Monastery of Saint Fana - Foundation and History

Foundation and History

The monastery was most likely built around the burial site of Saint Fana. His tomb was found during excavations of an international team representing seven European academic institutions and led by Austrian scholar Prof. Dr. Helmut Buschhausen in 1992.

The 12th century historian Abu al-Makarim mentions the church of Saint Fana, which was restored by al-Rashid Abu Fadl. Egyptian historian of the 14th–15th century al-Maqrizi wrote about the monastery's fine architecture. The History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria mentions the monastery of Saint Fana twice, first in relation to the election of Pope Theodosius II, Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church, 1294–1300 and second to the childhood of Patriarch Matthew I, 1378–1408. In pre-Islamic times the monastery reportedly numbered some 1000 monks. The monastery's numbers had drastically dwindled before the arrival of Islam in the seventh century. Al-Maqrizi reports that during his day, the monastery held only two monks. The French Jesuit priest Father Michel Marie Jullien (1827–1911) reported that the priest of the neighboring village Qasr Hur had cleared the church of debris and used the church for the Divine Liturgy. When German scholar Dr. O.F.A. Meinardus visited the monastery in the 1960s, the place was in ruins with remains stretching over a wide area. Only the historical church survived. Pieces of gray granite were also found, suggesting that the monastery may have been built on the location where an ancient temple once stood. On a small hill stand the ruins of a qasr, or tower, which ancient monasteries had. Approximately 80 meters from the ruined monastery one finds the cave of Saint Fana, the location where he reportedly lived. Meinardus does not report on the monastery being inhabited. The surviving old monastic building consists of an ancient basilica, deeply sunk into the sand in the center of a vast mound that, according to the Coptic Encyclopedia, “no doubt” conceals the ruins of the Monastery. The neighboring mounds perhaps conceal isolated cells or hermitages.