Wadi El Natrun

Wadi El Natrun

Wadi El Natrun is a town in Al Buhayrah Governorate, Egypt. In Arabic, its name translates into the Nitrate Valley due to the presence of eight different nitrate lakes in the region. In Coptic the region was known as Shee-Hyt, meaning the balance of the hearts or the measure of the hearts. In Greek it is known as Scetes, which means the ascetics. In Christian literature, the region is also referred to as the Nitrian Desert. It is located at 30°25'N 30°20'E.

History

The region of Wadi El Natrun was and remains one of the most sacred regions in Christianity. Between the third and seventh centuries A.D., the region attarcted hundreds of thousands of people from the world over to join the hundreds of moansteries of the Nitrian Desert. Many anchorites, hermites and monks lived in the desert and the hills around the region. The solitude of the Nitrian Desert attracted these people because they saw in the privations of the desert a means of learning stoic self-discipline. Thus, these individuals believed that desert life would teach them to eschew the things of this world and allow them to follow God's call in a more deliberate and individual way. Some of the most renowned saints of the region include Saint Amun, Saint Arsenius, Saint John the Dwarf, Saint Macarius of Egypt, Saint Macarius of Alexandria, Saint Moses the Black, Saint Pishoy, and Saint Samuel the Confessor.

The importance of the region declined with the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 641 A.D. Many of the monasteries were destroyed and looted by the Arabs. Today only four monasteries remain in the region, all dating of the fourth century A.D.:

• The Monastery of Saint Pishoy
• The Monastery of Saint Macarius
• The Syrian Monastery
• The Paromeos Monastery