Post on 25-Oct-2014
^UBRAIRjE-PAPETEPIf
THORNTON & SONBooksellers
11 The BroadOxford
THE
Ancient Coptic Churches
f
VOL. I.
Honfcon
HENRY FROWDE
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE
AMEN CORNER
T II E
Ancient Coptic Churches
of Egypt
BY
ALFRED J. BUTLER, M.A. F.S.A.
Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford
/.V T\VO VOLUMES
VOL. I.
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1884
[All rights reserved \
PREFACE.
r I ^ HE aim of this book is to make a systematic
j beginning upon a great siibject -the Christian
antiquities of Egypt. Few subjects of equal
importance have been so singularly neglected. One
writer admits that the Coptic Church is still'
the
most remarkable monument ofprimitive Christianity' ;
another that it is'
the only living representative of the
most venerable nation of all antiquity' ; yet even the
strength of this double claim has been powerless to
create any working interest in tlie matter. No doubt
the attention of mere travellers has deen bewitched
andfascinated by the colossal remains ofpagan timest
by the temples and pyramids which still glow in
eternal sunshine, while the Christian churches lie
buried in the gloom of fortress walls, or encircled
and masked by almost impassable deserts. Yet the
Copts of to-day, whose very name is an echo of the
word Egypt, trace back ttieir lineage to the ancient
Egyptians who built the pyramids, and the ancient
tongue is spoken at every Coptic mass : tlie Copts were
among the Jirst to welcome the tidings of the gospel,
to make a rule of life and worship, and to erect
viii Preface.
religious buildings : they have upheld the cross un-
waveringly through ages of desperate persecution :
and their ritual now is less changed than that of
any other community in Christendom. All this
surely is reason enough to recommend the subject to
churchman^ historian, or antiquarian.
But although I need offer no apology for the essay
contained in the volumes, I am fully aware of its
many shortcomings. It is the result of seven months'1
research in Egypt ; and thai brief period was inter-
rupted and shortened by a fever. The work was
begun, too, it must be confessed, at a time when the
writer s mind was a mere blank as regards archi-
tect^l,re, ritual, and ecclesiology -a fact of which the
traces cannot have been qtdte obliterated by subsequent
study. Nor indeed was study possible in Egypt,
where it would have been most valuable in guiding
and correcting observation; for there is scarcely a
more bookless country now than that which once
boasted the best library in the world. The lack of
special training, and the sense of unfitness thence
arising, would certainly have deterred me from un-
dertaking a task beyond mypowers, had there appeared
any likelihood of a more competent person devoting
himself to it. But that was not the case ; and it
seemed better to make a beginning, however inadequate.
It was, of course, a great advantage to be living as a
resident in Egypt, to have even a smattering know-
ledge of the native Arabic, to be on friendly terms
Preface. ix
with many of the Copts, and, above all, to have plenty
of leisure. For no one who has not tried can imagine
what time and trouble it has often cost to obtain access
even to some of the churches at Old Cairo ; no one
would believe kow many fruitless journeys under a
scorching sun can go to a scanty handful of Coptic
notes. And if one searches for oral information,
trouble multiplies a hundredfold. Very few indeed
of the Copts know anything about their own history
or their own ritual, or can assign a reason for the
things which they witness in their daily services.
A question on a point of ceremonial is usually
met either by a shake of the head or by a palpably
wrong answer veiling ignorance. Moreover the
oracle, when discovered,' generally prefers speaking
to-morrow.
The difficulties, then, both physical and moral,
which face the enquirer are rather exceptional ; but
tliey are such as tact andpatience tuill mitigate, if not
conquer. I have briefly indicated in the text how
much remains to be done in Upper Egypt in the way
of exploring and describing the early Christian
churcfies there ; and the very incompleteness of this
work proves how much is still lacking to an adequate
treatise on Coptic rites and ceremonies. Nor is there
less scopefor the historian than for the antiquarian
and tlie ecclesiologist ; for the history of Christian
Egypt is still unwritten, or at least that part of it
about which the most romantic interest gatfiers, the
x Preface.
period which witnessed the passing; away of the
ancient cults and the change of the pagan world. Wehave yet to learn how the cold worship, the tranquil
life, and the mummified customs of that immemorial
people dissolved in the fervour of the new faith ;
how faces like those sculptured on the monuments of
the Pharaohs became the faces of anchorites, saints,
and martyrs.
Even of later Coptic history very little is known.
It had been my wish to sketch roughly some portion
of the meagre records ; but space has failed me ;
and besides I could add nothing fresh to the story.
Renaudofs '
Liturgiarum Orientalium Collectw and' Historia Patriarcharum Alexandrinoruml A I
Makrizi's '
History of the CoptsI translated by the
Rev. S. C. Malan, Neales ' Eastern Church'
(a work
full of errors] these are almost the only authorities :
and all that they relate has been ably summarised in
Mr. Fuller s article on the Coptic Church in the
Dictionary of Christian Biography.
It has not come within my province to discuss points
of doctrine which separate the Jacobites from the
Melkites, the Coptsfrom the orthodox Alexandrians.
Nor needI enter into the origin ofthe Monophysite con-
troversy. I may however remark that the great mass
of the Copts to-day are entirely free from any strong
bias or evenfrom any knowledge on the question ; and
a few years ago political obstacles alone hindered the
union of the two Churches. The few who can call
Preface. xi
themselves theologians among the Copts cling to their
ancient formula of pia 0t5<ns, not however denying
either the humanity or the divinity of our Lord, but
alleging that' out of the two natures arose a single
nature,' <j^-^J^AxL ^l> ^yJUsiAxLaM <^ in the words
of tlieir chief authority.
And, as I have not felt called upon to treat of the
doctrine apart from the practice of the Copts, so I
have been anxious to avoid any signs of party pre-
judice in relation to the questions which divide our
Church of England. My purpose throughout has
been merely to give a statement of facts, and neither
to twist the facts nor to colour the statement in anycontroversial manner. If anything that I have
written has any bearing on the tenets of English
churchmen, I leave it to others to point the moral.
But while I have candidly striven to write in an un-
sectarian spirit, it would be foolish and disingenuous
to pretend blindness to the nature of the conclusions
likely to be drawn from a study of Coptic ritual.
No fairminded person who has any regard for the
teaching of the early Church can make a careful com-
parison of our present liturgy and ritual with an
unchanged liturgy and ritual, like the Coptic, without
regretting the reckless abandonment of much that we
have abandoned.
T/ie rendering of Arabic names and words in
English characters is a problem which no writer on
oriental subjects has yet solved satisfactorily. The
xii Preface,
'
missionary alphabet'
devised by Professor MaxMiiller, and mainly adopted by the translators of the
Sacred Books of the East, seems originally designed
rather with reference to the Indian languages ; and
though itfinds indeed an equivalentfor every Arabic
letter, it has recourse to no less than three separate
founts of type, and modifies all three by the use of
diacritical marks. Thus a simple phrase like ic/W^
-eo^i (altar coverings] would have to be rendered
g/mti&n al maDtiba'h surely an intolerable combina-
tion. It isfar better with Spitta Bey to use a single
fount of type largely varied by points and dots. But
neither Spitta Bey s system nor any other yet devised
can be called clear, consistent, and faultless. It is
next to impossible to transliterate Arabic so as to
render consonants, vowels, and vowel points in any
manner at once coherent and readable. I have merely
tried to indicate A rabic words in terms intelligible to
an Arabic scholar without straining after an unat-
tainable precision. Thus is rendered by k, (Ji by k,
A by h, ^ by h, and so forth : } andj are generally
distinguished from the corresponding vowelpoints by
a and u or 6, but not when they are either initial or
final. I write, for instance, abu not abu, and anba
not anba, because in such cases there is no real am-
bigiiity. But I cannot claim any sort of absohite
accuracy, for the simple reason that in many cases
where a proper name has been learnt by ear. or bor-
rowed from another writer, I have been unable to
Preface. xiii
ascertain exactly the Arabic spelling. Some mistakes
therefore are inevitable.
All the plans in the text are carefully drawn to
scale with the exception of some of the small plans of
Cairo churches. It had not been my intention to pub-lish these, but merely to use themfor my ownguidance :
however on consideration it seemed better to give a
slight plan than none at all. These plans, then,
rough as they are, will serve to give an idea of the
general arrangement of buildings quite unfamiliar to
English readers : and in most if not in all cases
measurements will be found in the text sufficient to
give the scale approximately.
A pleasant task remains to acknowledge the kind-
ness of those who have aided me in my work. The
largest measure of thanks a measure larger than
I can find wo} ds fitly to express is clue to my friend
Mr. J . Henry Middleton, to whom I owe the best
plan and many of the most beautiful drawings in the
text, drawings which I am forbidden to particularise.
Nor have Iprofited less by the immense learning than
by the rare draughtmanship of Mr. Middleton. In-
deed butfor his mostgenerous assistance andencourage-ment I do not know that this book would have been
written. My thanks also are gladly rendered to Sir
Arthur Gordon, Governor General of Ceylon, for
three very interesting plans of churches in Upper
Egypt; to the Very Reverend Dean Butcher, of
Cairo, for much help and befriending in my task ;
xiv Preface.
to the Coptic Patriarch for his authority and counte-
nance in my journeys and researches; to A buna
Philotheos, Kummus of the Cathedral in Cairo, and
to 'Abdu 7 Massih Simaikahfor much information;
and to many others, whose names if unrecorded here
are gratefully remembered.
A. J. B.
OXFORD,
October, 1884.
GLOSSARY OF ARABIC OR COPTIC TERMS.
Anba, the Coptic term for father : this title is usually but not exclu-
sively given to the patriarch.
Dair, a ring-wall enclosing Coptic churches or monastic buildings.
Galilaeon, one of the holy oils of Coptic ritual : the term is a corrup-
tion of dya\\idcr(a>s ?Aaioi>.
Haikal, the central of the three chapels in a Coptic church, or
principal sanctuary, containing the high altar : literally the
word signifies'
temple.'
Isbodikon, the central part of the Coptic eucharistic wafer: from
SfcriroTiKov (criofta).
Kasr, the keep or tower of a dair in the desert.
Korbdn, literally the oblation ; and so either the wafer or the mass.
Kummttf, either archpriest, or in a monastery the abbot.
Manddrah, the guest-room of a church or monastery.
Mdri, the Coptic term for saint.
Mushrabiah, a peculiar kind of finely jointed lattice-work used for
windows, etc.
Myron, Arabic miriin, the pvpov or chrism, the chief of the holy oils.
PatrashU, a kind of stole; Greek eTnrpa^Xioi/.
Shamlak, a kind of amice.
Tarb&sh, the red cap or fez round which the turban is wound.
CONTENTSOF THE FIRST VOLUME.
PACK
PREFACE vii
GLOSSARY xv
LIST OF PLANS AND ILLUSTRATIONS xix
CHAPTER I.
ON THE STRUCTURE OF COPTIC CHURCHES IN GENERAL . i
CHAPTER II.
THE CHURCH OF DAIR MART M!NA AT OLD CAIRO . . 47
CHAPTER III.
DAIR ABU-'S-SIFAIN AT OLD CAIRO. THE CHURCH OF ABU-'S-
SIFAIN. THE NUNNERY CALLED DAIR AL BANAT. THE
CHURCH OF ANBA SHANUDAH. THE CHURCH OF SITT
MARIAM 75
CHAPTER IV.
THE ANCIENT ROMAN FORTRESS OF BABYLON AND THE
CHURCHES WITHIN IT. CHURCH OF ABU SARGAH. THE
CHURCH CALLED AL MU'ALLAKAH. THE CHURCH OF
ST. BARBARA. THE CHURCHES OF AL 'ApRA AND MARI
GIRGIS 155
VOL. i. b
xviii Contents.
CHAPTER V. .
PA<;E
THE MINOR CHURCHES OF OLD CAIRO. THE CHURCHES
OF DAIR BABLUN AND DAIR TADRUS .... 250
CHAPTER VI.
THE CHURCHES IN CAIRO. THE CHURCHES IN THE HARAT-
AZ-ZUAILAH. THE CHURCHES IN THE HARAT-AR-RUM.
THE CHAPEL OF ST. STEPHEN . . . . . .271
CHAPTER VII.
THE MONASTERIES OF THE NATRUN VALLEY IN THE LIBYAN
DESERT. DAIR ABU MAKAR. DAIR ANBA BISHOI.
DAIR-AS-SURIANI. DAIR AL BARAMUS .... 286
CHAPTER VIII.
THE CHURCHES OF UPPER EGYPT. THE MONASTERIES OF
ST. ANTONY AND ST. PAUL IN THE EASTERN DESERT.
THE CONVENT OF THE PULLEY. THE WHITE AND
THE RED MONASTERY. CHURCH AT ARMANT. THE
CHURCHES OF NAKADAH, CHURCH AT ANTINOE. MIS-
CELLANEOUS 341
INDEX TO VOL. i 373
LIST OF PLANS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
IN VOL. I.
PAGE
View of Dair Abu-'s-Sifain at Old Cairo . . . frontispiece
Plan of Man Mina 48
Ancient Bronze Candelabrum at the Church of Mari Mina . 59
Plan of Abu-'s-Sifain and the adjoining Chapels ... 78
Marble Ambon at Abu-'s-Sifain 85
Blocks of solid ivory carved in relief : from the Choir Screen at
Abu-'s-Sifain 88
Ivory-inlaid door of the Haikal at Abu-'s-Sifain . . .100
Plan of the Upper Chapels of Abu-'s-Sifain . . . .119Plan of the Church of Anba Shanudah 136
Plan of Upper Story of Anba Shanudah, showing Chapels
attached 143
Plan of the Church of Sitt Mariam 149
Plan of the Roman Fortress of Babylon .... 154-155
Plan of the Church of Abu Sargah 182-183
Wood Carvings at Abu Sargah 191
Crypt under main Church of Abu Sargah .... 200
Plan of the Church called Al Mu'allakah within the Roman
Fortress of Babylon 211
Cedar and Ivory Screen at Al Mu'allakah . . . .213Marble Ambon at Al Mu'allakah 217
Plan of the Church of St. Barbara 236
View of Dair Bablun and Dair Tadrus 251
Plan of Al 'Adra 273
xx List of Plans and Illustrations.PAGE
View of Dair Macarius from the south-east .... 295
View of Dair Anba Bishoi from the north-west . . . 309
Plan of the Monastic Church of Anba Bishoi . . . .312View from the tower of Dair-as-Suriani, showing the interior
of that Convent and the neighbouring Convent of Anba
Bishoi 317
Plan of the Church of Al 'Adra, Dair-as-Suriani . . . 321
View of Dair Al Baramus 327
Plan of rock-cut Church at the Convent of the Pulley . . 349
Plan of the White Monastery 352
Plan of Church at Nakadah 360
Plan of group of Churches at Nakadah 362
Plan of Convent of St. John near Antinoe .... 365
ERRATA.
Page 18, 1.^12, for Abu-s'-Sifain read Atm-'s-Sifain
39> 1- 3, for St. read S.
,, 101, 1. 19, for 'Glory to God in the Highest,' read 'Peace on the
Sanctuary of God the Father,'
172, note 2, for chap, read cap.
,, 174, 1. 29, for prefect read prefect,
,, 182, 1. 31, for even read ever
35 2)
gr The author has reason to believe that these plans which he
-g a I borrowed are erroneous (1893).
[Butler's 'Ancient Coptic Churches," Vol. /.]
THE
ANCIENT COPTIC CHURCHESOF EGYPT.
CHAPTER I.
On the Structure of Coptic Churches in
general.
I
HE seed sown by St. Mark was quick in
bearing fruit. Christian doctrines spreadand Christian churches sprang up throughall the land of Egypt. The Delta was
covered with them : singly or in clusters they were
dotted along the banks of the Nile for at least a
thousand miles south towards the sister churches of
Ethiopia : and even the silence of the desert wasbroken by hymn and chaunt from chapels built uponscenes that were hallowed by the life and death of
holy anchorites. For monasticism began in Egypt,as pious or frail believers were driven by the vani-
ties or persecutions of the world into the drearysolitudes where neither the fear of the sword nor the
allurements of the flesh could follow them.
To trace the history of these churches, to showhow Christianity, at first driven into holes and caves,
came forth from the dim catacombs of Alexandria,
stood in the light, and in spite of fierce opposition
2 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH.I.
won its way from the Mediterranean to the tropics
-this would be a work for which time and material
alike fail. Still more impossible is it to give any-
thing like a complete description of the ancient
church buildings. With comparatively few excep-
tions the churches, like the heathen temples before
them, are fallen and gone. Of the many ancient
churches at Alexandria not one now remains : Tanis
(the Zoan of Scripture), once the site of manychurches, is now a desolate morass, out of which
stand here and there heaps of ruins : of the monas-
teries at the Natrun Lakes, while a few remain, the
greater part lie buried in the sand : and of the
churches in Upper Egypt perhaps not one tenth is
left. Fortunately, however, some of the most in-
teresting in point of history and of structure are at
once the best preserved and the most accessible.
With the single exception of St. Mark's church in
Alexandria, which is quite destroyed, there is scarcely
any building of foremost renown in Coptic history
which may not be seen to-day. But the centre of
interest is Cairo, or rather Old Cairo, not Alexandria.
The earliest churches there date at least from the
third century of our era, and cannot be much later
than the earliest in the northern city. Even before
the Mohammedan conquest there are signs of a
struggle for supremacy between the two cities;and
once the Muslim rule was established, the seat of the
patriarchate was removed to Old Cairo, which thus
became practically the religious as well as the political
capital for the Christians, though the spiritual claims
of Alexandria, acknowledged at first by a tribute of
money and the homage of every new patriarch, are to
this day neither abated nor denied.
CH. i.] General Structure. 3
The predominant type of Christian architecture in
Egypt is basilican. It has been the fashion to regardthis type as adopted from the secular Roman basilica
by the early Christians;but in his recently published
'Essay on the History of English Church Archi-
tecture,' Mr. G. Gilbert Scott shows good reason
for assigning an earlier and independent origin to
this form of building. According to his theory the
germ of the Christian basilica was a simple oblongaisleless room divided by a cross arch, beyond which
lay an altar detached from the wall. This germ was
developed by the addition of side aisles, and some-
times an aisle returned across the entrance end :
over these upper aisles were next constructed, and
transepts added, together with small oratories or
chapels in various parts of the building. On the
other hand, the secular basilica is shown to have
begun with a colonnade enclosing an open area, to
have been roofed in, to have lost the colonnades, and
to have passed into a lofty hall covered with a brick
vaulting. I have little or no hesitation in acceptingthis theory, more especially as the churches of Egyptare rich in evidence that favours it. It is of course
clear that the two separate developments at one
point closely coincided, and that the resemblance, at
first accidental, became in later times conscious and
designed : but the secular basilicas of the fourth
century are very different from the Christian churches
of that epoch, which resemble rather the paganbasilicas of three centuries earlier. The question
may perhaps be narrowed down to a smaller issue.
Since it is quite certain that the earliest places of
worship in the East were plain aisleless rooms, and
that aisles were a later addition, can it reasonably be
B 2
4 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. \.
maintained that aisles were in no case thrown out
before the suggestion had been caught from a Romanbasilica ? This seems in the last degree improbable :
for the logic of thought and logic of fact are alike
against it. The rock-cut church at Ephesus, called
the Church of the Seven Sleepers, which is not
later than the third century, already shows a triple
division lengthwise, corresponding1
to nave and
aisles, though there are no actual columns. Oneof the simple and very early rock-cut churches at
Surp Garabed in Cappadocia] shows side pilasters
which have only to be detached to make an aisled
basilica. The crypt at Abu Sargah in Old Cairo,
which may, in spite of its Saracenic capitals, date
from the second or third century, is tripartite. If I
remember rightly, a similar division might be traced
in a church among the catacombs of Alexandria
near the so-called Baths of Cleopatra though the
fire of the English fleet is likely enough now to
have laid that very spot in ruins. Further, the
uniformity in the arrangement of the three eastern
chapels in the oldest monuments of church buildingin Egypt, gives a strong presumption that the tradi-
tion dates from the remotest Christian antiquity.
Al Makrizi mentions a wholesale destruction of
churches in Alexandria by order of Severianus about
200 A. D.;and of churches at Jerusalem nearly a
century earlier under Hadrian. These can scarcelyall have been devoid of aisles and columns.
But though the Christian basilica had thus pro-
bably a non-Roman origin in Egypt and elsewhere,
no doubt certain determinations of detail and finish
1 Texier and Pullan's Byzantine Architecture, p. 39.
CH. i.] General Structure. 5
were received either directly from Roman basilican
models in Alexandria and Babylon, or indirectly
from the type of Roman architecture which was
brought into the East by Constantine. In example
may be cited the classic entablature over the nave
columns, in churches like Abu Sargah and AnbaShanudah
; perhaps the upper aisles or large triforia
found in most churches;and the outer or second
aisles (as in Al Mu'allakah and Al 'Adra in the
Hdrat-az-Zuailah), which are of frequent occurrence
in the period of Constantine, occurring for instance in
the church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem and
the basilica at Tyre, both built by that emperor.
Setting aside however the question of origin, and
granting merely that most of the Egyptian churches
may be roughly termed basilican, it remains to notice
a subordinate though powerful influence of another
kind, which, for want of a better name, must be called
Byzantine. The leading characteristics of the Byzan-tine style, exemplified for instance at St. Sophia in
Stambul and the little churches of Athens, are the
domed roofing, the absence of many-pillared aisles,
and sometimes a cruciform design. Of these the
dome by far the most important is distinctively of
eastern origin : and I think it far more probablethat Byzantium borrowed it from Alexandria than
the reverse. The dome would more easily pass from
India to Egypt than to the remoter West;and seeing
that Egypt lies nearer the cradle of our religion and
her Church was founded by St. Mark, there is everylikelihood that Alexandria was before the rest of the
world in building churches as in general civilisation,
and started the type of architecture which, becomingfamiliar to Europeans in Byzantium, was called after
6 Ancient Coptic Churches, [CH. i.
that city. The use of the dome in Babylonia is
certainly of the highest antiquity, and domed buildingswere common in the time of the Sassanides : so
that without any disparagement to the genius of
Anthemius, the architect of St. Sophia, one mayimagine that, like the architects of Greece in classic
times, he owed much to Egypt. But abandoning
any attempt to push the theory, it will be interesting
to examine the churches of Cairo with a view to
determining the relative importance of the Latin and
the Byzantine element in their structure, and to note
any peculiarities that may be called distinctively
Coptic.
Among all the buildings that I have visited in
Egypt proper and the desert, and I believe amongall the churches scattered up and down the Nile,
there is not a single specimen of purely Byzantinearchitecture. The Coptic builders seem to have had
no'
liking for or no knowledge of the cruciform
groundplan. It would be less difficult, though not
easy, to find an instance of a purely basilican church,
the best example being the Jewish synagogue at
Old Cairo, once the Coptic church of St. Michael.
This little building, with its side aisles, aisle returned
across the western end, upper aisles, its single broad-
curved apse breaking from the straight eastern wall,
and its finely ornamented triumphal arch above the
sanctuary, presents most of the characteristics of the
Latin style. But though the cruciform groundplanis unknown, the dome is almost if not quite universal.
Many of the churches are roofed entirely with a
cluster of equal domes : wherever a church is figuredin a Coptic painting it is always a domed building :
and even those churches of the two Cairos that are
CH. i.] General Structure. 7
most markedly basilican (with the single exceptionof Al Mu'allakah, where there are special reasons for
the absence of the dome), have at least one domeover the sanctuary, and far more usually one over
each of the three altars. The result is that in the
majority of cases the architecture of the Copticchurches is of a mixed type, half-basilican and half-
Byzantine : while in other cases there is a type
entirely non-basilican yet not entirely Byzantine. But
there is no case, as far as I know, of an architecture
unleavened by either of these two elements, however
variously they enter into combination with each
other and with other elements.
To take the non-basilican order first. The best
examples of this style are perhaps to be found in the
monasteries of the desert. There are two twelve-
domed churches in Dair Mari Antonios in the eastern
desert by the Red Sea : and though the churches of
the Natrun valley in the western desert are not
distinguished by any great number of domes, yet the
domes there are wider in span, lower in pitch, and
finer in structure than anything in Cairo. At the
village of Bush on the Nile, near Bani Suif, there
occurs the very unusual and, as far as I know, unique
arrangement of a central dome with four semi-domes
attached and four small domes at the angles of a
square about it. As a rule the Coptic architect not
merely placed his noblest domes to overshadow the
altars, but seldom cared to raise any other domes at
all. In Cairo, however, both of the churches in the
Harat-ar-Rum, namely Mari Girgis and Al 'Adra,
are covered in with a twelve-domed roofing. The
plan of each is a square, divided into twelve minor
squares, or, to be more accurate, nine squares and
8 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. i.
three apsidal figures. Each division has its own
dome, and the roof is upheld at Al 'Adra by six
piers, at Mari Girgis by pillars. The terms aisle and
nave can scarcely be applied in strictness at either
church : and were it not for the absence of a cruci-
form groundplan, and perhaps the presence of the
triple apse, these little churches might be regardedas typical Byzantine structures. With them may be
classed the two churches in Dair Tadrus at Old
Cairo, which are of quite the same style thoughless regular in design, and the upper church in
the Harat-az-Zuailah. These then are the cases in
which the architecture is of decidedly non-basilican
order. But I must not omit to notice that amongthe Cairo churches there is one solitary example of
the central dome, namely K. Burbarah ; and this is
the only church with anything like a cruciform plan,
though generally its details are basilican. Thecentral dome was the most characteristic feature of
the Byzantine style, and after the time of Justinian' became universal in all towns of the eastern
empire V Egypt however makes a striking excep-tion to this rule. The Coptic dome further differs
from the Byzantine in showing externally either plain
brick or a surface of white plaster, and in having no
regular windows, still less anything like the beautiful
arcading of Mone Tes Koras at Constantinople, the
Katholikon in Athens, and the monastery of Daphnitowards Eleusis, or like the extremely rich decoration
of the domes on the church of the Holy Apostles at
Thessalonica. Further, that which is the rule in the
Coptic churches is at least the exception in all other
1 Texier and Pullan, p. 21.
CH. i.] General Structure. 9
churches ;for I believe there is no case of a Byzan-
tine church out of Egypt in which the apses are
covered with full domes : whereas the churches of
Masr almost always terminate eastward with three
fully domed apses, and never in semi-domes.
This peculiarity is found in the basilican as well as
the Byzantine edifices. Thus Abu-'s-Sifain, Anba
Shanudah, and most other churches, have three
domes, one over each of the three chapels. Abu
Sargah has a dome over each of the side chapels,
while the haikal curiously enough is roofed with a
wagon-vaulting of wood. The wagon-vaulted roof
is found also in the church of Sitt Mariam;
in the
main church and in the chapel of St. Banai at Mari
Mina;the chapel of Sitt Mariam belonging to Abu-'s-
Sifain;the basilica in the Harat-az-Zuailah
;and
Al Mu'allakah. In the last named the aisles and
nave are both wagon-vaulted and the vaulting is
continued over the eastern chapels in place of the
customary domes. If this be the original arrange-
ment, as it very well may be, we have a solitary
instance of a domeless church. It is probable that
the Copts borrowed this form of roof from the
Romans at a very early period, and it is not sur-
prising that the most marked instance of it should
occur in the church built upon the gateway of the
Roman fortress. But its frequent employment in
Coptic churches is very remarkable and deserves to
be noted as a Coptic peculiarity because the wagon-vaulted roof was never used for basilican churches in
any part of western Christendom with the solitary
exception of Ireland. In Egypt it is more commonthan the high-pitched timber roof like that at Abu-'s-
Sifain and Anba Shanudah. There is no evidence
io Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. i.
to show that this skeleton roof of the nave was ever
underdrawn with a flat ceiling coffered and gilded,
such as was common in churches built by Constan-
tine : but that work of the kind was used for ceiling
is proved by the beautiful remnants of coloured wood-
work in the south upper aisle at Abu-'s-Sifain as well
as by the analogous but far earlier decoration of the
entablature in Anba Shanudah and elsewhere.
The entrance to a Coptic church is almost invari-
ably towards, if not in, the western side, while the
sanctuaries lie always on the eastern. The one
eastern entrance at the Harat-az-Zuailah is modern,
and even there the altars are at the same end.
Whatever may have been the primitive arrangementof the Latin Church and it would be difficult to
refute the evidence by which Mr. G. Gilbert Scott
proves that the earliest buildings in south Italy had
eastern doorways and a western altar it is quite
certain that there is no trace or tradition of any such
arrangement in a Coptic sacred building. There, in
every instance, the orientation of the altar is clear
and decided, although accidents of site have of
course in some cases deflected the axis of a church
slightly from the true east. It is quite possible that
the orientation of our European churches, which
was not the usual practice in the beginning, but
which became almost universal in the middle ages,
may have been derived from Egypt. The Coptsseem to have aimed at securing three western doors :
and in their earliest churches this arrangement was
doubtless the ordinary one. But almost from the
beginning of their Christianity they were harried
with incessant persecutions : thus, more especially
after the Muslim conquest, when they found their
CH. i.] General Structure. \ i
lives and possessions exposed to ceaseless outbursts
of fanatical violence and rapacity on the part of
their conquerors, it became a necessity of existence
to fortify their churches. Hence the absence of
windows other than small skylights in all Coptic
churches, and the early disuse of the triple western
doorway. The latter was retained at Al Mu'allakah,
which, owing to its peculiar structure'
in the air,'
depended for its security on other defences. At Abu
Sargah there is one existing door at the west, with
clear evidence of one if not two others having been
blocked up: while at Kadisah Burbarah, Abu-'s-
Sifain, and Anba Shanudah, there is a single western
entrance with no indication of any other having ever
existed. The Jewish synagogue (church of St.
Michael) differs from all others at the present dayin retaining its single original western entrance in
the centre : in the other cases quoted the western
door opens into one of the side aisles. Manychurches have their doorway on the north or south
side, the arrangement being determined by the acci-
dents of the situation and the facilities afforded bymasses of surrounding buildings. At Mari Mlnathere is a western door opening into the south aisle,
and another opening into the north aisle, though the
latter has been walled off and excluded from the
sacred building. The interesting basilica in the
Harat-az-Zuailah seems to have had one or morewestern doorways, though from the west, as the
level of the city rose about the church, the entrance
was removed to the south, and finally to the east.
In nearly all cases the western wall of a Copticchurch aligns the street, but in the little isolated
dairs of Mari Mina and Tadrus, which have no
12 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. i.
street within them, and in upper churches like those
at Cairo proper, the rule is of course departed from.
It is this western side which is generally exposed to
view, but the wall, instead of ending with the limits
of the church, is nearly always prolonged and lost
in neighbouring houses. For there is no instance
of a sacred edifice standing clear and detached like
an English church in its churchyard. A Copticchurch outside never shows any outline : around it
is huddled a mass of haphazard buildings which
show that the architect's idea was concealment of
the exterior rather than adornment. These build-
ings serve of course to shelter the church, and though
they have long ago been turned from their original
monastic uses, many of them are still inhabited bythe priests or other satellites employed in the church
services ; while in many cases, as at Abu Sargahfor instance, the upper aisles or triforia which openedinto domestic chambers adjoining have been turned
into women's apartments for the priest's family. AtDair Tadrus the chambers are all silent and deserted,
not a soul residing within the walls, and this was
the case even a hundred and fifty years ago, whenPococke visited Old Cairo : Dair Bablun has three
or four inhabitants : Mari Mtna keeps its rooms
unswept and unfurnished for the pilgrims that comethere once every year : in the Harat-az-Zuailah nuns
are still living in the old monastic buildings attached
to the church. The houses, then, piled at randomabout a Coptic church had two purposes, monastic
and defensive : but it is obvious that they made
anything like exterior ornamentation impossible, and
one may say roughly that an Egyptian church has
neither outline nor exterior architecture. The out-
CH. i.] General Structure. 13
side is a rude shapeless congeries of brickwork
intended rather to escape notice than to attract
admiration ;it was meant that there should be
nothing to delight the eye of the Muslim enemyprowling without, while architectural and liturgical
splendours alike were reserved for the believer
within.
This entanglement of the sacred fabric in other
buildings, wall against wall, and this absence of out-
side adornment, may be set down as distinctly Coptic
peculiarities : they are found neither in Syria nor
in Byzantium, nor in Latin Christendom : because,
while in other countries it was felt that the outside
as well as the inside of the church deserved a grandand glorious architecture, to the Copts this outer
plainness was a condition of existence. Another
external peculiarity is the arrangement or want of
arrangement in the accessory chapels, which openfrom either aisle or from the triforia, which are
sometimes grouped three or four together under one
roof, which occupy an upper or a lower story indif-
ferently, are walled or not walled on to the mother
church, and are sometimes piled in almost impossible
positions one on top of another. Almost everychurch furnishes examples ;
but I may refer speciallyto the two upper churches of Mari Girgis in Cairo
proper, to Mari Mina, Anba Shanudah, and above
all to Abu-'s-Sifain. Details will be found in the
description of those churches.
Many of these chapels possess the full complementof three altars each within its own sanctuary, and
therefore deserve rather to be called churches, exceptin so far as they are grouped about a larger church
and are under the direct ministration of its clergy.
14 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. i.
Abu-'s-Sifain, for example, though an ecclesiastical
and in some sense an architectural unit, is really
a group of churches. The neighbouring group at
Anba Shanudah lies within the circuit of Dair Abu-'s-
Sifain. Several similar units or groups are enclosed
by the ring-wall of the Kasr-ash-Shamm'ah : so too
the churches of Dair Tadrus lie in a walled enclosure
not sixty yards in diameter;and the monasteries in
the western desert are built on precisely the samemodel. This whole arrangement corresponds sin-
gularly with the earliest monastic buildings of Ireland,
where it was customary to erect several small
churches close together, instead of large churches,
and to enclose each group with all its monastic
buildings cells, chambers, kitchens, &c. in a 'cashel'
I
or ring-wall1
. Another curious coincidence between
Irish and Coptic practice is the use of the wagon-vault to roof nave and chancel, there being appa-
rently no other parallel for its early employment in
I
western Christendom. Mr. Warren, in his'
Liturgyand Ritual of the Celtic Church 2
/ quotes a state-
ment that seven Egyptian monks are buried at
Disert Ulidh in Ireland, and are invoked in the
1 Litany of Oengus. So that the coincidence may be
not wholly accidental. Moreover, Ledwich 3 relates
that a colony of Egyptians settled in the isle of
Lerins, off the south coast of France, and adds that
in England'
the Egyptian plan was followed at
Glastonbury.' The monks of Bangor, St. Columba,
Congel, &c., adopted the rule of St. Basil : and the
1
English Church Architecture, by G. Gilbert Scott, pp. 72, 73.2 P. 56.3
Antiquities of Ireland, 2nd edv pp. 88, 89.
CH.i.] General Structure. 15
distinguished antiquaries Sir R. Cotton, Sir H. Spel-
man,W. Camden, and J. Selden, when appealed to on
the subject,' drew up a certificate wherein they de-
clared that previous to the coming of St. Augustinein 597 the Egyptian rule (of monastic life) was onlyin use.'
Before quitting this part of the subject, I mayremark that no Cairo church has any spire or tower :
neither the Byzantine campanile nor the Muslim
minaret has any counterpart in the ordinary build-
ings of the Copts. But this peculiarity arises not
from any dislike on the part of the Christians to
bells, but from the Muslim prohibition of their usage.
Accordingly we find bell-towers still standing and
still in use in the desert monasteries of the Natrun
valley and other remote places, where there is no
chance of Muslim interference. These towers are
built of brick and covered with plaster : as far as
they have any character they may be called Byzan-tine. Each tower is usually two stories high, squareon plan, and each side in the upper story is relieved
by two open arches, highly stilted and round-headed.
The position which the tower occupies with regardto the church is quite immaterial, but it is always
virtually detached.
We may now turn to the interior structure and
arrangement of the Cairo churches, distinguishingas before such features as may be called basilican
or Byzantine or Coptic.
Generally speaking the nave is divided from the
aisle on each side by a row of Greek or Romancolumns. The favourite arrangement was to have
twelve such columns distributed round the three
sides of the nave, as at Abu Sargah, leaving the
1 6 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. r.
eastern side open, but making a narthex or returned
aisle at the west end. It is extremely rare to find
the rows of columns ending abruptly in a western
wall without any cross-row, as for instance was the
case in the old basilica of St. Peter's at Rome and
perhaps the cathedral at Ravenna : but it is equallyrare now to find the cross-row of columns standingclear and making a true returned aisle, such as maybe seen in the synagogue at Kasr-ash-Shamm'ah.
For the spaces between the pillars of the returned
aisle have in most cases been walled up, so that the
western aisle has become rather a true narthex. Acomparison of the plan of Abu Sargah or Kadisah
Burbarah with the ancient basilica of Thessalonica l
will show the same transition from the returned aisle
to the narthex proper in widely different localities.
As far as I know, Al Mu'allakah affords a solitary
instance of an exo-narthex which contains, like that
at Thessalonica, a fountain for ablutions. At the
period when Abu-'s-Sifain was built, i.e. the tenth
century, the narthex was so far necessary that it is
made a distinct feature of the church instead of beingan adaptation : while the adjacent but much earlier
building of Anba Shanudah shows no sign of anynarthex. The narthex was of course the place
appointed for catechumens during the service of the
church, besides being the place of discipline and
admonition for penitents, and sometimes the place
of baptism. But the state of decay and disorder into
which this part of the sacred edifice has fallen shows
a very long discontinuance and oblivion of such
primitive usage. At Abu Sargah, Abu-'s-Sifain, and
1
Figured in Texier and Pullan's Byzantine Architecture, p. 173.
CH. i.] General Structure. 17
Al Adra Harat-az-Zuailah the large Epiphany tank
is sunk in the floor of the narthex : but although the
orthodox place would seem to be at the west end, its
position in other churches varies so much that it can
only have been determined by random choice or
hazard. Still, in these three principal buildings the
narthex was used at the feast of Epiphany (whenthe people plunged into the waters blessed by the
priest), long after its original uses were forgotten.At Kadisah Burbarah the central part of the narthex
is walled off and serves as mandarah or guest-room,while the entrance passes through the north part, and
the south part is walled off into a separate sacristy.
The narthex is finely marked in some of the ancient
churches of Upper Egypt. Thus the church of the
White Monastery near Suhag, which dates from at
least the third or fourth century, has a central western
entrance and a narthex completely walled off from
the aisles as well as from the nave : a single central
door in the eastern wall of the narthex gives admis-
sion to the church. This narthex once contained a
beautiful baptistery, and it remains even now one of
the most splendid monuments of early Christian
ritual. Among the monasteries of the desert, the
rite of baptism was comparatively rarely exercised,
because it very seldom happened that any resorted
thither who had not already been signed with the
cross of Christ. Consequently many of the churches
there are quite destitute of baptisteries, and even
where the font is found, it is seldom or never placedat the western entrance : and such is the modifyinginfluence of ritual upon architecture, that there does
not occur one instance of a true narthex in all the
churches of the Natrun valley, although the western
1 8 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. \.
returned aisle is not unfrequent. A glance at the
plan of Al Adra Dair-as-Suriani will show how
easily a narthex might have been built in place of
the returned aisle, had need so required.
The walls of the nave in basilican churches are
generally carried on a continuous wooden architrave
joining the columns, and are lightened by small
relieving arches. But instead of the classic entabla-
ture, which was blazoned with colours and gold,
adorned with Coptic texts and carved crosses, wefind the pillars spanned by arches on the north side
of Al Mu'allakah : while at Abu-s'-Sifain there are
neither columns nor architrave but heavy solid piers
united by arches. The structure of Miri Mlna is
somewhat similar : while in the more Byzantine
buildings we often find piers not in line but in
groups, with arches springing from all four sides.
Of these two methods of construction, the arched is
of course later than the trabeated;and many of the
Coptic churches are remarkable for their combination
of both methods, showing in fact with curious felicity
the history of the transition. The Greek architects
set their columns close together, or, in technical
language, employed the pyknostyle arrangement :
but the Romans, choosing to place wider intervals
between the columns, were obliged to find some
way of distributing the heavy bearing which resulted
from this araeostyle construction. Accordingly theyintroduced relieving arches, which were at first not
open, but hidden in the wall above the architrave.
The next step was to show the relieving arches
boldly, as they are shown for instance at Abu Sargahand Anba Shanudah, and to substitute a wooden for
a stone architrave;and it is easy to see how the
CH.i.] General Structure. 19
widening of the relieving arches would finally do
away with the necessity for the architrave altogether.Such are the changes arising from a change in the
method of intercolumniation : and even from this
brief review it will be obvious that where we find
so decided examples of the trabeated and of the
arched style of construction in the same building, as
at Al Mu'allakah, we must assign them to different
epochs. I may add that a continuous marble archi-
trave with small relieving arches visible occurs in
the church of Sta. Maria in Trastavere at Rome.Over the lateral aisles, and over the returned aisle
or the narthex, upper aisles are nearly always built,
of equal dimensions with those below. These upperaisles, or triforia as they may be called for con-
venience, were used to accommodate women at
times of service at least as early as the days of
St. Augustine1
. They opened into the nave by large
bays with an arrangement of columns. Whether the
spaces between the columns were screened or not is
uncertain, but the parapet of the gallery would be
sufficient almost to hide the worshippers from the
congregation below. Good examples of these gal-leries may be seen at Abu Sargah and Kadlsah
Burbarah, while they are quite unknown in the
contemporary churches of the desert monasteries,
where of course there were no women. In lapse of
time however, as it became customary for women to
attend service in the body of the church, a special
place westward was railed and screened off for them.
Consequently, when the gallery was no longer re-
quired, the spaces between the pillars were walled up
1 Civ. Dei, iii. p. 27.
C 2
2o Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH.I.
and the galleries were turned to other uses. This
change was facilitated by their arrangement, for the
entrance to them is in all cases from without the
church by a doorway communicating with the ad-
jacent monastic dwellings : so that it was easy to
sever this part of the church from the general service
of the sacred building. The first step was to convert
the women's galleries into chapels ;and this was done
at an early period at Kadisah Burbarah, and most
likely at Abu Sargah, though there I was forbidden
to enter the triforium to examine. The church of
Abu-'s-Sifain is remarkably interesting in this con-
nexion as having been built at a time when the
transition had already taken place. For the divisions
below into men's section and women's section are
undoubtedly part of the original arrangement datingfrom the tenth century. Accordingly we find that,
inasmuch as provision was made at the first for
women in the body of the church, although the
basilican tradition so far determined its structure as
to necessitate a continuous gallery over the aisles
and narthex, yet this gallery is, with the exception of
one small and almost inaccessible opening, entirely
shut off from the nave by solid walls, so that no one
in it could follow the service below. But the galleryis furnished with chapels of its own, contemporarywith the main building, and designed for quite sepa-rate services. It may then be taken for granted that
the practice of admitting women to the nave of the
church, though the two sexes were kept apart, had
become general if not universal by the tenth century.
But the chapels erected in the galleries have
themselves long fallen into disuse, as the zeal and
the number of worshippers diminished : though the
CH. i.] General Structure. 2 1
traces of gorgeous colours and gilding, of elaborate
frescoes and beautiful wood-carving, still bear witness
to the olden splendour of these oratories and the
pomp of their vanished ceremonial. To-day the
upper aisles are either entirely disused, or service is
held in each chapel on one solitary day in the whole
year's round, the feast-day of the patron saint;or the
entire gallery is given up to the women of the
priest's household, who make it their special apart-ment and deck it with hangings and mirrors. Even
now, however, on the occasion of great festivals, whenthe congregation of women is too large for the placeset apart in the nave, they are admitted into the
gallery wherever, as at Abu Sargah, latticed gratingshave been let into the walls which block the ancient
bay openings. It is interesting to notice that the
present restoration of Al Mu'allakah displays a
reversion to primitive practice ;for there the screens
that separated the sexes in the nave have been
entirely abolished, and the women are relegated to
the galleries. In the modern cathedral of Cairo too
the women are not allowed in the body of the church,
but have two stories of latticed galleries over the
aisles, from which they see and hear the service.
Examples of churches with large upper aisles for
women are found at Rome (St. Agnes without the
walls and St. Lawrence) : the basilica of the fifth
century at Thessalonica preserves the same arrange-ment ; though it was not found in the great Romanbasilicas of St. Peter or St. Paul. I may add that
there is no instance of a clerestory in Coptic architec-
ture : nor is there anything resembling the narrow
triforium of our Gothic buildings. The broad
triforium at Westminster Abbey offers perhaps the
22 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. i.
closest parallel to the Coptic upper aisles, and the
resemblance is the more complete as there is evidence
to show that it once contained chapels.
The transept is a very rare feature in the churches
of Egypt. Abu Sargah contains a short northern
transept, and Kadlsah Burbarah both northern and
southern. The latter church (I repeat) is the one ex-
ample of a cruciform plan, irregular as it is, and over
the centre of the cross rises a large and lofty dome ;
but in other respects the church is decidedly basili-
can. Besides these two I have seen no other church
in Cairo with a transept.
The division of the nave into men's section and
women's section by means of screens, which, as I
have shown, is at least as ancient as the tenth cen-
tury, is the normal arrangement at the present dayin the main churches, and is carried out even in
many of the little chapels and baptisteries. Thedivision is in all cases across the body of the church,
so that the women are ranged entirely behind and
westward of the men. Thus, as the whole congre-
gation faces eastward, no interchange of glances is
possible.
Allusion has already been made to the large
Epiphany tank which forms a regular part of a
Coptic church. These tanks are eight or ten feet
long, six feet broad, and five or six feet deep. Theyseem to have been boarded over when not actuallyin use. It is reasonable to suppose, especially from
their prevalent position in the narthex, that these
tanks were meant in the early ages of the Church for
baptism by total immersion, although there is no
distinct evidence or tradition to that effect, except
perhaps the fact that they generally occupy the
CH. i.] General Structure. 23
place assigned to the font in the churches of the
West. It is however certain that any such custom
has been abolished for centuries, during which time
these tanks have been used exclusively on the feast
of Epiphany ;and this latter usage was suppressed
from the disorder it occasioned within the memoryof the present generation. But there is another
tank of much smaller size which forms no less
characteristic a feature of the Egyptian churches.
This is a shallow rectangular basin about two feet
long by one foot broad, which is sunk in the floor
and edged about generally with costly marbles. Its
usual position is in the westward part of the nave,
where it may be seen at Abu-'s-Sifain, Anba Shanu-
dah, Abu Sargah, Al Mu'allakah, &c.;but in many
of the desert churches it lies rather more eastward.
In olden times it was undoubtedly used for the
mandatum, and possibly also for ablutions.
From the canons of Christodulus, as late as the
eleventh century, we know that men were requiredto come barefoot to church
;and the tank was per-
haps placed in the floor in order that worshippers
might conveniently' shake off the dust of their feet'
before service : and the dust of Cairo is by no meansan imaginary evil or pollution. At the present dayhowever, the practice of wearing shoes has rendered
this cleansing less necessary, and the use of the tank
for ablutions is wholly unknown except on MaundyThursday, when the ancient ceremony of feet-wash-
ing, once common alike to the eastern and western
churches, but with us long neglected, is still per-
formed by the priest. While the Epiphany tank
seems a peculiarity of the Coptic ritual, the font or
tank for ablutions was common to all the oriental
24 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. i.
churches, and even the churches of the West retain
in their holy-water stoups the same tradition 1. But
the Coptic practice differs from that of the Syrianand Byzantine churches in the position of the tank
;
for both in the great basilica of Tyre as restored byConstantine, and in the church of St. Sophia, the
tank lay in the centre of the atrium external to the
main building, and surrounded by quadrangularcloisters or colonnades. So too at Thessalonica
the fountain lies outside at the north-east corner
of the church. It is worth remarking that a similar
tank for washing the feet before prayer, or else a
fountain, is invariably attached to the Mohammedan
mosques of Egypt : and moreover the position of
the fountain in the centre of the courtyard at all the
larger mosques, and the surrounding cloisters, almost
exactly reproduce the Christian atrium. The ana-
logy is carried even further in the many cases where
the Muslim fountain is covered with a dome resting
on a circle of pillars ;for this was a common Christian
arrangement, and was found at the early church of
St. John at Constantinople as described by Clavijo,
and still exists at the churches of Zographe and St.
Laura at Mount Athos.
In the arrangement of the choir in Coptic churches
there are three distinct methods discernible. In
some of the more Byzantine buildings, as Al AdraHarat-ar-Rum and Abu Kir wa Yuhanna, the choir
is neither marked off from the nave by any screen
nor distinguished by a higher level : in other churches,
like Al Amir Tadrus, a single step divides choir and
nave, while a high lattice screen intervenes : again,
1
History of English Church Architecture, p. 16 n.
CH. i.] General Struct^lre. 25
in the chief basilican churches the choir is raised
two steps above the nave and screened by lattice-
work. To this latter class however there are two
singular exceptions, Al Mu'allakah and Kadisah
Burbarah, in which choir and nave are at one con-
tinuous level, and the screens that parted the twohave been removed
;so that an unbroken view may
be had from the west to the sanctuary. At Abu-'s-
Sifain, the choir-screen is solid and pierced by a
small square sliding-door or window on either side :
the entrance closes by folding-doors, across which
hung in olden times a curtain. At Abu-'s-Sifain,
Abu Sargah, and Al Adra Harat-az-Zuailah the
screen recedes about three feet eastward from the
edge of the choir platform, leaving in the navea kind of stone bench. This probably correspondsto the solea of the Greek Church, where candidates
for ordination stood till the Cherubic Hymn was
ended, when they were led into the sanctuary. It
should be remarked that there is a solea before
the sanctuary-screen, at Al Mu'allakah, thoughthere is no choir now otherwise distinguished than
by the lecterns. It is doubtful whether, in the
very earliest times, the choir was separated from
the nave or had any distinct existence, as the first
clear mention of it seems to be in the seventh
century. Later it was marked off from the nave
by a low railing something like the wall or balu-
strade common in early Italian basilicas, with this
difference in the Coptic churches, that the choir-
railing always extended across the whole building
instead of returning along the wings or aisles east-
ward. There was a front railing, in fact, but no
side railings. The reason for this difference of
26 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. i.
structure lies in the fact that a Coptic church has
three chapels eastward, shut off either by a single
continuous screen or by three screens in the same
line, and requiring therefore a continuous choir.
