Last evening we returned from our third Holy Family Pilgrimage, our second to Upper Egypt, and I wish now to record some of my impressions. I do not wish to do this in the form of a travelog - we went there and we saw that - but to discuss three major themes of the pilgrimage. These were firstly, modern day monasticism in Egypt - we did see both a monastery, Deir al-Muharraq, and a convent, Durunka, and made contact with some of the monks and nuns, as well as Bishop Thomas of al-Qussia, who spoke to us of servanthood; as basically a religious, whether a lay person, priest or bishop, is a servant. Secondly, I should like to discuss the recent mysterious events that have been happening in Upper Egypt. Are they spiritual phenomena or pious fraud? Thirdly, I should like to discuss the role of women in the Coptic Church in Upper Egypt, as what we saw in the church in Sarakna, to our Western eyes, was not very complementary to the church.
The pilgrimage was once again led by Dr. Cornelis Hulsman, Kees, (pronounced Kays) and at least half of the group were members of the Hong Kong Christian Council, which this year is celebrating its 50th anniversary. There were clergy and laity from several different churches in Hong Kong, including the Anglican bishop, Thomas Sou. The other half was a varied assortment of Egyptian, Germans, Austrian, Dutch, Australians, Americans and ourselves, Canadians. During our stay in Upper Egypt we were guests of Bishop Thomas of al-Qussia (Kees frequently had to distinguish between which Bishop Thomas he was alluding to) in his Five Star guest house, which was actually three or four houses adjacent to the church, all joined together, each with a roof top garden, connected to one another by stairs as the roofs were at different levels. There were many varieties of flowering trees and shrubs; many bougainvillaeas of varying hues, jasmine, roses, geraniums, these were the only ones whose names I knew, but there were others. I enjoyed it best in the very early morning, during and after the Call to Prayer, before anyone else was up, and the full moon was still in the sky. On one morning I watched the sun rise above the dusty haze of sand on the horizon. I told the bishop that he had created a thing of beauty, which was true compared with other roof tops around us. He is the first bishop of al-Qussia, consecrated just 15 years ago. He has improved the lives of his people by stressing the need for education. We sat with two teen age girls at our final lunch in the church house at Sarakna; one of them, the parish priest’s daughter, wanted to be a doctor, like her dad before he was ordained, and her friend a pharmacist. Both girls spoke excellent English, which has certainly widened their horizons, and they enjoyed speaking with visitors from such far away places. In introducing his namesake to the congregation of Sarakna at their Palm Sunday liturgy Bishop Thomas said that Hong Kong was a left turn at the next village, which drew a few laughs.
We visited the monastery of Deir al-Muharraq, 327 Kms. south of Cairo, 48 Kms. north of Assiut. It is the holiest site in Egypt, because the monks there believe that the altar in their church is the one referred to in Isaiah 19:19 In that day shall there be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt. We were told repeatedly that the Holy Family had stayed there for six months and five days, the longest duration that they had stayed anywhere in Egypt, and that the Lord himself had returned with his disciples on a cloud to al-Muharraq after his resurrection and consecrated the altar.3 Evidence for these claims are from The Vision of Theophilus, attributed to Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria from 385 to 412, who had a vision of the Virgin Mar as a guest at the monastery. Because of this, a pilgrimage to al-Muharraq is considered by Copts to be equivalent to a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, which is not possible these days. At first appearance one is impressed by its immense size. The monastery is very large. I was reminded of the monasteries of Quebec before the anti clerical Quiet Revolution of 40 years ago; they were then occupied by thousands of religious, but are now virtually deserted, and many have closed their doors, perhaps permanently. One cannot help but wonder how much money it takes to run the place, and from where it receives its income. We soon learned that it came from two sources, the same two as the medieval monasteries of Europe; from pilgrims and from the land.
Deir al-Muharraq is in the Nile valley in the centre of very rich farm land. Agriculture is the chief industry, and we saw fields of wheat, alfalfa and grape vines for as far as the eye could see. We saw no up to date farming, only one tractor. Nearly all the farmers rode their donkey into the fields. The alfalfa was cut by hand and fed to the animals, donkeys, goats and sheep, which were in abundance in the villages we passed though and stayed in - a very picturesque scene for us, but probably not so for the people who lived in them. We saw outside the town some wheat being thrashed and winnowed, as in Biblical times.
