Dier el Surian

• Deir al-Surian

  The Syrian Monastery
• The Syrian Monastery


  • Coptic Orthodox monastery located in Wadi El-Natrun (the Nitrian Desert), Beheira Governorate, Egypt
  • Located about 500 meters northwest of the Monastery of St. Pishoy
  • Dedicated to the Virgin Mary and carries her name
  • Better known as the Syrian Monastery because it was mainly used by Syriac monks
• Theotokos

  The Holy Virgin
• The monastery was sold to a group of wealthy Syrian merchants from Tikrit, who had settled in Cairo, for 12,000 dinars


  Beginning of the 8th century A.D.
• The Syrian merchants converted the monastery for use by Syrian monks, and rebaptized it "Monastery of the Holy Virgin of the Syrians"
• It is also possible that the monastery had already been inhabited by Syrian monks since the 4th century A.D, which could trace the monastery's name to that period
• Door of Prophecies or Gate of Prophecies


  A large door inside the monastery that features symbolic drawings depicting the past and the future of the Christian faith through the eyes of Christian monks of the 10th century
• The monastery was probably founded

  6th century
• The monasteries of St. Pshoi and the Syrians as illustrated in Description de l'Egypte (1809)
• The Monastery of the Syrians was established by those of the St. Bishoi (Pishoi) monastery who were contrasting to Julianist doctrines
• The Monastery was originally called the Monastery of the Holy Virgin "Theotokos"
• Some manuscripts refer to it as the Monastery of the Mother of God of the Syrians
• There had actually been Syrian monks at Wadi al-Natrun since the end of the 4th century, living amongst the other monks
• The Syrians wished to live in a monastic community that would be culturally homogeneous
• All of the Monasteries in the Wadi al-Natrun were subjected to horrible attacks by desert tribes and by the Berbers in 817 A.D.
• The monastery was rebuilt in 850 A.D. thanks mainly to the insistent labor of two monks, Matthew and Abraham
• A learned and cultured monk named Moses of Nisibis traveled to Syria and Mesopotamia in search of manuscripts


  927 A.D.
• After having spent three years gathering material, he returned to Egypt, bringing with him 250 Syrian manuscripts
• Deir al-Surian


  The Syrian Monastery
• The monastery became a prosperous and important facility, possessing many artistic treasures and a library rich in Syrian texts, making it an important source of history and culture of Syria
• The monastery was inhabited by some 60 monks, making it the 3rd largest in the Wadi, after those of St. Macarius and St. John the Little


  End of the 11th century (1088)
• Sometime in the middle of the 12th century, the monastery must have witnessed a period of trouble for a period of 10 years when "no Syrian priests was present there"
• The Syrian Monastery


  • Coptic Orthodox monastery located in Wadi El-Natrun (the Nitrian Desert), Beheira Governorate, Egypt
  • Located about 500 meters northwest of the Monastery of St. Pishoy
  • Dedicated to the Virgin Mary and carries her name
  • Better known as the Syrian Monastery because it was mainly used by Syriac monks
• The monastery was once again destroyed, this time by the curse of the plague

  14th century
• Theotokos


  The Holy Virgin
• The monastery was sold to a group of wealthy Syrian merchants from Tikrit, who had settled in Cairo, for 12,000 dinars


  Beginning of the 8th century A.D.
• Egyptians were once again beginning to inhabit the monastery and by 1516, only 18 of the 43 monks were Syrian
• The trend of Egyptian replacing the Syrians continued as the prosperity of the monastery increased
• Monastery of the Holy Virgin of the Syrians


  The name the monastery was given after being converted for use by Syrian monks
• In the 17th century, western travelers from France, Germany and England visited the monastery and reported that there were two churches: One for the Syrians and One for the Coptic Christian monks
• Syrian monks may have inhabited the monastery since this period

  4th century A.D.
• They also mention a miraculous "St. Ephrem's tree"
• Door of Prophecies or Gate of Prophecies


  • Large door inside the monastery featuring symbolic drawings depicting the past and the future of the Christian faith through the eyes of Christian monks of the 10th century
• The monastery was probably founded

  6th century
• According to tradition, St. Ephrem was a 4th century Syrian theologian and ascetic from Nisibis who sought to meet the Holy monk Pshoi, and thus came to the monastic centers of the Wadi
• The story of St. Ephrem's staff miraculously growing into a tree
• Between 1839 and 1851, the British Museum in London was able to obtain about 500 Syrian manuscripts from the monastery library, concerned not only with religious topics, but also with philosophy and literature
• Keep (Qasr)


  • Situated west of the north entrance to the monastery
  • Built in the middle of the 9th century
  • Four stories with access granted by a wooden drawbridge to the second floor
  • Bottom floor used for storage of food supplies and production of flour, oil and wine
  • Second floor used to house the precious library of manuscripts
  • Third floor provided housing to the monks during times of danger
  • Fourth floor reserved as a chapel dedicated to the Archangel Michael
• These manuscripts inspired intense research on the Syriac language and culture, for until that time, many classical texts were unknown to Western scholars
• The monastery of the Syrians provides a great opportunity to study the development of Coptic wall painting