Christian Pilgrimages

 In the footsteps of the Holy Family: sacred Christian sites in Egypt 
 

On 12th March 1976, a Holy Bible was found floating in the Nile at Maadi, in south Cairo. Water-logged but otherwise miraculously undamaged, it was open at the chapter Isaiah 19:25 containing the phrase: `Blessed be Egypt my people`.

The Old Testament is filled with references to Egypt where the Holy Family sought refuge from persecution in Judaea and along with its celebrated Pharaonic heritage, Egypt considers this Christian legacy an integral part of its national identity. But while everyone visits the pyramids, few tourists see the places associated with the Holy Family whose travels are chronicled by Pope Theophilus, the 23rd Patriarch of Alexandria (384-412 A.D.)

Joseph, Mary and Jesus began their arduous journey in Bethlehem, crossing the Sinai to Farma reaching the Nile delta via Damietta. For three years they travelled on foot, by donkey and felucca. Wherever they stopped, whether just an overnight bivouac, or for several months, is greatly venerated by Coptic Christians who make up 6 per cent of the Egyptian population.

 Christian converts following the Holy Family erected monasteries and churches   in places blessed by their presence. While the most ancient churches like those at Farma are in ruins, others - walls hoary from centuries of burning candles - are being restored by NEHRA the National Egyptian Heritage Revival Association) which aims to revive some 25 places along the route for religious tourism.

Four early monasteries in the desert valley of Wadi Natrun are most accessible from Cairo. Oases of calm, they are home to some hundred monks who live in tiny cells, grow their own needs and who act as tour-guides. All the monasteries contain saintly relics and ancient murals discovered under layers of grime. A remarkable 6th century fresco in the Church of the Virgin in Deir al-Suriani  -   Monastery of the Syrians- depicts Mary `nursing` Jesus. 

Towns in Middle Egypt count many Christians who are mainly farmers and traders. Looking across the roof-tops you see among the minarets church steeples supplanted by crosses. 10 km from Minya is Gabal al-Tayr - Bird Mountain - a sacred site where Jesus put up his hand to stop a rock from falling into their boat. Devout pilgrims symbolically cover the walls of the ancient Deir al-Adhra church with their own muddy hand-prints.

In Minya the Holy Family turned west, fulfilling the prophecy in Isaiah - verses 19:20 - of an altar in the midst of the Land of Egypt. At this spot, in the precise centre of Egypt, they remained six months living  in a cave around which the Deir al-Muharraq  monastery complex is built. The stone `altar` referred to in Isaiah is seen in the Church of the Virgin  which is redolent with Coptic Christian ethos.

 At this point, an Angel   appeared in a dream telling Joseph that it was safe to return to Israel ` for they are dead who sought the young child's life: Mathew 2:20-21.

By now the  Holy Family had    travelled around 1000 km, but before retracing their steps to Upper Egypt, they wandered a little further south to Assiut, a devoutly Christian town where Muslims as well as Christians witnessed an apparition of the Virgin Mary in December 2000.

Their journey finally ended at Mount Dirunka 8 km from Assiut where surrounded by pilgrim hospices, the Convent of the Virgin,  stands over a huge cave used by the Family.  Each August, more than one million  Christians travel to Dirunka for the  Festival of the Virgin when sacred icons are taken out of the church and some 5000 Coptic infants are christened in multiple fonts beneath murals of the Holy Family. 

 

 

 
 

 

The Holy Family passed through Wadi Natrun after taking a meandering route via el Basta where following the biblical prophecy Jesus made the idols crumble. Here and at  Mostorod He is said to have struck a spring causing water to gush forth from the ground. You can see a spreading sycamore known as `Mary's Tree` where the Family camped at Matariyah but it is in Misr el-Kadima - Old Cairo - where the spiritual impact of the Holy Family is most keenly felt in ancient churches such as St Sergius and St Barbara and in the engaging Church of the Virgin at Harat Zuweila.

 

Hardly known to anyone except Christians and local market traders, this tiny church - only 28 m by 19m - lying 10 metres below street level dates around the 10th century. The original church was erected beside a spring blessed by Jesus which until restorations, used to flow along the central aisle. Work by NEHRA has restored the beautiful  ebony iconastasis  inlaid with ivory panels and surmounted by icons of the Virgin Mary and the 12 Apostles. Above `Harat Zuweila` is an equally tiny convent which may be visited by arrangement with the nuns.

From Cairo, the Holy Family moved to what is now the modern suburb of Maadi. The bible fished out of the river is displayed in the triple- domed Al Adaweya `Church of the Ferry Crossing` built on the spot where the Family boarded a felucca to sail down the Nile Valley.

 

 Photography: Christine Osborne  &  Mark Crame

The best period to trace the route taken by the Holy Family route is October until mid-April. Easter is the most important Coptic event of the year falling between late March and the end of April. 

Cairo travel agents offer specialised tours to most of the holy sites and to the monasteries in Wadi Natrun which are a half day-trip from Cairo. Independent travellers can use the cheap rail service in Egypt although a car/guide is necessary to visit more remote sites in the Delta and Middle Egypt

www.egypt.travel     www.coptic.net