Zeitoun

Apparition in Zeitoun, Egypt

At the time of the apparitions was Zeitoun more of a Cairo suburb than a district in it; now it has become one of the thickly populated districts in Cairo. Tumanbay Street, where the Coptic church lies, is a main street at Zeitoun.

The church was built by the late Tawfeek Khalil Bey, under the supervision of the Italian architect Leomingelli in 1924, and was consecrated a year later by Anba Athanasyous, Bishop of Beni Sweif.

It is said that the Virgin Mary appeared to the late Khalil Pasha Ibrahim and requested him to build a church after Her name in this place.
She gave Her word that She would make Her apparition fifty years hence--a promise that has been realized when She made Her first apparition on April 2nd, 1968.

Opposite to the church there used to be a big garage for the buses of the Public Transport Authority.

On April 2nd 1968 an hour and a half after sunset, the mechanics and drivers of the garage were all alarmed by some disturbance in the street. The workmen ran to the street. They saw a young lady dressed in white on the church dome. They saw her walking on the dome. They thought that she was about to throw herself down. So they cried: "Be careful. Take care, you may fall down, wait." As the dome is curved, no human being can walk on it. Then some of the pedestrians who stood to watch the scene cried "Virgin Mary, Virgin Mary."

As the garage workmen who were watching the apparition were all Moslems, they looked on keenly and they all became extremely astonished. The lady who appeared in a luminous body, moved on the dome and bowed and knelt before the cross..!

The Traffic in Tumanbay Street was stopped and a big crowd of people stood to watch the apparition. The workmen of the garage who were on duty at that particular time all gave reports that ascertained and confirmed their witness as they all gave the same particulars. As did Father Costantin, the priest of the church.

It is also said that a Dutch lady, called Jopie Vermeulen, after the proclamation of the Virgin's apparition, sent a letter stating that the Virgin appeared to her in her bedroom in Amsterdam and told her that She appeared in Her Church at Zeitoun in the place where Mary and the child Jesus rested when fled to Egypt. A lady from Oslo did the same.

Sometimes She appeared in a bust and at other times in Her full body... moving between and on the domes. She bowed to the congregation and the crowds of people in front of the church. She blessed them. On certain nights She stood in the attitude of praying. She knelt in front of the church cross and the dome. Sometimes She was accompanied or preceded by celestial beings in the form of doves: luminous and bright. At other times She was seen with an olive branch in Her hand.

Some priests of high rank were then delegated by His Holiness Pope Anba Kyrillos VI to make researches and investigations on the spot. They stayed there for several nights enquiring and investigating until they saw with their own eyes the apparition in the full form moving on the domes and blessing the multitudes in front of the church.

During that period it was seen in different forms, all in luminous vivid body; sometimes in a bust, and sometimes in full form, always surrounded by a white glittering halo and making Her appearance either from the dome openings or from the space between the domes on which it used to move and march and bow before the cross on the church roof, making it emanate a magnificent light. It used also to face the multitudes of people in front of the church and bless them with the hands and with nods from the head.

Sometimes the apparition was in the form of a celestial body like a glittering white cloud or in the form of light preceded by some spiritual forms such as doves of great speed.
The apparitions used to last for quite a long time; on April 30th 1968 they lasted for two hours.
The apparitions have been witnessd by many thousands of citizens and foreigners belonging to different religions and sects, with groups of religious organizations and scientific and professional personages and all other categories of people who have proclaimed and announced their witnesses.. all giving the same particulars as to description and form and time and place, that unanimity has placed the matter of apparition beyond any doubt.

Upon visiting the Coptic Church of Zeitoun many patients suffering from incurable diseases have been miraculously cured. The Papal Committee have examined the cures medically and scientifically. Blindness, paralysed organs, cancer and dumbness have been miraculously cured. Doctors were amazed and officially reported that there was no medical explanation for such cures.

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