The choir then in all cases extends the whole
breadth of the church, and is even drawn out
along the transepts, where such exist, as at Kadi-
sah Burbarah. There is a very curious arrange-ment in some of the churches in the Natrun valley,
for example at Al 'Adra Dair-as-Suriani, where the
choir is entirely separated from the nave by a wall
reaching the whole height of the building, and open-
ing from the nave only by a central doorway fitted
with folding-doors. One may remark also that these
monastic churches have often low screens of solid
stone instead of the lofty lattice screens of the Cairo
buildings.
The choir-screen is sometimes, though not always,adorned with a series of pictures ranged along the
top: the subjects are either sacred scenes or figures
of apostles and saints;but it seems a fixed rule that
the central painting over the choir door should repre-
sent the crucifixion. The analogy with the western
practice is the more obvious when we remember that
in later times at all events the rood was generallya crucifix. It was before this door, in the Coptic as
in the Roman ritual, that processions made a station
while singing antiphons. A rood proper or cross of
wood is sometimes, though rarely, found on the choir-
screen, as in the chapel of St. Antony at Abu-'s-Sifain.
At Al'Adra Harat-ar-Rum, which has no choir-screen,
a large rood with pictures of Mary and John attached
rests upon a rood-beam fastened between the two
piers, which in the ordinary arrangement would be
CH. i.] General Structtire. 27
joined by the choir-screen ; while at Al 'Adra Harat-
az-Zuailah, there is a true rood over the door, not of
the choir but of the haikal ; and the same is the case
at Al 'Adra in Dair-as-Suriani in the western desert.
The Coptic choir, measured from west to east, is
seldom more than ten or twelve feet deep ;it con-
tains no stalls either for clergy or ' chorus cantorum/and no seats of any description, but usually two
moveable lecterns and a tall standard candlestick.
The pulpit is placed in the nave, near the north-
east corner : sometimes it resembles closely our
western pulpits, in other cases it may more rightly
be called an ambon : and sometimes again it has
quite disappeared. Fine examples of the ambonoccur at Al Mu'allakah, Abu-'s-Sifain, and Mari
Mlna : but its position never varies, and its greater
length is invariably east and west, not north and
south, as was usual in the early churches, as for
example at St. Sophia. It is never mounted by two
flights of steps, does not stand in the centre of the
church, and has no column to serve as paschal candle-
stick. The usual pulpit in the monastic churches of
the desert is a recess in the nave wall furnished with
a rude balustrade.
Every church has three contiguous sanctuaries
and three altars, neither more nor less. Many other
chapels are attached externally to the main building,
or are located in the upper aisles;but in the main
body of the church no altars are allowed to be scat-
tered about the building, but all must be ranged in a
line at the eastern end. There are only two altars at
present at Al Amir Tadrus and at Abu-'s-Sifain : but
it is almost certain that at the former church an altar
has been removed, and even if the same is not true
28 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. i.
of Abu-'s-Sifain the comparatively late date of that
edifice makes its exceptional structure less note-
worthy. Kadisah Burbarah and Al 'Adra Harat-az-
Zuailah, though both very ancient buildings, include
part of a still earlier foundation;and I have no
doubt this tradition rightly accounts for the addi-
tional altars possessed by those two churches. But
the concurrence of evidence is so overwhelming, and
the exceptions so few and doubtful, that the generallaw of three altars is very clearly established. Evenin the tiny chapels adjoining the main churches, as
St. Banai at Mari Mina and Sitt Mariam above
Abu-'s-Sifain, it is extremely rare to find a single
altar : three always were built wherever space could
be devised for placing them side by side. Each altar
has its own dedication, but the central is invariably
the high altar : each stands detached in the middle
of its sanctuary. A continuous wooden screen divides
the three sanctuaries from the common choir, and
the central is parted from the side sanctuaries by walls,
with or without open passages of communication.
These chapels, of which the central corresponds to
the Greek bema, or presbytery, are generally, thoughnot invariably, raised one step above the level of the
choir, never more than two.
The sanctuary screen is always of solid opaquewoodwork, enriched with intricate arabesques or
geometrical patterns, and inlaid with superblycarved crosses and stars of ivory. Each chapelhas its own low round-arched doorway, fitted with
double doors, and over each door is a Coptic or
Arabic text inlaid in ivory letters. In one or two
of the older churches, as Abu Sargah and Al 'Adra
Harat-az-Zuailah, the screen of the haikal, instead
CH. i.] General Structure. 29
of aligning with that of the side chapels, projects out
three or four feet into the choir, and is returned so
as to allow of a door on the north and south as well
as on the western side of the high altar an arrange-
ment that clearly points to the ceremonial proces-
sions of the greater and the lesser entrance. Besides
these doors there is often, but not always, found on
each side of the haikal door a small square opening,with a sliding shutter, about five feet from the ground.At Abu-'s-Sifain these windows exist in the choir-
screen as well as in the haikal-screen, though in
neither case could they ever serve the purpose of
allowing the congregation a glimpse of the celebra-
tion within, like the hagioscopes of our own churches.
Before the sanctuary there hang always a number of
lamps, which are sometimes of silver, and the door is
Veiled by a silk curtain, often of great magnificence,with texts, crosses, and sacred figures wrought in
silver embroidery. On entering the church a wor-
shipper always prostrates himself and kisses the
hem of this curtain a reverent custom that ascends
to the remotest antiquity. The hanging is drawn
aside during the whole period of the celebration, and
the doors fold back inwards towards the altar. Atthe centre of the doorway arch is fastened a ringfrom which at a certain point in the mass the priest
suspends the censer of burning incense in full view
of the congregation. Along the top of the screen,
which is seven to ten feet high, are ranged several
pictures or a continuous tablet divided into panels.
The central panel or picture usually represents the
Virgin and Child, and those on the sides the figures
of apostles or prophets.Thus the Coptic haikal-screen, with its pictures
30 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. i.
or icons, answers very closely to the Greek icono-
stasis. Originally the sanctuary-screen seems to have
been of trellis, or some kind of light open-work,whether in wood or metal. At the great church of
Tyre were, as Eusebius relates, wooden gratings'
wrought with so delicate an art as to be a wonder
to behold' perhaps like the Arab mushrabiah.
St. Sophia in the sixth century boasted a screen
of silver divided by columns into panels, upon which
were medallions chased with icons of Christ and
other holy figures, the door being surmounted with
a crucifix. At the church of Patras there was a
flabellum ornamented with cherub-heads on each
side of the rood 1. Clavijo speaks of silver-gilt doors
with silk hangings at the church of St. John,
Constantinople. The mosaics of St. George's at
Thessalonica show a low screen in front of the
altar : and a low stone screen or wall, supportingslender columns which are joined above by an archi-
trave, forms a type of iconostasis not uncommon in
the early Italian churches. According to Goar, the
opaque form first came into vogue in the eighth
century, and was adopted to gain more space for
pictures in virtue of a sharp reaction against the
iconoclasts. But this canon does not necessarily
apply to the churches of Egypt. There is not
the slightest sign of a low stone screen before the
altar in any one of the Coptic buildings, nor of
any altar-screen other than a lofty and opaqueiconostasis. The central haikal-screens at Abu Sar-
gah and Al 'Adra Hdrat-az-Zuailah are not later
than the tenth century, and might, I think, reason-
1
Lenoir, Architecture Monastique, vol. i. p. 345.
CH. i.] General Structure. 31
ably be placed quite a century earlier. But these
examples have already the low round-arched door-
way with double doors, which is only a developmentfrom an earlier arrangement. In proof of this
statement I rely on a very curious and interesting
discovery which I have made at the monasteries of
the- Natrun valley. In Dair-as-Suriani the grandbasilican church of Al 'Adra has for its haikal-screen
a pair of very lofty folding-doors each in three
leaves the jambs of which stand against the side
walls of the sanctuary. These doors throw open, or
fold back, in such a manner against the walls as to
leave the whole interior of the haikal open to view;
but when they are closed they form a solid screen
entirely concealing the altar and its surroundings.The character of the Syriac inscription on the lintel
and jambs fixes the date of the doors as not later
than the year 700 A.D. Now it so happens that in
the neighbouring monastery of Anba Bishoi the
haikal-screen is made after the same model with
the exception that each door has only two leaves
instead of three. But there the four lofty leaves
have been closed permanently to form an immove-able screen : and about five feet six inches from the
ground the two inner leaves have been sawn throughin a semicircle, the result being to leave a low
round-arched doorway with one leaf on each side
opening inwards, or in other words an entrance to
the haikal identical with that at Abu Sargah. I mayadd that these very ancient iconostases have of
course no pictures on their top, but the icons are
inlaid in ivory upon the panels of the doors.
But although it be thus conclusively proved that
the arrangement at Abu Sargah is not the earliest
32 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. i.
form of the Coptic altar-screen, it is still early enoughto surpass most surviving examples of the icono-
stasis, eastern and western. For most of the western
churches have lost their ancient screens through
decay, removal, or restoration : while even those
eastern churches which escaped total destruction
at the hands of the Turks and were turned into
mosques as 'some of the churches at Constan-
tinople and Thessalonica even these had all their
fittings broken to pieces when the crescent replacedthe cross.
Each of the side chapels in a Coptic church has
its own set of icons over the screen, but as a rule
the door is not curtained. At Abu-'s-Sifain and Mari
Mina the choir, like the sanctuaries, has a separateiconostasis a solid screen with central folding-
doors and a row of pictures above instead of the
ordinary light lattice screen that divides choir from
nave. These examples of the double iconostasis
are curious, and I believe unparalleled in any other
churches.
It has already been shown that a Coptic church
has always three eastern chapels, each with its own
altar, its own entrance, and its own iconostasis, andall standing in a line upon the same platform.There are also three divisions in a Greek church
bema, or presbytery, prothesis, and diakonikon.
The prothesis lies on the north of the sanctuaryand contains a table which is set against the wall,
but no altar. It is the place where the elements
are made ready and set in order for consecration.
The diakonikon, on the south side of the sanctuary,contains also a table and serves as a vestry and
sacristy: here are kept the books and vestments,
CH.I.] General Structure. 33
vessels, incense, and tapers ;but here also there is
no altar. In fact a Greek church has only one altar, a
Coptic church has three;and this is a vital distinc-
tion between them. For although in many of the
Egyptian churches the southern side-chapel is used,
like the diakonikon, as a sacristy, such usage is
rather an abuse arising from the neglect into which
the minor altars have fallen, than a tradition of
primitive custom.
The eastern wall of all three chapels generally,
but more especially of the haikal, is apsidal ;the
apse, however, is invariably internal, so that stand-
ing outside one sees a plain rectangular ending to
the church, unbroken by any outward curvature.
This internal apse is a feature of very great anti-
quity, and it was characteristic of all the earliest
churches of Asia and Europe. The single apse is
sometimes said to be earlier than the triple ;it is
found at Al 'Adra Harat-az-Zuailah, for example,K. Burbarah, and the satellite church at Al Mu al-
lakah. Yet Al Mu'allakah itself has three apses ;
so had Mari Mina and Abu-'s-Sifain, though in
each case one has been blocked up. Mr. Fresh-
field's canon 1 that a Greek triapsal church is later,
and a monapsal church earlier, than the time of
Justin II, i.e. about 550 A.D., has a tempting pre-
cision about it, but cannot be applied to determine
the date of the churches of Cairo. For the changefrom the single to the triple apse was made by the
Greeks deliberately to suit the ritualistic require-
ments of a new processional hymn ; but, as I have
already explained, the Greek prothesis and dia-
1
Archaeologia, vol. xliv. p. xxiv.
D
34 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. r.
konikon have no counterpart in the side-chapels of
a Coptic church, which always contained altars, and
therefore always had their own distinct ritual asso-
ciations. And it must be remembered that the
monastic churches in the Natrun valley, which
yield to none perhaps in point of antiquity, and
which yet represent different epochs-, are entirely
destitute of apses, but have all three chapels rect^
angular. We must therefore be content with the
fact that out of Egypt a single apse points to a build-
ing of high antiquity. Thus the ancient churches
of Dana on the Euphrates, Kalb Luzah, andthose of central Syria generally, have only one
apse : three apses, however, are found in the main
church, a single apse in the satellite church at Kalat
Saman 460-560 A.D. The Katholikon and Panagiaat Athens, and the small monastic church at Daphni,the church of the Virgin at Mistra, of St. Sophia at
Thessalonica, are all triapsal. The early basilicas of
St. Peter and St. Paul, also Sta. Maria Maggiore and
Sta. Agnese at Rome, and S. Apollinare Nuovo at
Ravenna, may be quoted as examples of single-
apsed churches. In England, the church of Wingin Buckinghamshire has one apse and two square-ended side-chapels ;
and the same arrangement was
made in the original plan of the church at Brix-
worth. The Saxon church of Deerhurst, near
Tewkesbury, still retains one of its three original
apses. The same number existed at Lindisfarne
priory, while Lanfranc's cathedral at Canterburyhad no less than five apsidal chapels. In all these
churches, and with scarcely an exception in all
churches beyond the limits of Africa, the curve of
the apse wall shows on the exterior.
CH. i.] General Structure. 35
Whether the Christian apse was suggested by a
like feature in the pagan basilica or not, in the
.Christian churches it had a specific and independent
purpose. In its normal structure the curve is followed
by a tier of curving steps, at the top of which a bench
runs round the wall, divided in the centre by a raised
seat or throne;while the altar of course stands
detached. The throne was meant for the bishop,the bench for twelve presbyters or elders of the
church, who thus sat along the wall facing westward
and looking down upon the celebration of the
mysteries. This arrangement, styled a tribune, was
common in the early churches of the West, and maystill be seen in the well-known seventh-centurychurch of Torcello near Venice, and the cathedral
of Parenzo in I stria. But nowhere has the idea
taken so large and lasting hold upon Christian archi-
tecture as in Egypt, and nowhere are finer early
specimens of the tribune preserved. The churches
of Abu Sargah, Al 'Adra in the Harat-az-Zuailah,
and Abu-'s-Sifain, furnish beautiful examples of
raised marble tribunes with central thrones : while
smaller tribunes may be seen at Al Mu'allakah, AlAdra Harat-ar-Rum, and in most churches. Generallybehind the throne a round-headed niche is let into
the wall, and in it there often hangs an ever-burning
lamp. Even the square-ended churches of the desert
retain the niche and have straight instead of curved
tribunes.
So strong is the tradition of the tribune with the
Copts, that a second and even a third are sometimes
found in the side-chapels, as at Al Mu'allakah, wherethe low tiers of steps seem quite too narrow for
use and have perhaps only an ideal value. Since
D 2
36 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. r.
too the tribune is associated with an apse, since all
the early Cairo churches were built with an apse and
with a tribune together, it is curious to note that
even in the very rare cases where a church exists
with square-ended chapels, there is always preservedsome reminiscence of the apse or tribune. Thus in
the church of Sitt Mariam Dair Abu-'s-Sifain all three
chapels are singularly enough square-ended, but in
the eastern wall of the haikal is a large shallow niche
covered with fine Damascus tiles. So at Mari
Girgis Harat-ar-Rum, the only other church where
all the chapels are square, the haikal has a tribune of
two straight steps with five steps leading up to the
throne, which is set under a rectangular recess : and
in the south side-chapel there is another round-
niched throne mounted by a flight of seven steps.
No Coptic chapel is found, I believe, without a niche
in the eastern wall, though these recesses were never
used as in the West for images. Sometimes they are
painted with the figure of our Lord in the attitude
of benediction, and sometimes a hanging lamp burns
before the niche : but more often in the present day
they are uncoloured and lampless. Whether theyhad any definite ritual purpose, or whether they are
merely a feature of the full apse and meant to recall
it, must remain undecided.
The walls of the Coptic tribune are generally faced
with slabs and panels of many-coloured marble, which
form a dado six or eight feet high, such as may be
seen at Al Adra in the Harat-az-Zuailah. This use
of variegated marble for wall-facing and paving is
common both in the ancient churches and in the
earlier mosques of Egypt : a very beautiful examplefor instance may be seen at the mosques of Al
CH.I.] General Structure. 37
Ashraf and of Kait Bey, among the so-called tombs
of the Khalifs at Cairo, where both wall and floor are
decorated with the most exquisite designs and colours.
This form of art is however Christian, not Muslim,in origin, and was borrowed by the Muslim builders :
or rather was lent by the Coptic architects and
builders, whom the Muslims employed for the con-
struction of their mosques. In the West the art
seems to have decayed comparatively early : thoughat Torcello the marbled walls of the apse still remain
uninjured in curious likeness to those at Al Adra.
In the East the art was applied to church decoration
at least as early as the fourth century: for Eusebius,
speaking of the church of St. Saviour at Jerusalemin 333 A.D., tells of walls covered with variegatedmarble. Texier and Pullan give a splendid illustra-
tion of a mosaic pavement at St. Sophia in Trebizond,
which they assign to the second or third century.
Long after the Arab conquest, when the beautiful
churches of central Syria had fallen in ruins, this
form of decoration lingered on in Egypt where
most likely it first arose, and in the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries, when in greatest danger of
decaying, was adopted by the Muslim conquerorsfor the adornment of their mosques, and during that
period, always in the hands of Coptic artists, attained
its most sumptuous perfection.
The same remarks hold good of another like form
of art Coptic mosaic. This differs from the sectile
marble-work more in degree than kind;for it is made
of exceedingly minute pieces of coloured marbles
and porphyries tesselated together, but contains also
a curious admixture of mother-of-pearl. The whole
constitutes an inlay of almost incredible fineness.
38 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. i.
In the churches of Egypt this work is lavished on
the places of greatest honour, and may be seen
chiefly in the niche of the haikal. Perhaps the best
early example is in the tiny baptistery of the little
church at Al Mu'allakah : while the southern chapelof the larger church displays both mosaic and sectile
work of great splendour. The ambon of Abu-'s-
Sifain contains a mosaic design of most extraordinary
intricacy, though unmixed with mother-of-pearl.
Among the Arab mosques the same style of mosaic
in conjunction with sectile work may be seen at the
tomb-mosque of Al Ashraf and of ICait Bey without
the walls of Cairo : within the walls also the mosquesof Al Hakim and Al Ghuri furnish rich and gorgeous
examples.This Coptic mosaic differs entirely from the
mosaic that has become familiar to western eyes at
St. Sophia in Constantinople or St. Mark in Venice.
There the tesserae vary little in shape, being nearlyall cubes, and they are composed of coloured enamel,
i.e. pastes of glass rendered opaque and coloured bymetallic oxides. The gilt tesserae were made byfusing on to a cube of earthenware two thin plates of
glass with a film of gold-leaf between them. Mosaic
with gold backgrounds made in this manner is
anterior to the reign of Justinian. Among the
Copts the use of vitreous pastes and metallic oxides
is quite unknown : their mosaic is composed only of
natural marbles cut into minute pieces of all shapes,
square, round or triangular, and arranged in
ornamental patterns according to their natural
colours. There is this further difference, that the
Coptic churches show no single instance of a picturein mosaic : the artists confined themselves to con-
CH. i.] General Structure. 39
ventional designs, aware that with the stiffness and
hardness of their material and its colours they could
achieve nothing like the harmonious richness and
softness required for a mosaic picture. No doubt
the Coptic is earlier than the Byzantine form of
mosaic-work, and it was never disturbed by its later
rival in Egypt. For although the Saracens in Syriaborrowed the art from Byzantium and used vitreous
enamels for the decoration of their mosque walls, as
well as for inlaying jewellery and steel armour on a
smaller scale, yet the Mohammedans of Egypt never
adopted any but the native or Coptic marble mosaic;
partly because its unpictorial character suited their
taste, and partly because they found ready made both
art and artists, artists whose names have perished,
but whose skill is still recorded in work of unex-
ampled splendour which adorns the great mosques of
Cairo. In visiting these mosques one is met by a
striking coincidence : for just as every Coptic church
and chapel has its eastern niche, so every mosquealso has its kiblah or niche in the like position : andas in the Coptic church, so in the Muslim mosque,it is the niche that is covered with the most delicate
and beautiful mosaics. It would however be perhapstoo bold to conjecture that the Coptic architects
introduced the niche as well as the mode of its
decoration from their own sacred edifices.
Marble and mother-of-pearl mosaic is of very rare
occurrence in the West, though examples are found,as in the church of St. Vitale, Ravenna, and the
cathedral of Parenzo : but it is not so much the
mere admixture of mother-of-pearl, as the extra-
ordinary minuteness of the tesserae and the be-
wildering intricacy of the designs that form the
40 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. i.
distinguishing characteristics of the Coptic mosaic,
and make it unique in manner and in charm.
But to return from this digression. While the
lower part of the .apse wall in the haikal is covered
with marble slabs, above there should always be
ranged in order the figures of the twelve apostles,
and in the centre, over or in the niche, our Lord
enthroned in the attitude of benediction. These
figures of course are painted in fresco or on panel,
statues being entirely forbidden. This arrangement
may be seen at Abu-'s-Sifain, Datr Bablun, and in
most churches. Sometimes it may be there is no
marble, and the wood or fresco painting descends to
the floor, but the figures in the conch are as regulara part of church adornment as the icons on the screen.
Gear's J
testimony shows that the same practice holds
in the Greek Church, and the remains at Torcello
preserve precisely the same method of decoration
as an example in western Christendom.
There seems no fixed rule as regards communi-
cation between the haikal and side-chapels. In
some cases il exists on both sides, sometimes on
one side only, and often is entirely wanting. Pre-
sumably the earliest arrangement was the simplestand originally the haikal had no communication with
either chapel : for however early the three altars
became normal, the side-altars must still be later
than the central. In the desert churches the party-walls are generally pierced with doorways, as in
Dair-as-Suriani : but there is not the remotest signof uniformity in the arrangement of the churches
of the two Cairos. While for instance Al Mu'allakah
1
Euchologion. p. 14.
CH. i.] General Structure. 41
has not even party-walls dividing haikal from the
side-chapels, but merely piers carrying arches and
once closed either by screens or hangings, AnbaShanudah has a screen on the north of the high
altar, and on the south a stone wall divided by an
open passage ;K. Burbarah has stone party-walls
and no passage ;Sitt Mariam in Dair Abu-'s-Sifain
has a passage through to the north chapel only ;
while at Mari Mina and Dair Bablun the only
thoroughfare is on the south side;
in the two
churches in the Harat-ar-Riim, Al 'Adra and Mari
Girgis, the haikal communicates directly through
pierced party-walls with both side-chapels ; and
lastly, in the small satellite churches there is as a
rule no communication. In such a strange varietyof usage, it is not easy to believe that the pierc-
ing of the party-walls had any ritual significance,
or was more than a matter of accidental con-
venience.
The side-chapels in a Coptic church are now
generally used but once a year each upon the
festival of the saint to whom it is dedicated. It
is however a curious fact, of which' the writer can
offer no explanation, that the chapel on the south
side of the haikal is often much more richly orna-
mented than that upon the north, as for exampleat Mari Girgis satellite of Mari Mina, Abu Sargah,and Al Mu'allakah. Moreover if a second chapelis used at all habitually, it is always the south
chapel; and if an altar has been demolished, it is
always the north altar.
A baptistery is attached to every church, but its
position varies greatly. It is found in the north
aisle, as at Abu Sargah ;in the south, as at Abu-'s-
42 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. r.
Sifain;
at the western end in the narthex, as at
Sitt Mariam near Abu-'s-Sifain ;outside the main
building in a satellite church, as at Al Mu allakah;
or in an adjoining passage, as at Mari M!na and
at most other churches. It scarcely admits of ques-tion that originally the baptistery was outside the
church in most countries;but this rule does not
apply to Egypt, where the need of secrecy was felt
very early, and where the font is always found inside.
Doubtless in some cases the baptistery has been
removed out of its original place, which was in the
narthex. This is true of Abu-'s-Sifain, where the
font stands before a blocked aisle-chapel, and of
Abu Sargah, for instance. The Coptic churches
then hardly bear witness to the very ancient prac-tice of administering the rite without the sacred
building, as recorded by Tertullian and Justin
Martyr. For there is no instance of an entirely
isolated baptistery, such as that built by Constan-
tine near the church of Sta. Agnese without the
walls at Rome;or like that at Nocera, which has
been converted into a church. In very early times
the baptistery was often in the atrium 1 before the
church, and the Coptic Epiphany-tanks are perhapsa reminiscence of this usage, and their border, pavedwith marble, may recall the tradition that the placewhere Christ was baptized in the Jordan was markedwith marble walls and steps, and thronged with
crowds of people at the feast of Epiphany. At St.
Sophia the baptistery was outside near the western
door, and so also at Parenzo in I stria, in the sixth
century, and commonly in Roman basilicas. The
1Lenoir, Architecture Monastique, i. p. 101.
CH. i.] General Structure. 43
Coptic font is now usually a deep circular basin,
very much resembling those of our own churches,
but set like a copper in a solid bench of masonryagainst a wall, not detached or supported on a
pedestal. The very early font near the chapels of
St. James and St. John adjoining Abu-'s-Sifain
differs in being deeper and in having on each side
of the well a short flight of steps ;in other words it
is adapted more for immersion than sprinkling. Theother fonts in use at present would serve only for
aspersion, except in the case of very young children;
though the Epiphany-tanks are large and deep
enough for several grown-up people to stand in
together.
There is no altar in the Coptic baptistery, thoughthe eastern wall, against which the font is set, gener-
ally contains a niche, just as early Roman baptis-teries those for instance at Aquileia and Nocerahad an eastward apse. The niche is decorated either
with a moveable picture, or else with a fresco paint-
ing of our Lord's baptism in the Jordan. Belongingto the font is always a small hand-cross of silver
or other metal, and few baptisteries are without a
gospel-table set with prickets for candles : for tapersare always kindled at the service. According to
ancient custom a separate apartment is screened
off for women.There is no trace in any of the churches of Cairo
of any detached circular or hexagonal baptistery,
such as was common at an early date in western
Christendom and also in central Syria.
Concerning the outbuildings attached to Egyptianchurches there is no need here of lengthy notice.
All over the East the annexation of such buildings
44 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. i.
was a common practice. Eusebius speaks of spacious
outhouses belonging to the church at Tyre and also
at Antioch. Augustine too mentions a large room
attached to the church at Csesarea. This doubtless
corresponds to the Coptic mandarah or reception-
room, where worshippers meet for conversation. AtAbu-'s-Sifain the mandarah is quite distinct from the
church though adjoining it; elsewhere, as at Abu
Sargah, it is a small open courtyard surrounded bybenches
;but the finest specimen of an ancient man-
darah is that at Mari Girgis in Kasr-ash-Shamm'ah,now alas in ruins, but once enriched with stucco-
work and carved woodwork of great magnificence.Later innovations have sometimes removed the
reception-room within the sacred building, as at
K. Burbarah, where it now occupies the narthex.
Since every Coptic church was complete in itself
as a miniature monastic establishment, it contained
dwelling-rooms for the priest or priests, a well with
storage for water, and an oven for baking the eu-
charistic bread. Nowhere, however, is there found
among the Cairene churches the same developed
system of building, with cells, refectory, &c., which
is seen in the kindred monasteries in the Libyandesert. Moreover now-a-days the domestic cham-
bers are often quite deserted, as at Abu-'s-Sifain,
Al Mu'allakah, Dair Tadrus, and elsewhere;or else,
as at Mari Mina, they are used only at the time of
the festival to lodge the pilgrims that resort in largenumbers
;while in other cases, as at Abu Sargah
and K. Burbarah, the priest with his family not
only lives in the old rooms, but has usurped the
galleries of the church. Abu Sargah differs from
the other churches in having the well within its
CH. i.] General Strnctiive. 45
walls in the choir : no doubt by reason of the
special sanctity of the fountain that gave water to
the Holy Family. It is however curious to remark
that a sacred well is also mentioned by Paul the
Silentiary as lying near the ambon in the church
of St. Sophia, and its coping is said to have been
brought from Samaria. In the Jewish synagogueat Old Cairo, the ancient Christian well is situated
at the eastern end, almost behind the apse, and from
its size resembles rather a tank.
The Copts now usually bury their dead in ceme-
teries, but some of the ancient churches, such as
Mari Mina, have separate churchyards not unlike
our own, but outside the dair walls and not acces-
sible directly from the church, though they adjointhe sacred enclosure. The practice of burying within
the church is not unknown, but the honour was alwaysreserved for patriarchs or persons of great distinc-
tion : thus within Abu-'s-Sifain, Al Mu'allakah, and
St. Stephen by the cathedral, spots are pointed out
as the tombs of patriarchs. Yet there is no singleinstance of any inscription or monument to mark the
resting-place of great men buried within the church.
So too when a rich man has given a vessel to the
altar, it is inscribed as a gift and a short prayer is
lettered upon it, but the donor's name is almost
invariably unrecorded. This is the silence that is
golden, and full of golden lessons.
To the same right oblivion are consigned the
bodies of such as were honoured with burial within
the enclosure about the church, as at Anba Shanudah.
In vaults beneath the dark rooms which adjoin the
western end of that church many great worthies are
buried without a line to perpetuate any remembrance
46 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. r.
beyond that which is graven in the minds of men.
Still within the precincts of the church, but somewhatfarther removed from the building, are the curious
early sepulchres at K. Burbarah under the Romanwall. There also the dead rest nameless and for-
gotten. It is only in modern graveyards and ceme-
teries, such as that at Kasr-ash-Shamm'ah, that the
Copts have begun to cumber the ground with sculp-
tured monuments recording worthless names, for-
getting the truth their forefathers well understood,
that none deserve to live or can live after death
save those whose works have made them remem-bered. But the old tradition lingers still in the
solitude of the Natrun valley, where nothing is
more remarkable than to find that the monks, with
all their multitude of churches, have not one singleo
graveyard : with them God's acre is the boundless
desert : and though they retain the bones of somefew saints as relics, yet for all the countless dead
who have passed away during the space of full
fifteen centuries, they cannot show one single tomb l.
1It is strange that no previous traveller should have remarked
so strange a fact.
CHAPTER II.
Dair Mari Mtna
ETWEEN Cairo and Old Cairo lies a dair,
or walled enclosure, which is marked byan Arab domed sibil or drinking-fountainfronted with bronze grillwork. It con-
tains an ancient church dedicated to St.
Menas, who was an early Coptic martyr, born, it
seems, at Mareotis, and slain in the persecutionunder Galerius Maximinus at Alexandria. His
name recalls that of the first king of Egypt, the
reputed founder of Memphis. This saint must not
be confounded with Anba Mina, patriarch in the
eighth century. The ring-wall of the dair is weakand low
; the double door large and slender : both
obviously are of recent construction, and were re-
newed at a time when the need for bulwarks and
posterns had almost passed away. Inside the wall
is first a small garden and a few rude dwelling hovels
by which a path leads to the church. On the left
one sees a flight of stone steps and a door leading to
a new 1 and uninteresting Armenian church;and a
short way beyond on the same side in the same wall
is a modern-looking doorway. The door, built of
huge vertical beams of timber cramped across with
iron, stands back on its hinges : one sees within a
small courtyard surrounded on three sides by build-
1 The foundation of the Armenian church is very ancient,
though the fabric is new.
48 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. H.
ings of which the upper stories project and rest on
pillars and have open balconies. On the fourth side
is the church, so sunken now that one enters by a
short flight of downward steps from the door which
is at the western end of the south aisle. The west
front is as usual a plain high blank wall whose limits
. 7. B.
Fig. 1. Plan of Mari Mina and the adjoining church of Mari Banai.
are lost in the buildings which align with it on
either side. There seems no trace of any central
western entrance : for the present doorway leads
into the south aisle;and although there is a cor-
responding doorway into what was once the north
aisle, the third entrance into the nave is wanting.The church is small only about 60 ft. long and
50 ft. wide, the latter measure being taken across the
choir. The peculiarities of its structure are that it
has no narthex nor any sign of one having existed;
that the northern aisle as far as the choir has been
CH. ii.] Dair Mari Mina. 49
entirely shut out of the church and is now occupied
by outhouses including a bakehouse for the euchar-
istic bread : and that there is no regular triforium,
although part of one of the upper chapels lies over
the south aisle. This aisle is narrow and low,
roofed with a groined vaulting and separated from
the nave by three heavy piers.
The nave is covered with a wagon -vaulting of
brick strengthened by stone ribs. The west end is
divided from the rest of the nave and aisle by onlya rude lattice-work screen, and serves for the women's
section. Here too is the Epiphany tank. Over the
eastward door of this screen is a curious picture of
the Baptism of our Lord. St. John, who stands to
the right on a low Nile-like bank, carries a staff with
a Coptic scroll flying from the end : he wears a loose
robe, and his feet are bound with sandals and buskins
half way up to the knee. Before him is a small
lamb with one forefoot raised : Christ on a largeround boulder in mid stream is crushing under his
left foot a huge dolphin-headed serpent with fiery
tongue protruding and tail coiled round under the
rock. On the left bank, kneeling and gazing upwardat the dove, which is descending in a golden halo
set round with rays, is an angel, who is receivingChrist's robe as it parts from his shoulders. Christ
stands with his arms crossed on his breast, bendinghis left shoulder forward towards St. John, whose
upraised hand is pouring water on his head. The
expression of both and the type of countenance, the
long flowing hair, beard and moustache, are almost
identical 1.
1 The composition exactly resembles that of the same subject in
a French ' Liber Precum,' date 1430.
VOL. i. E
50 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. n.
The body of the nave, or men's section, is about
22 ft. long by 12 ft. wide. Against the north wall is
a very interesting ambon or pulpit, the floor of which
is about 7 ft. above the nave floor : it rests on wooden
beams projecting from the wall, and these again on
crossbeams upheld by two slender octagonal pillars.
There are as usual two parts, a sort of straightentrance balcony and the pulpit proper which is
circular. Both are of marble the pulpit properinlaid with various devices in red, black and white
marble mosaic ;while the side of the balcony is
formed by a slab of white marble carved with five
beautiful designs in low relief. Of these designsthree are large conventional roses : the other two
in panels dividing them represent graceful vases
overflowing with chrysanthemums and other flowers.
At present there is no access to the pulpit, and no
trace of a staircase : it was probably mounted by a
moveable ladder. Under the pulpit a little corner
is railed across, and in the rail are two or three score
of T-shaped staves or crutches for worshippers to
lean upon during the service.
The pictures in the nave, painted on canvas and
so not very early, are as follows :
On the north wall a large picture in a frame
inlaid with ivory shows Mari Mina on horseback
slaying a dragon.Then at about 10 ft. from the ground begins a
series of pictures which is continued across the screen
and on the south wall.
On the north wall are two :
i. A composition containing two almost identical
figures, each wearing a mantle, short tunic, and
buskins : each has a glory, each raises his right
CH.II.] Dair Mari Mtna. 51
forefinger before his breast, and in the left hand
each carries a severed head, the symbol of his
martyrdom.The right figure is labelled in Arabic '
James,
bishop of Jerusalem:' the left figure 'John the
Baptist.'
2. Another composition containing two figures
of extraordinary appearance exactly alike in attitude
and feature. They stand side by side full face
to the spectator with a grave wistful look in their
fixed farseeing eyes : they are naked save for a
camels' hair girdle round the loins : but their longwhite narrow beards flow nearly to their feet : and
the hair of their upper lip and their head is
very long and snowy white. Their arms are
bent at the elbow, the left hand carrying a
cross and the right uplifted before the chest in
benediction. In the background is a single palm-tree laden with yellow fruit. Clearly they are an-
chorites. The right figure is the familiar Barsiim
al 'Arian : the left is called Abu Nafr as Saiah,
i. e. Abu Nafr the Wanderer. Both are Copticsaints. Abu Nafr is called now among the Coptsthe ruler of snakes, scorpions, etc. ;
and if a Coptsees a scorpion or a viper in his house he ex-
claims' Abu Nafr is angry,' and sends in propitia-
tion a candle to the church to be burnt before
the picture.
The west screen is of open woodwork coloured :
over the door is a picture Christ being uplifted on
the cross. The cross is slanting, in the act of being
raised, and a soldier is loosening the cords that
bound the hands before they were nailed. Highabove the screen near the roof is a large picture
E 2
52 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. H.
of the Crucifixion : women are at the foot of the
cross and soldiers behind : the two thieves have
their arms tied over and behind the branches of the
cross, not nailed on in front.
Resuming now the continuous series, on the screen
there are seven :
1. The Resurrection. An empty tomb with people
gazing in : above in the clouds is seated the Virgin,
and an angel flies on either side : slightly to her left
below another angel in clouds is receiving a stole or
pall which is falling from her hand.
2. Christ and Mary Magdalen.
3. The Crucifixion.
4. Christ carrying the cross.
5. Christ before Pilate.
6. Judas kissing Christ in the garden ;in the back-
ground are soldiers with spears, one with a flaming
cresset, and one with a scourge.
7.'
Joseph the carpenter taking the hand of the
Messiah.' This is a literal rendering of the Arabic
title. Christ is a boy of twelve years, and both are
walking on a solitary mountain-top. The imagi-native unconventional character of this picture is
remarkable.
The series is continued with seven more pictureson the east wall :
i. The child John the Baptist greeting the child
Christ. A very interesting picture. The scene is
under a tree in the wilderness; where, kneeling
on one knee at the Virgin's right, St. John upraisesfolded hands while his crook slopes over his right
shoulder. As he looks up with an expression of
mingled humility and rapture, the child Christ leans
forward from his mother's arms raising his right
CH. ii.] Dair Mdri Mma. 53
forefinger over John's uplifted face. The expressionon Christ's face of conscious power and authority, yet
gentleness and childlikeness, harmonises admirablywith John's look of deep adoration. The Virgin is
bending slightly to allow of Christ's forward move-
ment, but her face is half averted from John, at
whom she is looking askance with an air of prophetic
anxiety.
2. The Birth of Christ, who is represented laid in
a manger : above is a choir of angels in the clouds.
This painting is remarkable for the sweetness and
beauty of the Virgin's face as she watches with
drooping eyelids over her son. It is very rare in
these pictures to find a really beautiful face; though
it is difficult to define the prevailing type. The
apostles and saints are generally of a fine Jewishcast, but the women are neither Greek, nor Jew, nor
Egyptian rather perhaps like the modern Syrian
women, who seem a blended type, recalling at once
Hellenic and Canaanite models, without the marked
beauty of either.
3. The Annunciation. The subject is treated in
the conventional manner as described in Abu-'s-
Sifain pictures, with this difference, that the holydove is slanting down towards Mary, as usual in
Italian paintings.
4. Virgin and Child. The Virgin, a half-length
figure, holds the child with both arms : his legs are
crossed and arms outspread, possibly in a mannermeant to foreshadow the cross. The drapery of the
figures is well rendered, and the faces have decided
expressiveness.
5. A curious bearded figure with halo and largewhite wings, neither saint nor angel, for no saint or
54 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. n.
martyr is represented as winged elsewhere, and no
angel has a beard. He is standing in a lonely desert-
looking place on a little hill : he bends forward to
his right and carries in his left hand an open scroll :
over his left shoulder slopes a long staff with a cross-
piece and a flag : his right hand is uplifted in bene-
diction or possibly in preaching. In the backgroundis a rude tree with an ' axe laid to the root/ or rather
balanced across a division in the trunk near the
ground. I tried from every side and every point of
vantage steps and bench and pulpit to distinguishthe dim Arabic title, but I could not make out a
letter. The attendants of course knew nothing of
this or any other picture, and could only tell me that
it was '
Christ.' The probability is that it repre-sents John the Baptist, and was painted by someartist not familiar with all the conventions of such
art. Indeed there is an absence of convention in the
whole series.
6. Christ bearing the cross.
7. Virgin and Child. The Virgin, a half-length
figure, is carrying on her left arm the child, who looks
like a girl of twelve : he is fully robed, his right hand
is outstretched, and in his left is a golden book with
a cross upon the cover. Above are two angels each
holding one end of a flying scroll, which forms an
arch above the Virgin's head.
Next to these, in the same line but not in the
same series, follow three pictures in mushrabiah
framework :
1. St. Irene.
2. Anba Sarabamun, who is robed as a patriarchwith a gold cross in his right hand, in his left a bookand pastoral staff. The crozier, as depicted here
CH. ii.] Dair Mdri Mina. 55
and in other paintings in this church, is rather
unusual, having merely a double curl at the upperend
0,9, instead of the more common serpentheads.
3. Mari Mina.
The choir as before mentioned opens out on either
side beyond the width of the nave. It contains two
ordinary lecterns and a pair of tall standard candle-
sticks. Before the sanctuary-screen hang six silver
lamps of graceful shape, with ostrich eggs over them :
there are two ostrich eggs without lamps but mountedin metal with a little metal cross above and pendantsbelow. Six wretched glass chandeliers and some
plain bowl-shaped glass lamps complete the list. Thescreen of the north chapel has disappeared if there
ever was one : at present there is a bare wall in its
place, and the chapel itself, which like most north
chapels was used as a store-room, is now blocked upand disused. The sanctuary-screen, and the east-
ward side of the choir-screen, are both inlaid with
ivory crosses which are followed round by mouldingsbut not carved. The door of the choir-screen is
very curious : above it is a large picture of Aaronrobed as priest, with a by-scene representing the
stoning of Stephen, and on each side is a folding
door, the upper part of which closes over the picture
so as to form a kind of triptych with it. When the
doors are closed their lower and middle part would
of course be seen from the nave;but oddly enough
even when the doors are shut they do not meet
together, but are parted by a gap of nine inches.
Each door is divided into four panels, one above
another, variously painted. The lowest panel is
merely decked with a pattern of small flowers.
56 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. H.
On the northward leaf of the door the three sub-
jects are:
1. Pentecost The twelve are sitting in a semi-
circle, while from above spear-headed rays or tonguesare descending upon them.
2. The Ascension.
3. Feast of St. Thomas (^V* cv^v).
On the southward leaf the panel pictures are :
1. The Nativity. An extraordinary mixture of
various scenes in one picture, each scene beingmarked off by a wide irregular border of colour. In
the middle is a rough oval slanting sideways, and in
it the Virgin is shown lying down with pillows under
her head. Below is a country scene with sheep and
shepherds, and the child is being washed at a largevessel of water. Above a star has descended in
a train of light and now is resting over the mouth of
a mountain cave, within which Christ is lying in a
manger and two bodiless heads of oxen are lookingover the side. To the left of the cave outside, but
in the plain at some distance, the Magi are depicted
bringing gifts and kneeling. Exactly the same mixed
composition, common in the Coptic churches, is found
in early western work : it may be seen for examplein a panel in the pulpit at Pisa carved by Niccolo
Pisano in 1 260, and in a Carlovingian ivory of the
ninth century now at the South Kensington Museum.2. The Presentation in the Temple.3. The Baptism of Christ.
Above this is a tablet of fine small pictures in line.
The Last Supper is in the middle, and the others are
the Entry into Jerusalem, the Appearance after the
Resurrection, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection.
Then above the screen is a series of eleven icons
CH. ii.] Dair Mdri Mitia. 57
large pictures, angels and apostles, very similar in
treatment to the series on the southward side of the
choir-screen at Abu-'s-Sifain : the resemblance is
specially remarkable in the centre figure our Lord.
Underneath these is a broad band of Coptic writing,and other Coptic inscriptions are scattered on avail-
able spaces in the screen below. On the piers, into
which the screen' runs, are two pictures of an angel
facing each other.
On the western wall are :
i. The Virgin : a fine painting. The central
figure is surrounded by forty little figures, each
painted off in a little oblong space by itself, each
wearing a crown and carrying the usual cross and
palm.2-6. Angels and saints.
The northern wall is entirely hidden by a wooden
panelling consisting of three elaborate niches, con-
taining each a picture. The three have a moremodern and Italian look than usual, and perhapsmore delicacy and more freedom, less of Byzantinecoldness and stiffness.
1. The Baptism of Christ.
2. Virgin and Child. Her head is hooded as
usual, and bent to the left, over the child, whose
face is full of life and spirit. Both faces are faintly
smiling. On each side of the Virgin's head above
is a sleeping cherub-head.
3. St. John the Evangelist. Here too the treat-
ment is unusual. St. John is walking alone, and
pondering with eyes fixed before him ;the left
hand is holding an open gospel, the right, which is
lifted to a level with the shoulder, holds a quill for
writing. The body is curved slightly to the left ;
58 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. n.
for the left leg is bent at the knee, the foot just
lingering as it leaves behindward a boulder on which
it has been planted. The large, deep, meditative
eyes give admirably the key to the whole attitude,
which is that of a man arrested in mid-step by some
profound thought or divine remembrance. It is a
great man communing with his own spirit in the
wilderness, and finding inspiration.
On the eastern wall before what should be the
north chapel are five more pictures of saints, includ-
ing Mari Mina and Abu-'s-Sifain. Next comes a
little detached painting representing a family of five
martyr sons standing in a group, or rather line, with
their mother. The drawing is rude, but the scene is
pathetic. It is called' The Five and their Mother,'
and bears a date corresponding to about 1 790 A. D.
A date is also fixed for the next picture, 1780 A. D.
It is a representation of Mari Mina, the patron saint
of the church;who is honoured by a large niche of
woodwork. The shrine contains of course a bolster
of relics;but instead of the ordinary spikes or prickets
for candles, before it stands a bronze taper-holder of
very singular and original design. Two winged
dragons or serpents stretched at full length cross
their tails together ;the head is retorted, with the
mouth upwards, and the wings are above the body,but there is no twist in the dragon's neck as one
would expect. A bar of bronze slightly curved joinsthe dragons above
;on this bar are thirteen bell-
shaped sockets for tapers, and one in each dragon'smouth and on each wing seventeen in all. The
design is either copied from or copied in the adjoin-
ing Armenian church;
of the two candelabra the
Armenian certainly looks the older, and may date
I .6.
60 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. n.
from the fifteenth or sixteenth century. The haikal-
screen is inlaid with plain ivory, a cross-in-square
pattern, very pretty, though not remarkably fine.
There is a detached Madonna above the central
door, and the usual arrangement of pictures, seven
in number. The centre is a Madonna ;each of
the six side pictures contains two apostles, and is
divided into two arches with a pillar between. All
the figures are seated, and half-face towards the
Virgin, each upholding a cross;those to the north
carry the cross in their left hand, those to the
south in their right. The ground is of gold in
every case.
Five pictures in the same style are over the south
iconostasis;Christ in the centre, and on each side
two angels, separate.
On the screen outside near the haikal door, accord-
ing to common practice, is fastened a small rude
block of wood (4 in. by 4 about), hollowed out cup-like
;it contains two little glass crewets, each holding
less than a gill of wine. This is the wine used for
the sacrament;
it is unfermented, and made of dried
grapes ;it is sweet, thick, and opaque, never clear-
coloured.
There follow five scenes on the south wall;above
the screen dividing this end of the choir from the
south aisle two others;and on the east wall a huge
indecipherable Mari Banai a Syrian martyr.The sanctuary or haikal is remarkable for an
unusually lofty altar-canopy, which originally rested
on four tall slender columns of wood, still standingat the four corners of the altar. But while the
original columns remain, above them is now a
larger and incongruous though handsome dome,
CH. ii.] Dair Mari Mma. 61
supported on cross-beams running into the walls.
The canopy shows fully from the choir above
the screen;round the lower part outside is a wide
border of painted arcading, and under every arch is
a Greek cross, with the Coptic sacred letters between
the branches ; above each pillar too in the spandrelsis a cross. Soft red and gold are the chief colours
used : and the whole, as one glances from the sombre
screen up to the line of apostles throned under goldenskies beside the Virgin to the dome beyond, makesa picture in which the scale of colour is delightfully
harmonious. The under part of the canopy is plain
and unadorned. Although the interior of the apseis small, it contains a tribune, the steps of which are
covered with plates of lead. The curved wall is
panelled all round to a height of 12 ft., and paintedwith a design in three bands : lowest comes a
sort of diaper filled with ugly flowers; next, six large
figures of saints, three on each side of the central
niche;above in circular medallions are six other
smaller designs, two cherubs and an angel on each side.
A figure of the throned Saviour, inscribed with the
Arabic title'
King of kings,' is frescoed in the niche :
and above it is painted a triptych-shaped fresco 1 of
the seraphim and two angels, one in each of the openleaves. The work in detail has little merit, but the
general effect is rich, especially when merely caughtin glimpses from the nave or choir, as it would be
to all but the priest and the few communicants.
A doorway from the sanctuary southward communi-
cates with the aisle-chapel, which has long been
1 These Coptic wall-paintings are always in distemper, and are
not technically frescoes;but the term is convenient.
62 Ancient Coptic Churches, [CH. n.
disused, and lies in pitch darkness;
it contains a few
decaying and worm-eaten paintings.
From the south end of the choir a door leads into
a long vaulted passage running east and west. At
the east end of the passage is a baptistery, with a
small font arranged in the usual fashion, i. e. a
round cauldron-like stone basin sunk in a bench
of masonry. The whole passage is vaulted, but
the baptistery is lighted by a small, oblong, openshaft of brickwork, quite thirty feet high. Three
old pictures, a small aumbry in the wall for oil
and incense, a bronze cross, and a gospel-stand, are
the only ornaments of this curious dim little recess.
The gospel -stand is a sort of high, four-legged,
oblong table; upon it in the centre a small frame
is nailed, making a lidless box, in which the silver
gospel rests during the baptismal service;and round
the outer edge is another frame, set with prickets for
tapers to give light at the ceremony. Details varya little, but the gospel-stand as here described is as
much an appanage of the baptistery as the lectern
is of the choir in Coptic churches.
