It was mentioned in Pope Theophilus’s 23rd memorandum regarding the return of the Holy Family: We got up ( Virgin Mary, Joseph, the child Jesus and Salome) and descended from this mountain to the coast of the sea, and Joseph proceeded to seek the boat, and the farewell was in the hearts of palm trees, olive branches.
Amelino mentioned it in his geography writings and said that its Coptic name is “Epsidia” and it is located west of the district of Mosha.
Assiut is one of the ancient countries in Egypt, which Gautier mentioned in his dictionary of countries, and he said: Its Arabic name is “Suyut”, meaning “the city of the wolf” because its people in the past used to worship a jackal, who is likened by the Romans to a wolf, and it is located on the west bank of the Nile.
Al-Maqrizi (the 15th century AD) mentions in the book “Ibrizi Sayings” that there were many monasteries and churches in this area, where in Drunka there is a monastery known as the land of al-Hajar, the Michael monastery, and the Karfuna monastery after the name of the Virgin Mary, which is on the edge of the mountain and has many variations.
Also Minardos the German Professor says that there is an ancient tradition that mentions that the maximum extent reached by the Holy Family in Upper Egypt is the current area (Monastery Drunka), which is located to the west of the current city of Assiut. Stone from the ancient Egyptian history of the ninth to thirteenth dynasties.
The late Anba Gregory, General Bishop of Theological Studies and Coptic Culture and Scientific Research, also mentions, in his talk about the return of the Holy Family to Palestine, that the people of Medina, when they felt this news, showed their deep regret and exaggeration in their honor, and insisted on bidding farewell to them to the boat they took on their way back, and the family headed The Holy Family in the south until they reached Mount Assiut, where they entered an ancient cave located in the mountain, and it was an old Pharaonic quarry in which the Holy Family resided, and this place is the farthest place the Holy Family reached in Upper Egypt. Asyut.
The village of Drunka in Assiut is one of the villages that dates back to the Pharaonic eras. Its original name is “Adrunka” and it was mentioned in the laws of Ibn Mamati and in Tuhfat al-Irshad. It is one of the villages of Upper Egypt, above Assiut.
