Holy Family Feast: More and more a national event

The 1st of June marks the Feast of the Entry of the Holy Family into Egypt, a feast exclusive to the Coptic Orthodox Church and traditionally celebrated by the Copts. This year, not only the beginning of June honoured the occasion, but other events were held throughout the month. Watani gives an overview of the major celebrations, and asks with hope: Is the feast becoming more and more a de facto Egyptian event?

For long centuries, the Coptic Orthodox Church has celebrated the biblical flight of the Holy Family—the Child Jesus, his mother Mary, and St Joseph—into Egypt on 24 Pashons (Bashans), the Coptic date that coincides with 1 June.
The Gospel of Matthew relates in its 2nd chapter how Herod the King sought to kill the Child Jesus, so the angel of the Lord commanded St Joseph to “take the young Child and His mother and flee into Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word”. When Herod died, St Joseph was commanded to take the family back to the historic land of Israel.

Live tradition
Tradition has it that the Holy Family entered Egypt through it northeast border, travelled southwest into the Nile Delta, and from what is present day Cairo boarded a boat up the Nile till what is today Assiut, 375km south of Cairo. There they stayed for the bigger part of their sojourn in Egypt till they turned back home, taking a slightly different return route.
The entire trip supposedly took some three-and-a-half years, extended over 3,500km, and included 31 sites, eight caves or grottos, 18 water springs or wells, and 13 trees.

Every one of the sites has a story to tell of a poor nondescript family with a baby in a strange land, with their daily attempts to answer life’s basic needs. Here, they stop to rest under the shade of a tree…there, the mother gives Baby a bath…elsewhere she bakes bread for her family. And every spot carries vestiges of these down-to-earth stories, and also tales of time-honoured miracles such as springing wells for the thirsty family to drink, blooming fields or trees, and idols that fell at the coming of the God-Child.

Egyptians celebrate the Holy Family as ‘your next-door neighbours’ who share your everyday experiences and remain close to your heart. It is a real, living connection that extends over time and space.
Today, every spot crossed by the Holy Family boasts some church, monastery or convent that are pilgrimage destinations for Egyptians, not only Copts but sometimes Muslims as well.

Sites of pilgrimage
As recently as the outset of the second millennium, the Egyptian government recognised the trail of the Holy Family in Egypt as a potential destination for religious tourism. With this in sight, the government has undertaken a project to upgrade the sites on the trail to accommodate pilgrims and tourists.

Nothing inside the churches or ancient vestiges was changed, apart from sensitive renovation, but roads leading to them were paved and lined with trees or palms, signposts installed, parking places built and, in general, any needed infrastructure was provided. Guest accommodation and visitor centres were left to local communities to provide, in hope that the expected tourist activity would bring about prosperity.

Sites opened for tourism
The government has officially opened four sites after installing proper infrastructure.
First was Samannoud, on the eastern branch of the Nile Delta some 140km northeast Cairo, a site where the Holy Family is believed to have spent 17 days, where the Holy Virgin is said to have helped an old woman with her baking. The locals warmly welcomed the Holy Family, and gifted the Mother with a large magoor, a granite trough that according to tradition she used to knead dough to bake. The church of the Holy Virgin and the Martyr Abanoub still boasts that magoor, also a water-well which the Christ Child Himself hallowed.

A site in Sakha in Kafr al-Sheikh in the North Delta, some 130km north of Cairo, has also been opened. There, Jesus’s ankle is printed on a rock today housed at the church of the Holy Virgin in Sakha.
The third site officially opened is Tell Basta in Sharqiya east of the Delta, some 85km northeast Cairo, where the idols in the temple of the cat god Bastet spontaneously fell—their ruins remain to this day—and Jesus is said to have sprung a well of water to drink from. The entire area has been turned into an open air museum.

The fourth site prepared to receive pilgrims has been Wadi al-Natroun, the Western Desert spot that lies off the Cairo Alexandria Desert Road midway between the two cities. It was opened last May. The site is home to four monasteries that go back to the 4th – 5th centuries: the monasteries of Anba Bishoy, the Holy Virgin al-Surian, al-Baramous, and St Macarius.

Three dimensional
This year, Pope Tawadros celebrated the Holy Family Feast with Mass in the church of the Holy Virgin in Sakha.

The church includes a small museum that houses the rock with the imprint of Christ’s ankle; and also displays an old icon drawn on deer hide and depicting scenes from the creation of the world up until the coming of Christ, as well as old manuscripts and documents, alter utensils made of silver, and other historical pieces.
In his sermon, the Pope talked of the Holy Family Feast as featuring three dimensions: biblical, ecclesiastical, and national.

The biblical dimension, Pope Tawadros said, is obvious in the prophesy in Isaiah 19, which came some 800 years BC: “Blessed be my people Egypt”, and “there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt”. This, he said, marks one of the biblical bases upon which the Coptic Church was established; the other two being the entry of the Holy Family into Egypt in the first Christian century, thereby blessing the land; and the preaching of Christianity in Egypt at the hands of St Mark who was also mentioned several times in the Bible, and who was martyred in Alexandria in 68AD.

The ecclesiastical dimension, Pope Tawadros said, is represented in the Holy Family Feast which was celebrated as far back as the first AD century, a feast unique to the Coptic Church, marked by strong traditions documented in manuscripts such as that of the 4th-century Pope Theophilos.
The national dimension, according to the Pope, is featured in the blessings granted by the Holy Family to all the land of Egypt. It is joyful, he said, that the feast is now officially celebrated on many levels, especially in spots where the Holy Family stopped. “We hope,” he said, “that the feast would be declared a national Egyptian feast.”
“Even outside Egypt,” the Pope said, “our Church has designated that wonderful feast as the ‘Global Coptic Day’.”