Outside the baptistery in the passage one maynotice a rather curious picture of St. John greetingthe child Christ, and then pass on into the light
to the church of the martyr Mari Banai, which lies
to the south of this passage, and is divided by it
from the main building. The arrangement is rather
like that of the chapels of St. John and St. James at
Abu-'s-Sifain : for there are really two chapels side
by side, each chapel consisting of three parts west,
middle, and east or haikal. Each of the west parts is
railed off for the women, and the two are divided
by an open screen ; the haikals are of course shut
CH. ii.] Dair Mari Mtna. 63
out of view entirely by panel screens, and are divided
by a wall. The roofing is low : the west chambers
are covered each with its own groined vaulting ;
while two parallel wagon-vaultings run east and
west over the middle chambers and haikal. Each
chapel then has a single groined vaulting in the
western part, and an unbroken wagon-vaulting over
the middle and eastern parts. Over the haikal this
vaulting springs from the side wall and the partition
wall;thence it is carried on beams laid from the end
of the partition wall to a heavy pier which stands
central for the four remaining contiguous chambers,
and which lends its support also to the two groined
vaultings. One enters into the north-west division,
where there is a picture of the Crucifixion; passing
thence through the screen into the south-west cham-
ber, one sees an ugly piece of modern upholsterycovered with flimsy embroidery the patriarch's chair
a strange contrast to the beautiful Arab thrones
of mushrabiah work still abounding in these churches.
There is nothing else of interest here except a picture
of the patron saint, Mari Banai. He is riding a
prancing horse and balancing a long spear. All
round him in the picture are by-scenes : below in
the right corner a man and woman talking before
a house, with a well between them : possibly Christ
and the woman of Samaria. Above this in the skyis a squadron of Turkish horsemen led by a sultan.
Still higher on the same side is a saint preaching ;
then to the left a man chasing deer with hounds ;
and in the top left corner a woman being crowned
by two ecclesiastics. This picture is dated 1782 A.D.,
and if it may be taken as a fair index to the state of
art at that period, it shows the nadir of decline. The
64 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. n.
drawing is rude and stiff; the colours, though mel-
lowed by time, are vulgar ;the faces are expression-
less, and anatomy is unknown. The two middle
chambers or choir are not separated by a screen ;
they contain together sixteen pictures, most of them
dim with dust and. dirt, some eaten into huge holes
where they are painted on canvas, others on wood
having the surface ploughed up or fretted away byinsects, all presenting a melancholy spectacle of
neglect and forlorn decay. The haikals of course
have the usual hollow stone altar with a loose slab
of wood let into a rectangular depression in the
centre : in one are the remains of a very fine altar-
canopy mouldering fast away. In the spandrels of
this haikal door (the northernmost) is some pretty
inlay work of ivory flowers : and above a curious
little tablet, three inches square, with a design of the
Virgin and Child in mother-of-pearl mosaic. The
design is not very clear, but the Virgin seems to
have open wings drooping. The date of this door
is 1814 A.D., and the work is decidedly inferior
in character.
The whole of this church of Mari Banai is lighted
by square holes in the roof. There is a special
guest-room outside it, which is reached by mountinga short flight of steps to the level of the outer earth
(see plan, p. 48), a low cold stone-vaulted room with
stone benches on three sides, the fourth open. There
is no door, but outside on the right a narrow an-
gular passage leads back to the court-yard before the
door of Mari Mina, enclosing some lumber-rooms, a
sacristy, and perhaps the entrance to the burial vaults.
But instead of returning by the passage one maymount to the left a flight of some twenty stone steps
CH. ii.]Dair Mart Mina. 65
and land upon the roof. Here a strange scene pre-
sents itself. Just in front, i.e. over the chapel of
Mari Banai, is a stone floor hemmed in on three
sides by lofty irregular walls of brick, but open on
the west. Against the walls piled in reckless con-
fusion are broken relics of church furniture, mushra-
blah-work, screens, lecterns, taper-racks and all kinds
of odd timbers : and if these signs were doubtful, a
change in the level of the floor towards the east end
shows plainly enough that one is looking at the
debris of a ruined chapel. It was called the church
of the Virgin. Through an open grating here one
gets a view down into Mari Banai, arid one realizes
the dangers to which pictures and works of art are
exposed from the changes of weather, and the en-
trance of bats and owls. The south and east walls
of this ruined chapel are boundary walls of the whole
dair, and they are finished off upwards in a verycurious and interesting way. Even when the chapelwas entire, the walls rose some way above the roof;
and instead of being capped with coping stones theyhave great pitchers or jars of rather frail red potteryembedded into the masonry and forming a parapet.
From outside one can count as many as six rows,
one above another. The same construction may be
seen at Kasr-ash-Shamm'ah in the Arab masonrybuilt upon the Roman wall where it skirts the gardenof the Jewish synagogue. From within, only two
rows are visible, one above the other ;in some places
only a single row ;and elsewhere the parapet of pots
has fallen. The jars are about 3 ft. high, of course
hollow, and all have a hole broken in the shoulder,
apparently with the design of weakening the resist-
ance. For they are intended as a defence againstVOL. I. F
66 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. n.
secret assaults and were arranged to break and give
the alarm in case a robber or other enemy tried
to scale the walls. At Imarat in Persia, as Mr.
Floyer tells me, walls are sometimes built tapering
to. a thickness of three or four inches at the top,
and a yard from the top are set with a row of sticks
projecting horizontally : any ladder placed against
these would break them and bring down the wall
above.
On the same level with the floor of the ruined
chapel is another chapel, that of Mari Girgis, which
has a flat timber roof rudely painted and blazoned
with stars. Railed off from the nave by a blue
cross-bar screen and running along the north wall
is a narrow baptistery, the font of which lies under
the nave pulpit. It contains a pitcher, cross and
gospel-stand. Two grated openings through the
wall show a view of the ambon in the nave of Mari
Mina below. In a little aumbry in the wall I found
four decayed pictures, one a mere board without a
trace of colour left, one a triptych of the Crucifixion
Christ in the panel and a thief on each door. The
pulpit here is of commonplace design : and all over
the body of the chapel is the usual network of flying
spars or beams for hanging lamps, etc. The choir
is raised two steps above the nave floor : it contains
eight large pictures of small merit, though one is
unusual John the Baptist greeting Christ. Christ
is represented as a child alone in the desert and the
child John is falling and kissing his feet : the absence
of the Virgin is remarkable. The scene too is sur-
rounded by a curious sort of tasteless scroll workembellished with festoons of flowers and fruit,
grapes, roses and strangely enough English blue-
CH.ii.]
Dair Mart Mina. 67
bells : above are two birds and a head wreathed
in a garland of roses. In the air above Christ's
head are five winged cherubs. The style of this
work reminds one of English seventeenth century
painting.
The east end of the chapel contains a sacristyas well as haikal or sanctuary. But the former is
now a mere lumber-room and is fenced off only
by an open screen instead of the high panel-screenthat always veils an altar. The roof is stone wagon-vaulting. A dozen musty pictures hang about the
walls or on shelves : and one or two of them, whichat first looked mere dirty pieces of board, well
repaid the trouble of dusting and washing, and
proved really fine and ancient pictures. On the
floor are tumbled broken planks some with dabs
of colour or fragments of Arabic inscriptions,
candlesticks, an altar-casket, a lectern and one or
two disused coronae of ancient bronze. The latter
are large crowns of pierced metal-work hung bychains ; and though the design is plain and un-
finished in detail, yet one could not help a feelingof anger against the men who could fling such an
ornament into a dark hole full of dust and cob-
webs and could set up in its place a Paris chandelier
with hanging prisms and festoons of glass stars.
The Copts are jealous of their treasures, or jealousof strangers meddling with them
;but they care for
them chiefly as fetishes or relics, objects of supersti-
tious reverence and not of artistic value. In one
corner of this (northern) sanctuary, after a pile of
timber had been removed, I discovered a small door
which led by a short passage into a dark chamberabout 1 2 ft. square lying directly behind the haika!.
F 2
68 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. n.
There were aumbries in the wall which excited
visions of hid treasures, but a short search provedthem empty and desolate. No doubt the placewas built as a strong-room for the church plate ;
but its position behind the main altar is as far as
I know unique, though there is something of the
kind under the tribune steps at Abu Sargah. The
sanctuary has its iconostasis with the conventional
series of seven pictures the Virgin and on each
side three pairs of apostles. The decoration inside
is elaborate and reminds one on a smaller scale of
the haikal at Abu-'s-Sifain. Over the altar is a
delicate little domed baldakyn, not supported on
four pillars, but differing from this arrangement
by resting on a pair of horizontal spars, which run
into the north and south walls. All round the apseis an array of saints blazoned in panels. In the
niche is the figure of Christ robed and throned, and
on the wall above the niche a quaint design of the
Resurrection. Both these paintings and the screen
are rude in style. The Arabic characters over the
doorway are thick and unfinished, and the other
ivory work is clumsy. This is the more disappoint-
ing that the inlaid inscription on the lintel gives a
date corresponding to 1445 A.D. a time when cer-
tainly the arts were flourishing in Egypt although
decay had set in. But we cannot tell how hurriedlythe chapel was built or rebuilt, or what special pres-
sure of war or terror or want may have disabled the
builders from employing the best artists. Moreover
the very date may be misleading ;the work may be
merely an inferior copy of older work, reproducingthe design without the spirit, and renewing the date
as it renewed a cross or a flower. So that in either
CH. ii.]Dair Mart Mlna. 69
case, whether the date be true or false, it is not
of much value in determining the state of art at
any fixed epoch. One is driven more and moreto the conclusion that anything like a history of the
rise and fall of Coptic art is impossible : that the
rise and fall are comparatively short periods of which
little or nothing is known : that between the two
there was no definite progression, no scale of merit
mounting slowly on previous acquirement : but that
at its best, art as it were crystallised into fixed forms,
which were handed down for many centuries with
little loss of excellence. Invention seems to have
ceased early: but taste and skill of execution remained
hereditary.
There are no more chapels attached to Mari
Mina ; but quitting Mari Girgis one may pass across
into one of the three-storied houses which have been
mentioned as forming three sides of the main court-
yard. These houses the old monastic buildings-are all united by corridors and staircases together,and one may wander from floor to floor and house
to house at will. One desolate chamber succeeds
another : the rooms are all bare and empty, un-
garnished and unswept : and that is their normal
state. But at a certain season of the year, at the
festival of Mari Mlna, these cold-looking cells are
thronged with families of pilgrims. Not that the
tenants come generally from any great distance : but
pious people belonging to the dair, or bound by
special ties of gratitude or veneration to its patron
saint, come and dwell here for three or four days to
keep the feast.
Working round from the chapel of Mari Girgison the east side one reaches a balcony on the north
jo Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. n.
side, whence it is only a step on to the roof of
the main building. One sees now that the curved
roof or vaulting of the nave is of brickwork and
the dome also is brick : there is however no clear-
cut design which one can call distinctly the roof.
The general impression despite the nave and the
dome is that of a flat-roofed building : but there is
the usual multitude of little roofs whose many levels
give the chaotic haphazard look peculiar to all Copticchurches seen from above or outside. For it seems
an unvarying canon, that in the outer shell of a
church strength alone was studied, not beauty. But
pass along the dome and stand looking over the
eastern parapet : you will soon cease to think of the
ugliness of your standing-place. In front opens one
of the grandest views in Egypt. At the foot of the
wall lies an old graveyard resting amid ruins : the
tombs are flat, and English in form not of the
Muslim type, which is a sort of stone altar on a
broader base with a short pillar at each end, and
a tree here and there reminds one further of an
English churchyard. Beyond the circuit-wall on
every side stretches or undulates a dark iron-looking
desert, sweeping away in broad levels or rising in
huge mounds, not the mere barren sand or pebbly
plain that makes nature's desert, but a desert of
man's making, a desert formed out of and over the
ruins of a great and ancient city. In a landscape of
this kind there is something even more desolate and
more hopeless than in all the sands of Sahara. Well
in the foreground is a sheet of gleaming water :
round it stand a few stray palms, some of which cast
their shadow on the unbroken azure surface. The
repose and beauty and brightness of this little lake
CH. ii.]Dair Mari Mma. 71
contrast strangely with the sombre melancholy of the
landscape around : one needs not the imagination of
an Arab to picture the banished spirit of the place
brooding on old-world memories in the depths below.
In the plain beyond the lake lies a small walled
village about which are scattered some droopingtamarisks : and the minaret of the mosque of
Zainum al 'Abidin rises picturesquely above the
houses. The background is formed by huge rubbish
mounds high enough to bound the horizon there,
save where a short fall lets in a glimpse of the far
white Mukattam hills and the ancient ruined mosquethat crowns the ridge. To the north the line of
mounds is broken, and gives a view of the grandcitadel of Cairo shining in the sun : near its base
stand the ruined shrines and clustered minarets of
the Mamaluke kings. All the rest of Cairo is shut
out of view, but nothing could be more magnificentthan the part that is seen. Southward again lie
other pools of water and lower rubbish mounds,
beyond which stretches a nearly level plain spanned
by the long low aqueduct. In the far distance the
Mukattam range comes again into view, faint, blue,
and mist-crowned, if the word mist can be used to
denote that faint ethereal splendour in which the
mountain-tops are lost.
But abandoning the view one may notice that the
parapet of pots seems to have gone all round the
church. To the north of the nave roof one looks
down a huge open shaft into a space that was once
the north aisle but is unaccountably walled off the
church, and used it would seem as a mere outhouse
or store for filters and various utensils. Here also is
the oven for baking the korban or eucharistic bread,
72 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. n.
which is always prepared by the sacristan in a place
specially set apart for that purpose somewhere
within the enclosure of the church. The flat roof of
the courtyard buildings is higher than the church roof,
but a scramble up is rewarded only by the discoveryof a small ancient bell hung in a cupola, in which the
ringer stands. Not many of the churches have bells
or any instrument for calling the people to prayer.
The bell here has no date or inscription.
CH. ii.]Dair Mart Mtna. 73
HISTORICAL NOTE ON THE CHURCH OF
MARI MINA.
THE first foundation of this church was probablyin the fourth century, but the solitary notice that I can
find of it is given by Al Makrizi 1 to the effect that
the building was restored in the time of Theodorus
XLV, patriarch about the year 730 A.D. Thesaint belonged to Alexandria and the first church
erected to his memory was nine miles from that city,
at the place where his body is said to have been
discovered. For at his death, according to the
legend, he requested that his body might be placed
upon a camel, and that the beast might be turned
loose into the desert. The story of the finding of
his remains will be given among the legendsrendered from the Synaxar in another part of
this work. There can be no doubt that churches
were dedicated to St. Menas soon after his death in
various parts of Egypt. His shrine near Alexandria
was the resort of pilgrims from all parts of the East,
and a similar pilgrimage is made even now to his
church at Old Cairo. Very early and interestingevidence of his repute is afforded by the small
bottles or cruses of grey earthenware which are
found in large quantities at Alexandria and else-
where. They are about four to six inches in heightwith flat circular body, neck, and double handle
joining neck and body. These flasks are meant to
1
History of the Copts, translated from the Arabic by Rev. S. C.
Malan, p. 77.
74 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. n.
be carried by strings as they will not remain uprightunless suspended. The body has generally the
figure of Mari Mina with arms outstretched in
prayer : low down on either side a camel or some
other animal is represented, and higher up are two
or three small Greek crosses. Sometimes, but not
always, a Greek inscription is also found, either
EVLOTIA TOY ATIOV MHNA or simply TOY AHOYMHNA or O ATIOC MHNAC 1
. The whole of the work is
in low relief and surrounded by a circular moulding.The British Museum and most of the continental
museums contain examples of these pilgrim bottles,
which may have been used as chrismatories 2. Two
in my possession have no inscription, but a double
circular moulding with a band of small pellets
between them.
1 Menas or JULHItA. was a common Coptic name in the fourth
century.2
v. De Rossi, Bulletino di Archaeologia Cnstiana, 1869, p. 31,
32, and 1872, pp. 25-30, where cuts are given.
CHAPTER III.
Dair Abn-s-Sifain
The Church of Abu-s-Sifain. The Nunnery called Dair al Bandt.-
The Church ofAnba Shanudah. The Church of Sitt Mariam,
A L F a mile beyond Mari Mlna lies the
walled enclosure or dair of Abu-'s-Sifain;
so called after the principal though not
the most ancient church within it. The
high straggling windowless walls, propped
by rude buttresses, give this dair a picturesquelook on all sides
;but the best view is from the
south, where, above the varied lines of wall, clusters
of palm are seen waving and half-concealing the
white domes of the churches. The dair is only about
a furlong in diameter : yet it contains the three
churches of Al 'Adra, Anba Shanudah, and Abu-'s-
Sifain, besides the nunnery called Dair al Banat.
At the low square doorway of the enclosure one
sees, swung back on its hinges, a ponderous door,
plated with bands of iron and studded over with
flattened bolt-heads. This iron casing stands out
six inches from the wooden frame or backing, and
fits closely into the doorway. A short dim passageleads by a turn to the left to Al Adra : straight on-
j6 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH.HI.
wards it emerges from a sort of tunnel into a street
about eighty yards long, on one side of which are
high dwelling-houses, on the other the churches of
Anba Shanudah and Abu-'s-Sifain separated by the
ruins of an early mosque, the kiblah or eastern
recess of which is still visible.
The church of Abu-'s-Sifain dates from the tenth
century ;it is dedicated to St. Mercurius, who in
Coptic paintings is represented as brandishing a
sword in each hand over his fallen foe, the heathen
king Julianus, and who is hence called in the vulgar
Abu-'s-Sifain, i. e.'
the Father of Two Swords V or'
the Master of Two Swords.' The legend of St. Mer-
curius and the legend of the building of the church
will be found elsewhere.
The western fa9ade aligning the street is built of
small dark-coloured brick, and has no windows or
pretence of ornament except six little oriels from
the west triforium, which are covered with wood-work
at a distance of twenty feet from the ground. The
single door now existing is at the north aisle en-
trance : it is sheeted with iron, but quite modern;in
fact, the doorway has been squared and enlargedwithin the last ten years. The ancient door was
plated with crocodile scales, and part of it lies nowin the narthex of the church, though scarcely a shred
of the scales remains.
1 The Arabic 'abu' often denotes a mere quality or characteristic:
thus the Spanish dollar is called, from the pillars figured on it, 'abu
madfa/i.e. the cannon piece: so a butterfly is called 'abu dakik,'
or 'master of flour,' from the dust on its wings. The term is,
however, sometimes used as a prefix to the names of saints or other
worthies, in its literal sense of'
father.'
CH. in.] Dair Abu-s-Sifain. 77
The church is an oblong building, roughly about
ninety feet long and fifty broad, but beset on the
north side with various irregular chapels. Thenorthern aisle is cut off from the body of the church,
and serves merely as a passage. Just inside the
doorway a space with a groined vaulting forms a sort
of porch, northwards of which a door opens to the
mandarah or guest-room, where worshippers meet
after the service, talk, smoke, and take coffee toge-ther. Half of the guest-room is open to the sky,
half roofed by cloven palm-trunks, over which are
laid loose pieces of board, wattled palm-sticks, &c.
Round the walls are ranged some old benches : over-
head is the chapel of St. Mary of which hereafter.
It should be noticed that the guest-room lies outside
the shell of the church. In the porch itself is another
bench, and on the left the patriarchal throne, the highchair of lattice-work found in all Coptic churches. Alittle further on in the passage, still on the left, are
seen double doors of open woodwork and above
them a rude painting of an ancient anchorite. This
is Barsum al 'Arian, and these are the doors at the
head of a short steep staircase of stone by which
one descends to his shrine a small dark under-
ground chapel. The chamber, roughly about ten
feet square, is vaulted and the walls cemented, but
the water oozes in when the Nile rises. There is
no ornament of any kind, not even a niche east-
ward; the altar stands in the centre of the little
chapel ;it is of stone, but the altar-board is square
instead of oblong as usual. The priest told methat Barsum lived 400 years ago, that he aban-
doned great riches to become a hermit, and passed
eighteen years on the roof of Abu-'s-Sifain without
78 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
shelter from the sun. He seems to have dug some
sort of cave, where his shrine now is. after this
period of exposure. Once a year a service is still
held in the chapel, and sick people resort there
with faith in the healing virtues of the altar which
probably encloses the saints' relics. This chapelcan hardly perhaps be called a crypt or confes-
sionary, because it lies outside the church walls,
and is also much later in date than the high altar,
from which it is far removed in position also : but
it is remarkable owing to the great rarity of subter-
ranean altars in the churches of Egypt.
A.J.K. GROUND PLAN
Fig. 3. The church of Abu-'s-Sifain, and the several adjoining chapels.
General Description. The church is built of
small greyish brick, with scarcely a trace of stone-
work, but the pendentives of the large dome are
fashioned of stone, and marble is used for inner
CH. in.] Dair Abu- s-Sifain . 79
decoration. Abu-'s-Sifain is distinguished from
other churches by the absence of pillars. Theaisles and narthex are marked off from the nave
by enormous piers instead of by columns, and the
inner walls of the triforium are not broken by baysor relieved by pillars. The reason for this pecu-
liarity is simple : the church was built in the tenth
century a period when the wrecks of Greek and
Roman temples and palaces had vanished.
Of these piers the two eastward and the two
westward are extremely massive. The former helpto uphold a large and lofty dome which covers the
haikal and choir. Halfway down the church, on either
side, is a pair of heavy oblong piers close together,
and each side of the pair a smaller pier. Advantageis taken of these piers to curve the walls on the
north and south each into two wide and lofty arched
recesses. The western or narthex wall remains
straight, but is lightened by three pointed-arched
openings covered with wooden grills.
Above the aisles and the narthex the usual
gallery or triforium runs round the body of the
church, and is divided into various corridors and
chapels. Only from one or two points can even
a narrow glimpse be seen of the church below;a
fact which unquestionably indicates that at the date
of building women were allowed to worship in the
body of the church and were not consigned to the
gallery. For the present division of the nave into
men's section and women's section is clearly un-
altered from the original arrangement ;whereas in
older churches, such as Abu Sargah, the nave-
screens formed no part of the builder's plan, but
were added as the custom arose for women to
8o Ancient Coptic Churches.[C-H. m.
attend service in the nave. The men's section of
course lies eastward of the two; beyond is the choir,
and then the haikal.
The choir is only about eight feet long and the
same width as the nave, thirty feet. Southward it
is walled off from a baptistery which lies at the end
of the aisle and may be entered by a door from the
choir ; northward a wing-wall, thrown out from the
main pier, half divides it from a low dark chamber
which forms a kind of choir to the northern aisle-
chapel. This chamber is really part and parcel of
the north aisle which, as was mentioned, is severed
from the church.
The haikal is apsidal and has a very perfect
tribune. There were, I think, originally two other
apses. The northern aisle-chapel is not rounded,
but the eastern wall may have been straightenedwhen the exterior chapels were added on. There
is, strangely enough, no southern aisle-chapel ;the
east wall of the aisle, against which the font is
placed, aligns with the haikal-screen;
but there
must be a blocked chapel or space of some kind
behind it, because the triforium above projects
eastward beyond it and ends in an apse. It is
almost certain therefore that there was an apsebelow on the ground floor
;and the south aisle,
like the north, terminated in a chapel.
The western wall shows no sign of having been
pierced with three doorways : but it is said to have
been rebuilt probably in turbulent times, when it
was felt that a triple entrance seriously weakened
the defensive powers of the fabric.
The nave is covered with a pointed wooden roof,
of the kind known as a '
pair of principals.' It has
OH. in.] Dair Abu-s-Sifain. 81
tie-beam and collar-beam, king-post and queen-
posts, which are held together by braces, struts,
and straining-piece. The peculiarity is that the
small rafters run longitudinally : there are no pur-lins. The triforium is flat-roofed.
Details. It will be convenient to take the details
in the following order : i. narthex : ii. women's sec-
tion : iii. men's section : iv. choir and choir north :
v. north aisle-chapel : vi. haikal : vii. south aisle.
i. The narthex is a gloomy place unillumined
by a single window, and unless it had originally a
western entrance, it can have been designed for use
only at the Epiphany ceremony. The tank still
remains, but the custom of plunging in the waters
has been for some years abolished. The old door-
leaves, once plated with crocodile scales, which now lie
on the ground there have been already mentioned.
Here too may be seen lying part of a white marble
column with an Arabic version of the Trisagionthe legend that is printed on the eucharistic bread-
sculptured in high relief. The original place and
purpose of the column are not known;but as the
writing is ordinary Arabic, not Cufic, it can scarcely
be coeval with the church.
ii. The entry for worshippers is by a door between
the outer passage and the women's section. In the
middle of the floor is a small tank, edged with
marble, where, following the ancient usage, the
priest once a year, after the consecration of the holy
oils, washes the feet of sundry poor folk. On the
walls hang five pictures. Of the three on the narthex
wall, one in the centre, representing the Baptism of
Christ, is old and interesting. The perspective is
rude, and the river, full of the conventional fishes, is
VOL. 1. G
82 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
shown in section half-submerging the figure of our
Lord;but the faces are well drawn and expressive.
The paintings of St. Michael and St. Menas, on the
same wall, are very poor. The other two subjects
face each other on opposite piers near the screen.
On the north side is the Coronation of the Virgin.This picture is mounted in a frame which holds it six
inches clear of the wall;before it is fixed a little
beam set with a row of prickets for candles. The
Virgin is a three-quarter length figure, robed in a
dark mantle that forms a hood over the head. In
front a dim red dress shows under the mantle, but
both are thickly covered with golden stars, or rather
star-like crosses. The child is held on the left arm,
the Virgin's fore-arm falling, and the hands crossingat the wrist. A flying angel at each side above is
holding a golden crown;and six cherub-faces peer
dimly from the gold background round the head and
shoulders. The Virgin has a fixed look, perhapstoo apathetic to be called pensive. Still, the pictureis pleasing, and recalls Albert Durer's treatment of
the same subject. The Arabic title upon it runs as
follows :
' Peace on Mary, the Mother of our Lord
Jesus.' It may be noticed that even Muslim writers,
when they have occasion to mention Christ or Mary,add after the name,
' on whom be peace.' The other
painting represents one St. Kultah, apparently a
notable physician. In his right hand he holds
a wand pointing to a casket in his left hand;the
lid of the casket is raised, and shows six little com-
partments for drugs. On the dexter side in mid air
is a fine gold cross;on the sinister a long gold staff
or crozier. Many of the patriarchs were renowned
for their skill in medicine.
CH. in.] Dair Abu-s-Sifain. 83
Abu-'s-Sifain is so very rich in pictures that I
think it worth while to give a complete list of themas they stand, choosing the more remarkable for
special description.
iii. Passing now from the bare and cold division
for the women, one is at once struck by the magnifi-c^nce of ornament lavished on the men's section.
The screen between the two is heavy, and of plain
bar-work, but the spandrels of the screen-door are
very delicately carved, and very beautiful. But the
screen between the men's section and the choir the
choir-screen is a most superb and sumptuous pieceof work. It is a solid partition of ebony, inlaid with
carved ivories of the most exquisite workmanship.The south side of this section, and the north side
from the women's screen to the ambon, or pulpit,
are also bounded by lofty screens. The result is a
beautiful chamber, thirty-one feet long and twenty-three broad, shut in on all sides with screens. Acontinuous band of little pictures mounted on the
screens runs round the chamber ;and other pictures
are set above and below, save when the line is
broken for about twelve feet by the ambon, which
stands at the north-east of the nave.
At the south-west corner of the men's section,
whence it is well to start, a little room that is railed
off and placed between two piers is used as a sacristy.
Here the principal vestments are kept. Between
this and the ambon comes the shrine of Abu-'s-
Sifain, an arched recess of gaudily painted wood-
work. The top is square, and mounted with gilt
plates of pierced metal-work. In front hangs a cur-
tain of the silk and velvet tissue once woven at
Rosetta. The whole reminds one of a small theatre,
G 2
84 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
or peep-show. At the back of the recess is the pic-
ture of St. Mercurius slaying Julian like the shrine,
a poor performance. A metal glory has been nailed
over the head of the saint. Under the picture is a
locker containing relics of St. Mercurius enclosed in
the usual silk bolster. A small pendant lamp burns
before the shrine, and there stands also on the
ground a very curious and ancient candlestick of
iron, with three prickets. The shrine is quite
recent, and unfortunately obscures part of the
ambon. Many chains for lamps hang from the roof,
but are used only at great festivals.
The ambon is built of marble. At the foot of
the choir-screen lies a narrow stone platform, pro-
bably the solea. Thence a staircase leads througha carved doorway, with lintel and posts of marble,
up to the ambon. This consists, as at Mari Mina,of a balcony and pulpit proper. The balcony is
faced with an oblong panel inlaid with the most
beautiful and elaborate marble mosaic. On each
side of the panel is a little pillar of white marble,
sculptured with scroll-work, and finished with an
oval cap. Along the top of the panel and down the
balustrade runs a broken Coptic inscription carved
in high relief. The pulpit proper is circular, andset round with five semi-columns alternated with
wedge-shaped projections. These pillars and wedgesare covered with a minute mosaic of coloured marble
and shell-pearl ;but the full arrangement can only
be seen from inside the pulpit, because three of the
pillars and three of the wedges are quite hidden bythe shrine, which is thrust up against the ambon.
Behind the ambon, the arched recess, across the
chord of which it stands, is filled up nearly to the
A. J. BUTLER.
ELEVATION.
i I
PLAN.
_ a
SCALE Of fCT.
g. 4 Marble Ambon at Abu-'s-Sifain (tenlli century).
86 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH.IH.
level of the pulpit-top with a platform of masonry,beneath which are said to rest the remains of a
patriarch. There is of course no inscription to
record the name.
On the south side of this section is a solid wooden
partition, drawn in front of and therefore hiding the
somewhat ungainly piers. Most of this partition is
occupied by three arched recesses of carved and
painted woodwork, decked with small pillars at the
corners. In the back of each recess is a picture
Elias, Barsum al Arian and between them a curious
painting of the Virgin in triumph. She occupies a
small arched panel in the centre of the piece, and
round it twenty small oblong panels are marked off
by lines of colour. She is seated on a high-backed
Byzantine-looking throne, holding a cross in her right
hand and a palm in her left. Over her head are two
flying angels, one carrying a cross, the other a palm,and above the angels in the middle is a wingedcherub-head. Each of the twenty small panels con-
tains two half-length figures of angels robed and
crowned;and every figure carries a cross and a
palm-branch sloped together so as to touch over the
angel's breast. The ground of the whole picture is
gold, but the Arabic date proves that it is nineteenth-
century work.
The choir-screen is worth a journey to Egypt to
see. It is a massive partition of ebony, divided into
three large panels doorway and two side panelswhich are framed in masonry. At each side of the
doorway is a square pillar, plastered and painted ;on
the left is portrayed the Crucifixion, and over it the
sun shining full;on the right, the Taking down from
the Cross, and over it the sun eclipsed. Each of the
CH. in.] Dair Abu-s-Sifain. 87
three panels is about six feet wide and eight high.In the centre a double door, opening choirwards, is
covered with elaborate mouldings, enclosing ivorycrosses carved in high relief. All round the framingof the doors tablets of solid ivory chased with
arabesques are inlet, and the topmost part of each
panel is marked off for an even richer display of
chased tablets and crosses. Each of the side-panelsof the screen is one mass of superbly cut crosses of
ivory, inlaid in even lines, so as to form a kind of
broken trellis-work in the ebony background. The
spaces between the crosses are filled with little
squares, pentagons, hexagons, and other figures of
ivory, variously designed, and chiselled with ex-
quisite skill. This order is only broken in the
centre of the panel, where a small sliding window,fourteen inches square, is fitted
;on the slide a
single large cross is inlaid, above and below which
is an ivory tablet containing an Arabic inscription
interlaced with scroll-work. In these ivories there
is no through-carving ;the block is first shaped
in the form required cross, square, or the like ;
next, the design is chased in high relief, retainingthe ivory ground and a raised border
;and the piece
is then set in the woodwork and framed round with
mouldings of ebony, or ebony and ivory alternately.
It is difficult to give any idea of the extraordinaryrichness and delicacy of the details or the splendourof the whole effect. The priest told me that this
screen was 953 years old, i. e. dates from 927 A. D.,
which seems to be the year of the church's founda-
tion. The tradition is doubtless right : work of
exactly the same style may be seen on the mumbarat the mosque of Ibn Tulun, built in 879 A.D. Many
Fig. 5. Blocks of solid ivory carved in relief: from the choir-screen at Abu-'s-Sifain (tenth century'.
CH. in.] Dair Abu-s-Sifain. 89
of the designs there are absolutely identical with
those at Abu-'s-Sifain, though neglect and exposurehave half ruined them. It may be remarked that
the Ibn Tulun was built by a Copt.Over the doorway of the screen a small beam
projects on brackets;
it was meant to uphold a
curtain, no longer used, and is painted with a Coptictext too dim to be decipherable. The screen is
carried upwards flush with the masonry setting or
framing of the large panels by some beautiful
woodwork which serves as mounting for a greatnumber of pictures. First comes a band of goldentexts with large letters carved in relief on the
dexter side Coptic and on the other Arabic writing ;
then a row of small pictures set in a continuous
framing or arcading of woodwork;above this a
second band of golden texts in Coptic and Arabic;
then twelve small painted beams, projecting about
a cubit and fitted each with an iron ring long dis-
used but meant to hold a pendant lamp. Above the
beams a third band of golden letters all Arabic;
and lastly, a row of eleven separate large pictures.
The series of large pictures is continued round
nearly the length of the south wall;while the series
of little pictures runs between its bands of goldentexts without change or break all along the four
sides of the men's section, stopping only at the
shrine of Abu-'s-Sifain by the pulpit.
To take the upper row first. Each picture is
about 30 in. by so. In the centre is Christ, robed
with cross-embroidered pall and dalmatic. The right
hand is uplifted in the attitude of benediction : in the
left hand is a book of the gospels drooping down-
wards. The type of countenance with small oval
QO Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
outline, arched eyebrows, and short pointed beard,
is unusual and scarcely eastern. All the figures
in this series are three-quarter length : those at the
side all turn toward the central figure, but show
nearly full face. The features are bold, powerful,and dignified, but decidedly Jewish in cast. The
subjects are : (i) St. Paul, (2) St. Peter, (3) St. John,
(4) The Angel Michael, (5) The Virgin, (6) Christ,
(7) John the Baptist, (8) The Angel Gabriel, (9) St.
Matthew, (10) St. Mark, (n) St. Luke. All the
figures are nimbed and carry open gospels, exceptthe Virgin, the two angels, and St. Peter, who bears
instead two long golden keys. The picture of Gabriel
is exceptional. The angel's right hand is uplifted,
palm outwards ;in the left are two large lilies, which
part at a wide angle from his hand;the lilies blos-
soming with red and white flowers, alternated on
each side of the stalk and divided by leaves, are
rendered with exquisite colouring.On the south side are nine pictures of the same
series. Here also the central figure is Christ, and
the others face towards it. They are : (i) St. James,
(2) Thaddaeus, (3) Simon the Canaanite, (4) St.
Michael, (5) Christ with glory lettered &Nyi.e. o &v
' The Being,' or,' He that Is.' This title is common
in the Greek Church, but according to the' Guide
to Painting' an ancient MS. brought by Didron
from Mount Athos it should be used only for the
Trinity. The Copts, however, while they rarely
if ever represent the Father, ascribe all his attri-
butes to the Son. (6) St. James, Son of Alphaeus,
(7) St. Gabriel, (8) St. Andrew, (9) St. Jude.Here the series ceases, but in the same line,
between St. Jude and the western screen, is a panel
CH. in.] Dair Abu-s-Sifain. 91
5 ft. long and i ft. high, containing seven half-figures
of saints on a gold background, each in its owndivision.
Of the under row or small pictures running all
round the men's section there are no less than 65,
all on a gold ground; viz. 21 on the east screen,
20 on the south screen, 1 7 on the west screen, 7 on
the north wall. Starting from the north end of the
choir-screen they are as follows :
1. The Annunciation. The angel is crossing a
courtyard to the Virgin, who stands facingthe spectator ;
she has risen from a bench
and is lifting her right hand in a deprecatingattitude.
2. The Nativity. In the foreground is a kind of
cradle or crib into which two oxen are gazingas the child is being taken out of it. Farther
back the Virgin is seen sitting up in a kind
of couch;
the child, wound arms, legs and
body with a mummy-like swathing, lies on
his back at a little distance above the Virginin mid-air. At the sides and in the back-
ground crowned kings are kneeling and
offering vessels of gold and silver.
3. The Presentation in the Temple. In the
background is a red-coloured altar-canopy.
4. The Flight into Egypt.
5. The Resurrection of Lazarus. A very curi-
ous painting. Lazarus is standing uprightswathed from head to foot in bands of linen
like a mummy, while over his head and fall-
ing behind is a dark heavy robe which forms
a head-dress or hood, precisely like the
arrangement seen on mummy-cases. Two
92 Ancient Coptic Churches. [C H. m.
men are represented unwinding the strips
of linen.
It is quite probable that ancient Egyptian forms
of burial survived among wealthy people even into
Christian times, though nothing of the kind is
known now 1
;and it is very singular to remark
that the same kind of wrapping is common in early
Italian frescoes or paintings in the late third and
following centuries-. It may be seen, if I remember
rightly, in the mosaics of the porch of St. Mark's
at Venice;and the
' swathed mummy-like figures of
Christ' found in early Celtic work are quoted, though
wrongly, by Mr. Warren in distinctive evidence
of a connexion between the Celtic and eastern
Churches 3.
6. The Marriage at Cana.
7. The Baptism of Christ.
1
Embalming was still common as late as the middle of the
fourth century : for we read that St. Antony's dread of the process
was the chief reason why his followers concealed the place of his
burial. But the whole subject of the transition from ancient
P^gyptian to Christian rites awaits investigation.
The Mohammedan custom as described to me by a native,
and as I have witnessed it, is to lay the body on a white shroud
which is then loosely folded over it. Round this a winding-sheetis wrapped, of a material varying with the wealth of the deceased's
family : rich people use silk, and red silk for a maiden. Three
loose bands are then tied round the sheet one at the neck, one
at the waist, and one at the knees or feet. When the body is
placed in the tomb these bands are further loosened or removed.
The present Coptic custom is to dress the deceased in his best
dress, and to lay over this a sheet of cloth, silk, or cashmere.
They do not swathe the body in bands, and they use a coffin.2 Roma Sotteranea, vol. ii. p. 99.3
Liturgy and Ritual of the Celtic Church, p. 51.
CH. in.] Dair Abu-s-Sifain. 93
8. The Transfiguration.
9. Christ and the Eleven;
the Temple in the
background is represented by a stiff" Byzan-tine building with three domes and oblongwindows.
10. Christ blessing two children.
11. (Centre) The Resurrection. Christ standingon the tomb and holding a flag of victory ;
at each side an angel sitting.
12. The Crucifixion.
13. The Last Supper.
14. The Entry into Jerusalem.
15. Christ in Glory, or the Transfiguration. Anaureole with rays, and at the four corners
the apocalyptic symbols. This somewhatresembles a fresco in the apse of the crypt of
the cathedral at Auxerre twelfth century1
.
1 6. The Ascension. Christ in an azure medallion
upheld by two flying angels ;the disciples
below gazing upwards.'
i 7. Christ with a boy who carries balanced on his
head a sort of cradle surrounded by an open
railing. The subject is doubtful, but it maybe the sick of the palsy carrying his bed, our
Lord being drawn on a larger scale, as was
the custom sometimes in the West.
1 8. The woman of Samaria. In the foregroundis the well with a coping round it. A hori-
zontal rope slung between two tree-tops up-holds another rope from which the pitcher
hangs by a pulley. One of the trees is
beside the well, the other behind in the
1 Didron's Christian Iconography, tr. by Millington, vol. i. p. 108.
94 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
distance, so that a line joining them would
pass nowhere near the well. The trees are
large sycamores, but bend under the strain
of the rope. Perspective is not much re-
garded in these pictures.
19. Christ healing the blind and halt. The manis kneeling and our Lord touching his eyes.
20. Christ and the man who ' had great posses-sions.' The latter wears a crown.
21. Christ raising the widow of Main's son. The
body lies on its back and is being carried
head foremost on a bier with four corner-
poles. The body is swathed in the same
mummy-like fashion as Lazarus in (5).
This ends the pictures over the choir-screen,
eastern side. The following twenty on the south
side are chiefly Old Testament subjects :
22. The Three Children in the furnace. Towardsthe top of the picture in the background is
a golden image, and each side of it a man
falling in worship. In the foreground to the
left is Nebuchadnezzar crowned and robed
in ermine;to the right is a dome-shaped
furnace of brick, one side of which is broken
open ;it resembles the ordinary lime-kiln
of the country. Flames issue from the top ;
inside are the three children, and with theman angel.
23. Moses and the burning bush. The painter
clearly had no idea of a bush or thicket,
(cf. No. 33 infra), only of trees with bare
trunks and branches above. So he repre-
sents a group of sycamores with their topsalone on fire and their stems showing under-
CH. in.] Dair Abu-s-Sifain. 95
neath. An angel leans out of the flames
looking downwards. From the left of the
picture a piece of ruined wall projects with-
out apparent purpose.
24. Ascent of Elijah.
25. David bringing the Ark from the house of
Obed-edom. David in front is playing the
harp ;behind him walk a man playing a
lute (the Arab 'add) and some other figures.
The Ark is a large coffer on wheels drawn
by oxen; soldiers bring up the rear.
26. Jonah being cast up by the fish.
27. Jacob's Vision. A short Arab ladder restingon low clouds
;one angel ascending, one
descending.28. The angel appearing to Zacharias in the
Temple. The Temple is represented by a
short arcade in the background ;Zacharias
is robed as priest and swinging a thurible.
29. The miracle of the loaves and fishes.
30. The finding of Moses. In the background are
shown the Pyramids, and a sort of castellated
wall runs up to them from near the river. Pha-
raoh's daughter has ridden down on a hand-
some donkey.
31. The meeting of Mary and Elizabeth.
32. Christ at Bethany. Arab spoons and tumblers
are on the table, and beside it an Arab ewer
and basin for hand-washing.
33. The sacrifice of Isaac. The ram '
caught in
a thicket' is shown hung in mid-air by his
horns to the top of a tree which has no lower
branches. Yet the ram is nearly as large as
the tree.
96 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
34. The Ark resting upon Mount Ararat. TheArk is on a slope and shored up by wooden
props ;a raised causeway of wood leads up
to it. Noah and animals in the foreground.o
35. Pharaoh and his host overwhelmed in the
Red Sea. . Heads of men and spear-topsare showing between all the waves. Pha-
raoh's chariot is on the water but sinking.
36. Samuel anointing Saul.
37. Isaiah. An angel flying above a flaming altar
holds between a pair of tongs a live coal
with which he is touching the prophet's lips.
38. Moses on Sinai receiving the tables of the law
from a cloud.
39. Aaron in the Tabernacle. With both hands
he is swinging a thurible hanging by three
chains;
in his right hand he holds a branch,
like olive, budding ;on the altar is a book
with golden clasps and a pair of goldencandlesticks.
I have never seen a Coptic book with clasps ;the
altar books are always sealed in metal cases. Pro-
bably clasps are earlier.
40. Peter walking on the water,
41. Peter receiving the keys.
The seventeen pictures on the west side are these :
42. The Temptation of Christ. The devil in goldenair is flying away from the mountain.
43. The devil being cast out of Mary Magdalene.
44. The man with a withered hand.
45. The healing of the lame man(?).
46. The sick of the palsy. He is being let down,not through a roof, but from the housetopinto an open courtyard.
CH. in.] Daiv Abu-s-Sifain. 97
47. Mary anointing Christ's feet.
48. Christ arguing with the doctors.
49. The healing of the man whom Satan had bound
thirty-eight years.
50. The Crucifixion. The cross stands between
two heavy Byzantine buildings.
51. The Syro-Phoenician woman.
52. Christ casting out a devil.
53. Christ cursing the fig-tree.
54. Christ on the sea of Tiberias rebuking the
storm.'
Peace, be still.'
55. Christ asleep in the storm. 'Save us: we
perish.'
56. Christ and the disciples walking through the
cornfields.
57. The woman with the issue of blood.
58. The raising of Jairus' daughter.There remain on the north side seven of the same
series :
59. The widow casting her two mites into the
Treasury.60. The man among the tombs from whom Christ
is casting out a devil.
6 1 . The healing of the centurion's servant.
62. Constantine.
63. A plain white cross of Greek form.
64. Helena.
65. Christ sending forth the Apostles.The figures of Constantine and Helena, and the
cross between them, commemorate of course the
finding of the cross. The legend is well told in
Curzon's Monasteries 1. The emperor and empress
1 Monasteries of the Levant, p. 164.
VOL. I. II
98 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
are both crowned and robed in sacerdotal vest-
ments chasuble, dalmatic, alb, and stole. Thestole is the single epitrachelion and hangs between
chasuble and dalmatic. The dalmatic is short,
reaching only a little below the waist ; it is cut
so as to leave a curve at the bottom : the chasuble
also has a very short curve in front, but seems to
be very full behind and at the sides.
This ends the somewhat lengthy catalogue of
pictures in the men's section. They were perhaps
painted in the fifteenth and sixteenth century, but
the date must be quite conjectural. In drawingand perspective they are very rude if closely ex-
amined, but seen, as they are meant to be seen,
at a distance they have their own enchantment.
The colours are very soft and harmonious, and the
figures have all a freedom and even grandeur of
outline that redeems the want of technical finish.
The whole tone is one of unmistakable splendour ;
and the contrast between the dark screen below,
starred over with ivory crosses, and the space above
divided by bands of golden writing and set with
panels in which haloed saints and sacred scenes
glow under golden skies, is something admirable
and delightful. And when in olden times the twelve
silver lamps that hung before the screen were burn-
ing at night and throwing a mellow light upon it,
the beauty and richness of the view with all its
sacred memories and suggestions must have deeplymoved the worshippers, and helped, with the odour
of frankincense and the sound of chaunt and cymbals,to create an impression of ritual splendour now quite
unrivalled.
iv. The choir is raised 2 ft. above the nave, and
CH. HI.] Dair Abu-s-Sifain. 99
is very long from north, to south but narrow.
Passing inside, one remarks that the inner as well
as the outer face of the screen is inlaid with
ivory : and a bridge of masonry, invisible from the
nave, is seen to join the two great piers between
which the screen stands, and from which the wide
dome springs to cover the choir and apse. This
bridge (about 2 ft. high) is lightened by five drop-arched openings, on the spandrels of which six-wingedcherubim are painted in dusky red colours. On this
side of the screen too are many pictures and some
Coptic writing.
The lectern which stands in the centre of the
choir is quite plain, adorned only with geometrical
mouldings. A fifteenth century book of prayers
lying upon it has some good illuminations. The tall
standard bronze candlestick beside the lectern, and
the silver censer hanging on the candlestick, are both
ancient and fine pieces of work. Several silver
lamps, lamps of plain glass, and silver-mounted
ostrich eggs depend from a lofty beam before the
haikal-screen.
The centre part of this, the iconostasis, resembles
in style the choir-screen, and is doubtless of the same
period. It is made of ebony inlaid with thin plates
of ivory variously shaped and carved in relief, and
with carved blocks of ebony marked off by ivoryborders. The side-pieces are of a lighter-coloured
wood, perhaps cedar, inlaid with crosses and other
patterns of plain flat ivory. All the doors however
there is one on each side of the haikal-door are very
fine, having their spandrels inlaid with flowers. More-
over at each side of the haikal door is a little square
slide-window, as in the choir-screen. A silk curtain
H 2
SCALE Of FECT
Fig. 6. Ivory-inlaid doorway of the Haikal at Abu-'s-Sifain.
(Designs in geometrical mouldings merely indicated : design of framing facsimile).
CH. in.] Dair Abu-s~Sifain. 101
embroidered with a gold cross hangs before the
entrance : just over it is a splendid ivory cross inlaid,
and on each side of the cross a superb panel of open
ebony carving. The screen of course ends upwardswith a row of pictures. The central doorway closes
by folding doors beautifully inlaid : on each is a de-
licate bronze knocker, a ring resting on a scutcheon
with open work above and below and shapely bosses.
The horse-shoe arch of the doorway is followed
round by a sort of baluster pattern in ivory : each
spandrel is inlaid with an eight-branched flower
springing from a vase and curving towards the
centre, where a dove meets it. The vacant spacesare filled with stars, and at each corner is a tablet
with an inlaid inscription of dedication in Arabic
the usual'
Reward, O Lord.' Across the lintel is
a band with Coptic writing inlaid on the dexter,
and Arabic on the other side. The Coptic means'
Glory to God in the highest/ while the Arabic
is a verse from the psalms,'
Lift up, O kings, your
gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors.'
Exactly the same variation from the better known
rendering occurs in the Ecgbert Pontifical 1. The
illustration will give some idea of this beautiful
door.
The choir is strewn with Turkey and Persian
carpets much worn. Round the walls on shelves
are a number of pictures.
i. On the north pier but facing south the twenty-four priests of the Levitical courses : the
figures are painted in two rows of twelve,
one above the other, on a gold ground.
1
Ecgbert Pontifical, ed. Surtees Society, p. 31.
IO2 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
On the back of the choir-screen are these :
2. The Three Children in the burning fiery
furnace. Christ is seated blowing on the
fire to quench it.
3. John the Baptist's head being brought to Herod
on a charger.
4. St. George and the Dragon.
5. The anchorites St. Antony and St. Paul.
6 and 7. St. George and the Dragon.8. Abu Iskharun a native saint as indicated by
the camels in the scene. In the backgroundof this picture is a church or chapel like a
doll's house with open doors. On the groundfloor inside are six little figures standingin a row : in the upper story an altar is
seen with the area or altar-casket upon it,
two golden candlesticks and three goldenthuribles.
The average size of the above paintings is 30 in.
by 20.
This brings us to the doorway of the screen, over
which are three glazed pictures the only glazed
pictures I have seen in a Coptic church set in a
single frame. They are about 10 in. by 7, and
represent
9. The angel Michael triumphing over Death.
Death is a bearded man lying with closed
eyes and resting his head on a pillow. The
angel is standing upon him.
