|
AL-MUHARRAQ MONASTERY:
It stands at the foot of the western mountain known as
mount qousqam after a town
demolished a long time ago . it is 12 kms to the west of
alqoussieh ,in asyut governorate , 48 kms . North of asyut and
377 kms . South of Cairo . To the west of monastery starches the
western desert, the mountain end the numerous sand hills which
Coptic monks call the inner wilderness. To the north and east of
the monastery, spacious areas of green land extend ,as a result
of the Nile flood , which in time of inundation reaches the
outskirts of the monastery, converting the desert there into one
of the most fertile areas of the whole region the monastery
standson some twenty feddans, which makes " Al-Maharraq " the biggest monastery in Egypt
and the whole orient . Monks of this monastery have been
renowned for piety and knowledge, and have extended the
missionary work beyond Egypt . Some of them went as southern and
northern Europe, and stayed in Ireland .
Church of the holy virgin:
To the west of the
monastery, is a church dedicated to the holy virgin. The main
altar of the church stands in the same cave where the holy
family lived six months and some days according to the Coptic
Church books and records, and especially the chronicle of patriarch
theophilus, the 23th.
Patriarch of Alexandria (376 – 403 A.D. ) . in this record
patriarch theophilus
related a vision he had seen on the eve of th sixth of
hator , the Coptic month , that corresponds roughly with
November , after a long prayer : the holy virgin revealed
herself to him and related to him the story blessed journey of
the holy family from Palestine : she bade him record what he had
seen And heard which he did . his book has come to be one of the
most important documents concerning the holy journey.
The famous Islamic historian
Al– Makrizi
died in 1441 a . d states that Christians
claim that
Jesus Christ peace be upon
him , stayed in that spot for six months and some days. |