Article Title

Syriac Manuscripts from the Egyptian Desert

Authors

Carl Griffin

Keywords

Christian, Egyptian desert, manuscripts, libraries

Abstract

The birthplace and spiritual heart of Christian monasticism is the Nitrian Desert of Egypt and the long, shallow valley of Scetis (Wadi el-Natrun). It was to here, from the fourth century onwards, that Macarius the Great and others of the sainted desert fathers retreated from the world, devoting their lives to worship and prayer. While some monks chose to live in isolation as hermits, many others banded together to establish the first monasteries, building churches for worship and libraries for study.

Recommended Citation

Griffin, Carl (2011) "Syriac Manuscripts from the Egyptian Desert," Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship: Vol. 31: No. 1, Article 4.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/insights/vol31/iss1/4