"...And
when they where departed,
behold, the angel of the Lord
appeared 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
Most know above text from many a
Christmas celebration, less knows where
Joseph actually took the young child and
his mother in Egypt.
Its clearly that they took the North Road
along the palm beaches by the Mediterranean
Sea, while crossing Sinai. In the Nile
delta they holy family visited several
areas before blessing the famous monastery
area of Wadi Natron - and then east again
to Cairo. From Cairo they sailed all south
to the area of today's Assuit - where
Joseph was informed that it was safe to go
back.
As some want to visit all places, and
other only have time for some tour options
- we have divided the whole journey into 5
parts. Each cover an area for the Holy
Family's travel in Egypt, and you can
choose only the area's you have time
for. .
The Holy Family
entered Sinai via the North Coast
of the Sinai Peninsula, not south
of Sinai as Moses. In North was
the legendary "Horus
Road" or the "Kings
Road" which was the main road
between the Nile Valley and
Asia.
Little is left of direct
monuments related to this journey,
apart from some small remains from
Roman fortress that was there when
the Holy Family came here. Still
the tour itself, along the
beautiful palm beaches and desert
- must be the exact same landscape
as the Holy Family saw 2000 years
ago.
For a tour here today, its
strongly suggested to have a night
in Al Arish - even if one should
be on its way further east. If
going back to Cairo, stay at Al Arish
Oberoi and go back to Cairo
next day. Enjoy the palm beaches
here - and if you come at right
days of the week, there is weekly
"non tourists" Bedouin
markets in Al Arish and
surrounding cities.
When the Holy Family entered the
Nile Delta from Sinai, they travelled the
delta from East to West.
Here they came to Tell Basta. When the
Holy Family came here, it was most likely
the Greek name Bubastis that still was in
use (only thirty years after the Greek /
Macedonian Cleopatra VII was concurred by
the Roman Empire), but the original
Egyptian name was Per Bastet
("House of Bastet"). This
was the place for the main temple of the
Cat goddess Bastet.
In Belbais the Holy Family took shelter
under a tree that later became a holy place
for pilgrimages. When Napoleon came to
Egypt, legend tells us that some of his
soldiers came to Belbais. Staying there
they tried - for some obscure reason - to
cut down the mentioned tree, but when the
tree started bleeding they departed in
great fear. The tree itself survived until
year 1850.
From Belbais the Holy Family and the
donkey traveled on and passed today's
Samanud. Here the child Jesus blessed a
well and a Church of Virgin Mary was later
built around this well.
In Sakha the holy child left his footprint
on a rock, and today the St. Mary's
Church is found here. From the delta they
traveled westwards towards Wadi Natron.
A tour to above places in the Nile Delta
will take a full day from early morning to
late evening.
After the Nile Delta was
crossed by the Holy Family, they came out
in the desert again and to a valley famous
for it's sodium salt recourses. Today
the area is called Wadi (Valley)
Natrun.
Wadi Natron was blessed by the Holy
Family, and became soon one of the most
important area for Christianity in Egypt -
famous for its monasteries.
St. Antonius (251 - 356) settled
as hermit in a cave in the mountains of the
Red Sea coast, some hours drive from
today's Cairo and some 30 kilometers
south from the city of Suez. At the foot of
the mountain that owned the cave, a
community soon arose - and the "desert
fathers" and the monasticism of the
whole of Christianity was born.
The famous St. Macarius (300 -
390), originally a camel driver - met,
while he was young, St. Antonius. Later he
was to carry the heritage of St. Antonius
to the blessed Wadi Natrun valley when he
sought solitude there in 330. A loose
community of hermits grew, who settled in
cells in the hills. Soon a system emerged
around the desert fathers of Wadi Natrun
with a church and, soon, a whole monastery.
The Monastery of St. Macarius later became
fortified by the Patriarch Shenute I
(859 - 880) because of attacking
Bedouins.
This desert valley is today home of 4
important monasteries. Along with St.
Macarius, this is the Syrian Monastery with
the famous church of the Holy Virgin Mary,
the Monastery of Pshoi and the Monastery of
the Romans where unique medieval wall
paintings have just been discovered during
recent restoration in the old church of the
Holy Virgin.
A tour to Wadi Gedid can be done during a
day, and many want to combine this tour
with visit to Alexandria. Alexandria being
the place where Christianity was
established in Egypt via St. Mark the
Evangelist who came here around year 50
A.D.
Passing the Pyramids and the
Sphinx the Holy Family came to what
thousand years later should be named Cairo.
In the time the Holy family came here, the
city of "On" lay on the east bank
of the Nile (remember biblical Joseph
who married the daughter of the High Priest
of On?), and the city of
"Memphis" on the west bank.
Close to the riverbank on the east side
was a large Roman fortress called Babylon.
Some meters from the fortress the Holy
Family stayed in a crypt. Later the ancient
church of Abu Serga was built over the
crypt.
This area of Babylon is today known as
"Old Cairo" and famous area for
ancient and legendary churches as the
Hanging Church (built on and between two
towers of Babylon Fortress). Another
important place not to forget here is the
Christian Museum (Coptic
Museum).
For pilgrims traveling to the Holy Lands
during the medieval times, a sycamore tree
where the holy family rested under was the
most visited place. Today known as the Tree
of the Holy Virgin Mary and located in
al-Matariya district of Cairo.
Several other important places have
legends from the time of the Holy Family
here, and the old three-domed church in
Maadi is very important. In the garden of
the church you still find the stairs
leading down to the Nile where the Holy
Family went into a sailboat for their
journey to Upper Egypt.
One should at least have one day to see
the main places and churches in
Cairo.
From the place where the Church
in Maadi lay today, the Holy Family sailed
up the Nile (south). On their way
they came to Gebel el Tair near Samalout
where a rock from the mountain is 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.
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
yearly during the Feast of the Consecration
of the Church of the Virgin by around fifty
thousand pilgrims (between 21st and
28th of June).
Written sources say the Holy Family stayed
six month in Deir al-Moharraq. On the cave
where the Holy family should have stayed,
the Church of the Virgin that 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 Assuit before going
back down the Nile.
One will need at least one night and two
days going this tour, but there are also
some very important Pharaonic places to
visit as Beni Hassan and Tell El Amarna -
so one can easily make this tour for two
nights and three days. Going back to Cairo
or continuing south to Luxor.
Holy Family in Egypt
Photos
