Cave Church and Garbage City- Cairo Egypt

Photograph by Gideon Stoltzfus




Cave Church is an old Coptic Christian church with a very interesting history. The building you see on the far left of this panorama is just a part of it, the main parts are actually inside several huge caves within the cliffs that you see next to the building.

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 one 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 miracle, than it would be proof that the religion of the Christians was wrong and he would be finished with them, or so goes the Legend.

And so, after three days of prayers and fasts by the people throughout the land of Egypt , Simon was chosen to move the Moqattam Mountain .. It is said that a great earthquake swept over the mountain. Each time the people stood up to worship, the mountain was thrust up and the sun would be seen from under it. When the people sat down, the mountain thrust down. This was repeated three times. Afterwards, the Caliph was racked with fear and embraced the Pope warmly and this was a new beginning for a good friendship between them. However, St. Simon went missing and was never found. It is believed that his skeleton was discovered in 1991 in Babylon in the St. Mary's church (the Hanging Church ).

Garbage City , which takes up most of this pano, is called that because of the occupation of it's residents, who are all Christians. The garbage of Cairo is dumped outside the city, then it is hauled in and sorted for recyclables, which are baled and sold, reusables, (such as clothing and cloth scraps, which are washed, cut up and used to make a variety of articles) and food scraps, which are used for pig feed. I have visited there a few times, and in spite of their work and living conditions, the people are very friendly and love asking you in for a cup of tea and discussing life, politics, religion, etc. The children love having their pictures taken, so a man with a camera is quite likely to be mobbed.

To the right of the end of the cliff in the distance are the domes and minarets of the Citadel of Salah Al-Din, an old fort/mosque complex. Continue on around the horizen and you see downtown Cairo . On the far right you see the unfinished top of the building that I shot this pano from, and my friend Wally, who did the research and wrote the bit about Cave Church , and didn't realize he was getting included in the pano. The building is part of the Cave Church complex and has a cafe and restrooms." Gideon Stoltzfus

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