Egypt
Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El-Aref)
- Restoration: St Anthony's Monastery
Yahoo! News Egypt's antiquities chief on Thursday unveiled the completion of an 8-year, $14.5 million restoration of the world's oldest Christian monastery, touting it as a sign of Christian-Muslim coexistence. The announcement at the 1,600-year-old...
- Restoration: St Antony's Monastery, Eastern Desert
Egypt State Information Service Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Dr. Zahi Hawas inaugurated on 21/1 / 2010 the restoration works and development of the monastery of St. Anthony at Red Sea. It is considered the first monastery in...
- Modernity Meets Monasticism In Egypt's Desert
Yahoo! News (Will Rasmussen) I met Ruwais St Anthony in 2006 - and as well as being a very good communciator he is certainly gregarious. The monastery is an amazing place. Tour guides are not permitted to explain the monastery and this is a job that the...
- Travel: St Paul's Monastery, Eastern Desert
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/827/feature.htm"Located in the Eastern Desert, Saint Paul Monastery remains one of the most popular in Egypt, attracting a regular horde of visitors tempted as much by the desert journey as by the architectural and spiritual...
- The Restoration Of St. Anthony's Monastery
The eight year restoration of the 1600 year old Christian monastery St. Anthony's has recently been completed. The restorations to the monastery have been extensive including a tower, two churches and the monks quarters. The monastery was founded...
Egypt
The father of all monks
Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El-Aref)
The world's oldest monastery has had a facelift to smooth out the cracks. Nevine El-Aref sees what the conservationists have been up to
“If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven; and come, follow me.” Way back in the third century, a man from Upper Egypt named Anthony took these words of Jesus quite literally and turned his life upside down. In 285, at the age of 34, Anthony gave away some of his family’s estate to his neighbours and sold the remaining property, donating the funds thus raised to the poor. He placed his unmarried sister with a group of Christian virgins in a type of proto-nunnery, and he himself became the disciple of a local hermit.
Leaving the place of his birth, he headed towards the settlement of town Zafarana on the Red Sea coast. There he took up a residence in a cave at the foot of the nearby mountains, with little more than a spring and a cluster of date palms to sustain him. Anthony now dedicated his life to trying to implement the words of Jesus, and he became the first known Christian ascetic and the spiritual father of all monks. Upon his death in 356, his followers built cells for themselves which formed the core of what was to become a large monastery bearing the saint’s name.
If anyone is interested I've written a short "armchair introduction" to the Coptic religion on one of my other blogs.
- Restoration: St Anthony's Monastery
Yahoo! News Egypt's antiquities chief on Thursday unveiled the completion of an 8-year, $14.5 million restoration of the world's oldest Christian monastery, touting it as a sign of Christian-Muslim coexistence. The announcement at the 1,600-year-old...
- Restoration: St Antony's Monastery, Eastern Desert
Egypt State Information Service Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Dr. Zahi Hawas inaugurated on 21/1 / 2010 the restoration works and development of the monastery of St. Anthony at Red Sea. It is considered the first monastery in...
- Modernity Meets Monasticism In Egypt's Desert
Yahoo! News (Will Rasmussen) I met Ruwais St Anthony in 2006 - and as well as being a very good communciator he is certainly gregarious. The monastery is an amazing place. Tour guides are not permitted to explain the monastery and this is a job that the...
- Travel: St Paul's Monastery, Eastern Desert
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/827/feature.htm"Located in the Eastern Desert, Saint Paul Monastery remains one of the most popular in Egypt, attracting a regular horde of visitors tempted as much by the desert journey as by the architectural and spiritual...
- The Restoration Of St. Anthony's Monastery
The eight year restoration of the 1600 year old Christian monastery St. Anthony's has recently been completed. The restorations to the monastery have been extensive including a tower, two churches and the monks quarters. The monastery was founded...