(CE:334a-334b)
BANAWAN, AL-, town located in the province of Gharbiyyah in the Egyptian Delta, some 9 miles (14 km) northwest of al-Mahallah
al-Kubra.
The SYNAXARION for 25 Abib tells the story of the martyr Apa Krajon who hailed from al-Banawan. A church was built for him in his hometown after his death. On the basis of this account it can be deduced that al-Banawan knew Christianity at least as early as the fourth century. However, for the first few centuries after the ARAB CONQUEST OF EGYPT there are no witnesses to Christianity in the town. Nonetheless, the town appears in the medieval Coptic-Arabic registers and in a list of Coptic bishoprics. Historical sources speak of a bishop in the town as early as 1078, when Bishop Mena from al-Banawan attended the synod in Cairo that chose a successor to Patriarch CHRISTODOULOS.
RANDALL STEWART
