Monastery of al-Baramus (Deir al-Baramus, Monastery of the Romans) At Wadi al-Natrun

The Monastery of al-Baramus (Deir al-Baramus, Monastery of the Romans) At Wadi al-Natrun by Jimmy Dunn

Introdu tion and !istory

In the Wadi al-Natrun, certainly one of the most famous regions in Egypt associated with Christian monasteries, the northernmost of the four communities is that of the Monastery of al-Baramus. It is also sometimes called the Monastery of the Romans and is ery pro!a!ly the first monastery esta!lished in the Wadi al-Natrun. In fact, it is said to occupy the place where Macarius the "reat settled in #$% &or as early as ##%' when he de oted himself to monastic life. (he modern name of the monastery &al-Baramus' is )ra!ic and is deri ed from the Coptic Christian *a-Rameos, which means +that of the Romans+. (he origin of this name is certainly in dispute. (he most widely held tradition concerns Ma,imus and -omitius, who Coptic te,ts and tradition holds as Roman saints as well as children &perhaps illegitimate' of the Roman emperor .alentinian &presuma!ly .alentinian I &#/$-#01 )-'. (hey are said to ha e gone to 2cetis &Wadi al-Natrun' during the days of 2t. Marcarius after ha ing isited the Christian shrines of Nicea and *alestine. 2t. Marcarius tried to dissuade them from staying, !ut the +two little strangers+ ne ertheless esta!lished themsel es in a cell. (he older of the !rothers is said to ha e attained perfection !efore his death, and only three days later, the other !rother died.

It is said that when the desert fathers came to 2aint Macarius, he used to ta3e them to the cell of the two !rothers and say to them, +Behold ye the martyrdom of these little strangers+. ) year after their death, 2aint Macarius consecrated the cell !y !uilding a chapel and said, +Call this place the Cell of the Romans+. 4owe er, some scholars maintain that it was *aphnutius, Marcarius5s successor, who first called the chapel !y this name. 2ome !elie e that the +young strangers+ recei ed !y Macarius and later on enerated !y the mon3s of the Wadi were not necessarily of Roman origin. In this tradition, it is thought that the name of the monastery could !e due to the fact that a Roman mon3 named )rsenius settled in Wadi al-Natran &2cetis' in #6$ and !ecame the a!!ot of the community. 2till other traditions hold that )rsenius had !een the tutor of )rcadius and 4onorius, the emperor (heodosius5 sons, who in their turn !ecame emperors. )ccording to this interpretation, this !it of history could ha e led to confusion and the identification of the two +young strangers+ as Romans.

(oday, this monastery is significant in that it was founded on a site in front &south' of the 7ld Baramus monastery, disco ered !y archaeologists in 866$, which some say was incorrectly 3nown as +the Monastery of Moses the Blac3+. 7thers !elie e that -eir )n!a Musa al-)swad, or the Monastery of 2aint Moses the Blac3, under the leadership of 2t. Isidore the 4egumen, was the original name. (he older monastery pro!a!ly dates to as early as #$% )-. It should !e noted that there e,ists some confusion in regard to the current monastery5s history in relationship to the old monastery. It is ery possi!le that !oth e,isted concurrently at some point, with the former monastery 3nown as -eir al-Baramus, and the current monastery 3nown as the Monastery of the .irgin of Baramus, 4ence, the history we ha e of the modern monastery certain encompasses that of !oth. )ll four of the monasteries in the Wadi al-Naturn suffered si, sac3s. (hese occurred in $%0, $8%, $$$, 1%0, 980 and the last in the ele enth century&some scholars also reference sac3s in 98% and 90%, without mention of those in $$$, 1%$, 980 or the ele enth century', though the most se ere threat to the monastery came in the form of the Blac3 -eath in the fourteenth century, which was followed !y a famine. Each time the communities were attac3ed, the monastic !uildings were damaged, the churches plundered and the mon3s either slain or carried off as capti es. )!!ot )rsenius himself witnessed the de astating raids of $%0 and $8% at -eir al-Baramus and !oth times he managed to escape the carnage. )fter the first, he returned to re!uild the cells and other parts of the monastery that had !een destroyed, !ut after the raid in $8%, he retired to (roe, the Cairo neigh!orhood called (ura today, where he died. (here, a monastery was later dedicated to his memory. 2t. Moses the Blac3, so named !ecause he was Ethiopian and therefore of dar3 s3in, did indeed reside in this monastery and was martyred in the first raid of $%0. Before !ecoming a

