St. Paul's to St. Antony's Monastery Marathon Run

Thursday after school Tim picked us up and we headed towards Ain Shokna with our destination being 80 miles south of that. We meet the other two cars at the toll booth and all car pooled down to St. Paul's.

Oh you need some background...one day at the womp (a trek in the desert) Mike and I heard about this marathon run that was taking place and it sounded like a fun weekend. Did I tell you I am in training to run a 5K?....ok not a marathon but it is a start.

So we pursued the conversation and was invited along to drive the cars between the 2 monasteries which are about 44k apart. Mike and I were thrilled to get out in the desert, camp, see 2 sites that are new to us, and get to hike more than an hour.

So off we head with 7 professional runners, they have all done several marathons before and most of then have done several iron man competitions as well as 100 mile runs, etc...

We got to the gates of St. Paul around 8PM, pitched our tents and Fisel made us supper of spaghetti; runners need their carbs. We listened to them reminisce about last years run and how Amos threw a rock that disabled Keir from running, Keir a glutton for punishment was running again this year.
Mike informed us that you could see Andromeda Galaxy and pointed out how to find it. The Andromeda Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 2.5 million light-years away in the Constellation Andromeda. It is the nearest spiral galaxy to our own, the Milky Way.

We also pointed out the Milky Way to others.

Comet Holmes was a big attraction as well. Mike found it last week in the desert. I was glad he shared his find. Holmes is actually an old comet. First seen in November 1892 by British observer Edwin Holmes, it has since made 16 circuits around the Sun and should have fizzled out a long time ago. It made its closest approach to the Sun in May.

Did anyone get any sleep???? Nope it is still a popular pilgrimage stop and the tour buses arrived at 4AM to make sure they were the first to get in when the gates open at 6:30. They parked next to our tents and chatted till the gates opened.


These guys were ready to go at 7 but they were waiting for 2 more guys to get ready. Tim, Kevin, Paul, Keir and Eric.


Fisel is ready sneaking in on the right.

Amos is still not ready but they are waiting no longer. They have a full 8 hours of climbing to do.
St. Antony's Monastery, and its neighbor St. Paul's, are both Coptic Christian and are the oldest inhabited monasteries in Egypt. Hidden deep in the Red Sea Mountains and relying on springs for their water supply.

The Monastery of St. Paul probably dates to the fifth century and was founded in memory of one of Egypt's greatest saints.
St. Paul was apparently born to rich parents in the year 228, However, by the age of sixteen, he had lost his parents. After the death of his parents, Paul renounced his inheritance and consecrated his life to God, eventually seeking refuge in the wilderness of Egypt's Eastern Desert, where he is said to have lived until the age of one hundred and thirteen. Living in his cave, and clothed in a tunic made of plaited palm leaves, tradition holds that a raven brought a half of a loaf of bread each day for him to eat.


When Paul thought that he was approaching death, he asked Anthony to fetch the cloak which the patriarch Athanasius had given him. However, when Anthony arrived at the cave where Paul had lived those many years, he saw angels carrying the soul of the holy ascetic to heaven. Paul's body remained in the cave, but two lions approached and dug a grave into which Anthony placed Paul's body wrapped in the cloak he had fetched.

As we toured the monastery we saw them start the ascent. Those dots are the boys.

Mike and I started a habit of photographing crosses, bells, patterned things etc this summer (we need to back blog). Be warned there are several here.




There was a cross at each of the highest peaks near St. Paul's.




St. Antony's Monastery, which lies at the foot of Al-Qalzam Mountain near Al Zaafarana, was founded in 356 AD just after the saints death and is the oldest active monastery in the world. St. Antony founded several monasteries during his life but alas they are no more. During the sixth and seventh centuries many monks from Wadi Natroun who were under frequent attacks by Bedouins migrated to St. Antony's. This monastery was plundered on many occasions, being partly destroyed in the 11th century. Between the 12th and 15th centuries, the monastery flourished but was plundered again in 1454 by Bedouin servants. Due to such attacks, this is a fortress style monastery. Though Coptic today, over its many years the monastery was often multi-faith, housing monks of several different Christian religions.
Fig trees


Crosses



This is Father Razku. He loved taking my hand and leading me to the next site.

He did not like that the olive trees dropped their fruit so we all stopped and picked up the ones on the ground nearest to us. There were quite a few.


Bird house
Holy water be flung at us.

Still there source of water after 1,000s of year.

Pigeons...they are a delicacy here.

Today it is a self-contained village with gardens, a mill, a bakery and five churches, the best of which is St. Antony's Church. Egypt monasteries are experiencing a revival, and the monk population of St. Antony's has grown considerably in recent years.








Window

Crosses

The Monastery has exceptional wall paintings of holy knights in bright colors and the hermit founders of the monastery in subdued colors and icons. These wall paintings, widely know to monks and art historians, were obscured by soot, candle grease, oil and dust, but recently, in a collaborated effort between the Supreme Council of Antiquities and the American Research Center in Egypt, these unique painting were restored. One set of the paintings is attributed to a team lead by a Coptic master named Theodore, while the other appears to be done by team with Byzantine influence. The oldest paintings date to the seventh and eighth centuries, while the newest are from the thirteenth century. In addition to the paintings, woodwork inside At. Antony's Church was also restored.
Do you know the story of 10? Jesus is pressing the 10th digit of his hand with his thumb. The name of Jesus begins with the tenth letter of the alphabet in every language. Father Razku listed them in 5 or so different languages. He said that it symbolized infinity.

Supper table
This fort had a design flaw. No entrance. They use to pull people, food stores, timber, etc...up threw this hole.


Amazingly built in the middle of no where.


This is the place for those who need to contemplate....

Our hike started here where we scaled the wall and marched up and up. Kim lead the complicated way as we headed to meet the runners. We walked in about 7K and saw them headed down a giant hill of scree. I stopped in the middle made PB&J and watched them run down.

Of course I was the last one make to the cars but it was fun. A 14K hike in the middle of the desert .

They all made it back and celebrated with a beer.