The pre-history of the recent Benedictine foundation in Egypt started when Fatherr Maximilian Musindai OSB from Tigoni Priory was sent to Kairo for a doctorate in Islamic studies. During his studies he war repeatedly approached by Catholic Egyptians who were asking why the Catholic Church in Egypt did not have any religious house of the older monastic tradition. Their quest was understandable on the background of the important role which the monasteries have for the Orthodox Christianity in Egypt. Egypt is, after all, the cradle of monasticism, and a vigorous monastic tradition going back 1700 years provides the spiritual backbone of the Orthodox Coptic church. The small Catholic community, while culturally very much aligned with their Orthodox brethren, has had to do without that source of strength.
The Benedictine Congregation of Sankt Ottilien decided to answer this request and started the necessary preparations.
Coptic Benedictines
In March 2018 the first community was officially welcomed by the Coptic-Catholic Patriarch of Alexandria under the title of St Benedict of the Copts.