Egypt fire damages church of 'Jesus footprint'
CAIRO (AFP) — An historic church in the Nile Delta where Jesus and his family are believed to have stopped during their flight to Egypt, leaving an imprint of Christ's foot, has been damaged by fire, a security official has said.
The fire at the Sanctuary of the Church of the Virgin Mary in Sakha, just outside Kafr el-Sheikh, north of Cairo, destroyed the altar and an historic icon and caused some structural damage.
The local governor blamed the fire on an electrical fault, the official said, with a security cordon placed around the church amid Christian-Muslim tensions following recent unrest between the two communities.
A land dispute involving an historic monastery in central Egypt turned violent on May 31, leading to the death of a Muslim man and injuring four Copts, including two monks.
The Coptic name for Sakha -- Pekha-Issous -- means "Jesus' foot" because it is home to a rock which purportedly bears Christ's footprint, left during their flight from Bethlehem to Egypt to escape King Herod's massacre of the innocents.
Found in 1984, the stone was put on display in the church, which was itself built on the site of a medieval monastery. The stone was reportedly not damaged in the fire.
