DAYR ANBA BISHOI - Page 2 of 4

Shenute II

SHENUTE II The sixty-fifth patriarch of the See of Saint Mark (1032-1046). Shenute was a native of the town of Tilbanat-‘Adiy, but the date of his birth is unknown. He joined the Monastery of Saint Macarius (DAYR ANBA MAQAR) at the youthful age of fourteen. The HISTORY OF THE PATRIARCHS records that he was an …

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Saint John Colobos

Eminent / By Armia FAYEZ

SAINT JOHN COLOBOS Coptic Tradition John Colobos, the Little or the Dwarf (fourth and fifth centuries), is one of the most striking figures among the desert fathers. He is known principally from the APOPHTHEGMATA PATRUM and from a Life in the form of a panegyric composed by Zacharias, the bishop of Sakha, at the end …

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Keep

History, Places / By Armia FAYEZ

KEEP (Arab., jawsaq), multistoried tower with defensive capabilities. It has strong walls and in most cases there is no entrance at ground level. The entrance lies at the second-floor level, and is reached by means of a drawbridge that can easily be taken in or drawn up into the keep when danger threatens. This accounts …

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Benjamin II

Eminent / By Arsanious Adel

BENJAMIN II The eighty-second patriarch of the See of Saint Mark (1327-1339). Benjamin’s life before taking the monastic vow is utterly unknown beyond the fact mentioned by the HISTORY OF THE PATRIARCHS that he was a native of the town of Dimiqrat south of Armant in Upper Egypt. Apparently his nomination was supported by a …

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Dayr Anba Bishoi (Suhaj)

Places / By Arsanious Adel

DAYR ANBA BISHOI (Suhaj) History This famous monastery stands about 2 miles (3 km) to the north of DAYR ANBA SHINUDAH. As with Anba Shinudah, nothing remains but the church, which is built of red bricks and thus gives the monastery the popular nickname Dayr al-Ahmar (the Red Monastery). It is not known if Anba …

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Dayr Anba Bishoi (Scetis)

Places / By Arsanious Adel

DAYR ANBA BISHOI (Scetis) History This is one of the surviving ancient monasteries in SCETIS (modern Wadi al-Natrun). There is no historically reliable information on its foundation, but on the basis of what little is known of the earliest monastic establishments in Scetis, it may be surmised that it grew from a settlement, or laura, …

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Dayr Anba Bakhum (Al-Sawam‘Ah Sharq)

Places / By Arsanious Adel

DAYR ANBA BAKHUM (al-Sawam‘ah Sharq) History In the small town of al-Sawam‘ah Sharq, 5 miles (8 km) north of AKHMIM, is a church dedicated to Saint Bakhum (PACHOMIUS) and his sister Dalusham, martyrs under DIOCLETIAN. The first author to mention this church was the Jesuit C. SICARD. He spoke briefly of the church (the monastery …

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Dandarah

Places / By Arsanious Adel

DANDARAH An ancient town on the west bank of the Nile. Up to the Roman period, it was the chief site for the worship of Hathor (Aphrodite), the goddess of heaven and of love. As early as the Old Kingdom a shrine existed here. The present temple, however, had its origin in the late Ptolemaic …

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Dayr Al-Suryan (Monastery Of Saint Mary Deipara)

Places / By Armia FAYEZ

DAYR AL-SURYAN (Monastery of Saint Mary Deipara) History This is one of the four monasteries still functioning in Wadi al- Natrun (the ancient desert of SCETIS) southwest of the Nile Delta. In the earliest explicit references that have survived (in notes written into three Syriac manuscripts shortly after A.D. 851), it is called the Monastery …

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Refectory

System / By Armia FAYEZ

REFECTORY “table of the brethren,” a standard element of monastery architecture, especially in cenobite monasticism, the room in which the monks took their common meals. According to the oldest examples so far identified in Egypt (Grossmann, 1982, pp. 162-63), the monks did not sit at long tables as is the custom today. Instead, they sat …

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