Severus of St. Paul's. Most of the monasteries are flooded with applicants. At the El Azab Monastery near Fayoum, an oasis one hour south of Cairo, the world has truly come to the monastery. El Azab's courtyard looks like a playground. Children are running and shouting, tugging at Bishop Abraam's cloak and petting his Alaskan husky.
Parents come to seek blessings and guidance, or merely to have a family picnic.
Some of the villages in the oasis don't have a church, so people go to El Azab to worship, as they do at nearby El Malak Monastery, which 10 years ago had only two monks. Now it has 11, along with a retreat center that houses 30 visitors - although there is no water and electricity was installed only a year and a half ago. It's an open monastery. Life in Egypt is difficult. There are so many people who need retreat.