Egypt: In The Footsteps of the Holy Family
If your dream is to visit Egypt, cradle of human civilization: a fact hardly contested, yet may not be aware of the special significance all Egyptians attribute to the fact that the Holy Family? When Christ was an infant, found haven in Egypt for nearly four years after their flight out of fear from the persecution of King Herod. We will visit some of the sites on the route the Holy Family took on their journey through Egypt connecting the past with the present, providing, thereby, an impetus for the future. Visit the Hanging Church in Cairo, one of the oldest landmarks in Christendom in the orient. Come to the Land where both Moses and Jesus lived while seeing splendid history dawning of the seventh millennium. YOUR TRIP INCLUDES: Round-trip air from New York to Cairo 10 nights in centrally located 5-star hotel accommodations as follows: (or similar) Not Included: Lunches, Beverages with dinners, Airport tax (approx. $200-$380 depending on departure city and routing, when inter-itinerary flights occur taxes can be higher). Travel Insurance optional at $99-$219. Tips to your guide & driver ($6 per day). Items of a personal nature. Sample Day-by-Day Itinerary: Day 1 – Depart USA Board your overnight flights from New York City or your hometown to Cairo. Dinner and breakfast served on board. Day 2 – Arrive Cairo Upon our arrival in ancient Egyptian capitol of Cairo you will meet our representative in the airport and will be transferred to your hotel. Where you will enjoy free time to refresh and relax before dinner. Day 3 – Pyramids This morning depart for a visit to the Great pyramids. The most famous is the pyramid of the pharaoh Cheops or Khufu. Of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Khufu’s Pyramid is the first, and only survivor, built around 4,500 years ago. While on the magnificent Giza Plateau we will visit the Great Sphinx. Built in 2620 BC it is in the likeness of King Chephren of Egypt, the fourth King of the 4th Dynasty, also known as Khafre, the son of Khufu builder of the Great Pyramid. After our tour of the Great Pyramids, we will be transferred to the Egyptian Museum which holds over 120,000 objects from the Pharaonic and Greco-Roman periods, including the celebrated mummies of ancient Egyptian kings and the treasures of the famous boy king, Tut Ankh Amun. Afterwards we will transfer to our hotel for an overnight in Cairo. Day 4 – Mostorod Wake up in Cairo and embark on a visit to Mostorod, a city on the path of the Holy Family. As the Holy Family made their way from Sinai to Cairo, about 10 kilometers away from Cairo, they reached Mostorod. When the Virgin Mary reached this village with her son, she bathed the Christ Child and washed his clothes giving this area the name: ‘Al-Mahamma’ which means ‘the Bathing Place’. On their way back to Palestine, the Holy Family stopped once more at Mostorod and, this time, caused a spring to stream from the earth, which still flows forth to the present day. After experiencing this miraculous village transfer back to Cairo for dinner and overnight at your hotel. Day 5 – Tel Basta Today we head north east of Cairo to the ancient city of Tel Basta. The Virgin Mary and Christ Child came to this village on they’re journey. “ . . . They went into a temple, which was called the Capital of Egypt. And in this temple there had been set up three hundred and fifty-five idols, to each of which on its own day divine honors and sacred rites were paid. For the Egyptians belonging to the same city entered the Capital, in which the priests told them how many sacrifices were offered each day, according to the honor in which the god was held. And it came to pass, when the most blessed Mary went into the temple with the little child, that all the idols prostrated themselves on the ground, so that all of them were lying on their faces shattered and broken to pieces; and thus they plainly showed that they were nothing. Then was fulfilled that which was said by the prophet Isaiah: Behold, the Lord will come upon a swift cloud, and will enter Egypt, and all the handiwork of the Egyptians shall be moved at his presence.” Experience this place of miracles before we transfer back to Cairo for dinner and overnight. Day 6 – Meniet Samannoud & Sahka Today we have an early departure from Cairo to visit the village of Meniet Samannoud. The Holy Family made their way in northwest direction to reach the small township of Meniet Samannoud where there is a large granite depression. According to local belief, it was used by the Virgin for kneading dough, and a water-well hallowed by the Christ child. We will follow their path that, crossed the Nile to the western side to a town called Sahka to see the ‘Pekha -Issous’, meaning, ‘the heel of Jesus’, which was the Coptic name of this Holy city. In this place, the Lord Jesus put His foot on a stone, and the trace of His foot appeared. We will return to Cairo for our dinner and overnight. Day 7 – Wadi El Natroun Leave Cairo this morning on our next stop; Wadi El Natroun. The Holy Family arrived at Wadi El-Natroun after crossing the Rosetta branch of the Nile to the western Delta. In the earliest decades of Christianity, the desert expanses of Wadi El Natroun became the site of anchoretic settlement and, later, of many monasteries. It is said that Jesus blessed the desert in view of these future settlements. In 1986 there were about 320 monks occupying the four Wadi El Natrun monasteries. We will return to Cairo tonight for dinner and overnight. Day 8 – Matariyah Depart for a visit to Matariyah. After Leaving the Western Desert of Egypt, the Holy Family made their way south, crossing the Nile to its eastern bank, and heading for Matariyah and Ain Shams. At the time of the Holy Family’s arrival there, Ain Shams was home to a large Jewish community, who had erected a temple -the Synagogue of Unias, – for their worship. In Matariyah, a tree still stands to this