Monasticism And the Commemoration of Saint Abba Shenouda and the White Monastery
Monasticism
And the Commemoration of Saint Abba Shenouda and the White Monastery
Monasticism
Monasticism was a spiritual dream that humanity beheld in the fourth and fifth centuries. When it awoke, it found that the situation had changed greatly from before. Monasticism was a life of complete solitude, a life of constant prayer and contemplation, a life of strict asceticism, and a complete withdrawal from the world and everyone in it. One of the Fathers said that it is “a dissolution from all to be bound to the One,” meaning it is a detachment from everything, every worldly desire, and every connection to the world, for the sake of union with the One, who is God.
Thus, Saint Abba Paul lived his entire life in solitude, never seeing a human face until God sent him, at the end of his life, Saint Abba Antony, who learned of his story, prepared his burial, and wrote his life for the world to know him.
Saint Abba Antony, the father of monasticism and all monks, also lived a life of complete solitude for about thirty years until some came to him seeking guidance, and many began to be his disciples—among them were the first leaders of monasticism. Although this great saint lived to the age of 105, he left his solitude only twice: once to encourage those about to be martyred, but the Lord did not permit him to be a martyr because He intended him to be the father and guide of the monastic life; and the second time when Saint Athanasius the Apostolic called him during the Arian conflict to support him by the testimony of his holiness. People did not expect theological explanations from him, but his holiness was enough to confirm Saint Athanasius’s teaching. Saint Antony spent three days on that journey, then returned to his solitude—as history says—“as a stranger seeking his homeland.” It is astonishing how Saint Abba Antony, at a hundred years old, could climb to and descend from his cave.
However, monasticism from its earliest days included systems and developments.
The system of Saint Macarius combined solitude with spiritual discipleship. The monks spent the week in solitude, then gathered together on Saturday evening to ask questions and receive answers from the elders. They all prayed together at the Sunday liturgy and received the Holy Mysteries, then each returned to his cell. Some kept complete silence, like Saint Arsenius, who was once asked by another holy father, “Why do you not speak with us, Father?” He replied, “God knows that I love you all, but I cannot speak with God and with people at the same time.” Saints Maximus and Domadius also lived together in a cave, and Saint Arsenius was a guide to many monks. Saint Abba Moses the Black served the monks with his love and example.
Monasticism also knew the system of the wandering hermits—those who roamed the mountains for decades unseen by anyone. At the end of each one’s life, God would send someone to discover him, record his life, and prepare his burial. The first of the wanderers was Saint Abba Paul, and among the most famous were Saint Abba Karas, Saint Apa Nopher, Saint Anba Bigimi, Saint Anba Misael, and others. Also Saint Mary the Egyptian, the repentant hermit, who was blessed by the priest Zosima, who wrote her life story.
The monks did not write about their own lives or record their sayings. But visitors to the fathers and monasteries documented their teachings and virtues. Among them was Saint Palladius, who wrote his famous work to a nobleman named Lausius titled Historia Lausiaca, translated as The Paradise of the Fathers. Also Rufinus, who wrote about the Desert Fathers. Among the most famous writers on monasticism was John Cassian, who published two books: Institutes—consisting of twelve chapters, the first four on Egyptian monasticism in general, and the rest (Conferences) about his discussions with monks living among the Delta lakes in uninhabitable areas suitable only for monks. These discussions focused on theological, doctrinal, or spiritual topics.
Saint Jerome wrote the life of Abba Paul the Hermit and the life of Saint John of Lycopolis. The life of Saint Antony was written by Saint Athanasius the Apostolic, who was his disciple and benefited from his guidance.
Monasticism and Priesthood
In its earliest stages, monasticism was separate from the priesthood.
Abba Antony was not a priest. Abba Pachomius fled from Saint Athanasius when he sought to ordain him a priest. All the wandering fathers were not priests. Abba Shenouda refused to be ordained a bishop. The Church even chose the deacon Athanasius to be Patriarch during the lifetime of Saint Abba Antony the Great. However, over time, monasteries needed to ordain priests to hear confessions and celebrate the liturgy. Thus, Abba Isidore was a priest, as was Abba Moses the Black, and Saint Macarius had been a celibate priest before becoming a monk.
The Cenobitic Life
Another system that entered monasticism was communal life.
Saint Abba Pachomius is considered the father of cenobitic life, where hundreds of monks lived together in one monastery, prayed together, and ate together, with each having his task or work in the monastery. Saint Pachomius founded about seven monasteries in Upper Egypt, from Esna and southward, assisted by his disciple Saint Theodore. These monasteries also received guests.
Saint Abba Shenouda
He was born in the village of Shandweel (in Sohag province) as the only son of his parents. His father was a farmer who had sheep cared for by a shepherd. This shepherd asked that the boy Shenouda accompany him. His father agreed but required that Shenouda return home every day before sunset. When the boy began to delay, his father followed him and saw him standing in prayer, his hands raised, and his fingers glowing like burning lamps. The father took him back, saying, “Take your son, for I am not worthy that he stay with me.”
Later, his uncle Pigol, the head of a monastery, took him in, and the holiness of the young boy began to appear. Once, when a man was possessed by a demon, Shenouda placed his hand on him and rebuked the spirit, which left him. Another time, Abba Pigol saw in a vision an angel guarding Shenouda as he slept. Then an angel appeared to Abba Pigol and gave him a monastic habit (eskim) to place on Shenouda, saying, “Today I establish Shenouda as Archimandrite.”