10. The Baptism of Christ,
n. St. Mark.
The glass of the two latter was so dingy that I
could not distinguish them, but took the titles on
trust from the priest.
CH. III.] Dair Abn-s-Sifain. 103
Thence the larger series continues :
1 2. Mary and Martha, both full-face. Mary in her
left hand carries a palm-branch with which
she touches Martha's right.
13. Abu-'s-Sifain and his father.
14. Mary finding Christ among the doctors. Silver
crescents are nailed on for o-lories.o
15. St. Julius.
1 6. St. Stephen (?) crowned, swinging a thurible
in his right hand and carrying a model of a
church in his left.
17. St. James the martyr.1 8. Anba Ruais : a Coptic martyr. There is a
church dedicated to him at the Coptic ceme-
tery near the 'Abbasiah road, Cairo.
On the south wall of the choir are three :
19. Anba Barsum al 'Arian.
20. Baptism of Christ.
2 i. Virgin and Child.
22 30. The icons or pictures over the haikal-
screen are no less than twenty-nine in number, all
about 10 in. by 7. Over the central part, i.e. before
the high altar, are nine three panels each with
three arches.
In the middle is the Virgin and Child, i" : on each
side of her an angel, 2 : under each of the remain-
ing six arches are two apostles, 3 5. The icons
therefore consist of Christ and his Mother, two
angels, and the twelve apostles.
io4 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
On the north part of the screen is a single panel
containing nine pictures (31 39) :
5
CH. III.]Dair Abu- s-Sifain. 105
twelve scenes, which are among the best and the most
interesting paintings in any of the churches of Egypt.As usual in ancient Coptic pictures, the wood panelhas been overlaid with a thin coating of plaster or'
gesso ': the plaster was then washed all over with
gilt, and on the gilt the colours were laid. The
early Italian painters, in employing the same method,were careful to paste strips of parchment across the
joinings of the wood at the back, to prevent it
starting. The Coptic artist took no such precaution,and his picture is now disfigured by narrow rifts
that run from top to bottom. Neglect and wanton
damage have further injured it : but not so far that
its value as a work of art is seriously diminished.
Its age cannot be less than 500 years : I think it maydate as far back as the eleventh century. The choir
north is so dark that candles are required to see the
picture : but its position may have saved it whenothers more exposed have been broken in pieces.
1
io6 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
palm outwards, with a gesture of deprecation. Herface has been injured by some malicious person, whohas picked out the eyes : but there is a look of
sorrow and fear upon it, not of rejoicing. The
angel, too, has an almost pained expression of so-
lemnity : the eyebrows are drawn together, and lips
half open. The treatment, in point of expression,reminds one very curiously of Mr. Burne Jones'
picture of the same subject, though the scale is
much smaller. The angel's wings are a soft greenwith rich red underwings. A shaft of deep green
light is slanting down on the Virgin's head. In
the background is an arcade of Corinthian pillars
supporting a Byzantine building. Here the draw-
ing is rude and careless, although the figures are
modelled and coloured with all the skill of a master's
hand.
2. The Nativity. The Virgin is lying on a couch
in the centre; below, a desert pastoral scene, amid
which the Child is being washed in a large brass
vessel. Higher up on the dexter side are the Magibringing gifts; and above the Virgin, in another scene,
the Child is lying in a manger. This is the conven-
tional composition as found also in all the western
Churches.
3. Christ in Glory. This is the central pictureof the upper row. The background in gold ;
at
the four corners are the apocalyptic symbols ;in the
midst an orb of dark yet faint green colour, in which
Christ is seated with outspread hands. The hair of the
face is full, but short, and the type quite unusual.
The expression is severe but powerful. The drapery,
particularly the folds falling from the knees, is
beautifully rendered.
CH. in.] Dair Abtt-s-Sifain. 107
4. The Presentation in the Temple. Simeon has
just taken the Child in his arms from the Mother :
at each side is a figure, one of whom, Joseph, carries
a pair of turtle-doves.
5. The Baptism of our Lord. Christ wears no
loin-cloth. The angels stand on Christ's left hand
instead of the right. Fishes are swimming in the
water, and uncouth little figures riding on strangebeasts like dwarf hippopotami. These figures de-
note probably the evil spirits which reside in the
Nile, and which are exorcised at the consecration of
the water for baptism in the Coptic service. In this
picture, as in that at Mari Mina, Christ is standing
upon a serpent.
6. The Transfiguration. Of the three figures,
Peter, James, and John, two are falling headlong on
their faces, down the mountain side : one is seated
burying his face in his hands. Christ stands in an
orb, from which shoot out curious wing-like or
feathered rays of glory. At each side is a figurein clouds Moses and Elias.
7. The Entry into Jerusalem. The faces here
are very finely modelled, and surprisingly powerful in
expression : but the drawing of the ass is almost
ludicrous. The painter's indifference to all the
accessories in these pictures is very remarkable.
8. The Ascension. Christ rising is upheld bytwo ascending angels. Below are two holy womenwith glories, and the apostles gazing up with shaded
eyes.
9. Pentecost. The twelve are seated on a large
horseshoe bench, and rays are falling upon them.
The treatment is clearly suggested by the ring of
presbyters seated in the apse.
io8 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
10. The Death of the Virgin. This subject is so
rare in the Coptic paintings that I know no other
instance of it. In the western Churches it was
common. The Virgin lies on a high altar-like couch,
behind which Christ is standing and receiving in his
arms a little swathed figure, which represents Mary'ssoul. On each side of our Lord is an angel holding,
and sloping towards him, a large golden candlestick.
Round about the bier are twelve figures the apostles
who wear the episcopal omophorion. One carries
a pyx, or a vessel of chrism, and a swinging censer :
one is reverently touching the bier : and another
wears a most pathetic look of sorrow as bend-
ing down over the bier with forward-leaning face,
and hand laid gently on the coverlet, he gazes
sadly and enquiringly on the closed eyes and still
face of Mary. Of these twelve figures only the
three highest up in the picture, whose heads show
against the sky, wear the nimbus : the others have
none, perhaps because the close grouping made it
difficult to render. The whole composition is almost
precisely identical, even in detail, with the bas-relief
of the same subject at Or-san-Michele in Florence.
It will be noticed that the events depicted were
in chronological order, showing the unity of design.The titles are given in Coptic only not in Arabic
which is generally a proof of great age, if proofwere wanted.
v. The north aisle-chapel is completely walled off
from the haikal. It has its own screen : the roof is
low, as there is a chapel above it, and the interior is
very dark. Yet there is perhaps less sign of neglectthan usual in these side-chapels. In the eastern wall,
which is straight, not apsidal, there is a niche covered
CH. in.] Dair Abu-s-Sifain. 109
with fine Damascus tiles. The altar candlesticks, of
bronze, are of a simple but good design : but the most
interesting thing in this chapel is the ark or altar-
casket,which I found lying in darkness, and smothered
in rubbish and dust, on the ground in the corner of
one of the outer chapels, and which apparently had
long fallen into disuse. The priest was unaware of its
existence, but has had the good sense to remove it
into the church. This box is more than six hundred
years old: for it bears the Coptic date 996, cor- ft
responding to 1 280 A. D. The form is cubical, with a
round hole at the top : the sides are covered with
paintings. If one imagines the box in its positionfor the celebration of the korban, the order will be
as follows : On the east side : The Redeemer. This
is an exceedingly fine picture, quite Rembrandt-like
in tone, in its splendid depths of shadow and play of
light, and almost worthy of the master. Christ, half-
turning to the left, is walking with earnest luminous
eyes fixed before him, and lips half-parted. In his
left hand a golden chalice is held outstretched :
two fingers of the right hand are uplifted in benedic-
tion. Under his feet is an eagle flying reversed,
i.e. with the under parts uppermost, and head
curved over the breast. The face of Christ is full-
bearded, resembling the type traditional in the
western Churches : and the rich umber shadowsround it deepen the impression, which is one of
fascinating solemnity. This is among the most
powerful pictures I. have ever seen.
Southward. Virgin and Child. The backgroundis gold, and the nimbs are covered with patterns of
stippled or dotted work. The Child rests on the
Virgin's right arm : her right hand is holding his
no Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
fore-arm. Christ carries an open scroll. On either
side is a red-robed angel with arms crossed upon the
breast.
Westward. The Annunciation. The subject is
treated in the conventional manner : but the angelbears a lily in his left hand, more after the typefound in the western Churches. The angel's wings,the two glories, and the whole sky are covered with
stars, each star consisting of a cluster of seven dots,
or shallow dents;and the whole scene is worked
over with conventional flowers and scrolls traced in
red dotting. This style of work is found also in
early Italian painting.
Northward. The picture here is sunk in a frame
instead of being flush with the edges, like the other
three. The execution is ruder and stiffer probably
later, and the work of a feebler hand. It representsa priest administering the eucharist to a Coptic
martyr called Mariam-as-Saiah (the Wanderer) a
hideous naked famished-looking figure, such as is
generally drawn to depict an anchorite. The priest
holds in his left hand a golden chalice, and over the
chalice, with his right, a golden spoon containing a
wafer, which is stamped with a single cross, such as
may be seen in mediaeval Latin illuminations, or the
mosaics of St. Mark at Venice 1.
The northermost of the three doors in the haikal-
screen opens into a tiny room, shut off by heavy
1I much regret to state that on a visit to the church of Abu-'s-
Sifain in the early part of this year (1884), since the above was
written, I could neither see nor hear of this beautiful altar-casket.
It is only fair, however, to state that the priest of the church was
absent.
CH. in.] Dair Abu- s-Sifain. 1 1 1
woodwork from the sanctuary. This is the shrine
of the Virgin, whose picture is set in the back of
a deep wooden niche carved and painted. She is
seated on a Byzantine throne, and above her two
flying angels are holding a crown. The treatment
is singularly free from convention. On the wall are
three other pictures :
1. Tikla Himanut, the Abyssinian. Here is a
large palm laden with purple dates, and at either side
canopied by the branches stands a saint.
2. A good painting of the first monk, St. Antony,which the priest declares to be 900 years old : but he
seems mistaken by some centuries.
3. Abu-'s-Sifain. The southermost door opensinto a similar little room, railed off from the sanctuary,and used as a sacristy. Here are some books and
vestments.
vi. The haikal or sanctuary is of course entered
by the central door. It is raised one step above the
choir and therefore three above the nave : and is
remarkable for a singularly fine tribune in the apse,
the wide arc of which spans not only the sanctuarybut also the two side chambers which are railed off
from it by crossbar woodwork. The floor of the
haikal is oblong and the altar stands nearly in the
midst : eastward the tribune rises in two stages
filling the area of the arc. Three narrow straight
steps, faced with red and white marble alternately,
lead up to the first stage or landing, which is semi-
circular : thence two curved steps which follow it
round lead to a broader landing bounded only bythe apse wall, or rather by the wide marble bench
which runs round the apse wall forming the seat
for the presbyters. This bench is divided in the
ii2 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
midst by the patriarch's throne which like all
the tribune is of marble. At the back of the
throne, before which is a single step, a niche is hol-
lowed in the wall : the sides of the seat are of white
marble and slope downwards between marble posts.
These posts or pillars have oval caps resemblingthose on early Muslim tombs.
In the niche is a fresco representing our Lord:
and over the arch of the niche another wall-painting
in form of a triptych, which contains in the centre
panel a head girt with six wings crossed in pairs
representing the seraphim : and in each side panelthe figure of an angel. This triptych is about 2 ft.
high and cuts into an oblong space of wall, some1 2 ft. by 4, overlaid with fine blue and green porce-lain tiles, which enclose also two panels of plain
colour. On each side of the tiles is a row of six large
pictures, or rather a continuous wooden panel with
painted arcading, containing figures of the twelve
apostles. Here the perpendicular wall ends and
the curve of the dome begins. Upon this curve
directly above the tiles is a semicircular fresco re-
presenting Christ in glory upheld by two angels. Aconventional border encloses this painting, and at its
highest point is the figure of an eagle with outspread
wings slaying a serpent. The rest of the dome is
plain whitewash.
Below the row of apostles the wall is painted with
a large diaper pattern in flat colours.
To the left of the lowest steps, in the wall that
forms the chord of the arc, is a small recess or aum-
bry. Within it is a curious little wooden stand, for
a vessel of chrism which is used to anoint the steps
CH. in.] Dair Abu-s-Sifain. 113
ere the patriarch mounts his throne. In the same
aumbry may be seen an ancient iron or bronze lampof very unusual design a kind of low-rimmed bowl
with seven lips for as many wicks, and a flat raised
handle at the back. It is made of a single piece of
metal. The iron stand on which the lamp is placedwhen kindled is also a singular and pretty piece of
rude work, and may be seen resting and rusting onthe tribune. This lamp is used only once a year,at the festival of Abu-'s-Sifain. The bronze ewer
mentioned by Murray seems to have disappeared :
for in answer to my questions the sacristan always
replied that it was under repair. The basin *in blue
and green enamel' still exists in very filthy condition,
but the description is scarcely accurate. Six little
bosses round the bowl inside are enamelled, but
otherwise the basin is quite plain, and by no means
specially beautiful. The altar, standing nearly in
the midst of the sanctuary and overshadowed by a
canopy, is 3 ft. 4 in. high, 7 ft. i in. long from north
to south, and 4 ft. 3 in. broad from east to west. It
has the usual depression for the altar-board on top,
and the cavity for relics;but though built of ma-
sonry in the orthodox manner, it is cased in wood,for some reason unknown. Over the wood is the
usual tight-fitting covering of brocade.
The altar-canopy or baldacchino is a dome resting
on woodwork with four open pointed arches, which
spring from four marble pillars. The two eastern
pillars stand at a distance of 2 ft. from the nearest
corner of the altar : the two western at a distance
of 2 ft. 8 in., close against the screen. The canopy
projects on all sides over the altar and the pillars
stand clear, so that the celebrant can move round
VOL. I. I
1 14 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
the altar without passing from under the canopy :
but the centre of the canopy is not quite over
the centre of the altar.
The whole underpart of the dome is richly painted.
At each of the four corners inside, where the arches
spring from the pillars, is a large figure of an angel
kneeling : a glory shines round his head;his wings
are raised and outspread to the utmost on each side,
so that they follow the curve of the arch. Thus the
tips of the wings of the four angels meet together.
Just underneath the meeting tips of the wings, i.e.
at the point of every arch, a small circle is painted
enclosing a cross in red and gold colours. All the
four angels with uplifted hands grasp and hold above
their heads a golden circle. Within this circle is
another golden ring concentric with it, and in the
space between stand the four apocalyptic symbols,each bearing a golden gospel and crowned with a
glory. They are divided one from another by circles-
one circle at each cardinal point of the compass : in
the eastern and western circles is an eight-rayedstar ; north and south are two suns or sun-like faces,
one eclipsed, one shining in strength. The inner
golden ring, or the centre of the dome, is chargedwith a half-length figure of the Redeemer. The nimbis lettered '0 ON : the right hand is raised in benedic-
tion;the left carries the book of the gospel. On
the dexter side of the head are the letters CX, on the
sinister Cl, curiously written backwards, instead of
1C XC, or Jesus Christ, The line of the figure
runs east and west, the head lying towards the
western star.
Each spandrel of the canopy outside, fronting the
choir and visible from it, is decked with a haloed
CH. in.] Daiv Abu- s-Sifain. 115
angel holding a palm. All the arches are pointedas mentioned above, and from each point an ostrich
egg hangs down by a short chain. The caps of the
four pillars are joined by spars on which rings are
fastened, doubtless used in ancient times to suspendthe curtains that veiled the altar. These spars are
joined by cross-beams which form a cross above the
altar, thus Jj. High above the ground the whole
sanctuary is covered with a network of flying spars,
crossing each other, and used for hanging lamps.Before quitting the haikal one may notice that the
back part or inside of the screen, the choirward face
of which is so magnificent, shows nothing but the
rude skeleton framework without any pretence of
concealment or adornment. This contrast however
is usual, not exceptional.vii. The south aisle of Abu-'s-Sifain extends the
whole length of the church except the sanctuary : it
is divided by three rough screens into four sections,
the easternmost of which contains a font;
for the
whole aisle is used as a baptistery. The font is a
round basin 3 ft. deep, embedded in masonry, en-
closed by a sort of wooden cupboard and surmounted
by a little wooden canopy. The doors of the cup-
board are very rudely painted with flowers. Fromthe second division of this baptistery one may getbehind the south screen of the men's section. There,
lying disused and forgotten on the ground, are two
coronae one of bronze circular, and one of wood
octagonal, tapering in stages pierced with holes for
glass lamps.One other object of interest remains to be noted
the curious ancient winepress of rough woodwork,which ordinarily lies in the western division of the
I 2
n6 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
baptistery. Every year, however, in the spring, it
is transported to the chapel of Abu-'s-Sifain next the
church of Harat-az-Zuailah in Cairo. The grapes, or
rather raisins, are placed in rush mats between two
round wooden trays, the lower of which is fixed, the
upper moveable and worked by a screw lever. Thewhole is mounted on a heavy wooden frame.
THE EXTERIOR CHAPELS OF ABU-'S-SIFAIN.
Just beyond the doorway leading down to the chapelof Barsum al 'Ariin is another on the same side,
leading out of the church and into a courtyard roofed
with palm-beams. In the left corner of the courtyardis the door of the bakehouse, where the eucharistic
breads are made, and where the wooden die for
stamping them is kept. Opposite, in a recess, are
six or seven large waterpots in a masonry setting :
close by is a well, and a staircase for mounting to the
upper chapels.
From the courtyard a roofed passage leads east-
ward to a cluster of tiny chapels, more resembling
dungeons than shrines or places of worship. First
on the left comes
The Chapel of St. Gabriel.
Here a scanty light falls through a small open
grating in the roof, which a solitary Corinthian
column upholds. The chapel consists merely of
choir and haikal, but there is a curious side section
CH. in.] Dair Abu-s-Sifain. 117
for the women, very narrow, but aligning the sanctuaryas well as the choir. The woodwork of the haikal
screen is very rude, and the icons above it Christ
and the twelve Apostles are mere daubs. Rude
painting replaces inlaying in the spandrels of the
doorway.At the end of the passage, candles must be lighted
to show the way. Turning to the right, one passes
through two heavy open screens into a small bap-
tistery, where there is a font, or rather large basin
of stone, built up in masonry. The basin is circular,
with a square enlargement east and west, at the
bottom of which are two steps, obviously adapted for
immersion, although the font is not more than about
four feet in depth. It was in this font, according to
the legend of the priest, that the Sultan Mu'azz was
baptized on his conversion to Christianity.
Leaving the baptistery, one passes under an arch-
way into
T/ie Chapel of St. John the Baptist,
consisting merely of choir and sanctuary. It was in
the haikal of this chapel that I found, lying unknownin dust and darkness, the beautiful altar-casket, nowin the north aisle-chapel of Abu-'s-Sifain. An arch-
way separates St. John from the adjoining
Chapel of St. James,
but the same screen is continued, and serves for both
sanctuaries. The work is poor : so are the paintings.
Both these chapels, built in dark, low, vaulted re-
cesses, with round arches springing here and there,
are very crypt-like.
ii8 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
Returning towards the doorway of the passage
facing north one sees in front a thick open screen,
beyond which lies
The Chapel of Mart Buktor.
This is larger than St. John and St. James, and the
haikal is more artistic. The pictures are worthless.
Over the sanctuary door, Mari Buktor is representedin a large painting, on horseback. The altar here is
remarkable for a curious variation. It has no altar-
board, but a large slab of marble is inlet into the
top, and is carved with a horse-shoe depression to
the depth of two inches : within this depression is
another of like form, but shallower, and with a
channel or groove tending westward, but blocked
by a ridge at the outlet. This altar-top resembles
one at Al Mu allakah.
Buktor, it may be noted, is the Arabic form of
Victor.
THE UPPER CHAPELS OF ABU-'S-SIFAIN.
Mounting now the staircase, one arrives in the
open air, on a flat roof. This story is about half
the height of the main building : on it the triforium
runs round the church : and outside is another cluster
of chapels, over those in the crypt-like buildingsbelow.
East of the landing is a small roofless enclosure :
a door in the farthest wall opens with a wooden key,and shows beyond
CH. III.] Dair Abu- s-Sifain . 119
The Chapel of St. A ntony,
in three divisions. Between the women's section
and the choir (which serves also for the men) is an
open screen, surmounted by a plain wooden cross
an uncommon arrangement. The haikal-screen is of
an ordinary geometrical design. The altar-canopy
A. J. R.
Fig. 7. The Upper Chapels of Abu-'s-Sifain.
is painted, and has been extremely beautiful, but is
now rotting to pieces. Behind the altar, in the
niche, is a dim fresco of the Virgin and Child, a
very unusual subject for this position, which is
nearly always occupied by a pourtrayal of our
Lord in glory. The whole of this chapel, exceptthe haikal, is roofless, and answers the purpose of
a fowl-house.
1 20 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
Returning and passing through another door, one
enters a double chapel two similar chapels side by
side, divided only by an open screen : each of them
has a place for women and for men, besides choir
and haikal. In the first, called
The Chapel of Abba Nub,
the sanctuary screen is of very intricate and graceful
workmanship, though the icons are very rustic-
looking. Within the haikal is a fine niche, faced
with little Damascus tiles of rich colour.
The other, called
The Chapel of St. Michael,
is also remarkable for a good screen, and a very
pleasing picture of the angel Michael holding a
sword in his right hand and a balance in his left.
Other decayed and battered paintings stand about
the walls on shelves. From this chapel a window, or
rather shutter, opens, giving a view of the sanctuaryof Abu-'s-Sifain below. One sees that the roof of
the altar-canopy is painted with bands of colour, and
is surmounted by a cross of gilt metal.
Leaving these chapels, and returning to the landing,one passes now along beside a low coping, over which,
through a huge grating of palm beams, may be seen
the courtyard below, near the bakehouse. A door-
way now leads from the open air into a corridor,
which corresponds to and lies over the entrance
passage or north aisle below, and therefore belongsto the triforium of the church. A few paces forward
one discovers on the right,
CH. HI.] Dair Abit-s-Sifain. 121
The Church ofATAdra.
This is not in the triforium, but quite outside the
walls of Abu-'s-Sifain, built in fact over that half of
the guest-room which was described as being roofed
in, but projecting further eastward, not coextensive
with it. The western wall of this chapel is merelyan open screen, through which one may look down
upon the floor of the guest-room. This little church
is divided into women's section, choir, and haikal:
but it contains three altars, in three separate sanc-
tuaries at the east end. The roof alone shows
indications of a former division into nave and aisles :
for while at each side it is low and horizontal, in the
centre it is arched into a semi-decagon. The eastern
gable is filled with a window, in which are some
quarries of coloured glass.
In the nave is a large picture of the Virgin and
Child, noticeable only for the fact that Christ is
holding a regal orb. A St. George, a pair of
unknown saints, and the icons, are all clownish
performances.The canopy over the central altar, upheld on four
horizontal beams, shows now only dim traces of its
former splendour, but some figures of lions are
distinguishable. The niche in the eastern wall
is unusual in size and in structure. It is nine
feet high, and six feet broad, and covered with
most beautiful old Persian or Damascus tiles, of a
design and colour which seem to be unique : the
ground of the tiles is an extremely delicate olive
hue, upon which clusters of marigolds are figuredin very dark green.
122 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
The adjacent chapel on the south contains in the
wall-niche a dim monochrome fresco of the baptismof our Lord. St. John is standing on a high rock
by the river-side, and pouring water on Christ's head :
above, a dove is descending, and sending down three
rays : at each side is a tree laden with fruit perhaps
pomegranate and another very curious shrub, pos-
sibly an aloe, but exactly like a Gothic pinnacle on a
Gothic turret. It is probable that the whole of this
chapel, indeed the whole building of Abu-'s-Sifain, was
once painted where now the walls are merely white-
washed : here for instance, where a piece of plaster is
broken away beside the niche, bands of colour are
visible below. Certainly the contrast between the
bare white walls which form the shell of the building,
and the magnificence of the fittings, is singular.
The end of the corridor is screened off, making a
dim empty chamber. Turning now into the western
part of the triforium, which lies over the narthex,
one finds it quite devoid of ornament. In the right-
hand wall are a number of blocked window-bays, but
no windows, save the little oriels noticed outside.
The eastern wall, however, is pierced with an opening,
eight feet by six feet, from which a mushrabiah
framework projects into the nave. This opening is
so high above the floor, that no one standing in the
triforium can see into the church below: it cannot
therefore have been meant for women. The view
from this point, as one looks down over the golden-
pictured nave to the choir, and the haikal beyond,with its painted canopy, is surprising, and admirable
in its tone of dim religious splendour.Where the plaster has fallen from this corridor wall,
one sees that it is built of small brick, laid in fine
CH. HI.] Dair Abu-s-Sifain. 123
hard cement. The priest said this wall has stood
since the church was built.
At the end of this passage, as in the correspondingcorner of the church below, are the latrines.
The third corridor, i. e. the south triforium, is
walled off, and forms by itself a single long chapelcalled
The Chapel of Mdri Girgis.
Three transverse screens of plain design divide
it into women's section, men's section, choir, and
sanctuary. In the second division is a very curious
wooden ambon, or pulpit, let into the north wall.
It is merely a little box adorned in front with
geometrical designs. The stone staircase is cut off
abruptly, the lowest step being four feet above the
ground, so that it cannot be mounted without the
aid of a ladder. The choir of this chapel retains
part of the ancient panelled roof which probablyonce covered the whole triforium. The beams and
coffers are sumptuously gilt and coloured in the style
of the thirteenth century : but only faint relics of its
former beauty remain. Such work is distinctively
Arabian, not Byzantine. The pictures here St.
Michael, mounted with a projecting frame and a
candlebeam on brackets in front, the Virgin, and
Abu-'s-Sifain, are old but rude, and in ruinous
condition.
The haikal-screen is exceptional, differing from all
others in the church in its unconventional, un-
geometric character. It is made up of a number of
small oblong panels set in mouldings, and variouslycarved with vine-leaves, crosses, and figures of saints.
124 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH.HI.
The cedar-wood of which it is composed is un-
fortunately so much decayed that the figures cannot
easily be identified. The haikal is entirely roofed
with a small dome, the south dome of the main
building as seen from without. The wall-niche
behind the altar contains a fresco of Christ in an
aureole 1throned, holding a gospel in the left, and
raising the right hand in benediction. North of the
altar, in a small irregular chamber which opens out of
the sanctuary, and may have been used to guard the
sacred vessels, the curved wall of the main apse
may be seen starting.
HISTORICAL NOTE ON THE CHURCH OF
ABU-'S-SIFAIN.
The materials for the history of Abu-'s-Sifain are
very scanty, and to separate the true from the
legendary would require much fine winnowing. But
there can be little doubt that Makrizi is mistaken in
stating that the church was built by the patriarch
Christodulus 2,c. 1060 A. D. A very strong tradition
assigns to it an earlier origin, and connects its
foundation with the Sultan Mu'azz, the builder of
Cairo, in the tenth century. Here is the legend as
given by Renaudot 3.
1I avoid the word ' vesica
'
as both ugly and inappropriate.2 Malan's History of the Copts, p. 92.3
Hist. Pat. Alex. p. 369 seq.
CH. in.] Dair Abu-s-Sifain. 125
The khallf having heard that it was written in the
gospel of the Christians that if a man had faith he
could by his word remove a mountain, sent for the
patriarch Ephraim, and asked if this strange storywere true. On the patriarch answering that it wasindeed so written, the khalif replied,
' Then do this
thing before mine eyes ;else I will wipe out the very
name of Christian.' When the tidings spread, greatwas the consternation among all the churches : a
solemn assembly of clergy and monks was held, and
prayers with fasting were continued for three days,without ceasing, in Al Mu'allakah. On the third
morning the patriarch, worn out with watching and
fasting, fell asleep, and saw in a dream the Blessed
Virgin, to whom he told the matter, and was bidden
to be of good cheer, and to go out into the street
where he would find a one-eyed man carrying a
vessel of water.
So the patriarch went out, and meeting a man
bearing a pitcher, bade him kiss the cross and tell
the story of his life. Thereon the water-carrier said,'
I was born with two eyes even as other men : but
according to the scripture, I plucked out one eye to
enter the kingdom of heaven, rather than have two
and go to hell-fire. All day long, from morning till
night, I work as a dyer of wool; I eat nought but
bread; the rest of my wages I give in alms to the
poor, and by night I draw water for the poor.' Then
hearing of the patriarch's vision, he told him to gowithout fear to the khallf, bearing in processioncrosses and gospels and censers, and his faith should
prevail.
Then a great multitude of Christians went to the
place appointed, where the khalif and his court
126 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
were assembled before a mountain: and when the
patriarch had made solemn prayers, crosses and
gospels were lifted on high amid the smoke of burn-
ing incense, and as all the people shouted together'
Kyrie Eleeson,' the mountain trembled and re-
moved.
Thereon Mu'azz promised to grant Ephraim what-
soever he might desire: and the patriarch demandedthe rebuilding of the church of Abu-'s-Sifain. Sothe church was rebuilt.
It is to be noticed that in this legend only re-
storation is spoken of, as if an earlier church on the
same site had suffered destruction. It is curious to
find the legend surviving to this day, though in a
somewhat changed form. The story, as related to
me by the present priest of Abu-'s-Sifain, is briefly as
follows: The khalif Mu'azz, founder of Cairo, hearingmuch of the godly life of the Christians, their devo-
tion to their prophet, and the wonderful thingswritten in their scripture, sent for the chief amongthe Christians and the chief among the elders of his
own people, and commanded a solemn reading first
of the Gospel of Christ, then of the Kuran. After
hearing both with great attention, he decided very
resolutely 'Muhammad ma fish' Mohammed is
nothing, nobody, or nowhere, ordered the mosque
against the church of Anba Shanudah to be pulled
down, and the church of Abu-'s-Sifain to be rebuilt or
enlarged in its place. The ruins of this mosque still
remain between the two churches. The priest added
that the khalif Mu'azz became a Christian, and was
afterwards baptized in the baptistery beside the
chapel of St. John.The coincidence of the two legends the one
CH. m.] Dair Abu-s-Sifain. 127
written down from hearsay by Al Makln in the four-
teenth century, the other current among the Coptsof to-day is enough I think to establish the fact
that the church was either built or rebuilt in the
time of Mu'azz, that is, c. 980 A.D. The traditions
of the church fix the date of its foundation very
precisely at 927 A. D., and I see no reason to doubt it.
There is another early legend1 which assumes
the existence of the church a little later than Mu'azz
in the time of the XLI 1 1 patriarch Philotheus, who
reigned from about 981 to 1002 A.D. The story is
that once a certain Wazah, a Mohammedan, seeing a
Christian convert being dragged to execution in Old
Cairo, reviled him and beat him with his shoe. Sometime later Wazah, returning through the desert from
a pilgrimage to Mecca, strayed from his companionsand lost his way. While wandering about the moun-
tains, he saw a vision of a horseman clad in shining
armour, and girt with a golden girdle. The horse-
man questioned him, and hearing his case bade him
mount behind him. I n a moment they were caught up
through the air to the church of Abu-'s-Sifain, where
the horseman vanished. Next morning Wazah was
found in the church by the doorkeeper, who at first
thought him mad, but on learning what had happened
pointed out the picture of Abu-'s-Sifain, whomWazah now recognised from the golden girdle.
Wazah believed, was baptized, and retired as a
monk to the monasteries of the Natrun desert:
Thence he returned to Old Cairo, was thrown into
prison and starved by his family, but relieved bySt. Mercurius : then he was accused before the
1
Renaudot, Hist. Pat. Alex. 374 seq.
128 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
Sultan but pardoned, and became a great writer of
Christian books.
It seems then that the claims of Christodulus maybe dismissed. The only other notices of the church
that I have found are later. The LXX patriarch,
Gabriel Ibn Tarikh, was a deacon of Abu-'s-Sifain \
elected 1131 A.D. The church is stated by Makrizi
to have been burnt down about the year 1 1 70 A.D.,'
in the fire of Shauer the Vizier' 2 on the 1 8th day of
Hator. But towards the middle of the next centurythe scandalous Cyril, the LXXV patriarch, after his
second imprisonment, celebrated with great pomp in
the church on the feast of the patron saint 3. It may
be mentioned that the festival of St. Mercurius is the
1 5th day of the month Hator, corresponding to our
2 ist of November 4.
THE NUNNERY CALLED DAIR AL BANAT,
OR THE CONVENT OF THE MAIDENS, IN DAIR ABU-'S-SIFAIN.
It was only after many visits to Abu-'s-Sifain
that I had the good fortune to discover the Convent
of the Maidens 5. Guide-books know nothing about
it, and I never met a Cairene, at least a European,
1 Malan's History of the Copts, p. 93.2 Id. p. 95.
8Renaudot, Hist. Pat. Alex. p. 582.
* Malan's Calendar of the Coptic Church, p. 12.G
Sir Gardner Wilkinson is of course wrong in stating that
'Egypt is entirely destitute of nunneries' (Modern Egypt and
Thebes, vol. i. p. 392 : London, 1843). Besides Dair al Banat
there are two others in Cairo.
CH. in.] Dair Abu-s-Sifain. 1 29
who had heard of it. The patriarch and somefew other Copts are perhaps aware of its existence :
but the idea that it possesses any special interest
or beauty would probably strike them with asto-
nishment. It is one of the most out-of-the-world
and picturesque places imaginable : and if the in-
mates resort there in search of tranquillity, theyhave it to perfection in their surroundings. Dair
Abu-'s-Sifain itself stands like a walled oasis in
the desert of dust and potsherds which stretches for
miles south of Cairo : no wheeled thing ever enters
there, and its peace is unbroken by any stir and
clamour of life or noise of the world. In old times
the clash of swords and the shouts of battle were
often heard under the walls and in the narrow
streets : now its stillness is almost unearthly.The lane in which the churches of Anba Shanudah
and Abu-'s-Sifain stand seems a cul-de-sac, but a
little way beyond the latter church it really opens out
by a narrow passage : a few turns at sharp angles,
still between high walls, bring one to the outer
convent door. Thence a straight dark passage of
twenty yards, and another door which is barred and
bolted. There is no knocker, though the knocker is
seldom missing from an old Arab house, and many of
the designs in plain ironwork are of great beauty.But a few gentle taps will bring the porteress. 'Whois there ?
'
and '
open'
are the usual question and
answer : she opens and stands shyly with a corner
of her veil drawn over her mouth. Permission to
enter is readily given by the mother superior a tall
and rather comely matron, who receives one with a
frank smile of welcome.
Just at the entrance in a recess to the right lies a
VOL. I. K
130 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
very pretty well with a windlass above, and pitchersand other water-vessels scattered about in charmingdisorder. To the left is the small but beautiful
courtyard of the convent overshadowed by a fine
tall nabuk or zizyphus tree, which rises near the
well and mounts in a sweeping curve into the midst
of the court : higher up its branches spread out,
and their graceful leaves brush against the upperwindows. The east face of the court is formed
by a large open screen of woodwork, with two
circular steps leading up to an open doorway with
tall folding doors in the centre. Inside is a longshallow room, 15 ft. by 7, with a kuramani carpetand some cushions or pillows against the wall. Herethe nuns recline at their ease, and on feast days their
friends are regaled with such good things as the
convent provides. It is in fact the mandarah or
reception-room. It opens to the north by a high
pierced wooden screen into a tiny oratory, TO ft. by6, which has a low niche eastward containing a
picture of the Virgin, and a shelf running round the
wall with several other paintings. There is also a
curious wooden candlestick in the form of a cross
with an iron pricket on each of the three branches.
Of the pictures two or three are noticeable. There
is an old picture of the Virgin and Child, in which
the Child is seated on the Virgin's right arm, and is
clasping her neck : he wears a golden dress, and the
background of the painting is gold. There is also
a curious sixteenth-century picture with a backgroundthe lower half of which is pale green, the upper half
gold (as in the series at Sitt Mariam). It shows two
figures, who wear glories edged with a red margin :
leftward St. Anthony robed as a priest, with staff and
CH. in.] Dair Abu-s-Sifain. 131
scroll : rightward St. Paul the anchorite, dressed in
sackcloth, and wearing a rosary hung at his girdle.
His long beard falls down in front; his open angulararms are half raised ; and a raven in the air is
bringing him food : at his feet are two lions, his
usual symbol. The other paintings call for no
remark.
So much for the east side of the courtyard. Thenorth consists of a large rude whitewashed balcony
supported on two piers of masonry, and backed by a
high wall. A small bell pulled by a rope from below
hangs at one corner, and underneath is a stone bench.
But it is the eastern wall that moves one most to
admiration. This is the front of the house in which
the nuns live, a fine, tall, three-storied house in goodArab style. The topmost story has a large panel of
mushrabiah work framed into the wall. Below this
comes a true mushrabiah or projecting bay-window of
carved woodwork, not glazed but covered with ex-
tremely fine and delicate grills of wood. This first
story as usual in old Arab houses projects some three
feet beyond the ground story. There are two doors
below, one in each corner, and the space between is
lightened in a singular manner. Half is walled :
half occupied by an open screen of woodwork,divided horizontally into belts or sections, and the
sections again into panels, each of which has its own
design. The effect is charming from the ingenious
variety of pattern and the light airy look of the
whole, in contrast with the solid walls beside and
above.
But the mother superior comes to say coffee is
ready. We re-enter the reception- rcom, and sit
down on the carpet in oriental fashion, or recline
K 2
132 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
against a cushion. A nun hands each of us ao
tiny china cup resting in a brass zarf or holder.
.We drink, making many salams to the mother
superior, who does not disdain the formality of a
cigarette : though the nuns apparently are not givento the practice of smoking. Against the wall oppo-site is a large and beautiful old bench
;on this
three or four damsels are sitting, or squatting, with
modest eyes downcast on their embroidery. Theyare clad in the ordinary black Arab dress, but wear
no veils;
their wrists are circled with bangles or
bracelets of massive silver; they wear also neck-
lets of silver or gold, beads or brass, and earringsand anklets. Their quiet, shy, incurious manner,and the tranquil smile about their lips denote
admirably the peaceful anchorite retirement of their
lives. Under the bench lie scattered about crocks
and pitchers and millstones;close by is an old
brass mortar, and near the door an exquisitely de-
signed little brazier of octagon shape with legs and
pinnacles ;its sides are finely chased and engraved
with Arabic characters. Charcoal embers are glow-
ing in it, and on them a coffee-jug is simmering as
one of the maidens, kneeling, fans the fire with a
fan of falcon feathers. High over all the nabtik
tree is lazily waving its branches, across which the
sun is striking : and the blue above seems deeperand more dazzling than ever, as the eye follows upthe sombre colours of the wall.
But the scene varies from day to day. Some-times the maidens are busy with needlework,sometimes tidying and cleaning the house or the
vessels;and another time one may see a group
sitting in the middle of the courtyard sifting and
CH. in.] Daly Abu-s-Sifain. 133
winnowing corn, while close by a crone is grinding
beans, turning the handle of the millstone with her
left, and feeding the mill continually with her right
hand. The pigeons know when it is a corn-day ;
and their ceaseless cooing as they perch about the
mills, and the noise of their beating wings as they
sweep down and up again, add not a little to the
charm of the scene.
Out of the courtyard, round behind the mandarah,is an open stable, where the convent cow is stalled
which supplies milk and butter to the inmates. Onoccasion too she turns the flour-mill, which is a
curious antique structure in a room adjoining.
There is a brick-walled pit about 3 ft. deep and
1 2 across;
in the middle a big cogwheel revolves
on a heavy wooden pivot, which turns above at a
height of 8 ft. in a solid beam running into the
north and south walls of the mill-room. From the
pivot a thick crooked pole rises and projects beyondthe edge of the pit to receive the yoke of the ox.
The millstones which are turned by wheels in con-
nexion with the large cogwheel, are not in the pit
but sunk beside it : above them is a wooden frame
to hold the corn, and below a receptacle for the
flour. There is an Arabic inscription on this frame
rudely carved, with date 1480 A. D. On the trans-
verse beam between the two walls are cut the
triangular symbol of the Trinity in a border, and
the 'svastica' or revolving wheel of light, the
original symbol of the worship of the sun in the
East, and the earliest known ornament. It is a
mere coincidence : but not without its significance.
From the stable a rough stone staircase leads upto a flat roof, on which there are two little streets
134 Ancient Coptic Churches, [CH. m.
or corridors of cells. Each cell has its own door,
but no window;
all seem disused, containing
only palm-fibres for ropes, some baskets, broken
pitchers, and two little lamps of the old Arabic
pottery, thickly glazed in very beautiful colours,
turquoise blue and emerald green. One finds frag-
ments of such lamps at all depths in the rubbish
heaps at Old Cairo. There is nothing else here
to notice except a small but curious wooden cross,
of Latin form, with a leathern bag attached to the
branches, the use of which is to collect alms. It is
evidently ancient and long disused, and is the only
example I have seen of this instrument.
There are fifteen inmates in all ten besides the
mother superior and four servants. Admission is
granted by the patriarch to any young girl left
resourceless and helpless, or even to a widow.
Indeed the refuge is rather an almshouse than a
nunnery. The inmates are allowed to receive their
friends sometimes, or even to go to Cairo for a dayto pay visits. No conventual vows are required.
There is no veil to be taken;rather in the convent
the veil is laid aside;so far out of the world it is
not needed. Nor is marriage forbidden. If a girl
discovers relations who will receive her, or if she
finds a husband, she may open the door and walk
out. Their life is very quiet and simple. A bell
rings at dawn to arouse them; they all rise and
pray together ;then they busy themselves in house-
hold work, cleansing, cooking, embroidery, and the
like;and when there is nothing special to do, as
the priest naively put it, they read the gospel and
pray again. Every Saturday evening the priest
holds a service in their little oratory. They have,
CH. in.] Dair Abu-s-Sifain. 135
however, in theory at least, their seven daily offices
or hours. The psalms form a large part of their
devotional exercises;and I have seen manuscript
books of psalms and other service-books in Copticand Arabic written by present inmates of the con-
vents with very considerable skill and finish.
THE CHURCH OF ANBA SHANUDAH(voyui UM),
IN DAIR ABU-'S-SIFAIN.
ANBA Shanudah stands close to Abu-'s-Sifain, as
was before mentioned;
their western walls are in
a line, with a distance of some twenty yards dividingthem. But the plain modernised stone front of AnbaShanudah is neither curious in structure nor pleas-
ing in colour, like the blind high wall of ancient
brick that fronts Abu-'s-Sifain. The doorway is at
the north-west corner and opens into a dim broad
passage, the latter end of which is cut out of the
north aisle of the church. But about the middle
of the passage there is a door on the right throughwhich one sees the ancient and very pretty well of
the church. Water is drawn by means of a pulley
suspended on a beam above;the well is set round
with a low cone-like coping of stone, and is most
picturesquely placed between rude lofty walls and
doorless unillumined chambers, some of which are
entrances to vaults of departed worthies of the
church. In the background is a rough stone stair-
136 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
case, and troughs, pitchers, and water-jars are lying
at random about the stone-floor. In these little
scenes everything is so uniformly picturesque that
only the naturalness of the result saves it from the
suggestion of studied arrangement. The well lies
outside the west end of the church;the entrance
is on the north, near the end of the passage, and
leads into the women's section. For there is no
narthex at Anba Shanudah, and consequently no
A. J. B.
Fig. 8. Plan of the Church of Anba Shanudah.
western triforium. The women's section, if ever it
were intended for women, which is very doubtful,is only about 6 ft. wide (east to west), and is railed
off by a heavy railing of rectangular pattern only
4ft. high. It contains a small tank for ablution or
for the mandatum.The church consists of nave, which is divided
into men's section and women's section, and is
covered with a high-pitched roof like that at Abu-'s-
CH. in.] Daiv Abu-s-Sifain. 137
Sifain, north and south aisles, and an outer aisle
southward, choir, and the usual three chapels side
by side at the east end. The nave is marked off
from the two aisles by marble pillars, most of which
have classical capitals, and stood once in some Greek
or Roman building. A continuous wooden archi-
trave rests on the pillars to support the nave walls,
which are lightened above by drop-arched open-
ings, highly stilted, one between every two columns.
These relieving arches are curiously varied on the
south wall;
for while on the naveward side theyare pointed, half way through they change form,
and as seen from the south aisle, are round-headed.
There is no such change on the north side. Thearchitrave bears traces of magnificent colours and
Coptic letters, and is carved with crosses in relief,
one between each pair of pillars. These maypossibly be consecration crosses, although they are
too high for the bishop to have anointed the placeswithout a ladder.
The pulpit in the nave is a good piece of Arab
carving in rosewood : the design is composed of
crosses, which are made up of minute ivory scroll-
work, like the ivory carvings at Abu-'s-Sifain. The
angles of the pulpit are bound with small bronze
clamps.The screen between nave and choir is divided
by two ancient columns into central and two side
portions ;and in each side portion is an ancient
panel of cedar, framed by open wooden grills.
These panels are beautifully inlaid with little
blocks and crosses of ivory. The first time I
visited this church a boy who was showing meround coolly took out a penknife and would have
138 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH.IH..
hacked at one of these crosses to get a piece of
ivory.
The north aisle is only about 6 ft. deep, but the
south aisle is itself much broader, and opens out
again southward into an outer aisle, the western
half of which contains a large Epiphany tank, the
other a baptistery with stone font or basin under
a wooden dome ;a mushrabiah screen divides
them.
In the choir is the usual lectern, draped in an
embroidered cloth which covers the top and falls in
front;a tall bronze candelabrum with silver censer
swinging from the plate ;a tongueless bell, cymbals,
and a pair of coloured cloth alms-trays on the shelf
of the lectern underneath. The easternmost screen
is curious. To the right, before the south aisle-chapel,
is a magnificent piece of work inlaid with ivories
superbly carved. The style is the same as that at
Abu-'s-Sifain. The back of the screen, as seen in-
side the chapel, is covered with rude flower paintings.
Originally this was the iconostasis of the sanctuaryor central chapel ;
but in true churchwarden fashion
it was judged ugly and antiquated, and was degradedto a lower position in favour of a modern screen of
red cedar plainly inlaid with a wheel-and-cross patternof unchased ivory. The north iconostasis is againdifferent. It is quite black, and consists of a numberof tiny panels, each painted with a rude flower or
branch in white. Exactly similar screenwork maybe seen in the mosque of Sultan Barkuk, amongthe tombs of the khalifs at Cairo, dating about
1400 A. D.
The structure of the dome, with its lofty arch
springing from the choir piers to support it, re-
CH. HI.] Dair Abu-s-Sifain. 139
sembles that at Abu-'s-Sifain. One of the marble
columns against the choir-screen bears clear traces
of an ancient distemper painting the figure of an
angel 4 ft. high ; under it are worn Coptic letters.
But all through the church the surface of the
columns is fretted and frayed ;at a mere touch of
the finger there falls off a fine white powder like
salt or snow crystals.
All round the choir, ranged on shelves, set in
niches, or mounted on mushrabiah frames, are
paintings of saints and angels. On the north wall
the most interesting is a figure of the patron saint,
Anba Shanudah. He appears as a long-bearded
stumpy little man, with huddled shoulders and a
sad wistful look in his large eyes, as he claspsa cross with folded hands before his breast. His
vestments are of singular splendour. A black
hood covers his head, but on the margin over the
forehead are three white crosses. The cope and
dalmatic are decked all over with the richest em-
broidery of flowers and crosses. He wears the
patrashil with the twelve apostles figured in pairs-six little pictures one above the other finely coloured.
There is a touch and tone about this painting which
suffice to mark it as fairly early, probably about the
sixteenth century. Later work is never so fine, or
so careful in detail.
Next comes the angel Gabriel holding a triple
cross and a pair of scales ;he is standing on a red
bolster of relics.
On the screen are five pictures :
i. Michael the archangel carrying a scroll and
holding in his left hand a round medallion
enclosing a bust of the Redeemer.
140 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
2. Virgin and Child. The attitude is just that of
the Sta. Maria of Cimabue. The Virgin has
a typical Syrian face half Greek and half
Jew and shows unusual emotion. But
both faces are of an ugly brickdust colour;
altogether it is an exceedingly poor picture.
3. Filtaus on horseback.
4. In a wooden framework on a gold groundare two figures, Anba Shanudah and AnbaRuais. Underneath lies a bolster of relics in
a locker.
5. An angel badly daubed.
On the south wall of the choir . are five large
pictures :
i. Virgin and Child, both crowned. Mary's crown
is held by two flying angels ;she is giving
a rose to the Child, who is reaching forth his
right hand to receive it;his left is holding
a golden orb.
2 and 3. Coptic saints.
4. A tall majestic figure of the angel Gabriel;
he is standing on a relic bolster;in his left
hand he is wielding a spear, in his right he
holds a lily drooping, and grasps a medallion
with a bust figure of Christ. His face wears
a look of heavy wrath.
5. The Resurrection.
Against the choir- screen rest two loose pictures
(i) Paul the ascetic with his two lions in the
wilderness : this is the founder of Dair Bolos in the
eastern desert. (2) The Virgin with cross and palm,set round with twenty little figures bearing the same
emblems.
Upon the haikal-screen, about 5 ft. from the
CH. in.] Dair Abu-s-Sifain. 141
ground, is fastened a small wooden crewet-holder.
For the icons stand the usual series of seven paint-
ings : in the centre the Virgin throned and crowned
by angels ;on either side three pairs of apostles,
who all carry a cross in the right and a gospel in
the left hand, and wear glories. Their faces are
all of the same type, but two have grey beards, the
rest black.
In the haikal both on the north and south side are
doorways into the adjoining chapels, the former
through a screen, the latter through a partition wall.
