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The Syrian Monastery, (also known e.g. as Suryan Monastery, Deir el-Surian, Deir el-Syriani, or the monastery / church of Maria Deipara)〔(Trismegistos Geo, about Wadi el-Natrun )〕 is a Coptic Orthodox monastery located in Wadi El Natrun (the Nitrian Desert), Beheira Governorate, Egypt. It is located about 500 meters northwest of the Monastery of Saint Pishoy. Ecclesiastically, the monastery is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and carries her name; and in scolarly references from the nineteenth century, it is generally called the covenant/convent/monastery of St. Mary Deipara. However, it is nowadays better known as the ''Syrian Monastery'' because it was mainly used by Syriac monks. ==Etymology, foundation and ancient history== The exact date of the monastery's foundation is unknown. Most sources seem however to agree that its foundation took place in the sixth century AD. The establishment of the monastery is closely connected to the Julian heresy, which spread in Egypt during the papacy of Pope Timothy III of Alexandria. The Julianists believed in the incorruptibility of Christ's body. This was in contradiction with the teaching of the Orthodox Church, which held that Christ had taken human flesh that prevented him from being ideal and abstract, and therefore corruptible. Yet, in the monasteries of Scetes, a majority of the monks embraced the Julian heresy. In reaction, those who did not follow the heresy obtained permission from the governor Aristomachus to erect new churches and monasteries, so that they could settle apart from the Julianists. These new facilities were often built alongside the old ones, even keeping the same name but adding to it the word ''Theotokos'', thus recognizing the significance of the incarnation, which the Julians seemed to minimize. The Syrian Monastery was therefore established by those monks of the Monastery of Saint Pishoy who rejected the Julian heresy. At the time of its construction, they called it the ''Monastery of the Holy Virgin Theotokos''. Towards the beginning of the eighth century AD, the monastery was sold to a group of wealthy Syrian merchants from Tikrit, who had settled in Cairo, for 12,000 dinars. These merchants converted the monastery for use by Syrian monks, and rebaptized it ''Monastery of the Holy Virgin of the Syrians''. This could be one of the sources of the monastery's modern name. Yet, it is also possible that the monastery had already been inhabited by Syrian monks since the fourth century AD, which could trace the monastery's name to that period. The Syrian Monastery, like the rest of the monasteries in Scetes, was subject to fierce attacks by desert Bedouins and Berbers. The fifth of these attacks, which took place in 817 AD, was particularly disastrous to this monastery. The monastery was then rebuilt in 850 AD by two monks, named Matthew and Abraham. In 927 AD, one of the monastery's monks, known as Moses of Nisibis (c. 907 - 943 AD), traveled to Baghdad to ask the Abbasid caliph Al-Muqtadir to grant tax exemption to the monasteries. Moses of Nisibis then traveled through Syria region and Mesopotamia in search of manuscripts. After three years of traveling, he returned to Egypt, bringing with him 250 Syriac manuscript. This made of the Syrian Monastery a prosperous and important facility, possessing many artistic treasures and a library rich in Syriac texts. Inside the monastery, there is a large door known as, the Door of Prophecies or Gate of Prophecies, that features symbolic diagrams depicting the past and the future of the Christian faith through the eyes of Christian monks of the tenth century. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Syrian Monastery, Egypt」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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