This church is located at the ancient site of Babylon in Old Cairo. The church was called the Hanging church as it was built over a tower of an ancient Roman fortress. It was placed palm trees, wood and stone over the top of the tower to form the ground of this church. The church was also consecrated to the Virgin Mary and to St. Dimiana.
It was suggested that this church dates back to the late 3rd century and beginning of the 4th century A.D. However, some historians suggested that this church was originally a Roman temple so it should date back to a period before the 3rd & 4th centuries. This idea was supported with:
1- The discovery of pagan painting on a wall of the St.Takla Himanot alter which goes back before Christianity.
2- The age of a piece of wood taken from the church. This piece dates back to year 140- 150 B.C. The age was known by the use of radiating carbon rays 14. Also they proved their suggestions by remains of the original wood- work at the Coptic Museum representing the entry of Jesus Christ to Jerusalem.

This Church played an important role in the history of the Coptic Church because it became the seat of the Patriarchs after being transferred from Alexandria to El-Fustat, also the seat of St.Mark remained for a long period in this Church before being transferred to Abu Saifen Church. The holy chrism was consecrated at the Hanging Church for 3 times and there is a store room of it still filled up with the holy chrism till now. This church contains 110 icons the oldest of them goes back to the 8th century, but most of them date back to 1777 A.D. Some of these Icons were painted during the time of "Nakhla El Baraty Bey" in 1898 AD, who was the supervisor of the church at that time.
The Holy Virgin Mary appeared on a vision of "Anba Abraam" the 62nd patriarch, who spent three days in prayers and fasting when Caliph "Al Imam El- Mouiz" asked him to move the Moqattam hills in order to prove the words of the Bible. According to that story, there was a great earthquake and the mountain moved. Then, after the Caliph had seen this miracle, he allowed the patriarch to restore the Hanging church and Abu- Saifen.
The Hanging Church is a unique church because it was built without domes. It has a wooden roof in the shape of "Noah's Arc" which is one of the symbols of the church. It was very wide, but it became much smaller a long the history after many changes, the last change in it took place by "Obeid Bey Khozem" in 1775 AD.
The Church measures 23.5 meters in length, 18.5 meters in width and 9.5 meters in height. The Nave of the church is divided into parts, separated from each other by 3 rows of marble pillars.
The pulpit: It stands in the nave in front of the central alter. It is carried over 15 columns decorated with mosaics, two of these columns are attached to the main body o the pulpit and represent St.Mark and St.Luke who are not from the 12 disciples. While the 1st column which stands infront is representing Jesus Christ and the remaining 12 columns represent the disciples of the Jesus. We notice that each two similar pillars are put together because the Christ sent his disciples two by two.
This pulpit dates back to the 5th century. Under this pulpit, Anba Abraam, who made the miracle of El Moqqatam Hills, was buried.
The Fresco scenes which decorated the walls of the church and its pillars were mostly damaged during the period of persecution, but there are remains of these fresco scenes which still survive at the eastern wall of St. Tekla's Altar. These frescos date back to the 4th and 5th centuries A.D. There are also layers of fresco, discovered recently. In the nave of the church, there's also a picture on a pillar dates back to the 4th century.
There are 7 altars in the Hanging church, they contain complicated Iconostasis. They are inlaid or covered with ebony and cedar wood without using nails or glue. They date back to the 10th — 13th centuries.
3 of these 7 altars are situated in the main aisle of the church which is:
1- The Altar of Saint George.
2- The Altar of the Virgin Mary.
3- The Altar of St. John the Baptist.
Other 3 Altars are situated in the right aisle of the church, which is:
1- The Altar of St. Tekla, the Ethiopian
2- Two Altars recently discovered.
The 7th Altar is situated in the upper church of St. Mark. As for the Baptistery, it is situated next to the 7 Altars and it dates back to the 5th century, it is made of solid marble and carrying decorations of wavy lines, symbol of hieroglyphic language. Entering the right aisle, there's a door made out of cedar wood and decorated with semi transparent layers of ivory. It dates back to the 11th century A.D.
The Church contains 3 Iconostasis, mad out of wood and covered with ebony and ivory. The 1st iconostasis of St. George's Altar, it's decorated with 17 icons depicting his tortures. The 2nd iconostasis of St. John the Baptist's Altar. It's decorated with 7 icons depicting his tortures. The 3rd iconostasis of Virgin Mary's Altar, it's decorated with 7 icons from left to right they are: St.Paule the Apostle, Archangel Michael, Joan the Baptist, Jesus the Christ sitting on his throne, The Holy Virgin Mary, Gabriel the angel and Peter the Apostle.
The Hanging Church has some relics of saints in order to commemorate them. These relics attract several people to the church. These relics were discovered by a priest called "Fr. Marcus Aziz Khalil" and Mr. Hanna Asaad. The priests of the Church anoint the relics with rose oil, and then they put these relics into a group of circular shapes inside a frame. The outer frame or cover consists of hexangular shapes in order to look like the honey bee cell which is a symbol of the words of the God in the Bible.
The Hanging Church contains 7 relics for different saints such as: the relics of St Tadros El Shatpi, St Isac El Dafrawy and St Dimiana.