The Caliph Who Defied the Coptic Church (I)

Saint Simon was an ordinary man whose simple faith was of the kind that moves mountains. Humble in his appearance, hard-working, pure of heart and firm in his faith, he was chosen by God to work a great miracle, the moving of Mokattam Mountain in Egypt, while saving his Church and rising up the cross of Christ. Saint Simon the Shoemaker or the Tanner lived in Egypt towards the end of the tenth century A.D. He was the contemporary of the saintly bishop Abraam the Syrian, who was the 62nd Coptic Pope (975 - 978). Little is known about Simon's childhood. He probably lived in a small town, Babylon or the Wax Palace (today's Old Cairo) under the reign of the Fatimid Caliph Al-Muizz. Saint Simon worked in as a tanner and a shoemaker, a widespread trade still exerted in Old Cairo. An episode of his life explains the event which cost him his eye. One day a woman came into his shop to give him shoes to repair. When she took them off she exposed some of her legs, which Simon looked at lustily. When he came back to his senses, he took one of his pointed tools and thrust it into his eye, taking the commandment of the Lord to the letter: "But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna" (Mt 5:28-29). The icon of Saint Simon depicts him deprived of his right eye. Saint Simon led an ascetic life, praying and eating very little-he once said to Patriarch Abraam who questioned him, "I eat little, just enough to stay alive." He dressed in thread-bare clothing and dedicated most of his time to prayer. At dusk he would leave his work, eat a frugal meal and, in his own words: "... spend the night in prayer." Each day Saint Simon took care of the elderly and the sick, bringing them water and food. He explained to the patriarch: "I rise early each morning and before going to work, I fill my jug with water and bring some to the aged and sick who don't have the strength to fetch it themselves?and I distribute bread and food daily to cloistered hermits, men or women?"