Visit to the Coptic Monasteries near the Natron Lakes--The Desert
of Nitria--Early Christian Anchorites--St. Macarius of
Alexandria--His Abstinence and Penance--Order of Monks founded by
him--Great increase of the Number of ascetic Monks in the Fourth
Century--Their subsequent decrease, and the present ruined state of
the Monasteries--Legends of the Desert--Capture of a Lizard--Its
_alarming_ escape--The Convent of Baramous--Night attacks--Invasion
of Sanctuary--Ancient Glass Lamps--Monastery of Souriani--Its
Library and Coptic MSS.--The Blind Abbot and his Oil-cellar--The
persuasive powers of Rosoglio--Discovery of Syriac MSS.--The
Abbot's supposed treasure.
In the month of March, 1837, I left Cairo for the purpose of visiting
the Coptic monasteries in the neighbourhood of the Natron lakes, which
are situated in the desert to the north-west of Cairo, on the western
side of the Nile. I had some difficulty in procuring a boat to take me
down the river--indeed there was not one to be obtained; but two English
gentlemen, on their way from China to England, were kind enough to give
me a passage in their boat to the village of Terrané, the nearest spot
upon the banks of the Nile to the monasteries which I proposed to visit.
The Desert of Nitria is famous in the annals of monastic history as the
first place to which the Anchorites, in the early ages of Christianity,
retired from the world in order to pass their lives in prayer and
contemplation, and in mortification of the flesh. It was in Egypt where
monasticism first took its rise, and the Coptic monasteries of St.
Anthony and St. Paul claim to be founded on the spots where the first
hermits established their cells on the shores of the Red Sea. Next in
point of antiquity are the monasteries of Nitria, of which we have
authentic accounts dated as far back as the middle of the second
century; for about the year 150 A.D. Fronto retired to the valleys of
the Natron lakes with seventy brethren in his company. The Abba Ammon
(whose life is detailed in the 'Vitæ Patrum' of Rosweyd, Antwerp, 1628,
a volume of great rarity and dulness, which I only obtained after a long
search among the mustiest of the London book-stalls) flourished, or
rather withered, in this desert in the beginning of the fourth century.
At this time also the Abba Bischoi founded the monastery still called
after his name, which, it seems, was Isaiah or Esa: the Coptic article
Pe or Be makes it Besa, under which name he wrote an ascetic work, a
manuscript of which, probably almost if not quite as old as his time, I
procured in Egypt. It is one of the most ancient manuscripts now extant.
But the chief and pattern of all the recluses of Nitria was the great
St. Macarius of Alexandria, whose feast-day--a day which he never
observed himself--is still kept by the Latins on the 2nd, and by the
Greeks on the 19th of January. This famous saint died A.D. 394, after
sixty years of austerities in various deserts: he first retired into the
Thebaid in the year 335, and about the year 373 established himself in a
solitary cell on the borders of the Natron lakes. Numerous anchorites
followed his example, all living separately, but meeting together on
Sundays for public prayer. Self-denial and abstinence were their great
occupations; and it is related that a traveller having given St.
Macarius a bunch of grapes, he sent it to another brother, who sent it
to a third, and at last, the grapes having passed through the hands of
some hundreds of hermits, came back to St. Macarius, who rejoiced at
such a proof of the abstinence of his brethren, but refused to eat of it
himself. This same saint having thoughtlessly killed a gnat which was
biting him, he was so unhappy at what he had done, that to make amends
for his inadvertency, and to increase his mortifications, he retired to
the marshes of Scete, where there were flies whose powerful stings were
sufficient to pierce the hide of a wild boar; here he remained six
months, till his body was so much disfigured that his brethren on his
return only knew him by the sound of his voice. He was the founder of
the monastic order which, as well as the monastery still existing on the
site of his cell, was called after his name. By their rigid rule the
monks are bound to fast the whole year, excepting on Sundays and during
the period between Easter and Whitsuntide: they were not to speak to a
stranger without leave. During Lent St. Macarius fasted all day, and
sometimes ate nothing for two or three days together; on Sundays,
however, he indulged in a raw cabbage-leaf, and in short set such an
example of abstinence and self-restraint to the numerous anchorites of
the desert, that the fame of his austerities gained him many admirers.