Abba Shenouda began his monastic life with great asceticism, enduring much hardship and fasting, until his body became thin and dried up. He was constant in prostrations, fasting, and weeping. When Abba Pigol departed, another was appointed as head of the monastery, but he was not strict about the errors of some monks. Shenouda rebuked him, and when he would not listen, Shenouda left the monastery and lived alone in a cave.
When the head of the monastery passed away, the monks chose Abba Shenouda as their leader. This marked a new chapter in his life. He was very firm and established rules for the monks. He wrote letters, and God granted him the gift of discerning the thoughts of those who came to him. He was extremely careful with his words, saying, “I have never spoken a word that the Lord Jesus Christ did not place upon my lips.” God also granted him to perform miracles, recorded by his disciple Wisa.
Abba Shenouda defended the poor and rebuked the rich who neglected them, especially as he lived in a feudal era. He loved justice and defended the oppressed, often saying, “He who hears the cry of the poor and does not respond will himself cry, and the Lord will not answer.”
Once, tribes of raiders attacked villages near Akhmim, plundered their goods, and took captives. When Shenouda heard this, he went to them and negotiated with their leader to release the captives in exchange for keeping the plunder. The leader agreed, and Shenouda brought the captives—around twenty thousand—to his monastery, hosting and providing them with food, clothing, and even wages. He spent twenty-five thousand dirhams weekly on vegetables for them, besides what the monastery’s farms produced, and he cared for them for three months.
Some of those he cared for complained, saying, “We are not used to this food or this bedding.” Shenouda did not become angry or drive them away but excused them, saying, “We are all fought by our weaknesses.”
Once, a poor man came to him, and Shenouda gave him seeds to plant. The crop grew abundantly, and the man became wealthy.
Another time, a merchant came complaining that his house had been robbed. Shenouda told him, “Go to the outskirts of Asyut. You will find three men, one of whom is combing his hair. Tell him that I want him.” The merchant obeyed, found the men, and delivered the message. When the saint saw him, he said, “You must return the merchant’s money you stole, or God will punish you.” The thief returned the money, and the merchant rejoiced.
The holiness and fame of Abba Shenouda spread widely. He also defended the faith in his time and opposed sorcery, superstition, fortune-telling, and belief in omens or luck. He rebuked those who sought magicians or healers who used animal parts or charms, saying, “These things will not help you.”
He cared for the shrines of martyrs and saints, following the teachings of Saint Cyril the Great, who built a shrine for Saints Cyrus and John. Yet, he opposed the misuse of feasts and festivals that led to error.
Abba Shenouda had a good relationship with the patriarchs of his era, who corresponded with him with deep respect. Saint Pope Cyril took him to the Council of Ephesus to oppose Nestorius. By divine intervention, Shenouda returned from the council safely. When Nestorius was condemned, he was exiled to Akhmim near Shenouda’s White Monastery, for that area was filled with sound teaching due to Shenouda’s sermons, which drew thousands of listeners.
God granted Shenouda miraculous transportation from one place to another. Emperor Theodosius heard of him and desired to meet him—and this meeting took place by another miracle.
Once, nobles of Akhmim asked him, “Is there anyone in this generation who can be like Abba Antony?” He replied, “Even if all the monks of this age gathered together, they would not produce one Antony.”
Abba Shenouda is considered the leader of Coptic literature.
He mastered the Coptic language—its grammar and vocabulary—and though he knew Greek, he insisted on writing in the Coptic (Sahidic) dialect, striving to free it from Greek influence. His sermons and teachings were deeply moving, full of engagement, exhortation, and spiritual warning.
His writings fall into three categories:
The monastic rules he composed (nine collections)
His sermons or teachings (eight collections)
His letters
Much of his work was lost; only about ten thousand pages and fragments from around 350 manuscripts remain. In the twelfth century, his library at the White Monastery contained about a thousand manuscripts.
Today, the surviving manuscripts are scattered across museums and libraries worldwide—the National Library of Paris, the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology, the Coptic Museum Library in Cairo, the National Library in Vienna, the Egyptian Museum in Turin, and the British Museum. Around 148 of his rules and sermons have been identified.
Recognition of Saint Abba Shenouda began when the German traveler Vansleb published a book in Paris in 1671 mentioning the White and Red Monasteries. Later, the Danish scholar Zoega wrote in the 19th century. The French scholar Amélineau published the first volume of Shenouda’s works with a French translation in 1907, and the second in 1914. The German scholar Leipoldt and the Coptologist Crum later worked on his writings, followed by the American scholar Young, who published more texts with English translations.
In 2004, Professor Stephen Emmel published all that had been discovered of Shenouda’s writings hidden in museums, awaiting publication.
After the French campaign and the British mandate, European fascination with Egyptian and Coptic civilization increased, and the buying of Coptic manuscripts spread. Shenouda’s writings were dispersed across libraries and museums. Stephen Emmel organized them with indexes for each sermon and rule over ten years (1994–2004) as part of his doctoral research, after which he began translating Shenouda’s works.
—
Article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, El-Keraza Magazine, Year 35, Issue 25–26, July 27, 2007
For better translation support, please contact the center
