World's oldest monastery restored

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World's oldest monastery restored

Post by DJKeefy »

Egypt has completed the restoration of reputedly the world's oldest Christian monastery, called Saint Anthony's.

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The monastery is believed to be 1,600 years old. The government-sponsored restoration project cost over $14m (£8.9m) and took more than eight years.

The monastery is a popular site for Coptic Christian pilgrims.

The restoration comes soon after Egypt's worst incident of sectarian violence in a decade, when six Copts were shot dead on Christmas Eve.

BBC's Cairo correspondent Yolande Knell says it is hoped the newly-restored monastery in Suez City will be held up as a sign of co-existence between Egypt's Muslim majority and Christian minority.

Solitary life

Speaking at the site, Egypt's chief archaeologist Zahi Hawass stressed that restoration work at the monastery was carried out by Muslims.

"The announcement we are making today shows to the world how we are keen to restore the monuments of our past, whether Coptic, Jewish or Muslim," said Mr Hawass.

Saint Anthony settled in a cave in remote mountains close to the Red Sea at the end of the 3rd Century to live in isolation. When he died, his followers built the monastery and named it after him.

The project has restored an ancient wall, a tower, two main churches and the monks' quarters.


Source: BBC News


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cbrbddd
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Post by cbrbddd »

I saw this article in the local paper, The Dallas Morning News! It was an interesting item to read . . . now to figure out how to go visit :)
CATHERINE

I fell in to a burning ring of fire . . . . I went down down down and the flames went higher . . . and it burns, burns, burns . . that ring of fire, that ring of fire!
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Post by Ebikatsu »

Wonder why no Christians helped in the renovation, or was Zahi talking out his 'hat' :mrgreen:

Some stuff here on it.
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/antony.htm

http://www.stanthonymonastery.org/NewHome.htm

Catherine
from what I can make out it is on the Hurghada Road.
Go from Cairo on the coach to Hurghada and half way stop at Zafarana I think?
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Monastery funding

Post by Claire »

Sorry Christine but Christians contribute all the time to different monasteries through donations and the Coptic Church will also have been funding its monastery over the years. This is just a specific renovation grant but I'm glad they did find money to do work in this historical building.
Catherine I have n't yet been to St Anthony's monastery but I have been to St Paul's which is a smaller monastery in the same area. You can get to both from along the Cairo - Hurghada desert road and they are near the Zafarana turning. BUT you could n't walk from there if you went on the coach! It's still miles through the desert. We went once in a car and once in a minibus with a driver. I did n't see any othere cars on the road as we went up to the monastery either. The monastery is not always open to the public as they do close for certain fasting times. Some churches do trips and I have seen a web site offering trips to different Coptic sites.
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Post by Christine »

Claire think you have me mixed up with someone else, as i havent commented on this thread :)
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Re: Monastery funding

Post by cbrbddd »

Claire wrote:Sorry Christine but Christians contribute all the time to different monasteries through donations and the Coptic Church will also have been funding its monastery over the years. This is just a specific renovation grant but I'm glad they did find money to do work in this historical building.
Catherine I have n't yet been to St Anthony's monastery but I have been to St Paul's which is a smaller monastery in the same area. You can get to both from along the Cairo - Hurghada desert road and they are near the Zafarana turning. BUT you could n't walk from there if you went on the coach! It's still miles through the desert. We went once in a car and once in a minibus with a driver. I did n't see any othere cars on the road as we went up to the monastery either. The monastery is not always open to the public as they do close for certain fasting times. Some churches do trips and I have seen a web site offering trips to different Coptic sites.
Thanks, Claire! I think you have some good info about the Coptic sites here. Noticed your facebook icon errr avatar errrr profile pic, hehe . . . you are selling some Coptic artwork, aren't you??
CATHERINE

I fell in to a burning ring of fire . . . . I went down down down and the flames went higher . . . and it burns, burns, burns . . that ring of fire, that ring of fire!
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Coptic sites

Post by Claire »

Yeah Catherine I'm married to a Copt and been a member of the Church myself for nearly 20 years now so we 've been to quite a few different Coptic churches and monasteries over the years. Message me if you want any ideas. But there are loads of places I still want to visit. Yeah the thing on Facebook is wonderful Coptic art by a friend of mine here in the UK. Have a look at his website as his work is amazing. He did all the icons at soem of our Churches over here in the UK.
www.ukcopticicons.com
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Christine

Post by Claire »

Oh yeah how did I do that??? Don't know why I linked you to that comment but sorry! It did surprise my confused mind to be honest!
Yeah Ebi that comment about Copts contributing to their monasteries and churches was for your info!!!!
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Post by Christine »

Thought you must have been confused as each of my families in Egypt are copt, along with my adopted mother, bless, its not a problem x
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Re: Coptic sites

Post by cbrbddd »

Claire wrote:Yeah Catherine I'm married to a Copt and been a member of the Church myself for nearly 20 years now so we 've been to quite a few different Coptic churches and monasteries over the years. Message me if you want any ideas. But there are loads of places I still want to visit. Yeah the thing on Facebook is wonderful Coptic art by a friend of mine here in the UK. Have a look at his website as his work is amazing. He did all the icons at soem of our Churches over here in the UK.
www.ukcopticicons.com
We have some Orthodox Greek churches here in the Dallas area. When one moved and built a new church a few years ago, they brought in a guy from Greece for over a year to paint the inside . . . up in the nave (?) . . . the part over the altar, etc. I went to tour it and his iconography painting is wonderful.

Not sure I will have time on this next trip to get to any of the Coptic sites outside of Cairo, but it is something to keep in the back of my mind for future trips (did I just say that??? hehe, how many more trips am I planning????). I think this trip I might just settle for another trip to Coptic Cairo as the last time I went I hurried through due to the sand storm. But I still got some nice photos around the cemetary there . . . maybe I should post some of those.
CATHERINE

I fell in to a burning ring of fire . . . . I went down down down and the flames went higher . . . and it burns, burns, burns . . that ring of fire, that ring of fire!
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