I was on duty at the garage opposite the church. At exactly 3:30 a.m. on the night of Tuesday, April 2nd, 1968, I heard the garage guard stationed at the door shouting loudly, ‘A light above the dome!’ I rushed out immediately and saw with my own eyes a Lady moving atop the dome, radiating an extraordinary light that illuminated the darkness surrounding the dome.
Mamoun Afifi, Trainer of Public Transport Drivers
The beginning
On Tuesday, April 2, 1968, after sunset, the street overlooking the Public Transport Authority garage opposite the church was quiet, except for the occasional passing car and a few pedestrians. Suddenly, the attention of two female passersby and two garage workers was caught by an unusual movement above the church’s central dome. The workers put down their teacups to stare at the sight, unable to believe what they were seeing.
A woman in white was prostrating herself beside the cross atop the central dome. Farouk Mohamed Atwa, a garage worker, shouted warnings to the woman not to throw herself from the top. Pointing his finger, which was bandaged due to a serious injury and was expected to be amputated by a surgeon in the morning, he shouted at the top of his voice to the woman to come down and not throw herself down, as he thought she was about to commit suicide. He then quickly went to call the emergency police, while the rest of the workers crossed the street in the hope of summoning the church priest, Father Constantine Moussa, from his home near the church. Indeed, the church’s resident servant responded and went to the home of Father Constantine Moussa, eagerly saying, “The Virgin is on the dome of the church.” Father Constantine later stated that he had seen her in a half-lit scene. Some garage workers then turned their torch toward the dome, brightening the scene even more. Then, those present saw her standing on her feet, dressed in luminous clothing. One of the non-Christian women shouted, “It’s Our Lady Mary!”
At that moment, a flock of luminous beings suddenly appeared, resembling doves. It was unclear where they came from, and they flew over the site of the apparition. From that moment, people began to gather and crowd around the church every night.
Government committee
The Director of Information and Grievances submitted to the Minister of Tourism, Mr. Hafez Ghanem, a detailed report confirming the testimony of the garage workers and attesting to twenty-seven apparitions of the Holy Virgin from April 2, 1968, to the date of the report.
MICHEL NIL from the book ‘THE APPARITIONS OF THE VIRGIN IN EGYPT’
Local authorities attention
Ministry of Tourism
The Ministry of Tourism distributed a statement to those present at the press conference confirming the true apparition (see the Ministry of Tourism statement) titled “The Virgin Mary Appears Daily at the Church of Zeitoun in Cairo.” The Ministry of Tourism also took the necessary measures to welcome tourists to the Zeitoun area.
The Ministry of Tourism also confirmed the true nature of the apparition to embassies and tourism offices outside Egypt in preparation for receiving tourists.
The Egyptian government announced the true nature of the apparition in its official gazette, the government-issued Al-Waqa’i’ Al-Masryia newspaper, making it a reliable source of official news and government decisions.
Ministry of Interior and Tourist Police
Mr. Shaarawy Gomaa, the Minister of Interior at the time, congratulated the church on the miraculous apparition at the Church of the Virgin Mary in Zeitoun and decided to establish a Tourist Police office in the area, staffed with forty soldiers, to organize visits to the church and maintain security. The news was published on the front page of the Watani newspaper.
Cairo Governorate
Local authorities have been keen to prepare the area to receive tourist groups coming from all over. The Governor of Cairo, accompanied by his senior aides, visited the church and held a meeting with Coptic Church leaders, attended by Father Constantine Moussa, the church’s priest, to discuss organizational matters related to the event.
Government agencies, led by Cairo Governor Saad Zayed, were concerned about the comfort of visitors. The governor issued orders to vacate the Public Transport Authority garage opposite the church to accommodate the thousands of visitors who gather each night to witness the apparition. A contract was signed between the Cairo Governorate and the Public Transport Authority to vacate the garage opposite the church, which was, of course, an implicit recognition by the state of the reality of the apparition. The land for the garage was later sold to the church, and the Cathedral of the Virgin Mary in Zeitoun was built on it.
El Akhbar, May 5, 1968
Thousands gather every night around the church in Zeitoun, awaiting the apparition of the Virgin Mary, which numerous individuals have claimed to have seen appearing above the church dome.
Reported by: Ezzat El-Saadani, Al-Ahram Newspaper, April 27, 1968
Local press
Local newspapers and magazines covered the event on their front pages and in their headlines, and conducted interviews with eyewitnesses and those miraculously cured of incurable diseases during the apparition. Among the interesting news that testifies to the world’s interest in this miracle is the news of international airlines announcing that they had no seats on their flights to Cairo due to the increasing number of tourists arriving in Egypt to witness the apparition.
Statement by the Coptic Orthodox Patriarch
On 5 May 1968, a special committee of eminent Coptic clergymen appointed by Pope Kyrillos VI submitted their official report on the apparitions.