The haikal itself is apsidal and contains a tribune :
but the side chapels are square. On the highest of
the marble steps in the apse are nine loose picturesof no great merit, and in the central niche is a fresco
of Christ in attitude of benediction. The high altar
is covered by a plain deal canopy resting on four
white marble columns : upon it lie vestments, candle-
sticks, altar-casket, and censers. In one corner of
the sanctuary a graceful wooden stand holds a basin
and plain earthenware pitcher, for the priest to washhis hands at the celebration of the korban.
In the south aisle-chapel one sees on the altar the
same tumbled disarray. Torn books, dirty vest-
ments, a bronze cross, altar-casket, and a very pretty
wooden cross 8^ inches high inlaid with mother-
of-pearl. The central design upon the cross is a
small engraved figure of Christ crucified : on either
side is a medallion one containing a pair of arms
crossed., the other containing a cross with smaller
crosses between the branchesji
: above and below
also are medallions chased with flowers. This is
the nearest resemblance to a crucifix I have seen
in any church.
142 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
In the niche are pitchers of clay and wickerwork
bottles;a few flasks of wine, some loose leaves, and
some old plain altar-caskets.
In the north aisle-chapel are two very curious
pieces of church furniture a chrismatory and a
cresset-stone. The chrismatory is a round block of
wood drilled with three large holes for the three
kinds of oil for anointing : it has a lid revolving on a
central pivot but not opening, only drilled with a
single hole 1. The cresset-stone is a slab of marble
in the form of a semicircle, the chord of which
is about 2 ft. 6 in. in length. Three parallel
grooves follow the outlines, and in the inner semi-
circle there formed are nine cuplike hollows for oil.
The central hollow alone is pierced through with a
small drain. The spaces between these nine circles
are chased with designs of flowers. The stone is
lying loose upon the ground, and the doorkeeper
only tells one vaguely that it is something extremely
ancient, but has no idea of its use : conceivably it
may be an altar-slab.
The altar here is covered with a mass of old
Coptic books psalms and liturgies piled togetherand crusted with dust. In the niche are broken
ostrich eggs, and a large heap of leaves and frag-ments of books in the last stage of decay but
showing traces of fine illumination. I saw no sign
of any Greek, Latin, or Syriac manuscript, either in
this or in any other church near Cairo, though I
have always been alive to the chances of discovery.
1 An illustration is given in the chapter on eucharistic vessels.
CH. III.] Dair Abu-s-Sifain. H3
The Chapel of Mdri Girgis.
Passing out of the porchway past the well and upa flight of steps, one reaches a series of flat roofs at
different levels, among which the high pointed roof
and the brick dome of Anba Shanudah rise con-
spicuous. Along half the southern wall of the main
building, and forming a sort of triforium to it, is the
A. j. a
Fig. 9. Upper story of Anba Shanudah, showing chapels attached.
chapel of Mari Girgis. Its form is nearly square,
but a large pier, a column, and an arrangement of
screens divide it into six compartments two western
chambers, one of which serves as a baptistery and
contains a pretty domed front panelled off by wood-
work;a section for men running all across ;
then a
choir ;and two haikals with altars. The iconostases
are beautiful pieces of wood and ivory work : the
doors especially are magnificent, blazoned with stars
and crosses and flowers of ivory.
144 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
The choir and nave screens are low open rails
with tall uprights joined by horizontal spars : but
the baptistery is fenced off by a splendid panel of
mushrabiah work. Inside this baptistery there is
a recess in the wall, like a blind window-bay, at the
back of which are nine extremely rude and ancient
monochrome frescoes of saints with glories. Theenormous size of the head in proportion to the body,the large starting eyeballs, and quaint pouting lips,
are enough to prove the antiquity of these figures.
The little chamber screened off from the rest of the
baptistery to hide the font conceals also part of the
frescoes. It has two little windows with slides
and an arched doorway ;a little lamp is hanging
in front. The font is overshadowed by a tiny
dome.
Mari Girgis is flat-roofed, and lighted by square
gratings or skylights. Owls and bats enter freely,
and find their way through the side windows into
Anba Shanudah below. The view from the roof of
the chapel is exceedingly fine;to the east one sees
long ranges of low rubbish hills backed by the white
Mukattam mountains which trend away toward the
lofty mosque and minarets of the citadel of Cairo :
to the west one looks across what seems a forest of
tamarisks and palms, between which now and then
tall white sails are moving, while boats and river are
alike unseen : and beyond the Nile rise the Pyramidsof Gizah in that distant blue aerial mist of excessive
brightness, which is the charm of an Egyptian
landscape.
Passing now round the west end of the main roof,
one reaches a tiny courtyard still on the first floor
whence opens a door. Under a low pointed arch
CH. in.] Dair Abu-s-Sifain. 145
of ancient brickwork one enters a chapel that runs
the whole length of Anba Shanudah, forming the
north triforium, and is called The Chapel of Filiatts,
i. e. Philotheos, perhaps the patriarch of that name,who was elected near the end of the tenth century.It is a long and narrow building divided into four
sections by screens.
The women's section is bare and empty : from
it four large oblong windows, half-blocked with frag-
ments of lattice-work and coloured planks relics of
the old flat painted roof of the chapel look downinto Anba Shanudah. Between this and the men's
section is a railing 4 ft. high, with tall uprights
joined at the top. Cross-beams are laid from this
screen to that of the choir, which is of the same type,
and on them curiously is placed a pulpit.
The choir has no ornaments but a few rotten
pictures : and above the haikal-screen or icono-
stasis, which is ivory-inlaid, is a series of wretched
daubs.
The haikal is domed, and the corner pendentivesare of unusual size and boldness.
The church of Anba Shanudah then as a whole
is two-domed, the third dome having probablybeen removed when the chapel of Mari Girgis was
built.
A door leading out of the choir of Filtaus givesaccess to a small Shrine of tJu Virgin, which, like
many of the upper chapels, is a mere fowl-house at
present. It is a small nearly square room with four
divisions. In one division there is a poor triptych
with a date showing an age of about a century; and
facing it, nailed at the back of the screen, is a tablet
of wood with an Arabic inscription in extremely
VOL. I. L
146 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
rude and ancient characters very much resembling
Cufic.
It is as follows, in three lines :
&> j *
i. e. O Lord, forgive the sins of thy servants, and giverest to their souls, those for whose sake (is) this
(church) : and reward in the kingdom him who has
taken these pains.This inscription is said to be dedicatory of the
chapel 800 years old. The words of the last line'
reward, &c.' are those ordinarily employed, the
formula of dedication of any object. On pictures,
crosses, screens, the formula occurs with scarcely
any variation. The word ^Ai naiah in the first
line would seem to imply that the church was built
by a patriarch. For even at the present day the
word '
tanalah'
is used when a patriarch or bishopis dead. The Copts say,
' Al batrak tanalah'
' the
patriarch has entered into his rest,' not '
is dead.'
HISTORICAL NOTE ON THE CHURCH OF
ANBA SHANUDAH.
Shanudah (Arabic), Shanuti (Coptic), or Sanutius
(Latin) is a common name in Coptic history1
. Of
1 There is a learned dissertation on the origin of the name byA. Georgius in his Fragmentum Evangelii S. Johannis, p. cliv seq.
CH. in.] Dair Abu- s-Sifain . 147
the two patriarchs who bore it, the first, who was
elected in 859 A.D., was as distinguished for his
singular virtues, as his namesake, elected 1 70 years
later, was for his notorious vices. It is the former
who is said to have established the Coptic way of
writing the sacred letters still in vogue1
. But the
church of Anba Shanudah takes its name from
neither of these patriarchs, but from a famous an-
chorite of the fifth century, who rose to high dignityin the church, and went as a bishop to the Council of
Ephesus. A brief notice of his life will be found
among the legends.The date of the church cannot be fixed accurately,
but it is without doubt earlier than Abu-'s-Sifain and
may be assigned to the seventh or eighth century.The first mention of it occurs in a story quoted byRenaudot 2
. About the year 740 A.D., in the days of
the turbulent Khail, one Kassim son of 'Abaidullah
came on horseback to Anba Shanudah accompanied
by his favourite mistress. The chief priest forbade
them to enter, saying that no woman had ever
ventured in without drawing the wrath of God on
her head forthwith 3. They persisted : but no sooner
had they set foot within the church than the womanwas stricken dead on the spot, and Kassim was
seized with a devil, from which he never more was
quite delivered. He gave 300 dinars to the church ;
(Rome, 1789, 410.). He shows that the name means 'herald of
God/ i. e. prophet.1 Malan's History of the Copts, p. 84.2 Hist. Pat. Alex., p. 203.3 The absence of provision for women to worship in the
church lends a curious air of probability to the main facts of this
story.
L 2
148 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
but some time after, hearing of a sumptuous ebonycoffer inlaid with ivory, wherein the books of service
were kept, he coveted it, and came with thirty mento carry it away. But finding they with all their
force were unable to move it from its place, he
departed and gave 300 more dinars to the church in
token of repentance.
Thirty years later there is an incidental mention
of the church in Al Makrizi, where he states that Sitt
Mariam, near Anba Shanudah, was pulled down 1:
and early in the eleventh century the wild fanatic
Al Hakim Bi'amr Illahi 'allowed the call to prayerfrom the church of Senuda in Misr 2
,'which may mean
either that he spared it, or, as seems more consistent
with the context, that he turned it into a mosque.The chapel of Filtaus and the Shrine of the
Virgin were probably built by the patriarch Philo-
theos about the year 990 A. D.; and it is worth notice
that the triforium is entirely occupied by Filtaus,
and therefore was not designed to accommodatewomen at the services in the main building below.
Al Makrizi is very curt in his history of Philotheos :
' He lived 24 years and died : but he was a glutton3.'
Still he may have built chapels.
CHURCH OF AL WDRA, CALLED BiD-DAMSHiRiAii 4,
OR SITT MARIAM, IN DAIR ABU-'S-SIFAIN.
The church of Al 'Adra or Sitt Mariam, the Virginor Lady Mary, is reached by the first turning to the
1
History of the Copts, p. 80. 2Id. p. 90.
3Id. p. 88.
*
v^-i-o^Jlj l^JuxJI.This is the official title, but the meaning
of Ad-Damshiriah is now quite unknown. The church is popularly
CH. III.] Dair Abu-s-Sifain. 149
left after passing through the doorway of the dair.
tlt has been recently repaired and has a newish look :
but it has not lost all its interest.
Crossing a courtyard one arrives at the church
door, which is on the south side. There is no porch,
but a walled passage runs straight into the body of
the church, dividing a baptistery, which occupies the
south-west corner, from the southern aisle. In this
A. J. B.
Fig. 10. Church of Sitt Mariam.
passage is a stone basin, very like a holy-water
stoup, let into the wall : its purpose however is
merely to feed the font in the baptistery, with which
it communicates by a drain cut through the stone.
The water-carrier thus has only to stand in the
passage and empty his goatskin into the little basin,
as often as required, till the font is filled.
called Sittna Mariam or Sitt Mariam, and I retain the latter here
to distinguish it from the many other churches dedicated to Al'Adra.
150 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
In structure Sitt Mariam is the most simple, regular,
and symmetrical of all the churches. The whole
plan is obvious at a glance : there are none of those
errant side-chapels and wandering aisles which per-
plex Mari Mina and Abu-'s-Sifain. The division of
the building longitudinally into nave and two aisles,
and again laterally into narthex, nave and choir, is
clear and precise. The main roof covering the nave
is wagon-vaulted and very lofty ;while that of the
north and south aisles and narthex is low and
horizontal. The aisles are marked off by six marble
columns, three on each side. These columns are,
as generally happens, of various sizes and orders,
but their arrangement is regular. Above the capital
of each pillar is a cubical block technically called
a dosseret, a very unusual arrangement in a Coptic
church, and one stated by Texier and Pullan to be a
distinctly Byzantine characteristic. These dosserets
were originally cased in wood, carved in delicate
pendentives, and finely coloured. Few traces of
this casing now remain. Next above the dosseret
comes a square pillar of masonry continuing the
column upwards for 4 ft., the total height being
15 ft. Flat beams are laid across from pillar to
pillar, forming a continuous architrave, upon which
is built a wall rising to a height of 6 ft. before the
spring of the wagon-vaulting begins. From the
architrave also run at right angles on three sides,
north, south, and west, towards the outer walls, a
succession of horizontal beams to support the flat
roof of the aisles and of the narthex.
The narthex now serves as a place for the women,but there is a complete triforium or gynaekonitis
running all round. The wooden pulpit is in an
CH. HI.] Dair Abu-s-Sifain. 151
unusual place, the north aisle : it is very old, and
adorned with a fine geometrical design in cedar set
with little blocks of ebony. This aisle also contains
a lattice-work patriarchal chair, the ordinary step-
ladder, and a candelabrum or two. In the south aisle
are three poor and three ruined pictures. Over the
choir doorway is a double-faced picture with' the
Crucifixion navewards and the Resurrection showingchoirwards : it is recent and worthless, except as
indicating that the traditional place for the cruci-
fixion is still recognised. In almost all churches it
is found in this position. It corresponds obviouslywith the rood on the rood-screen in the early EnglishChurch.
The sanctuary-screen itself is inlaid with plain
ivory, which forms a number of squares and crosses
upon it. It is continued north and south by workof a different and older kind, resembling that of
the pulpit, fine Arabic mouldings, enclosing centres
of uncarved ebony.On the north wall is a set of four pictures of
horsemen in a single frame of lattice-work. Onthe south wall are three sixteenth-century paint-
ings, viz. :
1. The Baptism of Christ.
2. Abu Nafr, the eremite;he is a strange gaunt
figure, represented as gathering dates from
a palm tree in the desert.
3. Anba Shanudah and his pupil Wisah.
Another sixteenth century painting is a shrine-like
picture of the Virgin and Child on the screen againstthe wall which divides the haikal from the north aisle-
chapel ;it bears a date corresponding to 1541 A.D.
The ground is gold. The Virgin is throned, holding
152 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
the Child;her crown is upheld by two flying angels
who have blue wings and red robes with scarlet
streamers. The Virgin's robe as usual has a hoodraised over the head, the outlines coming down and
meeting at a point on the breast. The colours are
soft, and the decoration of the robes and work of
the crown is very delicate;
but Mary's face and
hands are poorly drawn. Upon the expression of
the Child's countenance much more care has been
spent ;and the artist seems really to have caught
a glimpse of ideal beauty.The iconostasis has on either side a crewet-holder,
and above the usual series of twelve apostles with
the Virgin for a centrepiece. The apostles stand
in pairs under arches, and are painted on a dim gold
ground.There is a smaller series of five unusually interest-
ing pictures over the screen of the south chapel.
The priest assured me that there was no date, but
by climbing a ladder and peering closely in the dim
light, I discovered figures giving the equivalent in
the Coptic era of 1478 A.D. The background is
curiously divided between two colours;
the lower
half is a soft olive green, the upper half a clear
gold : but in all, except the central picture, the topcorners also are marked off with green. The tri-
angular spaces so formed are tricked with a sort of
scrollwork in faint yellow. The whole tone is veryrich and pleasing.
The central picture is a Virgin and Child. Thefaces are rude and careless save for a singularly
earnest look about the eyes. On each side stands
the figure of an apostle, and beyond this an arch-
angel, St. Peter and Raphael on her right, on the
CH. in.] Dair Abu-s-Sifain. 153
left St. Paul and Ithuriel. All four figures are
dressed in the same vestments, chasuble, dalmatic,
alb, and stole, but the colours are varied. Raphaelcarries a small cross and a staff in one hand, anda medallion of Christ in the other
;he wears a red
nimbus, with a conventional gold design runninground. The wings are blue, with white under-wings.Ithuriel's figure is much the same, but while hold-
ing a cross in his right hand, with his left he holds
a trumpet which he is blowing.This church is peculiar in having no apse, all
three chapels being rectangular. The triforia are
continued over the north and south sanctuaries ;
but there is over the haikal a lofty domed roof
with large pendentives. Over the main altar is a
high canopy resting on horizontal beams fastened
into the walls north and south. The eastern niche
is lined with magnificent Damascus tiles, many of
which are of unusual design, while others resemble
patterns common in all mosques. Unfortunately a
great number of the pieces are mere fragments, and
all are flung together at random without any attemptat unity. The effect is further marred by the usual
dust and darkness. Above the arch of the niche is
a cross in tilework, which seems to have escapedrestoration
;but the tiles are more modern and less
beautiful.
There is an open doorway from the haikal throughthe wall to the north chapel, but none to the south ;
this latter is entered only from the choir, but adjoin-
ing it is a small sacristy.
Among the vestments of the church should be
noticed a very fine cope of silk, embroidered with
flowers in tissue of gold, and fastened by a morse
154 Ancient Coptic Churches.
with a cross in relief. This is used on festivals, and
not as an ordinary part of the priest's vestments.
I discovered also, thrown away in a dirty locker
and buried in rubbish, two old Arabic glass lamps,one entirely of plain white glass, the other set round
with blue bosses and little plaques containing each
a lion's head. The latter is of very unusual form;
it has a globular body, narrow neck, and wide lip ;
but below descends in lessening rings to a pear-
shaped finial, ending off with a small twisted globeand a boss in deep blue colour l
. I only know one
other lamp of the kind at the small church of the
Virgin next to Mari Girgis in the Kasr-ash-Sham-
m'ah. These lamps have been disused for manyyears, and only await destruction.
HISTORICAL NOTE ON THE CHURCH OF SITT MARIAM.
The original foundation of this church was at least
as early as the eighth century. Indeed the record
at that date is a record not of building but of destruc-
tion. For Al Makrtzi, speaking of the year 770 A.D.,
says,' The church of Sitt Mariam anent that of Abu
Shanudah in Masr was pulled down2.' The destruc-
tion was perhaps only partial ;at any rate the church
was rebuilt almost as soon as it had fallen, togetherwith the other churches which had been thrown
down, and in its present form doubtless goes back
to about the year 800 A. D.
1 An illustration is given in vol. ii.
2 Malan's History of the Copts, p. 80.
Vol. I. To face p. 155.
ROMAN FORTRESS OF BABYLON
(KASR-ASH-SHAMMAH)ROMAN WORKROMAN DRAIN
CHURCHESARAB WORK
CHAPTER IV. zg'El*
The Ancient Roman Fortress of Babylon,
NOW CALLED
Kasr-ash-Shamm 1ah
The Roman Fortress. The Church ofAbu Sargah. The Chtirch of
Al'Adra, called Al Mu'allakah. The Church of Kadisah Bur-bdrah. The Churches ofAl'Adra and Mdri Girgis.
IKE most other antiquities of Old Cairo,
its fine Roman remains have been little
noticed, and no plan of them has been
published. Yet they are extremely interest-
ing. There is plenty in Egypt to remind one of the
period of Greek rule : but the traces of Roman
conquest are rare and not striking. One scarcelyrealises how firmly the power of Rome was plantedon the Nile. But the fortress of Babylon with its
massive walls and colossal bastions is a type of
the solid strength by which Rome won and kepther empire. And beyond its value in the cause of
Roman archaeology, this ancient castle has a far
wider interest : for it encloses no less than six
churches of the Copts, some of which were certainly
standing when the wave of Arab invasion dashed
idly against their defences. In this fortress, too, the
fate of nations centred : for it was here that by their
treacherous surrender the Jacobites sealed at once
156 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
the triumph of Al Islam and their own doom of
perpetual subjection, well content to purchase at the
price of their country's freedom a final victory over
their religious adversaries the Melkites : it was here
that the Greek empire over Egypt fell;and here
that the Crescent rose above the Cross.
The wall, as usual with Roman walls, consists of
alternate layers of brick and stone, five courses
of stone alternating with three courses of brick,
a very common arrangement. The height of a
brick layer is nearly I ft., and that of a stone
layer 3 ft. : taking the two together as 4 ft.,
one may easily calculate heights without mea-
surement. The mortar is made of sand, lime,
pebbles and charcoal;and it is curious to notice
that the Arabs of Old Cairo to this day mix their
mortar with charcoal in the same manner.
The circuit at present is far from complete, and
every year sees some fresh defacement or destruc-
tion. Roughly one may say the fortress was quad-rilateral : but the northern wall has now almost
entirely disappeared. Off the north-east corner a
block of masonry stands solitary among the rubbish
mounds, representing possibly a small detached fort.
The western wall has been severely dealt with the
last few years : for the first hundred yards it has
been razed almost level with the ground, and the
point where it ceases is now concealed behind the
new western wall of the cemetery. At this point
quite recently traces of a corner bastion were visible
showing clearly the junction of the original western
with the northern wall. This latter ran across the
ground newly enclosed for the cemetery towards
the north-east : but even the foundations now lie
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 157
hidden below the earth. The level of the soil all
round the fortress has risen, as I have calculated,
at the rate of more than a foot a century since
Roman times.
Proceeding southward the wall throws out a sharpshoulder at the dip of the road : this shoulder was
pierced with windows and formed an angular bastion.
Thence the wall runs at a slightly changed angle for
150 yards to the Greek convent. Halfway comes
the Coptic entrance of Kasr-ash-Shamm'ah a door
so low that one has to descend into a kind of pit to
reach it. The entrance has been cut in early Chris-
tian times through the solid Roman masonry, which
here is 8 ft. in thickness. A new door has just been
made through the wall a little further on as an
entrance to the premises of the Greek convent,
the one ancient Melkite church now remaining.Below the Greek convent the wall disappears
under plaster and whitewash and bends inward bya sharp curve for about 10 ft. : after a gap of
about 90 ft. crossed by an Arab wall, one finds
again the Roman wall bent outwards in a correspond-
ing curve, and thence continuing straight. Thesetwo curves were puzzling at first, but by good fortune
I found the key to their meaning. A view obtained
one day from the roof of Al Mu'allakah revealed
a mass of masonry, apparently Roman, lying just
behind and adjoining one of the curves : and sub-
sequent research on the spot discovered the remains
of a large circular tower of Roman work, to which
the wall formed a tangent. Only half the tower
remained, showing a sort of vertical section;but
there was enough to indicate the plan, which con-
sisted of two concentric circles with the space between
158 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
them divided into eight equal segments by radiating
walls. The approach to the eight chambers was
from the central chambers inside the inner circle,
but there were no remains of any staircase. On the
ground floor in the very centre of the tower I found
the Roman sewer, which is still visible without the
fortress, and runs nearly all round its eastern side.
Thinking over the matter, I easily conjecturedthat the corresponding whitewashed curve in the
Greek convent wall must belong to a corresponding
tower, and that in fact the Greek convent was built
on the top of the old tower. This at once accounted
for its unusual elevation, and lent colour to its claims
to very great antiquity. The first visit set all doubts
at rest. Though Arab buildings are clustered thickly
round and rise on nearly every side to a great height ;
and though repairs and additions,. plaster and white-
wash, have disguised the original building in almost
a magical manner; yet having the clue beforehand
one could trace all the details of the plan clearly
enough, and prove the existence almost in its com-
pleteness of a splendid Roman building, unique in
construction, though unnoticed by the travellers that
have passed inside it for generations.The modern entrance is on the third story
1. The
aperture of a Roman window has been enlarged, and
a flight of stone steps built up to it from outside the
tower against the fortress wall which forms a tangentto the tower. Consequently it was from this third
1
Revisiting the scene in January, 1884, I found a vast pile of
new buildings in course of construction actually against the tower.
The old staircase is gone, and the old exterior wall is now finally
and hopelessly concealed. The text is already bygone history.
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 159
story that the process of discovery began. Travellers
who have visited the Greek convent will remember
that after the first staircase, they entered a broad
short passage leading into an irregular room, the
roof of which is partly upheld by some ancient
columns. A little inspection will show that there
are really eight columns, though some are nearly
buried in Arab walls : that on these eight columns
rests a circular wooden architrave to support the
ceiling, and that the columns make a ring inside a
circular chamber, the original central chamber of the
tower. This much being made clear, one may follow
round the chamber wall and find it pierced with eight
doorways at equal intervals, each doorway leadinginto another chamber, one of the segments of the
space between the two concentric circles. An eight-
spoked cart-wheel with a disproportionately large
axletree gives one a very fair idea of the plan.
The axletree will then represent the central chamber,
the spokes the radiating walls, and the spaces between
the spokes the chambers round the central chamber.
In the middle of this central room is a so-called well ;
but the Arabs say the water is never used, beingbrackish. The shaft of the well pierces down the verycentre of the tower, and I have little doubt that it wasnever meant for a well at all, but as a sink for sewage :
it is of Arab work, but falls directly into the Romansewer below, and may be a replacement of a similar
Roman shaft. Of the surrounding chambers one is a
chapel which the priests say is older even than the
convent ; a sink-pipe may be noticed in one corner of
the stone floor. Another is a sort of hermit's cell, with
a rude bed, and some good pictures : one is filled with
lumber : and the rest are foul with ages of filth and
160 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
darkness. All originally had two windows;but ex-
cept in the chapel, the hermit's cell, and the entrance-
way, the windows have been blocked in such a manner
that, although outside they are flush with the wall,
and under plaster and whitewash the openings are
invisible, yet inside, from the greater thickness of
the Roman wall, the round-arched headings are
clearly shown, and the difference between the ancient
and the modern work is obvious.
I have said that there are eight similar chambers
round the central one;
this is not quite accurate.
For one of the segments, the southernmost, is
occupied by the old Roman staircase. The visitor
entering by the Arab staircase crosses the hall of
pillars into a short passage ;here is an old carved
folding-door, and just beyond it steps mounting upto the convent. These steps leading upwards are
part of the old Roman staircase ; and by openingthe folding-doors one finds the same staircase de-
scending downwards for two stories, with this differ-
ence, that below all is in pitch darkness;
it is a placeof mystery and horror, said to be peopled by devils,
and is unknown and unvisited happily even by the
whitewasher.
With some difficulty I persuaded the priests of
the convent to light me down with tapers. Thestaircase proved to be a beautiful piece of work
;
it is a steep slanting shaft, walled and wagon-vaultedwith large courses of finely-worked ashlar, and turn-
ing about a rectangular pier by long and short flights
alternately. After four flights, completing one turn
round the pier, one faces a door loft, high, with
flat lintel and void relieving arch. It leads into
the central chamber of the first floor, but the original
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 161
design has been quite altered and disguised by Arabwork. Inside the inner Roman circle a third circular
wall has been built, corresponding to the ring of
columns on the story above. Embedded in it maystill be seen two of the eight columns it was de-
signed to replace ;and these are joined by a wooden
architrave exactly like that above. Possibly the
remaining six columns are completely immured;but
no trace of them remains, though there is still
visible, flush with the Arab wall, part of a Roman
doorway, with lintel of freestone ornamented with
dentels. The interior of this Arab circle is piled
so thick with dust and rubbish in two of the four
chambers into which it is divided, that the level
varies 7 or 8 ft. in places, and gives at first the
impression of two stories. The well-shaft in the
ce'ntre is clearly, as it stands, not Roman. Outside,
too, there are walls of Arab work joining the Arabcircle to the inner Roman wall
; one passes from
room to room by a doorway just large enough for
a man's body. No doubt all these cells were con-
trived for monastic uses.
The compartments between the Roman circles
are also divided by Arab walls, lightened generally
by high pointed arches, but forming together a ring ;
so that altogether round the well-shaft are rangedin four concentric circles two Arab and two Romanwalls. The two pillars have each a cross in a
circular moulding cut in relief just under the abacus,
between the foliage of the Corinthian-like capital ;
and the crosses were clearly part of the original
carving, not an interpolation. It is possible, though
unlikely, that the entire capitals may have been
changed ; otherwise the conclusion would be that
VOL. I. M
1 62 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
the fortress dates from Christian times. But there
is nothing else to detain one;one is glad to escape
from the thick black dust, spiders, centipedes, and
other noisome creatures which dwell in this eternal
darkness. Such an experience recalls with vivid
meaning the words of Vergil,'
ire per umbras, perloca senta situ . . . noctemque profundam,' and one
such experience is enough. Leaving, then, this story,
one continues downwards by the staircase, and after
one more complete turn round the pier one reaches
the end a cul-de-sac. There is, however, a blocked
doorway on the north side, which led into the central
chamber on the ground floor; beyond this doorway
the staircase issues in a level vaulted recess 7 ft.
deep, probably meant for sentinels. It is pavedwith heavy slabs, some of which have been torn
up, no doubt in search for hidden treasure;but the
natural earth appears beneath.
Returning upwards I noticed that at every land-
ing on the outward or south side of the staircase is
a narrow blocked window. The passage is 1 2 ft.
high, built of nine courses of stone, each i6in. in
depth ;the vaulting consists of seven courses parallel
to the line of descent of the passage, not running at
right angles across it. The passage is 4 ft. 2 in. in
width; the pier 7 ft. long, 3ft. loin, broad; twenty-two steps lead from the ground to the first floor, and
the same number from first to second. The steps
average as nearly as possible 8 in. in height.
Directly one reaches the light again one is amused
at the look of relief on the priests' faces, and vexed
to find nothing but whitewashed surfaces. Thefurther ascent towards the Greek convent shows the
same kind of masonry as far as one can judge ; but
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 163
it is not easy to pronounce. The best outside view
is from a position between the two towers, which can
only be obtained by passing through the court of a
house;but the goodwife may be moved by polite-
ness and piastres. On this side the Roman workends suddenly in a level line, which may have been
the original top of the tower, though it is continued
up much higher by Arab work. Above the second
floor, which is marked by a brick-course, five other
brick-courses stand clear, with stone-courses above
and below, giving a height of 23ft. This would
make the original height of the whole tower roughlyabout 55 ft. It may here perhaps be mentioned
that the Greek church of St. George, now perchedlike an eagle's nest on the very top of the tower,
not only offers a splendid bird's-eye view of old
Cairo, but is in itself a most ancient and curious
structure. The folding doors of the church contain
eight small panels beautifully carved in subjects,
but unfortunately smeared thick with layers of paint ;
they resemble, or at least show the purpose of, the
ancient panels in Abu Sargah, which doubtless were
similarly enclosed in the framing of a door. Thechurch is hung with ostrich eggs and lamps of silver,
and on the walls are some magnificent examples of
both Damascus and Rhodian tilework, alone well
worth a visit. The church is further interesting as
being the only sacred building within these ancient
walls which the Melkites have succeeded in retain-
ing. For though called'
the Greek convent,' it
belongs not of course to any foreign community,but to the orthodox patriarch of Alexandria. Thechurch was plundered by a mob of Muslims at the
time of the war in 1882.
M 2
164 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
From the same point of view one sees a curious
arrangement by which a small but complete semi-
circle has been, as it were, scooped away from
the outside wall the whole height of the staircase.
This semicircle has a diameter of 17 ft, and is
designed to relieve the otherwise excessive thick-
ness of the wall, and to facilitate the admission
of light through the narrow windows of the stair-
case.
I have given the foregoing details generally in
the order of their discovery. The chief problemremained to find the original entrance to the
tower. The staircase, after leading down to the
ground floor, was blocked between the two circles;
it seemed impossible that the Romans entered bya staircase from outside, landing on the second floor
as visitors enter at present, yet on the ground I had
failed to find any sign of a doorway.The next move was to call on the chief priest,
whom I found in a little room at an immense height,even above the convent. Over coffee I drew him to
talk about the lower parts of the building, mentioned
my visit to the lower regions, and said there were
some houses outside, adjoining the tower, which I
should very much like to explore. He told me
they were ruined, and I could go where I liked, but
must take a guide. Gladly accepting, I went down,and after stumbling over broken doors and fallen
stones wound through a maze of dark passages
among tumbledown hovels, and at last stood before
the east side of the tower, and the mystery was
ended. Close together only 8 ft. apart were two
similar doorways 4 ft. 6 in. in width. These both
led into the same room or division between two
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 165
radiating walls : one of these walls is pierced with a
door, and the adjoining compartment has three ad-
ditional doors two for entrance from without, and
one leading inwards into the central chamber. This
latter was quite blocked, but the design is now clear.
Of the eight divisions on the ground floor one is occu-
pied by the staircase : two eastward of this are open,each by two doorways ;
the other five divisions, as
well as the central chamber, are blocked up in dark-
ness, and apparently have been so for generations.It is not easy to see the need of the four original
doorways ; but they have their convenience now for
the herd of swine, which are the sole tenants of the
vacant chambers. The walls of these chambers are
of ashlar, but end upwards in brickwork, sixteen
courses deep ;the brickwork is divided from the
stone by timber beams, which show not the slightest
sign of age or decay, despite the weight that has
been bearing upon them for full fifteen centuries.
From the topmost course of this brickwork springsthe wagon-vaulting of the roof, which likewise is of
very fine brickwork. The courses in the vaultingrun at a considerable angle to the line of the wall.
The four outer doorways are round-headed;but
the inner doorway or passage between the two
chambers has an arch of horseshoe form. All the
arches are made of brickwork.
Between the two towers there stood, no doubt,
originally a gateway and a curtain wall : no vestigeof either remains, but the curtain wall must have
crossed just behind the modern Arab wall. The
place where it joined the northern tower is marked
by a lofty narrow pile of native work, doorless,
windowless, and apparently purposeless, unless it was
1 66 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
meant merely to hide the jagged end of the curtain
wall after its destruction.
With a slight change of direction the fortress
wall proceeds from the broken tower southwards
for about 100 yards., then turns at an obtuse angleto form the southern side of the quadrilateral.
There it loops outward into three large straight-
sided round-headed bastions, two of which are toler-
ably well preserved. The first is much damaged,but contains inside a small chamber, with a most
beautiful roof of pyramidal brick-vaulting ;and the
curtain-wall between the first and the second bastion
has had the entire facing stripped off for a height of
8 ft, and in some parts is hollowed to a depth of
3 ft, making a sort of cavern where a whole herd
of goats find shelter from the heat. The second
bastion is split with huge cracks, and shows someArab patchwork ;
then comes the well-known gate-
way of solid ashlar, with a fine triangular pedimentstill remaining. This pediment is ornamented with
dentels, and quite classical in character ; under one
corner may still be seen the aetos, a small figure of
an eagle sculptured in relief. Above the pedimenta tablet seems to have been torn away : the reliev-
ing arch shows clearly below it, and still lower maybe seen the top of the old gateway arch, now only
just projecting above the surface of the ground. It
is over this gateway, swung as it were between two
bastions, with its southern wall resting on the Romancurtain-wall, that the ancient church of Al Adra is
built, hence called Al Muallakah, or The Hanging'
Church. Its side-chapels project into and occupy the
upper story of the third bastion, which is the most
perfect of all;the lower story is filled with tombs of
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 167
Coptic dignitaries. Each floor of the bastion shows
seven windows, blocked up in the usual manner.
A little farther on the Roman wall suddenly dis-
appears after turning a corner, and merges in Arabwork. A large rectangular palm-garden, bounded
on three sides by Arab walls, here lies close againstthe fortress. It was almost certain that the Romanwall formed the fourth side of the garden, but by no
means easy to prove it. There was a heavy woodendoor through the lofty wall into the garden, at which
I knocked in vain many days. Sometimes voices
would answer, but only to say that the key was lost,
or that the master had taken it away with him ; mere
fictions to hide refusal. At last one burning dayas I passed the door was standing ajar. I ran upand planted myself in the doorway, hastily changing
my tarbush for an English hat, lest I should be
taken for an official. An infant seeing me shrieked,'
Oh, mother, quick ! here's a Frank ! quick !' and the
mother came forth from the palms to guard the child,
drawing her veil over her mouth. I said,'
I am very
thirsty, will you be so kind as to give me a drink of
water, O lady ?'
' Be so kind, did you say ?' She seemed unac-
customed to so much civility.' Yes
;will you be so kind ? The sun is fiery and the
world is hot to-day, and I have come a long journeyand am thirsty. Our Lord lengthen your life.'
' Good;
I will go and ask my husband.' Thehusband it seems was asleep, but soon came and
invited me in. I called my friend, and we entered
and went to the well, which lies in the middle of
the garden, and sends forth under the palms a clear
cold stream of beautiful water.
1 68 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
There we drank and were refreshed. Then I said
to the gardener,' This is such a beautiful garden,
that Paradise itself cannot be fairer; may we eat
as well as drink here ? we have our noonday meal
without.' He readily agreed, and we lunched under
the welcome shade of the palm-trees. Afterwards, as
we were smoking with our host, I professed astonish-
ment and admiration at the unusual size of the garden.He was flattered, and said there was none like it.
' What do you suppose is the length ?'
I asked.'
Quite seventy or eighty yards/ he said.' Not more
than that ? why, I am sure it is at least one hundred.
Will you let me measure?' 'Certainly.' 'Verywell; we will measure that wall over there' which
I had from the first moment identified as the Romanwall I was in search of. So we measured and
proved it to be more than one hundred yards in
length ;discovered traces of another bastion
;and
departed well content with the success of our little
stratagem. Something of the kind was rendered
necessary by the inveterate suspicion which the
natives entertain of strangers coming with strangeinstruments uncanny machines which ' devour' their
houses, as they put it. And my court uniform had
given rise to the rumour that I was an official sent
by the divan or government.At the far end of the palm-garden projects a
bastion, the ruined walls of which have been built
up with Arab brickwork and crowned with a circlet
of pots, like those at Mari Mina. This bastion,
however, is better viewed from inside the dair,
and is reached by a visit to the Jewish synagogue,behind which it stands. The interior is filled with
fallen bricks and stones, but it is possible to get
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 169
measurements. The greatest length is 33ft. 6 in.,
width 25ft.; there are only five windows to each
floor, not seven as in the southern bastion. In the
first and second story the windows are 4 ft. 6 in.
wide, in the third 2 ft. 3 in.;the height of the middle
floor windows is ioft, and those above 5ft.; the
lower or original ground floor windows are now too
deeply buried for vertical measurement. The brick-
courses are in all cases bent round the head of the
windows forming a circular arch.
This Jewish synagogue is worth a visit. It was
originally a Coptic church dedicated to St. Michael,
and was sold to the Jews by his namesake Michael,
fifty-sixth patriarch, towards the end of the ninth
century1
. Eutychius says that St. Michael in Kasr-
ash-Shamm'ah was the last church held by the Melk-
ites about the year 725 A. D., when all other churches
throughout the land of Egypt had passed into the
hands of the Jacobites. How long it remained with
the Melkites is uncertain;but the violent antipathy
of the two factions no doubt gave a cause of quarreland conquest to the Jacobites, long before the time
when, according to Makrizi, it was made over to the
Hebrews.
The synagogue is about 65ft. long and 35ft. broad,
and shows in miniature a Coptic basilica in its simplestand perhaps its earliest form. If the eastern end has
suffered some alteration, the nave, side-aisles, and
returned aisle with triforium above, are unchangedfrom the old design, though whitewash has long since
defaced the splendid colours once blazoned on the
walls. In point of detail there is not much of interest
1 Al Makrizi, Malan's Trans, p. 85.
1 70 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
remaining, except the fine stucco work about the
arch of triumph, the tank or well behind the apse,
and the carved doors at the end of the south aisle;
upon which one may notice gazelles, and that other
ancient Christian symbol, a pair of birds with re-
torted drooping heads, and between them a bunch
of grapes a symbol one may see graven with equal
fidelity in the mosque of St. Sophia at Constan-
tinople, the church of St. Eleutherios at Athens, the
cathedral of St. Nicholas at Bari in Italy, and on
the minster font at Winchester.
One is tempted to linger among the acacia and
pomegranate trees in the synagogue garden ;but
there is little more of the Roman wall to be seen
here, and to see the rest one must return outside
the dair and work round beyond the palm garden,
noticing on the way and following the Roman sewer
that skirts it1
. The sewer, which is the same as
that passing under the round towers, disappears just
before another bastion, the last on the long eastern
wall. Between this and the synagogue bastion are
remains of a third clearly visible;
so that there
were four altogether on the eastern side. Further
research is again baffled by a lofty Arab wall
starting from the last bastion and enclosing another
garden ;but following it round, one discovers on the
northern side a piece of Roman wall, which a little
examination shows to have been the back wall of
a bastion. This is the only trace remaining of the
1 This sewer is about 4 ft. deep and 18 in. wide; it is lined
with cement and roofed with slabs of limestone. The fact that
it skirts the palm gardens shows that the space they now cover was
once occupied by Roman buildings.
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 171
northern wall of the fortress, but is invaluable as
giving the direction of the line which, if producedacross the Greek cemetery, exactly strikes the pointfrom which we started, and completes the quadri-lateral. In the middle of this back wall is the
garden door, which occupies the original doorwayof the ground floor of the bastion
;for the ground
floor chamber in every bastion was roofed with a
vaulting of heavy masonry, and entered by an
arched doorway from within the fortress. In this
garden may be had a fine view of the domes of
the smaller church of Al Adra : remains there also
prove the fact that the bastion stood exactly at
the north-east corner of the fortress, and that the
wall which crossed the garden formed a right anglebefore it struck the nearest eastern bastion and
resumed its original direction.
To sum up. On the north side we have two
rounded bastions at the corners, and there were no
doubt at least two others between;on the western
side one angular bastion and two huge round towers;
on the south side three rounded bastions, and on
the east four. The walls were 8 ft. thick at the
base, changing to 5 ft. at the distance of about 1 5 ft.
from the ground, the offset being of course inwards.
Of the foundation of this fortress there is no
record remaining, and its date is very difficult to
determine. In Rome the date of a building can
be fixed by the style of the work ;but the law does
not hold in the colonies, where the accidents of place
and material confounded all order of succession and
overruled canons of taste. It is clear, however, that
a town called Babylon existed long before the Roman
occupation of Egypt. There are various legends
1 72 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
of its origin. Strabo 1
says some revolted Babylo-nians obtained a settlement there from the kingsof Egypt. The version of Diodorus Siculus 2
tallies
with this : he writes that some captives broughtfrom Babylon by Sesostris established themselves in
a fortified castle called after their mother city, whence
they made raids on the country round, but were
finally pacified and pardoned. Josephus3 relates
that Babylon was built when Cambyses conquered
Egypt, i.e. 525 B.C. : while, according to Eutychius4
,
the founder was a Persian king called Athus, whobuilt a temple to the sun on the spot where nowstands the church of Tadrus. The main fact, then,
of the existence of an early Babylonian fortress,
needs no further question : and I think it must
have been this fortress, or at least the site of it,
which the Romans occupied at the time of Strabo's
visit to Egypt. Murray thinks that the fort men-
tioned by Strabo is the Kasr-ash-Shamm'ah, but
needlessly perplexes the matter with a misquota-
tion, which occurs I believe in every writer whohas touched the subject since La Martiniere.
Strabo does not say that the position was '
fortified
by nature :
'
his words are, typovpiov epv[j.v6v, d-rroa-TavTcov
Ba(3v\(ovia)i> rivSiv, &c. It is true that kpv^vo^ is some-
times used to signify natural strength : but primarilyand usually it denotes artificial strength. So that in
spite of the low-lying situation of Kasr-ash-Shamm'ah,there is no reason why Strabo, had he seen it, should
not have described it as <ppovpi.ov tpvfjLvov. The theory
1Strabo, Geog. bk. xvii. chap. i. 35.
2 Diod. Sic. Hist. lib. i. chap. Ivi. 3.3
Josephus, Ant. Jud. 2. 5.4
Eutych. ap. Migne, Patrologiae Cursus, vol in. p. 967.
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 173
that the rubbish mounds now gathered round the
castle may'
conceal its once elevated base'
is refuted
by a survey of the locality, which reveals no strikingdifference of level : besides, to imagine any such
elevated plateau on the spot is to give the Nile-bed
an impossible depression. The fortress is so far
sunken now, that however much the bed of the Nile
may have risen, the level of the two cannot originally
have been very different. Strabo goes on to saythat this (]>povpioi> was at the moment he saw it (ywH)the camp of one of the three legions guarding Egypt ;
and he adds,'
there is a ridge from the camp(orparoTre^oi/) to the Nile along which water is
brought by machinery worked by one hundred and
fifty prisoners,' i.e. probably by an arrangement of
water-wheels, such as may be seen at the mediaeval
aqueduct of old Cairo.
Now it is perfectly certain that between Kasr-ash-
Shamm'ah and the Nile no ridge exists or ever
existed;while 200 yards to the south, between the
castle and the church of Tadrus, there is both a place'
fortified by nature,' if such be wanted, and a ridge
running Nilewards. A large island of rock detached
from the Mukattam range stands with steep sides,
and near the Dair Bablun throws out a spur, which
is continued towards the river by a ridge of hill.
I have no doubt that this is the spot where the
Babylonians built the fortress, and where the campwas seen by Strabo. The conjunction of the
words in the Greek shows clearly that in the
writer's mind there was a logical connexion between
the revolt and the castle : he could scarcely have
used such language had he been speaking of a revolt
made some centuries ago by Babylonians, and a castle
174 Ancient Coptic Churches, [CH. iv.
just built by the Romans. Further, there is no other
ridge in the neighbourhood : and had the water gone
up and along this, it would have had to come down
again to reach Kasr-ash-Shamm'ah. Moreover, the
Romans in Kasr-ash-Shamm'ah could easily have
obtained water by digging wells;and I find in the
Arab historian Murtadi that there was actually a
Nilometer built by the Romans inside their fortress.
On the other hand, the Babylonians, if they were on
the rocky ground, where I imagine their strongholdand the Roman camp in Strabo's time to have been,
could not have pierced the rock, but would have
been forced to convey water by some kind of
aqueduct. Another point worth notice is Strabo's
statement that from Babylon the Pyramids are
clearly visible in the distance. What is the fact
now ? From the hill-top the Pyramids are easily
seen, and the view of the country on all sides is
perhaps unrivalled for splendour and interest in
the world;but from the low ground by Kasr-ash-
Shamm'ah ground still lower in Strabo's time the
Pyramids are quite invisible. For these reasons,
then, I think the Kasr-ash-Shamm'ah cannot pos-
sibly have existed in Strabo's time.
Moreover, the evidence of dates alone is almost
decisive. Egypt was made a Roman province in
the year 30 B.C. : and Strabo's journey up to the
First Cataract was made in company with his friend
/Elius Gallus, the prefect in the year 25-24 B.C. It
does not seem probable that a fortress of such size,
strength, complexity, and admirable finish could have
been designed and completed in so short an interval :
and, further, had so striking and beautiful a work
existed, I think it impossible that Strabo could have
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 1 75
passed it over with so vague, obscure, and scanty a
notice.
It was only since writing the foregoing that I hadthe opportunity of referring to Pococke. There I
find that he holds the same opinion of the positionof the ancient Babylon, placing it on the island of
rock which he calls the Gebel Jehusi. He gives,
moreover, a plan of the Roman fortress l,and of the
two round towers : and a sketch of the southern wall
with the gateway. No doubt in his time, c. 1735,much of the fortress was standing that is now quite
gone ;and it is extremely disappointing that he
should not have taken more pains to be accurate.
He represents the walls as forming a neat right-
angled parallelogram about 1 600 ft. long and 300 ft.
broad. The wall-line cuts through the centre of the
towers instead of making a tangent : the towers are
1 80 instead of 60 ft. apart, and another pair of
towers is imagined with the same line for symmetry'ssake. I am quite sure from my own examination
that no second pair of towers can have existed.
He adds that one tower was then 40 ft. high, and
the other much higher, having a church above it :
so that the now ruined tower was in good pre-
servation when Pococke saw it. But he tells us
that even then the people were carrying away the
Roman stone for building. On the east side he
gives no less than twelve bastions, and carries the
wall 350 ft. even beyond the fragment of Romanwork marked in my plan as detached from the
fortress. It is possible, of course, that the fortress
was enlarged in later Roman times northwards, and
1
Description of the East, vol. i. p. 26. pi. ix.
176 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
the wall carried along the dotted line for somedistance : in that case the position of the fragmentwith reference to the north-east bastion is less
puzzling. But Pococke unfortunately neither sayshow much he saw of the wall nor whence he got his
plan ;and the latter is so very erroneous in places
where it can be challenged, that it is quite untrust-
worthy in others where it cannot. The plan he givesof a tower is fairly correct, except that he omits the
staircase and inserts a door between the two windowsof every compartment. In this, as in the plan of the
fortress, he assumes a symmetry which does not
exist : he makes a very pretty building, but
it is quite original. He seems to have measured
one wall and one tower which he calls' a very
particular sort of building' and then either
to have drawn the rest from imagination, or at least
to have twisted his facts to fit his fancies. Hedesigns his fortress after some ideal architype.
The elevation which he gives of the principal
gateway is no less faulty : it shows the four bastions,
but they are represented as circular. The gate with
pediment and relieving arch is indicated in such a
way as to imply that the whole was visible whenthe sketch was taken 1
. It is worth noting, however,that he gives a wall running parallel behind the
south wall at a distance of about 35ft. inside;
and though the interval is wrong, there doubtless
was some such rear-wall, on which the northern
wall of the Mu'allakah rests, as the southern rests
on the Roman gateway. Besides Pococke's, one
1It is to be hoped that some day this gateway may be excavated :
indeed the whole fortress would richly repay exploration.
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 177
other plan exists, that given in Panckoucke's'
Descriptions de 1'Egypte,' compiled by officers of
the French expedition, and published at Paris in
1823. A more incorrect and worthless plan never
was made. It gives with great inaccuracy merelythe boundary walls of the whole group of buildings :
and these walls are flatly called Roman ! The sur-
veyor was unable to distinguish between Arab and
Roman work;even the outer wall of the palm-
garden deceives him. In the whole circuit onlythree bastions those on the south side are figured;
the round towers are quite ignored. Pococke's planis far better : at least he knew what he was looking
for, and he does not confound styles and epochsof building which a child might distinguish.
It is easier to put aside a wrong date for the
fortress than to fix the right. But there are plau-
sible reasons for assigning it to an early epoch.The fact that on the high rocky ground the supplyof water might be at any moment cut off by a
besieging enemy, was enough in itself to determine
the Romans to choose a lower site where water
could be had for digging : though the remains of a
six foot sewer 1 near Dair Mikhail show that the
Roman town, which sprang up outside the fortress
walls, extended southward beyond the rocky ridge,
and covered the site of the first encampment.Moreover the ancient canal or Khalig, which nowruns through Cairo and once reached to the Red
1I am not aware that this sewer has been noticed before. The
road now runs over it, and the vaulting is broken through in several
places. A steep fall in the ground at one side marks clearly the
ancient course of the Nile for some distance, and the sewer ran
under the Roman quay, as was usual.
