The Commemoration of the First Church for The Virgin Mary in the City of Philippi


On the The Twenty First Day of the Blessed Month of Baounah, the church celebrates the commemoration of the first church to be built in the name of the Virgin Lady, the All pure St. Mary, the Theotokos (Mother of God), through whom the salvation of Adam and his posterity was fulfilled. When the two apostles Paul and Silas preached among the gentiles, many believed of them in the city of Philippi. They built a church there in the name of the Virgin, the Mother of God, and its consecration was on that day. It is meeting for us to celebrate for her a spiritual festival, for she has borne the Savior of the world.

May her intercession be with us. Amen.

The Virgin Mary's Church at El-Zeitoun

The church was built by the late Tawfeek Khalil Bey, under the supervision of the Italian architect Leomingelli in 1924, and was consecrated by Anba Athanasyous, Bishop of Beni Sweif in 1925.

It is said that the Virgin Mary appeared to the late Khalil Pasha Ibrahim and requested him to build a church after Her name in this place. She gave Her word that She would make Her apparition fifty years hence--a promise that has been realized when She made Her first apparition on April 2nd, 1968.

It is also said that a Norwegian lady, after the proclamation of the Virgin's apparition, sent a letter stating that the Virgin appeared to her in her bedroom in Oslo and told her that She appeared in Her Church at Zeitoun in the place where She and the baby Christ rested