Cairo Cave Church

Yesterday we went to one of the Christian parts of Cairo, called Garbage City, in order to see a church carved into a cliff. You may remember I wrote about the Egyptian trash collectors who live in Garbage City back in November (check the archives if you'd like), but I'd never actually been there. I've seen a lot of very poor areas, but this was unquestionably the most humbling area that I've ever been through. The insides of the buildings are filled to the ceilings with trash, the streets are incredibly narrow and lined with huge bags of trash. This is where the "zebaleen" people live, making a living out of sorting the trash.

As recorded on the cave church website:

Some 7,000 rubbish collectors get up at the crack of dawn every morning at Manshiyat Nasir. They go to blocks of flats, hotels and other parts of Cairo and collect Over 2,000 tons of rubbish. They take this home, emptying their carts in the backyard or in front of their shacks. The women and older girls sort the rubbish into organic and inorganic refuse, and the edible leftovers go to their pigs and cattle. They then sort the durable Waste materials according to type and color.

The rubbish collectors gather the secondary materials such as glass, paper, plastic, tin, rags and bones into big bundles in front of their dwellings. They then sell them to the middlemen from the oases, who come with their vehicles to collect them. In turn, the middlemen sell them to factories for recycling.

In the midst of all of this is a magnificent church, which seats 5000, carved into a "mountain" and serves as a testament to the Christians' faith and dedication despite their living conditions.

This next picture is just outside of the church. Do you see that platform-like thing at the top of the cliff? I'm not sure what it's used for, but my guess is bungee jumping. I'm guessing that once a person accepts Christ into their life they head up to the top of the mountain and are given their first "test" of relying on God...hahaha! How would you like to have one of those at your church?


I have just one other comment, regarding "appearing religious"...

Many of the Coptic Christians have a cross tattooed onto their wrists when they are very young. We actually saw this tattooing booth just outside the church where a dad and a young child were getting their tattoos in front of a group of other Christians. Many other people simply have a cross necklace to make their religious affiliations public. This is well and good, but should not be something exclusive.

There are Christians in Egypt, and those who no longer live in Egypt, who hold the same beliefs (essentially and fundamentally) as the Coptic Christians. Christians can still be "good Christians" even if they don't perform the sign of the cross before praying or have a cross tattoo on their wrist. To question someone's faith based on mere physical characteristics is, well, dumb, and should not take place within a community of believers.

The same holds true for Muslims. If you are walking the streets of Cairo there are certain things that you can look for to determine who the Muslims are. But there are plenty of other people who are Muslims that don't have these characteristics. Just because they don't have these characteristics doesn't mean that they should be called menial Muslims.

I suppose the same could be said for just about any religion...