'Jesus footprint' church damaged by fire
Pastor Dale Morgan
*'Jesus footprint' church damaged by fire*
From correspondents in Cairo
June 17, 2008 08:26pm
Article from: Agence France-Presse
AN historic church in the Nile Delta where the Holy Family is said to
have stopped during their flight to Egypt, leaving Christ's footprint,
has been damaged by fire, a security official said today.
The fire yesterday at the Sanctuary of the Church of the Virgin Mary in
Sakha, just outside the Delta city of Kafr el-Sheikh, north of Cairo,
destroyed the altar and an historic icon and caused some structural damage.
The local governor blamed the fire on an electrical fault, the official
said, with a security cordon placed around the church amid
Christian-Muslim tensions following recent unrest between the two
communities.
A land dispute involving an historic monastery in central Egypt turned
violent on May 31, leading to the death of a Muslim man and injuring
four Copts, including two monks.
The Coptic name for Sakha, Pekha-Issous, means "Jesus's foot" because it
is home to a rock which purportedly bears Christ's footprint, left
during the Biblical flight to Egypt to escape King Herod's massacre of
the innocents.
Found in 1984, the stone was put on display in the church, which was
itself built on the site of a medieval monastery. The stone was
reportedly not damaged in the fire.