Born in 597 AD in the city of Daklube, St. Samuel
spent most his early years in the Macarius Monastery at Wadi el Natrun. It is
said that he was a disciple of Abba Aghathon, and that God gave him the gift of
healing and performing miracles. He worked diligently at studying the
scriptures, meditating and praying with his teacher, as well as probably worked
the land as did St. Marcarius three centuries earlier.
During the life of St. Samuel, the monastery
flourished, though it was apparently ravaged on several occasions by the
Berbers. Legend has it that the saint was captured several times by the
Berbers. Yet it is believed that at his death in 693, the monks of the monastery
numbered between 120 and 200, and that there were twelve churches.
We here various reports of the monastery throughout
the centuries. In the 11th century, Abu-Salih, an Armenian reports that
the monastery had twelve churches and four towers. He also tells us of a
devout monk who lived in a nearby cave, and that there were a total of 130
monks inhabiting the monastery at that time.
In the 13th century, Yakout the Romanian, a well
known geographer, stated in his geographical dictionary that the monastery was
famous and well known to people. However, in the 15th century, another report
comes to us from El-Makrizi who reports only two towers, but he makes no
mention of churches. There are few records between the 16th and 19th centuries,
but we know that sometime during this period the monastery declined and the
buildings fell into ruin as it was deserted by the monks. In 1819, Belzoni
visited the monastery and discovered that it was deserted. He records
finding a very large church and convent, and tells us of well preserved
painting on the walls.
Today, the monastery has five churches, including the
Church of the Virgin Mary, The Church of St. Samuel, The Church of St. Missael,
the Church of the Angle Michael, and the Church of St. Mina the Martyr.