10 - 16 May 2001
Issue No.533
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 10 - 16 May 2001 Issue No.533 |
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Out of Egypt
Be Thou There: The Holy Family's Journey in Egypt, Gawdat Gabra ed., Cairo and New York: The American University in Cairo Press, 2001. pp162
This elegant and timely publication on the Holy Family's journey in Egypt appears on the occasion of the Coptic Church's celebration of the 2000th anniversary of this biblical event. The title of the book is inspired by Matthew 2:13: "Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt...", and although the Gospels give scant information on the time Mary, Jesus and Joseph spent in Egypt, and literary sources provide contradictory information on the places visited, the miracle or miracles performed, and, indeed, the time spent in each, it is known that Jesus lived in Palestine, and that the only other country he visited was Egypt.
Priest walking up the stairs to Gabal Al-Tayr
Here at last is the first comprehensive guide for the general public and the scholar alike, though the experts who assembled the present book have had to resort to some detective work. Individually, they have examined Coptic sources and the rich culture of the Copts, combed through ancient references and testimonials in libraries around the world, and walked through Egypt collecting local traditions and sharing in pilgrimage festivals.
The contributing editors are William Lyster, author of the section on the Monastery of Saint Paul and presenter of the sites, buildings and works of art associated with the biblical events, Cornelius Hulsman, Cairo correspondent for a variety of US and Dutch media, who visited all sites associated with the sojourn and talked to local priests and believers, and Stephen Davis, professor of New Testament and Early Church History at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo, who, in pursuing the written sources for the traditions related to the Holy Family's visit to Egypt, has also been able to trace the development of these traditions.
A publication of this depth and quality depends to a large extent on the originality and quality of the images used, and they do not disappoint. Original full-colour photographs have been provided by Norbert Schiller, who has worked as a press photographer in Egypt and the Middle East since the early 1980s, and these vividly demonstrate how strongly the spirit of the Holy family remains alive. In preparation for the book, Schiller travelled from solitary groves in urban areas to desert retreats, attending rituals carried out by the faithful in churches all over the country.
The book does not aim to supply an itinerary or to verify the length of the Holy Family's stay in Egypt, but rather, in the words of Gawdat Gabra, director of the Coptic Museum who wrote the Introduction, "to present and assess the different sources and traditions that could be of interest to both the scholar and the general reader." In short the publication places the biblical story of the journey in Egypt in an historical context, documents important monuments linked to the Holy Family, and reveals how the tradition functions in Egypt today.
The value of Lyster's contribution to the book lies in its placing the flight of the Holy Family to Egypt a few years before Herod's death in 4 BC in an historical context. Although traditional accounts indicate that the Holy Family never visited Alexandria, he describes this Mediterranean capital because it was there that Saint Mark the apostle made the earliest converts, where he was martyred, and where the Catechetical School was founded to instruct converts in the tenets of the faith. He traces the periods of persecution under the Roman emperors Severus and Diocletian, the adoption of a Coptic calendar known as the "Era of the Martyrs" which begins in 284, and traces monastic development and doctrinal disputes through to the Arab conquest. He does not shy away from describing rebellions against tax collectors and restrictions after the conquest, and he concludes his section by covering the modern Coptic renaissance that has inspired a flourishing school of icon painting, some examples of which enhance the publication.
For his part, Hulsman traces the route of the Holy Family today, visiting all sites associated with the tradition. He talks with the clergy, joins pilgrimages, and visits archaeological sites associated with early Christianity. This is a lively section of the book enhanced by the wonderful photographs of Schiller: a full-page colour photograph of a priest pointing to a footprint of the baby Jesus on a stone discovered by workers outside the Church of the Holy Virgin at Sakha; the intricate woodwork inside the Church of the Holy Virgin and Saint Apa Nub at Samanud; encrusted icons, celebrants, monks and pilgrims. Hulsman has been tireless in his travels and unflagging in his research into lesser-known sites associated with the Holy Family's travels in Egypt. "According to tradition the Holy Family stayed for seven days in a city of Nikiou, where Jesus healed a man who was possessed," he writes. "But today Nikiou seems to be forgotten. It is not on the official list of sites of the Holy Family of the Coptic Orthodox Church. The town does not exist any more, and it is not even certain where exactly the ruins of Nikiou are located."
