A Visit to Masaraa Monastery

Today one of our teachers arranged to use our school busses to take us to the Masaraa Monestery in a poor section of Cairo south of Maadi on the way to Helwan. This monastery is the seat of the Bishop of the Coptic Church for the area. On the grounds are various buildings dating from the 11th century. Once upon a time the Monastery owned land all the way to the Nile River. Much was approriated for public use after the revolution in 1952, when Nasser took control.

Our teachers have supported this monastery over the years with donations earmarked for their kindergarten/daycare program. We have donated money to purchase a bus, playground equipment, repair and repainting of the kindergarten rooms, and most recently the purchase of a microbus or mini-van, as we would call it. This is Sister Christine. She seems to be in charge of much of the goings-on here. This is a view of Sister showing the teachers the new construction for housing for orphans and the blind that the school supports. I never did find out the name of the religious order these Sisters are affiliated with.


Here is the bishop with Santa Claus and some AIS teachers. Today was the Christmas Bazaar hence the Santa. In the background is the mini-van bought with the charitable contributions of the AIS teachers, the monastery just took delivery of. Unfortunately the bishop turned just as I snapped this picture

The Monastery is founded on the site of a miracle attributed to this saint. It is told that this man, Abba Barsoum, referred to as St Barsoum, El Erian (the naked) because he shunned earthly things and wore only a goat skin for a covering, was praying on the roof of a church. People came from all around to pray with him and the Bishop feared there was not enough food to go around. So Abba asked that a bit of the soup being prepared be brought to him. He prayed over the soup and then instructed the monk who brought the soup to mix this small bit of soup with the rest of the soup being prepared. Miraculously there was enough soup to go around.

The picture most often seen of the Saint is of him scantily clothed with a snake wound around his feet. The story goes that this man shunned his earthly possessions and went to live in a cave that would now be in old Cairo. In this cave was a snake that Abba Barsoum prayed over and 'tamed', so that it would not bite and kill him. One of his many miracles.

This is the current Bishop of the Masaraa Monastery.