day, still regularly visited, called ‘Mary’s Tree’, for the Family is believed to have rested in its shade. Here, too, the Infant Jesus caused water to flow from a spring, from which He drank and blessed, and in which the Virgin washed His clothes. She poured the washing water on to the ground, and from that spot, the fragrant balsam plant blossomed: besides the healing and pain-soothing properties of this balm, its essence is used in the preparation of the scents and perfumes of which the holy Chrism is composed. Continue to Old Cairo, where the Holy Family rested for a while in Zeitoun, within which the serene landmarks of an earlier Coptic heritage still stand. As we reach old Cairo, we visit the church of Abu Serga (St Sergius) that was built above a cave, which the Holy Family used as a shelter. We will overnight in Cairo this evening. Day 9 – Maadi This morning we visit the ancient city of Maadi. After their short, but all-too-felt, stay in Old Cairo, the Holy Family boarded a sailing boat heading towards southern Egypt, reaching the modern Cairo suburb of Maadi which, in earliest Pharaonic times was an outlying district of Memphis, the capital of Egypt then; and, at Maadi, they boarded a sailing-boat which carried them up the Nile towards southern Egypt. The historic church built upon the spot from which they embarked, also dedicated to the Virgin, is further identified by the denominative, ‘Al-Adaweya’, the Virgin’s Church ‘of the Fen y’. (In fact, the name of that now modem suburb, Maadi, derives from the Arabic word which means ‘the Crossing Point’) The stone steps leading down to the River’s bank, and believed to have been used by the Holy Family, are accessible to pilgrims through the Church courtyard. An event of miraculous import occurred on Friday the 3r of the Coptic month of Baramhat – the 12th of Mar-1976 A.D A Holy Bible of unknown provenance was carried by the lapping ripples of the Nile to the bank below the Church. It was open to the page of Isaiah 19:25 the page declaring, "Blessed be Egypt My People". The Bible is now behind glass in the Sanctuary of the Virgin in the Church for all to see. Return to Cairo for dinner and overnight. Day 10 – Cairo – Samlout – Maghagha – El Minia We will leave Cairo to drive to Samlout and visit the Monastery of Arganos near the small town of Maghagha. Outside the western wall of the Church of the Virgin there is a deep well, which is believed to have provided the Holy Family with the water they needed. On towards the south they went from Bahnassa to Samlout and crossed the Nile again from that town to the spot on the east bank of the River where the Monastery of the Virgin now stands upon Gabal El-Tair, also called Gabal El-Kaf (‘Palm Mountain’). Here we can see where, it is believed that Jesus stretched his little hand to hold back a rock, which was about to detach itself from the mountainside and fall upon them. The imprint of His palm is still visible today. We continue driving to El Minia to where the Holy Family resumed their travels, they passed a laurel tree a stone’s throw south of Gabal El-Tair, along the pathway flanking the Nile and leading from the Mountain to Nazlet Ebeid and the New Minia Bridge of today. It is claimed that this tree bowed for worship the Lord Christ – glory be to Him as he was passing. The configuration of the Tree is, indeed, unique: all its branches incline downwards, trailing on the ground, then turn upwards again, covered in a cloak of green leaves. They call the tree Al Abed-"The Worshipper". Dinner and Overnight in Minia. Day 11 – El Minia – Assuit – Cairo This morning we leave the village of Minia and continue driving south to Assuit Governorate to visit The Monastery of the Holy Virgin Mary(Al Muharraq Monastery). The Monastery of Al-Muharraq nestles against the western foothills of the Mountain. It was built around the area where the Holy Family remained just over six months. Their time was spent mainly in a cave, which became, in the Coptic era, the altar of the Church of Virgin Mary, built at the western end of the Monastery compound. The altar stone was the resting place of the Child Jesus during the months He dwelt there. The whole area – the Monastery and its surroundings – is redolent of the Coptic Christian ethos. So hallowed are its intimations, that the Copts of Egypt named it the Second Bethlehem. It was here, at the very spot where Al-Muharraq Monastery stands, that the Angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, and said, "Arise, and take the young Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for they are dead which sought the young Child’s life.” We will be transferred back to Cairo for our dinner and overnight in our hotel. Day 12 – Cairo – USA Reflect on this incredible journey side by side with The Holy Family as we are transferred to Cairo International Airport for departure flights to the USA. Please note: A visa is required for travel to Egypt, but may be obtained at the time of arrival. Note: Though every effort will be made to follow the itinerary, it should be considered as an indication of the tour, rather than a contract of places to be visited. Occasionally local religious holidays, national days, traffic conditions and other events may necessitate changes in the sequence of visits or the missing of certain visits. We will have daily mass and strive to be in places as indicated. However, sometimes this is not possible as the site may not be available for Mass or itinerary changes are forced upon us. In this case an alternative site for Mass will be arranged. Our intention is to operate all Pilgrimages to the Egypt, as listed below, however, from time to time, due to the state of affairs in the area, departure may be cancelled, in which case, all money would be refunded. *2009 Travel Dates: Feb 06-18 2010 Travel Dates: Feb 05-17 In categories: Tours for Groups Book this trip |
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