Pilgrims flock to see relics

Press, 17 November 1978, Page 6

Pilgrims flock to see relics

NZPA Cairo i Christian pilgrims are 'flocking to a desert monastery where monks claim to have found the remains of John the Baptist and the prophet Elisha. The monks claim the I bones were among those of 13 holy men found in a cave (under the floor of the St; Makarios Church in the sum-, liner of 1976. The find was kept secret to prevent a. (rush of visitors from inter-, (fering with restoration work. ; However, news of the dis-. Icovery leaked out this week.l ’An Egyptian reporter re-’ ! searching a story on turnipgrowing at the monastery, 1 95 km north-west of Cairo,| (stumbled across a box of I ! bones kept by the monks,' (and wrote a story about 'them. “You can see that the rush has already begun,”; (said Father Yacoub. As he; | spoke, a group of 30 Egyp-; ’tian pilgrims from Cairo descended the steps of the! church. One visitor was the Rev.; Thaddeus Barnas, a Roman I Catholic monk from the; United States, who said he had come to observe Coptic Christian traditions in the

country where Christian mo nasticism began in the thiri century A.D. More than 150 visitors ar rived outside the 11-metrt high stone walls of St Ma karios and tugged on a bel cord to be admitted oi Tuesday, a day when th» ; monks normally close theil doors to the outside wcyrld. “We are obliged to reccm (them.” said a young monl who is the official greelet I "Our message is love, hotf can we turn them away?” A committee of biblica [Scholars and archaeologies experts plans to visit tin monastery to examine thi [monks’ claim. They will tr* (to determine if any of thi I skeletal remains show sign lof beheading. John was d? capitated on the orders <j King Herod, and the monlfl Isay his skull was taken ti Homs, Syria. Elisha was a Hebrew pra ;phet who continued th ; work of Elijah, which wai to halt worship of falsi idols and restore justice. The monks say the bona were taken out of Palestin by Christians who fearei Romans would destroy them and were brought to th monastery in the eleventi century.