Our Lady of Warraq is believed, by some, to be a mass apparition of the Virgin Mary that occurred
at the Coptic OrthodoxVirgin Mary and Archangel Michael church, in Warraq al-Hadar,
Giza, Egypt, 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 place of worship. He and others are said to have observed the light condense into a female form.[1]
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.[2]
A representative of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria has approved the apparitions.[3]
Press coverage
This event was widely covered by Egyptian newspapers, Arabic TV channels and by the international press.[4]
The news about the apparitions appeared in multiple newspapers, including the Egyptian Watani,
American Los Angeles Times,[5]
Egyptian Al-Ahram,[6]
Italian AsiaNews,[2]
Egyptian Almasry Alyoum,[7]
and Egyptian Bikya Masr.[8]
A December 24, 2009 Agence France Presse (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[ed] the gathering into a frenzy of cries an ululations."[9] This article was duplicated by several news agencies, including the Assyrian International News Agency,[1]
Sudan Vision Daily,[10]Daily Star (Lebanon),[11]
and British Middle East Online.[12]
