To His Holiness Pope Kyrillos, VI
Pope Of Alexandria And Patriarch Of The Holy See Of St. Mark In All Africa And The Near East.
We have the great honor to submit to Your Holiness these investigations regarding the appearances of the Blessed Virgin’s Apparition in our Coptic Orthodox Church at Zeitoun, Cairo. On April 23,1968, after being delegated by Your Holiness, we went to the spot where the church is located, and started to get in touch with those who had observed the Apparition, on the top of whom were the first observers in the garage opposite to the church.
Upon summarizing the reports of the garage workmen, we have come to the conclusion that the Apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary has appeared several times on and in domes of the church opposite to them, since April 2, 1968, up to now. The appearances have mostly been observed by the workmen of the garage whose witnesses have been confirmed by the inhabitants of Zeitoun, Muslims and Christians. Multitudes of people from different parts of the country have all watched the Apparition of the Blessed Virgin and a great number of them have certified the certainty of the appearances sending their enthusiastic written messages.
The report then gives the witnesses of Messrs. Maamoun Afifi, the head-driver and trainer and the guard Abdel-Aziz Ali, and Hussein Awwad, and also Yacout Ali who were the first to observe the Apparition with and after Farouk Mohammad Atwa who was the driver that cried to the Apparition thinking that it was a lady in the act of throwing herself down.
They all described how they had noticed the Apparition and explained in particular a certain appearance that had taken place at 3:30 a.m. on April 3, 1968, during which the luminous Apparition had been moving and walking steadily in front of them. The report goes on and reads as follows:
These, Your Holiness, are the official witnesses of the workmen of the Organization of Public Transport. We then aimed at observing the Blessed Apparition with our own eyes in order to have the matter cleared up plainly and evidently. We stayed oppo- site to the domes watching for some nights until we could see the Blessed Virgin Mary appearing inside a luminous circle. Then she appeared in her complete form moving on the domes, then bowing before the Cross and at the end she blessed the multitudes.
Another night, we saw doves with the bright color of silver and with light radiating from them. The doves flew from the dome to the sky direct. We then glorified Almighty God who has al lowed the terrestrials to see the glory of the celestials.
Requesting the pure prayers of Your Holiness,
We beg to remain, Holy Father, Your Obedient Servants
April 30, 1968 – 22 Bermuda 1684
Signatures
Bishop Girgis Matta (Director of the Pontifical Court) Rev.
Youhanna Abdel Masih (Secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Ecclesiastical Affairs)
Archbishop Benjamin Kamel (Secretary of His Holiness the Pope.)