along the eastern nile road
along the eastern nile road
a method of irrigation rarely still seen, along the eastern nile road
On the way to Deir al-Maymun, we were distracted and went to Atfih, which, the last time the Report visited, had a mounting tension in the local Christian population.
deir al-rasul, atfih, egypt
After the 1992 earthquake, the village church (by scholars dated around 800 CE, by locals dated around 200 CE) was rendered structurally unstable, but funds were not presented for the restoration (for a rural Egyptian village, conducting structural work on a building over a thousand years old is financially unfeasible). As a result, the Christian population had built a new church without permit next door in two days to ensure that it could be put up before the authorities stopped the construction. Since then, the government has stepped up and is renovating Deir al-Rasul (literally, the Monastery of the Messenger, but it is a church).
deir al-rasul, under construction
Deir al-Rasul also claims its sacred history through the presence of a cave-like structure that is accessed from a small room to the left of the altar in the haikal (Coptic churches are structurally similar to those of Greek/Russian Orthodoxy, where an iconostasis separates the main body of the church from the altar, which is called a haikal in Coptic churches). Through this room, a small vertical shaft in one wall reveals a space about eight feet long, four feet wide and high that is eight feet above this side room. Here, Saint Paul (not the Apostle, but the 3rd Century Saint Paul) is said to have lived.
the passage to where st. paul lived
where st. paul lived
The village of Deir al-Maymun is further south, at a point where the fluvial plain narrows. Because Egypt rarely sees rain, the Nile flood provides the sole source of water for much of its ecosystems. As a result, the green fluvial plain along the Nile breaks away at the exact point where the rich silt and water from the floods stop, opening to the Eastern and Western Deserts on each side of the river. Deir al-Maymun is at a particularly narrow point.
where the fluvial plain breaks into the eastern desert
deir al-maymun, notice how brief the fluvial plain is between the nile at right and the eastern desert at left?
The village itself is also an anomaly, with around 150 families, only 4 are Muslim. This concentration of Christians is rare in Egypt. Despite its remoteness, the village also hosts two important Christian sites: the Church of St. Antony and the Church of St. Stifin.
door on left: church of st. antony, door on right: church of saint stifin
church of st. antony, church of st. stifin from above
The Church of St. Antony holds the cage where St. Antony was alleged to have started his asceticism, living in a narrow cleft in the solid rock upon which the church is now built. Next door is the Church of St. Stifin, which locals call the oldest church in the world. This title is hotly disputed.
inside st. stifin
The village priest has been attempting to expand these sites (along with the place where St. Antony is alleged to have woven the baskets from whose profits he survived) into a pilgrimage center, and has purchased the neighboring homes toward the Nile where he hopes to build a small retreat center and café for the anticipated visitors. The majority of villagers work in agriculture or a nearby quarry, but both enterprises are unsurprisingly not very lucrative.
planned site of future center
site of st. antony's basket weaving
inside a village home
The Eastern Desert Road is a recent addition to Egyptian transit, less than 5 years old. While certainly the faster travel method, it also overheated our thirty year old car in the 110 degree heat, leaving us in the desert for much longer than anticipated waiting for it to cool. So it goes.
the eastern desert road
the eastern desert road
