Virgin Mary in Egypt

According to the Scripture, Jesus Christ lived in Palestine, and the only other country he travelled to (as a young child) was Egypt. The Holy Family, throughout their stay in Egypt, which lasted for about three-and-half years, moved through many towns in Upper and Lower Egypt.

Many of the details of the journey of the Holy Family in Egypt are chronicled in a Mimar (manuscript) by Pope Theophilus, 23rd Patriarch of Alexandria (384-412 A.D.), who received these details during an apparition of the Holy Virgin Mary. Other sources of information include accounts by 2nd and 3rd century Greek and Jewish writers/philosophers/historians.

Many churches and monasteries were built in the locations which have been blessed by the visit of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Virgin Mary, and St. Joseph the carpenter. Many miracles took place in these locations during the Holy Family visit 2000 years ago (and continue to occur to this day). These Coptic churches are considered the oldest and among the holiest of all churches in Christendom.

Among the places visited by the Holy Family are Zeitun in Cairo, where the Holy Virgin Mary also appeared in 1968, and Assiut in Upper Egypt, where She again appeared in 2000

In one small street in el-Matarya district of today's Cairo (Eid Street/Shek El-Te'eban Street), all kinds of bread and bakery cannot be leavened up to this day, since the Virgin Mary first visited that place with the Holy Family 2000 years ago and they were refused bread and cast away. This is an ongoing miracle that anyone can witness till this very day. Bread leavens normally in all surrounding streets.

• Zeitun (noted for its Marian apparitions. It has been suggested that during the Holy Family's sojourn in Egypt, at one point they stopped at this site, where the Coptic Orthodox Church of the Virgin Mary currently stands.)

The Holy Family In Egypt

The advent of the Holy Family to Egypt, seeking refuge, is an event of the utmost significance in Egypt, long history.

Moved by the spirit of prophecy, Hosea foresaw the flight from Bethlehem where there was no safe place for the Christ Child to lay his head, and the eventual return of the holy refugees from Their sanctuary in Egypt, where Jesus had found a place in the hearts of the Gentiles, when he uttered God's words: "Out of Egypt have I called My Son". (Hosea 11:1)

In the Biblical Book of Isaiah, the prophet provides us with a divinely inspired prediction of the effect the holy Infant was to have on Egypt and the Egyptians: "Behold the Lord rides on a swift cloud, and will come into Egypt and the idols of Egypt will totter at His Presence and the heart of Egypt will melt in the midst of it". (Isaiah 19:1)

 But, in their escape from the infanticidal fury of King Herod, the Holy Family understandably had to avoid the beaten tracks altogether, and to pursue unknown paths, guided by God and His Angel. They picked their way, day after day, through hidden valleys and across uncharted plateaus in the (then) rugged wastelands of Sinai, enduring the scorching heat of the sun by day and the bitter cold of the desert nights, preserved from the threat of wild beasts and savage tribesmen, their daily sustenance miraculously provided, the all-too-human fears of the young Mother for her Infant allayed by the faith that infused her with His birth.

And so they arrived, at last, safely, for God had pre-ordained that Egypt should be the refuge for the One who was to bring the message of peace and love to mankind.

The tortuous trails they followed in their passage across Sinai, and their subsequent travels within Egypt, are chronicled by Pope Theophilus, 23rd Patriarch of Alexandria (384-412 AD). He testifies, in his celebrated annals that on the eve of the 6th of Hathor (the Coptic month corresponding roughly with November), after long prayer, the Holy Virgin revealed herself to him and, after relating the details of the Holy Family's journey to, in, and from Egypt, bade him record what he had seen and heard.

It is a source which no Christian believer would question.
Besides, it is a virtual certainty that, at a time when happenings of a momentous or historical nature were transmitted by word of mouth from one generation to the next, the account of Pope Theophilus' vision confirmed the oral tradition of supernatural occurrences which accompanied the arrival of a wondrous Child in the towns and villages of Egypt some 400 years earlier.

