Fleeing to Egypt — The First Messianic Journey of the Lord Jesus Christ with a chronicle and geography of the Gospel events

Abstract

The study of the Gospel events of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ with a chronology calculated according to the author’s methodology makes it possible to review the geographical routes of His messianic travels throughout Israel and nearby countries with the recording of probable calendar dates. The article examines the hypothesis about the possibility of classifying the Flight of the Holy Family into Egypt as the First Messianic Journey of the Savior. The research is based on the Gospel, Holy Tradition, scientific and historical information of the Coptic Orthodox Church about the sites of the Holy Family and other current research. Testing the hypothesis made it possible to clarify and substantiate the geographical map of the entire route of the Holy Family, i. e. from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the census, flight to Egypt, travel around the country and return to Nazareth; to calculate the approximate chronology of these events, and determine the influence of the traditions of Egyptian monasticism on the worship of the Christian Church.