Every year, tens of thousands of pilgrims visit Virgin Mary Monastery of Gabal (Mount) Dronka in Assiut during Virgin Mary's Fast (in August). This year (2001) starting on Wednesday 15 August, visitors witnessed spiritual phenomena in the form of bright lights, which reached a peak on Saturday 18 August. The monastery was receiving around 30-40 thousand visitor daily, but after the spiritual phenomena the numbers grew very rapidly.

Source: El-Keraza Official Magazine of the Coptic Orthodox Church, 14 September 2001 (http://www.copticpope.org).

About the Monastery

Two thousand years ago, the Holy Family passed by Mount Dronka, 8 Kms south-west the city of Assiut, and their blessing of this location was commemorated in the Christian era by the building of the Mountain-top Monastery of Dronka.

"Blessed be Egypt my people" (Isaiah 19:25)
"Out of Egypt I called my son" (Hosea 11:1)