mon3 and priest, he had led a criminal life, !ut later repented his life of wrongdoing and retired to the Wadi where the e,amples of 2aints Macarius and Isidore led him to a high degree of asceticism and holiness. 4owe er, ha ing foreseen the attac3 of the Massic Ber!er tri!e, he is said to ha e urged his disciples to lea e the community in order to ta3e refuge in safer surroundings. 4e, together with se en other mon3s, remained in order to fulfil the words from the "ospel of Matthew &:/;1:', +)ll who ta3e the sword will perish !y the sword+.

(he monastery also had a num!er of important isitors from the se enteenth through the nineteenth centuries. -uring the first half of the fifteenth century, the )ra! historian al-Ma<ri=i isited the monastery and was responsi!le for identifying it as that of 2t. Moses the Blac3. )t that time, he found it to ha e only a few mon3s. 7ther famous isitors included Coppin &8/#9', who descri!ed it as the +fourth monastery+ in the desert of +2t. Marcarius Bahr al-Malamah+ &sea of reproaches'. )ccording to the mon3s of that time, this name came from a tradition that held that. (hey maintained that at one time, the sea still !athed the monastery walls, and when 2t. Macarius, ha ing seen a pirate ship approaching, prayed to hea en for help. 2uddenly, the waters withdrew and at the same time the pirates and their ship were turned to stone. When -e Maillet also isited the monastery in 8/6:, he was told the same story. 4e therefore called this place in his description +.alley of Bahr !ila Ma+ &sea without water'. 7ther famous isitors descended on the monastery, including (he enot &8/10', -e Maillet &8/6:', -u Bernat &808%' 2icard &808:', 2onnini &8009', >ord *rudhoe &89:9', >ord Cur=on &89#0', (attam &89#6', (ischendorf &89$1', ?ullien &8998' and Butler &899#'. Information from them and a few other tra elers pro ide that there were 08: mon3s who li ed in se en monasteries in this region, including twenty mon3s at the Monastery of al-Baramus in 8%99, twel e mon3s in 808:, nine in 8066, se en in 89$:, thirty in 86%1, thirty-fi e in 86#0, twenty in 86/% and forty-si, in 860%. (oday, the monastery is inha!ited !y some fifty mon3s.

(hough the community of mon3s was fairly insignificant during the Middle )ges, it apparently supplied one mon3 to the patriarchal throne in 8%$0, upon the death of the patriarch 2henuda II. 4e was )n!a Christodulus, whose !rother @a3u! &?aco!' replaced him as a!!ot of the monastery and who pro ed to !e a man of great holiness and miraculous powers. )lBaramus also supplied two mon3s in the se enteenth century to the patriarchal throne. (hey were Matthew III &8/#8-8/$/' as the 8%%th patriarch and Matthew I. &8//%-8/01' as the 8%:nd patriarch, !ut it also produced a num!er of outstanding theologians, including )!una Na5um, and )!una 5)!d al-Masih i!n "irgis al-Mas5udi, !oth of the nineteenth century. (oday, the monastery possesses the oldest church that still e,ists in the region. Aurthermore, the monastery still preser es much of its ancient character. (he current monastery is dedicated to the .irgin of Baramus, and was pro!a!ly founded in the late si,th century as a counterpart of the old Baramus facility. The "n losure Wall

