Notice that the door sits below the street: the ground level of the neighbourhood has risen over the centuries. This is the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus, two Roman soldiers martyred in Syria. Cairenes call it Abu Serga.

1A flight told in one line

The Gospel of Matthew gives only a few verses to the flight into Egypt: Joseph, warned in a dream, took Mary and the child away to escape Herod. It does not say where they went. The Coptic Church, by contrast, preserves a whole itinerary of more than twenty places, from Sinai to Upper Egypt. It rests mainly on a vision attributed to the patriarch Theophilus, from the late 4th century.

According to that tradition, the Holy Family took refuge in a cave on this spot. It is the crypt that opens beneath the high altar.

2What historians say

The church was founded in the late 7th century by a scribe named Athanasius, and restored after a fire around 750. Many Coptic patriarchs were elected here until the 11th century. The date of the crypt is debated: some believe it predates the 6th century, while others place it in the 12th or 13th. For a long time, whenever the Nile rose, water flooded it.

Every 1 June the Coptic Church celebrates the arrival of Jesus in Egypt, and this is one of its places of pilgrimage.

3What to look for

  • The drop between the street and the door.
  • The sign pointing to the Holy Family's cave.
  • The brick walls of the lane, which enclose the Coptic quarter.
Vaulted crypt beneath the altar of the Abu Serga church
The crypt where, according to Coptic tradition, the Holy Family rested.

Documented

The church was founded in the late 7th century and hosted patriarchal elections; the dating of the crypt is still debated.

Oral tradition

That the Holy Family rested in the crypt is a Coptic tradition based on accounts written long after the Gospels.

Sources and credits

Gospel of Matthew 2:13-15; Alfred J. Butler, ‘The Ancient Coptic Churches of Egypt’ (1884); Gawdat Gabra (ed.), ‘Be Thou There: The Holy Family's Journey in Egypt’ (2001).

Photos:

  • Wooden door of the Abu Serga church below the level of the lane, with an Arabic sign: Faris knight, CC BY-SA 4.0.
  • Vaulted crypt beneath the altar of the Abu Serga church: Sherief1969, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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