St. Macarius the Great Monastery (Also known as Deir Abu Maqar)  

1.Critical Exegesis : 

Mahatma Kuriaki in more ways than one is a centrum in the entire lower Monasteries and the location of the greatest number of extrem mountains and deserts in Egypt, Wadi-L-Natron.

To the west of this place there is a surface highway linking Cairo and Alexandria located 129 km from Cairo and 86km from  Alexandria.

This very monastery has a diverse and long legacy attached to it thanks to the life of Saint Macarius the Great (300-390 CE).

Saint Macarius was the child of a priest who served in a town and declared to the end of his days to remain a father without a wife, regarding virginity too much and above all.

Like an angel he went into the inner desert where no one had been an ascetic before.

Near the site of modern day, Dayr al Baramus was his first settlement, and thus the history of the monastery began.

The monastery adopted a method called laura whereby monks would remain in their cells during the diasema and only come out for communal prayers and meals on sabbath and sunday’s.

After death of Saint Macarius, and the same task was assumed by Saint Paphnutius.

The monastery fought to stay relevant even with external threats like the incursions from the barbarian tribes which were prominent in the fifth century.

In the 600s, this place became the ‘new Alexandria’ for Coptic patriarchs as Copts were barred from residing in Alexandria.

In the seventh century, monasteries, including this one, underwent renovations, in light of yet another incursion of the Berber people.

In the course of the 800s the so-called Laura of Saint Macarius became much larger, containing as it did some one thousand cells. 

2.Contemporary Demographics: 

Currently, the monastic community of Deir Abu Maqar consists of cerca 120 monks, several of whom have attended and graduated from universities.

To recapitulate, Monastery of Saint Macarius the Great is a glorification of hundreds undying years of Christian monasticism, steadfastness and commitment in the middle of deserts in Egypt.