The Eikoston (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Εἰκοστόν, "twentieth") was a Christian monastic complex in Roman Egypt between the 5th and 7th centuries. It was located at the twentieth milestone west of

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandr ...

along the coastal road between

Lake Mareotis Lake Mariout ( ar, بحيرة مريوط ', , also spelled Maryut or Mariut), is a brackish lake in northern Egypt near the city of Alexandria. The lake area covered and had a navigable canal at the beginning of the 20th century, but at the begin ...

and the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

. It was one of a series of monastic sites along the coast west of Alexandria, others being found at the fifth (

Pempton The Pempton ( Greek τὸ πέμπτον, "the fifth") was a complex of Christian monasteries in late Roman Egypt. It was named for the fifth milestone west of Alexandria along the coastal road between Lake Mareotis and the Mediterranean Sea, prob ...

), ninth (

Enaton The Enaton (or Ennaton, Hennaton) was a monastic district in Egypt during the Middle Ages. It lasted into the 15th century, but it was at its height between the 5th and 7th centuries. It takes its name, which means "ninth" (Greek ἔνατον), fr ...

) and eighteenth ( Oktokaidekaton) milestones. The exact location of the Eikoston has not been determined. In 457, the

Miaphysite Miaphysitism is the Christological doctrine that holds Jesus, the "Incarnate Word, is fully divine and fully human, in one 'nature' (''physis'')." It is a position held by the Oriental Orthodox Churches and differs from the Chalcedonian positio ...

monks of the Eikoston took part in the election of

Timothy Aelurus Pope Timothy II of Alexandria (died 477), also known as Timothy Ailuros (from Greek Αἴλουρος, "cat," because of his small build or in this case probably "weasel"), succeeded twice in supplanting the Chalcedonian patriarch of Alexandria. ...

as a rival

patriarch of Alexandria The Patriarch of Alexandria is the archbishop of Alexandria, Egypt. Historically, this office has included the designation "pope" (etymologically "Father", like "Abbot"). The Alexandrian episcopate was revered as one of the three major epis ...

. Timothy was a former monk of the Eikoston. In the early 7th century,

John Moschus John Moschus ( el, Ἰωάννης Μόσχος, c. 550 – 619; name from the grc, ὁ τοῦ Μόσχου, o tou Moschou, (son) of Moschos, was a Byzantine monk and ascetical writer. Biography He was born about 550 probably at Damascus. He ...

and Sophronius the Sophist visited the ''

laura Laura may refer to: People * Laura (given name) * Laura, the British code name for the World War I Belgian spy Marthe Cnockaert Places Australia * Laura, Queensland, a town on the Cape York Peninsula * Laura, South Australia * Laura Bay, a bay on ...

'' (community of hermits) of Kalamon (al-Qalamun) located at the Eikoston. There they visited with a holy man called Abba Theodorus. Two miles west of the Eikoston, according to Moschus' ''

Spiritual Meadow The ''Spiritual Meadow'' is a 7th-century book by John Moschus. In Greek, it is titled ''Leimōn pneumatikos'' (also the ''Leimonarion'' , or the "New Paradise") and in Latin, it is known as ''Pratum spirituale'' ("Spiritual Meadow"), occasional ...

'', was a place called Maphora, the site of another monastery. There is a

stela A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), wh ...

of uncertain date recording the burial of a monk named George from Maphora at

Dikhaylah Dekheila ( ar, الدخيلة) is a neighborhood in Alexandria, Egypt with a large seaport. It is located 7 miles west of Alexandria and the seaport is an extension of the port located in Alexandria. Dekheila is the probable location of the ancie ...

in the Pempton. In the late 7th century,

John of Nikiû John of Nikiû (fl. 680-690) was an Egyptian Coptic bishop of Nikiû (Pashati) in the Nile Delta and general administrator of the monasteries of Upper Egypt in 696. He is the author of a ''Chronicle'' extending from Adam to the end of the Muslim ...

recorded the continued existence of the ''laura'' of Kalamon after the

Muslim conquest of Egypt The Muslim conquest of Egypt, led by the army of 'Amr ibn al-'As, took place between 639 and 646 AD and was overseen by the Rashidun Caliphate. It ended the seven-century-long period of Roman reign over Egypt that began in 30 BC. Byzantine r ...

Notes

Bibliography

* {{coord missing, Egypt Christian monasteries in Egypt Byzantine Egypt