Monastery of Saint Makarius
The Monastery of Saint Makarius ( Arabic دير الأنبا مقار) is a Coptic Orthodox monastery in the Sketian Desert , al-Buhaira Governorate , about 92 km northwest of Cairo , on the highway between Cairo and Alexandria .
Early history
The monastery was founded around 360 AD by the hermit Makarios of the Egyptians . The monastery has been continuously inhabited by monks since it was founded until today. First the monastic community built a small church and some cells; In a protective tower, some monks survived several heavy raids during the 5th century. 49 others died, they are venerated as martyrs. Patriarch Theodosios I of Alexandria was admitted to the Macarius Monastery in 551 after he had been expelled from Alexandria. Thereupon the monastery assumed a special position; a total of 29 monks of the Makarios monastery later became patriarchs. Several saints and early church fathers of the Coptic Orthodox Church were monks in the monastery of Saint Makarios, such as Makarius of Alexandria , John the Dwarf , Paphnutius the Ascetic , Isidore , Arsenius the Great , Moses the Ethiopian , Poimen , Serapion of Thmuis and many other.
Description of the monastery complex
The monastery complex, to which a large agricultural enterprise with over 5 hectares of land, formerly desert, belongs, has been almost completely rebuilt. Witnesses of the past are three churches in the lower courtyard and the square protective tower. The latter is accessed via a drawbridge, has three levels with several chapels, inside icons and frescoes . Of the churches, that of Saint Makarius is the most important. The previous building was consecrated in 650 by Patriarch Benjamin I. It has an iconostasis with carvings from the 5th and 6th centuries. The other two churches were dedicated to Apa Ishiron and the 49 martyrs.
The monastery of Saint Macarius the Great has the relics of numerous saints, such as those of the 49 martyrs of Scetes .
Modern history
In 1969, an era of restoration, both spiritual and architectural, began in the monastery with the arrival of twelve monks under the spiritual direction of Father Matta al-Maskin . These monks had lived together for the last ten years in a completely isolated coexistence in the desert caves of Wadi El Rayyan, about 50 kilometers south of Fayyum .
Pope Kirellos VI. instructed this group of monks to leave Wadi El Rayyan and restore the monastery of Saint Makarius the Great. At the time, only six old monks lived in the monastery, and its historic buildings were on the verge of collapse. The new monks were welcomed by the abbot of the monastery, Bishop Michael, Metropolitan of Asyut .
Under Pope Schenuda III. who himself endeavored to restore the monastery of St. Pishoy and the Paromeos monastery, the monastic community now numbers about a hundred monks. When Matta al-Maskin died in 2006, Schenuda III assumed. the monastery directly to its jurisdiction. Only when Pope Tawadros II took office could a new abbot of the Makarios monastery be elected.
On February 3, 2013, Anba Epiphanius , a personal disciple of Matta al-Maskin, was elected abbot by the monks; a month later he was also ordained bishop. He was ecumenically committed and had very good relationships with monasteries of the Roman Catholic Church, including the Chevetogne Abbey in Belgium, the Solesmes Abbey in France, Deir El Harf in Lebanon, the German Münsterschwarzach Abbey and a monastery in England. Anba Epiphanius was also known as a scientist; he was in charge of the monastery library, which has valuable historical manuscripts, and edited several writings.
On July 29, 2018, Anba Epiphanius was found dead in the monastery. The two monks Wael Saad and Raymond Rasmi Mansour were arrested, of whom Saad, according to the Egyptian authorities, confessed to having hit the abbot on the head with a 90 cm long steel pipe while Mansour was on guard. "Disagreements of opinion" were initially given as the reason. The investigators noticed Mansour by making two suicide attempts. According to the Egyptian judiciary, the investigation revealed “that there had been a dispute between the abbot and the two perpetrators, based on financial reasons and several violations by the monks of the rules of the order. One of the two monks had been expelled from the religious community as part of a long canonical process. ”Saad and Mansour withdrew their confessions, as they had only made them under great pressure. They declared themselves innocent.
Egyptian media reported that there was a Whatsapp group in the monastery in which monks criticized the theological line of their church. It was known that for years the monastery community had been divided into a progressive group and a conservative group that wanted to return to the ideals of the early desert monks in a puristic way. Pope Tawadros II imposed disciplinary measures: Novices were not allowed to be accepted for a year and the monks had to close their social media accounts.
Saad and Mansour were sentenced to death in April 2019. The Coptic Church regretted the death sentences. Bishop Agathon of Maghagha called for prayer for the condemned.
Other monasteries in the Nitrian desert
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Emma Brunner-Traut : Egypt. Art and travel guides . Kohlhammer, 6th revised edition 1988, p. 449.
- ↑ a b c Pro Oriente: Egypt: Murdered Bishop Epiphanius buried , July 31, 2018.
- ↑ a b c d Pro Oriente : Coptic Church against death sentences for the murderers of Bishop Epiphanios , February 27, 2019.
- ↑ BBC News: Coptic monks charged with bishop's murder in Egypt , August 19, 2018.
- ↑ a b Daniel Steinvorth: A murder of a Coptic bishop in Egypt still poses a mystery . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , 23 August 2018.
- ↑ a b BBC News: Egypt Coptic monks sentenced to death for killing bishop , April 25, 2019.
Web links
- St. Mark Foundation: St. Macarius Monastery . Coordinates: 30 ° 17 ′ 29 ″ N , 30 ° 28 ′ 34 ″ E