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Deutsch Antonius Monastery / St. Antonius - Monastery
In this short report, we want to explore the St. Anthony Monastery in Egypt and learn more about it.
The St. Anthony Monastery is a Coptic Orthodox monastery in an oasis in the Arabian Desert, in the south of the Suwais Governorate, at the foot of the 1464-meter-high Galala rock plateau.
Located approximately 230-280 km from the popular tourist resorts on the Red Sea and about 150 km southeast of Cairo.
Who was Saint Anthony?
(also called the big one)
St. Anthony lived as a hermit, secluded on a mountain in a rocky grotto.
Born in 251 AD.
Died in 356 AD.
At the age of 19, he retreated to a cave approximately 680 meters high and lived in solitude until his death.
He received no visitors and also forbade his followers from staying near the cave, so his followers remained at the foot of the mountain until the death of St. Anthony.
St. Anthony's Monastery
About 5 years after the death of their saint Anthony, his followers founded a monastery in a small oasis near the ascent to the grotto at his burial site; they named it after their role model Anthony, because he was regarded as the father of Christian monasticism.
The Monastery of St. Anthony is probably the oldest Christian monastery in the world and also the most famous and largest Coptic monastery in Egypt.
The high esteem of the monastery can also be seen in the fact that in church history between 1466 and 1956, twelve Coptic popes came from the St. Anthony Monastery.
The large estate of St. Antonius Monastery is like a lively oasis in a stony desert and covers an area of 60,000 square meters.
Many Coptic monasteries in the country have had great difficulty surviving throughout their history, as politically and religiously motivated raids by Bedouins and Islamic Arabs from the 8th to the 11th centuries made Christian life difficult.
The St. Antonius Monastery also suffered this fate; it was regularly subjected to the constant threat of raids and looting by Muslim Arabs over the last five centuries.
Although the monks were often on the run, Coptic Christians repeatedly returned to renovate and expand the monastery. It is therefore quite understandable that the area is characterized by a high level of development.
Today, the entire property is surrounded by a 10-meter-high wall for security.
The monastery houses relics which, according to tradition, are attributed to Saint Anthony.
The rock cave where Anthony lived is located only 300 meters above the monastery.
A spring in the middle of the monastery grounds enabled agricultural cultivation and the settlement of several people.
Through skillful and economical water use, effective oasis farming was possible. In the 6th and 7th centuries, Coptic refugees from the monasteries of Wadi Natrun (southwest of the delta) joined the Monastery of St. Anthony. They had been subjected to fierce attacks by Arab Bedouin and Berber tribes in their home monasteries and sought refuge in the rocky mountains of the Eastern Desert.
However, in later centuries, particularly in the 12th century, the Monastery of St. Anthony itself was raided and plundered by Bedouin tribes, who often crossed the Sinai Peninsula. After a period of prosperity in the High Middle Ages, the monastery was again attacked and devastated by Bedouins in 1454. Parts of the monastery library were also destroyed. In response to these raids, the entire monastery complex was fortified with protective walls and defensive structures. A square keep was built, and the monastery was restored.
Today, around 300 monks live in the village-like monastery complex, which includes residential buildings. In addition to the monastic communal areas, there are numerous gardens, vineyards, fruit trees, vegetable patches, olive and palm groves, a mill, a bakery, and other agricultural facilities that allow the monks to live self-sufficiently. There are also a total of five churches within the monastery grounds.
