Deir el Shuhada: In Reverence of Martyrs

Diocletian ascended Rome's imperial throne in difficult times. Anarchy of the third century A.D. had enabled invasions by Goths, Visigoths, Vandals and others, fueled civil wars that split the empire into three competing states, and fostered economic hardship through hyperinflation and the breakdown of once-prosperous trade networks. The empire was crumbling and it seemed to Diocletian that the moral fabric of his people was crumbling too.

With authoritarian single-mindedness he set out to rectify the empire's problems. To fix the administration of the empire he created the Rule of the Four (Tetrarchy); to fix the economy, he instituted wage and price controls, and to fix the moral fabric of the people he promoted "pious, religious, peaceable and chaste life" through veneration of the traditional Olympian gods and elimination of religious minorities. Beginning in 303 until his retirement in 305, Diocletian oversaw the worst persecution of Christians across the empire. It was most brutal in Egypt where more than half a million men, women and children are estimated to have been killed.

To mark the momentous suffering, Year 1 of the Coptic calendar is 284 A.D., the first year of Diocletian’s rule. Hence, 2011 corresponds to 1728 A.M (Anno Martyri – Year of the Martyrs). Moreover, martyrdom remains a significant cornerstone of Coptic faith. Copts honour those who die because of their faith, as seen in the martyrdom of those killed on Christmas Eve 2010 in Nag Hamadi and whose portraits appear on postcards recently seen in Luxor. It was with this background that an excursion to Deir el Shuhada, the Monastery of the Martyrs, located at the desert's edge near the city of Esna, was made.

In the first centuries A.D., Esna had a significant Christian population. A monk named Ammonius was ordained their bishop in the early years of fourth century as Diocletian's persecution was raging. Perhaps in the year 307 A.D., Ammonius took his congregation to the monastery of St. Isaac the Hermit, located in the mountains West of Esna, to celebrate the saint's feast day. Diocletian's appointed governor for the area, Arianus, followed with his troops and killed the congregation, said to number 160,000 people. Ammonius was arrested and tortured but would not recant his faith. Instead, he prophesized that Arianus himself would embrace Christianity and be martyred. With that, Ammonius was put to death. Remains of "innumerable bodies" found in a mass grave about three kilometres West of Esna, at a location that corresponds with the monastery of St. Isaac, provided tangible proof of the persecution.

The Monastery of the Martyrs is also known as Deir el Manawus, the Monastery of Ammonius. Tradition states that Ammonius built the monastery in the early fourth century but, as yet, there is no evidence for such an early date. Another tradition says that Queen Helena built the monastery to commemorate the martyrs. Today, there are two churches within the monastery which has been re-newed and re-inhabited by nuns. The newest church, dedicated to the Virgin and built in 1931, was required to hold the growing congregation that visits the monastery from the surrounding villages as well as pilgrims coming from further afield.

Copts do not worship saints. In fact, such worship is forbidden. Icons are "windows to heaven". The faithful pray before an icon to honour the life and deeds of the saint and to ask for the saint's intercession with God and Christ to help them in their daily lives. Prayers are often accompanied by the lighting of a candle placed before the icon. Appeals for help are also written on scraps of paper and slipped behind the glass that fronts the saint's image, as here before Saint George in the new Church of the Virgin at Deir el Shuhada.

Written appeals have a long tradition. In the older Church of the Martyrs prayers to Saint Theodore are preserved on the fragmentary plastered walls which probably date to the 11th or 12th century.

On the opposite wall rides another warrior saint, Saint Claudius.


In ca. 1887, Edwin Blashfield visited the Church of the Martyrs and was able to provide a more wide-angle view of the sanctuary with a pencil than I could capture digitally. His drawing captures the central and southern haykals dedicated to the Holy Virgin and the Holy Martyrs of Esna, respectively.

No doubt, Blashfield saw more than meets the eye today. Some restoration work has taken place recently to stop further plaster fragments from falling off the mud-brick walls. Lacuna in the painted plaster emphasize the preciousness of the images that remain.

The concha (semidome) of the apse bears an image of Christ in Majesty. He sits within a mandorla symbolizing spiritual power or the transition of heaven and earth. He holds a codex in his left hand and raises his right hand in blessing. On the inner curve of the arch Saint Peter holds two keys in his left hand and points to them with his right. 

Below the dome is an image of the Virgin and Child (barely visible) sitting on a throne flanked by the archangels Michael and Gabriel, who hold orbs. A red cloth with white crosses covers the altar in the centre of the chapel. Time has faded, abraded and soiled the images but it has not hidden their glory.

The visit to the Monastery of the Martyrs was most enjoyable and enlightening. Worshipers welcomed us, shared sacramental bread, and proudly guided us around their monastery. Leaving, one of the nuns who now inhabit the monastery waved good-bye and locked the door behind her as has been done in centuries previous. They are reviving the monastic life inspired by the teachings of the fourth and fifth centuries. They "are social martyrs who have sacrificed their life in the world for an existence of worship and total dedication to the rules of the Church." (van Doorn-Harder, p. 17)

WHERE TO FIND ME

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Arriving at Deir el Shuhada by car, rather than by balloon from on high, I had no concept of the vastness of the cemetery that stretches to the West of the church complex. The satellite imagery from Google Maps provides a widened dimension of understanding of the monastery's context.

