The Appearance of the Virgin Mary in Egypt

The Appearance of the Most Holy Mother of God at Zeytoon, Egypt

By FAYEK M. ISHAK, Ph. D.
Associate Professor of English Lakehead University at Port Arthur, Ontario, Canada

IN OUR DAYS, too, the Most Holy Mother of God has seen fit to reveal Her mercies to the sinful human race. Her remarkable appearances at Zeytoon since April 2 of last year have been attended by many of the same signs – in particular by miraculous healings – that have accompanied Her manifestations and miraculous Icons in past centuries. Although the appearances have occurred in a Coptic church not in communion with the Orthodox Churches, they are already widely accepted in Orthodox circles as genuine. Occurring as they do on the path the Holy Family followed in their flight into Egypt, the full meaning of these apparitions is perhaps hidden from us; but if one sees them in conjunction with recent events in the Holy Land and the Near East, one glimpses at least a bint as to their apocalyptic nature.

The following report was written by an Egyptian professor now living in Canada, and is based on correspondence with his relatives and friends in Egypt, official statements of the Coptic Patriarchate which he has translated, and articles from a weekly Coptic newspaper published in Cairo, Watani (My Motherland"). The photographs were supplied by him also and are, to the best of his knowledge, genuine.


ON MARCH 30, 1969, the Coptic Church added the following statement to its annals (calendar), which include the lives of its saints and the important occurrences that take place in the Church:

"Today is the 24th of Baramhat, the feast of the Holy Mother's appearance at Her church of Zeytoon near Cairo.

"On a similar day in 1684 of the Coptic Martyrs, i.s., April 2, 1968 (Anno Domini), which is the tenth year of Pope Cyril VI's accession, the 116th Patriarch of the Alexandrian Holy See, the Virgin Mother appeared in full illumination in the Coptic church that is named after Her and that looks over Touman Bey Street at Zeytoon, a suburb of Cairo.


The Apparition of the Most Holy Mother of God at Zeytoon – as photographed during one of its actual occurrences in 1968


"Her appearance has occurred at night on various occasions and in different forms. Sometimes She has appeared in full stature, at others only in half stature. She has always been bathed in a luminous halo of dazzling brightness. In some cases She has come through the openings of the domes of the church, but mostly She has moved above them, bending Her head and blessing the vast multitudes by raising both hands. She would bow in front of the higher cross that was then radiating with very bright light. At other times She has appeared in the form of lights or whitish clouds preceded by the bursting forth of spiritual beings like divine doves that flew at high speed. In duration the holy appearance has lasted for long periods that were occasionally extended to two hours and a quarter, as on that night [April 30, 1968] during which She appeared fully in unfailing lustre between 2:45 and 5:00 a.m.

"This appearance has been witnessed by thousands of citizens, by many religious dignitaries, scientists and many other people who stated in emphatic certainty that the occurrence is exceptionally distinct in its nature.

"Several wonderful and miraculous recoveries occurred to vast multitudes of sick people who were suffering from incurable diseases that medicine fell short of curing. This was scientifically proven unanimously by group testimonies.

"A year has now elapsed since Her first appearance and still She appears even to this very day.

"Grant, O Lord, that this would be a symbol of peace to the whole world; grant that it would mark the prosperity of our lands and our blessed nation through the intercession of Thy spotless Mother. For Thine is the glory, forever. Amen."


A view of one apparition, reproduced exactly from the Cairo newspaper Watani


THE CHURCH of Zeytoon (i.e., the Olive) is only a few yards away from the suburban line which runs from Cairo to Shebin in the U. A. R. The church which is named after our Holy Mother is at the corner of Touman Bey Street and Ibrahim Khalil Street.

The first apparition of the Virgin Mary occurred above the domes of the church on April 2, 1968, at 8:30p.m., and it was witnessed by a group of municipal garage technicians. As the brightness of the apparition became gradually more and more dazzling, a larger number joined the first group of people. Some of them informed the curate who lives in this vicinity that a certain lady all clad in white was seen above the domes of the church and she looked as if she was about to commit suicide!

The apparition of the Mother of God has occurred many times since that date. Her head is usually covered with a white veil and She holds an olive branch in Her hand. As She tours very slowly the four domes of the church, twelve doves become visible in the form of whitish or light grayish clouds. An illuminated semi-circular frame appears at first and is then gradually transformed into a complete "phosphoric" circle surrounding the whole of the divine scene, which is now all bathed in an unusually luminous halo. By this time the apparition is visible to everybody near the church.

A few moments before the occurrence of the holy apparition, the people witness a star moving westwards and followed by a reddish column all aflame. The column stations on the northwestern dome of the church and is gradually transformed into the visible apparition of the Virgin Mary. When the apparition vanishes, the star resumes its journey back towards the East.

The holy appearance, which is still witnessed up to the moment of writing these lines, having occurred a number of times in almost every month since its beginning, always at night, normally lasts from two to forty minutes. Only twice it did appear for longer periods: on April 2, 1968, it lasted for two hours, and on April 30, 1968, for two hours and a half.

It is amazing how some of the intimate friends and relatives of the present writer saw the Holy Mother raise Her hands high up as if She is praying and then bend Her head in glorified silence to bless the vast multitudes, who are about ten thousand at a time.

