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The Virgin Mary's Apparition in Edfo; Aswan Diocese on 15 Misra 1698 St, corresponding to 21 August 1982 AD

The Virgin Mary's Apparition in Edfo; Aswan Diocese on 15 Misra 1698 St., corresponding to 21 August 1982 AD

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The Virgin Mary's Apparition in Edfo; Aswan Diocese on 15 Misra 1698 St., corresponding to 21 August 1982 AD

 

After a year and a half from the Apparition of the Virgin Mary in El-Zeitoun, she appeared in her full form, filling the southern window of western wall of the Church.  This happened during a prayer meeting for young women, and all of them saw her in the Church.


On the evening of 13 September 1969, a powerful voice sounded aloud, after that, a light was seen by everyone.  It appeared outside the Church and reached to some nearby houses, and then the Virgin Mary appeared in the centre of the altar and she began to pace back and forth.  She was wearing a blue dress that was spotted with white stars and it extended all the way down to her feet. For the first time, our Lord Jesus Christ – Glory be to Him, appeared with the Crown of thorns and the Virgin Mary knelt in front of Him.


Coptic priest dreams of a statue of the Virgin Mary over the church

On the night of 18 August 1982 A.D. the priest of the church of the Virgin Mary at Edfo; Rev. Georgios Abdel-Malak, said that he had a strange dream.  He dreamt that he was in front of the church and he was trying to lift the statue of the Virgin Mary and Christ, so he held it and he wanted to put it over the church’s lighthouse. When he awoke, he realized that there was no such statue for the Virgin Mary.  Hence, she appeared in her full form on the day when her body ascended to heaven.


The day of the wonderful apparition arrives:

On Saturday, 22 August 1982 A.D., which was the feast of the ascension of the Virgin Mary’s body to heaven, at 8:10 P.M., a procession took place at the church, while the deacons held the picture of the Virign Mary they walked around the church in Edfo, (which is part of the diocese of Aswan).  As they proceeded, the Virgin Mary appeared above the veil of the altar inside her church.  It was here that the multitudes who were inside the Church began to see quick flashes of light inside the main altar, and then some people saw a quick flash of the Virgin Mary's image.  On a separate Saturday, a dove was seen flying around inside the church from the north to the south, and sprinkles of water landed on those who were present.  The Christians who were inside the church saw quick flashes of the Virgin's image.  This apparition was different from all the others.  Those were the images that were witnessed inside the church while the deacons and the priests were going about the procession with the picture of the Virgin Mary, outside of the church.


At 8:30 P.M., after the completion of the procession, Fr. Gawargius stood to pray the Gospel while Fr. Salib stood inside the altar.  He directed his vision towards the southern altar, where the ladies in the congregation saw the Virgin Mary, after which the deacons also saw her.  Afterwards, she appeared on the altar’s dome.  This time, the Virgin Mary’s face was sorrowful.  While the ladies screamed for joy, this vision occurred multiple times, and at one point, the three altars of the church were filled with light.  Everyone who was longing to see her was able to see her amidst the crowds.

 

Another apparition was also witnessed, as Christ appeared to Fr. Salib who described: “Christ appeared, raising His hands in order to show me all his wounds.  I felt that my whole body began to quiver.  I knelt down on the ground and my tears began to flow.  When I stood up, the image did not disappear, I raised my hand in silence, after which my tongue became free.  I asked him to return Pope Shenouda from His Exile and to free Bishop Hedra from prison (because there was some turmoil and the harsh conditions that were facing the church at the time during the presidency of President Sadat). I then looked around at the people around me, and they were all crying fervently, they too were beseeching God to return His Holiness Pope Shenouda III back to the Holy Church.  


These glorious apparitions continued very vividly, and our Lord Jesus appeared with a Crown of thorns and the Virgin was kneeling down in front of him.  She was dressed in a blue dress with white stars. All these apparitions were noticed when the lights of the Church were illuminated.  I then screamed as I asked the deacons to turn the lights off, and they did.  And amidst the darkness, the Virgin appeared from the eastern side of the dome and extended to about its third, and she appeared in her full form. Her body was like the body of her transfiguration upon the domes of her Church in El Zeitoun.  Her clothes were brightly coloured and the light extended all around her. She remained this way in front of thousands of spectators for ten minutes.

Afterwards, the scene of the Holy Family’s escape to Egypt appeared, with St. Joseph leading the donkey to the front.  When I asked the deacons to turn the lights back on, we saw the shadow of the cross which stands over the altar and a small circle of light appeared with a diameter of 40 cm, and there was the image of the Virgin Mary; mother of light in its centre.


Then she appeared carrying the child Jesus.  Again, she was wearing bright clothes and her crown sparkled while she was leaning her head on her Son.  

Altogether, these apportions lasted 35 minutes, and they were preceded by the quick flashes which lasted for 25 minutes.  When we completed the vespers prayers, we thanked God for granting us the blessings of this vision.  We continued on with our spiritual program and fervent prayers all the way until morning.


At 3:15 A.M. we heard a woman screaming for joy in the upper floor of the church, and she said, ‘This is the Virgin Mary! Oh Father Salib!’  So I headed to where she was and the other ladies told me that they saw a light, and the Virgin Opened the window that is located on the western side.  She entered from the window, and beside her they saw our lord Jesus Christ and SaintJoseph, and people cheered with joy and they were chanting.  During this time, I closed all the windows in the upper floor, and I switched the lights off altogether because one of the congregation members told me that I must do so in order to see the apparitions clearly.  So in the midst of the darkness, we prayed, “We magnify you oh Mother of the true Light, and with truth we believe…” And as we began to say, “Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy… “, the Virgin Mary appeared in her full form onto the veil of the main altar.  She looked exactly as she did when she appeared in her church in Zeitoun.  She was moving above the picture of Arch Angel Gabriel.  Then she moved towards the picture where she was holding baby Jesus, and then towards the picture of the Nativity, with St. Joseph beside her.  This apparition continued from 3:15 A.M.  until 4:00 A.M., amidst the joy of thousands of people, who all witnessed the apparitions.  Even for those who could not enter the church due to the crowds, the appearance extended all the way to the outside of the church for all to see.  Finally the Virgin Mary waved farewell to everyone, and she was signing the congregation with the sign of the cross.  


Special appearance to Coptic children and a brother who doubted


Because these apparitions were taking place at the church, a group of children who were asleep at home that night had missed out on seeing the Virgin Mary.  When they heard about the awesome apparitions from their parents, they were deeply saddened that they were unable to see. In the morning of the feast of the Virgin Mary, which was on Sunday August 22nd, 1982, after the Holy Liturgy, the Virgin Mary – the Mother of Light appeared in the altar in a form that depicted her feeling sorrowful, and then she appeared once again holding baby Jesus.  Most of those who saw her were the children and their parents. It is also worthy to mention that there was one brother who doubted the apparition of the Virgin Mary, he said, however, he too was able to see her, he said, “The apparition of the virgin Mary that took place early that morning, was for me – because I doubted.  I saw her very vividly, and I believe from all of my heart.” After that apparition, a strong light came from the church’s lighthouse where the construction of one of the domes was incomplete, the light was that which surrounded the Virgin Mary during her apparitions, and the people of the city of Edfo were able to see her.

    
The dates of the apparitions are as follows:  


The Virgin Mary continued to appear from Wednesday, 8th of September 1982 to Wednesday 15