According to the sources of the Coptic Church, chief among which is the vision documented by Pope Theophilus, and recorded in the Coptic Senexarium the Holy Family proceeded from Bethlehem to Gaza, and then to El-Zaraniq (also known as Floussiat), some 37 kms west of El-Arish; then they threaded their way along northern Sinai until they reached Farma (ancient Pelusium) mid-way between El-Alish and present-day Port Said. It was their last stop in Sinai; and with the next leg of their journey they put the perils of the wilderness behind them.
Tel Basta or Basta which they now enter, is a short distance from Zagazig, the main town in the Sharqiah Governorate about 100 kms north-east of Cairo. Here, Jesus caused a water spring to well up from the ground, and His presence caused the idols to crumble, as foretold by the prophets of old. The townsfolk, in consequence, turned malevolent and aggressive, whereupon the Holy Family turned their backs on the town and headed southwards.

The Holy Family At The Town of Mostorod

In due course, they reached Mostorod (which came to be called, in those days, 'Al Mahamma') only about 10 kms away from Cairo. 'Al Mahamma' means 'the Bathing Place', a name given to the town because the Virgin Mary bathed the Christ Child and washed his clothes. It is worthy of note that, eventually, on their way back to Palestine, the Holy Family stopped once more at Mostorod and, this time, caused a spring to gush from the earth which still flows forth to the present day.


THE HOLY FAMILY AT THE TOWN OF BELBEIS

From Mostorod, the Holy Family made their way north-eastwards to Belbeis (ancient Philippos), back in Sharqiah Governorate, and at a distance of about 55 kms from Cairo. They rested there in the shade of a tree which came to be called, "The Virgin Mary's Tree'.


THE HOLY FAMILY AT MENIET SAMANOUD

Having left their mark on Belbeis, the Holy Family set off in a north-westerly direction and, reaching the small township of Meniet Samannoud (known also as Meniet Genah), they crossed the Nile to the city of Samanoud (or Jemnoty) in the Delta, where the local population received them with a kindness and hospitality that earned them deserved blessing. There is in Samannoud, to this day, a large granite trough which, according to local belief, was used by the Virgin for kneading dough, and a water-well which the Christ Child Himself hallowed.

THE HOLY FAMILY AT SAKHA TOWN

The Coptic name of the town, 'Pekha-Issous', (vernacularized to Lysous) means, 'the foot of Jesus'; for the Holy Child's foot-print was marked, here, in bas-relief on a rock. The rock was preserved, but hidden for centuries for fear of robbery, and only unearthed again 13 years ago.

The natural course of the Holy Family's journey from Samannoud to Sakha would have taken them through many of the towns and cities now lying in both the Governorates of Gharbia and Kafr El-Sheikh and, according to some folk traditions, through the Belqas wastelands as well.


THE HOLY FAMILY AT WADI EL NATROUN

Their trail from Sakha, is recorded in the documentation of Pope Theophilus' vision, and attested to by Coptic practice in the Christian era. For it was to Wadi el-Natroun (Natroun Valley) that they now came, after crossing the Rosetta branch of the Nile to the western Delta and heading south into Wadi el-Natroun (then called Al Asqeet) in the Western Desert of Egypt. In the earliest decades of Christianity, the desert expanses of Wadi el-Natroun became the site of anchoretic settlement and, later, of many monasteries, in spritiual commemoration of the Holy Family's passage through the Valley.


THE HOLY FAMILY AT MATAREYA & AIN SHAMS & ZEITOUN THE HOLY FAMILY AT MATAREYA & AIN SHAMS


Eventually, they left the desert behind them and made their way southwards, crossing the Nile to its eastern bank, and heading for Matariyah and Ain Shams (ancient Heliopolis, the site of the oldest 'university' in history called since earliest Pharaonic times, 'On'). Both these adjacent districts are outlying suburbs of present day Cairo, only 10 kms or so from the city center.

THE HOLY FAMILY AT ZEITOUN

At the time of the Holy Family's arrival there, Ain Shams was home to a large Jewish community, who had erected a temple the Synagogue of Unias, - for their worship. In Matariyah, a tree still stands to this day, still regularly visited, called "Mary's Tree", for the Family is believed to have rested in its shade. Here, too, the Infant Jesus caused water to flow from a spring, from which He drank and blessed, and in which the Virgin washed His clothes. She poured the washing water on to the ground, and from that spot, the fragrant balsam plant blossomed: besides the healing and pain-soothing properties of this balm, its essence is used in the preparation of the scents and perfumes of which the holy Chrism is composed.

