Simon the Tanner

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Saint Simon the Shoemaker (10th century), also known as Simon the Tanner (Sama'an el-Dabbagh in Arabic), is the Coptic Orthodox saint associated with the legend of the moving the Mokattam Mountain in Cairo, Egypt, during the rule of the Muslim Fatimid Caliph Al-Muizz Li-Deenillah (953 - 975).

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[edit] The miracle of moving the mountain

Coptic icon of St. Simon the Shoemaker (depicted as a one-eyed man carrying a sack of water, as he used - every morning before going to work - to carry water to the sick and the old who could not fetch water for themselves)
Coptic icon of St. Simon the Shoemaker (depicted as a one-eyed man carrying a sack of water, as he used - every morning before going to work - to carry water to the sick and the old who could not fetch water for themselves)

Saint Simon the Tanner lived towards the end of the tenth century when Egypt was ruled by the Fatimid Caliph Al-Muizz, and Abraam the Syrian was the 62nd Coptic Pope (975 - 978).

At the time, many Copts (Coptic Christians) in Egypt were engaged in handicrafts. Saint Simon worked in one of those crafts widespread in Babylon (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 where St. Simon carried several titles related to skins; Saint Simon the Tanner, the Cobbler, the Shoemaker.

The Caliph Al-Muizz used to invite different religious leaders to debate in his presence. In one of those meetings in which Pope Abraam and a Jew named Yaqub (Jacob) Ibn Yusuf Ibn Killis were present, the Pope got the upper hand in the debate. Plotting to take revenge, Ibn Killis quoted the verse where the Lord, Jesus Christ, said in Matthew: If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to the mountain, Move from here to there, and it will move, nothing will be impossible for you (Matthew 17:20), and demanded that the Pope prove that his religion is right by means of this. The Caliph saw in this a unique opportunity and asked Pope Abraam to move the Mokattam Mountain. If they proved unable to do so, it would be the proof that the religion of the Christians was wrong and the Caliph would do away with them completely.

The Hanging Church, Cairo, built in the 3rd or 4th century AD.
The Hanging Church, Cairo, built in the 3rd or 4th century AD.

And so, after three days of prayers and fasting by the Copts throughout Egypt, Pope Abraam was directed by God to meet someone, St. Simon to mediate for moving the Mokattam Mountain. On the set day, as the people, with St. Simon the Tanner among them, were saying Kyrie eleison (Lord have mercy), the mountain was thrusting up and down, and the sun could be seen from under it. After the miracle was performed in the presence of the Caliph, the Pope turned left and right looking for St. Simon the Tanner, but he had disappeared and no one could find him (a sign of the saint's great humility).

Shortly after the miracle took place, Al-Muizz decided to convert to Christianity. A baptismal font, large enough for the immersion of a grown man, was built for him in the Church of Saint Mercurius. This font still exists today and is known as Maamoudiat Al-Sultan, which means, Baptistry of the Sultan.

In commemoration of this miracle, the Coptic Orthodox Church observes three days of fasting before the beginning of the Nativity Fast (Advent).

[edit] Relics

The relics of St. Simon were discovered in 1991 in St. Mary's Coptic Orthodox Church in Babylon, Saint Mary Church (Babylon Al-Darag) in Coptic Cairo.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links