New Reading of The Church of Saint Colluthus Famous for The Cave Church in Mallawi Minya Governorate

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Graeco Roman Archaeology, faculty of Arts, Alexandria University

2 Institute of Coptic Research and Studies-Faculty of Arts- Alexandria University

Abstract

The Church of the Rock (currently known as the Cave Church) is located in one of the caves of Mount Ansna at an altitude of about 120 meters in Deir Abu Hanes. On the right side of the Nile, next to the ancient city of Antinopolis (now Sheikh Ubadah in Mallawi).
This church dates from about the fourth century; But from the fifth century AD, the monks who settled in this region were rotating priestly service there. The church was very rich in frescoes, and unfortunately all the paintings were seriously damaged, and many travelers visited and wrote about the church from the seventeenth century until the twentieth century. The research aims at a new reading of this church in terms of proving that the church belonged to Saint Colluthus (Anba Colta the doctor), rather than to Saint John the Baptist or Saint John the Short. The evidence that we rely on in our research comes through a field visit to the place and photograph the church and its adjacent caves; In which were found several inscriptions of the name of Saint Colluthus, the patron saint of the entire city of Antinopolis; Which is only a few kilometers away from this mountain.
There are also many papyri that came from the city of Oxyrhynchus (Bahansa), and the city of Antinopolis, the birthplace of Saint Colluthus. It confirms the existence of many churches that were erected in the name of St. Colluthus in Minya Governorate.

Keywords

The Scientific Journal of the Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Alexandria University
Volume 20, Issue 2
December 2023
Pages 164-185

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics