 Entrance to the inner monastery area with a view of the tower west of the Church of St. Virgin | ||
| Deir el-Anbā amūʾīl دير الأنبا صموئيل المعترف | ||
| Governorate | Beni Suef | |
|---|---|---|
| Residents | about 100 monks | |
no value for residents on Wikidata:  | ||
| height | 36 m | |
| no tourist info on Wikidata: | ||
| location | ||
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Deir el-Anba Samu'il (Arabic:دير الأنبا صموئيل المعترف, Dair al-Anbā Ṣamūʾīl al-muʿtarif, „Monastery of the (St.) Father Samuel the Confessor", spoken: Dēr il-Amba Ṣamūʾīl il-muʿtarif) or Deir el-Qalamun (Arabic:دير القلمون, Dair al-Qalamun, „Al-Qalamun monastery", spoken: Dēr ig-Galamūn) is a egyptian Monastery in the Western desert in the governorate Beni Suef west of the Gebel el-Qalamūn, about 55 kilometers north-northwest of Maghāgha away. South of the Wādī er-Raiyān it is on the northern edge of the Wādī el-Muweiliḥ. From a historical point of view, the monastery is organizationally one of the monasteries of the el-Faiyūm.
background
Location of the monastery
The monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor in Qalamūn or the monastery el-Qalamūn for short is located on the northern edge of the valley Wādī el-Muweiliḥ (also Wadi el-Mouēleḥ, Arabic:وادي المويلح) South of the Wādī er-Raiyān. The approximately 20 km long valley formed part of the caravan route between el-Minyā and el-Faiyūm. In the east of the valley are the Qalamūn Mountains (Arabic:جبل القلمون, Ǧabal al-Qalamūn), which has been known as a place of residence for hermits since early Christian times.
In the area of the monastery there are the two most abundant springs in this wadi, namely ʿAin es-Samār 120 meters southeast of the monastery and ʿAin el-Būrdī 300 meters from the monastery. To the south of the monastery there are extensive fields, gardens and marshland.
Meaning of the name el-Qalamūn
El-Qalamun (Coptic: Ⲕⲁⲗⲁⲙⲱⲛ, Kalamon) is probably derived from the Greek word Κάλαμος, Kalamos, from. Behind it hides reeds or reeds that were present in the swampy surroundings of the monastery. Cut at an angle, it can be used as a writing implement. But it can also be used to make wickerwork.
History of the monastery
The Beginnings of the monastery extend to the time of the persecution of Christians under emperors Diocletian back at the end of the 3rd century or the beginning of the 4th century. As from a Coptic manuscript on the martyrdom of St. Psote shows that at that time hermits were already living here in the caves along the valley of Qalamūn.[1] Later, probably in the 5th century, these hermits became known as Coinobites united to a monastic community. From the life story of St. Samuel, which was written by his successor Isaac, can be seen that he encountered an abandoned church here and restored the church and the monks' cells. He built a new church for St. Virgo or expanded the existing one. The first income was obtained from the sale of wicker goods. The monastery experienced a considerable boom. When Samuel died in 695 at the age of 98, about 120 monks were already living in the monastery.
During Samuel's lifetime, but also in the following centuries, the monastery was plundered several times by Bedouins. Despite difficult times, the monastery continued and reached its heyday at the turn of the 13th century with 130 monks and twelve chapels, about which the historian Abū el-Makārim in tradition Abū Ṣāliḥ the Armenian reported. One of the churches was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. The monastery was surrounded by a large wall with four defensive and residential towers and included a large garden next to the chapels. A monk named Muhna lived in a cave in Gebel el-Qalamūn.
The monastery may have been in the 14th century already in decline. In 1353 the relic of St. Ishkirun transferred from el-Qalamūn to the Makarius monastery in Wadi an-Natrun.[2]Gabriel V, the 88th Patriarch and Pope of Alexandria (1409–1427), came from this monastery. Until the Arab historian's report el-Maqrīzī (1364–1442) there are hardly any other sources. In his time the monastery was still inhabited. El-Maqrīzī mentioned two of the four towers and two springs. A rather unusual note about the monastery can be found in a treasure digger's manual from the 15th century, the "Book of Buried Pearls and Valuable Secrets on Hints of Hiding Places, Finds and Treasuries".[3] The money can be found in caves.