Throughout the middle ages his name is mentioned with veneration in all
the collections of the lives of the saints: he is represented pointing
out the vanities of life in the great fresco of the Triumph of Death, by
Andrea Orcagna, in the Campo Santo at Pisa. In his Life in Caxton's
'Golden Legende,' and in 'The Lives of the Fathers,' by Wynkyn de Worde,
a detailed account will be found of a most interesting conversation
which Macarius had with the devil, touching divers matters. Several of
his miracles are also put into modern English, in Lord Lindsay's book of
Christian Art. I have a MS. of the Gospels in Coptic, written by the
hand of one Zapita Leporos, under the rule of the great Macarius, in the
monastery of Laura, about the year 390, and which may have been used by
the Saint himself.
After the time of Macarius the number of ascetic monks increased to a
surprising amount. Rufinus, who visited them in the year 372, mentions
fifty of their convents; Palladius, who was there in the year 387,
reckons the devotees at five thousand. St Jerome also visited them, and
their number seems to have been kept up without much diminution for
several centuries.[4] After the conquest of Egypt by the Arabians, and
about the year 967, a Mahomedan author, Aboul Faraj of Hispahan, wrote a
book of poems, called the 'Book of Convents,' which is in praise of the
habits and religious devotion of the Christian monks. The dilapidated
monastery of St. Macarius was repaired and fortified by Sanutius,
Patriarch of Alexandria, at which good work he laboured with his own
bands: this must have been about the year 880, as he died in 881. In
more recent times the multitude of ascetics gradually decreased, and but
few travellers have extended their researches to their arid haunts. At
present only four monasteries remain entire, although the ruins of many
others may still be traced in the desert tracts on the west side of the
line of the Natron lakes, and the valley of the waterless river, which,
at some very remote period, is supposed to have formed the bed of one of
the branches of the Nile.
At the village of Terrané I was most hospitably received by an Italian
gentleman, who was superintending the export of the natron. Here I
procured camels; I had brought a tent with me; and the next day we set
off across the plain, with the Arabs to whom the camels belonged, and
who, having been employed in the transport of the natron, were able to
show us the way, which it would have been very difficult to trace
without their help. The memory of the devils and evil spirits who,
according to numerous legends, used formerly to haunt this desert,
seemed still to awaken the fears of these Arab guides. During the first
day's journey I talked to them on the subject, and found that their
minds were full of superstitious fancies.
It is said that tailors sometimes stand up to rest themselves, and on
that principle I had descended from my huge, ungainly camel, who had
never before been used for riding, and whose swinging paces were very
irksome, and was resting myself by walking in his shade, when seeing
something run up to a large stone which lay in the way, I moved it to
see what it was. I found a lizard, six or eight inches long, of a
species with which I was unacquainted. I caught the reptile by the nape
of the neck, which made him open his ugly mouth in a curious way, and he
wriggled about so much that I could hardly hold him. Judging that he
might be venomous, I looked about for some safe place to put him, and my
eye fell upon the large glass lantern which was used in the tent; that,
I thought, was just the thing for my lizard, so I put him into the
lantern, which hung at the side of the baggage camel, intending to
examine him at my leisure in the evening. When the sun was about to set,
the tent was pitched, and a famous fire lit for the cook. It was in a
bare, open place, without a hill, stock, or stone in sight in any
direction all around. The camels were tethered together, near the
baggage, which was piled in a heap to the windward of the fire; and, as
it was getting dark, one of the Arabs took the lantern to the fire to
light it. He got a blazing stick for this purpose, and held up the
lantern close to his face to undo the hasp, which he had no sooner
accomplished than out jumped the lizard upon his shoulder and
immediately made his escape. The Arab, at this unexpected attack, gave a
fearful yell, and dashing the lantern to pieces on the ground, screamed
out that the devil had jumped upon him and had disappeared in the
darkness, and that he was certain he was waiting to carry us all off.
The other Arabs were seriously alarmed, and for a long while paid no
attention to my explanation about the lizard, which was the cause of all
the disturbance. The worst of the affair was that the lantern being
broken to bits, we could have no light; for the wind blew the candles
out, notwithstanding our most ingenious efforts to shelter them. The
Arabs were restless all night, and before sunrise we were again under
way, and in the course of the day arrived at the convent of Baramous.
This monastery consisted of a high stone wall, surrounding a square
enclosure, of about an acre in extent. A large square tower commanded
the narrow entrance, which was closed by a low and narrow iron door.
