The Last Anchorite | Egypt

An anchorite is someone who, for religious reasons, withdraws from secular society so as to be able to lead an intensely ascetic and prayer-oriented life. In other words, a religious hermit with a "fixed address'.

This 19 minutes-long documentary features the story of Father Anthony El Lazarus, a Coptic monk who lives in seclusion in the Red Sea mountains, in a 4th-century monastery about 200 miles southeast of Cairo, Egypt. He's former university lecturer in literature and philosophy, and spent 40 years as an atheist.

This is an ancient tradition since early Christians flocked to the Egyptian deserts where Copts had already embraced the idea of a solitary, devout Christian life. It's accepted that he early Christians were inspired by the eremitic (reclusive) traditions of the Hebrews.

The Coptic Church is based on the teachings of Saint Mark who brought Christianity to Egypt during the reign of the Roman emperor Nero in the first century. He was one of the four evangelists and wrote the oldest canonical gospel. Christianity was the religion of the vast majority of Egyptians from 400–800 A.D. and of the majority after the Muslim conquest until the mid-10th century and remains the faith of a significant minority population. 

With wonderful cinematic skills, filmmaker Remigiusz Sowa captures the essence of the reclusive monastic life led by Father Anthony and those like him in the isolated monastery in the Red Sea Mountains.

POV: Rocks And Hard Places

Photo © Max Lee-All Rights Reserved

I occasionally depart from opining on photography or on stuff that piss me off...but this time, this POV is personal.

Egypt, my country of birth, is once again facing an incredibly dangerous phase in its 7000 years' history. I've spent most of my life elsewhere, and while perhaps in some ways that detaches me from it, I still have a connection. Seeing the current turbulence on the various television channels and reading the news articles enhances that connection, and whatever my current emotions are, they're based on the residuals gleaned during the earlier years of my life.

As everyone knows, there are three main power centers in Egypt at this time: the 'street' who's had enough of  authoritarian regimes but is ill-organized, the military and the Islamists/Muslim Brotherhood...both well organized.

I've already expressed my views on the removal of Morsi from the presidency in other forums, so I won't repeat them here....but in summary, my view is that he deserved his removal due to his administration's abysmal record during the past 12 months, and Egypt can ill-afford suffering another 3 long years of this terrible governance.

My personal position is this: I don't want a religious clique to govern Egypt...I don't want them to impose their interpretation of Islam on anyone....whether Muslim, Christian, Jew, Baha'i, Shia, Sufi,  agnostic or atheist...I don't want them to impose a style of dress on women...I don't want them to tell women to stay home and not work....I don't want them to interfere in anyone's personal or public life...I don't want them to claim 'jihad' for any cause they deem appropriate to sully Islam further...I don't want them to influence education (already bad enough) in Egypt...I don't want them to tell anyone what to read or not to read...to view or not to view...I don't want them to discriminate against anyone...against any gender or lifestyle....

With the 'street' as disorganized as it is, lthis eaves the military as the only, and potentially temporary, viable alternative. I'm uncomfortable with that option...very uncomfortable. But the military -while execrable when confronting threats to its authority- is more interested in administering its industrial complex and business interests than interfering in daily life....and having a political role distracting them from their lucrative activities.

Eventually, the 'street' will mature, get organized and rise to the task of democracy...and perhaps the military will then cede the reins. Perhaps the youths of the Muslim Brotherhood will remove its current old ideologues and reshape themselves into a constructive political party.

Egypt's St. Anthony Monastery | Manoocher Deghati

Photo © AP Photo/Manoocher Deghati-All Rights Reserved (MercuryNews.com)

Through Zite, I stumbled on this very interesting photo essay about the Monastery of St Anthony in the Egyptian Eastern Desert. It's a Coptic Orthodox monastery lying deep in the Red Sea mountains, and about 200 miles southeast of Cairo. It is one of the oldest monasteries in the world.

The photo essay was featured by MercuryNews.com, and the photographs are by Manoochar Deghati, a well-known Iranian-French photojournalist, and also the brother of Reza, an Iranian-French photographer.

The monks at the St. Anthony's Monastery follow the saint's ascetic tradition, but even they won't be silenced amid the Islamists' rising power.

I think the MercuyNews.com reportage is quite timely in view of the recent attacks on Egyptian Christians caused by the increase in bigoted religious rhetoric by Islamists. Clerics and others on religious television channels in Egypt spread much of the bigotry and discriminatory rhetoric, and despite claiming to be otherwise, members of the Muslim Brotherhood and its political arm, have stigmatized religious minorities, particularly Copts.

Christians or Copts form more than 10% of Egypt's population of 85 million, and lived largely peacefully alongside Muslims for more than a millennium. Sectarian tensions have steadily risen over the past four decades, and the prominence of the Islamists and the Islamist government raised tensions further, have exacerbated the sectarian frictions.

The Copts are the native Christians of Egypt, and are a major ethno-religious group in Egypt.  Christianity was the majority religion during the 4th to 6th centuries AD and until the Muslim conquest of Egypt.

Roy Gunnels | Cairo's Al Muizz Street

Photo © Roy Gunnels-All Rights Reserved

Almost every morning, I scour news websites for updated news on Egypt...my birth country that is experiencing an extremely painful transition from authoritarianism to a sort of chaotic "democracy".  Every day, I read of (and see) examples of incompetence in governance, anarchy, street level anarchy, human rights abuses, violence, economic melt-down, emergence of black markets, capital flight, political paralysis, religious zealotry and antediluvian ideology, sexual harassement, discrimination, civil disobedience, institutional rot and corruption...the list is too long, where do I stop? It has gone for bad to worse...and the end is not in sight.

And yet, Egypt has -over the eons of its existence- survived it's ups and downs...but this time it seems that its luck may have run out. It was better when I grew up there...but it was still better than that when my parents grew up, and it was even better than that when their parents grew up...it's a downward spiral.

I recall walking reasonably recently in Al Muizz street in the medieval section of Cairo...a literal stone's throw from the famed Al Azhar, the Muslim center of learning...so I was glad to have found Roy Gunnel's photographs of that particular street titled A Pastiche of The Street . The street is about one kilometer long and houses shops of traditional wares.

Its full name is a mouthful...it's named after  El Moez Lel Din'ellah, a Fatimid (969-1171) ruler famed for his enlightened rule, and was renowned for his drive to build monuments, mosques and other buildings.

As my readers will see, street photography here is incredibly rewarding and rich of daily life. Another of my favorites (apart from the one above) is the one of a antique store keeper rubbing his toes, with his back turned to an ancient gramophone.

Roy Gunnels is a documentary and fine-art photographer from Fort Worth. He worked the past few years in the Middle-East and Africa while based in Cairo, Egypt. He was profiled and his work from the streets of Cairo featured in The Guardian, as well as the Egyptian Midan Misr newspaper, and the Atlantic Council’s ‘Egypt Source’. His images from the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 have been recommended for exhibit at the World Peace Center in Verdun, France.