Zeitoun, also El-Zeitoun or Zeitun, is a town near Cairo, Egypt. It
is noted for its Marian apparitions.According to purported
witnesses, the Virgin Mary appeared in different forms over the
Coptic Virgin Mary Church at Zeitoun for a period of 23 years
beginning on April 2, 1968. The apparitions lasted from a few
minutes up to several hours and were sometimes accompanied by
dove-shaped luminous bodies.
They were purportedly seen by millions of Egyptians and foreigners,
including Copts, Orthodox and Roman Catholics, Protestants,
Muslims, Jews and people of no particular faith. The sick and blind
are said to have been cured, and many people converted to
Christianity as a result.
The Coptic Pope Kirellos VI appointed a committee of high ranking
priests and bishops to investigate, headed by Anba Gregorios,
bishop of postgraduate studies, Coptic culture and scientific
research. On May 4 the Coptic Orthodox Papal Residence in Cairo
issued an official statement confirming the apparitions. They were
also confirmed by Father Dr. Henry Ayrout, S.J., and Rev. Dr.
Ibrahim Said of the Protestant Evangelical Ministries.
Nuns of the Society of the Sacred Heart witnessed the apparitions
and sent a detailed report to the Vatican, resulting in the arrival
of an envoy on April 28 who also saw the apparitions and sent a
report to Pope Paul VI.It was allegedly witnessed by Christians,
Muslims and President Abdul Nasser, as well as captured by
newspaper photographers and Egyptian television. Investigations by
among others the Coptic Church and the police could find no
explanation for the phenomenon. No device was found within a radius
of fifteen miles capable of projecting the image, while the sheer
number of photographs from independent sources suggests that no
photographic manipulation was involved.
Marian apparitions are events in which the Virgin Mary is purported
to have supernaturally appeared to one or more persons, typically
but not always Christians, often Catholics. They are often given
names based on the town in which they were reported, or on the
soubriquet which was given to Mary on the occasion of the
apparition, or on her reported clothing and hairstyle. They have
been interpreted as psychological (pareidolia), and as religious
phenomena, occasionally as theophanies.
Apparitions sometimes recur at the same site over an extended
period of time. Marian apparitions sometimes involve statues or
images of Mary; of particular note are weeping statues, witnessed
as producing tears.
http://www.zeitun-eg.org/