The Inner Mountain of Saint Anthony

Located about 160 kilometers southeast of Cairo, Mount Colzim stands in the northern foothills of the Red Sea Mountains. This mountain, also known as Qulzum, Qalzam, or Qolozum, served as the final residence for Anthony the Great from about AD 311 until his death in 356. Today, the Monastery of Saint Anthony stands in the same location, reputedly as Christianity's oldest operating monastery.

Before settling on Mount Colzim, Anthony spent nearly twenty years in a retreat at Pispir next to the Nile. Seeking greater solitude, Anthony was reportedly guided by a heavenly voice - described in Coptic tradition as the voice of a woman by the Nile - to move to the inner desert between the Nile and the Red Sea instead of moving to northern Thebaid. He traveled with a group of Saracens for three days along the Wādī al-'Arabah towards the Gulf of Suez.

Upon reaching the mountain, Anthony found a lofty peak with a clear spring at its foot. He resided on the Inner Mountain for forty-three years. The name Colzim is derived from the ancient city of Clysma, a major Red Sea port and center of monasticism. While the exact cave Anthony occupied is difficult to determine due to multiple monastic cells, it is believed to be a cave situated 100 meters above and two kilometers away from the modern monastery.

After Anthony's death, the mountain continued to be a site of deep monastic significance. Sisoes the Great took up habitation in a cave on the mountain in 357, shortly after Anthony's passing, and lived there for seventy-two years. Other figures, including Paul the Simple and John the Dwarf, also sought refuge on the Inner Mountain, maintaining its legacy as a sacred site of isolation.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata