to Cairo, which may also be seen in his mosque in Cairo. There is also similar work in the Chapel of the Forty-Nine Martyrs attached to this church. The Chapel of the Forty-Nine Martyrs Attached to the north side of the Church of the Holy Virgin is the Chapel of the Forty-Nine Martyrs. Moses of Nisibis was probably also responsible for this building. It is entered through the court at the north entrance of this church. In 444, forty-nine martyrs were massacred during a bloody raid by the Berbers who plundered the monasteries of Wadi al-Naturn. It is to them that the chapel is dedicated. Buried within the chapel is Anba Christodulus, the abun of Ethiopia at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Recent restorations have also revealed ancient paintings in this chapel. Work in the eastern wall of the sanctuary, where three niches are surrounded by the rich, decorative stucco work similar to that in the central sanctuary of the Church of the Holy Virgin, revealed several scenes. In the central niche is a scene of the Holy Virgin holding Christ before her. The niche to the right is adorned by a standing figure with a Syriac inscription identifying him as "St. Mark [the] Evangelist." Though the figure in the left niche is not identified by text, he might be the Patriarch Athanasius. A similar composition is found in the old Church of St. Antony (monastery) at the Red Sea. These paintings, however, are newer than the tenth century stucco decorations that surround them. The Church of St. Mary (al-Sitt Mariam or Maryam, Church of the Lady Mary) Dedicated to the Holy Virgin, as is the principal church, this structure dates from the ninth century, according to some references, or to the eleventh century, according to others, and, with the exception of the cupola over the main sanctuary, precisely reproduces the Typology of monastic churches in Tur Abdin. It is also made up of a naos, khurus and triple sanctuary that may have been built in the fourteenth or fifteenth century. The nave is entered through a portico on the south side. The level of the entrance is some three steps lower than the present grounds of the monastery courtyard. There are three more steps that connect this portico with the nave of the church. Contrary to other Coptic churches, the nave, on a rectangular plan, is transverse in relationship to the main east-west axis. This is a characteristic feature of churches in Mesopotamia. It has a barrel vaulted roof, divided into three bays by arches resting on consoles, another Mesopotamian feature. In the west end within the floor is the marble laggan (also called a lakan). there is a central large door and two smaller side doors that lead into the choir. The central door is of inlaid woodwork and can be dated to the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries. The choir is also rectangular and transverse in relation to the principal axis. It likewise has a barrel vaulted roof which is divided into three parts. The iconostasis (screen separating the choir from the sanctuary) is made of dark, inlaid wood and probably dates from the fifteenth century. The Church of St. Honnos and Marutha This church, which is no longer in use, is attached to the east wall of the Church of St. Mary. It dates from the beginning of the fifteenth century, a period in which the monks from the ruined monastery of St. John Kama took refuge in this monastery. St. John Kama, who's remains were transferred here, is therefore closely associated with this monastery. Saint John Kama was a native of Jebromounonson (Shubra Manethou) in the district of Sais. At an early age he was forced into marriage, but persuaded his wife to consent to a life of virginity and permit him to live the life of a monk. He was inspired by a vision to enter the Wadi al-Natrun, where he became a disciple of Saint Teroti, who inhabited a cell in the vicinity of the Monastery of Saint Macarius. The Church of St. John the Little The ruins of the Church dedicated to St. John the Little stand in the northeast corner of the monastery enclosure wall. Until the nineteenth century, Ethiopian monks occupied this church after their own monastery had fallen into ruins. Ethiopian monks lived in the monastic communities of Scetis as early as the twelfth century and at one time occupied a monastery dedicated to St. Elisha. After that monastery fell into ruins, they were received by the monks of the Monastery of the Holy Virgin of St. John the Little. However, that monastery also had to be abandoned because of its precarious state, and the few remaining Ethiopian monks were then welcomed by the monks in the Monastery of the Syrians. The Refectory West of the Church of the Holy Virgin is the ancient refectory, which is no longer in use. It is mostly rectangular (the east wall is slightly longer than the west one), with a masonry table running down its axis. This table is flanked by chairs that are also of masonry. The room is roofed with a vast cupola in which small windows are opened to admit illumination. Near the east wall of the refectory is a large stone pulpit from which the sacred texts were raid and the saints' lives were revealed during the common meal. Above the monastery grounds are, of course, other buildings of various uses. The cells of the monks and gardens occupy the eastern and southern parts of the monastery grounds. A water tower built between 1955 and 1956 in the eastern part of the monastery, now provides it with running water. A guest house including a library and museum built by Qummus Maksimus Salib in 1914 was replaced during the 1960s with additional cells, a special library building and a museum. Today, this library contains over three thousand volumes including several hundred valuable manuscripts. Return to Christian Monasteries of Egypt References: Title Author Date Publisher Reference Number 2000 Years of Coptic Christianity Meinardus, Otto F. A. 1999 American University in Cairo Press, The ISBN 977 424 5113 Christian Egypt: Coptic Art and Monuments Through Two Millennia Capuani, Massimo 1999 Liturgical Press, The ISBN 0-8146-2406-5 Churches and Monasteries of Egypt and Some Neighbouring Countries, The Abu Salih, The Armenian, Edited and Translated by Evetts, B.T.A. 2001 Gorgias Press ISBN 0-9715986-7-3 Coptic Monasteries: Egypt's Monastic Art and Architecture Gabra, Gawdat 2002 American University in Cairo Press, The ISBN 977 424 691 8

