Last article tackled strange things and disasters that befell the days of Pope Christodoulos, and some of what happened in the Mustansiri Plight the country had passed through.
The biographer of Pope Christodoulos tells us that during the days of the Pope, the fame of a wondrous olive tree spread, it was near the church of Saint Virgin Mary in Andalusia (Currently Spain and Portugal), it used to sprout leaves and bear fruits in untimely manner on the eve of the daily feast of the church! He tells us that once upon a time, he met one of the senior men of Andalusia, inquiring about the issue, he was answered: “I revealed the secret of this olive tree, because I did not believe whoever spoke about it. I went to the location of this tree – at a church known as “Mary” (named after Saint Virgin Mary), three days apart from Almeria city (the capital and port of Almeria region in the southeast of Spain). It is a location called: “look and be amazed”. So, I pitched my tent under the tree at the door of the church, and there was not a single green leaf (a branch) on it at that time. Forty knights of my companions were with me, it was the night of the feast of that church, and people from everywhere made pilgrimages to it. We spent the night there until sunrise of the feast day, when the tree turned green! All people saw it, its branches have widened and its leaves got ripe! The leaves then multiplied, the fruits appeared, and the olives were formed, increased and multiplied until midday! There was innumerable amount of olives in the tree! Hence, the custodian (the one in charge) of the church came out, took olives and squeezed them out to light from its juice or oil the lamps of the church. They prayed, concluded their mass and received Eucharist, then went back to their homes. I came to know that the church custodian and servants -after the end of the feast- used to gather those olives and have them sufficient for lighting the lanterns and lamps of the church, for satisfying their need of food along the year. I, as well as a group of those present people, took from that olive as a blessing, and I returned to Almería.”
In Texts About Andalusia book published by the Institute of Islamic Studies in Madrid 1965, we read a text written by Ahmed ibn Al-Dala’i ibn Omar ibn Anas, in which it is said: “One of the strange things is an olive tree in a church… as it was the time for afternoon prayer on the eve of the first of May. The olive tree had been enlightened that by the night had come, it bore fruits, while at the morning, the entire fruits of the olive tree had turned black and became good. People knew and witnessed that and the princes went there in the past. The residents of that area cut it down for the crowdedness of people it used to cause, it remained cut down for a while before the roots got fertilized. It remains to this day as it was described.”
In “Al-Mu`rib an Baad Ajayeb al-Maghrib” book: “Near Granada, there is a mountain of snow… Near this mountain there are traces of a church that has a spring of water and an olive tree. People go out heading towards that olive tree, in the time of spring on a certain day. When the sun rises from that day on, that spring overflows with abundant water, and the olive blossom appears on the tree, then the blossom turns into olive (i.e. its parts merge and become an olive fruit), and the fruits grow and blacken; olives have been taken by whoever could, people used to use this spring for treatment.”
During the days of Pope Christodoulos, one of the priest monks called “Abu Yackoub Al Raheb” tried to assume papacy, for he was dear to Nasir Al-Dawla ibn Hamdan. Abu Yackoub went to Alexandria, waiting for Ibn Hamdan to fulfill what he had promised him with, yet illness befell him, leaving him dead, he was buried in a church there carrying the name of Saint Mina. When Ibn Hamdan was informed -having assumed a greater post by the death of Abu Yackoub- he said: “I swear to God! Had he been alive upon my arrival, I would have fulfilled to him what he had desired, assigning papacy to him.”
Pope Christodoulos was contemporary to the arrival of “Al-Afdal”, the prince of armies to Egypt, fighting the corrupt and Laguatan nations which had looted the country, he restored the country to its stability and to a better condition. And… Stories about beautiful Egypt never end!
The General Bishop
Head of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center
العربية
