For the Christian monastic site, see Nitria (monastic site).
The Nitrian Desert is a desert region in northwestern Egypt, lying between Alexandria and Cairo west of the Nile Delta. It is known for its history of Christian monasticism.[1]
There were three monastic centres in the Nitrian Desert in Late Antiquity. Around 330, Macarius the Egyptian established a monastic colony in the Wadi El Natrun (Scetis), far from cultivable land. In the 330s, Saint Amun founded Nitria, only 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Alexandria, using the rules of Saint Anthony. He founded a second centre, Kellia, on Anthony's suggestion, deeper into the desert. Kellia has been the object of scientific excavations.[2] Only Scetis in the Wadi El Natrun remains a monastic site today.[3]
^"Nitrian Desert", in F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone, eds., The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd rev. ed. (Oxford University Press, 2005, online 2009).
^Janet Timbie, "Egypt", in William M. Johnston and Christopher Kleinhenz, eds., Encyclopedia of Monasticism (Routledge, 2015), pp. 432–435.
^Roger S. Bagnall and Dominic W. Rathbone, eds., Egypt from Alexander to the Early Christians: An Archaeological and Historical Guide (Getty Publications, 2004), pg. 108–115 (map on p. 109).
The NitrianDesert is a desert region in northwestern Egypt, lying between Alexandria and Cairo west of the Nile Delta. It is known for its history of...
El-Sourian is a Coptic Orthodox monastery located in Wadi El Natrun in the NitrianDesert, Beheira Governorate, Egypt. It is located about 500 meters northwest...
young age and moved to Alexandria, and then to the NitrianDesert. She met several of the Desert Fathers, following them in their travels and ministering...
البراموس), is a Coptic Orthodox monastery located in Wadi El Natrun in the NitrianDesert, Beheira Governorate, Egypt. It is the most northern among the four...
to the Coptic Orthodox Church. The entirety of the NitrianDesert is sometimes called the Desert of Macarius,[citation needed] for he was the pioneer...
is one of the three early Christian monastic centers located in the NitrianDesert of the northwestern Nile Delta. The other two monastic centers are Nitria...
churches. Pambo was a disciple of Anthony the Great. He lived in the NitrianDesert where he founded many monasteries. He was renowned for his wisdom, and...
declared a saint. He was one of the most venerated ascetics of the NitrianDesert, and Athanasius of Alexandria mentions him in his life of Anthony the...
present day via incorruptibility at the Monastery of Saint Bishoy in the NitrianDesert, Egypt. He is venerated by the Oriental Orthodox Churches and the Eastern...
(monastic site), abandoned site of early Christian monastic activity NitrianDesert, region in northwestern Egypt This disambiguation page lists articles...
practising asceticism. For example, John of Egypt, a hermit from the NitrianDesert, lived on a diet of dried fruit and vegetables for fifty years; he never...
monks or nuns, may also be termed a cell. The first cells were in the NitrianDesert in Egypt following the ministry of Paul of Thebes, Serapion, and Anthony...
variant Qur'anic readings. Among the Syriac manuscripts obtained from the Nitriandesert in Egypt, British Museum, London: important Greek texts, Add. Ms. 17212...
surpass this tradition and headed out into the desert proper. He left for the alkaline NitrianDesert (later the location of the noted monasteries of...
relics of Saint Macarius of Egypt from village of Shabsheer to the NitrianDesert on 19 Mesori. He is commemorated in the Coptic Synaxarion on the 3rd...
"the innermost desert", was a 4th-century Egyptian Christian monastic community spread out over many square kilometers in the NitrianDesert about 65 km...
influence to help monks, priests, and bishops in the NitrianDesert." She stayed with the monks in the desert near Alexandria, Egypt (today the area is known...
Macarius of Alexandria (Greek: Μακάριος; died 395) was a monk in the NitrianDesert. He was a slightly younger contemporary of Macarius of Egypt, and is...
fragments of the four Gospels. The text was brought in 1842 from the NitrianDesert in Egypt, and is now held in the British Library. These fragments were...
El-Souriani (commonly called the Syrian Monastery) in Wadi El-Natrun in the NitrianDesert. He was given the name of Father Antonios el-Syriani (Anthony the Syrian)...
Anchorite, or John of Lycopolis, was one of the hermits and grazers of the NitrianDesert. He began as a carpenter but at the age of twenty-five began to live...
the abbot of the ancient Syrian monastery St. Mary Deipara, in the Nitriandesert in Egypt, Moses the Nisibene, acquired over 250 manuscripts from Mesopotamia...
A controversy over how to conceptualise God that broke out in the Nitriandesert in 400 saw dispute in which one side was influenced by Origenist views...
have him arrested during a vigil service, but Athanasius flees to the Nitriandesert in Upper Egypt. The veneration of non-Christian images is banned in...
from 1570/1571 to 1585/1586. He joined the Paromeos Monastery in the NitrianDesert before becoming a Pope. Meinardus, Otto F.A. (1999). Two Thousand Years...
of Obedience. When the Mazices invaded Scetes in 395, John fled the NitrianDesert and went to live on Mount Colzim, near the present city of Suez, where...
of Egypt established his monastery at Scetis (Wadi El Natrun) in the NitrianDesert.: 27 On 24 February 391, the emperor Theodosius the Great (r. 379–395)...
Cyrus saw that Samuel had escaped, he ordered him driven away from the NitrianDesert. After leaving Scetes, Samuel dwelt in Mount Qalamoun, currently in...
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