THE MONASTERY OF SAINT MACARIUS THE GREAT AT SCETIS (WADI NATRUN, EGYPT) THE REVIVAL OF MODERN COPTIC MONASTICISM

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 years living 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 of St. 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's needs 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 renewed in 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 revealed by the manner in which work is carried out. Thus the practical things of life become, for the monk, an indispensible means of learning, progressing, putting into practice the spiritual principles he has learned, becoming aware of his failings and correcting them. Labour, of ten even 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, Christian unity 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 the life breath of St. Macarius, and was passed on by him to contemporaries and then· 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

Christ of the Whole World 

 by Father Matta El Meskine

LET US BEGIN the message of the new birth this year with the psalm of Paul the Apostle, theological in its construction, deeply human in its import, rising up to increase our knowledge of Christ and set it on a new lofty foundation, divine yet human, extending limitlessly to heaven and throughout the earth. Here the Apostle Paul describes Christ in such a way that he surpasses all our traditional knowledge and all the familiar phrases, which we sometimes find so satisfying in themselves that we go without the Christ who was born in Bethlehem. We need the words of the Apostle here at this time to shake the foundations of logical thought and awaken the Christian to a greater knowledge of his Christ, born in Bethlehem, Christ of the whole world.

The Epistle to the Colossians 1:15-20:

15 He is the image of the invisible God,

the first-born of all creation;(1)

16 for in Him all things were created,

in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,

whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities,(2)

all things were created through Him and for Him.(3)

17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.(4)

18 He is the head of the body, the Church;

He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead,(5)

that in everything He might be pre-eminent.

19 For in Him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell,(6)

20 and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things,

whether on earth or in heaven,

making peace by the blood of His cross.(7)

Let all who hear awake! We are here in the presence of the whole human race and its new head, the second Adam, whose life has neither beginning nor end, under whose fatherhood the first Adam fades into insignificance and bows down with all his descendents. And the whole creation goes to drink from the spring of His compassionate fatherhood till the end of time.

The time has come for us to know the Christ of the whole world.

We all know the Christ of the loving family gathered around the pious mother and father.

We all know the Christ of the charitable organizations and the Christ of the church congregation gathered around a fine priest.

But now is the time for us to discover the Christ of the street, the people’s Christ, the Christ of all the people, both those who have come to know Him and those who know Him not, the Christ of the wicked and the righteous, the good and the evil, in every city and village, in every people and nation, in every part of the world—the Christ of the whole world.

Christ is greater than the corner of the house where you pray, greater than the meeting hall, and the church building, and all the churches.

Christ is satisfied with nothing less than the whole world.

Christ refused to be the prisoner of a family: “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And stretching out His hand towards His disciples, He said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!” (Mt. 12:48-49).