The apparition of the Mother of God has been seen by Moslems as well as Christians. It has been witnessed not by a single individual, but by the vast majority of those many thousands who had the resolute will and inclination to spend a sleepless night near the church. It has appeared too to the devout as well as the agnostic, to the believer as well as the blasphemous.

THESE APPEARANCES of the Mother of God have been associated with the actual healing of diseases and recovery from physical disabilities. The blind, the deaf and the dumb who were well-known in the neighborhood, have had their sight, hearing and speaking miraculously restored. Others who suffered the loss of one talent or another for many years, could now enjoy the blessings of health.

These people felt an unusually powerful sensation running through their veins and convulsing the whole of their being. Miss Madiha Said, for example, a third-year student of the Helmich Training School in Cairo, tells us that she lost her sight and became also totally dumb as a result of a severe psychic schock. The ophthalmologist cited the cause of this as neurasthenia (i.e., nervous disorder). Here is a literal trans. lation of Miss Said's own description of her healing: "I felt an inner power contracting my muscles and shaking every part of my body. In an instant I felt as if tiny and soft scales were falling from my eyes. The first thing that I saw was the apparition of the Virgin Mary. Then I cried, 'O, Mary! O, Mary!" This miraculous incident took place in the Zeytoonian church on June 5, 1968, at 2 a.m.

It is also amazing how people who suffered from leprosy, semi or total paralysis, blood cancer and several other dangerous diseases, were miraculously cured. The most moving and heart-rending example is that of a lady in her late sixties, Madame Amira Gobriel, who has been suffering from liver, kidney, and heart diseases for the last fifteen years. Three years ago, moreover, cancer and arteriosclerosis (i.e., thickening and hardening of the arteries) were added to the list. Most of the medical specialists who examined her concluded that any operation would mean her imminent death.

On July 21, 1968, she accompanied her brother and went to Zeytoon. There she was miraculously cured even before the occurrence of the Holy Mother's apparition at 12:15 a.m. the next day. She felt as if an electric current was running through the weakened tissues of her body. And for the first time after the lapse of those long years, she stood up alone without the help of any member of her family.

When she visited again the specialists who used to take care of her, they all reported that she had completely recovered. Immediately she threw away the drugs as she no longer needed them.

There have been miracles outside the immediate neighborhood of the church of Zeytoon also. The miraculous recovery of Mr. Wagdy Nabil Tewfik is worth mentioning. This young man, a University student, had been ill for seventeen years. He was suffering from severe pains in the joints, the abdomen and the chest. His case as diagnosed by many physicians was hopeless. It so happened that on December 30, 1968, as he was praying near the picture of the Mother of God in his private room, he witnessed the burning of incense in front of the picture. When his mother smelled the fragrance of the burning incense, she came to ask him whether he had brought it with him; he told her that he had not.

In the evening of the same day he witnessed with the rest of his family that the whole picture was suddenly illumined and certain shreds of blazing light were coming out of it. He immediately felt that his severe pains were diminished. The next morning was for him, in every way, the beginning of a new life... a life full of joy, happiness and the blessings of health.

Also, a lady named Julia Gobrial had been suffering for a year and a half from severe pains from inflammations in her liver, the blind and large intestines. All medical reports and X-rays stressed the immediate necessity of two operations. Only a few hours before the first operation, she saw at night the apparition of the Holy Mother of God all ablaze and surrounded by three glittering stars. Madam Julia could not help crying. At dawn she saw the Holy Mother again in full stature ap proaching her and stroking very softly the inflamed parts. In the morning she mentioned that she felt very well and the physicians decided that she no longer needed the operations.

Even more bewildering than the appearances of the Mother of God is the report of the Coptic Patriarchate (Cairo) about the miracle of Sunday, July 7, 1968, and the appearance at dawn of the Holy Family above the domes of the Zeytoonian church in the form of a luminous picture figuring the Blessed Mother as She was holding the Hand of Her Infant Jesus Christ. Beside them were Joseph and the ass.

Here it is worth remarking that the close approximation between the church of Zeytoon and the place where the Holy Family sojourned during their flight to Egypt, is not a mere coincidence. The picture is reminiscent of the whole mystery of the Nativity and the wisdom of the escape from Herod and the mass butchery of infants. Not far away from the church of Zeytoon, in the suburb of Matarich, is the tree under which the Holy Family rested for a while. This tree is still budding and blooming, as green and fresh as ever.

The miraculous apparition and the great multitudes that gather every evening before the church at Zeytoon have led to several special measures. In addition to the daily morning and evening services, every evening at about nine o'clock an Icon Procession begins from the altar and goes around the whole premises. The procession normally includes a bishop, archpriests, priests and deacons holding icons of the Most Holy Mother of God. Also, a local broadcasting station has been installed in the premises of the church of Zeytoon; it is run by Mr. Malak Eryan, who is also the Director of the Pharaonic Institute of Coptic Music. Prayers, hymns, sermons and news about the miracles that take place are broadcast every Thursday and Saturday from 9 p.m. until 4 a.m. the following day, Cairo local time. The Egyptian Ministry of Information and Tourism is at present studying the plans that would make of the Zeytoonian church and its surroundings an international shrine for pilgrimage.

...And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
St. Luke 21:11