VOL. I. N
178 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
Sea, is generally identified with the Amnis Trajanus.It joins the Nile at Old Cairo; and the Romancastle is so built as to block the narrow neck of the
Nile valley, and to dominate the entrance of the
canal. It seems therefore reasonable to supposethat if Trajan had the canal cut, he also erected
the fortress;that he wished to command at once
the land and water passage between Upper and
Lower Egypt and the trade route to Arabia. Here
really were the gates of the East : at Kasr-ash-
Shamm'ah he could hold the gate of the Nile and
the gate of the Red Sea. If this theory be rightthe date would be about A. D. 100. The alternative
seems to assign the work to Probus 281 A. D., who
certainly built many'
temples, bridges, porticoes and
palaces in Egypt'1
. It is true the pediment of
the main gateway is late in style, and true also that
the cross-carved capitals on the pillars in the round
tower cannot be much earlier than the third century.But it is not certain that they belong to the original
building, the general features of which suit better
the time of Trajan, even were it likely that the
Romans should have deferred for three centuries the
building of a powerful fortress in so vital a position.
The names of the place are legion. Althoughthere probably was an early Egyptian town called
Kerkau at Old Cairo, Gibbon is wrong in speakingof the fortress as a part of 'Memphis or Misrah' 2
.
No theory of the size of Memphis can bring the
walls down near Masr, which is ten miles as the
crow flies from the fallen colossus of Rameses. Still
Masr is the oldest name and the commonest to-day.
1
Gibbon, chap. 12.2Chap. 51.
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. \ 79
In Roman times, however, there is no doubt that
the prevailing title was Babylon. Both in the
Notitia Provinciarum and the Itinerarium Antonini
the station is called'
Babylonia' : among the prelates
at the Council of Ephesus is recorded a bishop of
Babylon1
: and this name, which has lingered on side
by side with its elder, has still a local habitation at
Dair Bablun, two furlongs south of the fortress.
In the Mohammedan invasion of Egypt 638 A. D.
'Amr hurled his troops and his engines in vain
against the solid walls of Babylon : until after a
fruitless siege of seven months the Jacobite Coptswithin the fortress parleyed with 'Amr, deserted the
walls, and joined with the invader in wreaking their
vengeance on the Melkite Greeks, their co-defenders.
On the spot where Amr pitched his leather tent
(fustat) a mosque was built, and the Arab town
called after the tent Fustat. The mosque, one of
the most interesting monuments of Egypt, is still
called the mosque of 'Amr;
but though Fustat
lasted some centuries, when the new Cairo was
built, as the town fell wasted by fire and decay,the Arab name sank into oblivion and the old nameresumed its place, Masr the ancient as opposed to
Masr the victorious. The disdain with which the
Arabs looked down from the splendid citadel and
towers of Cairo on the forlorn ruins of Masr is
expressed in a current Arabic proverb,'
They mademention of Masr to Kahirah, and Bab al Luk rose
with her rubbish.' Bab al Ltik or' The Gate of
Folly' a contemptuous play on the word Babylon
1 La Martiniere, Dictionnaire G^ographique et Critique, s.v.
Babylon.
N 2
180 Ancient Coptic Chiwches. [CH. iv.
is curious as showing that the name in its wider
sense is not quite lost among the natives of to-day.
According to Pococke 1 the Arabs called the fortress
Kasr Kieman, which he explains to mean '
Archer's
Castle,' though I cannot find the word in Arabic
dictionaries and never heard it so applied. Thename Kasr-ash-Shamm'ah however was given bythe conquerors, and means '
Castle of the Candle'
or' Beacon Castle.' Murtadi 2 tells a curious legend
of a certain mirror made of all sorts of minerals
which stood on a high turret of brass at old Cairo in
the days of Sesostris. It showed the states of all
regions in Egypt, and reflected all passing events.
The beacon however is rather less mythical ;several
authors mention a irvpeiov, and the Arab Yakuti,
quoted by Golius, speaks of a Kubbat-ad-Dukhan,i.e. Dome or Temple of Smoke 3
: which is said to
have been a relic of the old Babylonian fire-worship.
Possibly even in Roman times a beacon-fire \vas
lighted on one of the round towers : for there are
some very puzzling flues in the ruined tower which
may have reference to some purpose of the kind,
but the walls about them are so broken that it is not
easy to guess their meaning. However that maybe, it is neither the name ' Dair-an-Nasarah' (Conventof the Nazarenes) nor ' Dair Mari Girgis' (Conventof Saint George), but rather Kasr-ash-Shamm'ah
that remains in familiar use to-day among Coptsand Muslims alike : though they seem to have no
1 Vol. i. p. 23 : no doubt the word should be kiman
means hills or mounds.2
Egyptian History, p. 26.:; See D'Anville, Mdmoires sur 1'Egypte, p. 112.
CH. iv.] 77ie Roman Fortress. 181
tradition to tell why the fortress was styled' The
Castle of the Candle' 1.
Abu Sargah, or St. Sergius, is the only church to
which tourists in search of shows are annually haled
by their exceedingly ignorant dragomans ;and it
thanks for this distinction rather the legend which
points to the crypt as the resting-place of the HolyFamily on their arrival at Masr, than any artistic or
antiquarian attraction supposed to reside in the
building2
. Yet its inherent interest is very great,
though possibly second to that of Al Mu'allakah.
There is little reason to doubt that the present
building dates unaltered in its main features
though of course fittings and details have been
changed from at least the eighth century, and this
date accords with the tradition as related to me bythe priest of Al Mu'allakah, though sometimes it is
1 Pococke mentions.in a note that the fortress was called in his
day' Casrkeshemeh
'
(sic), which is doubtless Kasr-ash-Shamm'ah ;
vol. i. p. 25 n.
2 The sort of impression produced by the church and its sur-
roundings on the ordinary traveller is painfully illustrated in most
story books about Egypt. Even a careful and just observer like
George Fleming puts into the mouth of her characters so falsely
coloured a description of the scene, that one hesitates whether to
term it rather shameful or ridiculous. The dull grey dust of the
rubbish mounds is called 'desert sand, looking like a sea of gold':
the crypt,' a hole in the ground in which the Virgin took refuge on
her flight into Egypt': and so on ad nauseam. See A Nile Novel,
vol. i. pp. 163-4 (second edition, London, 1877).
1 82 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
assigned to the sixth century. The truth probablyis that the crypt dates from the sixth century at the
very latest, and is doubtless considerably earlier,
while the main fabric is only about a thousand yearsold.
Abu Sargah lies nearly in the centre of the Romanfortress : north and west its walls align a narrow
street : eastward it touches ground encumbered with
ruined houses : and on the south it is pressed close
and hidden by later walls of ashlar and domestic
buildings. It is built of ordinary small brown
Egyptian bricks, varied here and there with bond
timbers of palm or tamarisk unmortised and un-
connected, or short square pilasters with cap-like
projections. The north wall runs unevenly with
an offset inwards some 20 ft. from the north-\vest
corner, a buttress farther on, and then a marked
deflection as shown in the plan. It is certain that
there were two western doorways : of these the
southern is still used, though the part of the narthex
into which it led has been strangely altered, and
now the passage doubles round a small block of
buildings into a porch cut out of the south aisle,
whence another door opens into the church. Fromthe passage a staircase (N) ascends to the women's
galleries : but there can be little doubt that anciently
this corner of the narthex was occupied by the bap-
tistery. The original central doorway has been longsince blocked up, but the blocking is clearly trace-
able outside, and a recess (M) in the wall inside also
plainly marks the position. Whether there was even
a north aisle door is very doubtful. Outside there
are no signs of it : inside the floor has been raised
more than three feet above the nave-floor: and though
z wI
C H APEL5S5J PRESENT FLOOR 3-6
NARTHEXN TWO STORIES: WITH
FLAT ROOF OVER IT
Vol. I. To face p. 182.
TORCH OF ABU SARGAH:(ST SERGIUS)-OLD CAIRO
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 183
there is a recess in the wall which might have been
saved in blocking a doorway, there is not evidence
enough to decide the question.I think, however, that a comparison of the plan
with that of the White Monastery near Suhag in
Upper Egypt, will settle the fact that the western
apsidal chamber in the one case as in the other waseither a chapel or a baptistery, and the probabilitiesare very largely in favour of the former. In the planof the White Monastery a north aisle door is simply
impossible to imagine, and there is definite evidence
for the altar in this part of the narthex. Similarly,
it is almost indisputable that the apsidal chamberat Abu Sargah was anciently a chapel, and that
the original entrance to it was southward from the
central part of the narthex, and not westward from
the street. It was doubtless this chapel into which
the newly-baptised were taken to receive their first
communion.
The general shape of the church is, or was, a
nearly regular oblong, and its general structure is
basilican. It consists of narthex, nave, north and
south aisle, choir, and three altars eastward each
in its own chapel : of these the central and southern
chapels are apsidal, the northern is square-ended.On plan Abu Sargah much resembles a typecommon among the Syrian churches of the sixth
and seventh centuries, such as that of Kalb Luzah,
Turmanin, or Al Barah 1: but these Syrian churches
differ from the Coptic in beingbuilt ofhewn stone, with
windows and wide arches, and above all in their aimingat an exterior effect of architectural splendour. The
1I have not adopted the Count de Vogue's orthographies.
184 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH.IV.
same plan is found in some Anatolian churches, as
at Cassaba in Lycia : also in the church of St. Irene
at Constantinople : and in many early churches at
Rome, S. Niccolo in Carcere, S. Pietro in Vincoli,
Sta. Agnese without the walls, and others : thoughin some cases the original arrangement has been
obscured by later additions or alterations.
Over the aisles and narthex runs a continuous
gallery or triforium, which originally served as the
place for women at the service. On the north side
it stops short at the choir, forming a kind of transept,
which however does not project beyond the north
aisle on plan. On the south side of the church the
triforium is prolonged over the choir and over the
south side-chapel. The gallery is flat-roofed : while
the nave is covered with a pointed roof with framed
principals like that at Abu-'s-Sifain. In the Copticroofs no metal is used, but the tenons are pinned
through by wooden bolts. Outside, the roof of Abu
Sargah is plastered over with cement showing the
king-posts projecting above the ridge-piece. Over
.the central part of the choir and over the haikal the
roof changes to a wagon-vaulting : it is flat over the
north transept, and a lofty dome overshadows the
north aisle-chapel. There is a second dome visible
from outside above the east end of the south tri-
forium; though whether a chapel directly over the
south aisle-chapel ends the triforium, I cannot say.
The churlish priest of Abu Sargah vowed there wasnone
;but he angrily refused to let me look, and
neither soft words nor hard, neither fiat of patriarchnor glitter of money, could conquer his stubborn
resistance. One may be sure however that a chapelof the kind once existed, even though now it has
.CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 185
been desecrated by domestic usage. For domestic
purposes also the large bays or openings from the
triforia into the nave have been blocked up with thin
walls : but on each side north and south the two
bays remain visible, each divided by two small
columns : in each bay also three small latticed
windows still give a little light to the triforia. Themain building is lighted only by a window in the east
and in the west gable, and by a single skylight in the
nave roof, the result, of course, being obscurity.
The whole south-western corner of the church has
been sadly altered. The south part of the narthex
has been cut out of the church, and an entrance
porch besides has been thrust into the south aisle.
So the modern entrance-way, by the original south
aisle door, is blocked in front, but turns to the right,
then winds back through another opening in the
original south wall to the porch (which serves as
guest-room), and so reaches the nave. Over the
modern entrance are domestic buildings occupied
by the priest's family and communicating with the
triforia.
The large Epiphany tank lies boarded over in
the narthex : a smaller tank for ablutions and for
the Maundy washing of feet, as at Abu'-s-Sifain, is
in the women's section, which is divided from the
narthex by a lofty lattice screen. Between the
women's section and men's section there is the
unusual arrangement of a third division, a narrow
space co-extensive in width with the nave, but onlyabout 8 ft. broad from east to west
;it has four door-
ways one into the south aisle and one into the bap-
tistery in the north aisle, besides those leading into
the sections of the nave. Within this narrow space,
1 86 Ancient Coptic Chtirches. [OH. iv.
just beside the western of the four doorways and
facing south, stands the chair of the patriarch the
high broad seat of lattice-work on which he sits now
upon days of visitation, holding the golden cross and
giving benediction to the people as they pass before
him.
What remains of the south aisle is railed off from
the nave and divided into two parts : it projectsfurther eastward than the nave, running into the
choir instead of ending at the choir-screen, where
the north aisle ends. Yet the general arrangementof the north aisle is very irregular. Part of it, co-
extensive in length with the men's section of the
nave, is undivided from it by any screen. West of
this part comes a screened baptistery with a round
font embedded in masonry: westward still a flight
of seven steps leads up to a raised landing before
the chapel which occupied the north end of the nar-
thex. Beneath this landing and the chapel floor are
said to lie the remains of some ancient patriarch,
though there is no record of his name. The altar is
gone from this chapel, which is now used as a mere
lumber-room : but the apse remains in the north
wall, and where the plaster has not fallen, are traces
of some very early and interesting paintings. The
completest figure, which is that nearest the door,
represents Christ standing with his right hand up-raised in benediction and held half across the breast :
the left hand carries a scroll bearing an inscription
in Coptic letters signifying' Behold the Lamb of
God, which taketh away the sins of the world.' It is
worth notice in passing that the Coptic term for' world
'
is the Greek /coo-^09. The figure wears a
glory but no mitre;an amice covering the head and
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 187
falling on the shoulders;a fine cope embroidered
with a diaper pattern and fastened by a triple-lobed
morse; alb, girdle, and perhaps sleeve. The portrait
corresponds curiously in type of features with the
earliest known likeness of Christ, that depicted on
the ceiling in the catacomb of Domitilla at Rome,
assigned to the third century1
: the hair on the face
and upper lip is unshorn, but slight ;beard rather
pointed. The still prominent figure at the other end
of the curve is more fully bearded, is vested in an
early chasuble, is nimbed, and carries in each hand a
cross. Of the figures between which once filled the
apse, very faint tokens remain : but enough is left to
give the little room great interest, even if it were not
the unique instance of a western apsidal chamber in
the churches of Cairo.
The twelve monolithic columns round the nave
are all, with one exception, of white marble streaked
with dusky lines, like common Italian cippolino,
which is used for example on the outside of St.
Mark's at Venice. The exceptional column (L) is
of red Assuan granite, 22 in. in diameter, and seems
a later addition replacing a former pillar of white
marble. The original columns have what is tech-
nically called diminution and entasis; they are about
1 6 in. in diameter; and their capitals are of a de-
based Corinthian order familiar in Roman work of
the third and fourth centuries. They were doubtless
taken from some Roman temple or other building.
The bases on which they stand are also classical in
character, and stand on square pedestals of the same
marble. On each of these eleven ancient pillars is
1 Roma Sotteranea, vol. ii. p. 218.
1 88 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
painted the life-size figure of a saint or apostle, nowso begrimed and obscured that in the doubtful light
all may easily escape notice, and it requires close
attention to make them out when discovered 1. Near
the pulpit, but in the choir, stands a pair of small
marble columns with early Saracen capitals and
bases formed by inverted Corinthian capitals. Eachof these two small columns, and each of the eleven
nave columns, is incised with a fine clear dedication
cross of the usual Coptic form in an oblong de-
pression. Probably however the original number of
crosses was twelve, and they were confined to the
nave columns, the others being later.
The columns are joined by a continuous woodenarchitrave which rests on the abaci, with short flat
pieces of timber intervening to distribute the bearing.The whole of this architrave was originally paintedin various colours, and traces of coloured arabesque
designs are still clearly visible on the soffit. The
weight of the upper nave wall which rests on the
architrave is relieved by arched openings of the
pointed form common in Arab architecture.
The wooden pulpit, standing at the north-east
corner of the nave, is mounted only by a moveable
ladder. It is of rosewood inlaid with designs in
ebony set with ivory edgings. Curiously enoughthere are no traces of an original stone ambon such
as doubtless existed. The pulpit is now used but
once a year on Good Friday.
1
Murray, though noticing the frescoes in the western chamber,
is ignorant of these;and I never met a traveller who was aware
of their existence. I pointed them out to Mr. Middleton, who
mentions them in his paper in the Archaeologia.
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 189
Abu Sargah is paved with hard siliceous grey lime-
stone. The choir floor is two steps higher than the
nave floor: a broad stone bench, probably answer-
ing to the solea, runs across the nave and north aisle
at the foot of the choir-screen, which is of modern
lattice-work. In a panel over the central choir door
there is written, or rather wrought, in square Cufic-
like letters of wood a short text,' Ya Allah al Khalas,'
i.e.' O God, Salvation.' There is also a rude Coptic
inscription upon the lintel of the doorway, which
closes by double doors. Over the screen is a row
of fifteen small paintings, and higher still nine large
ones all, except the central Redeemer, nearly iden-
tical in treatment with those in the corresponding
position at Abu-'s-Sifain;and here, as there, the
larger series lies between two bands adorned with
golden texts in Arabic and Coptic. The other three
pictures in the nave are of no merit artistically : one
however, representing Abu Sargah and Abu Rakus,stands over a locker in which the relics of the two
saints are treasured : and another depicting the Flightinto Egypt is interesting from the fact that it shows
the Holy Family arriving at a Coptic dair.
Before the haikal and the north chapel the choir
is of unusual width, but is narrowed southward bythe intrusion of the south aisle and by the heavy
pier1
through which one descent is cut from the
aisle to the crypt. The other descent is by an openstaircase railed round in the northern part of the
1 On this pier, at a height of about twelve feet from the ground,
there is a large stucco cross in relief with small crosses between
the branches ; the principal cross is about two feet long and broad,
and of Maltese form.
IQO Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH.IV.
choir (K, K). Near the head of the staircase is a
well surrounded by a stone coping, and close by a
sink both curiously situated in the very body of the
church. All churches have their own well somewhere
on the premises : in no other case is it found within
the sacred walls. Doubtless tradition attaches a
special sanctity to this, as the well of which the HolyFamily drank.
The haikal-screen projects forward into the choir,
as at Al 'Adra in the Harat-az-Zuailah. It is of
very ancient and beautiful workmanship ; pentagonsand other shapes of solid ivory, carved in relief with
arabesques, being inlaid and set round with rich
mouldings. Where some of the ivory blocks have
fallen out, the skeleton frame of the screen is
visible, resembling a design in woodwork at the
mosque of Barkuk among the tombs of the khalifs
(c. 1400 A.D.) : but the resemblance does not decide
the date, which is doubtless very much earlier. The
upper part of the screen contains square panels of
ebony set with large crosses of solid ivory, most
exquisitely chiselled with scrollwork, and panels of
ebony carved through in work of the most delicate
and skilful finish. Above these panels stand the icons.
The screens of the two side-chapels are more recent
and inlaid only with plain ivory : the design however
of the north screen is good, being enriched with
flowers besides crosses and stars. All three screens
are pierced with a small square window (D) on each
side of the door. In the ordinary place, i.e. uponthe screen just before the wall or pier dividing the
haikal from the north chapel, is fastened the wooden
bracket or holder for the crewet (E). Between this
point and the angle formed by the abutment of
CH. IV.] The Roman Fortress. 191
the haikal-screen are
some very curious
early carvings in re-
lief (F) panels that
were once no doubt
framed in the leaves
of a door like that
of Al Muallakah.
There are eight
panels in all, each
ioj in. high by 6J
| broad : of these, five
1 represent sacred sub-
| jects and are proba-
bly of the eighth cen-
& tury, contemporary
Iwith the foundation
3 of the church;
the*
otherthree onecon-bO
| taining carvings of'
gazelles, two merelyI conventional scroll-
j work are. rather
M later. Taking the
subjects in order as
they stand from left
to right, we find
(i) The Nativity.The Child lies swath-
ed in a manger with
rays of glory fallingfrom a bow or circle
above, in which are
carved two faces,
1 92 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
perhaps meant for the other persons of the
Trinity. In the top background an ox on one
side of the manger and an ass on the other stand
gazing upon it, and behind each animal stands an
angel with outspread wings. Below them, and partly
concealing them, Mary is seen lying on a couch and
Joseph kneeling on one knee. The lower half of the
panel is occupied partly by two shepherds, indicated
by their crooks and by a lamb, and partly by the magi
bringing gifts. Every panel is surrounded by a very
beautifully carved border, generally of scrollwork,
but all different. In this case crosses are carved at
the angles and in the centre of the sides. The Holy
Family and the angels all wear plain nimbs.
(2) Perhaps St. Demetrius. A bearded equestrian
figure clad in richly embroidered raiment : in his
right hand he carries a long spear ending upwardsin a cross, while the lower end is grasped by a
prostrate foe whom he seems to be slaying. In the
upper dexter corner an eagle is carved with folded
wings. The horseman is turned full face to the
spectator : a row of small circles round the brow
represents curling hair or possibly a diadem. Hewears a fine full glory. The horse has oriental
trappings, which might be of any age.
(3) Mdri Girgis. This is another equestrian, verysimilar in treatment to the last : the spear-shaft,
however, ends in a loop instead of a point at the
bottom : there is no figure, not even a dragon, on the
ground : and the eagle, here placed in the sinister top
corner, is bending its head very low. The horseman's
lace is quite beardless, and the hair vaguely indicated.
(4) Abu- s-Sifain, or St. Mercurius. This title,
like the last two, is very doubtful. The horseman
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 193
is in almost precisely the same attitude as the others,
the right hand carrying a long spear, the left reiningthe steed. But under the horse's feet a man is seen
sitting on the ground and apparently pierced with
the spear. The victim, however, seems unconscious
of his wound, and in his right hand is grasping a
short rod which rests on a very perplexing little
object in the background. I can only conjecturethat it may be an oven, that the figure on the
ground is heating a bar of iron, and that he repre-sents some persecutor and torturer of the Christians
being slain by their champion. The horseman is
under a sort of trefoil arch : in both spandrels there
are indications of curtains : in the sinister spandrel a
hand is appearing, as from the clouds, holding out
a crown.
(5) The Last Supper. This is an extremely in-
teresting carving. It represents our Lord and the
apostles seated round a long table which occupiesthe centre of the panel. The shape of the table is
remarkable, the near end having square corners, the
far end being rounded. On it are laid twelve small
loaves, and in the centre is a large fish on a platter :
there is no cup or drinking vessel. Christ in the
lower dexter corner of the panel is grasping the fish.
All the figures seem seated on the ground, wear
nimbs, and face the spectator. The whole scene is
grouped under an altar-canopy supported on two
slender columns with early Arab capitals. A pairof altar curtains are seen running on rods above,but each is caught up and looped round a pillar,
so as to leave a clear view of the scene below. The
canopy is in the form of a circle between two trian-
gles, all with elaborate borders. The circle encloses
VOL. I. O
194 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
a fine cross, and a smaller cross stands on the apexof each triangle.
The ritual significance of this carving, which is
obvious enough, has been commented upon in another
part of this work. It is, I think, the only artistic
monument definitely recording the early altar curtains
of the Coptic ceremonial; although, as I have pointed
out, there is abundance of other evidence to establish
their existence. Possibly even the form of the table
may have its own meaning1.
Over these panels are set three large pictures,
neither ancient nor well executed. One, however,
representing Gabriel, deserves remark on account
of a strange and puzzling instrument or emblemwhich the archangel is carrying. With his left hand
he holds a tall three-transomed cross called the cross
of the patriarch of Jerusalem : and in the right some-
thing which exactly resembles in size and shape an
ordinary hand-mirror. Its straight handle and circular
frame are ornamented with the very pattern used bythe Arabs, as may be seen in any barber's shop in
Cairo to-day. Very possibly the instrument may be
a flabellum or fan instead of a mirror;but the priest
could tell me nothing, and I can give no certain
explanation.Another painting over the locker or aumbry in
the pier of the choir pourtrays the archangel Michael
holding a Jerusalem cross with his right hand, and
lifting in his left a balance. The stole, marked with
crosses and stars, hangs down straight in front, and
passes from the centre of the chest over the left
shoulder, thence over the right shoulder across the
1 See vol. ii. chap. i.
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 195
breast, under the left arm, and round the waist : the
end is then thrown over the left wrist a curious
arrangement, because it does not seem to admit of a
crossing at the back. The vestment is painted red
with frequent vertical lines of gold : the backgroundof the painting is also gold. A picture of St. Stephenon the pier by the south chapel should not be passedover. The^ saint is vested in a white dalmatic,
beautifully embroidered with a repeated pattern of a
red rose with stalk and leaves. Only one end of
the stole is visible, falling over the left shoulder;
but the stole is crossed also over the breast. Thenimb is set round with a dotted border and covered
all over with circles and stars of dotwork. Thedalmatic opens by a slit down the front in the centre,
not at the side, and the opening as well as the collar
is edged with a rich orfrey. Both arms are bent at
the elbow : the right hand is swinging a covered
censer suspended by four chains, which are decked
with little bells;and in the left hand there reposes
on a corporal or cloth a splendidly jewelled casket,
which is either an incense box, or else a pyx or recep-tacle for the reserved host. This evidence of the
practice of reservation, if such it be, is unique and
extremely interesting. The picture, however, is not
later than the sixteenth century, when the reservation
of the host was not generally practised.
Before the haikal door hangs a magnificent curtain
of ancient fabric embroidered with a figure of the
Virgin and Child, figures of angels, the Coptic sacred
letters, and many texts of Arabic all wrought in
massive thread of silver, and set round with beautiful
borders also of silver embroidery, like that used for
the vestments at Abu Kir wa Yuhanna. The inter-
o 2
196 Ancient Coptic Chiirches. [CH. iv.
pretation of the Coptic sentence across the top of the
curtain is' Peace to the Sanctuary of God the
Father, Lord of All.' The last word may be easily
identified as the Greek TravTOKparap. Besides this
front door there are two side doors (C) to the haikal;
and the usual small slide-windows open one on each
side of the principal entrance.
The haikal itself and the altar (H) are both verysmall for the size of the church. The altar is 4ft.
5J in. long from north to south, and 3 ft. 3 in. broad :
height, 2ft. 10^ in. It stands at a distance of 3 ft.
from the screen, and is overshadowed by a large and
lofty canopy,which rests upon four Saracenic columns.
The spandrels of the canopy are finely painted with
angels carrying lilies or other flowers in their hands.
The two easternmost pillars stand 3 ft. 3-^ in., and
the two westernmost 2 ft. 9 in., from the nearest
corner of the altar. The central groove or depressionfor the altar-board is 2 ft. by i ft. 9^ in., but the
board itself is a more decided oblong, and does not
fit exactly. The side altars (I, J) show no such de-
parture from the ordinary usage.The four pillars of the canopy are joined together
by four small dark-painted beams on which Coptictexts are written in white letters
;and from the
beams rings are fastened with strings or chains for
hanging lamps or curtains. About the walls of the
apse rises a fine and lofty marble tribune consistingof seven stages three short and straight steps (B)
running north and south, and four seats sweepinground the whole curve of the apse and in the midst of
the curve is placed the patriarch's throne (A) with a
niche behind it. The outline of the niche is markedall round by a design of coloured marbles in which
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 197
the cross is conspicuous : there is also set about it a
square framing, the spandrels of which are inlaid with
a fine minute mosaic of coloured marble mixed with
mother-of-pearl, such as may be seen in the baptis-
tery of the Little Church at Al Mu'allakah, or in far
greater richness and profusion at the tomb-mosqueof Al Ashraf among the tombs of the khallfs. In
Europe the same style of work is found in the
Church of St. Vitale at Ravenna, and at the Cathe-
dral of Parenzo in I stria. The tribune steps andseats are faced with vertical strips of red, black, andwhite marble. On the top seat a number of bad
paintings, two large candlesticks, books, papers andvestments repose in ease and dust untroubled.
There is also a picture and a loose wooden cross
lying within the niche. The haikal is crowned bya small dome.
A larger and loftier dome covers the north aisle-
chapel, the walls of which are square : the spring of
the dome is relieved by gated pendentives. Before
the eastern wall is a small tribune of three bow-shaped
steps and a throne unusual features in a side-
chapel. Beyond a number of books well cased in
dust upon the altar, and some loose leaves ilunginto a rush basket beside it, there is nothing here to
notice.
The arrangement of the south aisle-chapel, which
is still in frequent use for service, is quite different.
It contains a broad apse with a niche, before which
burns a perpetual lamp, but no tribune. The apsewall curves into a low semidome above ;
but the rest
of the chapel is flat-roofed, having, it will be remem-
bered, the triforium overhead. The walls are covered
with a low wainscot of deal : in the north wall is an
198 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
aumbry. An old and disused patriarchal chair is
kept within the chapel.
A low dark vaulted passage, blocked in the middle
by a partition wall, runs round the haikal underneath
the tribune steps \ but is entered from without bya door (G) on either side of the abutting screen.
On the north side there is nothing to discover;but
entering the passage on the south, one finds at the
far end, by help of candlelight, a recess containing a
fine old Arabic lamp of plain white glass, with handles
on the shoulder. It is of the same shape as the
magnificent enamelled specimens of the thirteenth
century, such as may be seen at the British Museumand also at South Kensington, and such as were once
in common use in the churches and mosques of
Egypt. Now a good example is worth at least
^500. The lamp at Abu Sargah has neither colour
nor enamel : still it seems to be held in honour, for
it is only used once a year on Good Friday. This
vaulted passage is also used as the store-place for the
sacred vessels of the church. It contains a large
wooden coffer, the lid of which I raised and caught a
hasty glimpse of a silver chalice, silver hand-cross,
and processional cross, and of two silver fans like
those at Dair Tadrus;but in a moment the ill-
humoured priest flew into an ungovernable passion,
1 This passage bears a curious resemblance to the passage under
the very similar tribune at Torcello. There, however, the crypt
for such it is instead of being blocked in the centre of the curve
under the throne, opens out forming a small apsidal chapel with an
altar. (See La Messe, vol. ii. pi. cxxx.) Of course it is just possible
that the block under the throne at Abu Sargah encloses relics;
but the passage cannot have been designed as an oratory, nor
have contained an altar.
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 199
shut down the lid, and locked the passage-door,
venting his fury in storms of Arabic abuse. Whetherthis passage can ever have been used as a crypt or
confessionary, or contained the relics of the church,
is doubtful. It is, however, worth remarking that the
position of the entrance doors, the arrangement of
the passage circling round beneath the sanctuary,even its barrel-vaulting, are so many points of
resemblance to crypts such as that of the ancient
basilica of the Vatican, the old crypt at Canterbury,or that of the seventh century still standing at
Brixworth in Northampton. Still the lowness of the
passage it is scarcely 4 ft. high may be a con-
clusive objection against its claim to be a con-
fessionary.
The Crypt.
The crypt of Abu Sargah is a small low subter-
ranean church, lying under the centre of the choir
and part of the haikal. Two flights of steps lead
down to it, as was mentioned, one from the north
choir or transept, one from the south aisle by the
large pier. (See K and K on plan.) The floor of
the crypt is 8 ft. 9 in. below the level of the choir,
or 7 ft. i in. below the nave floor. The nave floor
is about 5 ft. 6 in. below the ground-level outside
the church, and this again is some 7 ft. 6 in. belowthe average level of the ground outside the Romanfortress. The crypt floor is therefore no less than
21 ft. i in., and the floor of Abu Sargah 13 ft. belowthe modern level of Old Cairo. The greatest lengthof the crypt is 20 ft., and the breadth 15 ft. It is
wagon-vaulted in three spans, and may be said to
consist of a nave with north and south aisle. Theaisles are divided off by slender columns, nine in
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 201
number altogether. Two short walls, in the line of
these columns, project 6 ft. from the eastern wall of
the crypt, and form a sort of haikal, but there is
no screen here nor any furniture whatsoever. Thecolumns are about 5 ft. each in height : the capitals
are formless, except in one case, where the column
has a late classical capital, and a classical capital also
used for the base. One shaft near the southern
entrance is twisted and fluted, resembling the small
columns in the bays of the triforium of the upperchurch : there is also a pair of similar columns on the
ambon at Al Mu'allakah.
In the floor of the central division, just within
what may perhaps be called the haikal, there is a
circular slab (F) of white marble let into the limestone
floor. This is directly underneath the chief altar of
the church above, and may perhaps mark the place
originally assigned to the well, of which the HolyFamily drank when they rested on this spot.
Perhaps, however, the most curious feature of the
crypt is the structure of three arched recesses, one in
the northern, one in the southern, and one in the eastern
wall. The last of these (A) is undoubtedly an altar.
It is semicircular in plan, with straight walls about
20 inches high and a domical roof all wrought in
finely jointed ashlar work of limestone. Inlet in
the bottom of the recess is a slab of white marble
containing a beautiful cross, io| in. in diameter,
sculptured within a roundel. The niche in the south
wall (B) is very similar, and likewise contains a slab
sculptured with a cross, but of rather different design1
.
It is curious, however, that in neither case is the slab
1 A woodcut of these crosses is given in vol. ii. I JL/
2O2 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
placed in the middle of the floor of the niche, nor is
the cross cut in the middle of the slab. The recess
in the north aisle (C) has a slab of nearly the same
dimensions as the other two, but instead of beingflush with the flooring of the niche it is depressed to
the depth of an inch with a raised border on all sides.
It is thus in the form of an oblong tray. The
meaning of this form has not yet been satisfactorily
explained. The Copts say that it represents the
manger, while the eastern niche represents Mary's
resting-place, and the southern niche that of Joseph.
They do not, however, state why the manger followed
the Holy Family into Egypt. The story is obviouslya confusion of the resting-place in Egypt with the
place of the nativity, and is in fact a confession of
ignorance. I am inclined to think that all three
recesses contain genuine altars. The difficulty, of
course, lies in this, that there are no other examplesof altars thus undetached
;and the position north
and south is almost unique : but the whole structure
of the crypt and its interest are so exceptional,that altars may have been erected in this unusual
position each to commemorate some special point in
the ancient legend, of which now all has vanished
but the broad outline. It may be regarded as
certain that the eastern recess was used as an altar;
and, if so, the close resemblance of the slab in the
southern niche makes it difficult to associate this
with another purpose. Finally, the tray-like slab in
the northern recess has its exact counterparton a larger scale in one of the altar-tops at Al
Mu'allakah;and it seems also to have been copied
for the altars of some of the churches in the Natrundesert.
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 203
At the end of the south aisle of the crypt is a
baptistery or rather font, a round stone vessel set
in solid masonry near the ground (D). The north
aisle has nothing whatever to mark the place where,in an ordinary church, there would be a chapel ;
but
in the wall dividing part of the aisle from the haikal
there is a small squint, which however is not splayedtowards the eastern altar.
It is quite impossible to fix the date of this crypt ;
but it is doubtless anterior to the main church bysome centuries. It maybe taken for granted that a
spot said to be hallowed by the presence of our Lordwould be walled in, and kept as sacred, from the
very beginning of Christianity in Egypt. There was
therefore, in all probability, a church upon this spot
by the second or third century : the present crypt
may be a replacement of the original shrine and maydate from the sixth century. It was natural that
in after times a larger and more sumptuous edifice
should have been erected on the same site, and so
arranged that the high altar should cover the
omphalos of the earlier building. Moreover, by the
eighth century the level of the ground about the
little church had risen so high, that the question of
pulling it down can hardly have been considered. It
was much easier to build above it, and much more in
accordance with western tradition, if not with eastern,
to make the little church into a confessionary for the
larger.
204 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH.
HISTORICAL NOTE ON ABU SARGAH.
WHO the St. Sergius was to whom this church is
dedicated is uncertain. Two saints of the name are
recorded in the Coptic calendar : one martyred with
his father and sister, whose festival is on the thir-
teenth day of Amshir (yth Feb.), the other a'
fol-
lower of Wakas and saddler at the court of KingMaximianus/ whose feast falls on the tenth day of
Babeh (yth Oct.). Nothing is really known of either
martyr. But the name is rather a favourite in
Russia, and there is a large monastery with this
dedication near Moscow 1.
The history of the church is, as usual, comprisedin a handful of scanty gleanings. But it has an
early beginning. In the year 859 A.D. the piousShanudah was elected patriarch in Abu Sargahthe father who cast the form of the Coptic sacred
letters which remains to this day. There also in
977 A.D. Ephraim was elected, and taken thence in
chains for his enthronement at Alexandria. Mention
has been made elsewhere of the contest for supre-
macy that arose under Christodulus between Abu
Sargah and Al Mu'allakah, ending in the virtual
victory of the latter. A hundred years later the
claim of the older church was no longer questioned,if Renaudot is right in saying that Gabriel, the LXXpatriarch, was elected at Al Mu'allakah although a
deacon of Abu Sargah. Al Makrizi, however, says he
1
Renaudot, Hist. Pat. Alex., p. 301. A curious legend of the
pilgrimage of St. Sergius with SS. Theophilus and Hyginus maybe found in Lord Lindsay's Christian Art, vol. i. p. clx, translated
from Rosweyde's Vitae Patrum.
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 205
was deacon of Abu-'s-Sifain, not Abu Sargah1
. Now-
a-days the newly elected primate celebrates first at
Al Mu'allakah, and at Abu Sargah afterwards.
About the year noo A.D. we find Michael excom-
municating Sanutius, bishop of Masr or Old Cairo,
for celebrating on the same day in both churches,
just as in the western ritual a priest was forbidden
to celebrate twice a day, except on Easter Day and
Christmas Day, or when a burial service had to be
performed after the ordinary mass 2. But the suc-
cessor to Sanutius in the bishopric was escorted to
Abu Sargah in a grand procession of clergy carrying
burning tapers, thuribles, and gospels3
. There, after
a solemn service, his letters of nomination were read,
and he was ordained, but his proclamation took placein the Harat-az-Zuailah of Cairo. A similar proces-sion accompanied by a multitude of priests chauntingfrom missals attended Macarius from the church of
St. Cosmas in Old Cairo 4 to Abu Sargah, where he
was formally elected to the chair of St. Mark, c. 1 103A.D. Later we read that a grand funeral service washeld in Abu Sargah over the body of the deceased
bishop Sanutius,who was afterwards buried in the field
of the Abyssinians a place often mentioned in Coptic
history, but quite unknown to the Copts of to-day : it
seems, however, to have been near the Fum al Khallg.So the brief story ends, giving us a glimpse of
liturgical splendour hard to imagine after looking on
the cold and slovenly service in the dim neglected
building of to-day.
1Malan, Hist. Copt, p. 93.
2Rock, vol. iii. part 2. p. 166.
3Renaudot, Hist. Pat. Alex., p. 492.
4 There is no trace or tradition of this church left. It seems
to have been on the island of Roda.
206 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
The Cathedral Church of AI 'Adra,
COMMONLY CALLED
AI Muallakah (**.UU ^A^oiJ! \j<^\),
or The Hanging Church.
PASS along the northern wall of Abu Sargah to-
wards the Jewish Synagogue; thence to the right
down a quaint, narrow, shadowed street with a few
high lattice windows; again to the right where the
street is roofed over in places with palm-beams ;
finally, from the street a narrow passage between
blind walls leads to a staircase doorway beside which
lies topsy-turvy a very large and fine Corinthian
capital. This is the doorway of Al Mu'allakah
the most ancient of the churches in Kasr-ash-Sham-
m'ah.
As was mentioned before, the church derives its
common name from the fact of its suspension between
two Roman bastions, and the ascent is made by a
staircase built close by one of these bastions, the cen-
tral one of the three on the southern side of the
fortress. Towards the top of the stairs may be seen
on both sides Roman brickwork, the spring of a
'bridge' as the priests call it, i.e. an arched vaultingwhich supported a floor in some building near the
bastion. At the landing the way divides that on
the left leading to sets of half-ruined cells and cham-
bers, in the first of which one may notice a cross
carved in the capital of a column : that on the right
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 207
leading through a lattice-screen to a school, and
through a door opposite the screen to a small oblong
courtyard fronting the western side of the church.
This courtyard is open and surrounded by lofty
walls lightened above by large pointed arches. The
pavement encloses in the middle a bed of soil, in
which two fine palm-trees are growing in a kind of
large stone flowerpots. There is something bold
and original in planting date-palms at this heightabove ground ;
but it is a pretty idea to place thembefore the entrance of '
the church in the air/ Palm-
leaves are largely used in the church festivals at
Easter, and delicate baskets woven of palm are used
to carry the eulogiae, or blessed bread, and are givenas gifts among neighbours and friends at that season.
There is also a Coptic legend that at the flight into
Egypt the fruit of the palm was the first food of
which the Virgin partook, and that the little dent in
the back of the datestone (not the cleft) was first
caused by the Virgin's tooth. Another version tells
that the mark is the Arabic exclamation '
Ya,''
Oh,'
there printed, because on tasting the date the Virgincried out,
'
Oh, God ! this is good.' But it requiresa powerful imagination to detect any resemblance
between the mark and the Arabic l_>.
Besides the palms, one may notice another eastern
plant, the aloe, tufts of which hang above the door-
way at the foot and at the top of the staircase. It
is thought to have a magic virtue against the powerof the evil eye
1 a superstition common to Coptsand Muslims alike.
1 A native once told me, with the utmost possible seriousness,
that a glance of the evil eye can slay a camel. See on this subject
Lane's Modern Egyptians, vol. i. p. 70, &c.
208 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
Close by the courtyard door in the wall is a
pretty, though recent, drinking-fountain, which must
not be mistaken for a stoup ;for the only regular
use of holy water in the Coptic Church is at the
end of the Sunday mass, when the bishop sprinkles
the people; there are no vessels of stone to retain
it permanently.Al Mu'allakah is a triapsal church of the basilican
order;but it has this unique peculiarity among the
churches of the two Cairos, that it is entirely dome-
less. It therefore approximates more closely to
the pure type of basilican architecture than anyof the other churches into the structure of which
some Byzantine element enters. The apses are
very shallow;
the curve in all three cases falls
within the eastern walls instead of sweeping round
the altar in such a manner that the chord of the
arc would fall to westward of the altar. But this
arrangement is obviously a structural necessity ;
for the architect was building, it must be remem-
bered, not on the ground, but in the air, and could
get no solid foundations for regular apses. Perhapsthe same fact may explain the absence of domes,which require to rest on walls or piers of great
strength and thickness.
The church has at present a sort of exterior
narthex or porch consisting of two stories, of which
the upper is supported on pillars. The back wall
is of stone, elaborately worked with a debased style
of arcading, and painted to resemble in parts sectile
work of coloured marbles. Above the central arch,
but at such a height as to be quite undecipher-
able, lies let into the wall the cedar beam men-tioned by Murray as forming the lintel of an inner
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 209
doorway1
. The priest states that the scene repre-
sents the -triumphal entry into Jerusalem ;but this
is questionable. The beam has been moved from
its original position in the course of a restoration,
still unfinished, which has gone far to mar the in-
terest of the church. It is said that the shape and
details of the former building have been exactly
reproduced ;but the statement must be taken for
what it is worth. The shell of the building re-
mains unaltered, except perhaps at the western end;
the exterior porch is, I believe, an innovation, and
the four doors opening from it are an entire de-
parture from the original design. Inside a fresh
west gallery has been built;a number of beautiful
old carved screens have been huddled and ham-
mered together into a long wooden wall;the altars
and altar-canopies have been thrown down, and
will be replaced by new Greek designs from Alex-
andria;new glass, tasteless and staring in colour,
has been put in the eastern windows in lieu of
the old;
in fact English restorers could not have
made more havoc. Worst of all, perhaps, is the loss
of the cedar door-leaves sculptured in panels, as
described by Murray. When, after searching every-
where, I asked the priest about them, he could only
reply,' Ma fish
'
there is no such thing.'
But,' I
persisted,'
I have read books written in English by
people who have seen the doors;what has become
1 The inscription was copied by Mr. Greville Chester, and is
given in his short 'Notes on the Ancient Christian Churches
of Musr el Ateekah.' For the translation and date (284 A.D.),
he there refers to'
Archaeologia Cambrensis/ series 4, vol. iii.
p. 152.
VOL. I. P
2io Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. TV.
of them ?' 'The church was falling down in 1879,
and doubtless they were destroyed.'' What ? only
a year ago ? in 1879 ?''
No,' he said, changing his
tone ;
'
I mean seven years ago.'' Or seventy-seven,'
I thought ;but it was idle arguing, since obviously
the doors had been either stolen, or sold by the
priest *.
The porch of the church is used as a mandarah or
guest-room, the place of gossip and coffee. Againsteach of the three walls is a wooden bench worth
noticing for its antique design. Four doors openinto the church, one north and south and two east
of the porch. But only the south door is generallyused 2
; it leads into a small chamber from which
1 The latter seemed on all grounds most likely, and I have since
ascertained it for a fact. The price given to the priest was 100;
the doors adorned the buyer's house in Paris for some time,
and were ultimately resold to the British Museum, their fittest
destination if they could not remain in their place at Al Mu'allakah :
but of course they are comparatively uninteresting, and quite lost in
their present position. I have no desire to palliate the priest's con-
duct. The rudeness and cupidity of the man, the mean shifts he
found for evading the patriarch's orders and refusing admission
or information, have not prejudiced me in his favour;but in justice
let it be remembered that the miserable pay of the Coptic priest-
hood averaging 2 monthly makes it very hard for them to
resist the offers they may receive from wealthy curiosity-hunters.2 See plan. I may here perhaps explain how it happens that
M. Rohault de Fleury gives this same plan of Al Mu'allakah, which
he calls Sitt Miriam, and I claim as my own. It is figured in La
Messe, vol. ii. pi. ccli, together with St. Sergius, and both plans are
labelled '
d'apres M. Middleton.' The truth is that the plan of Abu
Sargah is entirely the work of Mr. Middleton; though I was pre-
sent when Mr. Middleton made the plan, I cannot claim any share
in it whatever. On the other hand my friend was not even in
Egypt when I made the plan of Al Mu'allakah, which I did without
P 2
212 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. rv.
a staircase ascends to the western gallery, which is
reserved for women. This gallery projects eightor ten feet into the church, and under it lies the
wooden wall of patched screenwork before men-
tioned. Some of these screens are of very unusual
pattern, and very beautiful. One is unique ;above
and below are narrow panels of carved cedar and
ebony alternately, chased with rich scrollwork and
interwoven with Cufic inscriptions ;the framework
also is of cedar, wrought into unusual starlike
devices, and the intervals are filled with thin _plates
oj" ivory, through which, when the screen was in its
original position, the light of the lamps behind fellwith
\ a soft rose-coloured glow, extremely pleasing. There
;
is an almost magical effect peculiar to this screen ;
for the design seems to change in a kaleidoscopic
manner, according as the spectator varies his distance
from it. Something of this effect is preserved in
the illustration here given. There are many other
examples of fine early carving and inlaying in this
wooden wall, but the motley mixing of styles and
epochs makes the result of the whole harsh and
tasteless.
any assistance. On my return to England I found that Mr. Middle-
ton had drawn out fair the beautiful plan of Abu Sargah, which he
generously placed at my disposal. He also very kindly offered to
draw out fair from the rough my plan of Al Mu'allakah, and myplans of other churches, K. Burbarah, Abu-'s-Sifain, Mari Mina,
&c. In communicating his own plan of Abu Sargah to M. de
Fleury, he inadvertently included with it the fair drawing of Al
Mu'allakah. The latter I believe had never before been published,
and I may claim it as mine, if the claim is worth making. I mayadd that the 'Baptistere' inserted by M. de Fleury is a purely
imaginary description an antiquarian's fiction resting on analogy,not on evidence.
n in> ozzo onn o o ?~~x o o IZEIOoz^o <zii n
Fig. 14 Cedar and ivory Screen at Al Mu'allakah. (Perhaps eleventh century.)
214 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
All the old transverse screens have been torn
down, except that of the haikal ;the result is a
much greater unity of appearance in the church.
The division into nave and aisles is clear and un-
broken by cross-screens; resembling rather that of
a Greek church, or the English arrangement of
church and chancel;and this is doubtless a rever-
sion of the original arrangement at Al Mu'allakah.
But there is one very curious, not to say unique,feature to be noticed, the entire absence of the choir.
Before restoration no doubt a place for the choir
was marked off by screens;now there is no sign
of any choir having belonged to the original arrange-ment of the church. In front of all three eastern
chapels is a continuous narrow platform or solea;
but from this point the floor of the whole church
is of uniform level;whereas elsewhere the choir is
almost invariably raised at least one step above the
nave. The omission is very remarkable, but probablythe solea served the purpose of the choir. It is at
least broad enough to hold the lecterns and a number
of singers.
The south aisle is parted from the nave by a row
of eight columns, joined by a continuous wooden
architrave, which is lightened by small pointed
relieving arches as at Anba Shanudah. Between
the nave and the north aisle are only three columns
spanned by wide pointed arches without architrave;
but there is beyond a third or outer aisle, divided
off by an arrangement of columns symmetrical with
that between nave and south aisle. The north wall
runs at an angle with this line of columns, with an
offset inwards;the outer aisle thus narrows eastward
to a width of only 7 ft. and ends with a small sacristy,
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 215
the door of which the priest declined to open. Thesouthern wall of the main building is also relieved
by small arches, and a doorway in it leads into the'
little church,' as it is called, of which more anon.
The nave and the main aisles end eastward each in its
own chapel ;and they are roofed separately in three
spans with lofty wagon-vaulting of timber;while
the outer aisle has a low flat roof forming a floor
for a small gallery above, a sort of triforium, con-
tinuous with the western gallery, whence the womenlook down through lattice windows on the church
below.
Al Mu'allakah may then be styled a double-aisled
church, and as such is extremely remarkable in havingno transepts. So rare is this peculiarity that Mr. G.
Gilbert Scott says boldly, 'There is no example knownof a double-aisled basilica without transepts V But
another very distinct instance is supplied by a Coptic
church, viz. that of Al Adra in the Harat-az-Zuailah
at Cairo, where there are two double aisles and no
transept. It is difficult to see why, in point of archi-
tectural fitness, double aisles should necessitate tran-
septs, and the Coptic examples tell against Mr. Scott's
assumption that the church of St. Felix at Nola miist
have been transeptal.