One enters the Deir al-Muharraq by a most impressive gate that had only been built since Kees’ last visit a year ago. None of the buildings of the monastery appeared to be very old, considering the claims for its antiquity. Most of them were for pilgrims or guests, not for the residents, who lived in cells. We did not see these, but were led to imagine that they were very simple; with only slightly more comfort than the caves we had seen at Deir el-Hinnis, where monks had lived from the fifth century, or on the desert where Anthony started the monastic movement in the third century. At the heart of the monastery was the church, which is known to date from the 12th or 13th century. It is possibly built upon older foundations. The present altar dates only from the 7th century, though Fr. Philoxenos, our guide, said it was built over the one which the Lord had consecrated.
Kees told us that from the Sunday School movement in the Coptic Church, the numbers of professed monks and nuns had grown substantially, from only 5,000 in the whole of Egypt fifty years ago, to more than 120,000, a greater growth rate than the population of Egypt, which in the same period has grown from 22 million to 69 million. Fr. Philoxenos added that the quality of those professed had increased too. He himself had followed his Sunday School instructor, for whom he had a very high regard, into the monastery. Asked what was the attraction to be cloistered, Fr. Philoxenos replied, “I have no needs; I fear nothing.” All his material needs were met, even though he owned nothing. He had the use of a watch and a mobile phone, but he said they belonged to the monastery. He said their days, according to the rule of St. Anthony, were divided between prayer, work and his private life, which was spent alone in his cell. Their day began at 2.30 a.m. and ended with Vespers at four p.m.. There appeared to be no set times for prayer, as in the Benedictine Rule, but he said there were ten masses every day, to fit everybody’s schedule. The masses at al-Muharraq were celebrated in Coptic rather than Arabic, the common language of the people since the Arab invasion. Their work varied from working inside the monastery walls, in his case to entertain visitors, to working outside, managing the farms. No one, however, lived outside the walls of the monastery. They all spent a considerable part of their day alone in their cell, most of that time in prayer. After ten years in the order he had been consecrated a priest, which enabled him to say the mass. It was not his decision to become a priest. He had been recommended by his superior, and he had simply obeyed. He said that there was no place in the monastery for anyone not willing to obey the superior, or to accept celibacy and poverty. If anyone were unhappy with his life as a monk he should commit his mind to the work assigned to him, and work harder at it, and his mind would eventually change. When pressed by Kees, whether there was a way out, or not, he just said that it was between the person, his superior and the Lord, but it seemed that there was no way in the book to break that final vow. Nevertheless Kees reminded him that one man did, and then spread a lot of false rumours in the press about the monastery, as if to suggest it would have been better to have had a prearranged escape route. Fr. Philoxenos admitted that person had hurt them a great deal, but they were later exonerated.
No one asked how they were viewed in the eyes of the Muslim community, although in that part of Upper Egypt the Christians may be in the majority. The Koran makes one reference to monasticism, Surah 57:27, which states:
...We sent after them Jesus the son of Mary, and bestowed on him the Gospel; and we ordained in the hearts of those who followed him compassion and mercy. But the monasticism which they invented for themselves, we did not prescribe for them: We commanded only the seeking for the Good Pleasure of Allah; but that they did not foster as they should have done. Yet we bestowed on those among them who believed their due reward, but many of them are rebellious transgressors.
It may be construed that Islam is in general opposed to monasticism. If it were the Lord saying: “Yet we bestowed on those among them who believed their due reward” that is true for the monastery of al-Muharraq, as it appears to be very richly endowed. However, we did not see any ‘rebellious transgressors’ among them. One thing Father Philoxenos did tell me was that they made no distinction in the choice of tenants on the land, whether Christian or Muslim, and added that some of the Muslim farmers were more productive, and they occasionally had to deprive an unproductive Christian tenant and give it to a productive Muslim. I did not think to ask him whether they ever did it the other way round, and what would happen if they did.