GETTING THERE	USEFUL INFO SOURCES
Cross the Nile at Luxor to the West Bank and turn left (South) on the Luxor-Esna highway. Some 46 km after the checkpoint and before arriving in Esna, there is a road on the right that leads off the highway to the West. This is a ring road that avoids the city's traffic jams. After 8 km turn right (West) at an intersection that takes you over the sugarcane railway tracks and onto a gravel road. Drive another 2 km and you will see the monastery on the left hand side.	Christianity and Monasticism in Upper Egypt by Gawdat Gabra and Hany N. Takla: Chapter 10: Esna Martyrs, pages 95-104
	Encyclopedia Coptica: The Christian Coptic Orthodox Church Of Egypt
	Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia article: Dayr Al-Shuhada'
	Nelly van Doorn-Harder article: Imagined Antiuqity: Coptic Nuns Living Between Past Ideals and Present Realities

Creation and Elimination at Esna

Divine forces create humans while human forces eliminate them -- so might be the lesson enshrined in the Temple of Khnum at Esna, 55 km South of Luxor. Carved into the temple's sandstone walls is the ancient Egyptian belief that ram-headed Khnum created the world and crafted humans out of Nile mud on his potters' wheel. He shaped the individual features and languages of Egyptians and foreigners.

Carvings tell that Khnum plants the seed of life in every mother's womb, depicted as a zigzagged oval perhaps to illustrate its life force. Simultaneously, Khnum also forms the 'ka', or spirit, of the child. Nine months later, he and Heket, the goddess of childbirth, help the mother at the child's birth as she sits on the birthing chair. The Great Hymn to Khnum (M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Vol. 3, p. 112) praises his effect:

He makes women give birth when the womb is ready,
So as to open --- as he wishes;
He soothes suffering by his will,
Relieves throats, lets everyone breathe,
To give life to the young in the womb.

The temple at Esna is dedicated to Khnum, his consort Menheyet, and his son Heka ('Magic'). The goddess Neith is also honoured here because she is the feminine force of creation and works in partnership with Khnum's maleness. While Khnum created the world and separated heaven and earth, Neith uttered seven sentences to give form to and organize creation.

As Khnum's temple at Esna celebrates the creation of life its walls also bear witness to the snuffing out of human life at the hands of less than godly men.

The Roman emperor Septimius Severus ruled the Roman empire from 193 to 211 A.D. He appears on Esna's walls with his sons Caracalla and Geta, who ruled jointly with him in the final years of his reign, 209-211. One might surmise that the reliefs were carved during this time.

Soon after the death of their father, Caracalla murdered Geta. Across the empire, from Rome to Esna and beyond, the murderer ordered that all mention of his brother to be erased from monuments in an act of damnatio memoriae. Thus, late in 211 or early 212, carvers returned to Esna to chip away the existence of Geta. Yet his shadow and the shadow of his name in hieroglyphs remains evident on the wall and so he is not forgotten.

Building temples could take centuries to complete as successive pharaohs renovated and enlarged important holy sites. When the Romans took control of Egypt, the emperors continued the tradition of the pharaohs and similarly made their alms to the Egyptian gods with temple building and decoration. Much of what can be seen today at Esna is the work of Roman emperors from Claudius (41-54 AD) to Decius (249-251 AD). One of the unique images decorating the temple is that of the Roman emperor Trajan, as pharaoh, dancing before the enthroned goddess. The lion-headed goddess looks a lot like Sekmet but she is Menheyet, Khnum's consort.

An image not found in any pharaonic period temple is that of the emperor presenting a victory wreath to the god. The Roman emperor would have considered this the highest tribute he could offer.

The temple is famous for its astronomical ceiling. The constellations, as the Egyptians knew them, sail across the sky in boats just as boats were the main form of transportation for earthly beings.

The ceiling is intact, supported by 24 columns. Each column capital is unique and colourful. The carving is intricate and awesome to behold. Every inch of the column shafts are also carved with hieroglyphic texts that provide the program of religious festivals conducted in the temple -- perhaps so that the festivals continue in perpetuity through the magic of the sacred texts.

This column represents a date tree. The base of the capital recreates the palm's knobby trunk. Sprouting upwards from the column/trunk is the broad capital carved with palm fronds and heavy fruit clusters. As if to emphasize the fecundity of creation, grape vines also prosper amidst the fronds.

Even the standard images that one expects to see on an Egyptian temple have a slightly different character at Esna. The scene of the pharaoh smiting Egypt's enemies is seen over and over again on temple walls as each king showed off to his people that he was an effective defender of the realm. The common motif depicts the pharaoh holding in one hand the chiefs of enemy states by their hair, while raising his club high above his head in the other hand. Esna's depiction of Ptolemy III Euergetes is unique with the presence of a pet lion that appears to eat the hands of the captured.

Less than one-third of the temple is visible today. In the mid 19th century the French Egyptologist, Auguste Mariette, removed buildings and excavated a 9-metre deep pit to reveal the temple's hypostyle hall. Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities hopes to conduct excavations to clear the debris and reveal the interior rooms of the god's house. No doubt, their excavations will produce exciting finds and understanding of the earlier pharaonic worship of the god of creation.

WHERE TO FIND ME

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The shadows give an impression of the 9m (30')-deep pit in which the temple currently resides. There is a plan to extend the pit all the way to the Nile river to reveal the ancient causeway and provide access to the temple for tourists arriving on the cruise boats. An historically significant mosque, however, is situated along the proposed route so this plan requires some serious thought.

GETTING THERE	USEFUL INFO SOURCES
Esna is an easy half-day trip from Luxor. We drove South on the west side of the Nile and returned to Luxor on the eastern highway. The western road is slower due to a number of villages, but it is an interesting route for that very reason. The temple is located less than kilometer south of the Esna barrage. It cannot be seen from the Corniche. Look for the small wooden kiosk that sells entry tickets on the east side of the road. Park the car nearby and walk a short distance through the souk to the temple.	Egyptian Monuments blog: Esna Temple
	Tour Egypt article: The Temple of Khnum at Esna by Mark Andrews
	The Great Hymn to Khnum: Ancient Egyptian Literature translated by Miriam Lichtheim
	Ancient Egypt Online article: Esna Temple