|
The
Bible contains but a few verses about the years the Holy Family
spent in Egypt - their flight from Herod's death sentence, the weary
journey, and their return to Israel. But what exactly happened to
Jesus and his parents in this ancient land of magic and myth? How
did the sojourn in Egypt change Jesus' life and influence his
teachings? By poring over narratives of the Apocrypha and the
traditions of the Coptic Orthodox church, Paul Perry was able to
follow the Holy Family's route through Egypt - from their entrance
across the burning sands of the Sinai Desert to their zigzagging
path down the Nile. Part
travel-adventure, part spiritual journey, part historical detective
story,
Jesus In Egypt recounts a modern-day pilgrimage
into an ancient and often baffling land. In the basements of Coptic
churches and the teeming back streets of Cairo, in shrines thronged
by worshipers and desert wastes haunted by saints, Perry turn up
shards of the past, tales passed down through countless generations,
and reveals a very different side of Jesus than we get in the Bible.
Jesus in
Egypt: Secret Stories of Jesus
by
Paul Perry
I felt uneasy going into the dark
Cairo alley with the two strangers. I had just met them at the Old
Cathedral of Saint Mark in the Azbakiya District. I was standing in
the back pews of the 18th century church admiring its incredible
icons, those bright paintings that give life to the stories of the
Bible. As I moved from one icon to the next I suddenly became aware
of the two men behind me.
"Good evening," I said, stopping.
"Evening good you, too," said the man with the moustache. "You are
American?"
"Yes," I said. It was not long after September 11th, and few
American's were traveling to the Middle East. I was conspicuous
everywhere I went, so it was no surprise that I would be singled out
at a Coptic Church, one that would be off the beaten path for most
American travelers anyway.
"You have come to look for Jesus?" asked Moustache.
The secret police are working overtime tonight, I thought.
"Why do you think I am looking for Jesus?" I asked.
Moustache smiled and held up his hands. "House of Jesus," he said.
"You must be here to look for Jesus."
I kept walking and looking at the icons. The two strangers stayed
right with me. Moustache and his friend spoke quietly in Arabic,
pacing me for some time as I tried to ignore their presence. Finally
Moustache tapped me on the shoulder.
"Would you like to see the Well of Jesus?" he asked.
"I certainly would," I said. "Did Jesus drink at this well?"
"Yes," said Moustache. "He made it, and he drank there. And it is
still there. It makes women have babies. Hazzem and I will take
you."
'sounds interesting," I said, assessing these rogue guides.
They were smiling and they both seemed harmless. Not quite
choirboys, I thought, but close enough to trust on a short field
trip.
"Let's go," I said.
And we did. We headed out of the church and across its walled
courtyard to the busy street. The "well of magic water" was less
than 200 yards away, my new friends assured me. It would be no
problem getting there. No problem, that is, if I didn't mind
accompanying them down a very dark alley...
Chapter 3
Field of
Fallen Idols
...."It doesn't look like much,"
I said to Ra'ed.
"You aren't there yet," he said. "It's over that hill."
Behind us were the entrance to the archaeological complex and the
parking lot. From the road the entrance had been so difficult to
find that we had passed it before Ra'ed realized it and ordered
Sa'ad to stop. Once we got inside the grounds, things seemed even
more cryptic. There was a small garden of sculptures from the
pharaoic era. But other than that this place looked like a police
station. In fact it was a police station of some sort. To one side
was a large building with a constant stream of soldiers and police
officers scurrying in and out. Toward the back of the property was a
high dirt berm with the sound of gunfire coming from behind it.
"That is a shooting range for policemen," said Ra'ed. "We won't be
going over there."
We continued to walk toward another hill. This place looks like a
waste of time, I said to myself. A total zero. All I see is scrub
brush and dirt. They must have cleared this off with a road grader.
We topped the hill and the entire scene changed. There in front of
us was an enormous field of fallen idols. There were hundreds of
them, covering perhaps a square mile in area. Pillars the
circumference of pine trees had been toppled. Heads of stone
pharaohs the size of automobiles were broken off and lying next to
their own stone feet. Statues of shapely stone queens were lying on
their sides. Massive steles were broken into pieces that were
scattered all over the ground. Walls were crumbled, as prophesized
by Ezekiel, an Old Testament prophet who lived between 592 and 570
b.c.e.