Setting out next towards Old Cairo, the Holy Family rested for a while in Zeitoun, on their way; then proceeded along a course which traverses what are now crowded, bustling quarters of Cairo, within which the serene landmarks of an earlier Coptic heritage still stand, marking the paths the Holy Family followed. A listing of these landmarks, at this point, may be of pertinent interest.

THE HOLY FAMILY WITHIN THE AREA OF OLD CAIRO

IN CENTRAL CAIRO

•     The Church of the Virgin Mary in Zuweila Alley.
•     The Church of St George the Martyr.
•     The Church of St. Mercurios Abu Sefein (he of the Two Swords).
•     The Convent of the Virgin Mary.
•     The Convent of St George.

IN THE DOWNTOWN DISTRICT OF CLOT BEY

• The Cathedral of St Mark in Azbekieh.
• Numerous churches attached to the Cairo headquarters of many of Egypt's monasteries.
• The Church of the Virgin Mary (known by the name Ezbaweya).
• Virgin Mary Church of Al-Damsheria

The area now called Old Cairo, known as Misr El Kadima, is among the most important locations visited by the Holy Family where the spiritual impact of their presence is most felt still; though their stay was brief, for the Governor of what was then Fustat enraged by the tumbling down of idols at Jesus' approach sought to kill the Child. But they took shelter from his wrath in a cave above which, in later years, the Church of Abu Serga (St Sergious) was built. This, and the whole area of the Fort of Babylon, is a destination of pilgrimage not only for the Egyptians but for Christians from around the world. An air of piety and devotion pervades the whole district

Here, too, it is useful to list the sites which visitors to the Fortress of Babylon section of Old Cairo take in:

• The Church of Abu Sefein.

•     The Church of Abu Serga and the Crypt of the Holy Family beneath it.
•     Al-Muallaqa (Hanging Church), dedicated to the Virgin Mary, Patriarchal See of the Coptic Church in the early centuries.
•     The Church of St Barbara.
•     The Church of St George (in the Palace of Waxworks).
•     The Church of the Virgin, identified by its alternative name of Qasriet Al-Rihan (Basil Pot).
•     The Convent of St George.
•     The Coptic Museum and the ramparts of the Fortress of Babylon.
•     The Greek Orthodox Church of St George.
•     The Jewish Synagogue of Ben Ezra.

The Fustat section of Old Cairo, which lies west of the Mosque of Amr Ibn'l Aas, includes:

• The ancient alter of the Church of Abu Serga
• The ancient alter of the Church of Abu Serga
•     The Church of St Mercurios Abu Sefein (he of the Two Swords).
•     The Church of Abba Shenouda.
•     The Church of the Virgin Mary of Al-Demshiria.
•     The Convent of Abu Sefein.
•     The Church of the Virgin of Babylon El Darag.
•     The Church of Saints Abakir and Yohanna, The Church of Prince Tadros Al Mishriqi.
•     The Church of the Archangel Mikhail (known also as Al Malak AI-Qibli-or "Southern Angel').
•     The Church of St. Mena in Zahraa Misr El Kadima.

THE HOLY FAMILY AT MAADI


After their short, but all-too-felt, stay in Old Cairo, the Holy Family moved in a southerly direction, reaching the modern Cairo suburb of Maadi which, in earliest Pharaonic times, was an outlying district of Memphis, the capital of Egypt then; and, at Maadi, they boarded a sailing-boat which carried them up the Nile towards southern Egypt. The historic church built upon the spot from which they embarked, also dedicated to the Virgin, is further identified by the denominative, 'Al-Adaweya', the Virgin's Church 'of the Ferry'. (In fact, the name of that now modern suburb, Maadi, derives from the Arabic word which means 'the Crossing Point').

The stone steps leading down to the River's bank, and believed to have been used by the Holy Family, are accessible to pilgrims through the Church courtyard.

An event of miraculous importance occurred on Friday the 3rd of the Coptic month of Baramhat the 12th of March 1976 AD. A Holy Bible of unknown provenance was carried by the lapping ripples of the Nile to the bank below the Church. It was open to the page of Isaiah 19:25 the page declaring, "Blessed be Egypt My People". The Bible is now behind glass in the Sanctuary of the Virgin in the Church for all to see.

