Emilino mentioned that Bahnasa is a famous Coptic city and was included in many Coptic manuscripts that talk about the lives of saints and are present in the Vatican Library.
The manuscript “Futuh al-Bahnasa al-Gharaa” includes two chapters on the visit of the Virgin Mary and the child Jesus in Bahnasa and the miracles associated with that visit.
The Bahnasa Papyri
The city of Al-Bahnasa is considered one of the most important Egyptian cities in which papyri from the early Christian era were discovered. These papyri indicate the presence of two churches there in the second century AD.
It was also possible to identify the names of more than 40 churches through one of the papyri discovered in the city, which dates back to the year 535 AD. There are also papyri discovered there that include parts of the Bible.
In 1897 AD, Grenfell and Hunt, two British scientists at Oxford University, discovered the famous sayings of Jesus during their excavations in the Bahnasa Hills. They form part of the discoveries known as the Bahnasa Papyri.
