(CE:1510b)
MAHALLAH AL-KUBRA, AL-, a city located in the middle of the Delta in the Gharbiyyah province. In earlier Arabic sources it was known simply as al-Mahallah and in Coptic as ]sairi.
The early history of Christianity in al-Mahallah al-Kubra is obscure because the city is seldom mentioned in sources before the Arabic period. However, by the year 1257 al-Mahallah al-Kubra was a bishopric, as evidenced by the attendance of Bishop Gregory of al- Mahallah at the consecration of the chrism in Cairo in that year (Munier, 1943, p. 34).
RANDALL STEWART