THE HOLY FAMILY AT AL GARNOUS MONASTERY MAGHAGHA

The sailboat docked at the village of Deir Al-Garnous (the later site of the Monastery of Arganos) 10 kms west of Ashnein el Nassara (a small village near the town of Maghagha). Outside the western wall of the Church of the Virgin there, a deep well is believed to have provided the Holy Family with the water they needed.

THE HOLY FAMILY AT AL BAHNASSA

They went on from there to a spot later named Abai Issous, "the Home of Jesus", the site of present-day Sandafa village, east of Al-Bahnassa which, itself, stand some 17 kms west of the town of Beni Mazar.

GABAL AL TAIR SAMALOUT

On towards the south they went from Bahnassa to Samalout and crossed the Nile again from that town to the spot on the east bank of the River where the Monastery of the Virgin now stands upon Gabal El-Tair ('Bird Mountain') east of Samalout, 2 kms south of Meadeyat Beni Khaled. It is known by this name (Gabal El-Tair) because thousands of birds gather there. The Holy Family rested in the cave which is now located inside the ancient church there. Gabal El-Tair is also called Gabal El-Kaf ('Palm Mountain'). Coptic tradition maintains that, as the Holy Family rested in the shade of the Mountain, Jesus stretched His little hand to hold back a rock which was about to detach itself from the mountain-side and fall upon them. The imprint of His palm is still visible.

When they resumed their travels, the Holy Family passed a laurel tree a stone's throw south of Gabal El-Tair, along the pathway flanking the Nile and leading from the Mountain to Nazlet Ebeid and the New Minia Bridge of today. It is claimed that this tree bowed to worship the Lord Christ glory be to Him as He was passing. The configuration of the Tree is, indeed, unique: all its branches incline downwards, trailing on the ground, then turn upwards again, covered in a cloak of green leaves. They call the tree, Al Abed 'The Worshipper'.

THE HOLY FAMILY AT AL ASHMOUNEIN TOWN MALAWY

Once more crossing the Nile, back to its west bank, the Holy Family traveled southwards to the town of Al-Ashmounein or Hermopolis Magna but it seems that they did not tarry long there. Leaving behind them the rubble of fallen idols, they continued still in a southerly direction, for another 20 kms or so to Dairout Al-Sharif (which, like Al-Ashmounein, had an alternative Greek name: Philes); and thence to Qussqam (or Qost-Qoussia). Here, too, the recorded events testify that the townsfolk were infuriated when the stone statue of their local deity cracked and fell, and evicted the Holy Family from the town. A historically recorded incident dating to that period refers to the devastation of Qussqam, and Coptic tradition asserts that the ruin that befell the town was the consequence of its violent rejection of the gentle visitors.

We have an entirely different story in the warm welcome with which the holy refugees were met at their next stop at Meir (or Meira) only 7 kms west of Qoussia. Here, they found only consideration and hospitality wherever they went, for which treatment the town and its people were signally blessed.

THE HOLY FAMILY AT MOUNT QUSSQAM

Now it was time for the Holy Family to set out for what is, arguably, the most meaningful destination of all in the land of Egypt, the place where there would be "an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt". Gabal (Mount) Qussqam, which takes its name from the town nearby that was laid waste, is 327 kms south of Cairo, and stand in the Governorate of Assiut. The Monastery of Al-Muharraq nestles against the western foothills of the Mountain. It was built around the area where the Holy Family remained just over six months. Their time was spent mainly in a cave which became, in the Coptic era, the altar of the Church of Virgin Mary, built at the western end of the Monastery compound. The altar stone was the resting place of the Child Jesus during the months He dwelt there.

The whole area the Monastery and its surroundings is redolent of the Coptic Christian ethos. So hallowed are its intimations, that the Copts of Egypt named it the Second Bethlehem. It was here, at the very spot where Al-Muharraq Monastery stands, that the Angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, and said "Arise, and take the young Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for they are dead which sought the young Child's life" (Matthew 2:20&21).

