The Nitrian Desert is a
desert
A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About o ...
region in northwestern
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...
, lying between
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 ...
and
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo met ...
west of the
Nile Delta
The Nile Delta ( ar, دلتا النيل, or simply , is the delta formed in Lower Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Po ...
. It is known for its history of
Christian monasticism
Christian monasticism is the devotional practice of Christians who live ascetic and typically cloistered lives that are dedicated to Christian worship. It began to develop early in the history of the Christian Church, modeled upon scriptural e ...
.
["Nitrian Desert", in F. L. Cross and ]E. A. Livingstone
Elizabeth Anne Livingstone (born on July 7, 1929) , also known as E. A. Livingstone, is an English Anglican theologian, specialising in patristics.
Life
Education
She has a Master of Arts degree from the University of Oxford and a Lamb ...
, eds., ''The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'', 3rd rev. ed. (Oxford University Press, 2005, online 2009).
There were three monastic centres in the Nitrian Desert in
Late Antiquity. Around 330,
Macarius the Egyptian
Macarius of Egypt, ''Osios Makarios o Egyptios''; cop, ⲁⲃⲃⲁ ⲙⲁⲕⲁⲣⲓ. (c. 300 – 391) was a Christian monk and hermit. He is also known as Macarius the Elder or Macarius the Great.
Life
St. Macarius was born in Lower Egypt. ...
established a monastic colony in the
Wadi El Natrun (Scetis), far from cultivable land. In the 330s,
Saint Amun founded
Nitria, only southeast of Alexandria, using the rules of
Saint Anthony. He founded a second centre,
Kellia
Kellia ("the Cells"), referred to as "the innermost desert", was a 4th-century Egyptian Christian monastic community spread out over many square kilometers in the Nitrian Desert about 40 miles south of Alexandria. It was one of three centers of ...
, on Anthony's suggestion, deeper into the desert. Kellia has been the object of scientific excavations.
[Janet Timbie, "Egypt", in William M. Johnston and Christopher Kleinhenz, eds., ''Encyclopedia of Monasticism'' (Routledge, 2015), pp. 432–435.] Only Scetis in the Wadi El Natrun remains a monastic site today.
[Roger S. Bagnall and Dominic W. Rathbone, eds., ''Egypt from Alexander to the Early Christians: An Archaeological and Historical Guide'' (Getty Publications, 2004)]
pg. 108–115
(map on p. 109).
See also
*
Desert Fathers
*
Abba Or
Abba Or of Nitria (also ''Hor or Horus'') was an Egyptian Orthodox Christian ascetic who lived around the 4th century AD in Egypt in Dalga, Nitria (Lower Egypt), the Thebaid, and in the deserts around Shaina. He is one of the lesser-known ...
*
Desert of Mount Athos
The Desert of Mount Athos ( el, Έρημος του Αγίου Όρους) is a geographical area of Mount Athos that corresponds to the southern slopes of Mount Athos. Located along the southernmost coast of the Athos peninsula, it stretches roug ...
References
{{coord, 30.42, 30.14, display=title
Deserts of Egypt
*