Monastery of St Macarius

(Local Name: Wadi Natrun - Deir Abu Makar) 4mi/7km southeast of the Deir Amba Bshoi, at the southeast end of the Wadi Natrun, is the Deir Abu Makar, founded in the fourth C. by St Macarius the Great (c. 300-c. 380/390), in which Patriarch Theodosius I sought refuge in the sixth C. Apart from the three churches and the qasr, the buildings are modern. The principal church, and the oldest in the monastery, is the Church of St Macarius, which has an iconostasis dating in part from the fourth and fifth C. and fine frescos of the 10th-11th C. The old qasr has been converted into three chapels, one above the other, dedicated respectively to the Virgin, St Antony and the Archangel Michael; the frescos date from the 14th C