Francis Johnson from his book ‘When millions saw Mary’
Coptic church
The Church recorded its testimony in an official statement broadcast at a press conference. Its bishops, after verifying the truth of the apparition themselves, responded to the attendees’ questions with complete transparency. The statement was published in Egyptian and foreign newspapers on Sunday, May 5. Among the most prominent newspapers that reported on the press conference were Al-Ahram, Al-Akhbar, Al-Gomhuria, Watani, the Lebanese newspaper Al-Anwar, The American Daily Newspaper, and the New York Times.
His Holiness Pope Kyrollos VI, Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, commissioned His Grace Bishop Gregory, Bishop of Scientific Research and Coptic and Theological Studies, to form a fact-finding committee regarding the apparitions and the many miracles that accompanied them. This committee is different from the first committee that confirmed the apparition of the Virgin in Zeitoun on April 30, 1968. The task of this committee was to collect documents from the testimonies and reports of those who saw them with their own eyes, organize and coordinate them, then examine the healing miracles that occurred since the pure transfiguration, with the knowledge of doctors and specialists who were members of the medical section of this committee, and publish all of this to the people in Arabic and foreign languages.
The committee issued these reports in a special book published at the time (Encyclopedia of Anba Gregory, Part 20: The Virgin Mary—Her Life, Symbols, Titles, Virtues, Honors, Appearances, and Miracles, pp. 455–511). The book includes ten scenes of the Apparition of the Virgin Mary and six spiritual phenomena that accompanied it.
The Church considers Baramhat 24 – April 2 of each year the feast day of the Virgin Mary, and the story of the apparition is recorded in the Synaxarion to be read in all churches on this anniversary each year.
Twelve bearded, black-robed clergymen of the Coptic Orthodox Church, seated beneath a large photograph of President Gamal Abdel Nasser at the patriarchal palace here, affirmed today their acceptance of reported miraculous appearances of the Virgin Mary in Cairo.
THOMAS F. BRADY from the newspaper THE NEW YORK TIMES, SUNDAY, MAY 5, 1968
International media
Numerous articles and books were written in Arabic and foreign languages during and after the apparition, by Egyptian and foreign researchers and auditors who witnessed the event. Their writings included descriptions of the appearance, its circumstances, and testimonies from those who witnessed it. It is difficult to list all of these books and articles due to their large number.
Head of the Evangelical Church in Egypt The Reverend Dr. Ibrahim Said, head of the Evangelical Church and Speaker on behalf of all the Protestant Churches of Egypt, has officially announced the certainty of the appearances of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Jerome Palmer from the book ‘Our Lady returns to Egypt‘
Other Churches and Denominations
Coptic Catholic Patriarch
His Beatitude Cardinal Stephanos I, Patriarch of the Catholic Church, declared: “It is a real apparition, and there is no doubt about it. Many of his Coptic Catholic children, whom he trusts, have confirmed it and recounted to him the details of their visions of the Virgin Mary in the church dome.” A nun named Paula di Muffalo, known for her meticulous accuracy, came to him and recounted—her body trembling and shaking—how she had seen the Virgin Mary with her own eyes in the church dome. Not only did she see it, but thousands of people also saw it. This unique miracle carries a message of good news and will make this church a sacred global shrine, visited by pilgrims from all over the world.”
Father Joseph Mazloum, Maronite Catholic, editor of Le Messager:
Jerome Palmer said of him: “Father Joseph had no doubt about the integrity and honesty of the testimony to these apparitions by the Coptic, Catholic, and Islamic communities. He is familiar with many cases of conversion as a result of apparition experiences and testifies that Christians have become stronger in faith.
Father Dr. Henry Ayrout, Director of the Holy Family Catholic Schools:
He said, “It is not strange that the Virgin Mary appeared in the Coptic Church in Zeitoun. She can appear anywhere, especially in Egypt at this particular time, and in the Coptic Church in Zeitoun, in the area through which the Holy Family passed.”
Reverend Dr. Ibrahim Saeed, Head of the Evangelical Community:
Dr. Ibrahim Saeed, Head of the Evangelical Community in Egypt, made several statements to the press, including: “Among the crowds who saw the Virgin Mary were figures known for their precise judgment and appreciation of matters. There is no doubt about the veracity of what these figures saw and reported. If God has allowed the Virgin Mary to appear to us during these days, perhaps it is to compensate people for their deprivation of visiting Jerusalem this year. She came to them to strengthen their resolve.” He concluded his statement by saying, “What I am telling you now about the Virgin Mary is not something I am saying for the first time. I said it after last Sunday’s sermon at the church.” The Evangelists at Qasr El-Dobara…”
He also stated another time, saying, “The Virgin Mary appeared in the physical form of a dove, and her appearance is confirmed by the testimony of witnesses. All those who saw her described to me the magnificence of her appearance. Yes, I did not see her myself because she appears at times when my health does not allow me to be there… But eyewitnesses, professors and scholars, recounted to me what they saw, and it is all amazing, and their testimony is true.” He then said, “The Evangelists believe all of this.”
Ray Stanford
Zeitoun: Miracles Without Precedent…When the Association for the Understanding of Man began its research into Marian apparitions, it appeared that such phenomena had occurred exclusively within the domain of Roman Catholicism. It was soon learned, however, that this was by no means the case. The most evidential and best-witnessed series of apparitions occurred at a Coptic Orthodox church in Zeitoun, Egypt, a suburb north of Cairo.
