Our Lady of Zeitoun, Intercessor of Generations
The Author: Helmy Armanious
Original Book Title: عذراء الزيتون شفيعة الأجيال
The Publisher: Editorial and Publishing Committee of the Diocese of Beni Suef and Al-Bahnasa
Publication Year: 1980
Book Language: Arabic
ISBN: N/A
Author
Mr. Helmy Armanious, a contemporary historian of the apparitions. He spent many nights near the Church of the Virgin Mary at Zeitoun, where the Mother of Light appeared. He visited and prayed there on numerous occasions. He witnessed apparitions, met many who had seen the apparitions, and many who had experienced miracles. He studied the church’s records of miracles and diligently researched books and newspapers that addressed the topic of miracles over a long period. He also interviewed doctors who had studied some cases of healing.
Cover image
The image of the Virgin Mary as seen by Bishop Athanasius (the late Bishop of Beni Suef and Al-Bahnasa), in her full, radiant form, wearing a long robe, draped around her head and neck, her hands outstretched gently, palms down, as she moves her arms and hands up and down, blessing the multitudes.
Book Story, and Description
The author read a news item in Al-Ahram newspaper, issue dated July 26, 1946, about a miraculous healing performed by the Holy Virgin Mary for a girl deemed beyond hope. The author was deeply moved and reflected, saying to himself, “I now understand the immense power bestowed upon our Lady, the Virgin, the Mother of the Lord of Glory.” Then the days passed, and a collection of the Virgin Mary’s miracles, which had occurred in the present era and were reported in newspapers and mentioned by their owners, and which he had verified with reliable sources, gathered in his mind. He wished to write about them, as he said:
“I wished to write about the miracles of the Virgin Mary… Then the days passed, and the Virgin Mary came to her church in Zeitoun, Egypt, on April 2, 1968. Tens of thousands saw her, and her miracles extended to the hundreds, witnessed by leading doctors specializing in their fields. Books recorded a small portion of the miracles, and newspapers, especially the newspaper ‘Watani,’ appeared, carrying every week the many wondrous miracles performed by the Virgin Mary. I feared that future generations would not know of the great number of miracles performed by the Virgin Mary in this blessed historical year, but only the small portion that appeared in the newspapers. And because newspapers are usually read and then discarded, I decided to write, because the best and truest spiritual history is that which is written in the same era in which it occurs, when the writer witnesses the same event with his own eyes and hears about it with his own ears.
The book recounts the apparitions of the Virgin Mary at the Church of Zeitoun in Egypt in 1968 and the miracles she performed that year. It contains 240 accounts of miracles that occurred during the first year of the Virgin Mary’s apparitions at Zeitoun, 1968.
The author defined his purpose in writing his book, saying: “So that this golden period in the history of Egypt and the history of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Zeitoun is not missed.”
Sources and References
• Investigations and interviews conducted by the newspaper Watani with those who experienced miraculous healings.
• The author’s own observation of some of the miraculous healings and his research into their veracity. His proximity to the church allowed him to attend most nights of the week in 1968 to follow the events of the apparitions and miracles as they unfolded.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: The Apparition of the Virgin Mary Above the Domes of Her Church in Zeitoun
Chapter 2: The Pope, Bishops, and Priests Follow Up and Announce the Apparition
Chapter 3: The Spread of the Good News of the Virgin Mary’s Apparitions Throughout Egypt and Abroad
Chapter 4: Spiritual Phenomena
Chapter 5: Wonders and Miracles of Healing
Chapter 6: Apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Various Parts of the World in the Modern Era