Zeitoun, a two-year miracle

From 2 April 1968, the Virgin Mary appeared above a Coptic church in Zeitoun, a working-class district of Cairo. Every evening, crowds flocked to the building to catch a glimpse of this luminous woman, and took hundreds of photos and films. The witnesses were Christians, Muslims and atheists alike. Extraordinary healings of Copts and Muslims were authenticated. The Coptic authorities acknowledged the supernatural nature of the events.

Les raisons d'y croire :

• The apparitions at Zeitoun were so unprecedented and exceptional, both by their visual form and in the high number of witnesses, that they were publicly recognised on 5 May 1968 by a decree from Cyril VI, Coptic Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria that read: "The Patriarchal See declares with complete faith, great joy and humble gratitude to the Almighty that the Blessed Virgin Mary has appeared repeatedly, in clear and stable forms, during several nights and during various periods [...], from April 2, 1968 until now, above the Coptic Orthodox Church of Zeitoun."

• The Church of the Apparitions was built precisely on the spot where, according to Coptic tradition, the Holy Family passed during their flight into Egypt (Mt 2:13-23), in Cairo, on the road to Matarieh.

• Saint Paul VI took note of the events and deferred to the judgement of Cyril VI, even sending two observers to the site. For his part, the Apostolic Nuncio to Egypt, Archbishop Lino Zanini, officially declared that the Holy See fully respected the Coptic Patriarch's decision.

• At the same time, the Patriarch of the Coptic Catholic Church, Cardinal Stephanos I Sidarous, fully endorsed this recognition: "There is no doubt regarding the reality of these apparitions."

• Alongside the ecclesiastical authorities, the country's political leaders were also defending the apparitions, starting with President Nasser himself, who twice came to Zeitoun, where he saw the apparition and signed the guest' book made available to witnesses of the phenomenon; and Hafez Ghanem, Egypt's Minister of Information, who was also certain of the authenticity of the apparitions, pointed out that any possibility of fraud had been ruled out thanks to investigations that lasted weeks.

• In a rare move in the Christian world, in 1969 Patriarch Cyril VI instituted a new liturgical feast in the Coptic Orthodox calendar to honour the transfiguration of Our Lady of Zeitoun (2 April). His successor, Shenouda III, had a new church built, larger than the original building.

• This is a unique case in history: the total number of witnesses is staggering. On the evening of 26-27 April 1968, more than 100,000 people flocked to the church in Zeitoun (according to the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram); this figure rose steadily, reaching 250,000 a little later.

• Additionally, the apparitions were seen by many Muslims, a unique fact in the history of Christianity.

• So many healings were authenticated that a medical committee was set up under the chairmanship of Dr Shafi Abd-el-Malek, a professor at Cairo University. The beneficiaries of these miracles included both Christians and Muslims.

• The first recipient of a miracle was a Muslim calledFarouk Mohammed Atwa, a bus driver, who had to have a finger amputated the day after the first apparition (on 2 April), which he attended. The next day, 3 April, his surgeon discovered that his index finger was completely free of gangrene.

• The second apparition was also attended by a Muslim, Wagih Matta, a reporter whose left arm had been paralysed (with bones and ligaments badly damaged in an accident) and whose doctors wanted to amputate it. One evening, in the second half of April 1968, Matta took photos of the apparition; the next day, when he developed his photos and observed the Virgin on film, he realised that he could use both arms.

• The variety of pathologies that disappeared without an explanation is impressive: blindness, an "incurable" thyroid gland infection, various paralyses, terminal bladder cancer, aphasia, and so on.

• The human diversity (cultural, philosophical, religious, social, etc.) of the witnesses is incredible: Catholics, Copts (Orthodox and Catholic), Protestants, Muslims, agnostics, etc.

• The commission of enquiry appointed by Patriarch Cyril VI and the investigations carried out by the civil authorities in Cairo did not uncovered any hoax, ruling out the possibility of holograms or electric lighting effects.

• The hypothesis of trickery, based on electrical installations, is baseless: firstly, nothing has ever been discovered by sworn investigators and, secondly, if this had been the case, we should wonder why some people saw the Virgin and others absolutely nothing.

• The idea of a series of collective hallucinations has been put forward: even without any knowledge of psychic hallucinations, no one can claim that a pathological experience of this kind can be perceived by hundreds or even thousands of people grouped together in a single place, over a period of up to several hours (on 4 and 5 May, then 8 and 9 June 1968), and for weeks on end.

• The hypothesis of "emotional contagion" at the apparition sites, which could create a mental climate conducive to delusions, did not stand up to the facts; on some evenings, the apparition lasted up to two hours without interruption. No serious doctor can confirm that a hallucination can last for such a long time and, what's more, that the apparition is perceived at the same time by hundreds of people of all origins, all conditions and even different religions.

• Thousands of photos and videos of the apparitions have been taken by hundreds of journalists from all over the world or by ordinary witnesses, but the Virgin Mary is only visible in some of these photos, including those taken on the same evening.

• In 1920, Tawfiq Khalil Bey, a wealthy Coptic landowner, wanted to build a building on a plot land he owned in Zeitoun. The Virgin appeared to him in a dream and told him that if he built a church in the place of the building, she would manifest herself in a very special way on that spot. The owner changed his mind, and a church was built in Zeitoun in 1924, precisely the one that would be the scene of the apparitions.