The path of the Holy Family in Egypt. From Farma to Assiut
“Take the boy and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and be there until I tell you, for Herod is about to seek the boy to destroy him.” So he got up and took the boy and his mother by night and went to Egypt and was there until Herod’s death.
With these words, the Gospel spoke about the journey of Jesus and the Virgin Mary to Egypt, which turned a new page in its history.
The Holy Family Path project achieves 3 gains for tourism in Egypt.
The visit of the Holy Family in Egypt lasted 3 years, and Pope Theophilus, Patriarch No. 23 in the See of St. Mark in Egypt between 385-412 AD, according to the manuscript “Al-Mimar” (a Syriac word meaning biography), monitored the most important main stations in the Holy Family’s journey From Al-Farma, which was known as the Belizeum, which is the city located between the cities of El-Arish and Port Said today, to Mount Qasqam in Assiut Governorate in Upper Egypt, where they returned to Palestine after the death of King Herod.
After the Holy Family crossed the Sinai and reached Farma, it headed to the second station, “Tel Basta”, near Zagazig. Basta is the hieroglyphic pronunciation of the word “Bastet”, which means the house of the god Bastet, then “Bilbeis” and there is a tree under which the Virgin Mary shaded, then “Munia Jinnah” She is currently Minya Samanoud, from which the family crossed the sea to Samannoud, then Burullus, and then headed to Sakha Issos, which is the current city of Sakha in the Kafr El-Sheikh governorate in northern Egypt, then headed west towards Wadi El-Natrun, which later became a gathering centre. Great monastic under the name “Wildness of Shehet” is the first cradle of monasticism in the world.
The Holy Family arrived in Ain Shams or the city of “On” known as “Heliopolis”, and its location is “Al-Matareya” in Cairo today; Which was in the past a huge centre for the worship of the god Ra, the sun god of the ancient Egyptians, and it is said that Christ spewed a spring of water in it and blessed it. The Virgin Mary washed Christ’s clothes in this spot, then poured water on the ground, and a balsam tree grew, and the extract of the balsam is used in preparing the “holy chrism” oil, which is used in churches even today.
After that, Jesus and the Virgin Mary headed to ancient Egypt, where they lived in the cave, which is currently located under the “Abu Serga” church on the ruins of the Babylon fortress, then to Maadi, and from there they rode a boat to the south, specifically Bahnasa in the centre of Beni Suef now. He headed to Minya Governorate, then they crossed the Nile to the eastern bank, where the palm of Christ was imprinted, and then to the Ashmonites in the city of Mallawi.
The Holy Family headed from Minya to Assiut, where they stayed for more than 6 months, which is the longest period they spent anywhere in Egypt, where they visited the city of “Felis”, which is the city of Dayrut Al-Sharif now, and then headed to Al-Qusiyah, from there to Mira and then to Jabal. Qasqam,” and in the same place where the monastery of the Virgin Mary is currently located, famous as “Al-Muharraq.” From there, the Holy Family returned to Palestine again and followed the same path after spending almost 3 years in Egypt
The path of the Holy Family is of particular importance for internal religious tourism, as the main stations blessed by the Holy Family in residing there are feasts, occasions and popular celebrations throughout the year.
The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism approved the first experimental phase of the Holy Family Trail in 5 archaeological sites. Last year, it received two delegations from the Philippines and India. Last June, the Italian delegation also visited the Holy Family Trail when the Pope announced the beginning of the inclusion of Egypt in the Vatican pilgrimage program. The Ministry of Antiquities is also preparing a committee responsible for promoting and advertising the UNESCO heritage projects’ path.