# Monastery of Saint Antony

Source: https://coptic-lore-forge.lovable.app/wiki/monastery-of-saint-antony — Coptic Orthodox Wiki (updated 2026-10-02)

The Monastery of Saint Antony, or Dayr Anba Antuniyus, is an Eastern Desert monastery associated with early monastic settlement, medieval churches and paintings, manuscript preservation, and Coptic patriarchs.[^1][^2][^7][^15]

## Location and origins

The Monastery of Saint Antony, also called Dayr Anba Antuniyus, stands in Egypt’s Eastern Desert, southwest of Ras Za‘faranah, at the foot of the southern end of the Jalalah mountain range.[^1][^2] Saint Antony established his desert hermitage near the site of the later monastery.[^3]

A monastic settlement was established after Antony’s death, during the reign of Julian the Apostate (361–363); its initial buildings comprised a church, cells, a kitchen, and a bakehouse.[^2]

## Historical development

During the fifth century, the monastery sheltered monks from Wadi al-Natrun whose monasteries had been attacked. Melchite monks occupied it in the seventh and eighth centuries, and John the Almoner entrusted its superior Anastasius with funds to ransom captives taken by the Persians.[^4]

By the patriarchate of John VI (1189–1216), the monastery was inhabited by Coptic monks and supplied candidates for the Ethiopian office of abuna.[^5] Among them were the brothers Yeshaq and Yusuf, selected respectively as metropolitan and coadjutor and consecrated in Cairo on 7 March 1210.[^6]

The monastery underwent major repairs during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and had a fortified enclosure by the thirteenth century.[^5] Its chronology records pillaging and the massacre of monks around 1484; Gabriel VII subsequently rebuilt the monastery during his patriarchate (1525–1568).[^8][^9]

The community supplied numerous Coptic patriarchs: twelve Antonian monks ascended the patriarchal throne.[^7] Cyril IV entered the monastery at twenty-two and became its abbot at twenty-four; he later enlarged its precincts to the south and west.[^10][^11]

## Churches and wall paintings

The Church of Saint Antony and the old southern wall are among the surviving structures predating the sixteenth-century rebuilding.[^7] The church dates to the beginning of the thirteenth century and has a long, single-nave domed plan, with two successive bays and a khurus, the space between the nave and sanctuary.[^12] Its eastern end contains three adjoining sanctuaries, each with its own cupola; a subsidiary chapel dedicated to the four beasts of the Apocalypse was added along the southern side.[^13]

The sources differ slightly in dating the medieval paintings: the historical account associates them with restoration by the sons of Ghalib in 1232, whereas the chronology dates the frescoes to 1232–1233 on the evidence of an inscription.[^7][^14]

The churches were used seasonally: Saint Antony’s in winter, the Church of the Apostles from April through October, Saint Mark’s for fifteen days during Lent, and the Church of the Holy Virgin during the fifteen days preceding the Feast of the Assumption. The Chapel of Saint Michael is on the keep’s top floor.[^7]

## Library, spring, and cave

Surviving manuscript colophons attest scribal activity at the monastery.[^16] The chronology records that Antony’s letters were translated there from Coptic into Arabic in 1070.[^14] The library, formerly housed in the keep, was subsequently accommodated in a separate building; a catalogue cited from 1930 counted 1,438 manuscripts across biblical, theological, historical, ecclesiastical, and miscellaneous subjects.[^15]

A perennial spring supplies the monastery and was brought within its enclosing wall in 1854.[^17] On a terrace above the monastery is a small cave traditionally associated with Antony’s residence, entered through a long corridor and containing an altar.[^17]

## Sources
[^1]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 105)
[^2]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 151)
[^3]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 1, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 383)
[^4]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 151)
[^5]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 151)
[^6]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 4, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 8)
[^7]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 153)
[^8]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 156)
[^9]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 4, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 318)
[^10]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 39)
[^11]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 158)
[^12]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 161)
[^13]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 162)
[^14]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 155)
[^15]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 158)
[^16]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 7, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 194)
[^17]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 161)