Deir el-Muharraq, the Second Bethlehem
Al-Qusiyya · Upper Egypt · The oldest monastery in the Christian world
The Holy Family in Egypt
The Gospel of Matthew recounts the flight of the Holy Family to Egypt to escape Herod (Mt 2: 13-15). The Coptic tradition - the Christian Church of Egypt, founded by the Evangelist Saint Mark - preserves in detail the route that Joseph, Mary and the Child Jesus travelled through Egyptian lands. One of the places where they stopped and lived for a while is the current site of the Monastery of the Virgin Mary of Al-Muharraqin Upper Egypt.
The oldest monastery in the world
El Deir el-Muharraq ("the Quemado Monastery," by a medieval fire) is located in Al-Qusiyya, about 465 km south of Cairo. According to the Coptic tradition, the Holy Family lived in this place during three and a half years - the longest time they spent anywhere else in Egypt. The cave where they lived became the first Christian sanctuary: it was the first altar in history, consecrated by Jesus himself before returning to Palestine.
The altar of the central church of the monastery - dedicated to the Virgin Mary - is considered by the Coptic Church as the oldest altar in the Christian world. The chapel that houses it, carved on the rock, dates back to the 1st century
El «Segundo Belén»
Coptic tradition calls this place "the Second Bethlehem" because here Jesus lived as a child longer than anywhere else. Popular devotion feels it as the place where Nazareth's family was more "herself": without the urgency of the journey, without persecution, in relative peace.
The monastery celebrates a great pilgrimage between 7 and 22 June (according to the Coptic calendar), which attracts thousands of pilgrims from all over Egypt and the world's Coptic diaspora.
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