Holy day @ Wadi Natrun

It was weekend once again, and time to hit the roads, yet for another road trip. My planner Hassen decided it's high time for me to repent on my sins, hence planned a trip to some ancient Coptic monasteries, situated along the Cairo - Alexandria dessert road. It was a bright shiny morning, excellent day for a road trip!

It is common to allege that Wadi Natrun was the actual birthplace for Christian monasticism. This theory can be challenged by the theory that the Essenes of Palestine were the first Christians, and they practiced monasticism.The reason why the early Copts chose to install themselves out in the desert was more than piety. Under the Roman rule the Egyptian Christians were persecuted, especially around year 300, and many found refuge out of the cities. When Christianity became state religion in 330 Wadi Natrun was already firmly established as an important Christian centre, a place of piety.

There were at the most 50 monasteries here, most built according to the same pattern: fortresses with one or more churches inside, storerooms, a dining hall, kitchen, bakery and monks' cells. Of these only 4 have survived into modern times. We visitted 2 of them, the Deir Anba Bishoi (picture above) and the Deir As-Suryani. As usual, i'll "try" to shut-up and let the pictures do the talking!

Ancient paintings hung inside the church of St. Bishoi

An aerial view of the building

Now, a little of the inside ancient drawings in the church.

Now, no picture is good until it gets a blessing from my appearance!

Another awsome ceiling painting, inside the church.

On the way back, we decided to take a detour through the village roads, looking for the Nile. We found a narrow path through a run down village at the northern section of the Nile and followed the Nile "coastal road" back to Cairo. It was awsome, so much village view, much like the kampung's we find back home in Malaysia. We found this ferry transporting village vehicles across a narrow section of the Nile. It was an instant dejavu of "those" days while studying in Unimas, Sarawak. We had similar crossings in Kota Samarahan, same run down look and simple life! Our scenic ride back home came to an abrupt end when the weather man decided to blow the sandstorm our way!