THE HOLY FAMILY AT MOUNT DRONKA-ASSIUT

And so they set forth on the return journey. The route they took deviated slightly from the one by which they had come. It took them to Mount Dronka, 8 kms south-west of the city of Assiut, and their blessing of this location was commemorated in the Christian era by the building of the mountain-top Monastery of Dronka. Eventually, they arrived at Old Cairo, then Matariyah, and on to Mahamma, retracing more or less their steps on their outward journey across Sinai to Palestine.

Subsequent Biblical history says it all: at the end, they arrived home, Joseph's old house, in the small town of Nazareth, in Galilee, in the land of Palestine, from where the message of Christ would, in the fullness of time, be heard.

The whole journey, from the initial flight from Bethlehem to the return to Nazareth lasted over three years. They had covered something like 2000 kms; their means of transport a weak beast of burden and the occasional sailboat on the Nile. But for much of the way, the delicate Mother and the rugged old Carpenter must have trudged on foot, enduring the fierce summer heat and the biting winter's cold, suffering the pangs of hunger and the parching affliction of thirst like hunted outlaws. It was a journey of indescribable agony and anguish which the Child Jesus, His Virgin Mother and the Sainted Joseph bore with inner joy, and survived, for the sake of mankind.

THE HOLY FAMILY'S JOURNEY IN THE LAND OF EGYPT

On the 24th day of the Coptic month of Bashans, which corresponds to the 1st of June, the Coptic Church celebrates the entry of the Lord Jesus Christ into the land of Egypt. On that day, the churches throughout the length and breadth of the land that gave the Holy Family shelter resound with the words of the Doxology:

"Rejoice, Oh Egypt; Oh, people of Egypt and all ye Children of Egypt who live within its borders, rejoice and lift up your hearts, for the Lover of all mankind, He who has been before the beginning of ages, has come to you". 

The Apparitions Of The Virgin Mary In Zeitoun, 
To Millions In The Coptic Orthodox Church
Named After Her,
Cairo, Egypt (1968-1970)

For more than a year, starting on the eve of Tuesday, April 2, 1968, the Blessed Holy Virgin Saint Mary, Mother of God, appeared in different forms over the domes of the Coptic Orthodox Church named after Her at Zeitoun, Cairo, Egypt. The late Rev. Father Constantine Moussa was the church priest at the time of these apparitions. The apparitions lasted from only a few minutes up to several hours and were sometimes accompanied by luminous heavenly bodies shaped like doves and moving at high speeds. The apparitions were seen by millions of Egyptians and foreigners. Among the witnesses were Orthodox, Catholics, Protestants, Moslems, Jews and non-religious people from all walks of life. The sick were cured and blind persons received their sight, but most importantly large numbers of unbelievers were converted...

Starting on the eve of the 2nd of April, 1968, these apparitions took many forms including:

1. The first was in full luminous stature. The Virgin appeared wearing a long robe extending to below Her feet. Sometimes She was surrounded by bright stars, and at other times She had a shawl about Her head, and Her hands were extended forward. At times, She was seen blessing the people who gathered to observe the miracle by waving Her hands and nodding Her holy head. At other times, She had an olive branch in Her hand. (Zeitoun is a transliterated Arabic word meaning olives. See Genesis 8:11)
2. The Virgin used to walk over the church, especially over the middle dome, and to bow prayerfully in front of the cross that shone, then, with a bright light.
3. She sometimes made Her apparition with the Babe Jesus Christ in Her arms. It is not strange to see the Child Jesus Christ in an apparition; heavenly apparitions may take forms known to us, so that we can understand them.
4. The apparitions of the Virgin were sometimes accompanied with, or preceded by, the appearance of white pigeons that used to circle the church. Sometimes a lightning-like light appeared. It shone for a while and then disappeared. At other times, a luminous mist spread everywhere and it gave off the strong pleasant scent of incense that pervaded the whole place.

 Unusual phenomena taking place at the time of the apparitions:

1. The Doves: They differ from the normal pigeons in that they are able to fly at night; they are also bigger in size and different in shape. They appear from nowhere, do not flap their wings as they fly and disappear as they came.
2. The Stars and Glowing Balls of Light: They are bigger than the usual stars. They used to descend quickly on the church. Sometimes they were spherical in shape or like lanterns.
3. The Light: It used to appear over the domes. Its colour was orange or light blue. It used to encircle the church like a sacred halo.
4. The Cross: Though opaque, the cross used to glow over the big dome with a phosphorescent light. Sometimes, a very white cross appeared over one of the domes or over the Virgin Herself when She made Her apparitions.
5. The Incense: It used to permeate the place with its strong pleasing smell and white colour.
6. The Clouds: Used to appear over the domes, sometimes taking the form of the Virgin.

