Simon the Tanner
Encyclopedia
Mokattam
Mokattam and the Moqattam Hills, , also Muqattam and Moqattam Mountain, is the name of a hill range and a suburb in them, located in southeastern Cairo, Egypt.-Landform:...
Mountain in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, during the rule of the Muslim Fatimid Caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
al-Muizz Lideenillah (953-975) while Abraham the Syrian was the Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria.
The miracle of moving the mountain
Simon the Tanner lived towards the end of the tenth century and many Coptic Christians in Egypt were engaged in handicrafts. Saint Simon worked in one of those crafts widespread in Old Cairo which was tanning, a craft still known there till this day. This profession involved also other crafts that depend on the process, from whence Simon carried several titles related to skins: Tanner, Cobbler, Shoemaker.Caliph al-Muizz, who reigned during 972-975 AD, used to invite different religious leaders to debate in his presence. In one of those meetings in which the patriarch Abraham, also known as Pope Abraam and a Jew named Yaqub ibn Killis
Yaqub ibn Killis
Yaqub ibn Killis , was an Egyptian Vizier under the Fatimids .Yaqub ibn Yusuf ibn Killis was born in Baghdad in 930 in a Jewish family. After his family moved to Syria he came to Egypt in 943 and entered the service of the Regent Kafur. Soon he controlled the Egyptian state finances in his...
(and in another account of this story, was known as Moses) were present, Abraham got the upper hand in the debate. Plotting to take revenge, Ibn Killis quoted the verse where Jesus Christ, said in Gospel of Matthew
Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...
: " He replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." , and demanded that the Pope prove that his religion is right by means of this. After hearing ibn Killis say this, the caliph asked Abraham "What sayest thou concerning this word? Is it your gospel or not?" The patriarch answered "Yes, it is in it." After hearing Abraham answer, the caliph demanded that this very miracle be performed by Abraham’s hand, or else he and all the Copts would be killed by the hand of the sword. It was then after hearing this that the patriarch asked for three days to complete the miracle.
Abraham compiled a group of monks, priests and elders. He told them to all stay in the church for three days for a penance. On the morning of the third day, Abraham was praying in the the Hanging Church
The Hanging Church
Saint Virgin Mary's Coptic Orthodox Church also known as the Hanging Church is one of the oldest churches in Egypt and the history of a church on this site dates to the 3rd century AD....
, when he saw Mary, mother of Jesus
Mary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
. The Holy Virgin told him to go to the great market. She said to him, "There thou wilt find a one-eyed man carrying on his shoulder a jar full of water; seize him, for he it is at whose hands this miracle shall be manifested.” Abraham listened to Mary and went to the market where he met the man the Holy Virgin spoke of. The man who the Virgin spoke of was Simon the tanner, who had plucked out his eye because of a passage from the Bible: "If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell."
Simon told Abraham to go out with his priests and all his people to the mountain with the Caliph and all his soldiers. Simon then told Abraham to cry out "O Lord, have mercy" three times, and each time to make the sign of the cross over the mountain. The patriarch followed the words of Simon and the mountain was lifted. After the miracle was performed in the presence of the Caliph, the Pope turned left and right looking for Simon, but he had disappeared and no one could find him. The Caliph turned to Abraham and said "O Patriarch, I have recognized the correctness of your faith."
In commemoration of this miracle, the Coptic Orthodox Church observes three extra days of fasting before the beginning of the Nativity Fast
Nativity Fast
The Nativity Fast is a period of abstinence and penance practiced by the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches, in preparation for the Nativity of Christ, . The fast is similar to the Western Advent, except that it runs for 40 days instead of four weeks. The fast is...
.
Discovery of Saint Simon's relics
During the years of 1989-1991, the Coptic clergymen and archaeologists searched for the relics of the 10th century tanner and saint, Simon. Simon was apparently buried in the cemetery of al-Habash in Old CairoOld Cairo
Old Cairo is a part of Cairo, Egypt, that contains the remnants of those cities which were capitals before Cairo, such as Fustat, as well as some other elements from the city's varied history. For example, it encompasses Coptic Cairo and its many old churches and ruins of Roman fortifications...
; however while searching for Simon’s relics his skeleton was discovered in the Church of St. Mary(and according to others was found in the Coptic Orthodox Church of the Holy Virgin, Babylon El-Darag
Church of the Holy Virgin (Babylon El-Darag)
The Church of the Holy Virgin in Babylon El-Darag is a Coptic Orthodox church in Coptic Cairo built in the 11th century AD.-History:...
