Places - Coptic Wiki

The churches of old cairo

The churches of old Cairo INTRODUCTION Cairo has been the capital of Egypt for more than one thousand years, but the actual city and history of Cairo are the legacy of many previous capitals of Egypt, of great cultural centers and successive civilizations founded there. The earliest was a predynastic settlement dating from the 4th […]

Figures in the Carpet and Monastic Spirituality in the Wadi al-Natrun (Scetis)

Figures in the Carpet: Macarius the Great, Isaiah of Scetis, Daniel of Scetis, and Monastic Spirituality in the Wadi al-Natrun (Scetis) From the Fourth to the Sixth Century Not many years ago I read a very good scholarly book on Palestinian monasticism in Late Antiquity. In my review of that book I observed, however, that […]

The Importance of Wadi al-Natrun for Coptology

The Importance of Wadi al-Natrun for Coptology First of all, I must say some words about the history of Coptological studies[1] and the definition of Coptology.[2] I start in the 19th century, when the first professorship for Coptic language and literature was appointed at a German university. For the beginning of Coptological studies I point […]

St. Demiana Monastery (BILQAS)

The Pilgrimage Center of St. Demiana Monastery (BILQAS) The pilgrimage center of st. Demiana MONASTERY is situated near the town of Bilqas, which lies in the northeast region of the Nile Delta about 45 kilometers from the city of al-Mansura. A Monastery of Jimyana (Demiana) is mentioned by the historian al-Maqrizi (d. 1442), although the […]

The Triconch Sanctuaries of Sohag

The Triconch Sanctuaries of Sohag “Le probleme de I’abside treflee, de son origine, de son developpement, I’histoire enfin de ce type de structure, a ete dans ces dernieres annees 1’argument de bien de travaux; mais, malgre cela, je crois que l’etude peut donner encore quelque resultat si on voudra profiter d’une documentation bien precise et […]

The apostles in the apse of the central haykal on both sides of a window with stucco tracery

The Monastery of the Archangel Gabriel (FAYYUM)

The Monastery of the Archangel Gabriel (FAYYUM) The saintly bishop AUR OF NAQLUN, the legendary founder of the monastery, was the secret son of a princess and a magician living somewhere in the East. His mother died when he was three years old. When he was eight years old, the king, the father of the […]

The Monastery of St. Antony (RED SEA)

The Monastery of St. Antony (RED SEA) SAINT ANTONY, THE FATHER OF MONKS, found his final place of refuge in a cave in Mount Colzim (Qulzum) in the Wadi al-‘Araba near the Red Sea. A spring at the foot of the mountain supplied water and he planted a small garden. After his death in 356, […]

The Monastery of St. Paul (RED SEA)

The Monastery of St. Paul (RED SEA) SAINT PAUL OF THEBES (Anba Bula, ca. 235-348?) is known as ‘the first hermit.’ For more than ninety years he lived in a cave near a natural spring and a palm tree. Daily a raven brought him a piece of bread. The palm tree provided leaves for weaving […]

The Church of St. Antony Al-Maymon (BENI SUEF)

The Church of St. Antony Al-Maymon (BENI SUEF) IN AROUND THE YEAR 285, St. Antony set out for a mountain near the Nile called Pispir, where he lived twenty years before going into isolation near the Red Sea. The present-day Dayr al-Maymun, which is situated on the east bank of the Nile about thirteen miles […]

The Church of St. Theodore (MINYA)

The Church of St. Theodore (MINYA) THE CHURCH OF ST. THEODORE is all that remains from the Monastery of al-Sanquriya. It is located on the east bank of Bahr Yusuf about thirteen miles west of the city of Beni Mazar in the Minya governorate. The church and a cemetery are surrounded by an enclosure wall. […]