The Monastery of St. Simon the Tanner

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The Monastery of St. Simon the Tanner

The Monastery of St. Simon (Simeon) the Tanner

by LaraIskander

Saint Simon the Tanner (St. Sama'an, in Arabic) lived towards the end of the tenth Century

when Egyt was ruled by the !atimidCalih, Al" #ui$$ and Anba Abram was the Cotic

%oe.

At the time, the Cots (Christians) in Egyt were engaged in handicrafts. St Simon wor&ed in

one of the crafts widesread in abylon(ld Cairo)which was tanning, a craft still &nown

there till this day.

This rofession involved also other crafts that deend on the rocess, from where he carried

several titles related to s&ins St Simon the Tanner, the Cobber, the Shoema&er.

The #onastery, located on the oosite side of the road leading to the Citadel contains seven

Churches and Chaels hidden in a series of caves in the #o&attam (#u*attam) hills.

The #onastery was erected and dedicated to him a thousand years after his miracle and his

death. +t lies behind #ansheiyet -asser, the abbalin village (garbage collectors). This

village was erratically established in /010 when the 2overnor decided to move all the

garbage collectors ofCairoto one of the hills of the #o&attam. There, they built themselves

rimitive houses of tin. The number of trash collectors living in the area reached about /3.444

in /056. This number has doubled now.
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7eaching the monastery is *uiet a difficult aroach. Ama$ingly, the eole there will oint

you in the right direction &nowing your destination without even been as&ed. The #onastery is

reached through the narrow village streets, trash carts assing you by along with iles of

rubbish, lastics and tins on the sides of the alleys with eole sorting them out. Even if

described in detail, the abbalin village is a hard lace to icture, far from one's imagination it

can only be grased on site.

At the far end of the village, awaits you an une8ected, stunning lace a vast oen sace

lying in the bosom of the hills, with dramatic colored carvings all over the mountain. The

carvings were done by a %olish Artist who begun wor&ing there several years ago. They

reresent stories from the ible such as the9oly !amily :ourneyand the -ativity scene.
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The main Cathedral there is named after the ;irgin #ary and St Simon in commemoration of

the legend of transferring the #o&attam #ountain in -ovember 060 when Simon the Tanner

was chosen to fulfill this miracle

According to Cotic sayings, the Calih Al #ui$$, an enlightened man, was fond of literacy

gatherings and inviting different religious leaders to debate in his resence with neither anger

nor contention.

+n one of those meetings in which %oe Abram and a


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St Simon was never found afterwards. 9is s&eleton was discovered in /00/ in abylonin St

#ary's church(the 9anging Church).

The ;irgin #ary and St Simon Cathedral was constructed on @ stages. At first, it was only a

huge cave of limestone in the bosom of the hill. The audience were seated on straw rugs

around the alter which was reared in /051. The @nd stage was in -ovember /00 which

falls on the feast of St Simon. Thechurchwas reconstructed and the ground was deeenedonce more. !i8ed seats were constructed around the alter in the form of a *uarter"circle

auditorium to accommodate u to five thousand eole and thus it became the biggest church

in the #onastery.
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Left: %n engraved fig&re of the Virgin Mary and hrist fo&nd on the $ei!ing near the

a!ter;

Right: 'terior view of the Virgin Mary and St Simons athedra!.

To the right side of the alter, the church &ees the remains of St Simon's body.

+n the year /06, u on the ceiling and to the right side of the alter, an obvious engraved

figure of the ;irgin #ary holding the baby


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Left: % San$t&ary within the h&r$h;

Right: *ib!i$a! $arvings in St Simon the Tanners ha!!.

After several years of hard wor& and rayer, they began to find a ath in order to start

removing the roc&s and finally it was reared to contain @ levels.


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The uer storey is St Simon's 9all which accommodates @444 eole in siritual meetings.

The walls are decorated with many wonderful ictures engraved on the roc&s reresenting

scenes from the ible.

%bove: Interior view of the $ave now &sed for s"irit&a! meetings and events.

%bove: 'ntran$e to St Marks h&r$h and the &""er f!oor +a!! showing the de$orated

dome of the $h&r$h.

The lower storey is St #ar&'s Church which is named after St #ar&, the first reacher in

Egyt.

The church dome at the hall entrance is decorated from the outside with three great artistic

ieces made of small mosaic on to of the dome, reresenting imortant scenes of the ible.

This #onastery, a tribute to St Simon, receives large numbers of ilgrims and is mostly visited

by the eole of the abbalin village.


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Left: View of the monastery !o$ated in the heart of the Mokattam Mo&ntain.

Right: *ib!i$a! arvings done by ,o!ish artist- Mario who sti!! $ontin&es working at the

monastery. St

Simon's #onastery also includes an educational Center a &inder garden, a school for the

deaf and dumb and literacy and vocational courses.

The unusual location, the une8ected si$e of the caves and the beauty of the engravings, all

combined together are astonishing.

Even though the wor& there is relatively recent, it might as well seem that the #onastery has

been hiding there since ever so much so that it feels li&e a art the #o&attam 9ills.

y all means, visiting the lace is an e8cetional e8erience that's not to be missed.


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Referen$es:

>ara +s&ander wor&s to restore monuments in Egyt. +nformation for this article was rovided

by church documentation.

Documents

The Monastery of St. Simon the Tanner