Researchers: the old church in Al Muharraq monastery in Assiut is the oldest in the world

Father Vlixinos Al-Muharraqi, one of the monks of Muharraq monastery in Assiut, said that the old church at the monastery (Our Lady Church), is the abandoned house where the Holy Family lived , pointing out that it is the oldest place in the world where a church was built.

He explained that when this house turned to a church in the early Christian era, partitions and barriers has been made in line with the church order. East room built along with two rooms North for priests clothes, without a door, opens on the nave, and the South to serve the Deaconess, pointing out that the church structure is characterized with the  altar stone , which is known to archaeologists that it is used since the early era, a stone that Jesus Christ sat on according to the tradition.

This came during a celebration organized by Antiquities Committee at the Supreme Council for Culture, and its executive, Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Hadi, to highlight the cultural and tourist importance of the Holy Family flight, and that in the monastery of Muharraq in Assiut, the last Holy Family stations in Egypt, under the auspices of the Culture Minister Hilmi El-Nimnim, Dr. Amal El-Saban the Secretary General of the Council.