And there, in the foreground, was a perfectly shaped well, its
circular wall neatly fashioned from irregular bricks. I looked
inside. The well was partially full of water. Floating on its
surface was bits of Styrofoam cup and other rubbish.
I began to laugh at the scene in front of us.
"I did the same thing the first time I saw this," said Ra'ed. "I
laughed too."
"I can't help it," I said. "It is so true to the Gospels that it's
almost absurd."
...I am surrounded by fallen idols, just like it says in the
gospel....
Chapter 9
Lightened by
Piety
....We got out
of the car and looked out at a desert that has probably changed
little in 2000 years. It was stark and bleak and fathomless, and
reminded me of why it is that Egypt has never been conquered by a
force coming from the west across these endless dunes.
"What is it that happened here?" asked Ra'ed, as I opened my copy of
the infancy gospels and began search for the appropriate passages.
"One of the most amazing things that happened to Jesus in Egypt,
happened right here," I said. "According to the infancy gospels, he
met the two thieves who would eventually hang on crosses on either
side of him when he was crucified in Jerusalem."
"Is such a thing possible?" asked Ra'ed. "That would mean that Jesus
knew the end from the beginning."
Ra'ed had hit it right on the head....
Copyright 2003 by Paul
Perry. Mr.
Perry is the co-author of several New York Times
bestsellers, including the Closer to the Light series and Saved by
the Light, which was made into a popular movie by Fox. His work has
appeared in National Geographic Adventure, Ladies Home Journal,
Outside Magazine, Reader's Digest, and several other popular
periodicals. His books have been published in more than 30 languages
around the world.
In the midst of
a voyage to Egypt in the 1990s, Paul became intrigued with the
notion that Jesus had traveled extensively in the land of the
pyramids, yet there was nothing written in the Bible about what he
did there. This mysterious gap in the biography of the world's most
influential man nagged at Paul until he finally assembled enough
information to put together a map of the Holy Family's secret
voyage.
Paul began following the trail of Jesus in Egypt shortly after the
September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
Although there was concern for his safety among his friends and
family, Paul saw this tense time in history as the perfect time to
explore the meaning of religion in a land where the three main
faiths co-exist in part out of a mutual respect for Jesus and his
presence in Egypt.
A DVD movie based on the book,
Jesus in Egypt, has just been released nationally.
"Jesus in Egypt" explores the secret childhood of Jesus. Aside
from just a few sentences surrounding his birth, only three years of
Jesus' life are talked about in the bible. The documentary takes you
to the holiest spot in Egypt, and sites where Jesus is said to have
preformed miracles.
Shot in high definition and directed by Marlin Darrah. The
documentary sheds light on a spiritual journey as well as a travel
adventure story and proceeds to take you on a detective finding
mission. Extraordinary footage literally walks you along the exact
same trail that was taken by the Holy family when they fled the
wrath of King Herod. It is available via
the web site
www.jesusinegypt.com.
Egypt as a country maintains volumes of information in achieve that
support this "extra Biblical" information about where the holy
family traveled and landmarks that were touched and passed along the
way. "There are no stories in the Bible about what Jesus did in
Egypt, but I knew that such stories existed in the form of oral
tradition and stories that were written down outside of the Bible,"
said Perry. Perry interviewed archaeologists, document specialists,
priests, bishops and even the Coptic Pope himself.
There have only been two times that a Westerner has completed the
entire trail. Once when Perry wrote the book, and the second time
when they filmed the documentary. Jesus in Egypt explores the secret
childhood of Jesus, revealing a side of the world's most influential
man that has never before been shown.
For more
information visit:
http://www.jesusinegypt.com.
Learn Spanish Fast
Easy,
Painless Way to Learn
Spanish. FREE 6-day Course.
Meditate
Deeper Than A
Zen Monk.
You Just Touch a
Button. FREE Holosync CD.
Free Motivation
Software
Change
life-long habits in days.
Click HERE and learn more.
Control Your Dreams
Lucid Dreaming Kit
Gives You
Results in 7-Days Guaranteed.
|
|
