Thousands of Copts celebrate birth of Virgin Mary on high alert

CAIRO - 21 August 2017: Thousands of Copts celebrated the birth of the Virgin Mary amidst high security measures on Sunday morning.

For the second week, thousands of Copts continued celebration of the birth of Virgin Mary in Assiut. “Derenka monastery receives about five million visitors a year,” said the reverend priest Luqa Ameen to Egypt Today.

Celebrations were characterized by tight security measures, especially after the decision taken by most of the churches last month, following the incident of the Coptic Monastery of Anba Samuel in Menia city, to cancel the celebration of birthdays, festivals, and Coptic trips.

This taken decision prompted the monastery to cancel many of the celebration’s ceremonies that were carried out in previous years in coordination with security officers.

Children swings were canceled and candy-selling shops located in the neighboring area to the monastery were closed for security considerations. The celebration entailed only religious and ecclesiastical rituals.


The police prevented the cars from climbing up the mountain of the Virgin Mary, and only allowed the permit holders to enter. Each family was given only one permit with the car number and driver's name. The taxis were stopped for inspection by the police, cars and buses of the monastery took visitors up to the cave church which was the sanctuary of Virgin Mary when she visited Egypt.

Church Scouts searched the bags of visitors, through three electronic gates, and did not allow the access of aromatic substances or flammable materials, and for the first time prevented Muslims from visiting the monastery.


بالفيديو.. الأقباط يحتفلون بدورة العذراء في جبل... من طرف youm7