World’s oldest Christian monastery gets a remodel

by Sean McLachlan on

Egypt´s top archaeologist Dr. Zahi Hawass announced the completion of a major remodel for one of Egypt´s most important archaeological treasures.

The Monastery of St. Anthony is believed to be the oldest surviving Christian monastery in the world, having been built to house the grave of one of the founders of monasticism, St. Anthony, when he died in the year 356. A $14.5 million restoration has fixed many of the monastery’s buildings, including the original fourth century church. Workers also installed a modern sewage system to deal with the estimated million visitors a year who come to worship and to admire the colorful paintings in the churches. These paintings have been painstakingly restored. St. Anthony’s Monastery is one of many interesting sights to see in Egypt besides the Pyramids and the Sphinx.

The monastery is nestled deep in the Red Sea Mountains in Egypt’s Eastern Desert. St. Anthony lived in a cave near here and started to attract followers during his lifetime. Unable to shake these eager followers, he established a rule whereby they could live together but still have an ascetic life. His ideas on monasticism were hugely influential on early Christianity. St. Anthony is one the most important saints for Coptic Christians, who make up ten percent of Egypt’s population.%Gallery-65553%

Interfaith tourism in Syria

by Sean McLachlan on

Who says the Middle East has to be a place of religious tension?

Not the worshipers at Deir Mar Mousa monastery. This medieval Christian monastery is a pilgrimage center for Christians and Muslims alike thanks to an open policy of worship and tolerant religious discussion.

Christians make up about ten percent of Syria’s population and there are churches in many cities, like the one in Hama pictured here. Byzantine monasteries dot the countryside, although most have been empty for centuries.

Deir Mar Mousa is located atop a rugged hill in the desert fifty miles north of Damascus. Long abandoned, its buildings and historic frescoes were restored over the past two decades and it’s now open to all. Pilgrims are welcome to stay the night for free in a stone hut in exchange for light work such as cleaning the dishes. Much of the pilgrims’ time is spent participating in long, patient discussions with people who believe differently than they do. Sounds a bit like the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

You don’t have to be of a particular religion or indeed any religion to stay, but getting there is a bit complicated and you’ll need some basic equipment. Instructions are on the monastery’s website.

The monastery is run by the Jesuit priest Rev. Paolo Dall’Oglio and a group of monks, nuns, and lay volunteers. This group has taken a vow of poverty, chastity, and obedience like in most monastic communities, but unusually they have also dedicated themselves to “being in service and love for the Muslim world.” People gather regularly for prayer meetings that involve silent meditation, multilingual services, and interfaith discussion.

Father Dall’Oglio explains his life’s work by saying, “Jesus loves Muslims, the same Jesus who is alive in me.”

When speaking with the New York Times for a recent article, he put it more simply.

“We’re all in this together.”

The holy city of the Jains

by Sean McLachlan on

It is a city so holy that not even priests can sleep there. No animal can be killed within its walls; not even insects should be harmed. Worshipers look at its thousands of statues through mirrors in order not to insult the gods and goddesses with a direct gaze.

It is Shatrunjay Hill, overlooking the town of Palitana in Gujarat, India, and it’s the holiest site of the Jain religion. The Jains are famous for their strict vegetarianism and nonviolence. They believe that all living creatures have souls and therefore not even a mosquito should be harmed.

Nobody knows exactly how many temples are here. Some say 1250, some say 1300, some say 1500. They were built in the 11th and 12th centuries during the religion’s architectural renaissance and are elaborately carved out of marble and other stone and filled with colorful statues of Jain deities.

Pilgrims come from all over the world to climb the 3,300 steps that symbolize their ascent to salvation. Like Mecca for the Muslims, a pilgrimage to Shatrunjay Hill is something that every one of the faithful should do at least once in their lifetime.

The BBC has done a beautiful audio and slide show of the holy city. It’s not the same as going to India yourself, but it does give the sights, sounds, and a bit of the feel of this important spiritual center.

Peace on earth, goodwill toward men: two places where it worked

by Sean McLachlan on

We hear a lot about peace and friendship over the holidays, but the reality is that different religions and peoples are constantly fighting. It seems we can never get along.

Or at least that’s what the history books would have you believe.

