Saint Demiana Monastery

“Wake up, you have 30 minutes to be ready. We have a trip to see one of the most beautiful historic places in the world, Saint Demiana Monastery.” My mother said that phrase when I was 15 years old. I woke up, and my mind had a lot of questions about this monastery such as why is it the one of the most beautiful historic places, and where is it located, and who is Demiana? I wore my dress, and I went to my church to take the trip bus because my church was responsible for this trip. When I sat next to my mother, I asked her to tell me about St. Demiana Monastery.

My mother started to tell me, “Demiana was a girl who had a lot of beauty and money, but she wanted to give up everything that she owned them to live in a place where she could worship God, Jesus Christ. So, she asked her father to build a home far from people. Her father agreed and built her a large palace. After that, Demiana left everything and gathered 40 girls who were virgins, and they went to this palace, which is St. Demiana Monastery. Demiana became a leader of 40 girls trying to teach them how to worship God, and she became the first to establish the women’s monastic order in the whole world. After several years, the king Diocletian of Egypt at that time heard about Demiana and the 40 girls’ embrace of the Christian religion, and he was angry because he was against the Christian religion. So, he ordered his soldiers to torture them. The soldiers tortured them for 3 years, but Demiana and 40 girls didn’t give up their religion. So, the king Diocletian ordered his soldiers to cut off Demiana and 40 girls’ heads. Finally, they were martyred.” Suddenly my mother stopped talking because the bus stopped in front of St. Demiana Monastery. The time was 8:00 a.m. When I got out of the bus, I saw crowding of people, tents, and a place that I hadn’t see anything like before.

I was standing in a very large sandy land, outside the monastery’s wall, an area of 30 acres. I saw people living in tents, and their children were playing in front of their tents. I saw someone distributing sweets, he came to me smiling and gave me a lot of sweets. There was celebration held in the memory of the girls’ martyrdom for 3 days each year, from January19th to January21st because St. Demiana and 40 girls were martyred on January21st. There was a spot in this sandy land that tended to redness because this is imbued with the blood of the martyrs. When I stood in front of the door, I saw a great monastery, and it was topped by 25 domes. Also, I saw a large board on which written in the three languages Arabic, English and Coptic, were the words “Saint Demiana Monastery.” There was an image of the martyrs St. Demiana and the 40 girls. They were carrying with their right hands a cross and with the left hands a saffron plant according to the name of the area where was the monastery located. This monastery is located on two acres in the Saffron area of Belqas center of Dakahila city in Egypt. St. Demiana Monastery is the oldest monastery in the world as it was built at the end of the third century, so this place is historic.

I opened the monastery’s door, and I went through a great entrance like rectangle shape which is surrounded by 3 churches, but I will focus on the first church, which was historic, and another building which consisted of a basement, ground floor and six upper floors. When I went to the first historic church, there was liturgy. I smelt incense and I heard the sound of Coptic Hymns. The divine altar was surrounded by worshipers such as priests and deacons. While attending the liturgy, I was looking up, down, right and left side to meditate on every spot of the church. The altar was topped by a dome with a painted image of Jesus opening his embrace. This dome had two windows letting the light to enter the church. The chairs were divided into two rows, a row for women, and another row for men because in the Egyptian culture men don’t sit next to women in churches. There was a chandelier that has a large lamp and was surrounded with 40 small lamps; it was a symbol of the martyrs St. Demiana and 40 girls. The walls of the church were surrounded by amazing paintings, such as the holy family and Saint Mary and Archangel Mikhail. I saw on the right side a tomb of martyrs St. Demiana and the 40 girls. After the liturgy finished, I went to the tomb to see it up close. The tomb was surrounded by a fence with a candle in front of it, and a board which had some words; “This tomb is 6 meters deep underground.” I felt in front of their bodies that I was weak because they had faith that was strong, they sacrificed their lives for the Jesus Christ. I blinked my eyes and asked for their intercessions with Jesus Christ who is my Savior. I felt completely comfortable in this historic church because I felt the presence of God. It was time to leave the church to go to the other building for breakfast.

I went to the other building which had many rooms and halls. At the basement there were three storage areas to save food, clothes and furniture. On the ground floor there was a cafeteria and a store. The cafeteria was giving free food for visitors, so I ate delicious food over there. The store was selling products made by nuns. When I tried to go to the upper first floor, I found a sign that explaining admission was for nuns only. I was very sad because I wanted to know what was there at these floors. Suddenly I heard a voice from behind, “What bothers you my dear?” When I turned back, I saw a beautiful nun, and I asked her to describe these floors. She smiled and told me, “These floors contain 95 small rooms, a church, and three workshops, and a restaurant for nuns. Every nun has a small room with a bathroom, the nuns leave their room at 6:00 A.M in the morning to go to church to pray together. Then, we go to a restaurant to take the breakfast, and all nuns eat meals together in the same time and also the same food. After that, we go to work in workshops where the nuns make handicrafts, production of clothing and candles, and during our work, we are singing the Coptic Hymns. At 3 P.M we finish our work, and we go to a restaurant to eat lunch. After that, we have to go to church to listen to the spiritual words of our non-biological mother who is the leader of the monastery. In the evening, every nun goes to her room to worship Jesus Christ. There are paths in the building It has many boards on the wall which have phrases from the Holy Bible written to remind the nuns to obey God. For example, “we must obey God rather than humans being” (Acts 5 :29). She finished her speech, then I thanked her. I felt like I wanted to become a nun and leave the world to live the same life as the nuns. But this feeling didn’t last too long, and I went to walk in the monastery paths to look on the design of the place. When I looked at the time, I found it was 2:00 P.M. I had to go to the bus to go back home.

Though I was only there a short time, this monastery was one of the greatest places that I have seen, and I am proud to have this place in Egypt. Many tourists go to this monastery for their desire to see the historical site and the tomb of martyrs who lived to love Jesus Christ. I hope you to go to visit Saint Demiana Monastery, not only to see the holy place and take a blessing from it, but to feel comfortable and peace in your heart. When you go, you will feel away from the noise of the world and the problems of the life. It is a feeling that words can’t describe.