Syrian Monastery

Very spiritual place, will take you back in time to early Christianity and monk's life. Usually will be greeted by a Monk upon arrival, sometime a spiritual tour if time and schedule permits. Consider it during your visit to Egypt, you will never regret it.

The Monastery of Saint Mary El-Sourian is a Coptic Orthodox monastery located in Wadi El Natrun in the Nitrian Desert, Beheira Governorate, Egypt. It is located about 500 meters northwest of the Monastery of Saint Pishoy.
The monastery is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and carries her name. In scholarly references from the nineteenth century it is generally called the convent or monastery of Saint Mary Deipara. It is better known nowadays as the Syrian Monastery or the monastery of the Syrians (Syriac Dayr al-Suryān) because it was mainly used by monks of the West Syriac rite from the 8th to the 14th century.Wadi Natrun.

The exact date of the monastery's foundation is unknown. Most sources seem however to agree that its foundation took place in the sixth century AD. The establishment of the monastery is closely connected to the Julianist heresy, which spread in Egypt during the papacy of Pope Timothy III of Alexandria. The Julianists believed in the incorruptibility of Christ's body. This was in contradiction with the teaching of the Orthodox Church, which held that Christ had taken human flesh that prevented him from being ideal and abstract, and therefore corruptible. Yet, in the monasteries of Scetes, a majority of the monks embraced the Julian heresy. In reaction, those who did not follow the heresy obtained permission from the governor Aristomachus to erect new churches and monasteries, so that they could settle apart from the Julianists. These new facilities were often built alongside the old ones, even keeping the same name but adding to it the word Theotokos, thus recognizing the significance of the incarnation, which the Julians seemed to minimize. The Syrian Monastery was therefore established by those monks of the Monastery of Saint Pishoy who rejected the Julian heresy. At the time of its construction, they called it the Monastery of the Holy Virgin Theotokos.

Towards the beginning of the eighth century AD, the monastery was sold to a group of wealthy Syrian merchants from Tikrit, who had settled in Cairo, for 12,000 dinars. These merchants converted the monastery for use by Syrian monks, and rebaptized it Monastery of the Holy Virgin of the Syrians. This could be one of the sources of the monastery's modern name. Yet, it is also possible that the monastery had already been inhabited by Syrian monks since the fourth century AD, which could trace the monastery's name to that period.

The Syrian Monastery, like the rest of the monasteries in Scetes, was subject to fierce attacks by desert Bedouins and Berbers. The fifth of these attacks, which took place in 817 AD, was particularly disastrous to this monastery. The monastery was then rebuilt in 850 AD by two monks, named Matthew and Abraham.

In 927 AD, one of the monastery's monks, known as Moses of Nisibis, traveled to Baghdad to ask the Abbasid caliph Al-Muqtadir to grant tax exemption to the monasteries. Moses then traveled through Syria region and Mesopotamia in search of manuscripts. After three years of traveling, he returned to Egypt, bringing with him 250 Syriac manuscript. This made of the Syrian Monastery a prosperous and important facility, possessing many artistic treasures and a library rich in Syriac texts.

Inside the monastery, there is a large door known as, the Door of Prophecies or Gate of Prophecies, that features symbolic diagrams depicting the past and the future of the Christian faith through the eyes of Christian monks of the tenth century.

It has info tags on most of the church. They sell a lot fo the monastery products. It's busy during weekends. Keep in mind sometimes the monatsries are closed during fasting.

Deir as-Suriani
Deir as-Suriani, or the monastery of the Syrians
is named after a group of wandering Syrian monks
who bought the monastery ,with the help of one
of their wealthy countrymen , from the Copts in
the 8the century - although its been occupied
solely by Coptic monks since the 16th century’s .
Its worth visiting for its superb art. A series of
remarkable wall paintings has recently been
terys Church of the Virgin . Some of the windows
cut in the plaster covering them .
Deir as-Suriani is about 500m north-west of
Deir Anba Bishoi.

Beautiful spiritual atmosphere with great history. Part of the holy family route

The best coffe you can take it and drink Comfortably

Most amazing place. Full of blessings

Amazing and had a lot of historical arts

Syrian Monastery is one of the oldest monasteries in Egypt.

Good place to relax and pray

So holy place with the blessing of attendance of holy sprites all over the place

Very inspirational and spiritual place ... old days historical area ... where the monks leave ...

Perfect place but visit in winter it would have no flies

One of my favorite places, pretty churches and paintings, very spiritual (so much History there, especially if you read about before you see it, there are some really good books in different languages explaining the history) in the library

Love it ,the peace of mind and spirit

Such a holy place

I've only seen these photos now, but I've been reading The Sayings of the Desert Fathers (the alphabetical collection) for decades. I highly recommend them. Their simplicity of life is astonishing, like St. Thomas Aquinas' definition of God as Simplicity Itself. Every time I "hit bottom", there they are, going about their day.

U will find an amazing feeling when u see many paintings and a holy church and meet monks who are very kind ..many Christian men left everything to meet God and have a holy live in there

Great place to talk to God

One of the most beautiful monasteries I visited in egypt.