One can only guess when the monastery was abandoned. This probably happened in the 17th century.[4]
The Italian adventurer Giovanni Battista Belzoni (1778–1823) was the first to visit Europeans 1819 the meanwhile deserted monastery and gave a description of the catacomb church, today's crypt.[5] He visited the monastery on his return trip from Siwa above el-Baḥrīya to el-Faiyūm. Some of the representations, such as those of the twelve apostles above a niche, were still in good condition. The Frenchman Frédéric Cailliaud (1787–1869) mentioned the monastery, but the information came from the Arabs who had traveled with them.[6] After more than half a century, the German Africa explorer reported in 1886 Georg Schweinfurth (1836–1925) again about the monastery. The monastery enclosure measured 55 × 67 meters, and its entrance was on the south side. The monastery wall and the catacomb church were built from stone blocks that Schweinfurth dated to the 17th century. Remnants of images can still be made out in the church. He made an apse on both sides of the altar.[7] Other traditions also come from the British John Gardner Wilkinson (1797–1875, residency 1825)[8], from the British cartographer Hugh John Llewellyn Beadnell (1874–1944, stay 1899)[9], by the Polish Egyptologist Tadeusz Samuel "Thadée" Smoleński (1884–1909, stay 1908)[10][11] and from the French CoptologistHenri Munier (1884–1945, residency 1932)[12].
In 1895 (other sources also mention 1897/1898 or around 1880) the monastery was founded by the archpriest Ishaq el-Barāmūsī (d. 1938, Arabic:إسحق البراموسي) With ten of his followers who left the monastery Deir el-Barāmūs in the Wādī en-Naṭrūn came from repopulated. Initially they lived in the crypt. The old walls served as a quarry for new monastery walls and buildings. They built within the new monastery complex el-Qaṣr New buildings above the crypt, which served as reception rooms, monks cells, magazines, kitchens and bakery. Another well was dug or uncovered in the area of the monastery in 1899, the water of which could not be used as drinking water because of its salty taste. The completion of a new church for St. Father Ishaq and his disciple and archpriest Ibrāhīm did not live to see a virgin because they died beforehand. With the partial demolition of old buildings, knowledge about the old monastery was unfortunately also lost.
An archaeological research of the monastery has not yet been carried out. The Egyptian Egyptologist Ahmed Fakhry (1905–1973) visited the monastery in June 1942 and October 1944 and put a description of the crypt, the new buildings of the 19th and 20th centuries. Century or the stone fragments decorated with ornamental and floral flowers.
There are currently around one hundred monks living in the monastery who farm in the area around the monastery.
Life of St. Samuel
The namesake of the monastery, Samuel the Confessor (Arabic:صموئيل المعترف, Ṣamūʾīl al-muʿtarif, English: Samuel the Confessor), was born in 597 in the village of Tkello (Dakluba) near the town of Pelhip in the northwest of the Nile Delta. His parents were that antichalcedonian (Miaphysitic) priests Silas (Arselaos), the presbyter, and Cosmiane. At the age of twelve he was ordained as Sub-deacon. He resisted his family's wish to marry. After the death of his mother, he was 18 years old, his father Silas had the vision that his son would one day become an important monk. So Silas had a church built and made Samuel a deacon. When Silas died four years later, 22-year-old Samuel moved away to live as a monk Makarius Monastery in the Wādī en-Naṭrūn (Sketis) to become.[13] St. Agathon was his teacher for three years, until his death. It was in this monastery that he was ordained a priest. Samuel lived as an ascetic and repeatedly withdrew to a cave in the Qalamūn Mountains.
In 631 the Byzantine Catholic Patriarch of Alexandria, Cyrus, the Byzantine prefect of the imperial church in Egypt, sent an imperial envoy to Sketis to instruct the monks there from miaphysitism, the belief that Christ has only one nature, to the doctrine of the two-natures doctrine of Christ, like them since Council of Chalcedony 451 was considered valid in the Reich Church. Cyrus was not the first who wanted to enforce the doctrine of the imperial church, but he tried to implement it with sheer violence. The envoy had Samuel and his followers whipped and tortured, and Samuel had an eye gouged out.