The en losure #all of al-Baramus )s a result of these attac3s !y Ber!ers and Bedouins, the ninth century patriarch 2henute I !uilt walls around each of the monasteries in the wadi. (his specific community was surrounded !y a huge, massi e enclosure wall which still e,ists, !ut for the west side which was !uilt only somewhat later. (heir height aries !etween ten and ele en meters and their width is some two meters. (hese walls are co ered with a thic3 layer of plaster. )top the walls a wal3way spans their entire length, which ena!led the mon3s to 3eep a close igil during the centuries when the Ber!ers posed a threat from the desert. (he monastery entrance is through a small door on the wall5s eastern side, though originally the principal doorway was in the north wall. (his original entrance had an e,terior door opening into a si, meter long corridor with a !arrel aulted roof, terminating with an interior door for defensi e reasons. The $hur h of the !oly %ir&in

(he Church of the 4oly .irgin is situated near the western side of the wall. 7f course, it is dedicated to the 4oly .irgin. )s well as !eing the oldest church in the Wadi al-Natrun, originating from the last decade of the si,th or the !eginning of the se enth century, it is the principal church of this monastery. (he Church of the 4oly .irgin ta3es the form of a !asilica that includes a 3hurrus &chorus' with a !arrel aulted roof, preceding the sanctuary, which was !elie ed to ha e !een added in the eighth or ninth century. )gainst the north wall of the 3hurus there is a new &8610', small, wooden feretory &a reli<uary where the relics of a saint are stored' inlayed with i ory and with glass windows containing the relics of the saints, Moses the Blac3 and Isidore.

(his church has a naos &central part of the church' containing a na e, roofed with a !arrel ault and recei es light through windows placed on the south and north sides, and two side isles. (he two side aisles are also roofed with !arrel aults and separated from the na e !y strong, o!long pillars that date to the middle ages, !ut replaced earlier columns. (here is the usual mar!le laggan that is em!edded in the floor at the west end of the na e, and there is a finely car ed pulpit that stands against the northeast corner of the north aisle, from which the priest e,plained the 2criptures to catechumens !efore !aptism. In the south aisle at the west end, there is a rare, !eautiful, large Corinthian capital ornamented in stucco that is called +2t. )rsenius+ column+, !ecause traditions holds that the saint was accustomed to stop !y it to pray. (his church has three sanctuaries, that show elements of widely different periods. ) finely car ed wooden door dating from the Aatimid period opens onto the main sanctuary &4ay3al'. (his central sanctuary was re!uilt in the thirteenth century and during the pontificate of *atriarch "a!riel III &8:/6-8:08' who carried out significant reconstruction in this monastery,

a dome on s<uinches was added. Bnder the altar are preser ed the relics of 2aints Ma,imus and -omitius.

(his church is nota!le for its huge, partially preser ed episodes of a Christological cycle. (hey represent an e,ceptional case of monastic wall paintings in Egypt from the medie al period. Between 869/ and 8696, three superimposed paintings were disco ered in the church. (he oldest of these, attri!uted to an artist 3nown as +first-Master+ who5s techni<ue has !een descri!ed as original and indi idualistic, dates to a!out 8:%% )-. 4e decorated the central na e of the church with scenes of the "reat Aeast. 7n the southern wall, from east to west, are the )nnunciation, the .isitation, the Nati ity, the Baptism of Christ, two Cars on a ta!le &pro!a!ly the wedding at Cana', and the Entry into ?erusalem. 4e also adorned the northern wall with the feat of *entecost, though other scenes de oted to the cycle of Christ ha e disappeared.

%istation, a'arelle o(y by )ierre-!enry *aferriere+

Abraham and Mel hi,ede-

%istation, a'arelle o(y by )ierre-!enry *aferriere (his same artist also produced wor3 on the upper part of the eastern wall of the central sanctuary, where he produced a huge scene of the sacrifice of Issaac, of which only some fragments remain, on the left, and on the right a scene depicting the Meeting of I!rahim and Melchi=ede3, which remains fairly complete. In the latter representation, Melchi=ede3 stands !efore an altar of masonry gi ing a spoon from the chalice to )!raham. While the depiction of )!raham recei ing 4oly Communion is not un3nown in Coptic art, the appearance of the spoon in this conte,t is utterly uni<ue. (hese painting flan3 the central apse &niche' which appears to !e the wor3 of a second artist. It is adorned in a traditional manner with twin compositions. )!o e, Christ is enthroned and !elow, the 4oly .irgin and Child are surrounded !y two angels. In the wall of the iconostasis are em!edded fi e stone crosses that pro!a!ly date !ac3 to the early centuries of the Christian era. 7n the southern sanctuary5s eastern wall are depicted si, saints who, from left to right, are 2t. *al the 4ermit, 2t. )ntony, 2t. Marcarius led !y a cheru!, ) 2t. ?ohn, 2t. Ma,imus and 2t. -omitius. More saints are represented on the southern wall, including, from left to right, three

