Journey of the Holy Family from Delta to Upper Egypt

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Some twelve kilometers south of Cairo , at Maadi , on the bank of the Nile , is situated the Church of the Blessed Virgin with its three cupolas . From Maadi , the Holy Family took a sailing boat further southwards along the Nile .
Situated twelve kilometers south-west of Maghaagha is the village of Ishnin an-Nasarah . In earlier times , many people offered prayers in Ishnin , so there were as many churches in this locality "as there were days in the year" . A local oral tradition relates that the waters of the well , about 50 meters north of the Church of St . George , was blessed by Jesus , when the Holy Family passed through this village , on their way to Baysus (Dair El-Ganus) , about seven kilometers west of Ishnin . The sacred well of Dair El-Ganus is situated at the western end of the south aisle of the Church of the Blessed Virgin .
Ten kilometers in a southerly direction , on the edge of the desert , there is the ancient city of Oxyrhynchus , the present town of El-Bahnasa . A commentator of the Quran says that the passage "and we have made the Son of Mary and His Mother a portent , and we gave them refuge on a height , a place of flocks and water-springs , " (XII , 50) refers to al-Bahnasa .
Today , Al-Bahnasa possesses only one church that is dedicated to St . Theodore .
Near the ancient Cynopolis , the present village of al-Kais , the Holy Family took a boat to travel southwards . Thirty five kilometers onwards , they passed the Gabal At-Tair , which is almost opposite to Samalut and Bayahu . When the Holy Family passed this mountain , a large rock was about to fan on the boat , and the Blessed Virgin was very frightened . Jesus , however , extended His hand and prevented the rock from falling , and the imprint of His hand remained on that rock . When Almeric , King of Jerusalem (1162-1173 AD) , invaded Upper Egypt , they cut away the piece of the rock , and took it back with them to Syria in 1168 . The Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Gabal At-Tair was built in commemoration of the visit of the Holy Family .
From Gabal El-Tair , the Holy Family sailed southwards , passing on their way first the port of Khoufou , the present Minya , then the rock temple of the goddess Pekhet , caved by the Greeks Speos Artemidos , on the site of which is the present village of Beni Hassan El-Shuruq . Finally , they passed the Temple of Ramses II , on the ruins of which the Roman Emperor Hadrian built the town of Antinoupolis in 130 AD . This site is occupied by the present village of Ash-Shaikh Abadah .
Opposite to the ruins of Antinoupolis , there is the town of Ar-Roda , which is built on the site where the Holy Family disembarked in order to proceed to the famous city of Khmunu , the Hermopolis Magna of the Greeks , at present the village of Al-Ashmunain . The ruins of the Basilica of Hermopolis Magna are situated just outside the village of al-Ashmunain . About ten kilometers southwards , the Holy Family stayed for a few days in Manlau , the present town of Mallawi . There are numerous Coptic churches in this town , two of which are dedicated to the Blessed Virgin .
Further two days of traveling in a southerly direction brought the Holy Family to the town of Philes (the present Dairut Ash-Sharif) in the Thebaid . The inhabitants of this town were very charitable , and the Holy Family remained there for several days . From Philes , the Holy Family traveled via Pepleu , the present Beblaw , to the town of Sanabo
Thereupon , the Holy Family entered the city of Qusquam , nowadays the village of Al-Qusla . After Jesus had cursed the town of Cusre and its inhabitants , the Holy Family went on a short distance south (actually six kilometers west) of the town and rested for a while in the locality of the present village of Meir , because of their weariness and fatigue . Not far away , about eight kilometers south of Meir , the Holy Family discovered a well . There , the Holy Family sojourned for six months in a certain house . This holy place , blessed on account of the Holy Fami1y's presence in it , was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin , and is known as the Deir El-Muharraq .
According to a tradition , the Church of the Blessed Virgin at the Deir El-Muharraq was the first church built in Egypt . The most southern place visited by the Holy Family was ten kilometers south-west of the ancient Lycopolis (Asyut) , at Establ Antar , a mountain range rising west of Asyut . The Holy Family stayed there in the large rock-tombs of the Ninth to the Twelfth Dynasty . The Church of the Blessed Virgin at Dair Al-Adhra is situated east of the cave in which the Holy Family rested .