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St. Cyril Church. Heliopolis,
1912
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Heliopolis:
Baron Edouard Empain, a Belgian industrialist,
fond of establishing electric railways and street cars visited Cairo at the
dawn of the 20th century.
To justify the extension of electric railways over a long distance, he decided
to establish, in the north eastern desert, a city - HELIOPOLIS - (in greek
language: "city of the sun"), the same greek name which Herodotus had
given to the ancient Egyptian city of "On", and to connect central
Cairo to it. To such purpose, he founded in 1904 "The Cairo Electric
Railways and Heliopolis Oasis Company".
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Heliopolis First
Dwellers
Ingenious ways were devised by the new company to lure cairo inhabitants to
dwell in Heliopolis . Soon the Greek catholic notables originating from Syria
and from Lebanon started to move from the Cairo districts of Shobra and of
Faggalah to Heliopolis. One of them, civil engineer Habib Ayrouth was engaged
by Baron Empain to collaborate with his Belgian civil works team.
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The Need for a Church
The Greek catholic community growing in number resorted to Eng. Habib Ayrouth
to locate for them a suitable site to erect a church. The first 2 proposals
were found inadequate. It was finally decided to accept a lot of 1622 sq. m for
the sum of 1622 Egyptian piastres (equivalent to 82 USD at such time value).
The deed was signed by archimandrite Philip Gorra and Mr. George Lutfallah
Zalzal on behalf of the "Greek Catholic Patriarchate" and by Boghos
Nubar Bey on behalf of "The Cairo Electric Railways and Heliopolis Oasis
Company".
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The Erection of the First
Church in Heliopolis
Eng. Habib Ayourth benevolently drew the
architectural plans of a Byzantine style church with the dimensions of 31m long
and 12.5m wide. He also surveyed its erection in the midst of the sand dunes.
To this church , the first to be erected in Heliopolis, Baron Edouard Empain
offered six brown marble columns from Anvers (Belgium) which are still
decorating the entrance of this church which was dedicated to St.Cyril to honor
the silver sacerdotal anniversary of Cyril VIII Geha, the greek Catholic
Patriarch then.
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The Consecration of St.
Cyril Church
Prayers and masses have been held in the church
since 1910 prior to paving the surrounding streets . It was consecrated on the
eighth of June 1912 by H.B. Patriarch Cyril VIII Moghabghab and the Latin
Apostolic Nunce Mgr. Deiry in the presence of the musical band of the newly
established Freres French College and a multitude of notables.
A four lines poem in Arabic language praising the
generosity of the contributors engraved on a marble plate has been affixed to
the entrance of the church.
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The "Corba
Church" Nickname
Soon the electric railway was extended and had its
terminal opposite St.Cyril Church. At such time, the street cars were not
equipped with a reargear. To return to central Cairo, they had to make a curve
which can still be noticed in front of the church on the intersection of
Baghdad street (formerly Ismail Pacha Blvrd ) and El-Sawra street (formerly
Sultan Hussein Avenue).
The area where the street cars had to perform their return curve is still to
nowadays called "corba area" (from the French "Courbe"),
and the church received the nickname of the "Corba Church".
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| Fissures in the
Walls of St. Cyril Church |
The sand dunes of Heliopolis differed from
the muddy consistency of Cairo area. Starting 1935 fissures were noticed in the
31 m long and 6 m high longitudinal walls of the church. The parish priest, the
late F. Theophanos Char solicited their repair.
This was accomplished through the generosity
of Mr. Philip Meimari. In turn Mr. Charles Boulad complemented the amount
through the sale at 1 piastre (1/100 of an Egyptian pound ) of holy pictures
bearing the invocation "bless o lord those who love the beauty of your
home"
Three consolidating concrete columns were
masterly incorporated into the 2 longitudinal walls of the church. Thereafter,
an Italian decorator repainted all the walls giving them an exact and vivid
impression of various types of marble.
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| Renovation of St.
Cyril Church |
By 1983 the floor tiles of the church became
worn-out, the electric system of ventilation needed upgrading and the walls had
to be repainted, The parish priest F. Aghanatios Najjar called upon engineer
Antoine Saba to effect such repairs which totaled sixty thousand Egyptian
pounds.
Upon completion of the repairs, the
renovated church was officially inaugurated by H. B. Maximos V Hakim on sunday
January 1st, 1984.
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To complete the Byzantine aspect of St.Cyril
Church, the parish priest F. Nicolas Kanakry requested from Eng. Soussa (in
1945) to erect above the altar a wooden icon of the lord Jesus surrounded by
the icons of his apostles. Additional icons of the 4 founders of the Byzantine
Church were also placed over the 2 side entrances of the altar. Four
chandeliers in wrought iron, Byzantine style were hanged from the ceiling. In
1996, the brothers Ramy and Michel Lakah donated to the church decorated wooden
alter doors to complete its Byzantine aspect.
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| The Present
Status of St. Cyril Church |
Actual pastor rev. iconomos Rafik Greiche
took over the parish in 1994.
In the church court, the parishioners
erected a stone grotto for the Virgin Mary and another for St.
Rita.
Through the efforts of F. Greiche, the
church attendance tremendously increased to the extent of considering the
extension of the church building itself, a step requiring skilled architectural
expertness which nevertheless could affect the balanced symmetrical harmony of
the original building. Several
recent projects have been achieved including putting new tiles in the church
outdoor area, and making a central air conditioning inside the
church.
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