Christ refused to be the prisoner of His disciples and the private possession of His followers: “Master, we saw a man casting out demons in Your Name, and we forbade him, because he does not follow with us.” But Jesus said to him, “Do not forbid him; for he that is not against us is for us” ( ).

Christ refused to be the prisoner of principles, ideas, opinions and names: “Each one of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” (1 Cor. 1:12-13).

Christ refused to be the prisoner of places or sacred rites: “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain; and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. . . . The true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth” (Jn. 4:20, 21, 23).

Christ refused to be the prisoner of a sect orf community, as He showed in the parable of the good Samaritan (Lk. 10:30-36).

Christ refused to be the prisoner of a land or people or to be restricted by the limits of nation, race or colour: “You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. Go and make disciples of all nations!” (Acts 1:8; Mt. 28:19).

So we know already the Christ of Bethlehem, the Christ of Judaism and Jerusalem. Has the time now come for us to know the Christ of all the countries of the world? The whole Christ, the Christ of all the nations, without exception, distinction or partiality between one sect and another, one community and another, or between peoples, borders, races or colours? “Here there cannot be Jew or Greek (difference of race), circumcised or uncircumcised (difference of religious practice), barbarian, Scythian (difference of culture), slave, free man (social and class differences), male and female (difference of sex), but Christ is all in all” (Col. 3:11).

The Christ of the whole world was born for the sake of the whole world because He loved the whole world. And He shed His blood for the whole world. “He is the expiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 Jn. 2:2), for His blood cannot be worth less than the whole world. So why do we limit and restrict the love of Christ, and judge Him to be sufficient only for us and those who follow us? Why do we make the blood of Christ our private possession and forbid it to others who do not belong to us, as if we had bought it with our piety, our principles and our wisdom? Why do we see our own sins being freely and simply washed away in the blood of Christ, and deny the same washing and purification to others with such repeated obstinacy? Christ has not set us up to defend the honour of His blood. We have done no more than be washed, and it is said with striking and ample clarity that it is expiation “not for our sins only but for the sins of the whole world” (1 Jn. 2:2).

We know already the Christ of those who consider themselves “the children of the Kingdom”, the official guests at Christ’s supper table, those who laboured from the first hour of the morning. We know already the Christ of the catechism, the texts, the laws and the prescribed restrictions. Has the time now come for us to know too the Christ of the ignorant of this world, the peoples of the earth who are oblivious and those who stray in the streets and alleys of this earth? They live within no limits or restrictions and have no one to remember them or convert them.

Has the time come for us to get to know the Christ of the materialists and atheists and the irresponsible youth of the world? When they could not find their Christ in a church or in a good father or a good example, although He is the good Christ who lives for and among them and bears their sins, they began to search for Him in nature or in instinctive passions or in some drug, hoping to find their lost peace!

Has the time now come for us to get to know the Christ of such as these? The suffering, rejected, despised Christ, wandering in the streets and alleys of the city. “Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city and bring in the poor and maimed and blind and lame” (Lk. 14:22).

The Christ of those rejected in accordance with the law and the prevailing systems and legislations, those counted as being out of bounds and outside the demarcating hedgerows. “Go out to the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled” (Lk. 12:23).

The Christ of the tax gatherers and adulterers. “The tax collectors and harlots go into the Kingdom of God before you” (Mt. 21:31)).

The Christ of the evil and the good. “ ‘Go therefore to the thoroughfares, and invite to the marriage feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good; so the wedding hall was filled with guests” (Mt. 22:9-10).

The Christ of sinners: “He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner” (Lk. 19:7).

Has the time now come for us to goan over the rest of the members of Christ who are despised and humiliated in every part of the world, who have been stricken by sin and injustice and the works of the human mind? The church has washed her hands of them, although they are part of the church, for they are her vocation whether she like it or not. They are part of Christ and so He cannot despise or abandon them, for they are part of His suffering, His cross and His glory!

