 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.
Problems between the Western and Eastern Christian churches existed
at this time, resulting in considerable conflict, including a foreign
Pope being installed in Alexandria. Military unites were sent to
the Monastery of St. Macarius. Samuel was among the monks arrested,
and later beaten almost to his deal because he refused the decision of
the council of Chalcedony. After these events, Samuel left the
monastery accompanied by four other monks and traveled to Mount
Kalamoun (Qalamon) in the region of the Fayoum Oasis where they
established a small monastery. Dedicated to the Virgin, this
monastery named for St. Samuel continues to flourish even today.
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 Romainian, 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 tower, 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.
Late in the 19th century, Father Issac El-Baramousy, along with a
few other monks came to live at the monastery. They began to
rebuild the old monastery, which he headed between 1895 and
1938. Currently, Father Basilios is Bishop and Abbot of the
Monastery.
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, the Church of St.
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