Within there was a good-sized church in tolerable preservation, standing
nearly in the centre of the enclosure, which contained nothing else but
some ruined buildings and a few large fig-trees, growing out of the
disjointed walls. Two or three poor-looking monks still tenanted the
ruins of the abbey. They had hardly anything to offer us, and were glad
to partake of some of the rice and other eatables which we had brought
with us. I wandered about among the ruins with the half-starved monks
following me. We went into the square tower, where, in a large vaulted
room with open unglazed windows, were forty or fifty Coptic manuscripts
on cotton paper, lying on the floor, to which several of them adhered
firmly, not having been moved for many years. I only found one leaf on
vellum, which I brought away. The other manuscripts appeared to be all
liturgies; most of them smelling of incense when I opened them, and well
smeared with dirt and wax from the candles which had been held over them
during the reading of the service.
I took possession of a half-ruined cell, where my carpets were spread,
and where I went to sleep early in the evening; but I had hardly closed
my eyes before I was so briskly attacked by a multitude of ravenous
fleas, that I jumped up and ran out into the court to shake myself and
get rid if I could of my tormentors. The poor monks, hearing my
exclamations, crept out of their holes and recommended me to go into the
church, which they said would be safe from the attacks of the enemy. I
accordingly took a carpet which I had well shaken and beaten, and lay
down on the marble floor of the church, where I presently went to sleep.
Again I was awakened by the wicked fleas, who, undeterred by the
sanctity of my asylum, renewed their attack in countless legions. The
slaps I gave myself were all in vain; for, although I slew them by
dozens in my rage, others came on in their place. There was no
withstanding them, and, fairly vanquished, I was forced to abandon my
position, and walk about and look at the moon till the sun rose, when my
villainous tormentors slunk away and allowed me a short snatch of the
repose which they had prevented my enjoying all night.
There were several curious lamps in this church formed of ancient glass,
like those in the mosque of Sultan Hassan at Cairo, which are said to be
of the same date as the mosque, and to be of Syrian manufacture. These,
which were in the shape of large open vases, were ornamented with pious
sentences in Arabic characters, in blue on a white ground.[5] They were
very handsome, and, except one of the same kind, which is now in
England, in the possession of Mr. Magniac, I never saw any like them.
They are probably some of the most ancient specimens of ornamental glass
existing, excepting, of course, the vases and lachrymatories of the
classic times.
Quitting the monastery of Baramous, we went to that of Souriani, where
we left our baggage and tent, and proceeded to visit the monasteries of
Amba Bischoi and Abou Magar, or St. Macarius, both of which were in very
poor condition. These monasteries are so much alike in their plan and
appearance, that the description of one is the description of all. I saw
none but the church books in either of them, and at the time of my visit
they were apparently inhabited only by three or four monks, who
conducted the services of their respective churches.
On this journey we passed many ruins and heaps of stones nearly level
with the ground, the remains of some of the fifty monasteries which once
flourished in the wilderness of Scete.
In the evening I returned to Souriani, where I was hospitably received
by the abbot and fourteen or fifteen Coptic monks. They provided me with
an agreeable room looking into the garden within the walls. My servants
were lodged in some other small cells or rooms near mine, which happily
not being tenanted by fleas or any other wild beasts of prey, was
exceedingly comfortable when my bright-coloured carpets and cushions
were spread upon the floor; and, after the adventures of the two former
nights, I rested in great comfort and peace.
In the morning I went to see the church and all the other wonders of the
place, and on making inquiries about the library, was conducted by the
old abbot, who was blind, and was constantly accompanied by another
monk, into a small upper room in the great square tower, where we found
several Coptic manuscripts. Most of these were lying on the floor, but
some were placed in niches in the stone wall. They were all on paper,
except three or four. One of these was a superb manuscript of the
Gospels, with commentaries by the early fathers of the church; two
others were doing duty as coverings to a couple of large open pots or
jars, which had contained preserves, long since evaporated. I was
allowed to purchase these vellum manuscripts, as they were considered to
be useless by the monks, principally I believe because there were no
more preserves in the jars. On the floor I found a fine Coptic and
Arabic dictionary. I was aware of the existence of this volume, with
which they refused to part. I placed it in one of the niches in the
wall; and some years afterwards it was purchased for me by a friend, who
sent it to England after it had been copied at Cairo. They sold me two
imperfect dictionaries, which I discovered loaded with dust upon the
ground. Besides these, I did not see any other books but those of the
liturgies for various holy days. These were large folios on cotton
paper, most of them of considerable antiquity, and well begrimed with
dirt.
