Samaan El Kharaz cave church, also known as Church of St Ibram Ibn Zaraa El Soriany, Moqattam, Cairo, Egypt. The church in Moqattam, Cairo is made up of 3 sets of caves. The largest one is said to be able to contain 10,000 people, the middle-sized on around 2,000 and the smallest around 200. The onl
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ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
CFY7E8File size:
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2464 x 1648 px | 41.7 x 27.9 cm | 16.4 x 11 inches | 150dpiDate taken:
9 May 2007Photographer:
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This image could have imperfections as it’s either historical or reportage.
Samaan El Kharaz cave church, also known as Church of St Ibram Ibn Zaraa El Soriany, Moqattam, Cairo, Egypt. The church in Moqattam, Cairo is made up of 3 sets of caves. The largest one is said to be able to contain 10, 000 people, the middle-sized on around 2, 000 and the smallest around 200. The only other real historical aspect of the Moqattam Mountain is an early Christian legend, upon which a grand monastery was built. Tradition holds that a now famous saint by the name of Simon the Tanner who lived during the tenth century once miraculously moved the mountain. At that time, Egypt was ruled by the Fatimid Caliph Al Mu'izz Ledeenallah Al Fatemy. During this period, the Coptic church was under the direction of the 62nd Coptic Pope, a Syrian by the name of Anba Abram. At the time, the Copts (Orthodox Christians) in Egypt were engaged in handicrafts. St. Simon worked in one of the crafts widespread in Babylon (Hanging Church 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 where he carried several titles related to skins; St Simon the Tanner, the Cobber, the Shoemaker. According to Coptic sayings, the Caliph Al Muizz, an enlightened man, was fond of literacy gatherings and inviting different religious leaders to debate in his presence with neither anger nor contention. In one of those meetings in which Pope Abram and a Jew named Jacob 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 said in Mt 17:20: "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" and demanded him to prove that his religion is right by means of this. The Caliph saw in this an opportunity to remove the mountain that was spoiling his view. At the same time, if the Christians proved unable to perform this m