) during its restoration. Simon’s skeleton was discovered on August 4, 1991 about one meter below the surface of the church. What was of particular interest when finding his skeleton was that the hair on his head was still intact and had not disintegrated. The hair that was intact was only on the back of his skull and it was deduced that the man had a bald head in the front and thick hair on the back of his head.
In the church where Simon’s skeleton was found there was also a painting that depicted the Coptic Pope Abraham and a bald-headed tanner carrying two water jars. The bald-headed tanner is most likely Simon because he was known for carrying water jars to the poor. The painting further depicted some of the characteristics of the discovered skeleton. In a church nearby a pot was also discovered and was dated to be more than one thousand years old and it is believed that this clay pot was the vessel that Simon used to carry water to the poor. The jar is now kept in the new Church of Saint Simon on Muquattam, Cairo.
The Monastery of Saint Simon
The Monastery of St. Simon is located on the west bank of the Nile behind the ZabbaleenZabbaleen
The Zabbaleen are a minority religious community of Coptic Christians who have served as Cairo's informal garbage collectors for approximately the past 70 to 80 years. Zabbaleen means "Garbage people" in Egyptian Arabic...
village. The Zabbaleen village is a village where the garbage collectors of Cairo live. In 1969 the then Governor of Cairo decided to move all of the garbage collectors to the Mokattam. In 1987 there were approximately 15,000 people living in the Zabbaleen village.
Reaching the monastery is not an easy feat and is difficult to get to, due to having to wind through the Zabbaleen village. In the early 1900s the monastery was only accessible by either crossing the desert from Qubbet el-Hawa
Qubbet el-Hawa
Qubbet el-Hawa is a site of a group of rock cut tombs known as the Princes's Tomb on the west side of the Nile, opposite Aswan. These tombs date mainly from the Old Kingdom which provide important details of the lives of officials at this time...
or by sailing across the Nile from Aswan
Aswan
Aswan , formerly spelled Assuan, is a city in the south of Egypt, the capital of the Aswan Governorate.It stands on the east bank of the Nile at the first cataract and is a busy market and tourist centre...
and then walking up the Wadi
Wadi
Wadi is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some cases, it may refer to a dry riverbed that contains water only during times of heavy rain or simply an intermittent stream.-Variant names:...
al-Qurqur. The monastery, which was originally dedicated to Anbâ Hadra of Aswân, was just recently erected and dedicated to Saint Simon.
The monastery was built in the 7th century and reconstructed in the 10th century. By the 13th century, however, the monastery was in ruin and there was an inscription found in the monastery that said that a Mutammar Ali had visited in 1295 A.D. Although though the monastery was ruined the main features of the monastery were preserved.
One of the churches in the monastery had numerous Coptic inscriptions inside and there were slabs of stones giving the history of many of the monks that had lived there.
Relics
The relics of St. Simon were discovered in 1991 in St. Mary's Coptic Orthodox Church in Babylon, Church of the Holy Virgin (Babylon El-Darag)Church of the Holy Virgin (Babylon El-Darag)
The Church of the Holy Virgin in Babylon El-Darag is a Coptic Orthodox church in Coptic Cairo built in the 11th century AD.-History:...
in Coptic Cairo
Coptic Cairo
Coptic Cairo is a part of Old Cairo which encompasses the Babylon Fortress, the Coptic Museum, the Hanging Church, the Greek Church of St. George and many other Coptic churches and historical sites. It is believed that the Holy Family visited this area and stayed at the site of Saints Sergius and...
.
See also
- Fasting and abstinence of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria
- Coptic saintsCoptic saintsEgypt was one of the first countries to know Christianity, with Saint Mark the Evangelist bringing Christianity to the country around 55 AD.The Egyptian Christians, also known as the Copts, have produced thousands of saints, many of whom are recognised simultaneously in the Oriental Orthodox...
- Coptic CairoCoptic CairoCoptic Cairo is a part of Old Cairo which encompasses the Babylon Fortress, the Coptic Museum, the Hanging Church, the Greek Church of St. George and many other Coptic churches and historical sites. It is believed that the Holy Family visited this area and stayed at the site of Saints Sergius and...
- Al-Muizz Lideenillah
External links
- Simon the Shoemaker Orthodoxwiki.org