Deir as-Suryan (the Monastery of the Syrians, for the Syrian monks who once inhabited it), lies 0.5km northwest of the Monastery of St. Bishoi and is easy to reach. (Open 9am-6pm, 7pm in summer.) Tlie monastery was established when a group of monks broke away from the Monastery of St. Bishoi following a 6th-cen-tury theological dispute about the nature of the Mother of God. When the dispute ended, this alternative monastery no longer had a purpose. In the beginning of tlie 8th century it was purchased by a Syrian merchant for use by monks from his homeland, the first of whom arrived at the beginning of the 9th century. The monastery was prominent throughout the 10th century and by the 11th housed tlie largest community in Wadi an-Natrun. Tlie design is supposedly modeled on Noah’s Ark.

Ask to see the Door of Prophecies in the Church of the Virgin Mary. The uppermost panels depict disciples, while the panels below depict the seven epochs of the Christian era. The domes of the church are covered with frescoes of the Annunciation, the Nativity, and the Ascension of the Virgin. At the back of the church is a low, dark passageway leading to the private cell of St. Bishoi, The monks will show you an iron staple and chain dangling from the ceiling and explain how St. Bishoi would fasten it to his beard, thereby maintaining himself in a standing position lest he fall asleep during his all-night prayer vigils. Set in the floor at the western end of the church is the lakan (marble basin), which is used in tlie Holy Thursday Rite of the Foot Washing.