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Nitrian Desert
The Nitrian Desert is a desert region in northwestern Egypt, lying between Alexandria and Cairo west of the Nile Delta. It is known for its history of Christian monasticism."Nitrian Desert", in F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone, eds., ''The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'', 3rd rev. ed. (Oxford University Press, 2005, online 2009). There were three monastic centres in the Nitrian Desert in Late Antiquity. Around 330, Macarius the Egyptian established a monastic colony in the Wadi El Natrun (Scetis), far from cultivable land. In the 330s, Saint Amun founded Nitria, only southeast of Alexandria, using the rules of Saint Anthony. He founded a second centre, Kellia, on Anthony's suggestion, deeper into the desert. Kellia has been the object of scientific excavations.Janet Timbie, "Egypt", in William M. Johnston and Christopher Kleinhenz, eds., ''Encyclopedia of Monasticism'' (Routledge, 2015), pp. 432–435. Only Scetis in the Wadi El Natrun remains a monastic site today ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Desert
A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one-third of the land surface of the Earth is arid or semi-arid. This includes much of the polar regions, where little precipitation occurs, and which are sometimes called polar deserts or "cold deserts". Deserts can be classified by the amount of precipitation that falls, by the temperature that prevails, by the causes of desertification or by their geographical location. Deserts are formed by weathering processes as large variations in temperature between day and night put strains on the rocks, which consequently break in pieces. Although rain seldom occurs in deserts, there are occasional downpours that can result in flash floods. Rain falling on hot rocks can cause them to shatter, and the resulting fragments and rubble strewn over the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saint Amun
Ammon, Amun ( cop, Ⲁⲃⲃⲁ Ⲁⲙⲟⲩⲛ), Ammonas ( grc-gre, Ἀμμώνας), Amoun (), or Ammonius the Hermit (; el, Ἀμμώνιος) was a 4th-century Christian ascetic and the founder of one of the most celebrated monastic communities in Egypt. He was subsequently declared a saint. He was one of the most venerated ascetics of the Nitrian Desert, and Athanasius of Alexandria mentions him in his life of Anthony the Great. Life Pushed into marriage by his family at the age of 20, he managed to persuade his bride to take a vow of chastity together with him by the authority of Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians.Socr. ''Hist. Eccl.'' iv. 23 They lived together this way for 18 years, when at her wish, they parted, and he retired to Scetis and Nitria, to the south of Lake Mareotis, where he lived 22 years, visiting his sister-wife twice a year. She had founded a convent in her own house. He cooperated with Anthony and gathered his monks under his direct supervision, t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Desert Of Mount Athos
The Desert of Mount Athos ( el, Έρημος του Αγίου Όρους) is a geographical area of Mount Athos that corresponds to the southern slopes of Mount Athos. Located along the southernmost coast of the Athos peninsula, it stretches roughly from Katounakia in the west to Vigla in the east. The Desert of Mount Athos has been a center of Christian asceticism and hesychasm for over 1,000 years. The area is not literally a desert biome, but was named after the Scetis and Nitrian Deserts of Lower Egypt, where the Egyptian Desert Fathers had lived as monks and ascetics during Late Antiquity. Most of the area is covered with sclerophyllous scrub vegetation and mixed broadleaf deciduous and evergreen forests. Unlike the rest of Mount Athos where motor vehicles are regularly used, transportation within the Desert of Mount Athos can only be done by foot or with mules on the various rocky footpaths in the area. Settlements From east to west, settlements located within the D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Or (monk)
Abba Or of Nitria (also ''Hor or Horus'') was an Egyptian Orthodox Christian ascetic who lived around the 4th century AD in Egypt in Dalga, Nitria (Lower Egypt), the Thebaid, and in the deserts around Shaina. He is one of the lesser-known Desert Fathers, but is nevertheless regarded as one of the "chief among monks," being, "a man who stood out among many of the fathers." He is associated with Theodore and Sisoes the Great. According to Jerome, at one point during his life, Or was the father of "one thousand Cenobitic_monasticism.html" "title="nowiki/>Cenobitic monasticism">cenobitic] Eastern Christian monasticism, monks" in the Egyptian Desert. Or died . Life Desert reclusion Abba ( Elder) Or's early life remains unknown. He was likely born in the late 3rd or early 4th century. The name "Or" is of Hebrew origin ( he, אור), meaning "light, brilliance" Most of his recorded life comes from Jerome's account of him in the ''History of the Monks of Egypt''. Or was know ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Desert Fathers
The Desert Fathers or Desert Monks were early Christian hermits and ascetics, who lived primarily in the Scetes desert of the Roman province of Egypt , conventional_long_name = Roman Egypt , common_name = Egypt , subdivision = Province , nation = the Roman Empire , era = Late antiquity , capital = Alexandria , title_leader = Praefectus Augustalis , image_map = Roman E ..., beginning around the Christianity in the 3rd century, third century AD. The is a collection of the wisdom of some of the early desert monks and nuns, in print as ''Sayings of the Desert Fathers''. The first Desert Father was Paul of Thebes, and the most well known was Anthony the Great, who moved to the desert in AD 270–271 and became known as both the father and founder of desert monasticism. By the time Anthony had died in AD 356, thousands of monks and nuns had been drawn to living in the desert following Anthony's example, leading his biographer, Athanasius of Alexan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kellia
