The monasteries of the desert of

Sketis

Wadi nNatrun
The monastery of Abu
Makar (Saint Macarius)
Wadi nNatrun
(The desert of Scetis)
Palladius, The Lausiac History, chap. 17,2

2. I will speak first of Macarius the Egyptian,

who lived ninety years. Sixty of these he passed
in the desert, where he went when he was thirty
years old. He was so respected for his
discernment that he was called the young old
man. For this reason he made rapid progress.
At forty he received the grace of being able to
heal those with evil spirits and of making
predictions. He was also held worthy of the
priesthood.
La biblioteca
John Cassian, on Macarius, the great man. Institutes 5,41

He said: the monk must fast in such a way as if he was going to

have to life a hundred years. and he must slow down the passions
of the soul, forget injuries, chase away sadness and pain, and not
pay attention to being despised as if he were to have to die daily.
In fact in fasting discretion is useful and prudent. For this reason
the monk should always walk with the same discipline, without
falling from the heights into the dangerous slopes because of the
weakness of the body. On the other hand a healthy magnanimity
is necessary so that the monk not only despises all that which
seems to lead to contentment in the world, but also learns not to
submit to aversity and sadness and to consider them as nothing,
while he fixes the sight of his soul there where he believes firmly he
may be called every day and in every moment.
The renewal of the monastery of Saint
Macarius 1969 - 2007

In 1969 there began for the monastery a period of renewal, spiritual and
architectural, with the arrival of twelve monks and their spiritual director, Fr.
Matta el-Meskin (Mattew the poor). These monks had lived the preceding
ten years completely isolated from the world in the caves of a destra area
known as Wadi el Rayan, about 50 km south of the Fayum. They had
lived a monastic life in the strict sense, in the spirit of the desert fathers,
with the same simplicity and the same privation of all the goods and
conveniences of the world, with the same profound sense of the divine
love, the same total confidence in divine providence, in the midst of an
austere natural setting and of the dangers of the desert. For these twelvee
monks it was a period of trial in which they were bound to the divine love
that united them in Christ in the spirit of the Gospel.
 In 1969 the Patriarch Cyril VI ordered this group of monks to leave
the Wadi el-Rayan and go to the monastery of Saint Macarius to
renew it. Thel Patriarch received them, blessed them, assured
them of his prayers and asked God to guarantee them His
spiritualpaternal grace, so that the desert could bloom again and
become the home for thousands of hermits. Only six old monks
were living there at the time and the old buildings were falling into
ruin. The new monks were received warmly by the abbot of the
monastery, the bishop Michael, the Metropolitan of Assiut, who,
thanks to his wisdom and his humility was capable of creating an
atmosphere favourable to the hoped for renewal.
The reconstruction of the monastery

The new buildings of the monastery were planned and constructed

by monks qualified in their fields. There are now more than 150 cells (each
includes a room for work and prayer, a bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchen
and a little balcony.), a large refectory here the monks come together daily
to share an agape meal, a new library with room for many thousands of
books. Other buildings have also been constructed such as a kitchen, an
oven, stalls, garages and a workshop for repairs. The new buildings
occupy and area of six acres, six times greater than that occupied by the
old monastery.