The Egyptian Bishop Thomas, on our second evening as his guests, gave a talk on servanthood, which he said was being in Christ. He spoke of it as being totally immersed in Christ, as if God says: You are in me, and I am in you. quoting John 14:20. He asked if these words were merely symbolic, or actual. He illustrated his answer by floating a glass in a jug of water. By filling the glass with water it sank to the bottom. As the glass was filled with water, we needed to be filled with Christ, the living water, and totally immersed in him. He said that this would change our whole identity; we will become bigger (the glass looked larger in the jug); our vision will change; our lives will become more stable, unmoved when the rest of the world is shaking, and he shook the jug and the glass hardly moved. He said this was not just fantasy, but reality. With our new identity it would even be possible to love our enemies, and only thus could we serve them. When asked how this could happen, he replied that we are born to be surrounded by God with his image imprinted in us. But what prevents it is that we prefer the temporal security of the world to the eternal security that God alone can give. This teaching complemented what Fr. Philoxenus had told us earlier; that he lacked nothing and that he feared nothing. The true servant has turned his back on the security the world offers to receive only that which God offers, and his life has been totally satisfied. The bishop repeated that only in Christ could he love his enemies. I was reminded of Bishop Kenneth Cragg’s saying that in an indifferent or hostile environment the only method of evangelism was servanthood, and he spoke of the Coptic Church being an example to the Western churches. This fireside chat with Bishop Thomas, although there was no real fireplace, being in Egypt, was for me the mountain top experience of the whole weekend; although it did demand a certain amount of faith in the first place to understand his metaphor, being immersed in Christ, even with his illustration of the glass in the jug. I believe that a skeptic with no faith would have been lost, though a child with unlimited faith would pick it up immediately. It would be an excellent illustration for a children’s talk.
The convent of Durunka is about eight Kms. south of Assiut, and is built in the cliffs on the western side of the valley. From the valley floor they look humongously large, buildings built one above the other at different levels, like Tibetan monasteries in the Himalayas. The bus climbed a very steep and windy road. and stopped outside the main gate. We were met by Sister Linda, whom we had been told was a graduate of the American University in Cairo, but upon graduation she had chosen the convent. It was evident from the contentment in her face that she neither lacked anything, nor feared anything. Durunka is also believed by some Copts to be a site which the Holy Family visited, but this tradition is not from the Vision of Theophilus, from the 4th century, as al-Muharraq, but is only about fifty years old, being the vision of Metropolitan Michael, metropolitan of Assiut, whose church we visited on the way to Durunka. Michael must be the oldest active bishop in the world being consecrated in 1946, but he is one of the most astute. What he says goes, and no one dare argue with a metropolitan of such seniority. Al-Muharraq, which, according to the Vision of Theophilus, was the southern most point of the Holy Family’s travel, does not lie in his diocese. By the older tradition they returned to Palestine by way of Buq on the opposite side of the Nile, and from there to Ashmonein, a major Greco-Roman port. However, Metropolitan Michael purports that they first went 56 Kms. further south before proceeding north. The convent of Durunka has a very old foundation, but until Metropolitan Michael it was not supposed to have been a Holy family site, and therefore did not draw pilgrims. By his declaring it a Holy family site it does, and, in fact, attracts many more pilgrims than does al-Muharraq, the holiest site in Egypt; which leads me to the second theme of this essay, the mysterious events at the church of Assiut.
There is very little debate these days that the appearances of the Holy Virgin in 1968 at the church in Matareya, a suburb of Cairo, were genuine. That was the year that St. Mark’s relics were returned to Egypt from Venice and installed in the new St. Mark’s Cathedral in Cairo. It led to a renaissance in the Coptic Church. That is now history. Around that time I saw a picture of the apparition of the Virgin at the church in the Illustrated London News, and it was investigated by the Vatican and deemed genuine, a spiritual phenomenon. For two years from 1999 to 2001 similar appearances have been seen over the dome of St. Mark’s church in Assiut in the form of flashes of light. Kees has investigated these and has visited the church when they have purportedly been seen by the enthusiastic crowd below, who cried out that it was the Virgin. He took with him an American photographer, who did record some light on film, though, strangely, Kees saw nothing. Metropolitan Michael, when presented with this, declared it to be a spiritual phenomenon. Someone else has made a CD of the flashes of light, copies of which the parish priest gave to each one of us. We were also shown them on video by Sister Linda at Durunka. She implicitly believed that they were supra natural. Others, including Kees, are more skeptical. He quoted the eminent scholar on the Coptic Church, Dr. Otto Meinardis, who said that they were a pious fraud. One of our group, Axel Krause, a German free lance photographer living in Egypt, had also tried to photograph them in the past. He thought that they occurred whenever his flash went off, as if there was a light sensor that was stimulated by his flash.