Has the time now come for us to come to full knowledge of the true face of Christ, who gathers together all these human beings in Himself, especially those who are ugly to our eyes, those whom we see as delinquent, unclean, repugnant? In spite of their presence in Him, Christ remains as beautiful, pure and holy as ever! Was He not crucified for all? Did He not “bear our sins in His body on the tree” (1 Pet. 2:24)? Did He not wash away the sins of the whole world with His blood when His own body was stained with it? For we and the whole of humanity are His body. “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). For the crucifixion took place before we came into existence, before we had faith, and the blood that was shed was the price for the redemption of all and was paid in full in advance before any man understood or accepted or asked for it.

So now, if we believe in the whole Christ, he is the Christ of the whole world, the Father of the new human race, Who adopted human nature as a whole so that it should be specially His. He was born with it to reveal Himself in it and was sacrificed in it to sanctify it and offer it as a sacrifice to the Father. Thus through Him it became a new creation, adopted, reconciled and accepted by the Father. And through it He became the Christ of the whole world, the Christ of the entire human race, “For in Him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things” (Col. 1:19-20). If we believe in Him in this way and believe that we are united in Him, this very faith of ours makes us reponsible for the unity of human nature, which is in Christ with all its peoples and nationalities, languages and religions, doctrines and communities. We are responsible for maintaining its unity in our hearts, in our feelings, in faith and trust, in our very being as Christians. This is how it must be if we are truly in Christ and Christ in us.

The attitude of all these people to Christ is not our concern. What concerns us is His attitude to them, for we must be exactly like Him since we are one with Him. Now Christ was crucified for every man, and consequently for the whole world, and we, “crucified with Christ”, must in the same way be crucified for the whole world.

Christ died at the hands of people who bore Him a murderous enmity and whose hatred brought about His death, but Christ did not hate them, for they were part of Him. That is why He was glad to die to redeem them and the whole world from death and the curse of enmity and deadly hatred. This was, and still is, the highest understanding of practical love for the world and the finest way to gather scattered humanity into one whole. Christ’s willing death at the hands of his enemies and for their sake was the culmination of His consecration for the love of God, for by His death He drew out the poison of enmity and washed away the sin of the world. And our consecration to the world now will remain handicapped and powerless until the moment when we accept that we die, and our blood be shed with the blood of Christ, not for the sake of those we love, but for our enemies and those who are strangers to us and our beliefs, and for all those who hate us and the whole world. In this way we share with Christ the renewing work of dying for the world every day, to put enmity to death and break the grip of sin, and gather together those who are scattered apart. “For Thy sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered” (Rom. 8:36).

This is the highest form of consecration to the Christ of the whole world for the unity of all the peoples and nations of the earth. This is the first and greatest vocation of Christianity in the world: that we should die for the world, making no distinction between one man and another. This is the message that has been hampered and restricted by iron chains of selfishness, sectarianism, racism, and religious and national prejudice.

* * *

Every year we have celebrated the birth of Christ, but up till now He has been the Christ of our own family, the Christ of a creed shut up in itself, the Christ of the virtuous and pious, the Christ of the white races. Brethren, is it now the time to celebrate the birth of the Christ of the whole world? The Christ of every clan that is named on earth and in heaven, of every nation and tongue, of every colour—black, yellow and red? The Christ of every man who calls upon the name of the Lord, even without knowing Him? The Christ of the poor of the earth, who do not know their left from their right? The Christ of the lost sheep of the world and of the rebellious young men and women, the Christ of the sinners, the tax collectors and harlots and all who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death waiting for the dawn of the light of salvation.

This is the true Christ, Who was born in Bethlehem and crucified on Golgotha, the Christ of the whole world.

January 1970

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 ST PACHOMIUS: FATHER OF CENOBITES IN EAST AND WEST

A Hermit Witness: A Coptic Anchorite & Charles de Foucauld

POPE FRANCIS: EVANGELICAL CATHOLIC: by Father Dwight Longenecker (plus) videos on the Mass (Catholic) and Divine Liturgy (Orthodox)

my source: Aleteia

Earlier this year an extraordinary event took place in the Vatican. Bishop Tony Palmer -- a bishop in an Anglican breakaway church met with Pope Francis. Palmer and then-Archbishop Bergoglio had become friends when the Evangelical Charismatic Anglican minister was a missionary in Argentina. Once he was wearing the white soutane, Pope Francis telephoned Palmer and asked to meet. 

