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Photographic
Documentary by Michael McClellan
The Embassy of Egypt and the
Washington National Cathedral
Present A Photographic Documentary by Michael McClellan
at the Washington National Cathedral, Seventh Floor Gallery, West Towers,
March 15 through April 26 (Orthodox Easter), 1992
(TEXT OF EXHIBIT BROCHURE)
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A Still, Small Voice:
Sixteen Centuries of Egyptian Monasticism
A few miles from the Red Sea coast of Egypt,
surrounded by desert and mountains, is the monastery of St. Paul of Thebes. Small, rustic,
built of mud-brick, and baked by the hot desert sun for centuries, this monastery is
perhaps the ultimate symbol of the simple, austere, and ascetic approach to monasticism
for which the Egyptian desert is best known. Home of Christianity's first hermit, this
beautiful holy place has quietly stood firm and unchanging in a world of constant
upheaval.
When I first visited St. Paul's, I fell in love with it and returned there
many times -- and hope to do so again. In the course of my many visits to nearly all of
Egypt's monasteries, St. Paul's always called me back, and every time it spoke to me in a
new and different way of the need for monasticism in the modern world.
Egypt has given the world many great gifts, but its gift of monasticism to
the Christian world is perhaps its most important. For over sixteen centuries, the monks
of Egypt have encouraged and preserved a way of life, a way of thought, a purposefulness
that is perhaps more needed in the world today than at any time before.
These photographs attempt to bring a bit of the monastic wealth of Egypt to
the western audience that often knows little about it. Although Egypt is a predominantly
Moslem country, its monasteries are flourishing, young men and women are being added to
the monastic ranks every year, and the numbers of pilgrims to Egypt's holy places seems to
increase without limit. Since the beginning of Christianity, Egypt has made great
contributions to the Christian world and it continues to do so today.
As Africa's oldest indigenous church, a church with a biblical tradition
that goes back to the Prophet Jeremiah, the Coptic Orthodox Church is a unique spiritual
treasure -- not only for Egypt and Africa, but for all of us. The monks and monasteries
shown in these photographs are both Coptic and Greek Orthodox, a testament to the Greek
community that has lived in Egypt for over two thousand years.
These images give only a hint of the richness of Egyptian monastic life.
They attempt to bring to you the hot, dry desert heat, the stones and mud-bricks, the
simple, elegant architecture, the dust of history, the ancient treasures, and the men --
young and old -- products of a modern age, but living in a manner that is little changed
in sixteen centuries.
Very brief titles/captions accompany each picture. However, my words -- the
words of a foreigner, the words of one who is not a monk -- would not serve the images
well. I ask you to let the images speak for themselves. In the Orthodox tradition, images
have been instrumental from the beginning in speaking to the faithful who often could not
read. Let your eyes listen to these images. Listen to the stones and the mud-bricks; hear
of the spiritual struggles they have witnessed for centuries. Study the faces and the
hands; listen to their message of faith, their call to self-denial, their example of
humility and hope. Observe the work, the way of life.
For sixteen centuries, the still, small voice of Egypt's monks has spoken to the world. It
can still be heard today, even amid the noise and bustle of the twentieth century. It will
speak to each of us, it will touch each of us, it will guide each of us -- but only if we
stop and listen.
Take time to stop. Listen carefully.
Why the Desert?
The Egyptian Fathers Speak
A certain man said that there were once three
men who loved labors, and they were monks. The first one chose to go about and see where
there was strife, which he turned into peace; the second chose to go about and visit the
sick; but the third departed to the desert that he might dwell in quietness. Finally the
first man, who had chosen to still the contentions of men, was unable to make every man to
be at peace with his neighbor, and his spirit was sad. He went to the man who had chosen
to visit the sick; he found him in affliction because he was not able to fulfill the law
which he had laid down for himself.
Then the two of them went to the monk in the desert, and seeing each other they rejoiced,
and the two men related to the third the tribulations which had befallen them in the
world. They entreated him to tell them how he had lived in the desert. He was silent, but
after a little he said unto them, "Come, let each of us go and fill a vessel of
water." After they had filled the vessel, he said unto them, "Pour out some of
the water into a basin, and look down to the bottom through it," and they did so. He
then said unto them, "What do you see?" And they said, "We see
nothing." After the water in the basin had ceased to move, he said to them a second
time, "Look into the water," and they looked, and he said unto them, "What
do you see?" They said unto him, "We see our own faces distinctly."
He said unto them, "Thus is it with the man who dwelleth with men, for by reason of
the disturbance caused by this affair of the world he cannot see his sins; but if he live
in the peace and quietness of the desert he is able to see God clearly."
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