The Daughters of St. Mary (Deir Banat Maryam) is a Coptic community of nuns based in Beni Suef, Egypt.
Bishop Athanasius founded The Daughters of St. Mary during the feast of the Holy Cross (March 19, 1965) with the blessing of then Patriarch Kyrillos VI, and initiated their first women in 1970.
[1] The Daughters of St. Mary run several social projects as form of khedma, which in a Coptic context means “service as an act for God.
Furthermore, their services often reach groups marginalized by social taboos, such as mentally handicapped children who cannot find adequate care in Beni Suef.
[4] The goal of The Daughters of St. Mary is to practice monasticism while serving the Coptic community by combating poverty, sickness, and furthering social justice.