During their extended breakfast the Pope asked Tony Palmer what he could do to encourage unity with Evangelical Protestants. Bishop Tony pulled out his iPhone and said, “Why not record a video greeting to the group of influential charismatic Christians I am going to meet at a conference in Texas next week? Pope Francis obliged and the greeting can be viewed here. 

After Pope Francis’ greeting was played to the conference of Protestant Evangelical leaders, the television evangelist Kenneth Copeland gave a warm response and said he wanted to visit with the Pope. 

 That meeting has now taken place. Rick Wiles reports that a delegation led by Bishop Tony Palmer traveled to Rome and met with Pope Francis for three hours. James and Betty Robison hosts of the Life Today television program and Kenneth Copeland founder of Kenneth Copeland ministries were accompanied by Reverend Geoff Tunnicliff, CEO of the World Evangelical Alliance; Rev. Brian Stiller and Rev. Thomas Schirrmacher, also from the World Evangelical Alliance. Also in attendance were Rev. John Arnott and his wife, Carol, co-founders of Partners for Harvest ministries in Toronto, Canada.

 This meeting is all the more remarkable since not too long ago conservative Evangelicals in North America were inclined to view the Catholic Church as the “great whore of Babylon” and the Pope as the antichrist. The Evangelical leaders were not only impressed by the simplicity and warmth of Pope Francis's welcome, but they clearly had a fellowship in Christ that has been lacking in the past. 

 How can we understand the warmth between conservative Evangelical Protestants and Pope Francis? What we are witnessing is the fruit of a historic realignment in Christianity. For some time now the real division in Christianity has not been between Catholics and Protestants. It has been between those Christians who believe in a revealed religion and those who believe in a relative religion. The real divide is between progressives who wish to alter the historic faith according to the spirit of the age, and those who believe the spirit of the age should be challenged by the eternal and unchanging truth of the Christian gospel. Those who believe in a relative, progressive and modernist form of Christianity dismiss the miraculous element of religion, believe the church and the Scriptures are merely man made accidents of history and think the church should adapt completely to the needs of modern society. The progressives see the church as an agent of social change and think the main task of Christians is to be political activists. The other side are those who believe the gospel of Jesus Christ is revealed by God for the salvation of souls and the transformation of the world. These historic Christians believe the Scriptures are inspired by God and that the gospel cannot be changed by the culture of any age. They might be called classical Christians because they believe the “old, old story” of a sinful humanity and a merciful God who gave his own Son for the salvation of the world.

 Progressive and Classical Christians can be found in all the denominations and ecclesial structures. There are classical and progressive Catholics and classical and progressive Protestants. The recent meeting between Pope Francis and the Evangelical leaders reveals that the classical Christians of all traditions have more in common than the classical Christians have with progressives. 

 The astounding thing about the papacy is that the words and actions of popes are not only rooted firmly in the past, but they very often are prophetic of the future. The words and actions of St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI were both rooted in the past and yet pointed to the future. Likewise with Pope Francis. His meeting with Evangelical leaders points to a new alignment within global Christianity. As the progressive Christians merge increasingly with the spirit of the age the divide between them and classical Christians will become increasingly acute. As this happens the classical Christians of all denominations will begin to coalesce and cooperate more closely. Classical Christians from Eastern Orthodoxy through Roman Catholicism, classical Anglicanism and Evangelicalism will all find an increasing understanding and agreement. The increasingly close fellowship with Evangelicals will be hastened as progressive Christianity moves away to become something other than Christian. The rapprochement between classical Evangelicals and Catholics will also burgeon as dark forces on various fronts rise up against Christ and his church. Opposition to classical Christianity and simmering threat of persecution will foster a new depth of meaning to the term “Evangelical Catholic.” 

 Fr. Dwight Longenecker is the author of More Christianity: Finding the Fullness of the Faith.