The beauty of photography, the wonders of Christian imagery, and the long ages of Middle Eastern iconography, are of central importance for all scholars, or for more relaxed readers who value the ecumenical Christian presence throughout Egypt. It is essential to acknowledge the reality of Christian art, architecture and religious or theological imagery. The wonders of Coptic Orthodox churches and monastic chapels are quite clear to all readers, but the significance of ecumenical churches must always be recognised. Some churches are closer to the last few centuries whilst others remain historically significant throughout the Middle East. The Anglican, Armenian Orthodox, Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Protestant churches are all beautifully presented in one volume whilst the Coptic Orthodox Church naturally contains many more buildings and monastic institutions. Here is a beautiful volume: The Churches of Egypt. From the Journey of the Holy Family to the Present Day by Gawdat Gabra and Gertrud J.M. van Loon with Darlene L. Brooks Hedstrom. Edited by Carolyn Ludwig. Photographs by Sherif Sonbol (A Ludwig Edition). The American University in Cairo Press, 2007 (Cairo and New York) ISBN 978 977 416 016 3 (pp.328).
The Christian sites are clearly defined from the Mediterranean to Upper Egypt, whilst the vast majority of locations are most clearly Coptic Orthodox. In almost every photograph, on practically every page, there is an amazing wonder of images: virtually each wall bursts open with iconography of our Saviour, our Lady, and, most clearly of all, with the angels and saints. In an ever-changing age there is an occasional collapse of Christian Ecumenism, whilst it must be clear to all Christians that they are facing a turbulent contrast between Sunni and Shia Muslims. But it should be quite certain that all churches see the photographs, accept the ecumenical, and embrace the great variety of true Christian faiths. Down-to-earth ecumenists really can love all the churches, not just in Egypt but also throughout the world.
It is quite clear that more than three-hundred, full-coloured photographs are highly valued by Sherif Sonbol who is obviously regarded as an outstanding Egyptian photographer, having continued to illustrate a great range of books, including one of his most recent volumes: Egyptian Palaces and Villas 1809-1960 (American University of Cairo Press, 2006). An enormous debt is owed to this exceptional photographer-illustrator. The excellent essays of twenty-eight pages by Gertrud van Loon, Darlene Brooks Hedstrom, Carolyn Ludwig and Gawdat Gabra are fine summaries in this text, including valuable notes concerning photography – all images carefully noted throughout the three-hundred and twenty-five pages of text. A sincere and touching memorial appears on an opening page of the text for two scholars: The Reverend Professor Otto Meinardus, the distinguished German pastor and ecumenical scholar, and Paul van Moorsel, whose pioneering work, with their devotion and commitment to all the churches of Egypt, is most warmly acknowledged in the dedication to both of them. A personal tribute to Bruce Ludwig is lovingly accepted by his wife.
As these wonderful pages are slowly and devotedly turned throughout this beautiful volume it is quite impossible to create any lengthy journalistic summary. Perhaps it is only likely to remember so many historical figures, dear friends and ecumenical contributors. These few hundred pages are ranging from Alexandria on the Mediterranean to Aswan in Upper Egypt. A delight but a dilemma.
Here it might be possible to take pleasure in the quandary! No doubt a few exquisite ecumenical buildings may be united throughout the country. This reviewer’s greatest delight was that of the Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Mary and St Simeon the Tanner in the Muqattam Hills. The zabbaleen are amongst the most admired and noble Copts of the twentieth century. The great, gaping cave of the Muqattam hills has a real sense of the miraculous, with approximately four thousand worshippers in the cathedral reconstruction (1986-94).
There are approximately twenty-five thousand zabbaleen who collect waste in the vast capital of Cairo. This extended area was once defined as a garbage slum, but in reality it is a work of wonder transferred into an icon of supreme spirituality in this great church building.
The Coptic Evangelical Church in Cairo, located in Qasr al-Dubara, was presented by Pastor Ibrahim Sa’id in 1955 when President Nasser entered this acceptable Protestant atmosphere. The glorious Armenian Orthodox Cathedral (1927), near Cairo Railway Station, was famously dedicated to the Armenian Massacres in 1915.
