Featured Photo: Shangyun Shen, Coptic monks walking on the boulevard in the Monastery of Dayr al-Muharrq.
Before the massive city of Cairo awoke from its slumber, we hopped on the minibus that would eventually take us all the way to the hinterland of Upper Egypt and back. We were embarking on a journey to visit the sites believed to be trodden by the Holy Family some 2000 years ago.
Continue reading A Re-examination of the Holy Family Tradition in Upper Egypt
Continuing their flight, the Holy Family reached Ishnin al-Nasara, a village literally means the Garden of the Christians. It is believed that uppon reaching the village, the Christ Child felt thirsty. The Holy Family saw a well, but it was empty and Jesus cried. The Holy Virgin took his finger and held it over the well which then produced water immediately. After they had drunk enough, the water fell back to a low level. Although The well is now covered for protection, pilgrims still gather every year on August 21 to witness the miracle that the well’s water rises at around 4:00 p.m.
Continue reading Ishnin al-Nasara
Featured photo: Norbert Schiller, a priest blessed a child and two women at Kom Maria just outside the village of Dayr Abu Hinnis.
The text below is an Egypt Today article from the year 2000, when H.H. Pope Shenouda and President Mubarak were still in power.
Egypt’s oldest churches and monasteries have always attracted many hundreds of thousands of pilgrims every year.” The Coptic Orthodox Church, to which 90 percent of Egypt’s Christians belong, has convinced authorities and the public of the flight’s importance, and the Ministry of Tourism has since actively supported religious tourism, publishing a photo book and distributing it worldwide. In the past year dozens of articles have appeared in the Egyptian press about the project, and Nile TV broadcast an awareness-raising documentary during Pope John Paul’s recent visit. The American University in Cairo Press is also publishing a book about the Holy Family.
Continue reading Searching the Route: On the History and Present of the Holy Family Tradition
Holy Family in Egypt 