that are not identifia!le, 2t. *achomius, Moses the Blac3 &possi!ly', 2t. Barsum the 2yrian, 2t. *aphnutius &possi!ly', and 2t. 7nnophrius.

$entral .an tuary - A(ostle

.outhern .an tuary - .t/ Barsum the .yrian )s of this writing, the restoration of these wall paintings is yet to !e completed and more scenes may !e unco ered. 4owe er, the drawings of +first-Master are of such <uality that some must !e considered masterpieces of medie al Coptic art. $ha(els and Ba(tistery (here are two chapels attached to the Church of the 4oly .irgin. )ttached to the north aisle and pro!a!ly dating from the fourteenth century is the Chapel of (heodore 2tratelates &al)mir (adrus' 2tratelates is the "ree3 term for +general+, hence, 2aint +(heodore the "eneral+. (he Chapel of 2t. "eorge &Mari "irgis'D is located at the west end of the same

aisle and dates from either the twelfth or thirteenth century. Near this second chapel is a s<uare room that ser ed as a !aptistery and still has its stone font. The $hur h of .t/ John the Ba(tist )nother church within the comple, is relati ely new, dating from the end of the nineteenth century. It was commissioned !y patriarch Cyril . in a modern By=antine style. It is situated in the place where an old church dedicated to 2aints )pollo and )!i! &*hi!' once stood. -edicated to 2t. ?ohn the Baptist, it contains little of interest, e,cept for its epiphany tan3, which is the only one in Wadi al-Natrun. (he south sanctuary of this church has !een con erted into a li!rary containing many manuscripts and old !oo3s written in Coptic, "ree3, )ra!ic and 4e!rew related to theological, liturgical, historical and artistic matters. (he main li!rary, which was once housed in the 3eep, contains a!out three thousand olumes, which are 3ept in se eral ca!inets. (he classification was the wor3 of the famous )!una 5a!d al-Masih i!n 2ali! al-Baramusi, who was 3nown for his great learning. The 0ee( North of the Church of the 4oly .irgin is the 3eep, or tower that the mon3s call al-Easr. Aor centuries it has !een the a!ode of solitaries, the most famous of whom was )!una 2ara!amun &86:%'. -ating from the ninth century, it is the oldest tower in any of the monasteries at Wadi al-Natrun and its architecture is typical of Egypt5s Coptic monasteries. Its entrance, !y way of a draw!ridge, is on the second floor. It was !uilt o er a well and storehouse in order to pro ide the mon3s with water in the e ent of a long siege. (he third story is a church dedicated to 2t. Michael, which the mon3s continue to use today. It has an altar co ered !y a dome. Refe tories (here are two refectories on the monastery grounds, !ut only one is accessi!le to isitors. It is located ne,t to the Church of the .irgin Mary to the south, parallel to the church5s na e. It is a rectangular hall, di ided into three domed !ays !y two pointed arches, measuring a!out ele en meters long !y four meters wide. (he domes, or cupolas, ha e circular openings at the top that pro ide a ery pleasant and atmospheric illumination. Within, a ta!le made of stone ta3es up the whole length of the !uilding. In the northeast corner there is a stone pulpit from which the reading of the holy 2criptures was proclaimed during the agape after liturgy. (his lectern is adorned with a roughly incised cross. (oday, the mon3s use this refectory only for the feasts peculiar to the Coptic liturgical year. (he other refectory, which is older and a!uts the west wall of the monastery, is now used as a storeroom. It ta3es the form of a s<uare room with a central o!long pillar and four domed !ays. 4ere, the mon3s sat on !enches that formed circles, an arrangement that continued until the end of the Aatimid *eriod when a single, long ta!le replaced them. 1uest !ouse (here is a guest house of nineteenth century >e antine style, comforta!ly furnished to accommodate isitors. Within the reception hall are pictures of )n!a )thanasius, the late metropolitan of Beni 2uefF )n!a Mu<us, metropolitan of )!u (igF )n!a 2awirus, metropolitan of MinyaF )n!a Banyamin, the late metropolitan of MinufiyaF )n!a (uma, the late metropolitan of (antaF )n!a Marcarius, the late !ishop of -eir al-BaramusF and )!una Barna!a, who at one time was the hegumen of -eir al-Baramus. Re ent Reno2ations Bnder *ope 2henuda III, a num!er of recent reno ations were performed at the monastery. )n asphalt road to the monastery was !uilt, and there ha e !een se eral maCor culti ation proCects. In addition, si, water pumps, a sheepfold, a henhouse and two generators were added, together with the construction of new residential cells !oth inside and outside the monastery proper. (here is now a clinic and a pharmacy to ser e the mon3s, as well as a