The columns are all of white marble except one
which is of black basalt. On four are consecration
crosses exactly like those at Abu Sargah : a fifth
has a group of four crosses of slightly different and
perhaps more recent design. These are all south-
ward of the nave. On another shaft near the north^
west corner of the nave is a cruciform depression
1
History of English Church Architecture, p. 63, note nn.
216 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
dotted with nail-marks : here originally a silver dedi-
cation cross was fastened, which measured seven
inches each way. The pillars have all been movedin restoration, and the crosses face all ways ;
so that
their present position proves nothing. But not onlyis the shape in this case remarkable, but I know of
no other instance of a metal cross attached to a 'pillar
in a Coptic church; though evidence of the same
practice is found in English churches. The dedica-
tion crosses outside Salisbury Cathedral were of
metal : inside Chichester Cathedral are two incisions
with nail-holes over them, showing that a metal cross
was hung before the incision : and in Westminster
Abbey the crosses painted in the south aisle of the
Lady Chapel have a central hole plugged with wood,into which a spike from the metal cross was fastened,
while a similar plug below held a small metal taper-
stand for use at the feast of the Virgin. The figures
of apostles or saints, which doubtless here as at
Abu Sargah were painted on every pillar, have all
vanished under the scrubbing and polishing which
I am told they received during the restoration : there
remains, however, one interesting though damagedpainting of an early patriarch, and here and there a
few traces of colour. The design on the pall of the
patriarch closely resembles on a smaller scale a
design upon the sides of the mumbar or pulpit in
the mosque of Sultan Hassan at Cairo, built in 1356A.D. : but I think the Coptic fresco some centuries
earlier, notwithstanding.There is a large Epiphany tank in the north aisle
an unusual -place and a smaller tank for the Man-datum in the nave. At the west end of the nave
is the patriarch's chair of old lattice-work, and on it
PLAN
218 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
a shabby tin almsbox. Further east is the ancient
ambon, a most original and beautiful piece of work,of which I give a woodcut. It stands on fifteen
exceedingly delicate Saracenic columns arranged in
seven pairs with a leader. The two columns of
each pair are identical, but no two pairs are alike.
They stand on a slab of white marble carved with
wavy outline, and this rests on a base raised nine
inches from the floor and faced with vertical strips
of coloured marble. The body of the ambon is
faced in the same way, but has a coping of white
marble carved with most exquisitely minute and
graceful pendentives. Under the floor of the balconyare six crosses in circles finely sculptured and filled
with rich designs: the two larger are 13 in., the
others 8 in. in diameter. Of the twelve steps which
formed the staircase only the upper four are nowleft : but on the marble sides of the staircase remain
two crosses cut in relief, one a low broad resurrec-
tion cross, the other between pillars joined by an
arch a common early design that may be seen, for
instance, on a stone taken from the ancient church
of St. John at Ephesus now built into the Greek
chapel which stands on the original site. Thoughthis ambon is distinctly Arab in character and pos-
sibly not older than the twelfth century, yet it is
perhaps the most interesting thing left in the church
so far untouched by the restorers. I need scarcely
add that they talk of pulling it down 1. This ambon
1
According to Mr. Greville Chester ' a certain patriarch named
Abraham lies buried under this pulpit.' A patriarch is certainly
buried behind the ambon at Abu-'s-Sifain, but I can find no ' Abra-
ham '
in the list of Coptic patriarchs. Al Makrizi mentions one'
Afraham,' or Ephraim, a very pious man, poisoned by a clerk
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 219
follows the rule invariable with Coptic ambons of
extending lengthwise from east to west and not
across the church from north to south.
Near the steps of the ambon, but standing rather
in the north aisle and facing east, is a curious old
reliquary a sort of large wooden coffer on four legs
with a front of lattice-work and a square doorless
opening veiled by a curtain. It contains four bun-
dles or bolsters of relics, covered in silk brocaded
with silver as usual : the bones enclosed are those
of Mari Girgis, Tadrus, Baskharun, and Abu Ishak.
Round the opening and at the sides of the reliquary
hang pictures of these saints and of angels. As a
rule such bolsters of relics are placed in a locker in
the wall under the principal pictures in the several
churches : this moveable reliquary is unique in the
churches of the two Cairos.
The paintings here are not very interesting or
ancient. On the south wall are (i) Abu Nafr with
his palm and fountain, (2) a patriarch, (3) an angel,and (4) a rather curious throned Virgin. She is
seated before an iconostasis with the usual three
chapels : in front of each chapel a lamp of the old
Arabic sort is hung by a pulley : above in the back-
ground the roof of the church is represented by
twenty-nine little domes with crosses. Round this
scene are painted separately thirty-four saints each
carrying cross and palm-branch. The date of this
picture is I777A.D. (5) Another modern picture
whose sins he rebuked. This was about 980 A.D., and if the tra-
dition points to this Ephraim, the pulpit may be as old as 1000 A.D.
But it is very questionable whether the thickness of the floor of the
church is sufficient to allow of any burial beneath it.
22O Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
shows Virgin and Child surrounded by ten little
scenes curious but not fine work.
The sanctuary-screens at Al Mu'allakah are veryremarkable for their beauty. That of the northern
chapel resembles a screen at Abu-'s-Sifain, havinga design of squares with crosses at all the angles.
But the details vary. The body of the crosses is
alternately ivory and ebony : the ivory body is
framed in ebony bordered again with ivory : and
the ebony body is framed in ivory bordered again
by ebony. The squares are ebony bordered with
ivory and enclose ivory octagons, which again en-
close ivory crosses set in ebony. But descriptionof such work is dangerous : it can convey little idea
of the clearness and splendour, while it retains all
the complexity, of the original.
The piers at either side of the central or haikal
screen are cased in deal, carved and set with a star-
and-tongue pattern in flat ivory. This is modern;
but the haikal-screen itself is very old, and thoughit has suffered some repairing, it remains a marvel
of art. The frame is ebony and rosewood, exqui-
sitely chased and set with beautiful designs in worked
ebony. The pattern is chiefly what I have called
star-and-tongue, a central many-branched star in
a ring of tongue-shaped plaques divided off by ela-
borate mouldings. Above this screen, and above
the two side-screens also, is a delicate boarding set
with panels of chased ivory and very fine through-
carvings of ebony. Similar work of equal skill and
beauty may be seen at Abu Sargah and Abu-'s-
Sifain.
The southern screen shows a cruciform pattern :
each cross is filled with carved ebony in an ivory
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 221
border, and between the crosses runs a sort of key
pattern. On top of this screen is a series of small
scene pictures, old but not specially good : those
above the northern screen are of the same type, but
recent. The seven large pictures which stand on
the central iconostasis are set in a single frame;and
on the frame are Coptic and Arabic gold writingsin relief. In the- midst is Christ throned, in the
attitude of benediction, instead of the more usual
Virgin Mary ;on the dexter side the Virgin ;
the
other figures are two angels and three apostles.
Each picture is about 4 ft. high.
Al Mu allakah is triapsal, but all the three apses
vary slightly in span. The central haikal has a
tribune with three straight and three curved steps
besides the topmost bench : the other chapels have
a different arrangement. The haikal is divided from
the side chapels by wide openings with lofty pointedarches which had originally, no doubt, a wooden
casing splendidly gilt and painted. This paintedwoodwork still remains on the soffit of the similar
arches over the tribune and in the southern chapel.Of the three altars not a stone was left standing at
my last visit in 1884; they were pulled down, one
might say out of sheer mischief, four or five years pre-
viously ; and are to be replaced, if the priest is right,
by slabs on pillars the latest Greek fashion from
Alexandria. But leaning against the wall in the
northern chapel were two curious ancient altar-slabs
of white marble, which belonged most likely to the
north and south chapel altars, while that of the haikal
was of the ordinary type. Of these tops one is horse-
shoe shaped, the chord and the greatest diameter of
the curve being each 3 ft. 9 in. The interior surface
222 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
is depressed about 2 in., leaving a narrow fillet or
border all round, except that in the middle of the
chord a channel is cut through the border, of a depth
corresponding to that of the depression. The design
very much resembles that of the altar-top in the
chapel of Mari Buktor, Abu-'s-Sifain. The other
is perhaps unique in these Cairo churches : it is a
rectangular slab 3 ft. 1 1 in. by 3 ft., hollowed like the
last to the depth of 2 in. all over, with a narrow
border left standing round. The centre of the slab
is pierced through with a hole. Further remarks
on these slabs will be found in the chapter on
the Coptic altar.
The north apse has two straight steps, and
above these two more following the curve. In the
wall is a niche and on each side of the niche an
aumbry.There is a niche without aumbries in the eastern
wall of the haikal, and a good many pictures lie
scattered about on the steps in both chapels : but
none are worth notice except a double picture, the
Virgin and St. Gabriel, in a frame carved with
Coptic letters in relief. The work is early but not
very skilful. There is however another picture of
Mary with Christ, which is earlier and certainly
better : while another subject, Michael slaying Satan,
is treated in a most powerful and masterly manner.
Here the prostrate fiend, the angel's flying drapery,the back-swung sword just balanced for the blow,and the look of heroic strength and anger in the
face, prove that the painter had very great imagina-tive sympathy as well as power over form andcolour unusual qualities in Coptic art. The date
of the painting is the sixteenth century, and the
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 223
style is scarcely inferior to the Annunciation and
the Christ on the altar-casket at Abu-'s-Sifain.
The apse wall in the south aisle-chapel was faced
to a height of loft, with coloured marble arrangedin very beautiful patterns. The upper part of this
work remains, although lower down the lost facing
is replaced by plaster painted in imitation. Theniche is splendidly inlaid with opus Alexandrinum,
which contains a fine cross inwrought in the design.
There should be noticed in this chapel a very sin-
gular and beautiful recess for relics, set in the south
wall at a height of 1 1 ft. from the ground. A spaceabout 4 ft. high and 9 ft. long is enclosed by an ex-
quisitely carved marble border, within which is a
triple arcading worked with very delicate penden-tives. The central arch rises over a sort of wooden
locker : the side arches are filled with some wonder-
fully fine open-work carving in marble a grill almost
as fine as the ebony through-carving on the icono-
stasis. Above is a space filled with Arabic writing,
tracery, and crosses, the whole forming as rich and
skilful a piece of chisel-work as can be found in
Egypt. Walled up behind the grills are doubtless
relics of saints, and some less sacred were also keptin the locker.
The three altars were recently canopied with
baldakyns, two of which I saw dismounted from
their columns and thrown one above the other in
the western aisle-chapel. They were very old, and
had been finely painted with figures ;but time and
neglect had ruined them. It is uncertain whether
they will be replaced or will disappear entirely.
The wagon-vaulting of the nave and two main
aisles is continued eastward over the altar, and ends
224 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. n-.
in each case with a gable having a semicircular win-
dow of painted glass. Most of the work is new;but
traces of the old remain, particularly in the north
chapel, where one or two ancient lights still show
clearly enough the original effect. The panes or
quarries are extremely small, with a lustre of soft har-
monious colours, a sort of bright mosaic arrangedin cypress-tree and other eastern designs. Like
designs may be seen in the painted windows of the
mosque of Kait Bey, among the tombs of the khalifs,
or the mosque of Al Ghuri dated 1500 A.D. in Cairo :
and are common in Damascus tiles of the sixteenth
century, of which the most magnificent display in
Egypt and perhaps in the world may be seen in the
mosque of Ibrahim'
Agha near the citadel of Cairo.
THE LITTLE CHURCH.
Opening out by a door in the south wall of Al
Mu'allakah on the same level is the very ancient
and curious'
little church,' fortunately almost un-
touched by restoration. It occupies the floor of a
Roman bastion, but the windows have been blocked
up, and a huge central pier of Arab work added to
support the floor of a chapel above, and to strengthenvarious structures crowded within. The little church
is used now chiefly for its baptistery ;but it is
divided into a number of tiny chapels. Of these
the northernmost adjoining Al Mu'allakah has four
regular divisions haikal, choir, men's section, and
women's section. The last is only 3 ft. deep, and
capable of containing eight or ten women : but the
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 225
screen before it is good, lattice-work with panelsabove of finely carved cedar. In the haikal are
candlesticks and altar-casket : also a corporal and
altar-frontal of very rich embroidery : against the
wall reclines a plain bronze processional cross. The
baldakyn is quite rude and unadorned, but it is in
replacement of an earlier one ; for there are manysigns of departed splendour in this chapel besides
the altar-vestments. The eastern window, set as in
the large church at the gable-end of a wagon-vaulted
roof, is of painted glass, and survives less damagedthan the others. The eastern wall has been adorned
with a very fine painting in distemper, of which faint
traces are left, indicating a central figure and a groupof figures at each side. The priest could only saythat they stood for the twelve apostles ;
but I counted
twenty figures, and there may have been a few more
originally, possibly as many as twenty-five. If I
remember rightly all wore the nimbus : but there
is no other evidence to decide the subject. The
painting is at some height from the ground, in a wide
arched recess: the dimensions are nearly 14 ft. by3 ft. 6 in. The Coptic inscription carved round the
arch points to an early date.
From the haikal one passes through a screen
southward into a tiny narrow room filled with lumber,and by another screen into a second chapel, which
has an altar under a baldakyn, and a deep recess
eastward, the bay of a Roman window : a short
Arab wall parts this chapel from the very beau-
tiful little baptistery. In the Arab wall is fixed
a stone basin standing out 16 in. and measuring2 ft. across : it communicates by a drain with the
font in the baptistery, and may possibly have been
VOL. I. O
226 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
used as a piscina : though I think from its size it
was rather meant for filling the font, like the basin
in the church of Sitt Mariam. For while the posi-
tion corresponds to that of the piscina in western
churches, it is difficult to believe that the rinsings of
the priest's hands flowed into the font, more espe-
cially as they would have to be removed thence,
because the font has no drain to carry them
away. The question however is open : though the
long disuse of the chapel renders the priest's
evidence of little value. In the Ecgbert Pontifical
is a rubric ordering the' water in which the cor-
porals have been washed'
to be turned '
into the
baptistery1
'.
The baptistery itself consists of two tiny cham-
bers : the outer is reserved for women and screened
off from the inner, which occupies a window recess
in the Roman wall. The recess, originally less than
5 ft. square, has been very slightly enlarged : a second
small recess, about 3 ft. deep, has been hollowed in
the heart of the wall, and a font has been placed low
within it, and secured at the back with mortar. Thefont is a deep round basin with out-curved rim and
fluted sides, hewn of white marble, but unpolisheda very pretty piece of sculpture. The arch above
the basin is covered with mosaic of coloured marbles,
and the walls are overlaid with vertical strips of
marble in many colours. A shallow recess oppo-site the font, and another beside it, are also decked
with the richest and finest mother-of-pearl and marble
mosaic, the main design being a sort of conventional
lotus pattern, singular and pleasing. This baptistery
P.
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 227
is still used, but it can only be seen by the light of
candles : for there is no window.
The gospel-stand belonging to the baptistery is
ancient, and departs from the usual design in havingat each corner a floriated cross of metal, fixed on
wooden stems rising about 1 8 in. above the board.
It lies among a heap of church lumber, window-
frames, broken screens, strips of marble, doors, lat-
tice-work, panels, &c. The rest of the space within
the curve of the bastion is vacant, but formerly was
divided by many screens into irregular compart-ments.
The central pier has been mentioned as upholdingthe floor of a chapel above. This floor however lies
only to the south side of the pier, so that it roofs
that part alone of the little church which lies in the
actual curve of the bastion, and not the first chapeldescribed as adjoining the Mu'allakah. The wagon-vault roofing of the first chapel is very lofty : where-
as the ceiling over the second chapel and over the
baptistery is but half the height, and this ceiling is
the floor of an upper room called the chapel of St.
Mark. The ascent is made by a staircase at the
west end of the first chapel.
The women's section at the west end of St. Mark's
is divided into three parts : on the south is a tiny
oratory railed off by lattice-work : on the north side
is a door opening into a flying gallery or bridge,
which crosses the little church and enables worship-
pers to look down on the choir and haikal. Fromthis bridge the best view is to be had of the paintedwindow. The sanctuary-screen in St. Mark's is of
ancient ebony and ivory resembling the principal
screen in Al Mu'allakah, but not carved with the
Q 2
228 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH.IV.
same delicacy. The altar has an unusual feature :
instead of the ordinary wooden board a kind of cir-
cular marble tray 2 in. deep with raised border is let
into the masonry, so that the top of the border is
flush with the altar-top. The latter is oblong, 3 ft.
1 1 in. by 3 ft. 3 in. : the tray is 3 ft. in diameter.
In the small sacristy northward of the haikal are
various relics of church furniture, but nothing of
interest or value, except the fragments of a plain
colourless Arabic lamp, fragments which seem to
have been cherished for some years.
It is probable that this little church is either the
original Al Mu'allakah or part of it, and has re-
mained with only trifling alteration of detail un-
changed from the day of its dedication. It maytherefore lay claim to the surpassing interest of beingone of the oldest places of Christian worship in the
world.
HISTORICAL NOTE ON AL MU'ALLAKAH.
The church of Al Mu'allakah competes with Abu
Sargah for the honour of being reckoned the earliest
of the surviving churches in Masr : but it is certain
that both Christian and Arab writers alike makemention of the Hanging Church long before Abu
Sargah ;and the former, if not of remoter antiquity,
is at least of more ancient importance. The recent
restoration of Al Mu'allakah has done much to
silence internal evidence : still if one may hazard a
date, perhaps the present fabric of the larger church
maybe assigned to the sixth century, and the smaller
CH. iv.j The Roman Fortress. 229
to the third or fourth of the Christian era. This
estimate however neither clashes with the probability
of there having been an earlier building in place of
the main church, nor denies the fact that some of the
decoration in the little church is very considerablylater. The first great epoch of church-building in
Egypt as elsewhere was the reign of Constantine :
but there is no doubt that even in the second
century churches sprang up in many parts of the
country. The fine condition in which the two bastions
of the Roman fortress and the gateway upholdingAl Mu'allakah remain, the clear level line where
the Roman work ends and the native work above
begins, this shows at least that the first church was
fitted on to the Roman wall at a time when the
parapet was uninjured, i.e. before the ruin or dis-
mantling consequent on the Arab siege in the
seventh century. The history of the siege, the
betrayal of the fortress by Makukar and the Jacob-ite Copts, the toleration they received in return
from the Muslim, and the vengeance they wreaked on
their Melkite co-defenders, are too well known to
need recounting here : but the facts furnish the
reason why the Jacobite churches were saved from
destruction at the Mohammedan conquest.But there are two other points on which I think
great stress may be laid, as determining a very earlydate for the first structure. These are the occur-
rence of the cross sculptured on the classical capitals
of some of the columns, and the testimony of Arab
legends. Both here and in the pillars on the first
floor of the round tower, crosses set in roundels
and carved in relief are so worked into the foliage of
the capitals, that they cannot be other than part of
230 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
the original design. Like columns are found in the
earliest Syrian churches, and may be attributed to
the third or fourth century with some confidence.
To the third century also belongs, it will be remem-
bered, the carved beam already mentioned as lyingover the principal doorway. The date given to it
(284 A.D.) is the first year of Diocletian, (not the third
as Mr. Chester's pamphlet says,) which is the start-
ing-point of the Coptic era, though the great perse-
cution was nearly twenty years later. Of course it
does not follow that the beam is in any way dedica-
tory of the church to which it belonged, or determines
its foundation. When the inscription was carved,
the church may have been many years in existence;
but the coincidence of the two pieces of evidence
the crosses on the capitals and the Greek inscription-
might be taken, even if no further testimony could
be derived from other sources, as proving that somechurch existed on the spot at least as early as the
third century.
The evidence however of Arab legends corrobo-
rates this conclusion. Passing over the wild but not
worthless myth1
,which tells that Al Mu'allakah was
built by one Bursa, son of Nebuchadnezzar, who was
born of a '
captive Coptess' and returned with his
mother to Egypt, it is worth while to give at lengthanother tradition related by Murtadi 2
,who quotes it
from Abu Nafr :
'Abu Nafr of the west (God's mercy on him), in
the book of the Histories of Egypt, (which Godcontinue prosperous and well-cultivated,) says that
on the castle gate at Masr, in the time of the Romans
1
Murtadi, p. 174.2
p. 254.
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 231
before the Musulmans conquered Egypt, there wasnear the gate of the Church of Mu'allakah called the
Gate of Grace an Idol of Brass in the form of a
Camel, with the Figure of a man riding on him, havingan Arabian Turbant on his Head, and his Bow over
his Shoulder and shoes on his Feet. The Romansand the Coptites, when any one injured or unjustly
persecuted another, came to that statue, and standingbefore it he who suffered the injuryr
said to him whodid it, "Give me what belongs to -me, otherwise I
will make my complaint to that Cavalier who will
oblige thee to do me right by fair means or by foul."
By that Cavalier they meant Mohammed (God's
peace and mercy be with him), for it is written amongthem in the laws of Moses and the Gospel where
the countenance and posture of Mahomet is thus
described : "He shall ride on a Camel and have
Shoes on : he shall carry the Arabian Bow and have
a Turbant on his Head :" God's peace and mercy be
with him. When Gamrou (Amr) came to Egypt,he and the Musulmans (God's peace be with them,)the Romans perceiving they would certainly be sub-
dued, hid that Statue underground that it might not
serve the Musulmans for an argument against them
in the dispute. "I have heard" (says the son of
Lahigus),"that that Statue had continued in that
place several thousands of years, and that they knownot who had made it : God knows how it stands."
A safe verdict.
This Abu Nafr was one of the companions of the
prophet, took part in the siege of the fortress, and
became one of the founders of the famous mosqueof Amr at Old Cairo, which remains to this daythe earliest mosque in Egypt. His story refers
232 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
probably to some sphinx or other figure of ancient
Egyptian work, which had been placed at the portal
of the church : the dress and equipment are no doubt
purely fanciful. But I think that without either
wresting or straining the sense of the legend one
may fairly gather, that at the time of the siege the
church had been already so long built as to date in
the rude imagination of an Arab from time imme-
morial.
For nearly two hundred and fifty years after the
taking of Kasr-ash-Shamm'ah I can find no further
notice of Al Mu'allakah. The next mention of the
church is quite incidental, where Al Makrlzi states 1
that in the days of the Sultan Ahmad Ibn Tulun the
patriarch Khail '
sold to the Jews the church adjoin-
ing Al Mu'allakah,' i.e. the church of St. Michael,
still used as a Jewish synagogue. This was about
the year 880 A.D. Tulun was the builder of the
superb mosque bearing his name and now standingin ruins near the citadel of Cairo. About the year1000 A.D. the wild fanatic and persecutor, called
Al Hakim bi'amr Illahi, is said 2 to have 'built a
wall round the church of Al Mu'allakah' what-
ever that means. Perhaps the precincts within the
Roman wall were enclosed, and the church turned
into a mosque, like Anba Shanudah. It is quite
certain that the same khalif sanctioned an indiscri-
minate persecution of the Christians and plunder of
their churches.'
All the gold and silver vessels in
them were plundered, their endowments were for-
feited;and those endowments were splendid and
bestowed on wonderful edifices,' says the Arab his-
1
History of the Copts, p. 85.2 Id. p. 90.
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 233
torian : and he specially mentions that in the Mu'al-
lakah was found '
a very great, endless quantity of
gold fabrics and silken vestments 1'.
It may be noted as a curious fact in this and in
many other cases that there was no destruction of
the fabric, whether it was shielded by the indolence
or by the superstition of the Muslims. In 1049 A.D.
we find the church and the monastic buildings in
good repair, and the services unbroken in order, if
diminished in splendour. It was in this year that
the well-known Christodulus was chosen patriarch,and signalized his election by reviving an ancient
usage. The proclamation of the new patriarch,
after his return from the Natrun monasteries, as
well as his election, had lately, but wrongly, been
made at Abu Sargah,'
quod ea ecclesia esset Catho-
lica seu Cathedralis 2'. Christodulus, however, got
the consent of a council of twenty-four bishops,beside the bishop of Old Cairo, and was proclaimedin Al Mu'allakah where he duly celebrated. The
priest of Abu Sargah, angry at this infringement of
his prerogative, refused to mention the patriarch's
name in the diptychs at the holy eucharist : whereat
Christodulus was so concerned, that he was fain to
make peace by celebrating also in Abu Sargah.Nevertheless he wholly usurped and retained
the churches of Al Mu'allakah and Al Adra in
Harat-ar-Rum of Cairo 3, driving out their bishops :
1
History of the Copts, pp. 91 and 90.2Renaudot, Hist. Pat. Alex., p. 424.
3 Al Makrizi is clearly wrong in saying that Christodulus ' made '
this church, and that of St. Mercurius or Abu-'s-Sifain. (Historyof the Copts, p. 92.)
234 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
and after thirty years he 'died in the Mu'allakah,'
i.e. in the episcopal or patriarchal residence attached
to it. There too died in 1102 A.D. the iniquitous
patriarch Michael;who having given his solemn
bond in writing that he would, if elected, restore to
their bishops these two churches which Christodulus
had usurped, no sooner felt himself secure upon the
throne than he laughed in the faces of the bishops,denied flatly all knowledge of his promise, and
threatened to excommunicate any who dare pro-
duce one of the duly signed and sealed copiesof the document. This story, given in Renau-
dot, seems to show distinctly that Al Mu'allakah
was the episcopal church of the see of Masr or
Babylon : nowhere is a bishop of Abu Sargahmentioned.
The successor of Michael, named Macarius, after
the customary journey to Alexandria for installation
and visit to the monasteries of the western desert,
returned to Old Cairo to celebrate in Al Mu'allakah :
and the pre-eminence asserted or re-asserted byChristodulus seems ever after to have been quietly
acknowledged. Certainly patriarchs were conse-
crated there all through the twelfth century. Earlyin the thirteenth the patriarch Johannes died there,
but was buried outside : thither the dishonest and
unscrupulous David, called Cyril, the LXXV patri-
arch, came in a grand procession with crosses and
gospels, tapers, thuribles, and music, preceded by
priests and deacons and followed by a great multi-
tude of Christians and Muslims: in 1251 A.D.
Athanasius was consecrated there : the church was
plundered about 1259, when a chalice of wonderful
workmanship was found buried under the altar, i.e.
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 235
hidden in the altar-cavity ;and again in 1 280 A.D.
under the Mameluke sultan Al Ashraf Khalil,
founder of the beautiful mosques which bear his
name, and of the Khan Khalili in Cairo, still the
finest bazaar in the world. Some twenty years later
the same relentless enemy of the Nazarenes closed
all the churches of Cairo, and Al Mu'allakah re-
mained shut for nearly two years.
There the history ends abruptly, and the imagina-tion has to leap over a gulf of nearly six centuries
to find the ancient and venerable fabric in danger of
suffering to-day, at the hands of its friends, worse
ruin than it has received in the shocks of war and
the clash of creeds during perhaps sixteen hundred
years of existence 1.
The Church of Burbarah, or St. Barbara.
St. Barbara to whom this church is dedicated was,
according to the Coptic calendar,'
the daughter of a
great man in the land of the East,' and suffered mar-
tyrdom under Maximinus 2. The church is a large
and lofty building of the eighth or ninth century, and
must have been of great importance : but I can find
1I revisited the church early in 1884, and am bound to admit
that as a whole, and with the exceptions noted at the beginning
of this chapter, the restoration has been carried out with more care
and truthfulness than seemed possible when I wrote the above
paragraph.2Malan, Notes on the Calendar, p. 61.
236 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
no direct mention of it in Al Makrizi or other authors.
It lies on the eastern side of Kasr-ash-Shamm'ah
close to the Roman wall, and is entered from the
street of the Jewish synagogue.Its monastic character is proved by the strange en-
tanglement of domestic and ecclesiastical buildingsaround it. The dwelling-rooms have been little
altered, but the church obviously has suffered a gooddeal, and is still undergoing a mischievous restora-
tion. Here, as at Al Mu'allakah, all the screens
o I ra I m I ra aA. J. B.
Fig. i6.--Plan of the Church of St. Barbara.
in the body of the church have been taken down,and probably will not be replaced : while the ancient
and most interesting stone ambon has entirely
disappeared.
Though the plan of the main church was origin-
ally of the orthodox kind, with nave 'and two aisles,
haikal and aisle-chapels, and a triforium over the
aisles and narthex, yet this plan has its peculiar
modifications, which include two transepts of singular
shape and extent. Part of the north aisle and all
the narthex have been walled off and secularised, the
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 237
former making a sort of passage leading either to
the church or the dwelling-rooms, while the narthex
serves now as the mandarah, where coffee is drunk,
and tobacco is smoked none the less because the
fumes may wander through arched openings into the
church. The mandarah is of the same width as the
nave, and the wall dividing the two encloses two
columns that formerly stood clear. Ten other
columns, five on each side of the nave, made the
complete number twelve as at Abu Sargah, and
were doubtless painted with figures of apostles or
prophets, symbolizing the teaching on which the
Church of Christ rests. But of the whole twelve
only half now are disengaged, the rest being moreor less lost in walls or piers. They are as usual
joined by a finely painted and carved wooden archi-
trave, and the masonry above is lightened by small
arched openings.The triforium or women's gallery at present shows
five oblong bay openings, two north, two south, and
one west. Each of the bays north and south is
divided by a single column, while the western bayhas two clear columns. Others stand engaged, so
that the columns of the triforium correspond in
number and position though not in size with those
upholding it. This arrangement seems to indicate
that the entire gallery originally was open, as in
many western basilicas, and that the interior wall
with its bays is merely a later addition.
The transepts are carried out north and south
beyond the aisles, southward into a plain square
chapel now reft of altar and all ornaments, and re-
taining only a small niche in the eastern wall to
mark its former purpose : northward into a dark
238 Ancient Coptic Churches.[C H. iv.
corridor about 45 ft. in length, ranged along which
are three little chapels (or rather two chapels and a
baptistery), with a continuous iconostasis. Each of
these three divisions is entered by its own double
door through the screen. They are now mere rub-
bish holes, where a few books and many pictures lie
rotting and decaying in deepening dust and unbroken
darkness. The baptistery lies northernmost of the
three, and the priest affirms with some show of
reason that this corridor is much older than the rest
of the church. Indeed it may be regarded as abso-
lutely certain that the three divisions represent the
haikal and aisle-chapels of some smaller earlier
building. Opposite the more southern of the
corridor chapels, the corridor is widened out
and the additional space encloses a large Epi-
phany tank.
A very curious hiding-place for the sacred vessels
exists at the north end of the corridor. A door
flush with the wall opens revealing another door
inside the wall, and when the latter is thrown back
the floor of a secret chamber is seen 3 ft. above the
level of the threshold, whence it rises without steps.
This chamber, like the chapels, is unillumined by a
ray of light, and at present is a mere storehouse for
pots and cauldrons and vessels, used to prepare the
viands which the priest sets before his friends and
neighbours at the yearly festival of dedication. Amore likely place for hidden treasure it is not easyto imagine : but though a light was flashed in
every nook and corner, it discovered neither silver
nor gold, nor anything more precious than the wares
of an Arab scullion.
Returning now to the main building through the
CH. iv.]The Roman Fortress. 239
open screen that marks off the corridor, one maynotice that the haikal proper, and the two aisle-
chapels are under lofty semidomes. But the eastern
wall of the haikal has the unusual form of a seven-
sided apse below changing roofwards to a semicircle.
The haikal-screen is ancient and good, though some-
what battered : and in each spandrel of the doorwayinlaid with ivory is a remarkable design of a rude
winged figure climbing among and holding a creeping
plant. These figures can scarcely be meant for
angels, or for mere grotesques : for that strangelove of mingling the solemn and the ludicrous, the
sublime and the grotesque, which seems a perma-nent trait in the English character, has no counter-
part among the Copts ; though early Byzantinechurches abound in quaint ridiculous carvings and
impossible figures. There is nothing in Copticchurches like our ape-headed corbels, gurgoyles,frescoes of devils, and the monstrous beasts commonin mediaeval churches, where a sacred subject is
treated in a jesting manner : as for instance in the
church of Stanley St. Leonards, Gloucestershire,
where the fall of man is represented by a splay-
footed, fish-mouthed, frog-eyed, melancholy quad-
ruped, holding in one hand an apple, and with
the other pulling the tail of a heavily-moustached
ape or cat, whose pursed lips and fixed averted
eyes convey most amusingly the idea of shocked
virtue.
In the haikal I saw three fine processional crosses
of silver, each cross hung with six small bells, and
on the staff a banner. The two candlesticks on the
altar are fine pieces of brass-work : there is also a
small oval wooden incense-box now used as a crewet
240 Ancient Coptic Chttrches. [CH. iv.
(5 in. high and 4 in. across) beautifully carved with
foliated scrollwork and Arabic letters in high relief.
The lid unfortunately is missing.The screen before the south aisle-chapel is new :
the chapel is square, but in the east wall is a wide
niche, in the north wall a large aumbry 3 ft. across
and 2 ft. deep. A score of small pictures lie rottingunder the orthodox quantity of dust.
Against the screen of the north aisle-chapel hangsa picture of St. Barbara and her daughter Juliana.
With a palm branch in her left hand, the saint is
pointing to a model of a church which she holds in
her right. The church is a six-domed Byzantine-
looking building with a turret and cross-capped spire-
probably a purely conventional symbol, as there is
no trace of tower or spire in any Coptic church near
Cairo at present. A silver plate, like a crescent,
nailed round St. Barbara's head represents a nimbus.
Before the picture is a stand for a bolster of relics,
and a curious three-branched pricket candlestick of
iron, somewhat resembling that at Abu-'s-Sifain.
The interior of the chapel is wainscoted, and over
the altar is a plain baldakyn. A curious little port-
able tower-shaped shrine (2 ft. 3 in. high and 9 in.
square) shows in front a very fine deep-shadowed
painting of John the Baptist, who carries a scroll
with the legend'
Repent : for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand.' Before the picture is a little beam or
bracket for tapers. The altar is littered all over
with more or less ancient books of ritual that have
been flung and tumbled together. Scattered amongthem or tossed in heaps on the ground at randomlie candles, altar-caskets, old pictures, candlesticks,
incense, ostrich-eggs, and silver censers in even
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 241
unusual profusion and disorder, under layers of dust
immemorial.
The triforium is not usually shown to strangers,for a reason unanswerable in the logic of eastern
life -that the priest's harim(i.e. wife and children)
use it habitually, though they live and sleep in ad-
joining chambers. But at my request the priest
very kindly sent a messenger to clear out the ladies :
and that done led me through a courtyard and up a
dark rickety staircase on to a flat roof, that lies over
the chapels of the north transept. Here in bygonetimes had clearly stood another chapel or chapels, of
which now only the eastern and northern wall re-
main, and a few small columns and loose fragmentsof screens and church furniture, The triforium is
entered by a door on the north side. It forms a
continuous gallery running round three sides of the
church, stopping of course at the transepts.
Originally there must have been several chapelshi and about the triforium
;but the only one now
standing is at the east end of the north triforium,
and is called the Chapel of Mdri Girgis. It is railed
off by a screen, within which lies an extremely fine
and interesting iconostasis, though the icons have
long disappeared. The panelling is about 7 ft. high,and is continued upwards to the roof by later lattice-
work. The wood seems to be cedar, but the pecu-
liarity of the work is the entire absence of geometrical
patterns. The whole screen is divided by broad
borders into small panels, which are beautifullycarved in relief with figures and arabesques. Thedouble doors have each four vertical panels : each
spandrel has a figure on horseback enclosed in a
circular moulding : above the doorway in a small
VOL. I. R
242 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
square is a symbol not uncommon in western Chris-
tendom but very rare in these Coptic churches two
peacocks standing face to face on opposite edges of
a flower-vase.
The other carvings represent chiefly animals.
Gazelles are frequently pourtrayed, one being torn
by an eagle, another devoured by a leopard or lion,
a third having its eyes plucked out by a vulture or
roc. Hares and camels are well rendered in other
panels, and there are two figures of four-legged
winged griffins. Two curious little life-pictures de-
serve special notice : they represent two men in
flowing drapery sitting cross-legged in eastern fashion
on the ground, each waited upon by two standingslaves or ministers. The existence of this screen is
quite unknown even to the few travellers or residents
who have ever visited any church besides Abu
Sargah : and I could not hear that any one had
ever before been admitted to the triforium 1. But
the extraordinary interest of these carvings alone
will well repay the trouble of a visit a trouble the
politeness of the priest will probably lighten. At
1 Since I wrote the above, the screen has had a narrow escapeof being removed and carried away to England. When it became
clear that the priest could not be prevailed upon to sell it, he
was threatened with the displeasure of the British Government (!) :
and, the threat failing, an effort was made to frighten the patriarch
into yielding up the screen. Fortunately all endeavours provedunsuccessful. They were known, however, all over Cairo, and
produced a great deal of natural ill-feeling among the Copts.
I protest in the strongest manner possible against such attempts
to rob the Coptic churches of their few remaining treasures : more
particularly when the object in question has a structural importance,
and loses its chief interest in being removed from its original
position. In such a case museums may be gainers ;but the cause
of art and archaeology suffers.
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 243
the same time it is to be hoped that some action
will be taken to prevent the use of this and other
parts of sacred buildings for domestic purposes.No doubt the triforia were meant for the women
originally, and communication was often madedirect with the women's apartments in the build-
ings attached to the churches, as for instance
was the case also at St. Cross, near Winchester.
It is easy to understand, moreover, how when pro-
vision was made in the body of the church for the
presence of women, and the galleries were no longerneeded for the purpose of worship, they were grad-
ually turned to profane uses. But this is not onlya departure from primitive custom and a desecration,
but it places one of the most interesting parts of
these ancient buildings at the mercy of ignorant and
reckless people, and leaves visitors dependent on
the temper of a priest, who may be courteous and
obliging as at K. Burbarah, or may be morose and
bearish as the priest at Abu Sargah, who flatly and
effectually refuses permission of entrance.
What treasures have been destroyed or still re-
main in such inaccessible places, may be conjecturedfrom the fact that in the one church of K. Burbarah
I discovered besides the beautiful screen some veryremarkable wall-paintings on plaster. These are
chiefly on the south wall of the south triforium, and
formed the decoration of a chapel corresponding to
Mari Girgis, but now quite abolished. The paintingsare difficult to decipher, owing to the fact that at
least three layers of plaster may be distinguished,each coloured with a different design at a different
period. In some places too one coating has fallen :
in others two if not three are gone, while various
R 2
244 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
attempts at restoration or repainting have left the
work in helpless confusion. But as far as I could
judge, the earliest painting was a conventional pat-
tern of roundels enclosing crosses and the sacred
letters. This design shows clearest on a pilaster of
the north wall of the south triforium. Another
design clearly distinguishable, though it seems to
have been painted over the first, is a series of large
figures of apostles or prophets under a continuous
painted arcading. One figure is still in fair condition
though the head is gone, and probably representsthe Redeemer : the left hand carries a scroll. There
are traces of ten other figures.
The second layer is covered with a large bold
design showing crosses with circles both on the
branches and in the angles between the branches.
On the third layer human figures are again
painted : of these the best preserved and most re-
markable are two equestrians, probably Miri Girgisand Abu-'s-Sifain, drawn with great spirit and well
coloured. They lie to the westward end of the
triforium. But the face of the wall is not, and ap-
parently never has been, quite level;so that the
various layers run one into another, as successive
coatings of plaster have been carelessly laid on an
uneven surface. Thus where a slight curve or splayhas been filled up level, leaving a figure half-con-
cealed and half-exposed, sometimes a new designhas been painted over the junction, sometimes the
original figure has been restored. The result is a
mass of scattered details extremely puzzling. Underthe chief remaining figures are Coptic writings-
very fragmentary, but no doubt worth deciphering.But it is evident that the whole of the south tri-
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 245
forium was covered with mural paintings : there are
also traces of paintings on the piers in the north and
west divisions. These latter are the parts now mostin domestic use, and I feel sure that traces of like
work could be found under the plentiful whitewash
of the main walls, and that the triforia all round were
once blazoned with figures, rivalling in their own
degree the triforia of St. Mark's at Venice 1.
I made great exertions to obtain a photograph of
the carved screen. It was quite invisible throughthe camera at a distance of even ten feet owing to
the darkness : but by an arrangement of mirrors we
brought the sunlight from out-of-doors and flashed it
round a number of corners. Thus the photographerwas able to play it over the screen, and he spoke of
the experiment as likely to prove a great triumph.There is no reason it should not answer again : but
he misjudged the time, and the picture showed the
panels clearly enough, but only a dim blurred outline
of the carvings. It was my last opportunity and a
vexing failure.
The following measurements of the church were
all I could take, but they will serve to give someidea of its size :
Length of mandarah or original narthex
(E. and W.) . . . .11 ft. 6 in.
1I deeply regret to say that at my last visit in January, 1884,
I found that these interesting frescoes had been almost entirely
destroyed. All the heads had been deliberately cut out of the wall,
and now blank circular holes in the plaster alone show their posi-
tion. Besides this, every available fragment of the smallest interest
has been removed, and nothing whatever is left but a few incoherent
patches of colour. There is reason to believe that this is the work
of an Englishman.
246 A;ncient'. Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
Wall ;bqtween mandarah and nave . 2 ft. 6 in.
Length pf.nave >
: . . . 56ft. gin.
Length .of. haikal (from outside screen;
to .centre of apse) . , . . 1 2 ft.
Width of nave . . ..
. 25 ft.
Width of church (nave and two aisles) . 46 ft. 6 in.
Thus, the .total length is 82ft. gin., the width ex-
cluding the transepts 46 ft. 6 in.
The graveyard belonging to K. Burbarah lies
behind the church and is bounded eastward by the
Roman wall": ? It contains some extremely curious
and. interesting tombs, which date undoubtedly from
a very early epoch, whether or not the priest is right
in ascribing to them an age of 1500 years. The
majority are pits, square or conical, hollowed out
beneath, the earth and lined with brick. One or two
of these are open ;but the bodies have either
vanished or are hidden under the bricks and rub-
bish that has fallen in with the roof upon them.
But one floor of the Roman bastion at the angle of
the wall here remains uninjured, and this is the only
place where a clear idea can be formed of the ori-
ginal design. of the lowest story in these bastions.
The entrance had been blocked up at some remote
period in such a way that . the windowless chamber
within was completely sealed. But shortly before
my visit in the spring of 1881 some of the masonryhad fallen from the archway, and the light that
streamed in through the opening revealed as horri-
fying a sight as any that can well be imagined. Thechamber proved to be a mere vault about 6 ft. by 10,
walled and roofed with Roman tiles, and in it piled
onfe over another in hideous disorder lay a score of
human bodies. Some of them were in coffins : from
CH. iv.] The Roman Fortress. 247
others the wood had fallen or decayed. Some were
lying face upwards, some on their side: some straight,
some doubled up with arms bent behind the head,
or limbs twisted and distorted in various ghastlyfashions. All had their, faces muffled up and their
forms shrouded^ save where fleshless bones protrudedfrom beneath their decaying drapery ;
one head was
resting on a sort of velvet cushion;and all lay with
their feet towards the east. It seemed as if someof the bodies had become mummies, not skeletons,
as withered flesh here and there was showing, a re-
sult quite possible in an excessively dry climate,
especially as in an air-tight chamber of the kind the
temperature would scarcely alter winter or summer.
Close by, aligning the Roman wall, is a row of modern
sepulchral vaults above ground, each with an arched
doorway westward, blocked by a single doorstone
which is lifted away by an iron ring. This arrange-ment is that of the traditional early eastern tombs,and in looking upon it one feels the old words '
roll
away the stone from the door' quickened with a
vivid meaning.
The Churches of Mari Girgis andAI 'Adra. 1
Of the two remaining churches which completethe list of those lying within the walls of Kasr-ash-
Shamm'ah, there is little to be said. They are
situated close together, nearly adjoining the modern
1 The latter is curiously called ^larLJl Ij.^ig,.> x^^JLJI ^JuJI or
the Virgin of the Pot of Basil. The reason of the name is quite
lost by the Copts of to-day.
248 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH.IV.
cemetery. The entrance to the precincts of Al'Adra
is through a low narrow arched doorway, such as
belonged once to nearly all the churches. The
priest is an extremely fine and venerable old man,with snowy patriarchal beard
; and, like the priest
at K. Burbarah, he is conspicuous for having refused
bakshish;for he excused himself with the graceful
remark that visitors came as his guests. Such an
idea is quite out of fashion with the Copts gene-
rally. The church is a small, dark, nearly square
building, with the usual features. Hanging before
the iconostasis is a small ancient Arabic or Vene-
tian glass lamp, the stem built of rings tapering
downwards, the body encrusted with medallions.
It resembles one of the lamps noted at Sitt Ma-
riam, Dair Abu-'s-Sifain. But unless there are anycurious vessels in the treasury or sacristy a fact
I was unable to ascertain there is nothing else
of interest in this church, which is said to have
suffered some rebuilding. The ancient Epiphanytank, however, which lies south of the main building,remains unaltered.
Mari Girgis also may be shortly dismissed. The
original mandarah, which is first entered from the
street, was a magnificent piece of work, and still
retains tracery and carvings of great beauty. The
high pointed arches, painted woodwork, and deli-
cate arabesques remind one very much of the
Arab domestic architecture of the best period, such
as still may be seen in a few old houses in Cairo,
the finest of which is owned by the courtly and
genial Shaikh Ahmad as Sadat. But all that
remains now is a neglected ruin. The church,
which stands a little way beyond, is a most dis-
CH. iv.]The Roman Fortress. 249
heartening structure. The old church was destroyed
by fire, and has been replaced by a half-gaudy,
half-sordid, altogether pitiful building, in which all
that bad taste and unskilful workmanship could do
has been done to produce the nearest imitation of
a third-rate Greek model. Northwards of this newchurch are the ruins of an old one ; but I cannot
say whether they mark the site of the original Mari
Girgis, or of some chapel attached to it. Traces are
still distinguishable of a nave, two aisles and triforia;
the lines of the eastern wall may also be followed,
and one or two columns are standing with the cross
sculptured on their capitals.
According to Eutychius the church of Mari Girgiswas built about the year 684 A.D., by one Athana-
sius, a wealthy scribe, who also founded the church
of Abu Kir 'within Kasr-ash-Shamm'ah.' This
description of Abu Kir is not accurate, for there
is now no church of that name within the walls,
but it lies so close to the Roman fortress that the
misstatement is not very serious. The fortress mayhowever have contained a church called Abu Kir,
though every vestige of it has now vanished.
CHAPTER V.
The Minor Churches of Old Cairo.
The Churches of Dair Bablun, The CJmrches ofDair Tadrus,
if '.
yJX/JyOUNDS of rubbish piled to the south of
//f\v\W\Kasr-ash-Shamrn ah, and the natural ridge,
/{/ \^v spoken of by Strabo, on part of which is
now settled a Muslim village, completelyclose the view and screen off a little group of very old
and curious Coptic churches. The shortest way to
reach them is through the village ;but it is far better
to climb a windmill-hill a little to the left, whence a
bird's-eye view may be had of the Roman fortress
on 'the one side, and of these churches on the other.
The churches lie within two dairs, which will be
seen standing close together in singular isolation,
like a pair of time-worn towers, built in a barren
hollow between high mounds. The nearer is called
Dair Bablun, the other Dair Tadrus;each is girt
by its own belt of lofty wall, built of grey brick,
and covered in places with plaster ;but Bablun
throws out northward a low fence-wall, which forms
an enclosure before the entrance. Tadrus is at
once distinguished by three palm-trees, that lift
their tufts well above the clair. By keeping still
on the high ground, but moving a little southward,
Minor Churches of Old Cairo. 251
and back from the churches, a rocky point may be
reached whence opens a view for range and magni-ficence almost unrivalled in the world. Eastward
the white Mukattam hills spread till they touch the
citadel of Cairo, and seem to vanish away in the
Delta beyond. At their feet stand the ancient tombs
of the Mamelukes, looking very sombre and sad in
contrast with the minarets of the shining city, but har-
Fig. 17. Dair Babliin and Dair Tadrus.
monising with the dark tract of desert that surrounds
them and reaches past Babylon. On the west the land
is divided by a huge sweep of the Nile from above
Bulak and the palaces of Cairo to below Bidrashin
and the palm-forests of Sakkara. The pyramids of
Gizah and the whole group of the Sakkara pyramids
maybe seen together; and nothing can be finer than
the latter, as they rise severed from the river by thick
252 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
masses of palm, and stand high on the horizon, which
seems and is the beginning of infinite unknown soli-
tudes. This side the Nile, bounded by a great arc
of the stream on the one hand, and by yellow cliffs
on the other, lies a broad plain covered with corn
and clover in the greatest richness, and dotted with
shady villages. The nearest of these villages, con-
spicuous for its ring-wall and white dome showingAvithin between palms and acacias, is the CopticDair Mikhail l
enclosing the church of St. Michael.
But to return to Dair Bablun. This little dair,
which is scarcely one hundred yards in circum-
ference, but is girt by a wall 30 ft. high, stands
very near the site of the pre-Roman Babylon, whosename it preserves, though the site was subsequentlycovered by the Roman town that sprang up round
the fortress. The Roman sewer, running along the
edge of the plain near Dair Mikhail, has been
already mentioned as marking the ancient bank of
the river and the extent of the town in a south-
ward direction. The dair is occupied entirely bythe Church of A I 'Adra, which is called in full
'
the
Church of the Virgin by Bablun of the Steps2,'and by
the few monastic cells or dwelling chambers attached
to it. Three or four women live there now, and some-
times are obliging enough to let one enter the door ;
but the key of the church is kept by the priest wholives at Cairo, and comes over only on Saturday
evening and early Sunday morning for service. It
is therefore extremely difficult even to get into the
1 Called in full Jj_Ur d^Il or the Angel Michael.2
.
;jJ\ ^jJbLo : the Copts do not know the origin or meaning
of this title.