Nevertheless, Hulsman sought out Father Shenuda Sadiq 'Ayyad of Tanta, and learned that there are ruins at two locations both called Nikiou, distinguished one from the other as Nikiou the Great and Nikiou the Small. Father Shenuda did not know of the tradition associating the Holy Family with the site, but Hulsman quotes him as saying that "we know that the Holy Family was in Sakha and went along the Western Desert to Cairo. They may have passed Nikiou the Great but not Nikiou the Small."
Stephen Davis's chapter, "Ancient Sources for the Coptic Tradition" also gives food for thought. "What do the sources tell us about early beliefs concerning the flight of the Holy Family?" he asks. "What do they tell us about ancient and mediaeval practices connected with those beliefs?" He sets out to provide the answers, commencing with the original story of the Flight as it appears in the Gospel of Matthew, which was understood as a fulfilment of biblical prophesy. He points out that Egypt was viewed as a traditional place of refuge, and when an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him to flee to Egypt from the wrath of King Herod he took the child and mother and went there to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I have called my son."
In tracing the earliest local traditions of the Holy Family's stay in Egypt, Davis points to ancient Hermopolis (modern Al-Ashmunein), a large metropolis on the western bank of the Nile and site of the temple of the Egyptian god Thoth. "Hermopolis was ... the first city to be associated with the Flight of the Holy Family: one Coptic scholar has called it the 'place of origin'", Davis writes, claiming that the tradition stems from the work of an anonymous author who wrote A History of the Monks in Egypt around the year 400 AD. From his account, it is clear that local traditions among Christians already connected Hermopolis with the Flight, a connection that was confirmed and developed in later ancient and mediaeval sources. Oral legends multiplied, and those concerning the Holy Family were written down in the 12th century when, Davis says, "Coptic writers began to draw up quasi-official itineraries -- lists of places where the family was thought to have stayed during their flight into Egypt."
Davis stresses that the study of the sources for the Holy Family's journey "is a complicated science, full of hidden pitfalls for the casual historian." He mentions in particular that the date of a given source is often difficult to determine, and that the itineraries presented often differ from one another because later scribes "updated" older sources by adding new sites. "Because of these factors, it is impossible to identify one universally agreed-upon itinerary in the mediaeval Coptic Church. Instead, the itineraries themselves kept evolving as new local traditions were assimilated. Likewise, it is equally impossible to establish an exact chronology comparing the rise of local traditions at different sites."
The list of sites associated with the Holy Family continued to be expanded in the late mediaeval and early modern periods as new local traditions asserted themselves and as earlier works were revised to accommodate these new traditions. "The rise of these new traditions was again motivated by familiar factors: the interpretation of Scripture in new contexts, the authority of divine visions, the miraculous discovery of new artefacts, the desire to fill 'gaps' in the route of the Holy Family. These factors have shaped the perceptions of Coptic pilgrims throughout the centuries, and indeed these same factors still mark the vitality of Holy Family devotion today," Davis writes.
Should you wish for a map as you travel through the glossy pages of this fine publication, there is one at the end of the book that includes all the sites that the Holy Family is said to have visited during their stay in Egypt. There too is the full biblical quotation, should one need reminding of the significance of the chosen title of the book, Be Thou There: "Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word" (Matt., 2:13).
The National Egyptian Heritage Revival Association (NEHRA) supported this admirable publication, the proceeds of which will enable the restoration of many Coptic sites associated with the traditions of the Holy Family throughout Egypt, upgrade the environment of historic sites of religious importance, help Egyptian international tourism companies market these sites, and promote historical and cultural awareness of the Ancient Egyptian heritage. The AUC Press should be commended on this book, which it is to be hoped will help accomplish the goals of NEHRA. One of these is to have the sites associated with the Holy Family in Egypt registered as world heritage by UNESCO.
Reviewed by Jill Kamil
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