“The Ashmunin” .. a village in the center of Mallawi in the Minya Governorate … and adjacent to the ruins of the ancient city of Khumun (which the Greeks called: Hermapolis Magna or: Hermopolis Magna). The Ashmunin had an ancient history as it flourished along the Pharaonic history and the Greco-Roman era. And its tombs are located in mountain tuna. The origin of the name “Ashmounin” is a distortion of the ancient Egyptian name “Khumun” or the holy city of eight, and it was the capital of the fifteenth region in ancient Upper Egypt, and it was the seat of worship for Thoth, the god of wisdom represented in the form of a baboon or ibis. Since the ancient Greeks paired their god Hermes with the Egyptian god Thoth, they called the city Hermopolis Magna.
Ashmunin is located about 8 km west of the city of Mallawi, and it can be reached by car to the tourist road north of the city of Mallawi 3 km, then go west 8 km.
Among the most important monuments of the Ashmunin: An open-air museum that includes two huge statues of the god Thoth in the form of a baboon in prayer for the sun, in addition to other stone sculptures dating back to the era of the modern state, as well as the remains of a temple for the god Thoth from the era of Ramses II and the remains of a temple from Philip Arhides, the Greek market surrounded by a group of The columns of red granite are of Corinthian capitals and there is a stone sign indicating the date of establishment of the market in the year 350 BC. During the reign of Ptolemy II and his wife Arsenoy, the most important relics are also the remains of a basilica-style church and its granite columns.
Miracles of the Holy Family in Egypt “Ashmounin” The Holy Family traveled from Jabal al-Tair with the Nile to the “Ashmounin” in the Mallawi Center, and they stayed for several days at a good man who best hosted them. When Jesus and his family pass by the horse
The idols of the city also fell and were shattered, which caused the wrath of the idols’ worshipers
The historian Suzomenos says in his book History of the Church: “It is said that there was in the Ashmonites – a city in Upper Egypt a tree called Persia.” This was a lame tree, and the pagans worshiped it, because Satan was inhabited by it. The tree, then the tree straightened and became of great power, so they used its leaves, fruits and peel to heal diseases.
The Virgin Mary and Martyr Wadamon Coptic Orthodox Church
A small archeological church in the name of Saint Wadamon el Armanti, who was said to be a saint from the city of Armant, one day he was sitting in his house and had guests from idolaters. And some of them said to one another: “Behold, we have heard that a woman arrived in the Ashmunites with a small child like the children of kings.” Each of them started talking about the boy. When the people departed and each of them went to his house, he rose up, damned, and tightened his bear and rode and reached the city of the Ashmunites, and when the child saw Jesus with Mary his mother, he worshiped him. When the child saw him, he smiled at him and said to him: “Peace be with you, Wadamon. I am tired and come here to achieve what you were talking about in your assembly while you are sitting talking for me, because I will live with you and your house will be my home. ” Saint Wadamon was surprised and amazed, then said: “Sir, I desire that you come to me and live in my house, and I will be your servant forever.”
Then the boy said to him: “Your house will be a home for me and my mother forever because if you go back from here and listen to idolaters that you have cherished them and shed your blood in your house. Do not be afraid because I kiss you in the Kingdom of Heaven forever, in a place of permanent joy that has no expiration, and you are the first martyr in Upper Egypt. ”So the man rose up and worshiped Christ, so he blessed him and then went back home. When Wadamon returned to Armant, the idol worshipers heard his arrival, and the news spread in the city that Wadamon visited Jesus. So idol worshipers came quickly and declared their swords upon him and completed his testimony. When idolatry was abolished and Christianity spread in the country, Christians turned his house to a church in the name of the Blessed Virgin Mary and her son Jesus. And this church is called “Al Geyoshna” and its interpretation is “the Church of the Living” by Zahir Armant.
