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The Holy Family's Journey: Christ in Egypt Between Coptic Religious Sources and the Imagination of Foreign Painters
The Holy Family's Journey to Egypt
"An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother and go to Egypt and stay there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him.’ Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night and left for Egypt" (Matthew 2:13-23). With those few words the Gospel of Matthew tells us of the Holy Family’s journey to Egypt. This journey goes beyond the boundaries of religious and historical significance and has inspired countless works of art across all schools and eras and has captured the imagination of Eastern and Western artists alike
every year the Coptic Orthodox Church celebrates the Holy Family’s journey to the land of the Nile Valley as part of Egypt’s history and heritage on the 24th of Bashans (according to the Coptic calendar) which is the 1st of June. The Coptic Synaxarium, a book that contains the lives of saints and the dates of feasts and fasts according to the Coptic calendar also mentions this event.
When we think of the Holy Family’s journey to Egypt we often think of their flight and the familiar scene that comes to mind is the one depicted in Western art. An old sorrowful Saint Joseph walking alongside a humble and serene Virgin Mary. She is riding a donkey, holding the infant Jesus in her arms, tired from their escape into the desert. They fled from the wrath of King Herod the Great who wanted to kill Christ in Bethlehem during the infamous “Massacre of the Innocents” where all male infants under the age of two were killed.
The Bible tells us this story in few words, Joseph received a divine command in a dream to fulfill Old Testament prophecies. The Coptic Synaxarium references Isaiah (19:1) “An oracle concerning Egypt: Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt; and the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence, and the heart of Egypt will melt within it” and Hosea (11:1) “Out of Egypt I called my son”
Many historians and scholars have written about this journey using historical sources and manuscripts found in Egyptian monasteries and libraries around the world. Their works aim to give us a detailed and accurate account of the events and to pinpoint the exact places the Holy Family visited in Egypt. Churches and monasteries were built in these places as mentioned in the “Mayamer” (plural of “Mimar” a Syriac word meaning the life of a saint) which is a comprehensive account of the journey.
