1st day
Arrive
Cairo International Airport ,meet and assist by ATA representative
with the sign of your name and assisting you through passport
control formalities, luggage identification & portage then
transferring you by air-conditioned private Limousine to your
hotel in which you will be assisted by ATA representative for
check-in.Overnight at hotel in Cairo.
2nd day
Breakfast
at your hotel, then drive to El Arish city at Northern Sinai,enoy
the Palm beach at Mediterranean Coast .Overnight at hotel in
El Arish.
3rd day
After breakfast,
Drive from El Arish to Cairo through the religious road. Among
the sites that enjoy popularity the Towns of Bubastis (Tell
Basta) Bilbeis , Back to Cairo.Overnight at hotel in Cairo.
4th day
After breakfast
drive to Samannud and Shaha in the Delta ,where annual pilgrimages
are made. After few hours Driving .drive back to Cairo. Overnight
at htel in Cairo.
5th day
Breakfast
at hotel , drive to Wadi el Narun, Arrive to Wadi Al Natrun
where the Holy Family rested. Back to Cairo.Overnight at hotel
in Cairo.
6th day
After
breakfast drive to El Matariya (ancient Heliopolis) enjoys great
popularity as the place where the Virgin rested beneath a tree
called the “THE VIRGIN ‘S TREE” at Mataria
. drive back to Hotel, Overnight at hotel in Cairo.
7th day
Breakfast
at hotel, Dive to Old Cairo where you can find Church of Saint
Sergius (Abu Sarga)is situated to the North of the Coptic Museum.
The church is dedicated to two Roman officers Sergius and Bacchus
who were martyred in Syria in 303.The earliest part of the building
dates from the fifth century and was built over the cave where,according
to tradition,the Holy Family hid during their Flight into Egypt.Hanging
Church (al Muallaqa)this Church dedicated to the Virgin Mary
is known as the “Hanging or suspended”Church because
it rests on the two southwestern bastions of the old Roman fortress
of Babylon. Drive to Maadi Church.Back at hotel.Overnight at
hotel in Cairo
8th day
After
breakfast, Full day sightseeing tour to visit The Pyramids and
the Sphinx,one of the seven wonders of the world, The Ancient
Egyptians built The Pyramids to be tombs to preserve the bodies
of their dead kings, Especially that believed in resurrection
and immortality, Le Sphinx a mythical statue with the body of
a lion and the face of man, sighnifying wisdom and power. The
Solar Boats (The Boats Of Cheops) the ancient Egyptians carved
spacious areas in the rock, near the pyramids. they placed wooden
boats, to be at the disposal of the king when he went on his
journey of day and night with the sun God Ra, in the after world.
Memphis, the old pharaonic Capital Of Egypt, Sakkara complex
with Pyramid of King Zoser. Transfer to your hotel in cairo,
Overnight at hotel in Cairo.
9th day Breakfast
at hotel, Transfer to St. Antony Monastery , St. Paul by Private
A/C Car (the distance will take about six hours driving), Arrival
St. Paul & St. Antony Monastery, stay
at Monastery for one
Night, at next day Drive back to Cairo by Private A/C Car.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
One God, Amen.
Christian monasticism was founded towards the end of the 3rd
century A.D.in the Eastern desert of Egypt by St. Antony the
Great, who is one of the patron saints of our church (click
here). In 330 A.D. one of St. Antony's disciples, St. Macarius
the Great (300-390) established ascetic life in the Natrun
Valley (Wadi el Natrun) assisted by St. Ammon who was another
disicple of St. Antony.
At first, monks used to live in separate caves or cells which
later increased in number. Later on, simple forts called "keeps"
were where the monks used to live because they were constantly
attacked by foreign invaders. The monastery evolved when these
keeps and cells were enclosed by a wall to secure the safety
of the monks and thus, become a community within itself.
The following options are summaries of various monasteries
in Egypt. These monasteries have a substantial history and
their presence in Egypt has been a source of great blessings
for the Copts of Egypt as well as those who visit them. In
the following options, you will be introduced to the history
of a particular monastery and (in most cases) be presented
with photos to
accompany the text. We hope that these pages will help you
in understanding the Coptic monastery in general and we urge
you to continue to visit this page, as we update our current
monastery information regularly as well as add new monasteries
to enjoy .
10th day Arrival
Cairo, transfer to your hotel, Overnight at hotel in Cairo.
11th day Breakfast
at hotel, meet our ATA representative to transfer you to Cairo
International airport for final departure.
eived
healing.Coptic and Muslim sources are not always in agreement
on the route taken,nor on the duration of the visit.Copts
believe that the Holy Family remained in Egypt for a little
over three and a half years,while Muslim traditions have seven
years-but such differences only serve to strengthen the tradition.
Among the sites that enjoy popularity as places where the
Holy Family rested are the towns of Bubastis (Tell Basta),Bilbeis,
Samannud,and Sakha in the Delta,where annual pilgrimages are
made.Babylon (Old Cairo) and the church of the Holy Virgin
on the banks of the Nile at Maadi,a suburb south of Cairo,are
also hallowed sites.The latter is believed to mark the point
where the Family embarked by boat for Upper Egypt.Mataria(ancient
Heliopolis)enjoys great popularity as the place where the
Virgin rested beneath a tree,refreshed herself,and washed
the clothes of the Child in the spring.Many towns have a mulid
or annual festival in honor of the Virgin.One of the most
important is the pilgrimage on August 22 to Gebel al Tair
(Mount of Birds),on the east bank of the Nile almost opposite
Samalut in Middle Egypt.Another site popularly associated
with the Flight is the village of Durunka,some ten kilometers
south of Asyut where an important mulid is held each year.The
monastery of Saint Mary Deir Durunka,like that of Gebel al
Tair,is situated near the cliff face.Another monastery of
Saint Mary known as Deir al Muharraq (the Burnt Monastery)is
the largest and wealthiest monastery in Middle Egypt.It is
situated in the western desert north of Asyut,and is best
approached from Qusiya. According
to honored tradition Saint Mark brought Christianity to Egypt
in the reign of the Roman emperor Nero in the first century.Some
of the earliest converts to the new faith undoubtedly came
from the Jewish community in Egypt,which represented the largest
concentration of Jews outside Palestine.In fact,tradition
also holds that Saint Mark’s first convert was a Jewish
shoemaker in Alexandria.Although Egypt before the Christian
era was by definition a pagan country and although the spiritual
climate was one of disillusionment where the people under
the yoke of imperial Rome,craved salvation there was a stream
of traditional thought and belief that prepared the way for
the Christian message. |