Monastery of St. Macarius the Great, at Scetis (Wadi Natrun), Egypt. A Coptic Orthodox monastery founded in 360 A.D. by St. Macarius, whose relics are there. It has been continuously occupied since its founding. You can read more about this monastery at its official English website: http://www.stmacariusmonastery.org/eabout.htm.
Here is a short commentary by St. Macarius on today’s Gospel reading (Matthew 12: 1-8). St. Macarius, a disciple of St. Anthony the Great, was one of the most influential of the early Desert Fathers of Egypt. He lived between ca. 300 and 391 A.D. and is sometimes known as ‘The Lamp of the Desert’. As the photo of the monastery named after him and reproduced at the bottom of this post shows, there is much new construction taking place today in addition to continued archaeological research into and restoration of the site.
The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath
‘In the Law given by Moses… God commanded everyone to rest and do no work on the sabbath day. But this was “a copy and shadow” (Heb 8,5) of the true sabbath, bestowed on the soul by our Lord. For indeed, the soul deemed worthy of the true sabbath no longer gives itself up to shameful, demeaning preoccupations and remains in them, but it celebrates the true sabbath and enjoys true repose because it has been set free from every work of darkness…
‘In former times it was decreed that even irrational animals were to rest on the sabbath day: the ox was not to be placed under the yoke nor the ass to bear its burden, for the animals themselves rested from their hard labor. By his coming to us and giving us the true and eternal sabbath, our Lord brought rest to the soul laden and burdened by the weight of sin which, subjected as it was to cruel masters, was constrained to carry out deeds of unrighteousness. He relieved it of the insupportable weight of vain and unworthy thoughts; he freed it from the bitter yoke of unrighteous deeds; and he granted it rest.
‘For indeed, the Lord is calling us to rest when he says to us: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11,28). Now every soul that places its trust in him and comes to him… celebrates a true sabbath, delightful and holy, a feast of the Spirit, in inexpressible joy and happiness. It offers God a pure worship, pleasing to him, from a pure heart. This is the true and holy sabbath.’
Nordic Mountain Reflections 