I myself think that it is an open question. Time will tell. We do believe from the Scriptures that there is another infinite sphere that is not bound by natural law, as is space and time of our finite universe. This, for want of a better name, we call heaven, where God is. We cannot describe the infinite with our finite minds, but we try, and some of our descriptions might appear more literal than others. But we do believe that some times, somehow, the infinite invades the finite, as we believe happened at the time of the miracles recorded in the Bible, most notably at the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and it can happen again today, but, admittedly, seldom does. That I can only say by faith. There is no evidence for the resurrection, other than the testimony of the Gospel writers and Paul, which I accept on faith. There are those who say that it was a fraud, and some have gone to great lengths to say that Christianity is not theistic, that there is nothing and nobody out there, which would make such spiritual events impossible. But I for one am not ashamed to confess that there is an out there, and we should be very mindful of what, or rather who, is out there. I say this because I do not believe there would be a church today, 2000 years later, if it were based on fraud; nor do I believe the Lord would bless the work of Metropolitan Michael, if it too were based on fraud. This is not to deny that Christians are rebellious transgressors as the Prophet and the Bible both assert, but I find it hard to believe that they are fraudsters. I am willing to give Metropolitan Michael the benefit of doubt. Even if we do find the paraphernalia for creating such a spectacular light display, the wiring, light sensors and bulbs, I would still not say it was fraud, pious or otherwise, because it was, after all, harmless entertainment – pious entertainment. I doubt that they ever see fireworks in this part of Egypt. I might, however, tell him, if I had the opportunity, Heh Man, That’s not cricket.
Whatever the lighting display was, it certainly created a windfall for Metropolitan Michael. He began the restoration of the convent at Durunka in the 1950s, and since these displays the work has progressed at an accelerated rate, mainly for the benefit of the pilgrims. Durunka has no farm land around it, as has al-Muharraq, so it is totally dependent on income from pilgrims. About half a million go there each year, compared with only two to three hundred thousand to al-Muharraq. Making a pilgrimage is a popular pass time in Egypt, and these two sites are, for the Copts, the most popular.
These displays of lights may indicate a little rivalry between the sees of Assiut and Alexandria, as if Assiut were saying, Everything you can do, I can do better. The priest of St. George’s church told me that St. Mark had brought the Gospel to them first from Libya, and then only later he traveled north by boat to Alexandria, where he planted another church, but he insisted that the church of St. Mark in Assiut was the first. I spoke to Kees about this and he said that it was a local legend for which there was no foundation other than word of mouth. Oral tradition carries a lot of weight in Upper Egypt, as it did before the spoken Word of God was written. Coptic faith is firmly based, not only on the written Word, but also on these other stories, the spoken word, derived from visions and dreams, as we have seen. Provided they not contradict Scripture, as this certainly does not, as there is nothing in the Bible stating clearly where the Holy Family went in Egypt, or that Mark ever came to Egypt, I do not see anything to argue about. It is just a very strong tradition.
The third theme of this essay is the place of women in the church of Upper Egypt, as we saw it. We attended the Palm Sunday liturgy at Sarakna, a predominantly Christian village just a few kilometers from al-Qussia, where it was still possible to have the procession out doors. There was a lot of excitement as we processed through the narrow unpaved street, waving palm branches. I half expected Bishop Thomas to ride a donkey, but he walked ahead of us. When we arrived in the church, the front two rows were reserved for the bishop’s party, which was us and a few others. Behind us on both sides of the church were all men, no women. Some ladies were up in the gallery, but most were not allowed into the church at all. There would have not been enough room for everybody. What disturbed me most was that some younger women wanted to come into the church, but were shooed away by the men who guarded the door. There was one nun who was allowed in. At the time of the communion, first the men all filed one by one through a door on the left side of the iconostasis, and then only the women were allowed into the church and they went through a door on the right side, and, after communion, outside again through a side door. All the women and girls were dressed in their best Sunday outfits, but the men wore their galabeahs, and the strong smell of donkey dung pervaded the church, rather than the incense. At the time of the peace I touched many rough and calloused hands, and it occurred to me that perhaps the Lord’s hands were similar. The lines on their faces told me that theirs was a physically rough life. These were tough men. I felt intimidated by them. If the Lord Jesus had been like them, Gentle Jesus, meek and mild would be far, far from the truth. I am not suggesting that the women are dissatisfied with their subordinate state, as women in the West certainly would be, but I do believe that as they become better educated they will be, and the men will have to accept it. The previous evening one of the Chinese ladies, who was ordained, reproached Bishop Thomas for the fact that women in Egypt were not ordained to the priesthood. He said that women and men simply had different functions, one of which for men was the priesthood. Women had other functions, such as childbearing and the rearing of children. He thanked God that he was a son of a woman, and that he had profound respect for women and the work that they do. He did admit, however, that Egypt was a very male dominated society, and that it is not going to change overnight. That was demonstrated in the church the next day. I do not think that we can throw stones at Egyptians, unless we can say that women are never abused in our own country, which should shut us up on this subject.
