Wadi El-Natron Monasteries

Our guide will take you from your hotel in El-Behera to start your Coptic tour to Wadi Natroun, and your tour will start with a visit to the Monastery of Syrian
Built by St. Bishoy in the sixth century. It was built to be dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It has an impressive cave where Saint Bishoy is said to have prayed with his hair tied to a chain on the roof to prevent him from falling asleep. The monastery was acquired by Syrian monks at some point, which is why it acquired its modern name “Syrians” which means (Syrians)

Our next step will be at El-Baramous Monastery, the northernmost part of Wadi Natroun. Wadi Natrun is the most important monastic center in Egypt
The Arabic name “Paramus” is derived from the Coptic word “Ba Romeo” and “Romans”. Maximus and Domitius, the Roman saints and the children of the Roman Emperor Valentinian, lived and died in a cell in Cesisis in the days of St. Macarius. Saint Macarius ordered the construction of a church in their memory, which was called the “Cell of the Romans” and became the center of the monastic settlement there
It is dedicated to the Virgin of Barmus and was probably founded in the late sixth century
The monastery contains the oldest church in Wadi Natrun, the Church of the Virgi Mary. This church was built at the end of the 6th / early 7th century
Our next step will be the Monastery of St. Bishoy
It is a Coptic Orthodox monastery, it is the largest monastery in Wadi Natrun. Located half a kilometer southeast of the Monastery of the Virgin Mary (Syria), and away from the Monastery of St. Makarios “Abu Makar” west about twenty kilometers
St. Bishoy was a disciple of St. Macarius, a hermit leader in the valley. It was probably built until the end of the fourth century AD, and was rebuilt around 840 AD and includes five churches, the largest “Church of St. Bishoy”

We will then proceed to visit the Monastery of St. Makarios (Abu Makar)
Located in the south-east of the Monastery of St. Bishoy and the Syrian Monastery, an area of about two acres. This monastery is attributed to Saint Macarius the Great, the richest monastery in the Wadi Natrun, and his sanctity to the monks. There is a coffin containing the remains of sixteen patriarchal fathers
There are also the bodies of the 49 elderly martyrs killed by the Berbers buried in the Church of the Elders, as well as the marble coffin bearing the remains of St. Elari, daughter of King Xenon, which was hidden as men and intimidated in this monastery and buried in the floor of his old mansion built by her father over the place. This coffin is an indication of the prestigious status that the monastery occupied during various historical times throughout Egypt and even in all countries
Then you’ll get lunch at a local restaurant
At the end of the trip you will be transferred to your hotel in El-Behera