PILGRIMAGE ROUTE, “ON THE TRAIL OF THE HOLY FAMILY”, BEING PREPARED IN EGYPT

May 2014

There is an attempt afoot to revive the religious tourism in Egypt. The pilot tour of the new route, “On the trail of the Holy Family” is scheduled for June this year. The excursion is being worked out under the auspices of rectors of Christian churches and abbots of monasteries, reports the website of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society.

The itinerary includes visits to the sites in Cairo, the Al-Minya governorate and further to the south, where, according to the tradition, the Virgin Mary with Joseph and the Infant Jesus took refuge from the pursuit. The tour finishes in Asyut, at the Monastery of St. Mary the Virgin. For safety reasons, a trip to the North Sinai governorate (where sites associated with the Holy Family’s sojourn have survived as well), was excluded from the itinerary. As part of the government program, numerous historic architectural monuments, situated on the whole track of long travelling of the Holy Family in Egypt, have been restored.

They include: the coaching inn in Al-Farma, St. Mary Church and the grotto of the Holy Family at Abu Serga Church in Old Cairo, the tree and the well of the Holy Virgin in Matariya as well as St. Mary Church in Maadi, from where the Holy Family started its journey to the lands of Upper Egypt.

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