THE  HOLY  FAMILY  IN  EGYPT  -  part 5 of 5  

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Until I bring thee word...
Part 5 of five articles

Last article; "His Holiness in Black" ended by walking down the stairway to the Nile from the three-domed church of the Holy Virgin in Cairo. So try now to imagine standing on the stairway:

There is no church behind you, no big city where you get stuck in traffic jam, no mosques or churches around. Look at the Nile where you can see a small boat awaiting the Holy Family as they are escaping deeper into Egypt's protection, up the river Nile ("up" is south, as the Nile runs down towards north).

Map showing the road from Babylon and up the Nile to Assiut (the city of Luxor is further south). See full map

On the way up the Nile they come to Gebel el Tair near Samalout where a rock from the mountain was about to fall down on the Holy Family. When the Holy Virgin saw this and got afraid, the Jesus child stretched out his hand and prevented the rock from falling. Thus creating an imprint on the rock by his hand. This imprint became so famous in Christianity that King Almeric of Jerusalem (1162-1173) in his time ordered the stone to be cut away and sent to him.

Traditional fishing on the Nile. See larger photo

Further south and up the Nile they travel.

In Deir al-Moharraq they took shelter in a cave. Today Deir al-Moharraq is the place for the Burnt Monastery, or the so called "Monastery of the Virgin" - one of the most important monasteries of Egypt. Situated close to the Nile it's not a desert community as most monasteries are in Egypt. It's the largest and richest Coptic foundation in Egypt and visited during the Feast of the Consecration of the Church of the Virgin (between 21st and 28th of June) by around fifty thousand pilgrims.

Written sources say the Holy Family stayed six month in Deir al-Moharraq. On the cave where the Holy family should have stayed during this time, the Church of the Virgin which is built - a church some say maybe is the first church ever built in Egypt...

Non-written tradition tells that the Holy Family then went as far south as Assiut before going back down the Nile.

Remember His Holiness Bishop Thomas who in last article was in a garden party in Cairo? Well, this southmost area of where the Holy Family travelled is the area of Bishop Thomas.

One of the most important places in Christianity!

Crypt the Holy Family is said to have been used. See larger photo

For the Holy Family, the journey turned north. First down the Nile to Babylon - and maybe the faithful donkey was waiting them there? Here they stayed for some time in the crypt, which the Church of Abu Sarga is built on top of.

After four years, they could return to Palestine.

Mary and the child Jesus, from the St. Antony monastery. See larger photo

The journey went back again to the ancient "Road of Horus" by the North coast of the Sinai Peninsula. It's no wonder the Egyptian Church cherish the well known biblical words below.

Add to these words a symbol we find in the Coptic Museum in Cairo as on rooftops in Luxor; the combined Christian cross and the Muslim halfmoon. The fact that two religions have managed to live together as one family in so many centuries as in Egypt, that may be another blessing from a small child who sought protection here some two thousand years ago?

"...And when they where departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young child and the mother by night, and departed into Egypt: And was there until the death of Herod : that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying , Out of Egypt have I called my son" (Math. 2.13-15)

Map showing the journey of the Holy Family. See full map

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Except where otherwise noted, this site is
licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Text & photo, Arnvid Aakre
www.egyptmyway.com

First Published January 2001

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