In the same year Samuel fled with four other monks to en-Naqlūn in southern el-Faiyūm. The local community quickly expanded to 120 monks and numerous followers. In order to forestall the captors of Cyrus, Samuel en-Naqlūn left via Takinasch and settled in the local monastery in 638 and expanded it. Samuel was captured by Berbers twice. The second imprisonment lasted three years and followed him Siwa, where he met the archpriest John, who had also fled from the Sketis. The attempts of the Berbers to dissuade Samuel from his belief failed. After several miracles performed by Samuel on members of the Berber tribe, the Berbers released Samuel.
He died here in the monastery on December 18, 695. This is also his feast day in the Coptic Synaxarium (martyrology for the 8th Kiahk).
Attacks on pilgrims
The monastery has made headlines in recent years because of two attacks on buses of Coptic pilgrims near it by Islamist terrorists on their way to the monastery. During the attack on May 26, 2017 near the city 1 el-ʿIdwa
, العدوة, At Maghāgha 28 Coptic Christians were killed and about two dozen others injured. The perpetrators are said to have been around ten armed attackers who allegedly came from Libya.[14][15] In the attack on November 2, 2018 at roughly the same location, 7 Copts were killed and 19 others wounded.[16][17] In both cases, the terrorist organization "Islamic State“Claimed the attack for himself.
getting there
The monastery was once the most remote monastery in Egypt. The easiest way to get to the monastery today is via the desert highway Cairo-Asyūṭ. This freeway is easy from Maghāgha, Beni Suef or el-Faiyūm to reach out. On the western track, the one to Asyūṭ, branches off 1 28 ° 43 '43 "N.30 ° 38 ′ 29 ″ E a solid slope to the Samuel monastery. This slope can also be used with a car. After about 25 kilometers in a north-westerly direction you will reach the monastery.
On the way to the monastery you drive through the desert, from which limestone and sandstone rocks rise. In front of the monastery area you cross a swamp landscape. At 1 28 ° 52 '42 "N.30 ° 31 '23 "E you meet the entrance gate to the monastery area in the south wall. The subsequent four and a half kilometers long piste in a north-westerly direction leads to the inner monastery area, which in an easterly direction, roughly parallel to the monastery wall, to the rock cave of St. Samuel.
Alternatively, the monastery can be reached with a pickup truck or off-road vehicle via a dirt road in the west of the two lakes of the Wādī er-Raiyān, which one follows in a south-southeast direction.
The monastery is closed during Lent. Access is only possible with the permission of the head of the monastery. Bishop Bassilios (Arabic:الأنبا باسيليوس, al-Anbā Bāsīliyūs) the head of the monastery.
mobility
The facilities of the monastery in the area of the new church can be easily reached on foot. However, the paths in the entire area are spacious and it is very useful to have your own vehicle. To go to the cave of St. To get to Samuel you need a vehicle. The walk to the cave is complex. The direct route from the monastery to the cave is only about three and a half kilometers, but you have to climb the silted up former monastery wall and pass a swampy area. The slope to the cave begins behind in the south wall of the monastery area.
Tourist Attractions
Large parts of the monastery grounds are occupied by gardens with fruit trees and vegetables. The actual monastery area with the accommodation for the monks is almost in the far north.
Churches and institutions within the monastery
The inner monastery area is surrounded by a wall about five to six meters high. You can reach the monastery from the east. In front of the entrance in the monastery wall there is a 70 meter long one 2 court(28 ° 54 '43 "N.30 ° 30 ′ 29 ″ E) on its north side a new one 3 three-nave church with two church towers and a central dome in front of the altars. The church was not finished and consecrated in 2010. About 300 meters northwest of this new church are the remains of the former monastery complex and the former monastery wall in the far north.
