Anba Zacharias, the bishop of Sakha in the seventh century AD, wrote about the journey of the Holy Family and he mentions that they reached the gate of the city of Al-Farma and they rested there that night from the fatigue of travelling.
The monk “Bernard” who came from Antioch to Egypt via the Al-Farma in 870 AD visited the city and testified saying: “I saw there a church in the name of the Virgin Mary next to her cave as a memorial of the Holy Family’s passage there.”
The Greek traveler Epiphanius visited Al-Farma in the ninth century AD, and said: “The Savior and his mother stopped at Al-Farma, so a church was built in commemoration of this occasion.”
In the twelfth century, the historian Abu al-Makarim mentioned Al-Farma and the Arab historian “Taqi al-Din al-Maqrizi” mentioned in 1441 AD: “There is a church in Al-Farma in the name of the Virgin Mary, erected in honor of the passage of the Holy Family in this place.”