(Fatima Prophecy Days of Darkness Promise of Light – AUM – 1972, Pg. 43)
Father Joseph Mazloum
,
“Father Joseph Mazloum stated he had no disbelief or doubt, since people of unquestioned integrity testified to having seen the apparitions, among them Copts, Catholics, and Moslems, as well as members of Protestant denominations… and has seen the faith of Christmas strengthened”
Otto Friedrich August Meinardus
“Thousands of people gathered every night… waiting for the Virgin Mary to appear in brilliant light… with many healing miracles occurring in conjunction with the apparitions.”
Pope Cyril VI
,
“The past year witnessed the greatest religious event in history, the apparition of the Virgin at Zeitoun. And I say the greatest event in history for several reasons:
First, the apparition has continued from April 2 of last year until now, and I expect it will continue for some time longer, making it the longest duration such a wondrous phenomenon has ever lasted.
Second, the apparition is witnessed by thousands, indeed tens of thousands at a time, something that has never happened before.
Third, the apparition continues to be accompanied by countless daily miracles.”
Riaad Nageeb Azer
,
“In the evening, I stood among the crowds and asked them to pray with me. Suddenly, the Virgin Mary appeared, wearing white clothes, all light and radiance. I shouted at the top of my voice, ‘Lighten my eyes!’ and at that moment, I felt life stirring in all my limbs. I looked at her with my sick eye and saw her. It was three in the morning. I shouted that I could see. My friend could not believe it, because the doctors had said it was impossible.”
Dr. Travis Dumsday
,
“The Marian apparitions at Zeitoun constitute powerful evidence for the reality of the supernatural.”
Father Constantine Moussa
,
“This apparition had a wide and great resonance throughout the world, and pilgrims from all over the world flocked to visit the church to see the Virgin.”
Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty
“This isn’t a miracle meant to impress people. Its true purpose is far more profound: it is a divine call to anyone who has grown spiritually complacent, burdened their heart with worldly pleasures, or allowed their soul to be weighed down by the relentless anxieties of life.”
Père François Brune
,
“These are certainly the most fantastic apparitions of the Virgin Mary in the entire history of the Church, throughout the world and across the centuries. Indeed, during all other apparitions, only a few privileged people could see her, if at all.”
Pope Tawadros II
,
“Our country Egypt, beloved to St. Mary the Virgin, who once carried her baby, our Lord Jesus, under the protection of the guardian of the mystery of the Divine Incarnation, Joseph the Carpenter, and brought Him to Egypt fleeing the wrath of King Herod. After twenty centuries, she sought us again with this amazing apparition on the domes of her church at Zeitoun, Cairo, half a century ago, in 1968.”
Pope Shenouda III
,
“Blessed is our generation which is honored by the apparition of the Virgin. Many generations missed it. Many eyes wished to witness. Blessed is our land and our Holy Church which has been chosen by the Holy Virgin to appear in a unique way never before witnessed in the history.”
Hamdy Heraz
,
I saw the Virgin with her luminous body in its place. I believed in what I saw, and I began to recite the verses that honor the Virgin and favor her over the women of the world. Come to me or someone who believes that the appearance of the light is a spiritual phenomenon, a good omen.
Metropolitan Athanasius
,
The countless people who have enjoyed spiritual revival and joy, who obtained recovery from their diseases, and relief from physical pain, all are living witness to the unfailing love and sustaining care of God.
Pearl Zaki
,
“At Zeitoun, it was as if, at that moment, God said, ‘See My Mother.’ And we did. She, in her transcendent beauty, is the silent Mother. She spoke to no one so that she could speak to everyone.”
Fr. Jerome Palmer OSB
,
“Unique in the history of Marian apparitions, unique in the circumstances of time and place, and unique in the almost complete silence of the American press, both religious and secular.”
Otto Friedrich August Meinardus
,
Thousands of people gathered every night… waiting for the Virgin Mary to appear in brilliant light… with many healing miracles occurring in conjunction with the apparitions.
Adel Taher
,
“The first thing to keep in mind is that the subject of the apparition of the Virgin Mary is not one of tourism, but a spiritual matter that we all respect. The state, at the highest levels, is giving it great attention.”
Fr. Dr. Henry Ayrouth
,
It is not strange for the Virgin to appear in the Coptic Church in Zeitoun…
She can appear anywhere, especially in Egypt at this particular time, and in the Coptic Church in Zeitoun, in the area through which the Holy Family passed.
Cardinal Stephen I
,
“It is a real apparition, and I have no doubt about it. Many of my Coptic Catholic children, whom I trust, have confirmed it and told me the details of their vision of the Virgin on the dome of the church.”
Rev. Dr. Ibrahim Saeed
,
“Among the crowds who beheld the Virgin were people well known for their sound judgment and discernment, leaving no doubt about the truth of what they saw and testified. And if God has permitted the Virgin to appear to us in these days, perhaps it is to console the people for being deprived of visiting Jerusalem this year, for she herself came to them to strengthen their hearts.”