I recently made a thread about Our Lady of Assuit. It was my first ever post and I can't thank you guys enough for the feedback. Now, I want to talk about Our Lady of Zeitoun.
Most of the info provided comes from the Wikipedia page on Our Lady of Zeitoun.
Some comes from Travis Dumsday's book on the matter.
Our Lady of Zeitoun was a reported mass Marian apparition that took place in the Zeitoun suburb of Cairo, Egypt. The first apparition was seen by two Muslim bus mechanics, who claimed to see a woman on top of Saint Mary's Coptic Church. One mechanic believed the woman was about to attempt suicide and called the police. A crowd soon gathered and the police asserted that the sighting was merely a reflection of the street lights; a church custodian suggested it was Mary.
The figure began reappearing, sometimes weekly, for about 3 years (1968-1971). Tens of thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of people gathered per night to witness the phenomenon. John Jackson interviewed 111 Egyptian Christians who witnessed the apparition, and 90% of them claimed to see a human with a definite shape. Witnesses also claimed to have seen the figure walking, kneeling, blessing the crowd, holding various objects, etc. Other anomalous phenomena occurred; for instance, some witnesses claimed to have seen luminous dove-like objects and unusual cloud phenomena.
There were also several reported healings. A medical commission was set up to investigate these. For example, one of the aforementioned bus mechanics had a gangrenous finger that was supposed to be amputated. When he went to the hospital where his finger was unwrapped, he discovered that the finger was healed. There was also a woman who had serious paralysis in her left leg and could only walk with the help of a stick. When she saw the apparition, she prayed for help and shortly after, she could walk on both legs just fine. Doctors previously found her leg to be incurable but were amazed at its new condition. Furthermore, a medical doctor had a hernia and prayed for a miraculous cure when he saw the apparition. When he arrived home, he had no more hernia. These healings were found in Pearl Zaki's book "Before Our Eyes: The Virgin Mary, Zeitun, Egypt 1968 and 1969."
We do have a secular account given by a professor of anthropology, Cynthia Nelson. She claimed to see intermittent flashes of light and a glow of ambiguous shape through some palm trees. She said the source of the lights was a mystery since the streetlights had been disconnected for several days. I think Nelson's account is ambiguous and weakens my confidence in this being a miracle.
There are photographs of the phenomena, yet they are inconsistent.
There's a photo that shows the figure as being translucent:
But other photos and eyewitness testimony show the figure as being bright and opaque:
There were also luminous dove-like figures in the sky:
Some skeptics have criticized the photos as being poor quality, and I have to agree. There's also no videography or photos on the roof of the church. Nelson noted that photos of the apparition were being sold in the marketplace, which could add an incentive for forgery.
Some have offered a tectonic strain theory to explain the phenomena. They posit that strange lights can appear after earthquakes. Zeitoun did indeed experience tectonic activity prior to the apparitions. The issue is, there isn't a plausible explanation as to why the lights were fixed on the church and not anywhere else.
Could this have been a technological hoax? Some holographic technology was invented before these events took place. But even holograms today are stationary, yet eyewitnesses claim to have seen this figure perform various movements. Perhaps there was some unknown technology used that had this ability? Another issue is that the Egyptian government shut off the power within a 15-mile radius, yet the figure still appeared. Perhaps the source was powered by generators? I also think that most projectors would have streak lights, and the photos don't have that.
The lack of solid photographic evidence, the ambiguous account from our only secular source, and the fact that several people couldn't even identify a human-like figure, weakens by confidence in this being a miracle. But I challenge anyone to provide a plausible explanation for the source of the lights. I think any explanation needs to account for the brightness of the lights, the lights appearing in the sky, the documentation for the miracles, and the fact that the majority of people claimed to see a human-like figure.
Most of the info provided comes from the Wikipedia page on Our Lady of Zeitoun.
Some comes from Travis Dumsday's book on the matter.
Our Lady of Zeitoun was a reported mass Marian apparition that took place in the Zeitoun suburb of Cairo, Egypt. The first apparition was seen by two Muslim bus mechanics, who claimed to see a woman on top of Saint Mary's Coptic Church. One mechanic believed the woman was about to attempt suicide and called the police. A crowd soon gathered and the police asserted that the sighting was merely a reflection of the street lights; a church custodian suggested it was Mary.
The figure began reappearing, sometimes weekly, for about 3 years (1968-1971). Tens of thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of people gathered per night to witness the phenomenon. John Jackson interviewed 111 Egyptian Christians who witnessed the apparition, and 90% of them claimed to see a human with a definite shape. Witnesses also claimed to have seen the figure walking, kneeling, blessing the crowd, holding various objects, etc. Other anomalous phenomena occurred; for instance, some witnesses claimed to have seen luminous dove-like objects and unusual cloud phenomena.
There were also several reported healings. A medical commission was set up to investigate these. For example, one of the aforementioned bus mechanics had a gangrenous finger that was supposed to be amputated. When he went to the hospital where his finger was unwrapped, he discovered that the finger was healed. There was also a woman who had serious paralysis in her left leg and could only walk with the help of a stick. When she saw the apparition, she prayed for help and shortly after, she could walk on both legs just fine. Doctors previously found her leg to be incurable but were amazed at its new condition. Furthermore, a medical doctor had a hernia and prayed for a miraculous cure when he saw the apparition. When he arrived home, he had no more hernia. These healings were found in Pearl Zaki's book "Before Our Eyes: The Virgin Mary, Zeitun, Egypt 1968 and 1969."
We do have a secular account given by a professor of anthropology, Cynthia Nelson. She claimed to see intermittent flashes of light and a glow of ambiguous shape through some palm trees. She said the source of the lights was a mystery since the streetlights had been disconnected for several days. I think Nelson's account is ambiguous and weakens my confidence in this being a miracle.
There are photographs of the phenomena, yet they are inconsistent.
There's a photo that shows the figure as being translucent:
But other photos and eyewitness testimony show the figure as being bright and opaque:
There were also luminous dove-like figures in the sky:
Some skeptics have criticized the photos as being poor quality, and I have to agree. There's also no videography or photos on the roof of the church. Nelson noted that photos of the apparition were being sold in the marketplace, which could add an incentive for forgery.
Some have offered a tectonic strain theory to explain the phenomena. They posit that strange lights can appear after earthquakes. Zeitoun did indeed experience tectonic activity prior to the apparitions. The issue is, there isn't a plausible explanation as to why the lights were fixed on the church and not anywhere else.
Could this have been a technological hoax? Some holographic technology was invented before these events took place. But even holograms today are stationary, yet eyewitnesses claim to have seen this figure perform various movements. Perhaps there was some unknown technology used that had this ability? Another issue is that the Egyptian government shut off the power within a 15-mile radius, yet the figure still appeared. Perhaps the source was powered by generators? I also think that most projectors would have streak lights, and the photos don't have that.
The lack of solid photographic evidence, the ambiguous account from our only secular source, and the fact that several people couldn't even identify a human-like figure, weakens by confidence in this being a miracle. But I challenge anyone to provide a plausible explanation for the source of the lights. I think any explanation needs to account for the brightness of the lights, the lights appearing in the sky, the documentation for the miracles, and the fact that the majority of people claimed to see a human-like figure.
