Our Lady of Warraq is believed, by some, to be a mass
apparition of the
Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...
that occurred
at the
Coptic Orthodox
The Coptic Orthodox Church ( cop, Ϯⲉⲕ̀ⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲛ̀ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ⲛ̀ⲟⲣⲑⲟⲇⲟⲝⲟⲥ, translit=Ti.eklyseya en.remenkimi en.orthodoxos, lit=the Egyptian Orthodox Church; ar, الكنيسة القبطي ...
''Virgin Mary and Archangel Michael'' church, in Warraq al-Hadar,
Giza
Giza (; sometimes spelled ''Gizah'' arz, الجيزة ' ) is the second-largest city in Egypt after Cairo and fourth-largest city in Africa after Kinshasa, Lagos and Cairo. It is the capital of Giza Governorate with a total population of 9.2 ...
,
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
, in the early hours (1:00 AM – 4:00 AM) of Friday 11 December 2009.
Apparition
The first person who saw the alleged apparition of Mary was reportedly an
Egyptian Muslim neighbour, who was sitting at his
coffee shop nearby, when he apparently saw a strong light coming from the
Coptic Christian
Copts ( cop, ⲛⲓⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ; ar, الْقِبْط ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group indigenous to North Africa who have primarily inhabited the area of modern Egypt and Sudan since antiquity. Most ethnic Copts are ...
place of worship. He and others are said to have observed the light condense into a female form.
[
Mary supposedly appeared above the middle dome of the church. The reported apparition is then said to have moved between the domes and on to the top of the church gate between its two twin towers in front of the central church building. Many local residents reported seeing the alleged apparition of Mary.][
A representative of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria has approved the apparitions.
]
Critical evaluation of the events
Mary allegedly appeared in luminous robes, in a pure white dress and a royal blue belt, with a crown on her head. Critics have pointed out that this colour pattern somewhat matched the colour pattern of the lights on top of and inside the tower behind the church's domes, i.e. a golden illuminated cross on top of the tower and blueish-white and yellowish-white electric light sources inside the tower.
Cell phones were used to call friends, take pictures and make videos of the phenomenon and send them to friends.
Critics have suggested that the overexposed and blurry quality of the pictures and footage being sent around on cell phones, facilitated the illusory perception of a figure, when in fact some people were looking at what were low-quality images of the illuminated church tower behind the domes.
Critics have suggested that the alleged apparition is actually the tower behind the church's domes with bright lights inside and on top of it, seen from different angles.
The claim that the "apparition" moved is not substantiated by any of the film footage, which never shows any actual movement, only three apparently different locations. One film shows an elongated light above the middle dome, which critics say is the back tower seen from an angle that aligns it with the aforementioned middle dome. Another film shows the same elongated light to the right of the middle dome of the church, which critics say is the same illuminated tower seen from an angle that puts it between the middle dome and the dome to its right. A third film shows the same elongated light apparently standing on top of the entrance gate, but this can be argued to be the same back tower observed from standing almost right in front of the entrance gate. The fact that the "apparition" appears smaller in this third film is consistent with this interpretation.
In response to the claim that the authorities turned off the electricity to the area to rule out a hoax or fraud, critics have said that one explanation is that other power sources, such as generators, could have been used to power a bright light in the tower of church.
However, investigations undertaken by the Egyptian government at the time showed that no such electrical equipment was found to cause such a phenomenon. The Egyptian government, which some have accused of turning a blind eye to the persecution of Christians in the Middle East, did not identify this phenomenon as being fabricated by the Coptic Church.
Press coverage
This event was widely covered by Egyptian newspapers, Arabic TV channels and by the international press.[
]
The news about the apparitions appeared in multiple newspapers, including the Egyptian Watani,
American Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
,[
]
Egyptian Al-Ahram
''Al-Ahram'' ( ar, الأهرام; ''The Pyramids''), founded on 5 August 1875, is the most widely circulating Egyptian daily newspaper, and the second oldest after '' al-Waqa'i`al-Masriya'' (''The Egyptian Events'', founded 1828). It is majori ...
,
Italian AsiaNews
''AsiaNews'' is an official press agency of the Catholic Church's Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME). The editor-in-chief of AsiaNews is Father Bernardo Cervellera, a PIME missionary who also heads Agenzia Fides, the official news ag ...
,[
]
Egyptian Almasry Alyoum
''Al-Masry Al-Youm'' ( ar, المصري اليوم ', , meaning ''The Egyptian Today'') is an Egyptian privately owned Daily paper, daily newspaper that was first published in June 2004. It is published in Modern Standard Arabic, Arabic as is it ...
,[
]
and Egyptian Bikya Masr.[
]
A December 24, 2009 ''Agence France Presse
Agence France-Presse (AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency.
AFP has regional headquarters in Nicosia, Montevideo, Hong Kong and Washington, D ...
(AFP)'' article recounted nightly gatherings bringing crowds of up to 10,000 people to watch the tower in anticipation of the "mysterious light over the church tower," which upon its appearance each night "jolt dthe gathering into a frenzy of cries an ululations." This article was duplicated by several news agencies, including the Assyrian International News Agency
The Assyrian International News Agency is a privately funded, independent news agency which provides news and analysis on Assyrian and Assyrian-related issues. It was founded by Peter BetBasoo and Firas Jatou in 1995.
Background
The website is r ...
,[
]
Sudan Vision Daily,[
]
Daily Star (Lebanon)
''The Daily Star'' was an English-language newspaper in Lebanon which was distributed across the Middle East. It was founded by Kamel Mrowa in 1952, ceased its print format in February 2020, and completely closed on 31 October 2021.
History
The ...
,[
]
and British Middle East Online.[
]
See also
* Our Lady of Zeitoun
Our Lady of Zeitoun, also known simply as El-Zeitoun, Zeitun or rarely Our Lady of Light, was a mass Marian apparition that was reported to have occurred in the Zeitoun district of Cairo, Egypt, during a period of about 3 years beginning on 2 Apr ...
* Our Lady of Assiut
Our Lady of Assiut is the name given to a series of reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary in 2000 and 2001 in Assiut, Egypt.
History
The apparitions of Our Lady of Assiut were mass apparitions in Assiut, Egypt, during 2000 and 2001. Thousand ...
* Marian apparition
A Marian apparition is a reported supernatural appearance by Mary, the mother of Jesus, or a series of related such appearances during a period of time.
In the Catholic Church, in order for a reported appearance to be classified as a Marian ap ...
* Coptic Orthodox Church
The Coptic Orthodox Church ( cop, Ϯⲉⲕ̀ⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲛ̀ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ⲛ̀ⲟⲣⲑⲟⲇⲟⲝⲟⲥ, translit=Ti.eklyseya en.remenkimi en.orthodoxos, lit=the Egyptian Orthodox Church; ar, الكنيسة القبطي ...
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Warraq, Our Lady of
Marian apparitions
Coptic Orthodox Church
2009 in Egypt