i. Monasteries

One Paul should have been the first monk, but we know him only because Antony, the monk known for his temptations mentions him. Antony was born about 250, and died in 356, 105 jaar old. He got many followers in the desert, but a monastery was not founded. The first one who did was Pachomius, who lived from 290-346. Hij laid down rules for communities of monks or nuns, and founded 16 monasteries. The next important monk was Shenoute. He lived from 333-451, and so must have reached the age of 118 years. The life in a monastery is obviously very healthy. Shenoute was a really fanatical monk, who also made heavy demands on others. He introduced the Coptic language (derived from the old-Egyptic language of the Pharaos) as the official language of the Church in Egypt. Many religious texts and literary works were written in the Coptic language. The letters used were those of the Greek alphabet, with some supplements for sounds the Greek alphabet did not have. Well-known examples of Coptic writings are the finds of Nag Hammadi, a collection of Gnostic manuscripts of that time. The "Gospel of Thomas" is a part of it. Becoming a monk became popular, first in the East, later also in the West. It lead sometimes to peculiar behaviour. Simeon the Stylite lived for year on top of a pillar near Aleppo. The pillar is still there, but it has become low because many pilgrims took parts of it home as a relic.

The first Western hermit was St. Martin but he did not found monasteries. He died in 397.

The most famous founder of monasteries in the West was Benedictus of Nursia, who founded one in 529 on the Monte Cassino. It became the center of the Benedictine order, for which he laid down the rules.

The Copts still found monasteries. Not in Egypte, which has enough monasteries for the number of novices, but in countries the Copts emigrated to, like America and Australia.

The Egyptian monasteries are important attractions for tourists. Four can be seen in Wadi an-Natrun (between Cairo en Alexandria). The most well-known is Deir Abu Makar, with icons from the 5th and the 6th century.

Along the Nile the White and the Red Monastery are found, near Achmin.

Near Aswan the ruins of the Simeon-monastery are found.

One can also visit the Antony-monastery, founded a few centuries after the death of the hermit, near the cave where he used to live.

The famous Catharina-monastery in the Sinai desert is not a Coptic monastery.