Did the Virgin Mary Appear At this Egyptian Church?

Religious visions have been witnessed by many people throughout time, however very few have been endorsed by the Church. Furthermore, very few have been witnessed by hundreds of thousands if not millions and documented with photos over a course of several years. In this article, we will examine an extraordinary case of a religious miracle that occurred in the suburb of Zeitun, just outside Cairo, Egypt beginning in 1968. 

On April 2, 1968, two bus mechanics saw a woman dressed in white on the roof of Saint Mary’s Coptic Church. Initially, there was general concern as people began to gather and believed it was a nun contemplating suicide. As the police arrived, they attempted to disperse the crowd and claimed it was just a reflection from the streetlamp. However, it soon became evident that this was not the case. A church custodian arrived and suggested the figure was the Virgin Mary. 

After a few minutes the apparition disappeared, but little did they know, this story was just beginning. 

On April 9, one week later, the Virgin Mary would reappear, and again she was visible for only a few minutes and at night. After that time sightings became more frequent, sometimes two or three times a week. 

As more people witnessed the event, this garnered the Church’s Attention (Religious Miracle in Pennsylvania ?- read here). 

The patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, Pope Kyrillos VI appointed a committee of high-ranking priests and bishops to investigate the case. The investigation was led by Bishop Gregorios, bishop of postgraduate studies, Coptic culture and scientific research. After the investigation concluded, On May 4, Pope Kyrillos VI issued an official statement confirming the apparitions. 

Also witnessing the apparitions were the nuns of the Society of the Sacred Heart. They would send a detailed report to the Vatican, and in response the Vatican sent a team to investigate. They too, would witness the event and notify Pope Paul VI.

More witnesses would see the apparition seemingly appearing several times a week and sometimes for hours at time. 

Fascinatingly, the actual form of the apparition varied each time which led many to believe deception could not have been involved. She sometimes floated and sometimes only her head could be seen, while other times her whole body was fully visible. Also, there were instances where birds were present which were interpreted as doves of peace. After some controversy over whether they were live birds or apparitions, detailed examination of the photographs revealed they were live birds.

As word spread, pilgrimages were made to the Church from around the world. Some people alleged that seeing the apparition cured their lifelong diseases, such as blindness.

One other high-profile witness who saw the apparitions himself was Egyptian president Gamel Abdul. Abdul was a lifelong Marxist with nothing to gain by confirming the apparition, yet he saw it and verified it. 

Investigations by the church would not be the only ones performed.

The police could find no apparent explanation. No device was found within a radius of fifteen miles capable of projecting the image, and also it should be noted almost all of the photos were taken by independent photographers so altering them doesn’t seem like a likely explanation. 

Since there was no alternative explanation and approval from religious and political officials, the Egyptian government accepted the apparitions as true.

One interesting thing to note surrounds the church itself. St. Mary’s Coptic Orthodox Church. was built in 1923 because of a vision that landowner Tawfik Khalil Ibrahim had. One night in a dream, The Virgin Mary told him to build her a church in Zeitoun. If Tawfik did as she asked, Mary promised to appear at the church in 40 years. 

Cynthia Nelson, a professor of anthropology at the American University in Cairo. visited the church on several occasions. She claimed she didn’t see the exact Virgin Mary but said there was some sort of light on the church. She also noted that there was no apparent source that could have caused this as the streetlights had been out for weeks.

As time progressed and the apparition would disappear for good 3 years later in 1971, several other theories have been proposed as to what this could have been. 

John S. Derr and Michael A. Persinger propose the lights were caused by Tectonic Strain Theory. This idea is that the occurrence of earthquakes causes the appearance of strange lights. One interesting fact is that Zeitoun did see some tectonic activity prior to the events of 1968–1971. Its plausible then that the source of the lights could have been from this seismic activity. Appearances of the lights only could occur at night though. 

Still, Tectonic Strain Theory cannot explain exactly how it caused the events. 

Tectonic movements certainly seem like a plausible explanation. We see this with something like the Gurdon light in Kentucky (Read About the Gurdon light here), a light that appears in the sky consistently, but no one knows the exact source of it. 

Other skeptics will point to the fact that most of the photos are very blurry and that the church and the government may have been under overwhelming pressure to acknowledge the event was true. After all, it united Egypt and people of all faiths, which is something not easy to do. At the time, the country was in the middle of an Arab-Israeli conflict.  Tensions ran high in the mostly Muslim country, home to a minority of Christians. 

Still, believers that something was appearing will point to the overwhelming evidence in the case. It’s been said hundreds of thousands maybe millions saw the apparition. There are hundreds of photographs, albeit many were faked due to the high price photos commanded. In 1968, there was no technology that could have faked this. Something did indeed happen on top of that church, was it the Virgin Mary? Or was this simply mass hysteria? We will probably never know, and the answer to the question will remain a perplexing mystery.