History focuses on change, and change usually means conflict, but there have been many times in the past when different religions and ethnic groups have lived in harmony. Here are two UNESCO World Heritage Sites you can visit that are testimony to the idea that people can achieve great things by working together.

Toledo, Spain

For most of the Middle Ages Spain was not a country; it was a patchwork of different states fighting amongst themselves and staving off invasions by the Muslim Moors from North Africa. There was a centuries-long war between Islam and Christianity, with the Jews being stuck in the middle as second-class citizens in both societies. But under the Caliphate of Córdoba, which ruled much of the Iberian Peninsula in the tenth and eleventh centuries, the three cultures lived and learned together. Córdoba and Toledo were the two main cultural centers. Many books from ancient Greece and Rome, lost in Europe during the Dark Ages but preserved in Arabic translations in the Middle East, were translated into Latin and Hebrew and helped start a rediscovery of Europe’s Classical heritage.
The Christian kingdoms were slowly pushing out the Muslims, however, and in 1085 King Alfonso VI captured Toledo. He realized the relationship among the three cultures, called La Convivencia (“The Coexistence”) was a good thing and kept it going. He even established a translation center to copy books from each culture into Latin, Spanish, Arabic, and Hebrew, so everyone could benefit from each other’s learning. Philosophy, astronomy, architecture, mathematics, and a dozen other arts and sciences flourished.

%Gallery-80891%It didn’t last. In 1492, when the last Moors were kicked out of Spain, the Jews were kicked out too, and any non-Christian who wanted to stay had to at least pretend to convert. But La Convivencia left an enduring intellectual an artistic legacy for all three cultures and some impressive monuments that can still be seen today.

Gonder, Ethiopia

On a different continent in different century, people came to the same conclusions that the people of Toledo did. In the northwest of what is now Ethiopia is the city of Gonder. It was founded by the Emperor Fasilides around the year 1635. Ethiopian emperors traditionally moved from place to place to watch over their people, but Fasilides saw an advantage to having a capital city for his empire. Soon a large urban center had sprung up, with palaces and castles and places of worship.
Gonder became the center of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, but it was also home to Muslims and the Beta Israel, the Ethiopian Jews. Artisans and thinkers from all three religions flocked to Gonder to work in the market or palace. The Beta Israel were often craftsmen. Because only a Christian could sit on the throne, the Jews often served as trusted advisers and bodyguards to the emperor. The Muslims, with their connections to the Red Sea and other parts of Africa, set themselves up as merchants.
All three cultures worked together to make Gonder a center of art and learning, just like in Toledo. The ruins of some of the castles and palaces are still visible today and many people call Gonder “Africa’s Camelot”. The most famous monument is Fasilides’ castle, shown here. Check out the gallery for more attractions in Toledo and Gonder.

Let’s not romanticize these civilizations. Neither of them were progressive democracies. They were authoritarian kingdoms where the common people had almost no rights, and both ended up being replaced by less tolerant cultures. Yet they managed to figure out something–it’s not your background that’s important, it’s what you can contribute to society. The people of Toledo and Gonder discovered they could do more together than they could separately. It’s something many societies have realized. In fact, despite all the bad news on TV, religious and ethnic violence is the exception rather than the rule. Most streets aren’t erupting in gunfire. Most people live in towns made up of a number of religious and ethnic groups. They may not be best friends, but they’re not killing each other either.
Maybe Toledo and Gonder have given us more than pair of interesting tourist attractions.

No historical plaque for Scientology founder

by Sean McLachlan on

English Heritage has rejected an application to put up a plaque at the former home of L. Ron Hubbard.

The American science fiction writer, who became a controversial figure when he founded Scientology, was based at 37 Fitzroy Street in London’s West End from 1957 to 1959. The Hubbard Foundation had applied to English Heritage for a blue plaque to mark the building. Blue plaques are recognizable to anyone who’s been to London as marking the spot of a famous event or building, or where a famous person has lived, worked, or died.

English Heritage states they rejected the application because, “It was felt that since Mr Hubbard had died only relatively recently, in 1986, that more time was required to make an objective assessment of the importance and longevity of his achievements. The panel also noted that Mr Hubbard had no address in London which could be considered as comparatively settled, and moved around a great deal.”

The Hubbard Foundation owns the building and runs it as a museum. They are appealing the ruling.