The Anglican Church of St Mark was a nineteenth century place of worship located in Tahrir Square, Alexandria and was offered by the Egyptian authorities in 1839 and consecrated by a local Anglican bishop in 1855. It is a modest building. The photograph of Sherif Sonbol was obviously used to light up the candles before the reredos. The beautifully clear stained glass windows reveal Christ encircled by the four Evangelists. The interior of the church is dripping with brass plaques on the walls, obviously dedicated to Anglicans who passed away in Egypt in centuries past.
Here, one of the wonders of the Greek Orthodox Church is in Old Cairo. It is acknowledged as the Church of Saint George. This beautiful building survived for over six hundred years, though it was brutally plundered by a Muslim mob in the nineteenth century and later destroyed by fire in 1903. His Holiness the Greek Patriarch finally consecrated the church after it had been rebuilt in Old Cairo in 1909. The iconostasis is a most beautiful representation of Our Lord and the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The Franciscan Church of the Assumption was designed by the Roman Catholic architect Fr. Serafino da Bacceno in the nineteenth-century. Two outstanding nineteenth-century plaques are illustrated in the thirteenth-century dialogue between St Francis of Assisi and the Ayyubid Sultan of Islam. The building on the edge of Cairo in Muski is wonderfully spacious.
Only one brief note can be made: the astonishing restoration of the Monastery of St Antony close to the Red Sea has been beautifully restored with wall paintings in the sixth, seventh and thirteenth centuries. It is equally clear that – far to the south of Egypt – there are many Coptic fragments of Christian Egypt in the seventh century. Coptic Orthodox churches were built within both of the temples of Karnak and Luxor and recreated in ages past. There are, of course, more than a dozen ecumenical churches in Egypt, though probably not in Upper Egypt.
It is clear that a range of significant characters throughout the centuries of Christian Egypt have been presented in Coptic iconography but also within the disciplined monastic institutions. The greatest Coptic iconographer of these two centuries is Isaac Fanous who was born in Cairo in December 1919 and died there in 2007. In the modern world he is most certainly the finest Egyptian Christian artist and iconographer. Fanous has a complete and harmonious sense of Christian iconography. His work is strikingly modern, but it is also timeless.
The cathedral of St. Mark at Anba Rueiss in Abbasiya includes the magnificent portrait of St Athanasius the Apostolic in the downstairs chapel, whilst the relics, presented by the Catholic Pope, contained the 1973 remains of this great saint and teacher of Alexandria who died in the fourth century. Isaac Fanous painted the crypt within the Shrine of Saint Mark in 1969, with one personal assistant, Mansur Farag. These relics were also offered to Pope Paul the Sixth from Rome to Venice in 1968 by the Coptic Orthodox Pope Kyrillos the Sixth. St Mark stands depicted with the lion, whilst the angel carries the crown of martyrdom and, on the other panel, the Coptic Orthodox clergy bear the body of the saint wearing a halo. The ecumenical clergy are equally significantly portrayed in this fresco. Many Christians face the great wall paintings in prayer and devotion.
It is also no surprise that the text of The Churches of Egypt: From the Journey of the Holy Family to the Present Day also acknowledges the greatest monastic of modern times, Abouna Matta El-Meskeen (1919-2006), the abbot, theologian and reformer who had created a major monastic tradition with many of his own monks. They included a thorough restoration and modernisation in the entire monastery of St Macarius. A large farm was created, agricultural developments were professionally formed and a superb printing press was produced.
The vibrant life of so many Coptic Orthodox monasteries and convents is very clear to readers of this beautiful book, and the spiritual revolution within so many religious institutions has always been quite exceptional.
Within all Egyptian Christian art and architecture there remains a profound quest for the inner reality of this wonderful country’s authentic ecumenical Christian spirituality.
The Revd. Dr John H. Watson is an Anglican priest who has been writing the fortnightly Coptophile Column for Watani International since 2002. He is the author of several books including Among the Copts (2000), Christians Observed (2004), and Listening to Islam (2005).