Comments on: St Anthony's Monastery, in Egypt, and the monastic gardening tradition https://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/st-anthonys-monastery-in-egypt-and-the-monastic-gardening-tradition/ Gardenvisit.com Tue, 19 Jan 2010 06:02:19 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.8 By: Christine https://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/st-anthonys-monastery-in-egypt-and-the-monastic-gardening-tradition/#comment-1624 Tue, 19 Jan 2010 06:02:19 +0000 http://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/?p=3560#comment-1624 It seems this question belongs to the study of the archaeology of food! [ http://apollo5.bournemouth.ac.uk/tag97/Eat_tonight.htm ] See Mary Harlow and Wendy Smith’s ‘Between Fasting and Feasting : The Historical and Archeobotanical Evidences for Monastic Diet – Egypt.(University of Birmingham)

]]> By: Gordon Evans https://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/st-anthonys-monastery-in-egypt-and-the-monastic-gardening-tradition/#comment-1623 Sun, 17 Jan 2010 10:25:38 +0000 http://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/?p=3560#comment-1623 Date Palms are still being planted for dates, but they are only commercially viable in clearly defined districts. Availability of water and low humidity are essentials. Here in the UAE the plantations centre around the oasis towns of Al Ain and Liwa. The hundreds of thousands of Date Palms lining the streets and parks of the capital city, Abu Dhabi, are primarily ornamental, the high humidity rots the dates on the tree although they are still edible. They need a lot of water, a lot of maintenance, throw poor shade, are very messy and aggressively thorned, but despite this they are the mainstay of most public plantings because of the high cultural esteem in which this tree is held. The best and most expensive dates are apparently grown in Saudi Arabia.

]]> By: Tom Turner https://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/st-anthonys-monastery-in-egypt-and-the-monastic-gardening-tradition/#comment-1622 Sun, 17 Jan 2010 08:32:28 +0000 http://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/?p=3560#comment-1622 Thank you for the corrections. Why aren’t date palms being planted for dates? One of the earliest descriptions of Arab culture, by a Roman, records that they often lived amongst date palms – and it would appear that this is what is happening at St Anthony’s Monastery. I have not been there but it is quite possible that they are growing, or used to grow, vegetables beneath the palms, as was done in Mesopotamian gardens.

]]> By: Gordon Evans https://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/st-anthonys-monastery-in-egypt-and-the-monastic-gardening-tradition/#comment-1621 Sun, 17 Jan 2010 07:46:37 +0000 http://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/?p=3560#comment-1621 At the risk of exposing myself as a miserable pedant I would like to point out that the Date Palm is not a drought-tolerant species. Just the opposite, their requirement in the Middle East for 150 litres of water per tree per day is double that of many other trees. They are planted ornamentally today mainly for cultural reasons, in St. Anthony’s time their presence would have been more closely aligned with aiding human survival in a harsh environment. They are also not very good at providing shade.

]]> By: Tom Turner https://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/st-anthonys-monastery-in-egypt-and-the-monastic-gardening-tradition/#comment-1620 Sat, 16 Jan 2010 06:59:58 +0000 http://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/?p=3560#comment-1620 The study of monasticism has been dominated by church historians and sadly neglected by the social scientists (psychologists, sociologists, economists, criminologists etc).
But on another point: St Anthony’s Monastery appears to be a wonderful example of how to design an environment for living in a hot arid climate: thick-walled buildings set in a shady grove of drought-tolerant plants.

]]> By: Christine https://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/st-anthonys-monastery-in-egypt-and-the-monastic-gardening-tradition/#comment-1619 Sat, 16 Jan 2010 06:51:46 +0000 http://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/?p=3560#comment-1619 It would seem that Clairvaux was at least initially quite austere. Bernard seems not to have cultivated a garden either for food or contemplation when the monastery was founded. [ http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/Bernard2.htm ] It would also seem his acquaintance with gardens is from his youth as his family were of noble origin.

I am not sure whether the symbolism you speak of is the ‘milk’ rather than the ‘bread’ for Bernard?

]]> By: Tom Turner https://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/st-anthonys-monastery-in-egypt-and-the-monastic-gardening-tradition/#comment-1618 Sat, 16 Jan 2010 05:59:03 +0000 http://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/?p=3560#comment-1618 Very interesting re St Bernard. The Cistercians were famed for their sensitivity to landscape and Fountains Abbey was subsequently integrated with the design of Studley Royal. St Bernard focussed attention on the Virgin Mary (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_of_Clairvaux ) but as this search of his sermon on the Song of Songs shows, he seems not to have noticed the symbolism of gardens in the Song of Songs.

]]> By: Christine https://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/st-anthonys-monastery-in-egypt-and-the-monastic-gardening-tradition/#comment-1617 Sat, 16 Jan 2010 03:18:12 +0000 http://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/?p=3560#comment-1617 St Bernard of Clairvaux gives a commentary on the Song of Songs in 86 Sermons.
[ http://www.pathsoflove.com/bernard/songofsongs/contents.html ]Origen’s commentary on the Song of Songs has been described as “the first great work of Christian mysticism.”

Perhaps theology [Song of Songs] and literature [Romance of the Rose] classes would be more popular if the texts you mention were studied!

]]> By: Tom Turner https://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/st-anthonys-monastery-in-egypt-and-the-monastic-gardening-tradition/#comment-1616 Fri, 15 Jan 2010 12:27:46 +0000 http://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/?p=3560#comment-1616 Other symbolic uses of the word ‘garden’ in a theological context are:
(1) paradise (this is more often found in the Koran than the Bible)
(2) in the Song of Songs ‘4:12 “garden” – The garden refers to her vulva and vagina. When the lover says it is locked, he is saying it has never been entered; she is a virgin. Thus to describe his wife’s vulva as a garden is to say it is beautiful to behold, like flowered gardens of the East’ See http://www.marriage-vineyard.com/id88.html . A number of writers have also placed this interpretation on the Romance of the Rose.

]]> By: Christine https://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/st-anthonys-monastery-in-egypt-and-the-monastic-gardening-tradition/#comment-1615 Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:32:36 +0000 http://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/?p=3560#comment-1615 The garden in the spiritual literature is used both literally and allegorically. Anthony’s little garden may have been allegorical! [ http://www.escholarship.org/editions/view?docId=ft5b69p02d&chunk.id=d0e3390&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e3267&brand=eschol ]

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