White Monastery

The Library

There was once a great library located in the monastery. It may have even been the greatest Coptic library in Egypt, but today it is scattered about the world. Codices were dismembered and and ended up in different libraries or museums. We do know that parts of the library have found their way to the following institutions:

Berlin, Deutshce Staatsbibliothek
Cairo, Coptic Museum
Cairo, Egyptian Museum
Cairo, Institute Francais d'Archeologie Orientale
Cambridge, University Library
Florence, Biblioteca Laurentiana
Leiden, Rijks-Museum
Leningrad (St. Petersburg), Public Library
London, British Library
London, Eton College
Louvain, Bibliotheque de l'Universite
Manchester, John Rylands University Library
Michigan, University Library
Moscow, Pushkin Museum
Naples, Biblioteca Nazionale
New York, Pierpont Morgan Library
Oxford, Bodleian Library
Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale de France
Paris Musee de Louvre
Strasbourge, Bibliotheque de l'Universite
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica
Venice, Biblioteca Naniana
Vienna, Osterreiche Nationalbibliothek

Apparently, after some centuries of abandonment, it would appear that limited monastic life has returned to this monastery and the Coptic Church of Egypt is working to increase the number of monks in the area.

The ancient library of the White Monastery is rich in many categories such biblical, hagiographical, liturgical, etc. This provides the researcher with good knowledge about what the monks were reading and what they were allowed to read at different stages of the monastery development.

However, the early times are not too well represented in the surviving fragments, This can be either attributed to their frequent use or simply they were victims of time and of decline of the monastery in later times. The dialect of these manuscripts were predominately in Sahidic Coptic, which was perfected in its literary form by Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite. There were also some bilingual manuscripts. The early ones were in Sahidic Coptic and Greek, while the latter ones had Sahidic Coptic and Arabic. The writing material employed were mostly parchment, because of its prevalence, but some of the later ones were found on paper.

The White Monastery at Sohag is names so for the limestone walls of the surviving church, which in some ways resembles a the pylons of a Pharaonic temple. This monastery, founded actually be the uncle of St. Shenouda, St. Pigol, lies 4 1/2 kilometers south of Sohag, with the Red Monastery very nearby.

Foundation & History

The monastery was originally founded by Saint Pigol, the maternal uncle of Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite in 442 AD. However, it only became renowned after Shenouda succeeded his uncle as abbot for the monastery. From 30 monks, the population of the White Monastery increased to 2,200 monks and 1,800 nuns by the time of Shenouda's death in 466 AD. The monastery also increased in size during this time to 12,800 acres (51.8 km²), an area about 3,000 times its original size. Such area included cells, kitchens, and storehouses, the ruins of which can still be seen to the north, west, and south sides of the church complex.

Following the death of Shenouda, the monastic community of the White Monastery continued strong throughout the 5th century under the leadership of Saint Wissa and later Saint Zenobius. However, the monastery began to slowly decline following the Arab invasion of Egypt in 641 AD. The state of decline can be attributed in part to the heavy taxes that the monasteries in Egypt had to endure. Such taxes literally put a great number of monasteries out of existence.

In the middle of the 8th century, the Arab governor Al-Kasim Ibn Ubaid Allah forced his way into the monastery church with his female concubine on horseback. This resulted in the concubine falling to the ground and eventually to her death along with the horse she was riding.

The monastery served as a host for Armenian monks in the 11th and the 12th centuries. This is indicated in the inscriptions found on the paintings of the central apse of the church, which date between 1076 and 1124. Among these Armenian monks was the Armenian Vizier Bahram, who became a monk after having been banished from his office during the Caliphate of the Fatimid Al-Hafiz (1131-1149 AD). In 1168, the monastery was attacked by the Muslim commander Shirkuh.

The monastery underwent major restorations between 1202 and 1259 AD. In the 13th century, in the work attributed to Abu Salih Al-Armani, it is mentioned that the monastery included a keep, which was probably built during the Middle Ages to protect the monastery from the attacks of the desert's bedouins. Abu Salih Al-Armani also tells of an enclosure wall around the monastery within which a garden full of all sorts of trees existed. The lack of literary manuscripts after the 14th century indicate that the monastery was in an advanced state of decline from that time onwards.

Discoveries at White Monastery in Sohag

Excavations maintained this season at the White Monastery in Sohag have led to the discovery of a church, a saints’ tomb and a pottery furnace.

The team excavating on the site had unearthed, last year, 2000 gold pieces dating back to the Roman Age. The unearthed furnace, which takes a circular shape, lies in the north-eastern side of the housing units allocated for the workers of the industrial area.

The church pertaining to the early 6th century followed a Pasilican style, which prevailed in the early Coptic era.

It was noticed that the walls of the church bore botanic, animal and geometric drawings of symbolic connotations in Christianity.

These symbols were actually used by early Christians in fear of the Roman oppressors.

Excavations were conducted 75 meters from the White Monastery as the site includes low hills, 3.5 to 4 metres high of archaeological features. Excavations, however, covered an area of 30 x 30 metres.

Skeletons were found at the east side of the church in three semicircular tombs that bear fresco drawings of fish (which symbolizes Christ in Coptic art), geometric shapes with crosses within and small squares like a chest board.

According to Farag Fada of the Islamic and Coptic Sector, it was customary to bury saints and martyrs under the alter whether in a tomb or a cavern in order to remind worshippers of the souls under the alter. The tomb discovered was covered by a red-brick dome bearing pictures of winged eagles, which refer in Coptic art to resurrection, and pictures of peacocks which symbolize the church.

