Saint Paul the Anchorite

The monastery of Saint Paul the Anchorite stands in Egypt's Eastern Desert, among the mountains west of the Red Sea. Tradition places it near the cave where Saint Paul lived as a hermit. The remote community shared a long history with the nearby monastery of Saint Anthony. After a prolonged period of abandonment, monks from Saint Anthony's returned to Saint Paul's, and Pope John XVI of Alexandria supported its extensive rebuilding in 1701.