North of the Church of St. Jungfrau, whose church tower and domes tower above the monastery wall, there is a small door to the monastery. If you enter the monastery and see the Church of St. If you go around the Jungfrau counterclockwise, you will come across one 4 small yard(28 ° 54 '43 "N.30 ° 30 ′ 27 ″ E). In the north of the courtyard is the entrance to the Church of St. Jungfrau, south of it on the eastern wall of the monastery a building with some monk cells and in the south the courtyard of the el-Qaṣr called part of the monastery with the monks' cells, the crypt and the church of St. Misael.
The 5 Church of St. Virgin is the youngest church and was built in 1958 on the site of an earlier church. The three-aisled church, about 20 meters long from west to east, is crowned by twelve domes. In the east of the church there are three altar rooms, for the Archangel Michael in the north, for St. Virgin and for St. George. The altar rooms are also crowned by a dome. On the north wall are the reliquaries of St. Samuel the Confessor and his disciple, St. Apollo, see.
In the south of the courtyard, on the top floor, is the one built by Father Ishaq in 1905 6 Church of St. Misael. This church with a pointed roof has only one heikal, which is separated from the church interior by a stone screen wall. The icons on the screen are modern. On them, among other things, Christ and Mary and above the 12 apostles and the representation of the Lord's Supper can be seen. The portraits of St. George, the Archangel Michael, St. Samuel and the Ascension of St. Virgin.
The life of St. Misael the Hermit (Arabic:القديس ميصائيل السائح, al-Qiddīs Mīṣāʾīl as-Sāʾiḥ) is closely related to the monastery of St. Samuel connected. At the time of the monastery ruler Isaac, the successor of St. Samuel, asked the twelve-year-old Misael to join the monastery as a monk. His father no longer believed in God because no children were given to him. An old monk advised him to return to the Christian faith. The now devout father did as he was told by the monk, and his wife bore him a son, whom they named Misael. At the age of six, his parents died and Bishop Athanasius raised him, sent him to school and administered the paternal inheritance. At the age of twelve he was accepted into the monastery and, like Samuel, was considered a practicing ascetic.
Misael predicted the occurrence of famine, and the monastery master should not be afraid of the events. When the famine struck, penniless farmers took action against the monastery because they suspected that food was being hoarded here. Soldiers had to take action against the peasant riot. Misael spoke to the quarrelsome and left with them. He also instructed the head of the monastery to prepare for another famine. A year later, a similar hardship would arise. This time the governor sent soldiers to confiscate the monastery's grain. Shortly afterwards, these soldiers were driven away by other warriors who identified themselves as hermits from the desert, Misael among them. These ascetics refused any reward.
Misael asked Isaac, head of the monastery, to claim the paternal inheritance from Bishop Athanasius in order to be able to use the money to build a church in his name. The church was opened on the 13th Kiahk in the presence of St. Dedicated to Misael and his hermit. Misael prophesied to the monastery ruler Isaac that he, Misael, would die in the following year.
West of the stairs to the el-Qaṣr is the only one that still exists today Defense and residential tower. It was accessible via a drawbridge on the second floor. It probably dates from the 6th century. Once there were four such towers in the monastery.
In two cells various relics are housed on the east side of the courtyard. In one of the 7 Cells the relics with the corpses of the father Bisada (Arabic:الأنبا بسادة, al-Anbā Bisāda) and father Dumadius (Arabic:الأنبا دوماديوس, al-Anbā Dūmādiyūs) kept. Both were important monks and builders of the Samuel monastery after its repopulation.
The other cell contains the relic of the body, personal items and photos from the life of St. Father Andrāus the Samuelite (Arabic:القديس أبونا أندراوس الصموئيلي, al-Qiddīs Abūnā Andrāus aṣ-Ṣamūʾīlī). Andrāus was born in 1887 in the village of el-Gafādūn (Arabic:الجفادون) Was born in the El-Faschn district and lost his sight at the age of three. At the age of 13, his father sent him to a branch of the Samuel Monastery, where he devoted himself to religious studies. At the age of 22 he entered the monastery. He lived a life of obedience and devotion, full of simplicity and wisdom. Despite his blindness, he managed to get the water from the monastery well every day. In a time of emergency, when the monastery had to be left, he alone guarded the monastery for four months only with bread and salty water. He died on February 7, 1988 at around 10 p.m. It is said that he continued to perform miracles even after his death.
