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The monk Antony

The Monk Antony


The servant of the lord Jesus, Nazeer Gayed went to the saurian monastery, the place where he loved the recess in it, and there he ordained as a monk named after saint Antony in 18/7/1954, when he was 31 years .


In this time many of Coptic know him from his service in different churches, and he was directing of Editing the magazine of Sunday schools, everyone know about his monasticism specially in the field of Sunday schools, he had many followers who learned from him , if they didn’t learn from him face to face , they learned from his writing , books , his isolation , and his monasticism , his words that he speaks and writing was the way to his life .


When he leaved his position as the director of editing the magazine of Sunday schools as a result of his monasticism that the readers of the magazine missed their interest to read, his talent in writing was increased when he read many books where he exists in the monastery, and always records his spirit meditations in a special note book of his poets, no doubtless his poets are very different from his previous poets  when he was in the world , but his poets when he was in the world , they were for the benefit  of people to learn and serve them but the other poets were for his personal benefit which recorded in them , his feeling and his spiritually and he went out thought philosophy behind the life and it’s meaning , and he was labyrinth in the expatriation one of pope’s poets is” the crypt   - in 1961 “.


1- My friend, I do not know what I am: nor do you know what you are here
You like me, are lost in this foreign land or are other others also like us
We spend a period as guests, then go when our day comes
Our fathers lived before in times before us then came after our fathers
I entered the universe naked so I own nothing in it or riches
I shall go naked over without what the mind foolishly collected and kept
A wonder that after all this we desire dwelling on this earth or making it our homeland
The mirage disillusioned us and its dreams, we were drunk and wasted our yesterday
Let us awake and let our hearts be pure, before we go and we say we should have.


2- I do not know how or when we go, all I know that that we shall go
In the way of death we all run in the race, each other in the wake of others
As vapor our lives would go such as lightning that flashes
My friend, be as you like then, and run in the horizons from one end to another
Rest your hopes in titles, or rest it in money and in earthly glory
And close your eye and fly dreaming, the days are wasted in dreams and finished
The end of the matter you were wish tired, lying in a few feet on earth
The heart rests, and you stay quiet, for there is no longer in the heart beating
Where then is the noise of yesterday in the heart, Where is his volcano of love and hate.


3- Say to those who build houses here, O guest are you building
Say to those who plant thorns enough, the same thorns you will reap
Say to those who sing on the passions, in the coming of death you will always sing
Say to those who lift their head high, in glory, in pride you will reap
Lower your head and walk in humility, as you lift your head, you will bow it
Say to those who rise above and runs before, O friend stand a little and await me
We are twins go together, I in your embrace, lean to embrace me
Say to those who glory in titles that, He rose in glory who is greater than I
We are in origin trivial dust, will he forget his origin who said I? 


When he became a monk , he served in the monastery , the responsibility of honest of library was given to him and printing – press of monastery and publishing the manuscripts and also the responsibility of visitors who come to visit the monastery from time to time and sometimes the responsibilities of agriculture and buildings were given to him .


The entering to the inner desert :


The monk Antony removed to other stage from the stages of monasticism in 1975 , it was isolation from the life of partnership with the monastery , and live in the unit life, and he found a small cave it was reasonable for his unity , it’s tall was 3 m and half and it’s width was 1 m , the cave was for 5.3 km from the monastery and then he leaved this cave and transferred to anther one , it was for from the monastery about 12 km and put in it’s entrance library , and starting to prepare a dictionary for Coptic language , and he found a digging place in the rock using it as a shelf , and put in it the complete group of father’s writings , and in anther  hole books specially for monks which were written by ancient monks to explain for then the wars of evil and worth of thinking and their way of life and other books for monk autistic and he lived in seclusion far from his monastery .


He spent weeks without seeing a face of human and it was a chance for races with the lord Jesus , meditation , studying , and following saints in what they doing and saying by his reading to their books , he didn’t go out of the monastery excepting in the strong needs after a strong importunity to be a secretary for pope Carlos vll , and it was mentioned by Girgis Helmy Azer the counselor and the journalist for pope shenouda , pope shenouda became a monk in  17 July 1954 and spent most of his time returned the writing of manuscripts of ancient monasteries and printed them , when pope Carlos called him to join and come to his secretarial and stay with him in the 6 th floor in the patriarch’s house in Clot Bey in the large road , this monk was collided with Dr . Kamal Ramzy “ the deputy and the prime minister in this time as a result of publishing a book by Dr. Nazmy luke and the minister of education Kamal Eldin Hussein issued with printing the book and distribute it in the schools of Egypt and Syria , and leaved his position and returned to the monastery , it was mentioned , that he said to me when I was sitting with him in his house in 6 t h floor “ I desired long for returning to Egypt desert on it’s sand and in it’s hugs and said “ my place is in the middle of sands” .