Egypt enjoys the lion’s share of the Holy Family's journey... It embraced the Virgin Mary and her baby when soldiers of Herod, King of the Jews (Roman), were chasing her to execute her baby. During this trip, they set foot in different parts of Egypt’s land, leaving behind blessing and sanctity.
Among those spots is an area known now as “Al Matareya” suburb, where Virgin Mary tree is located. When the family felt that Herod's soldiers were chasing them, they hid under this tree, hence they survived.
Mary took refuge under the shade of the tree and a spring of water sprang up near it for her to wash Jesus’s clothes; the water was poured into those lands, where God sprouted the elderberry plant, from which Balsam essence is extracted. It was considered one of the precious gifts sent to kings at that time.
The tree has been a place of pilgrimage for Coptic Christians for many centuries, who come to pray around it or touch it, believing that it will heal illness.
The holy family moved on to Old Cairo where they took refuge in a cave. At this site, the Church of Abi Serja, within the walls of the Fortress of Babylon, was built years later.
They then set out to Al-Maadi, where the Virgin Mary Church was built by the Nile. From there, the Family embarked a sailing boat heading southwards.
Then the family headed to Minya, and to Qussqam in Assiut; where the Monastery of Al-Moharraq was built. Later, they transferred to Deir Derenkah, and finally, they took the same route back to their homeland, in Bethlehem, Palestine.
During the French campaign against Egypt, the French soldiers stopped their way to visit the Virgin Tree and many of them wrote their names on its branches by their swords, according to a number of historians.
It is known that the original Virgin Mary tree has weakened and fell in 1656 AD. Some of the Franciscan monks gathered the branches and twigs of the tree. The current tree, standing now and grown around the year 1672 AD, has its roots from the first tree.
Recently, the Supreme Council of Antiquities fenced the tree to be a touristic site, and the place turned into a museum that narrates the holy family journey in Egypt via various pictures, drawings, and statues.
At the entrance of the museum, visitors can see a very impressive painting of the Virgin Mary sitting under the tree, embracing Christ Jesus.
Also Saint Youssef El Naggar is standing next to her with a background full of trees, wells, waterways, Pharaonic obelisks and natural landscapes to show how the holy family was strongly attached to the land of Egypt
Contributed by: Nada Mustafa
Read about:
http://www.egypt.travel/en/stories/the-journey-of-the-holy-family-to-egypt
Follow the latest news on Google News
