EGYPT’S CHRISTIANS AND THEIR HERITAGE
Reviewed by Jill Kamil
Al-Ahram Weekly
e.htm
Dec 13 2007
Egypt
The Churches of Egypt — From the Journey of the Holy Family to the
Present Day, by Gawdat Gabra and Gertrud J.M. van Loon, edited by
Carolyn Ludwig with photographs by Sherif Sonbol
The Churches of Egypt — From the Journey of the Holy Family to the
Present Day was launched at an American University in Cairo Press
"Book and Author Reception" in mid- November. This was a bumper affair
which took place in the small central garden of the Old Wing in the
Coptic Museum. On display round one part of the enclosed area were
a dozen and more mounted enlargements of some of the most beautiful
photographs in the book. A buffet dinner was set out on the other side
of the garden, and seating at small high tables with bar-height stools
was provided. A wide range of AUC Publications on Coptic heritage was
stacked for sale; they ranged from such large publications as Be Thou
There, Monastic Visions, and Coptic Life in Egypt, to regular books
on The Early Coptic Papacy, Monks and Monasteries of the Egyptian
Deserts, and my own Christianity in the Land of the Pharaohs.
The Churches of Egypt is the brainchild of Carolyn Ludwig. Addressing
the invited guests, Ludwig explained how the book came about. During
her travels to Egypt over the last 25 years, she said, she had come
to appreciate the rich Christian heritage that is woven through
the country’s history "along with the threads of its more famous
Pharaonic past." She noted that the brief reference to the Flight of
the Holy Family in the Gospel of Matthew "offers a glimpse into the
three-and-a-half years they spent in Egypt", but that most of the
stories about this important episode in Jesus’s life "are recorded
only in the various infancy narratives". When, in 2000, the Coptic
Orthodox Church defined the route of the Holy Family’s journey, she
said she was determined to follow in their footsteps. She did so,
sand was deeply moved by the humanity of the stories "that are told,
until this day, about the few years in the life of Christ spent in
Egypt," as well as by the humble simplicity of Egypt’s early churches
which stand "in stark contrast to the granite and marble, the gold
inlays and bronze statues of churches in Rome…"
Ludwig travelled in the company of photographer Sherif Sonbol, whose
photographs, she wrote in the introduction to her book, "reveal
the beauty of Egypt’s ancient and modern churches and monasteries,
all of which testify to the determination of the Coptic Church for
nearly two millennia to keep the Christian faith alive in Egypt —
often in the face of adversity."
I can only describe the book as a hefty publication. It weighs all of
two kilogrammes, and I use that adjective advisedly because it is not
only large in size, but substantial in content. It covers churches
of all denominations — from the Delta and Sinai to Cairo and its
suburbs; it includes Fayoum and Upper Egypt, and even the most remote
of monasteries, some of which I have never visited. As I flip through
the pages of the publication to get a feel for its contents, my eye
falls on page after page of impressive photographs: images of churches,
ancient and modern, domed monasteries, altars, sanctuaries and icons.
More than 300 original photographs enhance the volume, and all
are brilliant. Sonbol has captured religious buildings in their
environmental setting, focussing on details in their interiors —
whether details of the decoration of a dome, a layer of a painting
flaking off an ancient church wall to reveal earlier images beneath,
or altar screens constructed of reused sculpture. This book thus
presents an opportunity to appreciate details that can rarely be seen
on site. One eye-catching image is followed by another to remind us of
details that we may have missed, or that introduce us to images we have
never seen, and, I may add, are unlikely to see because they are in
churches located in little-known and difficult-to-reach areas of Egypt.
Sonbol says they had trouble in locating many of the distant
monasteries. "Even when we got there, we faced some problems," he
says. "In rock churches like the Monastery of Al-Ganadla south of
Assiut, for example, extremely heavy benches had to be removed in
order to photograph the interior of the church. I must add that the
monks were courteous and only too willing to be of help.
Unfortunately, I can’t say the same of some of the better-known
monasteries!"
The Churches of Egypt is a quality production, laid out with taste
and beautifully bound. It might be heavy but is not too burdensome
to handle, largely because the images are so captivating that they
encourage the viewer to turn to the next page. One photograph in
particular caught my fancy. It shows the tip of a dome with a cross
silhouetted against a blue sky, rising above a desert strewn with
rocks. It captures the essence of monasticism, and it took an artist
to capture it.
The concept of the book was later expanded from churches associated
with the Holy Family to include a historical overview of Christianity
in Egypt from ancient to modern, including all denominations:
Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Protestant
and Armenian churches. Coptologist Gawdat Gabra wrote the historical
introduction; Gertrud J.M. van Loon wrote about art; while Darlene L.
Brooks Hedstrom covered Christian architecture.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
