I have always worked with antiquities, inside and outside Egypt: ancient Egyptian, Roman, Greek, Coptic, Islamic, Ottoman, Hittite, Hapsburg... Each time I heard the stories attached to the monuments, and each time they felt unreal. They were myths to enjoy or tales with a moral, to learn from, but never things I could imagine happening to actual people. It's as if I am separated from them by a wall. The only time that wall melts away is when I hear about the holy family in Egypt. In this case I feel I am there almost in the flesh. I can sometimes even look at little Lord Jesus and see him walking barefoot to his house in Al-Muharraq Monastery, or see his mother taking him in her arms at the Gabal Al-Tair Cave. Work took me on that journey three times, twice with book publishers and friends. The last time, however, it was with the Egyptian Tourism Agency, which is now putting together a huge programme to reinvigorate holy family tourism. I started with the monasteries at Wadi Al-Natroun, which are very popular among Cairo dwellers as they lie off the desert highway to Alexandria. One rarely visited spot there is the Al-Homra Well at the start of the road to the monasteries: a serene salt lake that now surrounds the freshwater well where the family rested. I found out about Al-Homra from my Al-Ahram Weekly colleague Rasha Sadek, who took me along to photograph the beautiful hotel overlooking the lake, with petrified wood walls, domed chalets and gardens, before it was closed down years ago. Should you visit on your way to the monasteries, the resident guard will nontheless be happy to offer you a glass of tea. St Bishoy is the most popular of the Wadi Al-Natroun monasteries, which houses the shrine of the late Pope Shenouda III where people pray for intercession. Adjoining it is the Syrian Monastery, and a tour of the two requires at least 90 minutes. At St Bishoy are unique monks' cells and a monks' table with antique utensils and tableware. Intended for communal meals that I always imagine — contrary to monastic rules — to be relaxed and festive, the room is locked at St Bishoy. The monks will open it, but only to small groups of people at a time. At the Syrian Monastery it is open to visitors and has statues of the monks sitting around the long table, very austere figures reflecting the monks' lifestyle, which have often scared visitors. The many frescos at the Syrian Monastery were almost all discovered by accident when the gypsum hiding them from authorities that sought out and destroyed icons began to peel. Some were repainted in modern times, meaning not less than 200 years ago. Anba (or Father) Bishoy is famous for one particular story. Christ would appear to him, which made his fellow monks acolytes jealous. They asked to see Christ, who promised to appear to them early one morning at the top of the hill. They woke early and rushed there, but on the way they came upon an old man who asked where they were going and, on hearing they were to see Christ, implored them to take him along. They apologised politely, saying they were in too much of a hurry to carry him up the hill. Finally Bishoy arrived and agreed to carry the old man on his own — and of course it turns out that the old man was none other than the Lord in disguise, who blessed Bishoy and left while the others were waiting at the hilltop. Bishoy had to go up there and tell them they saw Christ but did not recognise him… My next stop was the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus in Old Cairo. The locals would not recognise Sergius and Bacchus, however, knowing the place as Abu Serga. This is where the holy family stayed in a crypt in the Jewish quarter of what was not yet Cairo, the alter being exactly on top of that crypt, which was closed to the public for many years. You could only visit with special permissions, which I had the honour of being granted three times: 35 years ago it was totally submerged in water, and when I told the priest the Church could not leave it in this state he said it was beyond the Church's abilities to deal with underground water, which was the government's job; 15 years ago the water level was significantly lower; five years ago the crypt had been fully restored by the Supreme Council of Antiquities with the help of foreign institutions. It was a chilling place devoid of history and emotion, covered entirely in marble, an addition the restoration employee who let me in defended despite my protestation that the Lord and his mother's footsteps were now entirely obscured. This time the crypt was open to the public and the marble had been removed. The two sinks for washing feet and baptism and the well from which the holy family drank can now be seen. Some 100 m away is the Church of Sleeping Mary, where Greeks believe the holy family slept over. Not all Christians agree on this, but why not double the blessings. I moved