Rock of ages

CAIRO, Egypt — It was the holiest of road trips. A father, a mother and a boy who would be King, journeying through the sandlands of Egypt. The heat, the cold, the flies, an ancient malaise, bandits circling like vultures. The hounds of Herod on their trail. If you think Egypt is mainly about pyramids, sphinxes, mummies wrapped in linen and mystery and marinated with curses, or exclusively tied to well-appointed condominiums of the Afterlife, well, think again. A holy thread runs through deserts, hidden valleys and that mighty, mighty river that was once visited by plagues and prophets. The old carpenter, the wife and the infant — hungry, on the run, taking directions from angels — must have covered 2,000 kilometers by boat made of papyrus, by donkey, and largely on foot. Before Christ set out for the road, Egypt was the road.

Our own trip began at the office of Mahmoud Mostafa Ahmed, the Ambassador of Egypt to the Philippines. He talked about the revival of a tour retracing the steps of the Holy Family through Egypt to escape persecution from Herod (as written in the gospel according to Matthew), and invited The STAR and a travel magazine on a trip to the Land of the Pharaohs to visit the sites where tradition has it Joseph, Mary, Jesus and another companion (a girl named Salome) sought refuge for 42 months, and where churches, monasteries and shrines have been built on those spots where they stopped over — areas such as Old Cairo, Asyut, Elmenia and Gabal El-Tair, among others. A chance to relive the stories of a family in exile as reported by the evangelist, plus apocryphal tales of palm trees bowing, spiders spinning webs around a hollow tree to hide Mary, angels appearing like holograms.

And Jesus, according to His Holiness Pope Tawadros II of the Coptic Orthodox Church, may very well be “the most significant tourist to Egypt.”

We are at the Coptic Museum in Old Cairo for the launch of “On the Trail of the Holy Family in Egypt” pilgrimage route (“we” meaning journalists and tour operators from Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Russia, India, Greece, Korea and the Philippines). The Minister of Tourism Hisham Zaazou detail the scope of the tour package and how promoting sacred sites will open Egypt up to religious pilgrims, the way Fatima in Portugal, Camino de Santiago in Spain, Lourdes in France, Rome and the Holy Land attract spiritual tourists each year. The Pope, who has agreed to open monasteries to tour groups, adds that tourism is an indispensable part of Egypt’s national economy, which has suffered greatly because of past political upheavals. 

After the press event, there is a stillness in the Nile as seen from a window at the Conrad Hotel bar in Cairo, a city that is half-past and half-present. Skyscrapers being shadowed by ancient shapes in the desert, swirling with stories of dog gods, pickled kings and a baby messiah. In the days to come we will roll down the Alexandria Desert Highway by bus, sleep in a boat hotel on the River Nile, explore Old Cairo by foot, and relish the miracle of travel.

From a great height

“No Nile, no life,” says our tour guide, quoting Herodotus as Egypt being “a gift” of the longest river in the world. “In the olden times, if the Nile flowed, there will be harvest. And if not…” Then perish the thought.

The day before, we had a tour of the Great Sphinx of Giza and the pyramids. Our guide Ashraf Elnaggar informed us there are 122 pyramids in all of Egypt. The word naggar means carpenter, by the way; what a coincidence considering the tour is all about the carpenter who died for the sins of the world. 

Now we are on our way to Old Cairo (Misr El Kadima) to visit a cluster of Coptic churches. Once you leave the city proper and into this area, it is like going back in time: long snaking walls, a fortress hereabouts. It’s like a movie set; you’d half-expect a Charlton Heston or Peter O’Toole figure to gallop by. In full battle regalia. On a chariot. Demanding an appointment with you in an arena.

According to the Coptics, the Holy Family visited Harat Zuwaila (the place contains a well touched by Jesus) and then moved to the district of Old Cairo and stayed there for a period of time.

The Church of the Virgin or the “Suspended Church” known as Al Muallaqa was built in the 7th century. It got its name because it was built above a gatehouse of a Roman fortress called Fort Babylon. The church, the most famous one in Coptic Cairo, is the site of reported Virgin Mary apparitions. There are 29 steps leading to the church itself. The mosaics are a sight to behold. So is the timber roof of the nave, which was inspired by the shape of Noah’s Ark. “If you want to save yourself, come to this place,” says our guide with a smile.

Nearby is the Church of Abu Serga (St. Sergius) or “Church of the Cave.” It has been written that the Holy Family took shelter inside a cave to escape the wrath of a governor named Fustat because of a prior incident: a pagan statue fell from its plinth as the infant Jesus passed by. “This cavern is the holiest place in all of Cairo,” informs our guide.

