St. Samaan, the Tanner, or Cobbler

Of all the many sites to be seen in Egypt I think the cave churches of Mokattam are a must see. In this essay I shall tell you something of the life of the man to whom they are dedicated, St. Samaan, and in another essay describe, with the help of our new toy, a digital camera, the churches themselves, which are truly magnificent and awe inspiring.

Pope Abram's problem

St. Samaan lived in old Cairo, then known as Babylon, in the 11th Century. However, little is known about him except that he was very short and one eyed and that through his intercession part of the Mokattam Mountain, on the edge of Cairo, was moved. To put this into historical perspective it was after the caliphate of al- Hakim bi-Amr Allah (996-1021) under whom Christians and Jews suffered. He was the caliph who in 1009 destroyed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, which sparked the Crusades. However, he disappeared riding his donkey in the Mokattam hills, and was never seen again. His followers, the Druze, still believe that he was hidden away by God, and will return on judgment day. Following him, however, there was a period of enlightenment, especially during the lengthy reign of al-Mustansir (1036-1094) who was a man of great learning, and under him people of all faiths enjoyed a period of tranquility. He enjoyed literary conversation with both Jewish and Christian leaders, but stipulated that there be no acrimony. Once the pontiff, Pope Abram Ibn Zaran, the Syrian, stretched the line a bit by quoting Isaiah 1.3—"The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel does not know, my people do not consider"—and suggested that even the animals had greater understanding of God than the Jews. This so infuriated the rabbi that he conceived a plan to retaliate. At their next meeting he suggested to the caliph that he invite the pope to move Mokattam Mountain because his Lord had said that if he had the faith the size of a mustard seed he could so do it. This seemed a fair challenge, so the caliph gave him the order to move the eastern part of the mountain, or else to abandon Christianity for Islam. He had after all broken the ground rule that there be no acrimony.

This put such fear into Abram's heart that he asked the caliph for three day's grace. He called the whole church to fast and to pray. On the third night the Virgin appeared to him. Appearances of the Virgin are not uncommon in Egypt. After all she came here on her flight from Herod. She told him to go out into the market place and there he would find a short, one eyed, man carrying a water pot, and that through his prayer the mountain would be moved.

Abram finds Samaan

This he did before anybody else was up, and found Samaan delivering water to the sick and needy. He told him his mission, but Samaan immediately excused himself, saying that he could do no such thing because he was such a sinful man. He told the pope he was only a cobbler; he started his day by taking water to the sick and elderly, who could not go out to fetch water for themselves, and then he worked through the heat of the day, and in the evening he enjoyed a simple meal with his friends. He said that once, when he was making a pair of shoes for a young lady he noted how beautiful she was, and that he desired her very much, so he stuck his awl into his right eye, in response to the Lord's warning: "...if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee," which accounted for his one eye. Nevertheless he eventually consented to the pope's persuasion, and pope Abram called everyone to the mountain. They all gathered, and Samaan said that he would stand behind the pope, so that nobody would suspect him of performing the miracle. He did so; he prayed, and the miracle happened. The mountain moved. The pope turned around to look for Samaan, but Samaan wasn't there. Caliph al-Mustansir was so impressed by this that he paid out money for major structural repairs to several churches, including the Virgin's church, now known as 'the Hanging Church' in Old Cairo, because it was erected in the 4th. Century, suspended upon old Roman foundations, another must see.




Left-handed justice

No one knows anything more of Samaan, but he came to be venerated by Copts. It's not even known when he died or where he was buried. It's assumed that he would have been buried near the Virgin's church. Some centuries later some popes wished to be buried close to him. From this, recently archeologists think they have located his grave, disinterred the remains, and his 'relics' have been placed in three different churches, one of which is in the cave church at Mokattam, where he performed the miracle. Copts revere the relics of their saints.

This story of Samaan the Tanner, or Cobbler, illustrates what Robert Farrar Capon calls 'left-handed justice;' God does things through those who are weak, rather than strong. In contrast pope Abram in taunting the rabbi was exhibiting right handed power. That's not the way God works. To the skeptical North American this may seem all mythical hog-wash, but in Egypt this story of St. Saaman is on a par with the Scriptures. Something happened; faithful Copts believe it to have been a miracle, and they observe a three day fast tacked before the Advent fast to commemorate it. They also take fasting very seriously. The take home lesson is that God does indeed remove mountains if we allow him to do it his way, and not ours.