The Holy Family continued their flight, went further west and crossed the Nile. According to some accounts the Holy Family saw Wadi al-Natrun, about half way between Cairo and Alexandria, from afar and blessed it, according to others they indeed visited the place.
Continue reading Wadi al-Natrun
Tag Archives: Wadi al-Natrun
Searching the Route: On the History and Present of the Holy Family Tradition
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 anĀ Egypt Today article from the year 2000, when H.H. Pope Shenouda and President Mubarak were still in power.
Author: Cornelis Hulsman
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