Monastery of Saint Paul the Anchorite

Monastery of Saint Paul the Anchorite

Location within Egypt
Monastery information
Other names	Deir Anba Boula
Established	5th century
Dedicated to	Saint Paul the Anchorite
Diocese	Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria
Site
Location	Suez Governorate
Country	Egypt
Coordinates	28°50′48″N 32°33′06″E / 28.846667°N 32.551667°E / 28.846667; 32.551667
Public access	Yes

The Monastery of Saint Paul the Anchorite in Egypt is a Coptic Orthodox monastery located in the Eastern Desert, near the Red Sea mountains. It is about 155 km (96 mi) south east of Cairo. The monastery is also known as the Monastery of the Tigers.

The Monastery of Saint Paul the Anchorite dates to the fifth century AD. It was founded over the cave where Saint Paul the Anchorite lived for eighty years. The first travel narrative of the monastery was provided by Antoninus Martyr, a native of Placentia, who visited the tomb of Saint Paul the Anchorite between the years 560 and 570 AD. The first monks to occupy the monastery may have been Melkites, but they were followed by Egyptian and Syrian monks. The Syrians may have had a sustained existence at the monastery, for it appears that they also occupied the monastery during the first half of the fifteenth century, after which their presence disappeared. According to an isolated Ethiopian reference, the 70th Coptic Orthodox Pope, Pope Gabriel II (1131–45 AD), was banished to the monastery of Saint Paul the Anchorite for three years.

Like most of Egypt's monasteries, this one suffered repeatedly at the hands of Bedouin tribes. The most destructive of their raids was in 1484 AD, when many of the monastery's monks were killed and the library was put to the torch. The monastery was later rebuilt under the patronage of Pope Gabriel VII of Alexandria (1526–69 AD), who sent ten monks from the Syrian Monastery to populate the monastery of Saint Paul the Anchorite. During the second half of the sixteenth century, the monastery was again attacked and ransacked twice by the Bedouins, forcing the monks to finally leave. The monastery remained deserted for the following 119 years, only to be repopulated by a group of monks from the Monastery of Saint Anthony under the patronage of Pope John XVI of Alexandria (1676–1718 AD), who promoted an extensive reconstruction of the monastery in 1701 AD.