onto the Church of the Virgin Mary overlooking the Nile in Maadi. Tradition confirms that this is where the holy family embarked on their trip to Middle Egypt, and so does the testimony of Pope Theofelis (the 23rd Pope of Alexandria, who chronicled the holy family's itinerary) as well as the miraculous floating Bible. The church is a very cool place, ideal for summer mornings on the banks of the Nile, where you can take a motor boat in large groups. The frescos on the southern and northern altars, executed in the modern Coptic style founded by Isaac Fanous, use Old Testament imagery, with Abraham Sacrificing Isaac and the Archangel Gabriel touching the Prophet Isaiah's lips with burning coal, respectively — alluding to the crucifixion and Isaiah's prophesy that there would be an altar of God in Egypt. Next came Minya, where the holy family landed on Gabal Al-Tair (or “Bird Mountain”). We drove down the western desert highway from Fayoum, which pleasant and adequate enough but not advisable at night. Scientists contradict the belief that it was Empress Helene, the mother of Constantine, who built the church on top of the hill; people who repeat the story don't even know who these people were, so why interrupt their dreams? The attraction of this church is the iconostas, originally made of stone rather than the far more common wood. People tend to search for blessed cave where the holy family spent the night and the Blessed Icon therein. The church is also known for its 100 steps up the hill, where the Egyptian Tourism Authority have built balustrades to protect people going up and down. I met a fisherman in the Nile who told me that, though Muslim, he lives in a house with a gate decorated by crosses. He said that sectarian troubles in the last few years were the work of young and intractable people, yet I also found a young Muslim woman sweeping the 100 steps to fulfill a vow, as she explained to me, that she made to the Virgin Mary — whom, having been childless, she implored for a child. It is the virgin, she believes, who made it possible to get pregnant. That night I slept in a huge, newly built hotel on the Nile where there were hardly two rooms for me and my driver. The hotel was selected by Youssef Ezzeddin from the Ministry of Tourism; and indeed it seems Minya is preparing to receive huge numbers of tourists. I asked for cold watermelon for dessert, and although they did not have it, they managed to obtain it in a record time. They also served me delicious grilled fish without any fat. Finally, we reached Assiut, where we stayed in Nagueh Al-Baroudi's beautiful five-star hotel boat — a sign of prosperous tourism to come — and drove back to Cairo on equally five-star army-built road. Assiut is home to Deir Al-Murharraq, where the holy family lived for six months and five days. When I arrived at the monastery I was allowed in although it was a feast day and the monks were busy with huge numbers of visitors. My driver went off to perform his noon prayers, and I had to carry my camera bag, tripod and large case of lighting equipment. I walked with a young monk for maybe ten minutes, but it wasn't until we arrived that he looked to me and said, “You should find someone to help with your things, you will get tired this way.” Resisting temptation, I kept quiet. I worked hard, and the older father in charge of the historic chapel proved extremely helpful, with his assistants keeping people out of my frame and him opening the altar where the holy family lived for so long for me to photograph the stone where the child Jesus sat. Father Felixenous, the monastery spokesman, explained to me that the traditional churches — Catholic and Orthodox — build their faith on three sources: the Bible, Tradition and the Apostles' teachings. He also explained that Tradition is based on very trustworthy sources. The stay of the holy family, he said, had been prophesied hundreds of years earlier in the Book of Isaiah, which spoke of a holy altar — not a synagogue, but an altar — in Egypt (and alters are only supposed to be in Jerusalem). We then moved onto the fort, which as Father Felixenous explained had never been used as such but only as a chapel, and the monk who had the keys to it turned out to be Father Sheshoi, who had earlier advised me to find an assistant. As we made the climb, Father Felixenous, a much older man, was kind enough to carry my tripod. The chapel at the top was very peaceful and as the conversation switched to spiritual matters I could resist no longer and, addressing myself to Father Felixenous, I told on Father Sheshoi, citing St Bishoy's story for good measure. Father Sheshoi turned red as I spoke, so much so that I regretted it and apologised for “exposing” him. Immediately he said, “Not at all. Thank you for exposing me here before my brother. That is far better than being exposed later in heaven before the millions.”