It was a full weekend of three packed days, and there were also visits to the tombs of Meir, dating from the Old and Middle Pharaonic Kingdoms. The pictures on the walls were of rural activities such as we had seen in and around the villages. The life of the farmer has not changed much in 5000 years! In marked contrast, we were invited to meet the Governor of Assiut at the Governorate. There they showed us a promotional video about Assiut in Chinese! They gave each one of us the same video, but ours, thankfully, was in English. From its modern buildings, university, roads and bridges, Assiut could be a city in California, but it is in Egypt. Returning to al-Qussia and Sarakna; we went back 5000 years! Perhaps not that many, since Bishop Thomas is encouraging his people to obtain as good an education as they are able. In time there will be less of a contrast, but not for the foreseeable future.
My final impression is of a church living in an extraordinarily difficult situation, bridging 5000 years, and yet not just surviving, but thriving, because they have learned what it really means to serve. Though far from perfect, I believe that the Lord is confirming them, rather than us, with spiritual phenomena, that we with our superior knowledge and wisdom just cannot understand, and therefore reject. Humble service, which we saw demonstrated in the lives of those we met, is the one lesson that the Coptic Church could teach us, if we wished to be taught. I am reminded of the words of St. Paul in the First letter to the Corinthians, chapter 1:
...23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; 24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: 27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29 That no flesh should glory in his presence. 30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: 31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise, and the weak things to confound the strong. I feel the Lord telling us in the West: You think you are so wise and so strong, but I want you to be like my Copts, who really know how to serve. The Coptic Church has no problem with huge vacant church buildings and monasteries that we have in the West. They have the opposite problem, of too small churches for the numbers that wish to crowd into them, and are shooed out. As Bishop Thomas of Hong Kong said, we should all be riding a donkey. If we did this, as Jesus did, as a sign of humility, we might learn something that we could not learn otherwise.
What is the benefit of these Holy Family tours? I believe the chief one is that we have seen Egypt as it was 5000 years ago, or at least as it was before the Islamic invasion, when Christianity was the only way of life in Egypt . We have been visiting Egypt fairly frequently since 1968, but I had never seen Egypt as it was back then. My father had during the war, when he was stationed in Cairo and the Western Desert. He told me that in his time the road from Giza to the pyramids was bordered by fields on either side, (he would not know it today) with ‘the poorest of the poor’ working in them. We have discovered that some of these ‘poorest of the poor’ of Upper Egypt are our brothers and sisters in Christ. Secondly, we have gotten to know something more of the Coptic Church, and the way Copts think. Faith is primary to Reason, and they rely heavily on the spoken word in addition to the written word. And, thirdly, it has been fun just to be with others who are also looking for something more than the usual tourist attraction. We have enjoyed being with them and entering into dialogue with them. Once again we need to thank Dr. Hulsman, Kees, for his vision in organizing these pilgrimages. They are so well organized, with a carefully planned schedule, well written background information given to each member of the party, well chosen places to stay, choice places to eat and lots of drinks and snacks on the tedious five hour bus journey through desert from Cairo and back, as well as food for the mind in his lectures and videos of what we are to see and whom we shall meet - it must involve an enormous amount of planning before hand - that I think that they are a treasure which, sadly, very few actually find.
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