The so-called Catacomb Church of St. Samuel is the oldest church in the monastery. It goes back to the 5th century. It is located to the west behind the Church of St. Misael and is surrounded on all sides by monk cells. Therefore, their visit is only possible for monks and bishops who do not necessarily have to belong to the Coptic Orthodox rite. The crypt is about eight meters below the current floor level and consists of an anteroom, the narthex, and the nave. Two steps lead to a stone altar, the holy of holies.
Cave of St. Samuel
About 3.3 kilometers as the crow flies east of the Church of St. Jungfrau is located in the Gebel el-Qalamūn at a height of 160 meters, about 15 meters below the ridge on the west side of the mountains 8 Cave of St. Samuel the Confessor(28 ° 54 '49 "N.30 ° 32 '28 "E), Arabic:مغارة الانبا صموئيل المعترف, Maghārat al-Anbā Ṣamūʾīl al-Muʿtarif. Apart from modern graffiti, the cave has no decoration. There is only one altar in the cave. At the end of the cave there is a water tank that is fed from rainwater.
To get to the cave, turn right behind the gate of the south wall of the monastery in an easterly direction onto a slope that runs parallel to the monastery wall. After about a kilometer, it branches off 2 28 ° 52 '52 "N.30 ° 32 '4 "E the runway to the north. After about 3.5 kilometers you will reach the 9 Monastery farm(28 ° 54 '42 "N.30 ° 31 '54 "E) and from here after a kilometer in an easterly direction the cave of St. Samuel.
activities
You can attend church services outside of Lent.
shop
Souvenirs such as images and plaques of the Christian family and various martyrs and books on the liturgy and Christianity in Egypt, mostly in Arabic, can be purchased in the monastery.
kitchen
accommodation
Practical advice
There is a post office box for the monastery in Maghāgha: St. Samuel Coptic Orthodox Monastery, P.O. Box 1, Maghagha, Minya, Egypt.
The monastery does not have a telephone connection. Only the branch in Cairo can be reached by phone: 20 (0) 2 2593 3766, Fax: 20 (0) 2 2589 4708.
trips
A visit to the monastery can be combined with travel destinations in the greater area Maghāgha connect.
literature
- History and buildings of the monastery
- : Two thousand years of Coptic Christianity. Cairo: American University at Cairo Press, 2002, ISBN 978-977-424-757-6 , P. 251 f.
- : The churches and monasteries of Egypt and some neighboring countries attributed to Abû Sâliḥ, the Armenian. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1895, Pp. 206-208, fol. 71.b-72.b; P. 315, No. 34 of the Maqrīzī list of monasteries. Various reprints, e.g. B. Piscataway: Gorgias Press, 2001, ISBN 978-0-9715986-7-6 .
- : The monastery of Ḳalamoun. In:Annales du Service des Antiquités de l’Egypte (ASAE), ISSN1687-1510, Vol.46 (1947), Pp. 63–83, plan, panels X – XVII.
- : Gabal al-Qalamun. In:Christian Coptic Egypt in Arab times; Vol. 3: G - L. Wiesbaden: Reichert, 1985, Supplements to the Tübingen Atlas of the Middle East: Series B, Geisteswissenschaften; 41.3, ISBN 978-3-88226-210-0 , Pp. 1000-1008.
- : Dayr Anba Ṣamu’il of Qalamun. In:Atiya, Aziz Suryal (Ed.): The Coptic Encyclopedia; Vol. 3: Cros - Ethi. new York: Macmillan, 1991, ISBN 978-0-02-897026-4 , Pp. 758-760.
- Life of St. Samuel
- : Samuel de Qalamoun. In:Revue de l’histoire des religions, ISSN0035-1423, Vol.30 (1894), Pp. 1-47.
- : The Life of Samuel of Kalamun. Warminster: Aris & Phillips, 1983, ISBN 978-0-85668-219-3 .