In Maadi there is a Coptic church beside the Nile named after the Mother of Christ, Virgin Mary Church-Adawia (or the “Church of the Ferry”). This was where the Holy Family started their journey into Upper Egypt by boat. The word Maadi is derived from the Arabic word meaning “the crossing point.”

The church representative says, “Jesus drank from the Nile for three years. Thus, it can be considered the second Jordan River where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist.” She tells a fascinating story: on March 12, 1976, churchgoers saw a big open book floating on the river, they went down an old staircase, fished it out of the Nile, and were surprised by what they saw. It was a copy of the Holy Bible opened to a particular page containing Isaiah 19:25. It reads, “Blessed is Egypt My People.” Coincidence or something else? The church had the book encased in glass at the sanctuary of the Virgin. A priest is buried inside the church as well, a rare thing.

Faith is rare beauty, too.

dream beneath a desert sky

We make our way to Wadi El Natrun to see four monasteries.

First is the Monastery of St. Bishoy. Our monk guide tells us, “Our ancient water well is called the Well of Martyrs.” When barbarians attacked the monastery in 44 A.D., they killed 49 elders and washed the blood from their swords in the well. The monk also showed us their ancient grain mill and other points of interest, including their old “panic room” in case of barbarian attack complete with a drawbridge, some supplies and thick, thick walls. 

Second is the Monastery of Virgin Mary (the Syrian). The most interesting thing about this monastery is the Door of Symbols (also known as the Door of Prophecies), which dates back to 913 to 914 A.D. The door tells the history of Christianity — golden epochs, periods of persecution,  the End of Times — by way of symbols: icons of Christ and the Virgin, large crosses, crosses in circles, a cross surrounded by a crescent moon, one cross with a radiating design unifying everything, and swastikas. Er, what? A swastika? “It’s not the sign of Hitler… he just appropriated it,” our monk guide explains, quite amused. 

Third is the Monastery of El Baramos — Baramos means “that of the Romans.” It is the first monastery in this valley in the 4th century. The word “Romans” pertains to two brothers who lived in the area as disciples of St. Arsenius.

Fourth is the Monastery of St. Macarius the Great, which was founded by Macarius the Egyptian who was the spiritual father to more than 4,000 monks of different nationalities: Egyptians, Greeks, Ethiopians, Armenians, Nubians, Palestinians and Asians, among others. Its church contains what is believed to be relics of John the Baptist and the prophet Elijah. Their crypts were discovered below the northern wall of the church.

Our monk guide explains, “The bones of John the Baptist and Elijah were discovered in 1976. How do we prove they’re authentic? First one is by the oral tradition of the monastery, saying how the bones were buried here in the 10th century. The second one is the history of the Coptic Church, saying how these bones were brought from Jerusalem to Alexandria and then to this monastery in the 10th century.”

Tomorrow, our guide informs us, we do a road trip of our own.

Asyut like it

Five hours by bus, three pit stops, the Egyptian desert and beautiful limestone hills unfurling by your window. This is what you’ll get when you make the trip from busy Cairo to the more laidback Asyut, which lies on the western bank of the Nile. We travel to two monasteries: the Monastery of Al-Muharraq and Monastery of Saint Mary (Deir Dronka).   

The first monastery was built around the area where the Holy Family remained for over six months. The stone — where the child Jesus rested when the family was there — was turned into an altar-stone. The entire area (the monastery and its surroundings) is essential to the Coptic Christian ethos. The Egyptian Copts dubbed it the “Second Bethlehem.” 

It was here also that Joseph got the news, via angel messenger service, that it was safe to go back to Israel because of the death of Herod, the guy who ordered all infants slaughtered fearing the birth of the Messiah.

According to oral tradition, the Holy Family journeyed some 50 kilometers to present-day Asyut, found a cave southwest of the city where they lodged before finding a boat that would take them back to their home. On that spot was built the Monastery of Virgin Mary.

We go up a mountain road to get to this monastery in the village of Deir Dronka, and we discover how beautiful it is with its cave chapel and how the structure was carved by the side of a rock. Even if you don’t believe how the Virgin reportedly appears in luminous form inside the chapel or other extraordinary objects and occurrences during the entire tour of Coptic Egypt (books floating on the Nile, unearthing of bones of saints, oracular doors), you will believe in the power of the Egyptian people: as builders of breathtaking architecture and creators of wondrous stories.

Oh, the old women in the chapel suddenly start ululating, making long and wavering, high-pitched sounds. From one row to the other. We will find out later that this is called the zaghareet, cries of praise.

“That,” says one of the monks as the voices bounce around the glistening cave walls of this lovely church, “is the sound of joy.”

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Special thanks to the Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt-Manila, Mahmoud Mohye and Noura Fouad Ali Aql of the Egyptian Tourism Authority (ETA). For information, email egyptmanila@gmail.com  or visit www.egypt.travel. Photos by Igan D’bayan