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'''St. Simon the Shoemaker''' (10th century A.D.), also known as '''Simon the Tanner''' (''Sama'an el-Dabbagh'' in Arabic), is the [[Church of Alexandria (Coptic)|Coptic Orthodox]] saint associated with the great miracle of moving the Mokattam (Muqattam) Mountain in Cairo, Egypt, during the ruling of the Muslim Fatimid Caliph Al Muizz.
== Who Is St. Simon the Tanner ==
And so, after three days of prayers and fasting by the Copts throughout Egypt, Pope Abraam was directed by the Holy Virgin Mary (in an apparition of her to him) to choose St. Simon to mediate for moving the Mokattam Mountain. On the set day, as the people, with St. Simon the Tanner among them, were saying Kyrie Eleison, the mountain was thrusting up and down, and the sun could be seen from under it. After the miracle was performed in the presence of the Caliph, the Pope turned left and right looking for St. Simon the Tanner, but he had disappeared and no one could find him (a sign of the saint's great humility).
The Caliph, who was still shaking with fear, embraced the Pope warmly and this marked the beginning of a long friendship between the two. The Caliph asked the Pope to name his reward. After some hesitation, the Pope asked for permission to rebuild or renovate some churches, particularly that of St. Mercurius in Babylon in what is now Old Cairo. That church, which was partly destroyed, was being used as a sugar warehouse. The Caliph offered funds from the state treasury for the reconstruction of the church but Abraam turned him down. "He whose Church we are building does not need the money of this world and is capable of helping us until we finish the job," Abraam said.
The Pope also decreed that the three-day grace period which he had requested from the Caliph, and which he and the bishops and priests spent in prayer and fasting, be a regular period of fasting to be observed by all Copts every year. Those three days were added to the forty days of fasting before Christmas. Thus, the Coptic Orthodox Advent fasting became forty-three days starting on November 25 (as it is today).
Shortly after the miracle took place, Al Muizz decided to convert to Christianity. A baptismal font, big enough for the immersion of a grown-up man, was built for him in St. Mercurius Church. This font continues to exist until the present day and is known as "Maamoudiat Al-Sultan" which means the baptistry of the Sultan.
The relics of St. Simon were discovered in 1991 in St. Mary's Coptic Orthodox church in Babylon (known as the Hanging Church).