Fada said that on the same site the team of excavators found four rooms made of red brick and mortar, in addition to a table hall 4 x 13.5 in dimension extending to the end of the church. The site of the White Monastery in Sohag has proven to be one of the richest in Upper Egypt with respect to Coptic antiquities.

The monastery was visited by Johann Michael Vansleb in 1672 and by Richard Pococke in 1737. Both of them made an incorrect attribution of the foundation of the monastery to Helena of Constantinople, Emperor Constantine's mother. During the second half of the 18th century, the southwest corner of the surviving church-complex collapsed. In 1798, the monastery was sacked and totally burned down by the Mamluks. The destruction was accounted for by the French traveler Dominique Vivant, who visited the monastery on the day following its destruction. In 1802, under the direction of Muhammad Ali, parts of the monastery were rebuilt. In 1833, Robert Curzon visited the monastery and left a written record of his visit. In 1893, Fergusson published a plan of the church complex. However the most significant contribution to the study of the monastery and its church were made by such visitors as Wladimir de Bock (1901), C. R. Peers (1904), Flinders Petrie (1907), Somers Clarke (1912), and Ugo Monneret de Villard (1925).

In 1907, the church complex experienced another repair which included the removal of the encrustation of brick work and the undercovering of the doorways. Then in the 1980s more restoration work took place on the walls and the columns of the church.

Description of the Monastery

The only surviving piece of the original monastery is its church complex, which was built in the Basilica style. It has six entrances; three centrally placed in the north, south, and west walls. The other three are located south of the west wall, east of the south wall, and east of the north wall. Its outer appearance shows an astounding resemblance to that of an Ancient Egyptian Temple. It has an interesting combination of exo- and eso-narthex leading into the body of the original church. This body, which is now an open courtyard, contains a nave flanked by two isles. They are being separated from the nave by long rows of columns with a returned isle in the west to define the eso-narthex. There existed atop these isles mezzanine galleries, as evidenced by the two rows of windows seen on the walls. To realize the grand style of this 5th century basilica, one needs only to observe the dimension of this open courtyard (no roof). It measures 172 feet long by 76 feet wide, of which the nave occupies half that width.

The current Church now occupies what used to be the choir and the sanctuary areas. This is separated from the open court by a solid red brick wall, of Middle Ages construction with doors and windows. The original sanctuary was built in a trefoil style with three apses. It is a step higher than the nave in the open court. The rectangular space defined by the apses to its north, south, and east sides; used to serve as the altar for the greater basilica. Now the altar is located within the central or eastern apse. The rest of the space is now integrated into the nave of the current Church. There is also a new iconstasis made with solid wood and adorned by small icons on its top register. The current sanctuary in the central apse is actually divided into three. The middle one is dedicated to Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite, the southern one to the Virgin Mary, and the northern one to Saint George.

The original three apses are of magnificent construction. Each contains two registers of columns separated by a decorative firese and surmounted by architraves. Between the columns there lie the niches. The horizontal cross-section of the niches in each register alternate between rectangular and circular. The semidome of each is decorated with beautiful design. Above the registers lies the majestic semidome. There paintings than can be distinguished in these semidomes. The one in the central apse has a painting of the Pantokrator and the four evangelists. In the northern apse, there is a depiction of the dormition of the Virgin Mary. The southern apse has a representation of the resurrection with the two Mary's and two angels.

The church complex has several annexes along the east and south walls. The most significant one of these is the great hall that runs alongside the south wall. This probably served the function of a woman chamber in the early days. It has a chamber at each of its east and west ends. The west chamber contains a well and it underwent reconstruction in the early 1800s. There are also two chambers south of the central apse and a third one to the north. On the south side, one chamber is rectangular with a font which is now used as a baptistery, and the second is circular with niches. On the north side, the chamber is square. There is another rectangular chamber west of the circular chamber and it is divided in half by two projecting buttresses.

There is a variety of building material employed in the construction of the church complex. This reflects the different stages that the monastery went through since the time of its foundation. The outer walls are of white limestone set in mortar with no bonding. They are sloped 6 degrees from vertical on the outside (original construction). The gargoyles and the door lintels are also of limestone with the door jambs being made of red granite. The source of these limestone is probably from ruins of nearby Ancient Egyptian temples, which Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite contributed to their demise figuratively and literally. The original nave columns are made of marble or granite with few later ones being of red bricks. Many of these columns are no longer standing. The paving of the nave is of limestone or granite slabs.

The original sanctuary is now roofed with vaults of burnt bricks, originally it had a wood roof. The nave, isles, and the great south hall (lateral narthex) are now without a roof, originally they had wood gabled roofs with galleries atop the isles. The wall between the exo-narthex and the body of the original church is of limestone. The great wall that defines the western boundary of the current church is made up of red bricks which encase the original columns and arches. This now is covered with a cream-color stucco layer. The four arches carrying the squinches of the central, original, sanctuary dome are also made up of red bricks except for the one toward the east witch is of marble construction.

Sources:

Wikipedia - White Monastery
"The White Monastery near Sohag Upper Egypt" Archaeological Journal by Peers, C. R.
Tour Egypt - The Monastery of St. Shenouda the Archimandrite (The White Monastery) by Jimmy Dunn
"Coptic Monasteries: Egypt's Monastic Art and Architecture", American University in Cairo Press
Egypt State Information Service - Discoveries at White Monastery

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