 August 21, 1982 (around 8:10 PM), the Blessed Holy Virgin Mary appeared in a Coptic Orthodox

On the evening of Saturday, August 21, 1982 (around 8:10 PM), the Blessed Holy Virgin Mary appeared in a Coptic Orthodox church named after Her and located in El-Gomhourya street (also known as El-Kenissa street, i.e., the church's street) in the city of Edfu (Diocese of Aswan). The apparitions continued till the end of November 1982 and were confirmed by HG Bishop Hedra of Aswan.

Our Lady of Warraq Friday 11 December 2009

Location Giza, Egypt

 

 Our Lady of Warraq is believed, by some, to be a mass apparition of the Virgin Mary that occurred at the Coptic Orthodox Virgin Mary and Archangel Michael church, in Warraq al-Hadar, Giza, Egypt, in the early hours (1:00 AM – 4:00 AM) of Friday 11 December 2009. Others, however, point out after an examination of the footage made that night, comparing it with other images of the church building, that the "apparition" is probably the illuminated tower (also called minaret) behind the church's domes as seen from different angles, and is an instance of pareidolia.
 

Our Lady of Assiut during 2000 and 2001

The apparitions of Our Lady of Assiut were mass apparitions in Assiut, Egypt, during 2000 and 2001. Thousands of witnesses produced photographs of them, which were reprinted in several newspapers. According to newspaper reports, during mass, pictures showing Our Lady with a dove above her that were hung on the wall inside the altar began to glow, after which the light from the dove in the pictures started to flow down. Later, the lights appeared above the church as well

In 2011, Egypt also witnessed another remarkable sighting of the Virgin at a Coptic Orthodox Church in Warraq Island, 

In Cairo the sighting of the Virgin Mary, came following a bomb attack that targeted the Alexandria-based Saints Church of St. Mark & Pope Peter on Christmas eve; the attack killed about 21 Copts. 

Here are other apparition sites of Virgin Mary around the world

• Guadalupe, Mexico (1531)
• Quito, Ecuador (1594)+
• Querrien, France (1652)+
• Le Laus, France (1664)
• Rue du Bac, France (1830)
• La Salette, France (1847)
• Lourdes, France (1856)
• Robinsonville, WI (1859)
• Pontmain, France (1871)
• Pellevoisin, France (1876)
• Fatima, Portugal (1917)
• Beauraing, Belgium (1932)
• Bannaux, Belgium (1933)
• Heede, Germany (1937)*
• Amsterdam, Netherlands (1945)+
• Marienfried, Germany (1946)*
• Tre Fontane, Italy (1947)*
• Ngome, South Africa (1955)*
• Akita, Japan (1973)+
• Betania, Venezuela (1976)+
• Cuapa, Nicaragua (1980)+
• Kibeho, Rwanda (1981)
• San Nicolas, Argentina (1983)+
Currently Under Investigation

• Medjugorje, Bosnia-Hercegovina (1981)

Links
http://www.touregypt.net/holyfamily.htm
https://www.zeitun-eg.org/zeitoun2.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Warraq
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFZfWWeAGiM
https://mensajerosdivinos.org/en/maria/mensajes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marian_apparition#Our_Lady_of_Zeitoun
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/11/151113-virgin-mary-sightings-map/#/big-world.jpg

Cairo Egypt Zeitoun The Great Aparition of Mary the Holy Mother

Zeitoun, Egypt (1968)

History

In 1958 Egypt united with Syria to form the United Arab Republic, although the Syrian revolt in 1961 soon led to its dissolution.

Even so, in 1961 Egypt embarked on a program of industrialization, chiefly through Soviet technical and economic aid. Both industry and agriculture were almost completely nationalized by the end of 1962.

There was a fear among democratic governments that Egypt might become a Soviet satellite. President Gamal Abdal Nasser set about to make Egypt the undisputed leader of a united Arab world — attacking, in intense propaganda campaigns, other Arab governments that resisted Egypt’s leadership.

