26th August 2014
43c
St. Tawdros (El Mohareb's) Monastery - Malqata
43c
St. Tawdros (El Mohareb's) Monastery - Malqata
Location.
From Medinet Habu temple (Ramses III) it is 1.5 km. Go past the car park south towards the Desert Rose Café, Take a right along the track on the inside of the encroachment wall. Follow this track towards Malqata. Just before you reach the Amenhotep III Palace site, turn right towards the monastery; you can see the monastery from this point. It can be walked depending on how hot it is or you can go by bicycle or taxi from the ferry. Out of season, you may have to ring the door to gain entrance. It is free to visit and there is a moneybox inside for donations.
The monastery is set in the desert and is a short distance from the foothills of the Wadis Gabbanat el-Qirud, Sikket Taqet Zeid and el- Gharby south of the Queens Valley.
The outside of the monastery consists of Coptic cemetery and Catacombs to the south, agricultural land to the north and a Car Port at the entrance. Inside the walled area there are several chapels, a Library and Gift shop with a refreshments area.
The monastery was dedicated to St. Tawdros (Theodore), a Roman officer under the Emperor Diocletian. He refused to worship Apollo and was consequently nailed to a tree with 153 nails for going against the emperor’s wishes. He was given Sainthood in the Orthodox churches. This church celebrates his martyrdom on the 12th of Toba (fifth month of the Coptic calendar) at this desert monastery on the West Bank of Luxor, near to Medinet Habu. He is worshipped as El-Mohareb the Warrior and as so, the iconography shows him in full military clothing on a horse.
St. Tawdros Monastery has been undergoing a lengthy reconstruction and renovation program and is still ongoing. The main sanctuary has had all its ceilings, walls and chapels renovated and now look very good. I have been visiting this monastery since 2010 and it is amazing just how wonderful it now looks. Outside they are building a new Library and an office for the monastery leader. There is an elevated tiled floor café and refreshments area and toilets with water facilities for drinking and washing. There is evidence that a wall will be built that will encompass the Monastery and the Cemetery.
The cemetery is still in use today and you can see headstones dated 2014. They are usually pits with several horizontal shafts that take several deceased bodies. There are a few mausoleums. When the pits are full, they are filled in. One of the headstones “Stan” was a man I knew who lived in Gazira here on the West bank.
Pharaonic
The monastery was originally built by St. Helena and was demolished in the 11th century. Some time later, the Saint appeared in a dream to the local governor and asked that the monastery be re-built. Some of the building blocks of the Sanctuary have been recycled from Pharaonic temples nearby and perhaps even from Medinet Habu and Amenhotep III Palace. Coptic crosses have been carved on the reverse side of upside down and on their side hieroglyphic blocks.