The Hanging Church is located in the Old Cairo district, in the important archaeological area of Coptic Cairo, close to the Mosque of Amr ibn al-As, the Ben Ezra Synagogue, the Church of Saint Mina next to the Babylon Fortress, the Church of the Martyr Mercurius (Abu Sefein), and many other churches.
Name and Description
It was called the Hanging Church because it was built on two towers of the ancient towers of the Roman Fortress [?] (Babylon Fortress), which was built by Emperor Trajan in the second century AD. The Hanging Church is considered the oldest surviving church in Egypt.
The Roman Citadel in Coptic Cairo (Old Cairo); its nave is suspended over a corridor. The church is approached by twenty-nine steps; early travelers to Cairo called it the “Church of the Stairs”. The ground level has risen by about six meters since the Roman era, so most of the Roman tower is buried underground, which reduces the visual impact of the church’s elevated location.
Entrance from the street is through iron gates under a pointed stone arch. The 19th century façade with its twin bell towers is then seen outside a narrow courtyard decorated with modern biblical designs. Up the steps and through the entrance is another small courtyard leading to the 11th century external balcony.
History
The church was built on the ruins of a place where it is said that the Holy Family (the Virgin Mary, the Christ Child, and Saint Joseph the Carpenter) took refuge during their three years in Egypt fleeing Herod [?], the ruler of Palestine, who had ordered the killing of children for fear of a prophecy he had received. Some believe that it was the site of a cell (a place of seclusion) where a female monk lived, in one of the rock-cut catacombs in the place.
The church was renovated several times during the Islamic era, once during the caliphate of Harun al-Rashid when Patriarch Anba Markos asked the governor for permission to renovate the church; once during the reign of al-Aziz Billah al-Fatimi, who allowed Patriarch Ephrem the Syrian to renovate all the churches of Egypt and repair what had been destroyed; and a third time during the reign of al-Zahir li-I’zaz Din Allah. It was the seat of many patriarchs since the eleventh century, and Patriarch Christodoulos was the first to make the Hanging Church the seat of the Pope of Alexandria. A number of patriarchs were buried there in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and there are still pictures and icons of them in the church that are lit by candles. Trials of priests, bishops, and heretics were also held there. It is considered an important shrine for the Copts, due to its historical antiquity, the association of the place with the Holy Family, and its presence among churches and monasteries [?] of venerable saints, making it easy to visit them.
Architecture
The sanctuary in the Hanging Church.
The facade of the church is located on the western side on Mary Girgis Street, and it has two floors. In front of it is a fountain, and it was built in the famous basilica style consisting of 3 wings, a front hall, and a structure distributed over 3 parts. It is rectangular in shape, and relatively small, with dimensions of about 23.5 meters in length, 18.5 meters in width, and 9.5 meters in height. It consists of a main hall and two small wings, and between them are eight columns on each side, and between the hall and the northern wing is a row of three columns with large arches with a pointed shape, and the columns separating the wings are made of marble except for one made of black basalt, and it is noticeable that it has a number of capitals of the columns “Corinthian” style. On the eastern side of the church there are three temples [?]: the middle one bears the name of the Virgin Mary, the right one bears the name of Saint John the Baptist, and the left one bears the name of Saint Mary George. In front of these temples, there are wooden veils, the most important of which is the middle veil made of ebony inlaid with transparent ivory, and engraved with geometric shapes and crosses [? ] Beautiful, and above it are icons depicting Jesus Christ on a throne, and to his right are the Virgin Mary, the Angel Gabriel and Saint Peter, and to his left are John the Baptist, the Angel Michael and Saint Paul, and above the altar inside this structure there is a wooden canopy resting on four columns, and behind it is a platform for the clergy to sit. In the right wing of the church, parts of Egyptian national newspapers were hung on one of the walls, recording events and scenes from the modern history of the church, related to the Copts in Egypt, and perhaps the most important of them is the appearance of the Virgin Mary in her church in the Zeitoun neighborhood following the defeat of the 1967 war.
After the ordination of Pope Christodoulos, he moved from the Church of St. Mark in Alexandria to Egypt, and took the Hanging Church in the outskirts of Fustat as his headquarters. He also renovated the Church of St. Mark and made it a major cathedral and the center of his throne, and also made the Church of the Virgin Mary in the Arwam neighborhood his headquarters to which he could take refuge when necessary, with the approval of the Bishop of Babylon. The reason for this is the transfer of the greatness of the city of Alexandria to the city of Cairo, the large number of Christians there, and its connection to the government. The Pope appointed a bishop of Alexandria in the name of the agent of the preaching of Saint Mark “Dictionary of the Church Fathers and Saints” Dictionary of the Church Fathers and Saints.
Importance
The Hanging Church is the most famous Coptic Christian church in Cairo, and perhaps the first church built in the basilica style.
The church is the site of many reported Marian apparitions. She is said to have appeared in a dream to Pope Ibrahim in the 970s in the story of how the Mokattam Mountain was moved by the faith of Simon Tanner.
Religious significance
The Hanging Church is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and contains sanctuaries for her and Saints John the Baptist and George. The church held many important celebrations for the Coptic hierarchy in Cairo. These include the selection and burial of the patriarchs, the former occurring from the 11th to the 14th centuries while the latter only occurred between the 11th and 12th centuries, in addition to the consecration of holy oil and the judgment of heresy trials; The selection of the date of Easter each year was another important procedure that took place during. These processes took place in the Hanging Church due to the movement of the Patriarchal seat in the eleventh century to Cairo from Alexandria.
