Third Church Discovered at Bawit

Heritage Key (Owen Jarus)

A large new church, monastic burials and a vaulted room filled with Coptic wall paintings - new excavation work at the Monastery of Saint Apollo at Bawit is yielding a wealth of remarkable finds. One of the team members, Dr. Ramez Boutros of the University of Toronto, discussed some of the finds at a recent lecture and Heritage Key followed up with an interview.

The Monastery of Saint Apollo was founded by the saint around 385-390 AD. It’s slightly north to the site of Asyut, which can be seen on the map below.

Saint Apollo was a hermit of sorts who lived out in the desert. Dr. Boutros told me that fourth century Palestinian monks record that they met with him and that he was “already surrounded by a few disciples.” Two companions were particularly close to him - Phib and Anoup.