St Abba Shenouda the Archimandrite
On the 7th day of the Coptic month of Abib we celebrate the life of St Pope Shenouda the Archimandrite.
Abba Shenouda was the Abbot of the White Monastery of Atribe in the desert of Thebes for over 65 years. He was responsible for over 2,200 monks and 1,800 nuns. Abba Shenouda is called Archimandrite because he practiced the hermetic (isolated) life from time to time, and he also used to encourage some of his monks to withdraw to the desert after a few years of cenobitic life (living together in a monastic community). Notably, in the year 431 A.D., he accompanied St. Cyril to the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus.
Abba Shenouda was responsible for creating Egyptian nationalism or Coptism, eliminating Hellenistic culture from the Coptic literature, and did not permit any foreigner to be admitted to his monasteries. Besides his deep spirituality, he was a political and a social reformer.
Shenouda was born of good Christian parents in a village near in Upper Egypt. His father owned a cattle farm. Like David, his father used to send him to tend the sheep while he was a little boy. When Shenouda reached ten years old, he was put under the guidance of Abba Pijol, his maternal uncle and Abbot of the Red Monastery.
As a youth, Shenouda showed an exceptional inclination to be spiritually minded, and strove continuously after spiritual excellence. He enjoyed studying and teaching both monks and laymen. When Abba Pijol departed to heaven, Shenouda was elected to replace him as abbot. Under Abba Shenouda’s leadership, the number of monks reached 4,000; 1800 of them in the Red Monastery and the rest in the White Monastery, while a few of them preferred a solitary life.
Shenouda was greatly concerned about organization within the monastic life. He devised a system that was, in fact, a combination of St. Antony's hermetic life, and St. Pachom's cenobitic monasticism. He used to retreat to a remote cell and spend some time in seclusion, then return to the monastery and participate in the monastic community.
Shenouda built a house outside the walls of the monastery for those who were waiting to be ordained monks. He appointed a chief to the monasteries called the Archimandrite. He assigned specific periods for individual and group prayers. The doors of his monastery were opened to the villagers every Saturday evening. Thousands would participate in the Vespers prayers, spend the night in the monastery, and participate in the celebration of the Divine Liturgy the next morning. After the Liturgy, they were invited to share a meal the monks prepared and served. Shenouda took advantage of the presence of those people in the monastery to teach them the true faith inherited from the saintly fathers.
The Archimandrite lived in an age full of emotions and upheavals. It was an age in which the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus was convened, followed by the council of Chalcedon which started the rift between the churches. This same age witnessed the passing away of paganism from Egypt, after the desperate effort of Julian the Apostate to revive it. Finally, it was an age in which Egyptian nationalism reassured itself against all imperial forces. In the midst of this uprising, Shenouda towered like a beacon of light. He loved solitude, yet he shared the life of the world to the full, and was one of the unparalleled defiants against all Hellenistic tendencies. He used his talents of speaking and writing to inflame the crowds, using the pure Sahidic dialect of Upper Egypt. Shenouda made such a powerful impact to all who heard him or read his writings.
Shenouda also focused on charitable work. He went about feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and provided shelter to the homeless. The schools attached to his monasteries did not serve the saints alone, but they also served those living in the vicinity as well. The monks that were physicians also provided medical aid in the...