AFRICA/EGYPT - Patriarch Tawadros II on the Feast of the Entry of the Holy Family: “A Blessing for the Country”

Thursday, 2 June 2022 oriental churches pilgrimages popular adoration gospel

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Kafr el Sheikh (Agenzia Fides) - May the time that Jesus and all the Holy Family spent in the land of Egypt be an eternal blessing to all Egyptians. This was confirmed by Coptic Orthodox Patriarch Tawadros II on Wednesday June 1st, which Egyptian Christians celebrate as the feast of the Holy Family's entry into Egypt. On this day, which is celebrated in the Coptic liturgical calendar, Pope Tawadros presided over a solemn service at the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Sakha, Kafr el Sheikh Governorate. In his homily, Pope Tawadros emphasized, among other things, that the words "Egypt" and "Egyptian" occur more than 700 times in the Bible and that the time that the Holy Family spent in Egypt, reserves for the great North African country a singular place in the history of Salvation. "For centuries," recalled the Coptic Orthodox Patriarch, "Christians have celebrated the arrival of the Holy Family in Egypt with rites and devotions accompanied by joyful songs. Today, even the state authorities of the country recognize the importance of the story of the Holy Family's flight to Egypt for history and national identity". "The sign of this recognition of a civil order," Pope Tawadros continued, "is also visible in the commitment and resources invested by political and governmental institutions in promoting the so-called "Way of the Holy Family" as an itinerary to be proposed and opened to international pilgrimages. In this context, the Coptic Orthodox Patriarch announced that from now on every year on June 1st he will celebrate the feast of the Entry of the Holy Family into Egypt in one of the many churches erected over the centuries in the places touched by the Holy Family during their stay in Egypt. (GV) (Agenzia Fides, 2/6/2022)