In Klot Bek, near down town Cairo, one finds the large Cathedral of St. Mark that functioned as the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate from the 1850’s until 1968. Just beside the Cathedral, is the residence for the monks of the Monastery of the Syrian, which is believed to stand on the place where a 4th century church once stood.

We will also visit the well which is said to have been blessed by the Holy Family – belonging to a farmer who provided them with water, according to the local tradition, the Virgin Mary then promised the farmer that her son will bless the farm so that it can be harvest next day for the melons sowed today. Such story reminds us of the Miracle of Wheats in the European traditions, in both narratives, the Christ Child defied the natural law of crop growing by accelerating it.

Photo: Norbert Schiller, the Cathedral of St. Mark at Klot Bek by night. It was the Coptic Patriarchate from the 1850’s until 1968.

Photo: Paul Perry, the interior of the Church of St. Mark that housed the Coptic Orthodox patriarchate from 1850’s until 1968, when the new patriarchate in Abassiya, Cairo, was inaugurated.

Photo: Paul Perry, interior of the central dome of the Cathedral of St. Mark at Klot Bek, Coptic Patriarchate from the 1850’s until 1968. The Holy Family is said to have blessed the well of a farmer who provided them with water and melons. The picture is of an interior painting of Jesus in its central big dome.

Photo: Paul Perry, a monk standing inside the prayer room of the residence of the monastery of the Syrians near the Cathedral of Klot Bek.

Photo: Paul Perry, the well at Klot Bek, which is said to have been blessed by the Holy Family as it belonged to a farmer who provided them with water and melons.

Photo: Paul Perry, a poor elderly woman sitting in her shop near the residence of the monastery of Al – Syrian near the Cathedral of Klot Bek.