- : Samu’il of Qalamun, Saint. In:Atiya, Aziz Suryal (Ed.): The Coptic Encyclopedia; Vol. 7: Qalʿ - Zost. new York: Macmillan, 1991, ISBN 978-0-02-897036-3 , P. 2092 f.
Web links
- Lives of Saints: Kiakh 8, Coptic Synaxarium (Martyrologium) on the 8th Kiahk (December 17th) on the death of the monastery chief Ṣamūʾīl (Coptic Orthodox Church Network)
- Lives of Saints: Kiakh 13, Coptic Synaxarium (martyrology) for the 13th Kiahk (December 22nd) for the consecration of the Church of St. Hermit's Mīṣāʾīl (Coptic Orthodox Church Network)
Individual evidence
- ↑See Coquin, René-Georges, et al., loc. cit. — : Il dossier copto del martire Psote: testi copti con introduzione e traduzione. Milano: Cisalpino-Goliardica, 1978, Testi e documenti per lo studio dell’antichità; 61, ISBN 978-88-205-0122-8 , Pp. 104-107. In Coptic and Italian.
- ↑: The Date of the Translation of Saint Iskhirun. In:Le muséon: revue d’études orientales, ISSN0771-6494, Vol.50 (1937), Pp. 53-60.
- ↑: Kitāb ad-durr al-maknuz nas-sirr fil-dalāʾil wal habājā nad-dafāʾin = Livre des perles enfouies et du mystère précieux au sujet des indications des cachettes, des trouvailles et des trésors; 2: Traduction. Le Caire: Imprimerie de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale, 1907, P. 207, § 368.
- ↑See Abû Sâliḥ the Armenian, loc. cit., P. 315, No. 34 of the Maqrīzī list of monasteries.
- ↑: Narrative of the operations and recent discoveries within the pyramids, temples, tombs, and excavations in Egypt and Nubia; and of a journey to the coast of the Red Sea, in search of the ancient Berenice and another to the oasis of Jupiter Ammon. London: Murray, 1820, P. 432 f. (Text volume).
- ↑: Voyage a Méroé, au fleuve blanc, au-delà de Fâzoql dans le midi du Royaume de Sennâr, a Syouah et dans cinq autres oasis… Tome I. Paris: Imprimerie Royale, 1826, P. 33.
- ↑: Journey to the depression area around the Fajum in January 1886. In:Journal of the Society for Geography in Berlin, ISSN1614-2055, Vol.21,2 (1886), Pp. 96–149, map, especially p. 113 f.
- ↑: Modern Egypt and Thebes: being a description of Egypt; including the information required for travelers in that country; Vol.2. London: Murray, 1843, P. 356.
- ↑: The Topography and Geology of the Fayum Province of Egypt. Cairo: Survey Department, 1905, P. 21.
- ↑: Le Couvent Copte de Saint-Samuel à Galamoun. In:Annales du Service des Antiquités de l’Egypte (ASAE), ISSN1687-1510, Vol.9 (1908), Pp. 204-207. Mentioned some finds that can no longer be found today.
- ↑Tadeusz Samuel Smoleński is considered a pioneer in Polish Egyptology.
- ↑: Notes sur le Ouady Mouellah. In:Bulletin de la Société Royale de Géographie d'Égypte, ISSN1110-5232, Vol.18 (1932), Pp. 47–63, 4 plates. Essentially, the essay contains only a historical description. Of the buildings only the crypt was mentioned.
- ↑Elsewhere it is stated that he became a monk at the age of 18.
- ↑Minya bus attack, Wikipedia article on the attack on May 26, 2017.
- ↑Reuters / AFP / dpa: IS claims attack on Copts for itself, Message on Mirror online from May 27, 2017. - Terrorism hits Egyptians ahead of Ramadan, Message on Daily News Egypt from May 27, 2017.
- ↑2018 Minya bus attack, Wikipedia article on the November 2, 2018 attack.
- ↑Ahmed Eleiba: Reasonable doubts, Message in Al-Ahram Weekly of November 8, 2018. - AP: IS Attack on Christian Pilgrims in Egypt Kills 7, Wounds 19, News in the New York Times on November 3, 2018.
