A woman in white was prostrating herself next to 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.

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.

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, from pp. 455 to 511). The book includes 10 scenes of the Transfiguration of the Virgin Mary and 6 spiritual phenomena accompanying the Transfiguration.

The Church considers Baramhat 24 – April 2 of each year a 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.

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.”