His most effective rallying cry for Arab unity was his denunciations of Israel calling for its total extinction. This rallying cry dominated Middle East politics between 1962 and 1967.

Meanwhile, Egyptian military might continue to increase with the acquisition of powerful modern weapons, many supplied by the USSR.

Various militant eruptions ensued, with worldwide impact. In 1967, Nasser assumed near absolute powers by taking over the premiership of the Arab Socialist Union, as Egypt was then called.

International fears increased that Egypt might become fully aligned with the dreaded Soviet Union. Indeed, after the sad war with Israel of 1967, Nasser received a massive infusion of military and economic aid from the Soviet Union.

The Western superpowers were quite worried. Such was the state of affairs in 1968. Zeitoun is a suburb of Cairo. Although the population of Cairo is Moslem, there is also a large Coptic minority in the city, as there is throughout Egypt. In ancient times, the city which became modern Cairo was known as On, or Heliopolis, the latter term Greek for “the City of the Sun.” 
The area of Heliopolis then became known as Mataria, which became the modern town of Zeitoun. According to Christian tradition, Mataria was the place in Egypt to which the Holy Family fled to escape Herod’s attempts to kill the newborn Messiah (Matt. 2:13-18). There once had been a shrine known as St. Mary’s Church built, and several times rebuilt, on the spot the Holy Family had found shelter. 

At some point the shrine to the Holy Mother disappeared altogether. In 1925 a member of the Khalil family experienced a “revelation” that the Mother of God would for one year appear in the church to be built there, at the same site. 

The family donated the land and built the new Coptic St. Mary’s Church. But nothing more happened until about forty-six years later, surely when few remembered why the church was built in the first place. On April 2, 1968, two car mechanics were working in a city garage at Tomanbey Street and Khalil Lane across from the church.

One of them happened to glance at the church and was startled to see a “nun” dressed in white standing on top of the dome. He and his colleague thought the nun was going to jump. One ran to get the priest, the other to get the police and an emergency squad. A large crowd gathered to watch these events — and began commenting on the nun’s translucent white radiance.
The emergency squad arrived. The crowd increased, and many watched and shouted at the nun not to jump but to come down safely. But by then the nun began to disappear, and ultimately vanished before everyone’s eyes. The figure atop the church was by many accepted as an appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The appearance caused a small ripple, but life soon went on as usual. Seven days later, though, the figure was again seen atop the Church of St. Mary’s. The luminous figure continued to appear at intervals until some time in 1970 — usually to the awed excitement of as many as 250,000 who gathered to witness her.

Many came armed with cameras. Startling images of the apparition and other phenomena were caught by many, but nothing unusual appeared on other photographs. It soon became apparent that some could see only indistinct luminosities, and that some saw nothing at all. But the vast majority could see very well.

The figure took to walking, or floating, around the dome, descending often to the roof’s edges. As she disappeared from one side and appeared on another, loud shouts of joy and awe arose from the masses on the side from which she could be seen. It wasn’t long before the crowds of pilgrims and witnesses achieved massive proportions. The human and motor traffic was tremendous.

Shortly after the apparitions commenced, the garage across the street and other nearby buildings were demolished to make room for parking lots to accommodate the visitors. Father Jerome Palmer, an American priest who witnessed the apparition many times, recorded that it was usually heralded by mysterious lights, bursts so brilliant, flashing, and scintillating that he compared them to sheet lightning.

These phenomena preceded the appearance by approximately a quarter of an hour, sometimes appearing above the church and sometimes in “clouds” that formed to cover it like a canopy.

The clouds were especially awesome, since clouds are seldom seen in Cairo. On one occasion, streams of incense poured through the church and settled over the throngs standing outside of it. The fragrance was extraordinary. Often luminous dovelike or birdlike forms glided through the air and sky around the apparition.

Their wings did not move. They appeared and disappeared in an instant. The Lady herself did not stand motionless. In addition to walking around the top of the church, she often bowed and greeted the throngs below.

She bent from the waist and moved her arms in greetings and benedictions and blessings. Thousands of people simultaneously knelt to receive them. The duration of the apparitions varied from a few minutes to sometimes over four hours. On the night of June 8, 1968, the Lady remained visible from 9:00 p.m. until 4:30 a.m. The apparitions continued at intervals through 1970.

