Hilarion returned to his elected spiritual home in the
Egyptian deserts.
- The reason why Anastasius was sympathetic was
that at one time, before he had become Emperor, he had
good cause to flee from the reigning monarch. To hide
from him, he took refuge in Egypt just as his Saviour did.
During his stay in that country known throughout the ages
for mothering the hounded and those who sought refuse,
Anastasius made many friends. One of them took him one
day to visit a saintly old recluse endowed with the gift of
prophecy. The old man, looking at him, told him that the
day will come when he will become Emperor and sit upon
the throne of Constantinople. When this augury was
fulfilled, Anastasius did not forget his many Egyptian
friends. In gratitude,. He had a church built in the vicinity
of the cell which had been occupied by the old recluse,
and furnished it with vessels of gold. He also sent rich
gifts to the persons who had been considerate of him
when he had been hiding in distress.^1 - One of the many beneficial fruits of peace that
prevailed in Egypt during these years was that it provided
the Egyptians with the security needed for pursuing art
and science.
Egypt had been the melting pot of Hellenistic,
Roman, Persian and diverse other arts, but had overgrown
all of them. A new art springing from Egyptian soil
flourished, expressing national feelings and thoughts.
Textiles, wood, ivory, brass, pottery, and painting were
all available media. Often Coptic artists mingled different
media to express one motif which gave rise to the
description that “the inter-relation of various media is a
constant feature of all Coptic Arts”.^2 Yet some artists