The old blind abbot had solemnly declared that there were no other books
in the monastery besides those which I had seen; but I had been told, by
a French gentleman at Cairo, that there were many ancient manuscripts in
the monks' oil cellar; and it was in pursuit of these and the Coptic
dictionary that I had undertaken the journey to the Natron lakes. The
abbot positively denied the existence of these books, and we retired
from the library to my room with the Coptic manuscripts which they had
ceded to me without difficulty; and which, according to the dates
contained in them, and from their general appearance, may claim to be
considered among the oldest manuscripts in existence, more ancient
certainly than many of the Syriac MSS. which I am about to describe.
The abbot, his companion, and myself sat down together. I produced a
bottle of rosoglio from my stores, to which I knew that all Oriental
monks were partial; for though they do not, I believe, drink wine
because an excess in its indulgence is forbidden by Scripture, yet
ardent spirits not having been invented in those times, there is nothing
said about them in the Bible; and at Mount Sinai and all the other spots
of sacred pilgrimage the monks comfort themselves with a little glass
or rather a small coffee cup of arrack or raw spirits when nothing
better of its kind is to be procured. Next to the golden key, which
masters so many locks, there is no better opener of the heart than a
sufficiency of strong drink,--not too much, but exactly the proper
quantity judiciously exhibited (to use a chemical term in the land of Al
Chémé, where alchemy and chemistry first had their origin). I have
always found it to be invincible; and now we sat sipping our cups of the
sweet pink rosoglio, and firing little compliments at each other, and
talking pleasantly over our bottle till some time passed away, and the
face of the blind abbot waxed bland and confiding; and he had that
expression on his countenance which men wear when they are pleased with
themselves and bear goodwill towards mankind in general. I had by the
bye a great advantage over the good abbot, as I could see the workings
of his features and he could not see mine, or note my eagerness about
the oil-cellar, on the subject of which I again gradually entered.
"There is no oil there," said he. "I am curious to see the architecture
of so ancient a room," said I; "for I have heard that yours is a famous
oil-cellar." "It is a famous cellar," said the other monk. "Take another
cup of rosoglio," said I. "Ah!" replied he, "I remember the days when it
overflowed with oil, and then there were I do not know how many brethren
here with us. But now we are few and poor; bad times are come over us:
we are not what we used to be." "I should like to see it very much,"
said I; "I have heard so much about it even at Cairo. Let us go and see
it; and when we come back we will have another bottle; and I will give
you a few more which I have brought with me for your private use."
This last argument prevailed. We returned to the great tower, and
ascended the steep flight of steps which led to its door of entrance. We
then descended a narrow staircase to the oil-cellar, a handsome vaulted
room, where we found a range of immense vases which formerly contained
the oil, but which now on being struck returned a mournful, hollow
sound. There was nothing else to be seen: there were no books here: but
taking the candle from the hands of one of the brethren (for they had
all wandered in after us, having nothing else to do), I discovered a
narrow low door, and, pushing it open, entered into a small closet
vaulted with stone which was filled to the depth of two feet or more
with the loose leaves of the Syriac manuscripts which now form one of
the chief treasures of the British Museum. Here I remained for some time
turning over the leaves and digging into the mass of loose vellum pages;
by which exertions I raised such a cloud of fine pungent dust that the
monks relieved each other in holding our only candle at the door, while
the dust made us sneeze incessantly as we turned over the scattered
leaves of vellum. I had extracted four books, the only ones I could
find which seemed to be tolerably perfect, when two monks who were
struggling in the corner pulled out a great big manuscript of a brown
and musty appearance and of prodigious weight, which was tied together
with a cord. "Here is a box!" exclaimed the two monks, who were nearly
choked with the dust; "we have found a box, and a heavy one too!" "A
box!" shouted the blind abbot, who was standing in the outer darkness of
the oil-cellar--"A box! Where is it? Bring it out! bring out the box!
Heaven be praised! We have found a treasure! Lift up the box! Pull out
the box! A box! A box! Sandouk! sandouk!" shouted all the monks in
various tones of voice. "Now then let us see the box! bring it out to
the light!" they cried. "What can there be in it?" and they all came to
help and carried it away up the stairs, the blind abbot following them
to the outer door, leaving me to retrace my steps as I could with the
volumes which I had dug out of their literary grave.