This was a nonspeaking apparition, but one of glorious magnitude. Many photos were taken. Among those I’ve seen, in one the Holy Mother is floating near one of the church’s cupolas, suspended in air. No facial features are visible, but the head is clearly surrounded by a nimbus or luminous radiation. The arms and hands are clearly visible. She is sheathed in luminous white light, presumably a gown.
In another photo, a glowing white “bird” appears above her nimbus. In other photos, her head is bowed forward, her hands before her together as if in prayer. In yet other photos, the dome, cupolas, and outline of the church are suffused with auras, especially the crosses atop the building.

There is no other color perceptible but the light, which was described by everyone as either whitish-blue or bluish-white. Sometimes the auras descended to incorporate the hundreds of witnesses close to the church’s walls.

These were considered fortunately blessed, and so a crowd was always pressed up against the church walls. The Coptic religious weekly Watani was the first to publish information about the apparitions in a spread of two pages each week. The paper also printed weekly accounts of some of the outstanding cures and miracles which took place among the pilgrims and witnesses.

Within a short time, media worldwide, including the New York Times and major news magazines, were carrying news of the apparition and many photos of it. People from all over the world arrived in increasing numbers — and most of them saw.

Sometimes the crowds numbered 250,000 people a night. With this exquisite apparition, repeated many times, the skeptics’ demand of an incontestable photograph of an apparition of the Holy Mother was met, and met many times over. If incontestable photos are accepted as evidence of facts, then the photos of the repeated appearances of the Holy Mother at Zeitoun must be accepted as recording a factual apparition.

 And, indeed, those photos permit a positive reassessment of all the earlier major apparitions of the Holy Mother. However, skeptics at Zeitoun wouldn’t give up easily. Some of them held that the “Russians are doing it [projecting the image] by means of Telstar.”

But even if such projection was possible via a space satellite, why the anti-religious Communist Russians would wish to reinforce and support religious faith would have been something of a mystery. But this kind of bewildering “logic” has always been characteristic of skeptical attitudes toward the great apparitions. The impact of this series of apparitions was tremendous. As stated by Bishop Samuel (then Coptic Bishop of Public, Ecumenical and Social Services):

 The apparition was for all mankind, since belief in spiritual powers these days is weak. God is trying by all means to help mankind to build up its faith again. We [the Coptic churches] are happy, not only because of the apparitions, but also because of the great phenomena which accompanied them— of cures, of strengthening the faith, of prayerful living. The Copts moved expeditiously to “investigate” the apparitions, which, it would seem, hardly needed investigating.

On April 23, 1968, only twenty-one days after the apparitions had started, His Holiness Anba Kyrillos VI, Patriarch of the See of St. Mark in Africa and the Near East, formed a provisional delegation for verifying the matter. The report of the delegation was very soon published.

The report began with an account of the apparitions and expressed deep faith in their validity. “These appearances have been accompanied by two great blessings: the first being that of engendering and strengthening faith, and the second is the miraculous cures of desperate cases.” Some of the medically confirmed cures included those of urinary bladder cancer, cancer of the thyroid gland, permanent blindness, deafness, permanent paralysis of limbs, hernias, high blood pressure, bacteriological and viral infections, and mental derangement.

This was one of the most spectacular events in modern Egyptian history, but it is largely forgotten today. In any event, Gamal Abdal Nasser suddenly died in 1970.
Vice President Anwar al-Sadat succeeded him as president. Sadat followed a modified version of Nasser’s hard line toward Israel, but commenced work toward peace accords which has been in process ever since, although another war broke out in 1973. In July 1972, however, Sadat suddenly ousted all Soviet military personnel stationed in Egypt and placed Soviet bases and equipment under Egyptian control. This represented a reversal of a twenty-year trend of increasing dependence on the USSR a reversal which caused the Western superpowers immeasurable relief and which may actually have marked the beginning of the end of the Cold War. Whether the gorgeous appearances atop the Church of St. Mary’s had anything to do with this well, no one so far has attempted such an analysis.

Bibliography

from The Great Aparition of Mary by Ingo Swann