spacious retreat center for conferences and a large, two story guesthouse that was opened in ?anuary of 8698. The Ruins of the 3ld Monastery

2ince 866/, the Netherlands 7rgani=ation for 2cientific Research &NW7' and the Aaculty of )rchaeology of the Bni ersity of >eiden ha e financed the archaeological research on the remains of the site commonly 3nown as -eir )n!a Mussaal-)swad &Monastery of Moses the Blac3'. 4owe er, they !elie e that this is more properly the old -eir al-Baramus. (he old monastery was surrounded !y an enclosure wall that was perhaps a somewhat late addition during the 6th century after the community had suffered a ery se ere attac3. It measures a!out 9% !y /1 meters. Within the old monastery, archaeologists disco ered the remains of a s<uare structure measuring some si,teen meters s<uare, in the southeastern corner of the site. It consisted of a structure of one meter thic3 walls di iding the internal area into nine e<ual s<uares. (he outer walls were two meters thic3. (hough its original purpose was at first unclear, it has now !een determined to ha e most li3ely !een a defensi e tower, or 3eep that may ha e stood some twenty-fi e meters in height. 4owe er, pottery from the $th or early 1th century found on the site suggest that this tower was !uilt ery early for monastic purposes, particularly with regards to what was pro!a!ly a fairly small community of mon3s. It has !een suggested that this may ha e originally !een !uilt as a Roman military structure in order to defend the Wadi al-Natrun and its salt production. (hen, after ha ing !een a!andoned during the $th century, it may ha e !een put to use !y newly arri ed anchorites &religious hermits'. E,ca ations unco ered a structure in 8669 that, !y 8666 pro ed to !e that of a church immediately north of the tower. (he walls of the na e are made from poor <uality and impro ised masonry that suggest that the church was perhaps re!uilt hastily after ha ing !een destroyed. (his may ha e !een the destruction !y Bedouins at the !eginning of the 6th century. (he actual sanctuary of this church if of !etter <uality, and was apparently reconstructed somewhat later, perhaps at the end of the 6th or the !eginning of the tenth century. (he altar, which is fairly well preser ed, sits atop a one step high podium. Remains, pro!a!ly of an earlier structure and consisting of more solid masonry of finely cut limestone !loc3s, were found in the western part of the church5s na e. 2ince one of these !loc3s was inscri!ed with a num!er of hieroglyphics in high relief, it is ery plausi!le that a pharaonic monument e,isted in close pro,imity to this site. (his might !e consistent with the presence of a Roman defensi e tower. Nearby )!out two and a half 3ilometers northwest of this monastery, there is also the limestone ca e of the late pope Cyril .I. Mar3ed !y twel e wooden crosses, it is 3nown as the Roc3 of 2ara!amun and has !ecome a popular place of pilgrimage. )n iron lattice-wor3 protects the entrance to the site. Within, the one room ca e is spacious. It is adorned with numerous pictures and icons of Cyril .I. (here are also, in the desert a!out the monastery, a se eral ca es that apparently continue to !e inha!ited !y hermits.