Mass was followed by a visit to Sakha church by Kafr al-Sheikh Governor Gamal Noureddin and a host of officials. They were treated to a guided tour of the church’s museum, then sat down to listen to a children’s choir, a brief on the history of the Sakha church, and to exchange sincere words on celebrating the special feast.

Roman cistern discovered
The 5th – 6th century church of the Holy Virgin in Haret Zuweila in Fatimid Cairo is among the spots believed to have offered the Holy Family a spot to rest on their journey in Egypt. Watani has written in detail on the church and the smaller churches and convents linked to it.

‘As it was so shall it always be’ (from Coptic Mass)

The church is famous as a venue that holds a grand event every year to mark the Holy Family Feast. This year, Bishop-General of Downtown Cairo Churches Anba Raphael presided over the celebration which hosted officials from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the Supreme Media Council, numerous clergy, senior officials, and public figures. Gracing the event were a number of distinguished Coptology experts who spoke about the history and importance of the church. Among them were Mina Ibrahim William, member of the board of Zuweila historical churches, and the person in charge of the restoration works in the church.

Mr William spoke of the history of the church, its intricate layout and numerous treasures. But most amazing was his announcement of the recent discovery of a Roman cistern that dates back to 30BC, which must have supplied water to the Holy Family.

Dr Samy Sabry, Head of the Architecture Department at the Coptic Studies Institute in Cairo, gave a talk about the 17th -18th century icon of the Holy Virgin at Haret Zuweila church, famous as the miracle working icon.
Historical evidence of the church standing on a spot trodden by the Holy Family was the topic of the word given by Dr Ishaq Agban, Dean of the Coptic Studies Institute in Cairo; whereas Nader Girgis, former coordinator of the Ministry of Antiquities’ project to revive the trail of the Holy Family in Egypt spoke of that trail as a unique tourist product that can bring prosperity to Egypt and blessings to tourists and pilgrims.

Finally. Anba Raphael’s word focused on Egypt as a biblical refuge for those fleeing trouble, starting with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and culminating with the Holy Family.

On river and mountain
Traditional celebrations were held at all spots believed to have hosted the Holy Family in Egypt.
Famous among them was the annual event held at the church of the Holy Virgin on the Nile bank in Maadi, the place in which it is believed the Family boarded a boat and sailed the Nile to Upper Egypt where it settled down at what is present-day Assiut, some 350km south of Cairo. The church is famous for an incident that occurred in 1967 when a big open book was found floating on the River Nile in front of the church. Intrigued, church workers retrieved the book, only to find it was a Bible open on the page of Isaiah 19: “Blessed be my people Egypt”. The book is displayed in a glass case in the church.

This year’s Maadi church celebration, reported to Watani by Nevine Gadallah and Tawfiq Adel, was held on the eve of the feast, in the open courtyard of the church. As is customary, it featured a Nile felucca carrying the clergy, deacons, and choir, which sailed to the church where the passengers disembarked and formed a procession that went up to the courtyard while singing praises. Presiding over the ceremony was Anba Danial, Bishop of Maadi, who was joined by Bishop Seraphim of Ohio, and Bishop Gregory and Bishop Basil of Southern US.

In Minya in Upper Egypt, the monastery of Gabal al-Teir held its traditional Holy Family celebration following a two-year hiatus on account of the COVID-19 pandemic. The celebration starts late in May, and extends for 10 days among which is the Feast Day. Apart from the spiritual ceremonies of 20 Masses and Vespers every evening, the 10-day event is a traditional folk celebration that witnesses participations of many thousands of Copts and Muslims. The place is famous for its 4th-century church built with hewn rocks, that houses a cave in which the Holy Family resided for three days. It is known to receive some two million visitors annually.

Zagazig University celebrates
From Zagazig, capital of the governorate of Sharqiya east of the Delta, Watani correspondent Mahmoud Al-Shazli wrote on a Holy Family celebration held on 2 June by Zagazig University, for the second year in succession. Apart from celebrating the Holy Family in Egypt, the university marked 30 years on excavating the well at Tell Basta by its excavation expedition.

Gracing the event was Anba Timotheus, Bishop of Zagazig; Anba Maqar, Bishop of Sharqiya; a number of clergy; government officials, Coptic, public, and university figures; and students of Zagazig University.
A documentary was screened on the journey of the Holy Family in Egypt, and the finds of Zagazig University expedition, including the well at Tell Basta.

A dazzling music and dance show on an ancient Egyptian theme followed, performed by university students, and choreographed and directed by university faculty of the physical education college. A collection of paintings by students was displayed.

Osman Shaalan, President of Zagazig University, welcomed his guests, saying that the day represented celebration of a national event which is the pride of all Egyptians, Muslims and Christians alike; “it is the day the land of Egypt was blessed by the coming of the Holy Family,” he said.

Commemorative coins
Not to be left out of what has been hailed as a national event, the Egyptian Mint Authority announced it was issuing a commemorative coin collection marking the Holy Family in Egypt. The coins, according to Hussam Khidr who heads the Mint, are in silver and in gold, and carry the icon of the Holy Family entering Egypt.

In 2015, the Mint issued a 12-piece commemorative medal collection in silver, depicting the life of Jesus Christ; in 2018 another 12-piece collection depicting places in Egypt visited by the Holy Family; and in 2021 a three-piece collection of modern-day Coptic patriarchs: Pope Kyrillos VI (Pope in 1959 – 1971), Pope Shenouda III (1971 – 2012), and the current patriarch Pope Tawadros who was enthroned in 2012.