Saints Sergius and Bacchus Church

This guide to Saints Sergius and Bacchus Church in Cairo centers on the flood-prone crypt beneath its altar, where Coptic tradition says Mary, Joseph, and the infant Jesus once sheltered during the flight into Egypt inside the ruins of a Roman fortress. It follows the Syrian scribe Athanasius, who later built a church over that resting place and dedicated it to two executed Roman soldiers, and traces roughly three hundred fifty years during which Coptic patriarchs were chosen inside these walls, beginning around the year 681. It also touches on a fire that swept the district around the year 750 and the repeated restorations that followed.