Kellia ("the Cells"), referred to as "the innermost desert", was a 4th-century Egyptian Christian monastic community spread out over many square kilometers in the Nitrian Desert about 40 miles south of Alexandria. It was one of three centers of monastic activity in the region, along with Nitria and Scetis (Wadi El Natrun). It is called al-Muna in Arabic and was inhabited until the 9th century. Only archaeological sites remain there today. History Founded in 338 C.E. by Saint Amun, under the spiritual guidance of Saint Anthony, it was designed for those who wished to enter the cenobitic life in a semi-anchoritic monastery. An account of its founding, perhaps legendary, is in the ''Apophthegmata Patrum''.William Harmless. ''Desert Christians: An Introduction to the Literature of Early Monasticism'', Oxford University Press, Jun 17, 2004pg. 281/ref> Amun, who was then a monk at Nitria, one day talked with Anthony saying that he and some brothers wanted to move away "that they ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthony The Great
Anthony the Great ( grc-gre, Ἀντώνιος ''Antṓnios''; ar, القديس أنطونيوس الكبير; la, Antonius; ; c. 12 January 251 – 17 January 356), was a Christian monk from Egypt, revered since his death as a saint. He is distinguished from other saints named Anthony, such as , by various epithets: , , , , , and . For his importance among the Desert Fathers and to all later Christian monasticism, he is also known as the . His feast day is celebrated on 17 January among the Orthodox and Catholic churches and on Tobi 22 in the Coptic calendar. The biography of Anthony's life by Athanasius of Alexandria helped to spread the concept of Christian monasticism, particularly in Western Europe via its Latin translations. He is often erroneously considered the first Christian monk, but as his biography and other sources make clear, there were many ascetics before him. Anthony was, however, among the first known to go into the wilderness (about AD 270), whic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nitria (monastic Site)
Nitria (also called the Mountain of Nitria or Petoou Mpihosm in Greek and Latin sources) is one of the earliest Christian monastic sites in Egypt and is located in the Nitrian Desert. It was the first of the three major centers of Christian monastic activity in the Lower Egypt, the other two being Kellia and Scetis.Roger S. Bagnall, etc. ''Egypt from Alexander to the early Christians: An Archaeological and Historical Guide'', Getty Publications, 2004pg. 108-112/ref> History Nitria was founded in c. 325-330 by Amoun of Nitria and quickly attracted thousands of monks through the remainder of the 4th century. By 390, it had evolved from a loose collection of solitary monks to an organized settlement of multiple cenobitic monasteries, and included bankers, merchants, and sellers. Jerome, who visited Nitria in 386, said that it had over five-thousand monks. Palladius of Galatia, who lived there in 390, gave a similar estimate in his Lausaic History'. Christian pilgrims from the ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wadi El Natrun
Wadi El Natrun (Arabic: "Valley of Natron"; Coptic: , "measure of the hearts") is a depression in northern Egypt that is located below sea level and below the Nile River level. The valley contains several alkaline lakes, natron-rich salt deposits, salt marshes and freshwater marshes. In Christian literature it is usually known as Scetis ( in Hellenistic Greek) or Skete (, plural in ecclesiastical Greek). It is one of the three early Christian monastic centers located in the Nitrian Desert of the northwestern Nile Delta. The other two monastic centers are Nitria and Kellia. Scetis, now called Wadi El Natrun, is best known today because its ancient monasteries remain in use, unlike Nitria and Kellia which have only archaeological remains. The desertified valley around Scetis in particular may be called the Desert of Scetis.. Fossil discoveries The area is one of the best known sites containing large numbers of fossils of large pre-historic animals in Egypt, and was known ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip of Palestine and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south, and Libya to the west. The Gulf of Aqaba in the northeast separates Egypt from Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Cairo is the capital and largest city of Egypt, while Alexandria, the second-largest city, is an important industrial and tourist hub at the Mediterranean coast. At approximately 100 million inhabitants, Egypt is the 14th-most populated country in the world. Egypt has one of the longest histories of any country, tracing its heritage along the Nile Delta back to the 6th–4th millennia BCE. Considered a cradle of civilisation, Ancient Egypt saw some of the earliest developments of writing, agriculture, ur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Macarius The Egyptian
Macarius of Egypt, ''Osios Makarios o Egyptios''; cop, ⲁⲃⲃⲁ ⲙⲁⲕⲁⲣⲓ. (c. 300 – 391) was a Christian monk and hermit. He is also known as Macarius the Elder or Macarius the Great. Life St. Macarius was born in Lower Egypt. A late tradition places his birthplace in the village of Shabsheer (Shanshour), Roman Egypt around 300 AD. At some point before his pursuit of asceticism, Macarius made his living smuggling niter, saltpeter in the vicinity of Nitria, a vocation which taught him how to survive in and travel across the wastes in that area. St. Macarius is known for his wisdom. His friends and close kin used to call him ''Paidarion Geron'' ( grc-gre, Παιδάριον Γέρων, which when Compound (linguistics), compounded as ''Paidiogeron'' led to cop, Ⲡⲓⲇⲁⲣ Ⲓⲟⲩⲅⲉⲣⲟⲛ, ''Pidar Yougiron'') which meant the “old young man”, i.e. “the young man with the elders’ wisdom." At the wish of his parents Macarius entered into marria ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Late Antiquity
Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English has generally been credited to historian Peter Brown, after the publication of his seminal work '' The World of Late Antiquity'' (1971). Precise boundaries for the period are a continuing matter of debate, but Brown proposes a period between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Generally, it can be thought of as from the end of the Roman Empire's Crisis of the Third Century (235–284) to the early Muslim conquests (622–750), or as roughly contemporary with the Sasanian Empire (224–651). In the West its end was earlier, with the start of the Early Middle Ages typically placed in the 6th century, or earlier on the edges of the Western Roman Empire. The Roman Empire underwent considerable social, cultural and organizational changes starting wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
