(CE:709b-710a)
DAYR ABU SARABAM (near Minya). The most explicit of the ancient authors regarding this monastery is without doubt al-MAQRIZI (1853, Vol. 2, p. 518), for he described "in the district of Dayrut a church near the town, as well as a monastery named after the monk Serapion, who lived in the time of Shenute and was elected bishop." It may be a case of this monastery, since a confusion of spelling is possible in Arabic between Sarabam and Serapion. The name does not appear to be attested elsewhere in relation to Dayrut and Dayrut al-Sharif.
Yaqut, in the thirteenth century, also called the village Darwat Sarabam (1870-1873, Vol. 2, p. 570). ABU SALIH (1895, p. 222) also called it Darwat al-Sarabam, but he does not mention any monastery.
E. QUATRÈMERE (1812, p. 13) contented himself with citing al-Maqrizi. G. MASPERO (1919, p. 197) referred to E. F. Jomard's description (1821). The monastery was described by the latter (Vol. 4, p. 187) as a small deserted monastery now serving as a cemetery, to the northeast and very close to Dayrut al-Sharif (Clarke, 1912, p. 208, no. 12). In the maps of the Survey of Egypt (1907) the monastery is called Abu Suryan Monastery and situated less than a mile to the east of Dayrut.
RENÉ-GEORGES COQUIN
MAURICE MARTIN, S.J.