CH. v.] Minor Churches of Old Cairo. 253
church, much more to study it. The plan nearly
approaches a square, and it consists of narthex,
nave, and two aisles, haikal and two aisle-chapels,
while above the narthex and aisles are triforia. Theaisles are nearly of the same breadth as the nave,
from which they are divided by an alternate arrange^-
ment of pier and pillar supporting the triforia above.
The choir runs the whole breadth of the church, but
the nave, or men's section, is shut off by screens from
the aisles as well as from the narthex and the choir.
There are no transepts, but the architrave, either
side of the nave, is carried across the choir on a
pillar, and runs into the wall which divides the
haikal from the side-chapels. The south aisle is
probably meant to be reserved for women. The
baptistery lies at the south-west corner of the church
in the narthex ; the font being, as usual, againstthe east wall, which divides the baptistery from the
south aisle. Near the entrance in the narthex a
large basin of stone rests on the ground ; it seems
to have been used anciently as a font, but has nowno purpose. The nave is a step higher than the
narthex, and the choir than the nave : there are
rows of pictures over the choir-screen and the haikal-
screen;the former are quite devoid of merit, and
the latter have no special interest. Of the two
pillars standing in the choir to uphold the archi-
trave one is plain, the other, or northern, is fluted
and twisted. All round the choir are various in-
ferior pictures.
The lectern here is very fine and of unusual
design, being panelled with fine Arab lattice-work.
The standard candlestick too departs from the
common pattern ;and the silver censer, generally
254 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
hanging from its plate, has little bells upon the chains,
as depicted in the painting of St. Stephen at Abu
Sargah and elsewhere. Over the high altar in the
haikal is a canopy painted inside with a figure of
Christ in the attitude of benediction. The sanc-
tuary is walled off on each side from the aisle-
chapels, but a thoroughfare is open to the south
aisle-chapel against the eastern wall. The walls
all round the haikal are decorated with fine mural
paintings : on the north side is the figure of Gabriel
between two panels, each containing the six-winged
seraphim ;on the south is a corresponding device
with Michael in the centre. The eastern wall is
apsidal, and in the niche is a fresco of our Lord
seated, the right hand uplifted in benediction, the
left holding a gospel. By the head of the niche
are also two evangelists, one at each side upon the
wall/ These paintings are all very ancient, and,
though partially damaged, retain enough colour and
spirit to make them singularly interesting.
The altar in the north aisle-chapel is not only
stripped of its vestments as usual, but part of the
plaster coating has fallen away, revealing a mixed
structure of brick and stone. The eastern wall is
faintly curved, containing a central niche and two
aumbries, like the corresponding chapel at Al Mu'al-
lakah. There is here the ordinary litter of sacred
books and ornaments, dismounted eggs, rubbish and
lumber generally ;but nothing noteworthy.
The chapel south of the haikal is curious, and
perhaps has no title to be called a chapel, for it
contains at present no altar. It is, however, diffi-
cult to believe that this little church should furnish
a solitary exception to what seems otherwise a
CH. v.] Minor Churches of Old Cairo. 255
universal custom. Moreover, the likelihood of its
having been designed for a sacristy or a dia-
konikon, as in Greek churches, is disproved by the
fact that a separate little storeroom for sacred vessels
and vestments actually exists on the south side of
this chapel, entered by a door from it, and divided
by a party-wall On the other hand, the choirward
screen is of a kind quite unparalleled in this position ;
for being made of lattice-work, or mushrabiah, it is
of course transparent; and though a chapel screen
may have slide windows to open on occasion, it is
never allowed to be transparent. Another point to
notice is that there are no icons, as there should
be before every chapel, and that the screen is
little more than 5 ft. high. But the truth doubt-
less is that the altar was removed at some distant
time for convenience sake, and the original screen
was then replaced by the present low lattice-
work.
There is nothing specially remarkable that I could
discover in the furniture of this church, except a
small textus-case of silver repousse, which has the
peculiarity of opening at one side, instead of being
closely sealed up for ever, and a small but very
finely chased processional cross of bronze.
Both the north and the south triforium are occu-
pied by a chapel, dedicated respectively to Mari
Girgis or St. George, and Al Malak Mikhail or the
angel Michael, but they contain nothing of interest
beyond an altar-casket in the latter, on one panel
of which is painted the Last Supper. The painting,
however, is of very average merit.
It should be mentioned that the nave of Al 'Adra
is covered in with a wagon-vaulting of stone. For
256 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
the following measurements I am indebted to the
Rev. Greville Chester :
ft. in.
Length from west wall to haikal-screen 38'
6
Length from haikal-screen to centre of
apse . . . . . 14 9Total length . . -533Total breadth, including two aisles . 52 o
Breadth of central apse . . . 14 10
Depth of niche . . . . .20
DAIR TADRUS.
THE little dair lying close to Bablun contains two
dim and ancient churches, remarkable not so muchfor any peculiarity of structure as for the extraor-
dinary number and richness of the vessels or vest-
ments belonging to the service. These churches
are named Abu Kir wa Yuhanna, and Tadrus,the former lying to the right and the latter to the
left of the narrow courtyard into which the door
of the circuit-wall gives entrance. This courtyarddivides the dair into two halves, one of which is
covered by each church together with its own mo-
nastic buildings. Provision seems to have been
made in each case for about twelve residents : and
from the cell-like character of the rooms, it seems
more likely that they were meant to hold a body of
monks, than merely to shelter a tiny colony of refu-
gees rendered houseless by the decay or destruction
of their homesteads. Yet one may imagine, with
fair show of reason, that the three churches were
once part of a larger village or town, that they were
CH. v.] Minor Churches of Old Cairo. 257
in fact built before the ancient Masr was split upand scattered into isolated strongholds, as at present :
and that when the houses in the vicinity were wrecked,a ring-wall was thrown round the churches to defend
them from the results of the consequent exposure.These walls have been plastered and patched againand again, as windows and doors have been renewedor altered : but substantially they are unchangedfrom a very remote antiquity. It requires some
courage to guess at the date of an Arab wall of
brick ; but the period may lie between the tenth
and the twelfth century : and the churches maybelong to the seventh or eighth.
The Church of Abu Ktr^ wa Yuhanna is dedi-
cated to two martyrs, Abu Kir and Yuhanna, or SS.
Cyrus and John of the town of Damanhur in Lower
Egypt. Their festival is on the fourth day of the
month Ablb, i.e. about the 2Oth of June.The doorway leading from the courtyard already
mentioned towards the church is a low narrow
postern with an arched head : it is closed by an
extremely thick and massive wooden door, and is a
rare example of a type once common in ancient
churches. Fortunately however the type is preservedin indestructible material : for the mosque of Zainumal 'Abidln, which lies among the rubbish moundseast of Mari Mlna, and is built upon the site of a
very early Christian church, still contains an ex-
tremely fine doorway and door of black basalt, once
the entrance to the church. One jamb was originally
a separate piece, while the other jamb and the round
1Vulgarly but wrongly pronounced Abu'eer: the j is not
sounded in the base Arabic of the modern Egyptians. The Arabic
is
258 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
arch were formed of a single stone like a J reversed.
A crack now divides them, but the door, still unin-
jured, is a ponderous rectangular slab 8 in. thick
which swings on its own pivots. The massive size
and strength of the stones incline one strongly to
suspect that they may have belonged to some ancient
Egyptian treasury or tomb, before they were used
for a church : in any case the work is extremelyold, and the design was regularly copied for Chris-
tian buildings. It is the common form of entrance
to the monasteries in the Libyan desert now. In
the middle of the door a cavity is cut to receive a
lock which must have exactly resembled the woodenlock in common use among the Arabs to-day, and
such as still remains upon the door at Abu Kir waYuhanna. There the lock consists of a heavy square
beam, the under face of which is cut into largenotches or teeth : when the beam is shot home someof these teeth fall upon and fit into correspondingteeth in a socket in the wall. The key is a small
rod of iron with a loose joint near the middle and a
flange, but no wards. It has no bow : but the swing-
ing handle makes a lever to turn the key : everyturn lifts the beam and frees a single tooth, till the
beam comes out of the socket and the door opens.A short passage leads into a second small court-
yard whence steps ascend to the dwelling chambers,and a door opens at the south-west corner of the
church. The building is quite shapeless, though bya stretch of language a nave and two aisles mayperhaps be distinguished : it contains, however, the
usual haikal and two side-chapels with a continuous
iconostasis, in front of which is a choir : but the little
space remaining westward of the choir-screen is so
CH. v.] Minor Churches of Old Cairo. 259
irregular in shape, the walls run at such odd angles,that no name will cover its usage. Its positionanswers to that of the narthex generally, but pro-
bably in the rare event of women coming here to
worship they would be placed in this section and the
men would stand within the choir. At the farthest
point westward in a gloomy corner is a door openinginto a narrow sacristy, in which are stored some ex-
tremely valuable and interesting ornaments.
The altar in the haikal is dedicated of course to
the patron saints of the church, St. Cyrus and St.
John. The wall-niche contains a distemper paintingof Christ in glory on a gold ground. The north
side-chapel is dedicated to Al 'Adra, and the south
to Mari Girgis. Neither the icons nor any other
of the pictures in this church have any merit or
attraction. Relics of the two martyrs are preserved^in silk brocade cases, in a small shrine named after
them, on the south side of the church.
Before the sanctuary-screen hangs a small bronze
corona, and another larger one reposes disused in
the chapel of Al 'Adra. Near the first one is also
suspended a metal lamp which I take to be a tra-
ditional copy of a Venetian design in glass. It has
a wide flat rim, with a globe below, then descends
with sharply tapering hoops to a point. On the
globe are three heads, or rather bust figures, from
which slender rods are fastened by rings. A single
cross-piece meets and joins the rods above, and from
the centre of this the lamp is suspended by a chain.
The pattern curiously resembles the glass lamps de-
scribed at Al 'Adra, Dair Abu-'s-Sifain, and Al
'Adra in the Roman fortress : and, what is more
curious, the very model of it may be seen in brass
s 2
260 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
or silver at St. Mark's and other churches in Venice.
Besides several altar candlesticks of bronze, brazen
cymbals, and silver thuribles both plain and parcel
gilt, the church also possesses a plain silver chalice
and paten with its asterisk or dome (kubbah) of
silver, and silver spoon, also belonging to the service
of the altar. There are also two fine processionalcrosses of silver with silver sockets, two small hand-
crosses of silver, and two silver fans or flabella,
circular discs, each with two figures of six-winged
seraphim in repouss^ work, a cross above, and a
beautiful design round the border. Here also is that1
marvellous faire booke,' the magnificent textus-case
of silver given in the engraving (vol. ii).It is 15 in.
long, 1 3 in. broad, and 3 in. deep. It is covered all
over with repousse silver : the front and the back
are nearly similar in design, and round the sides is
a conventional pattern. The large plates of silver
overlap the sides, and are rivetted down upon them.
The copy of the gospel is first enclosed in a silken
wrapper : then cased all over with cedar or ebony,which in turn is completely overlaid with plates of
silver. The rivet-heads fastening down the silver form
a graceful border about all the edges, and are taste-
fully scattered besides over the whole design. In-
side the rivet-border runs a narrow band of dotted
work : a like band cuts off a space top and bottom
to enclose a raised inscription in Coptic' The
beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Sonof God.' Farther inward an oblong is marked off
by another dotted band, and the interval is filled by
very beautiful interlacing arabesques with a cross at
the four angles. Touching the dotted band inside
comes a flat band with raised edges set with rivets;
CH. v.] Minor Churches of Old Cairo. 261
and from the enclosed space two vertical lines divide
off a square, leaving side compartments, which are
worked over with fine feathery scrolls. In the midst
of the square stands out a fine large cross with pear-
shaped branches starting from a central boss : andall the remaining surface is richly decked with
flowers closely resembling the Rhodian or the Per-
sian cornflower. The five crosses and the flat border
round the central cross are delicately gilt. Alto-
gether it is a sumptuous and really glorious work of
art one of the finest treasures of all in the Copticchurches. It dates probably from the sixteenth or
late fifteenth century1.
1 The trouble it cost to get the photograph of this gospel-casetaken will not be soon forgotten. A letter from the patriarch was
not easy to get : a photographer was hard to find : and the priest
almost impossible to catch except at impossible times, late Saturday
evening and early Sunday morning. But having with untold exer-
tion brought the priest, the photographer, and the letter face to face
at the church door, only two or three days before my departure
from Cairo, I nearly found all my labour in vain. The priest read
the letter bidding him show me all honour, and allow me to draw
in the church : but said the letter only referred to the walls not to
the vessels or ornaments 1 Logic was lost labour and threats wasted
breath : even bakshish seemed powerless. He seemed really afraid
that the book would be stolen ;and seeing this, I promised, on the
word of an Englishman, not to touch it, and only to require it out-
side the church five minutes, adding,'
I am tired of asking : nowanswer me once for all speech single and speech straightforward
will you bring out the book or will you not?' In a moment he
relented, locked the dair door, and laid the book on the bench.
I was in alarm lest he should snatch it away before the photo-
grapher could finish;but a magic change had passed on his mood
;
and he afterwards very kindly allowed the stole and the sleeves to be
photographed also. All were unfortunately so badly taken, that only
the exceptional skill of the friends who copied them for me could
have produced anything like the beautiful drawings given in vol. ii.
262 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
Scarcely inferior in interest to the textus-case are
the splendid ancient vestments belonging to this
little church. Besides some finely embroidered stoles
and dalmatics, now sadly worn and tattered with ageand neglect, there is a very fine patrashil, with a pair
of armlets to match, and a girdle with silver clasps.
The patrashil, answering to the Greek tTnTpayr\\iov,
is about 6 ft. long and 8 in. wide : the upper partis pierced with a hole for the head. It is made of
crimson silk-velvet, most richly embroidered with
figures and designs in thick thread of silver. Onthe top under a double line is a dedicatory inscrip-
tion in Arabic, enclosing two crosses : a double border
runs all down the front on each side worked with
a pretty olive or other leaf-pattern : two twisted
lines also run down the centre, and the whole spaceis divided into twelve little compartments each con-
taining the figure of an apostle, with his name in a
little band of Arabic writing above his head. Each
figure is clothed in a kind of hooded cope, bears his
hands crossed upon the breast, the right hand clasp-
ing a cross : the dalmatic under the cope shows three
crosses between diagonal lines. The embroidery of
these figures is so closely wrought that they look as
if made of solid metal without its stiffness. Thesame is true of the Arabic writing and the borders,
which like the figures are finely gilt. The whole is
so massive with weight of inworked silver, that it
must be as uncomfortable to wear as it is beautiful
to look upon. The patrashil is merely the ordinary
stole, as it hung in front over both shoulders, brought
together under the chin, and sewn down the whole
length : and the absence of any border at the bottom
may be a reminiscence of this origin.
CH. v.] Minor Churches of Old Cairo. 263
The armlets are also of crimson silk-velvet, lined
with silk, and richly adorned with silver embroidery.
They reach as far as the elbow, where they widen
slightly as compared with the wrist, and correspondto the Greek eiripaviKia. Round each wrist is a
double band filled with a sort of crossbar design : the
space between the two bands is covered with Arabic
writing. Then comes the main part of the sleeve,
which is worked all over with beautiful arabesquesand stars enclosing floriated crosses, in the midst of
which, on the right sleeve, is a figure of the Virgin
Mary holding the child Christ, and on the other the
angel Michael holding sword and balance : both these
figures are done in fine needle-work embroidery of
choice colours. Next a wide band between two
lines is filled with alternate crosses and stars, both
very intricately worked : this is followed by another
band of Arabic writing, and finally the elbow-open-
ing is trimmed with a border like those about the
wrist. Lengthwise also, from wrist to elbow, there
runs a narrow band, crossing all the others. All the
devices on these armlets, and the nimbs on the
figures, are wrought in thread of silver.
The girdle is made of the same stuff as the patra-
shil and armlets, but is quite plain, without any
embroidery or other embellishment. The clasps
however are of massive silver : when closed theyshow as a single plate of curved metal 7 in. long and
2 in. broad, the angles rounded and the ends slightly
pointed. The joint is covered by a large gilt shield-
like boss, decked with smaller bosses in rings, and
divided by lines of raised dotwork. At either side
is another large boss worked over with enamel and
set with an enamelled outline of wavy form : and all
264 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
along the edges of the clasp there runs a border of
the same dark-coloured enamel.
These are all the treasures that the writer saw in
the church : but there may be others to discover.
On all alike the dedicatory inscription is the same;
it runs thus :
A perpetual comely gift to the houses of the glorious
martyrs Abu Kir and Yuhanna between the hills.
Reward, O Lord, him that hath taken these pains.Some of the engraving is very rude, and clearly
done by an illiterate person, who writes for instance
vjy^<o for cy*>o. The expression' between the hills
'
((^/UXM O-A-?) is a curious variation from the fixed
formula. There can be no doubt however' that it is
the ancient title and description of the church, and
denoted its position in the remotest times as accu-
rately as it does to-day. The hills therefore are not
mere rubbish-mounds of mediaeval date, as they
might seem to be, but are part and parcel of the
high ground occupied by the Babylonian fortress
and by the Roman camp, as seen and recorded byStrabo.
The solitude of the two churches in Dair Tadrus
is worse than that of Al 'Adra in Dair Bablun : for
while the priests of all three churches live at a dis-
tance, and come only for evensong on Saturday and
matins on Sunday, in Dair Tadrus there is not a
single inhabitant not even a woman as at Bablun
but only a forlorn and friendless cat, locked within
the monastery walls for six days, and left foodless till
the seventh.
The Church of Prince Tadrus the Oriental^ is
CH. v.] Minor Churches of Old Cairo. 265
consecrated to a martyr of that name, and '
prince/as he is called in the dedicatory inscriptions. His
legend will be found in its place. Tadrus, or Tadrus,is the Arabic form of Theodorus.
This church has the usual three chapels at the
east end, each with its own niche : in the northern
side-chapel is also an aumbry, where lay an ancient
marble capital of Roman form, and a plain bronze
censer. Before the niche in the haikal there hangsa very beautiful little lamp of silver. The body of
the church consists of nave and two aisles, the aisles
being divided off on each side by two piers, between
which stand close together a pair of slender columns.
North of the choir is a shallow recess or shrine
fenced off by lattice-work, and adorned with pictures
of no merit. In the south aisle is a cupboard or
bookcase containing a great quantity of books, a few
of which are both ancient and in fine condition. Theroof of the building is irregular, but comprises four
domes, one of which over the centre of the church
shows four crosses in relief upon the plaster, which
possibly may be consecration crosses, though theyare quite out of reach.
But like Abu Kir wa Yuhanna, the church of
Amir Tadrus is more remarkable for the numberand beauty of its ancient ornaments, than for any-
thing strange or striking in its architecture. Besides
the bronze censer mentioned above, and the little
lamp of pierced silver-work hanging by chains of
silver before the haikal niche, in the haikal may (or
might) be seen two very fine censers of solid silver,
engraved with scroll-work, and hung by silver chains
with little bells upon them : a silver cross : two plain
white shamlahs, i6ft. 9 in. long and i ft. 3 in. broad,
266 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
of linen, embroidered near the ends with two largecrosses in red and yellow needlework with the sacred
letters between the four branches, a above, and co
below it. The centre of one cross is 2 ft. 6 in. from
the end, and of the other 3 ft. 4 in., and a thin stripe
of red is drawn across each end of the shamlah
nearly 4 in. from the hem. Here also are two dal-
matics, embroidered in front with a figure of the
Virgin and Child throned, and two flying angels
holding her crown : on either side the throne a blue
cross outlined in black, and underneath it a figure of
the Amir Tadrus on horseback slaying a dragon :
below in a wide curve runs an inscription in red, and
a date 1217 Coptic, or 1501 A.D. Round each sleeve
is a yellow border edged with black, and decked with
an olive-branch pattern : above the border is a row
of three crosses, and above that a star between two
crosses all in various colours : and above the star
is the figure of an angel holding a Latin cross.
In the middle of the back is a yellow cross edgedwith black. All this work is embroidered in fine
silk.
In the south aisle-chapel are an ancient patrashil
and pair of sleeves to match : they are of yellow-brown colour richly brocaded, but not worked with
silver. There lie on the altar two fine large gospel-
cases, one of silver covered with repousse ornament
of crosses, flowers, scrolls, Coptic and Arabic writing :
the other made of plain copper is altogether of ruder
workmanship, but bears some figures of angels, and
a title in the two languages. When used at baptismthe silver gospel is set upright upon the gospel-board a wooden frame that closes by hinges in the
middle : round the edge of the frame are prickets
CH. v.] Minor Churches of Old Cairo. 267
for candles. Four fans or flabella of fine silver with
wooden handles, half cased in silver, are among the
best treasures of this church : they resemble those
of Abu Kir wa Yuhanna mentioned above, but their
original use seems forgotten, and now they are em-
ployed merely to decorate the gospel-board. Thewooden handles are hollowed to receive a pricket, so
that the four fans stand upright round the gospel at
solemn service : sometimes tapers are even fastened
on to the fans at top, by forcible compressment of
the wax upon the silver !
In the niche of this chapel was a fine fifteenth or
sixteenth century picture divided into four panelsthe Virgin, St. Peter, and two equestrians identical
in form and treatment with a painting to be seen in
one of the cells opening out of the eight-pillared
room of the Roman round tower, and belonging to
the Greek convent.
But the treasury of Tadrus, where the great rnass
of precious things is stored, is a low dark room en-
tered from the south-west corner of the church : and
though it is by no means rich enough to comparewith the treasuries of Priam or Atreus, or like the
treasury of St. Mark's at Venice to tempt a second
Stammato, yet the nature of the scene, if not the
value of the possessions in ward, gives a visit here
a sharper flavour of oriental romance even than life
in 'grand Alcairo' ordinarily furnishes. The strangesite of the lonely convent in its desert valley, the
high walls and dim passage, the massive doors that
close with ponderous locks and bolts behind one, the
silence and gloom of the ancient church, would
quicken the dullest imagination : and visions of
hoarded wealth come thick, when one is led by the
268 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
venerable grey-bearded priest to the secret chamber,where by the scanty taper-light that flickers about the
walls one sees a bronze corona or two, some ostrich-
eggs and many old lamps scattered about, and close
together two deep and roomy coffers. One of these
contains nothing but ancient books of ritual, chiefly
torn to pieces or eaten through and through byworms : a pair or two of cymbals and a score of
tapers are flung in with them. But from the next
coffer, when the lid is lifted, comes a great flash of
silver. Here are half-a-dozen beautiful hanging
lamps of silver in a peculiar kind of pierced work :
the shapes as well as the sizes vary a little but are
very graceful, and the piercing gives a pleasing
lightness and delicacy to the design. There is also
a plain silver chalice, silver paten and dome : several
silver spoons and small silver crosses : three or four
silver censers and several silver-gilt diadems, one of
which is figured in the engraving (vol. ii). These
diadems are used at the marriage service. I have
never seen them at any other church, though Mr.
Chester mentions two at the church of Anba Shanu-
dah. The raised Arabic inscription upon them
means in English'
Glory to God in the highest and
on earth peace:' there is nothing said about 'menof good pleasure.' The words incised at either end
are merely the usual '
Reward, O Lord,' of dedication.
Besides these silver ornaments there was a fine
chalice of plain white Venetian glass, with gilt deco-
rations;some old Coptic and Arabic books in a
fair state but devoid of illuminations;and one or
two silver-embroidered corporals, and some brazen
cymbals.The priest of this church rides over on his donkey
CH. v.] Minor Churches of Old Cairo. 269
from Dair Abu-'s-Sifain on Saturday evening : he
passes the night in the church not in a devout vigil,
but sleeping wrapped in his rug on the floor under
the central dome.
The Church of St. Michael has been mentioned as
lying in the rich plain that touches southward the
Old Cairo desert. The dair is not half-a-mile from
Dair Tadrus, but is scarcely worth a visit except for
the beauty of its situation. The present church is
quite modern, though the foundation apparently is
ancient enough. But neither in the structure nor
in the furniture of the church is there much worth
special notice. The one unusual feature it possessesis a Jesse-tree, painted in distemper on the flat inside
of the chancel-arch above the iconostasis. The workhowever is new, and in idea seems more Greek than
Coptic. Against the western wall, in a kind of shrine
covered with a wire grating, rests a large paintingof the angel Michael, which is held in high venera-
tion by all the Copts of Cairo. Great belief is placedin his powers of intercession, and his influence is
thought specially potent in controlling the rise of
the Nile : so that many prayers and vows are offered
up to him, and his shrine is adorned or disfiguredwith gold-embroidered kerchiefs, silk bands, and
various cloths and clouts of humbler stuff, that are
tied on the bars by pious pilgrims in deprecation of
wrath threatened or in remembrance of prayers
granted. Outside the church two small bells are
hung one at an open window half way up the wall,
the other in a sort of lantern above.
The last of the minor churches called Al'Adrabil 'Adawtah at Tura, like that of St. Michael, is un-
interesting, because it has been entirely rebuilt. It
270 Ancient Coptic Churches.
lies three miles south of the latter across the plain
in a little dair perched upon the bank of the river.
Everything in it is modern, down to the curious but
ugly little textus-case of silver embossed with cherub-
heads and a figure of the Virgin and Child. Yet the
lintel of the outer door is formed by a slab carved
with hieroglyphics. But even though wanting in
antiquarian interest this church is well worth a visit :
the ride along the river-bank is extremely picturesque,as well as the situation of the dair. And there is
always the hope and chance of finding some ancient
treasure that has passed unnoticed before, or that
has been lost or forgotten by the Copts themselves,but rediscovered and brought again into usage.
CHAPTER VI.
The Churches in Cairo.
The Churches in the H&rat-az-Zuailah. The Churches in the
Hdrat-ar-Rum.The Chapel of St. Stephen.
OT very far from the Rond-point of the
Muski in Cairo is an ancient Christian
dair, a block of buildings containing the
churches of Al Adra with the adjoining
chapel of Abu-'s-Sifain, and, above, the church of
Mari Girgis, besides a small nunnery of some
eighteen nuns with their lady superior. It is
curious that the churches in the heart of Cairo
should alone have retained their monastic uses,
though the buildings were meant, no doubt, for
monks and not for nuns while from the more re-
mote and solitary churches of Old Cairo the friars
or brethren have completely vanished.
The upper church in the Harat-az-Zuailah, dedi-
cated to St. George, is very small, and though fairly
old it possesses no special points of interest. It is
a squarish, characterless building with three domed
chapels, choir, men's section, and women's section ;
the aisles are divided from the nave by classical
columns, and in the middle of the eastern division
a space is railed off and set with benches, to serve
as a sort of porch to the church. There priests and
272 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vi.
guests sit chatting and smoking, regardless of the
fact that the fumes wander through and over the
screens into the sacred building. There are lampsof silver and glass hanging before the haikal, but
no ornaments of great value;the chief interest of
the church seems to lie in the reputed healing powerof its relics. I have seen women sitting crossleggedabout the floor on the old oriental carpet, with which
it is strewn, gossiping together and taking it byturns to nurse the little silk-covered bolster of relics
with simple faith in its miraculous virtues. Outside
the church there is also a shrine of the Virgin, a
chamber about 20 ft. by 12, one end of which is
screened off. It may have contained an altar in
former times, but no traces of one remain. Within
the screen a shelf some 7 ft, from the ground runs
round the walls;on it are ranged many paintings
of saints and martyrs, and in the midst a little shrine
opens with latticed doors, revealing a picture of the
Virgin Mary. Candles are lit before the picture on
the days of solemn service for the sick, when the
priests stand in the doorway of the screen, readingor chaunting to the wild music of bells and cymbals.In the church, too, may be seen at times the cere-
mony of laying-on of hands upon sick people, i. e.
such as are able to come to the church. This takes
place on Sunday morning, after the celebration of
the eucharist.
It is more difficult perhaps, but far better worth
while, to pay a visit to the lower church, called
The Church of A I 'Adra.
This is without question the earliest church in
the city of Cairo;and it differs from the church
CH. VI.] Churches in Cairo. 273
above and those in the Harat-ar-Rum in its basi-
lican structure. In many points it reminds one of
Al Mu'allakah ; in others it is peculiar. It lies
about 14 ft. below the present average level of
the neighbourhood proof enough of its great an-
tiquity. Its length is about 60 ft.
The entrance is curiously placed at the eastern
end. This is not likely to have been the original
tHAPEL OFABU-S-SIPAIN
HOUSE
A. J. B.
Fig. 18. Plan of Al 'Adra.
arrangement ;but the growth of the soil at the
west end doubtless choked up the doors there manygenerations ago. There are signs of a later entrance
in the middle of the south aisle, though this also
has been blocked up. Round the body of the church
choir and nave together there are twelve ancient
columns, six on each side. Nine more columns stand
in the narthex, which is divided into four small sec-
tions by screens. There are ten other columns in
the aisles, placed, for the most part, in rather a
VOL. I.
274 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vi.
random fashion, and four against the choir-screen.
The nave contains a women's section as well as
one for men, and the choir opens out at either side,
embracing the width of the aisles. There is no
transept, however, for the painted architrave, which
rests upon the nave pillars, is carried across the
choir, and runs into the wall dividing the haikal
from the side-chapels. The triforia therefore extend
over the choir, which in common with the nave is
covered with a wooden wagon-vaulted roof. Thesouth aisle is very narrow; northward are two,
aisles, the outer one of which is barely 3 ft. wide in
the western half of the church, but about midwayopens out, and at the eastern end becomes wide'
enough to terminate in a chapel of ordinary dimen-
sions. It is possible that there may have been a
corresponding outer aisle on the south side also;
for on the south side of the haikal, though only one
aisle-chapel remains, the choir is wide enough for
two, and the present entrance has clearly been cut
through a second chapel from which the altar has
been removed; but, as only half the area of the
chapel was required for the passage, the remaininghalf has been railed off and made into a shrine.
The church, then, originally had four chapels, besides
the haikal, three of which are still uninjured. The
capitals of the pillars are chiefly debased Corinthian ;
two of Byzantine form have crosses sculptured amongthe foliage ;
there are besides one Doric and three
Saracenic capitals. The choir-screen runs into a pier
of masonry on either side, and is continued northward
into a third pier. The doorway of the choir stands
between two pairs of octagonal Saracenic columns,
each of which has two well-cut consecration crosses,
CH. vi.] Churches in Cairo. 275
one eastward and one westward. They resemble
roughly the crosses at Abu Sargah, but are larger,
measuring 6J in. by 3^. Beyond these four there
seem to be no other dedication crosses ;and the
fact that they occur on Saracenic pillars is interest-
ing, as possibly determining a date for the recon-
secration of the church in the tenth century, whenCairo was founded. The pillars with crosses in
relief among the foliage point clearly to a muchearlier date for the main edifice, which cannot be
later than the sixth or seventh century.
The pulpit in the nave is an imitation of an older
one, the marble mosaics being imitated in paintedwoodwork. It remains without staircase other than a
moveable ladder. There is a little shrine railed in
between two columns in the north outer aisle ;and
another rather larger in a recess 6 ft. by 4 off the
south aisle. In the latter, called the Shrine of the
Virgin, the pictures are fenced by a wire grating
hung with shreds, in remembrance of prayers or
vows, as at Dair Mikhail. The principal painting
represents Mary with the Child in the branches of
a Jesse-tree, which is surrounded by a number of
saints, each in a separate little panel. The face,
unfortunately, is burnt by candles that have been
carelessly held before it; still the painting is interest-
ing from its style and treatment, as well as from its
antiquity. A lamp hangs in front of it burning
perpetually.The pictures on the iconostasis are also ancient,
but much decayed ;above them towers conspicuously
a large cross or rood the only instance I have seen
of a true rood on the haikal-screen of a Coptic church
in Cairo. At either side of the foot of the cross an
T 2
276 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vi.
eagle is carved in conflict with a strange human-headed dragon ;
on the curved neck of each eaglea panel is supported, painted with the usual figures
of Mary and John. The work has a very modern
look, but the priests declare it to be ancient;
it may,therefore, be a copy or restoration of a rood coeval
with the church. On the frames, or rather mount-
ings, of three pictures in the choir is some fair carvingof roses, crosses, and small curious birds.
The haikal-screen projects, like those at Al Mu'al-
lakah and Abu Sargah, into the choir about three
feet beyond the line of the chapel-screens, and has
two side-doors as well as the central door. Thescreen is old, inlaid in uncarved ivory with the
design repeated of a star in a double ring divided
by mouldings. The design on the screen of the
south aisle-chapel is a unique kind of cross-in-square
pattern. Over the haikal is a lofty dome rising
above the wagon-vaulting of the nave, and orna-
mented with gated pendentives, i.e. pendentives
retaining a delicate 'gate' or pierced panel of stone
before the hollows. On three sides of the dome are
coloured windows of Byzantine form two round-
arched lights with circular light over the mullion
between them.
The haikal apse is remarkable for a very fine and
clear-cut tribune rising in six marble steps, of which
the lower three are straight, the upper three curved
parallel to the wall, which is covered with mosaic of
coloured marble in large panels. The patriarch's
throne and the niche are in the centre;above the
niche is a good design of old Damascus tilework. Therest of the haikal wall, north and south, is covered
with inferior tiles of the eighteenth or nineteenth
CH. vi.] Churches in Cairo. 277
century. Into the north wall there is inlet a curious
tablet, or rather fragment of white stone, which
shows a border of dolphins enclosing three sets of
figures between strapwork a pair of human-headed
harpies, a centaur, and two human forms. The last
are broken across, and it is not clear what they were
meant for. The work is early Byzantine ;whatever
place the slab was destined for, it has been removedfrom its original position, and is set topsy-turvy in
the wall.
A door in the north-west corner of Al Adra opensinto the adjoining chapel, or rather
Church of Abu-s-Sifain the Lesser,
which contains a pulpit of rosewood, carved in panels
showing sunflowers, with starlike ivory centres,
springing from vases. Here too may be seen in
actual usage a moveable ladder for mounting the
pulpit, such as must have been employed at Mari
Mina, Abu Sargah, and elsewhere. Neither the
haikal nor the side-chapels are in any way remark-
able, though in the former may be seen someseventeenth century yellow tiles, and a Small square
altar-frontal, finely embroidered with a figure of the
Virgin and various crosses. But if the church be
visited in Lent, the curious wooden winepress be-
longing to Abu-'s-Sifain the Greater in Old Cairo
may here be seen in working ;for it is brought
here every year, and wine for all the churches is
made within this building. .
One may note that the arrangement of this outer
chapel singularly resembles that of the chapel of SS.
Servulus and Justus, adjoining the basilica of Trieste,
except that here it opens out from the north-west
278 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vi.
instead of the south-east corner of the main building.
The plan of the Trieste basilica is given in Lenoir's'
Architecture Monastique,' and may be comparedwith that in the text.
The Churches in the Harat-ar-Rum of
Cairo.
In the Harat-ar-Rum or Greek quarter of Cairo
city is a Coptic dair called Dair Tadrus, containinga nunnery in which twelve nuns reside, and the two
churches ofAl'
Adra, or the Virgin, and Mari Girgis,
or St. George. They are best reached by the narrow
lane branching off from the Sukkariah at the Sibil of
Muhammad 'Ali. The old gate of the quarter maybe seen in its place, though the soil which has risen
about it now prevents it from closing. The churches
are near the end of the lane;from which there are two
entrances, one by a passage through the ancient pa-
triarchal residence, where the flat stone roofing near
the doorway is adorned with fine Arab tracery ;the
other from a little by-lane farther on. Some steps
have in either case to be descended, and some dark
places to be traversed before
7 he Church ofA I 'Adra
is reached. The first thing at once that strikes one
is the roof, which consists of twelve domes one over
each of the three eastern chapels, and nine over the
rest of the church in all four rows of three domeseach. Six piers, of which two are within the haikal-
screen, uphold the domes, and are connected by
CH. vi.] Churches in Cairo. 279
round arches. The plainness of the architecture
is unredeemed by any ornament, even the commonArab pendentives being absent from all the domes
except that above the haikal. The haikal dome is
pierced with a small stained window, and the others
have a few small round holes glazed. These with a
small grating or two give the only entrance to day-
light. The same union of temple and fortress strikes
one here as in the churches of Old Cairo : the samenecessities of defence have shaped the shell of the
building. The church is very small perhaps 50 ft.
by 40 but the division of nave and aisles is plain
enough. A sort of narthex too, exists, and over it
a screened gallery for women. The choir is not
marked off from the nave a most unusual omission
though its position is denoted by two plain lecterns
standing on a Persian carpet. In the nave, on a
beam crossing between two piers, is a large rood,
a cruciform picture of the crucifixion : on the cross,
Christ is hanging dead ; at the foot is a skull and
bones, below which the entombment is figured. Thebranches have trefoil ends, each containing an angel.Near the foot of the cross on each side, carved in
wood, an eagle is strangling a serpent ;each eagle
bears on its head a tablet painted with the figure of
an angel. The work possesses no merit.
The under-part of the altar-canopy is embellished
with a painting, resembling that at Abu-'s-Sifain : and
though the haikal-screen is rather plain and modern-
looking, the doorway is finer;a row of seven silver
lamps hanging before the screen shed their lustre
upon it, and a single lamp hangs before each of the
side-chapels. The choir is slightly lengthened out
at each end, forming in each case a shrine adorned
280 Ancient Coptic Chttrches. [CH. vi.
with pictures. That to the south contains paint-
ings of
1 . Takla Himanut al Habishi, an Abyssinian saint,
as the title denotes. He is an aged man robed as
patriarch, and bearing in his left hand the Coptic
patriarchal staff : in his other hand he carries a cross
and a rosary.
2. St. Marina trampling upon Satan.
3. A fine tablet 3 ft. by 2 ft. 6 in. painted in nine
panels the Virgin and Child in the centre, and sacred
scenes all around. This seems an unusually skilful
piece of work, both for the modelling of the figures
and the management of the colours, but it lies in so
deep shadow, not to say darkness, that judgment is
difficult. The Virgin is holding Christ on her right
arm,, and lowering her face to meet his, which is up-raised. The tablet is set in a niche : it is ill preserved.
4. An angel on a gold ground, and with it
5. A triptych, with a pair of angels in the centre
panel, between two single angels at the sides. All
are rudely-drawn full-face figures on a gold ground.Most if not all the other paintings are recent and
artistically worthless. One treating of the Annun-
ciation is curious perhaps for its arrangement : the
angel holding a lily is advancing from the sinister
instead of the dexter side, and in common with Marywears a very hurried, frightened look.
The baptistery, some 24ft. long by 12 wide,
opening out of the church by a door at the north-
west corner, has a flat roof of palm-thatch upheld bytwo pairs of slender columns. Upon the font, which
is screened off at the eastern end, lies an old iron
cross, a bronze cross, and a book of service. The
gospel-board is of good design.
CH. vi.] Churches in Cairo. 281
The church itself possesses a gospel finely cased in
silver, embossed with flowers and letters, and a goodsilver cross for benediction.
The Church of Mart Girgis, with a small nun-
nery adjoining, in the Harat-ar-Rum, is built one
story above the ground, close to but not directly
over Al Adra, which in size and general structure it
greatly resembles. The twelve-domed roofing is the
same, and the piers supporting the domes are joined
together by round arches. The west end or narthex
is raised about 4ft. above the level of the nave and
aisles : it serves at once for a baptistery, and for the
women's section at the ordinary services. The font
is railed off at the north end, and the whole screened
by lattice-work from the body of the church.
Next comes the men's section, divided by an open
5 ft. railing from the choir : it contains a plain pulpit.
In the choir are two lecterns, a standard candlestick
of bronze, and a three-branched iron candlestick like
that at Abu-'s-Sifain and Kadisah Burbarah. Before
the haikal hang two silver lamps, several glass lamps,and some ostrich-eggs. Each of the three chapelshas its own screen inlaid with plain ivory or bone in
different designs. There is nothing remarkable in
either of the side chapels, though the niche of the
haikal contains a fine gold-ground painting of Christ
in glory, crowned. North of the north aisle chapellies a sacristy, which I was unable to enter.
The church is not rich in pictures : scarcely anyare worth notice save one of Anba Shanudah in pa-triarchal robes ; and one of Sitt Dimianah, who is
reclining on a divan, and is girt round with fortydim little figures. But the church derives peculiar
sanctity from the possession of the relics of the great
282 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH.VI.
and famous prince and martyr Tadrus. These relics
are treasured in the shrine of Tadrus, which opens
by a pretty door in a large panel of fine Arab lattice-
work set flush in the south wall of the choir. Theshrine is a little vaulted chamber, a recess 3^ ft. deep,and 6 ft. wide. Fronting the door an arched niche
of elaborate woodwork with seven little pillars on
each side encloses a picture of Tadrus a mountedcavalier encountering a dolphin-headed dragon and
rescuing a youth whom the dragon was about
devouring : on an eminence in the backgroundstands a fair maiden lifting her hands in encour-
agement of the hero. The horse of course is a
ridiculous-looking animal, but the Arab trappings,
saddlecloth, stirrups, and the rest, as well as the
drapery of the figure, are well rendered and well
coloured. There is also something very pleasing in
the frank open smile, the confident, determined face
of Tadrus : the woman's face too is singularly sweet.
Before the picture a lamp or candle is generally burn-
ing, and the silk-covered case of relics reposes in the
niche. This shrine is held in the greatest veneration,
not only by the Copts but by the Muslims also, and
the virtues of the relics in casting out devils were
publicly and solemnly put to the proof on Wednesdayin every week, when Coptic and Muslim womenresorted in great numbers. Strange stories are told
of the cures wrought upon believers of both nations;
stranger still of scandals and immoralities to which
the ceremony gave occasion: till in the year 1873the practice was abolished by the then patri-
arch 1
. But those possessed with evil spirits can still
] See Murray's Egypt, sixth edition, vol. i. p. 189.
CH. vi.] Churches in Cairo. 283
proceed to the church of Lady Dimianah between
the rivers Balkas and Nabru, in the north of the
Delta. There, once a year, a great festival is held in
the church, and while the possessed are being exor-
cised, a shadow-play of departing devils exhibited on
the interior of a large dome confirms the belief of
the superstitious : and the contrivances by which it is
produced are so cunningly hidden as to completely
puzzle those who have no faith in miracle-working.Even the priests of Mari Girgis seem scarcely to
have abandoned their powers or their claims. Onone of my visits to the church, when I wished to
enter the haikal, I was not allowed to pass the thresh-
hold until the priest had given me a solemn censing,and signed my forehead with the sign of the cross.
So the evil spirits were exorcised.
HISTORICAL NOTES ON THE CHURCHES IN CAIRO.
Though very little is known about the history of
the church in Harat-az-Zuailah or Harat-ar-Rum,
yet there is enough direct mention to establish their
claim to a great antiquity. The former is a patri-
archal church, the latter episcopal. Soon after 1 100
A.D. the bishop of Masr who succeeded Sanutius was
proclaimed in the Harat-az-Zuailah, though elected
and ordained at Abu Sargah1
. With this church,
too, the notorious Cyril, LXXV patriarch, was closely
associated. It was here that a council of bishopsmet to protest against his barefaced simony and ex-
tortion about 1 250 A. D., and Cyril resided in the
1
Renaudot, Hist. Pat. Alex., p. 492.
284 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vi.
monastic building between his first and second im-
prisonments1
,when probably he devised his canons.
The usurpation of the episcopal church of Al
'Adra in the Harat-ar-Rum by Christodulus, c.
1050 A.D., has been mentioned in another context,
where it was shewn how Michael forty years later
violated his solemn vow to restore the church
to its bishop : but beyond these meagre allusions
history seems silent.
THE CHAPEL OF ST. STEPHEN BY THE
CATHEDRAL.
The Coptic cathedral, built in the present century,is so ugly and void of interest that it is not worth a
visit, except to those who care to see how the Coptsof to-day depart from their own traditions and adoptforms and practices of the Greek Church. It
contains, however, a superb ancient lectern most
richly inlaid with crosses and other designs of chased
ivory. This lectern once belonged to Al Mu'al-
lakah. But adjoining the cathedral is the mucholder chapel of St. Stephen, with choir and haikal,
and a baptistery lying to the north. On the south
side of the haikal a raised platform of plain stone-
work is said to cover the remains of a patriarch.
Before the haikal door hung recently a curtain most
beautifully embroidered, with a figure of the Virginand Child and of two angels set in separate panels.
The work was very old;and therefore, although it
was well preserved, it has been removed and re-
placed by a new curtain of green silk with a red
1
Renaudot, Hist. Pat. Alex., p. 582.
CH. vi.] Churches in Cairo. 285
cross sewn upon it. The old embroidery, as a Copttold me, will probably be used to make a pinaforefor a child: at present it is merely flung aside in
a corner. The usual altar vessels paten, chalice,
and dome of silver, wooden altar-casket, and corpo-rals may be seen here more easily than at some of
the larger churches, both because the chapel is more
accessible, and because the vessels are less jealouslyhidden from travellers. One of the corporals is re-
markable in being fitted with little bells one at each
corner and one in the centre : it is of red silk, havinga square of green silk in the midst embroidered with
a cross. The baptistery has a place as usual railed
off for women : the font lies eastwards, and in a
niche just above it stands a very beautiful little
painting of Christ's baptism. Above the four prin-
cipal figures our Lord, St. John, and two angelsthe dove is descending in a golden circle, round
which is an outer circle of cherub-heads : from the
inner circle a widening beam of golden light is falling
upon the head of Christ. The ground of the pictureis of very singular tone a pale faded green colour,
extremely pleasing. The deep golden aureoles of
the four figures are set with real jewels rubies and
emeralds.
CHAPTER VII.
The Monasteries of the Natrun Valley
in the Libyan Desert.
Dair Abu Makdr. Dair Anba Bishoi. Dair-as-Sfiridni.
Dair al Baramtis.
'LL the ancient churches of the two Cairos
have now been passed in review;and if
I have lingered too long among them,it is because they are almost daily losing
something from wilful destruction or de-
structive renovation. Moreover, even where the
churches are spared, they are fast falling out of
harmony with their surroundings ; as in place of the
old Arab houses and gardens vast and unsightlycubes of modern buildings are arising. Hence everydetail seems worth recording, in the fear that soon it
may have no other record left. The same is true in
a far less degree of the monasteries in the Natrun
valley, to which we are now coming. There at
least are no new houses building : but the monas-
teries seem to stand in eternal harmony with the
eternal solitudes around them. Yet fourteen cen-
turies cannot have passed over these ancient abodes
with quite so light a touch as over their changelesssands. Here and there the ruins of shattered con-
vents lie about the desert, marking sites of which the
very name is long forgotten : the churches within
Desert Monasteries. 287
the convents bear the marks of various styles, and
date from different epochs : most of them have longbeen under the shadow of decay, and lately one has
suffered severely under sentence of restoration. Butthe traditions of the place remain unbroken, andfadeless as the scene that enshrines them. The life
too, in its outer guise at least, is scarcely altered since
the dawn of monasticism; though the high ideals of
the early recluses are long since levelled with the
dust, though their heroic enthusiasms have sunk
down to a dull stagnation, though the lamp of their
knowledge is extinguished, and the pulse of their
devotion is still.
The monasteries lie to the north-west of Cairo,
three days' journey in the Libyan desert. Of the
fifty mentioned by Gibbon only four now remain in-
habited : most of the others have vanished and left
no vestige behind 1. Vansleb 2 mentions seven as
having formerly existed, namely Macarius, John the
Little, Anba Bishoi, Timothy, Anba Musa, AnbaKaima, and Suriani, of which, he adds, only Bishoi
and Suriani now survive : an obvious error, for
besides Macarius there is still left one other called
Al Baramus, which lies nearest to the Natrun lakes.
The locality is variously termed the desert of Scete,
desert of Schiet, desert of Nitria, and Wadi Natrun
or Natrun valley : it seems however that the nameScete applies more properly to the southerly part of
1 Gibbon probably derived his information from Rufinus, who
speaks of fifty'
tabernacula,' adding that some of these had manytenants, others but few, while some held solitary recluses. It is
clear therefore that single cells or caves were included in the term.
See Rosweyde, Vitae Patrum, p. 364.*
Voyage fait en Egypte, p. 227.
288 Ancient Coptic Chiirches. [CH. vn.
the valley, and Nitria to the northerly part. ThusDair Abu Makar is spoken of as being in the desert
of Scete, while the region about Al Baramus takes
its name from the ancient town of Nitria, which dated
at least from Roman times. The salt lakes in the
valley furnish abundance of nitre, whence their name :
the nitre has been worked for full two thousand
years: and a small colony of fellahin at the present
day is settled on the western borders of the lakes to
collect both nitre and salt for the Egyptian govern-ment 1
. There is reason to think that from Romanto mediaeval times glass-works existed almost con-
tinuously at Nitria. Such at least is the tradition,
which is confirmed both by the evidence of travellers 2,
and by the fragments discovered on the site of the
town. And even within the last generation the
monasteries were rich in those famous but nowalmost fabulous enamelled glass lamps of Arab
workmanship. In Coptic the town was known as
$.m^oceJUL, and the district as TIJULGJU. ni^ocejw..The monasteries of the eastern desert by the Red
Sea coast, which are called after the first anchorites
St. Anthony and St. Paul, are said to have been
founded by those worthies, and therefore to be
anterior in date to the convents of the Wadi Na-
trun. But this statement, if pressed, can mean no
1 The best account of this settlement is to be found in Sir
Gardner Wilkinson's 'Modern Egypt and Thebes' (London, 1843).
The author mentions also the Coptic monasteries, but on these his
remarks are singularly slight and barren. He scarcely notices one
single detail of architecture or ritual. See vol. i. pp. 382-398.2 Thus Le Sieur Granger, who travelled in Egypt in 1730,
mentions '
trois verreries abandonees '
between the lakes and
St. Macarius. See ' Relation du Voyage fait en Egypte'
(Paris,
1745), P- i79-
CH. vii.] Desert Monasteries. 289
more than that the one region was occupied byhermits some time before the other. For it is very
improbable that SS. Anthony and Paul were the
founders of any monastery at all, in the ordinary
meaning of the term. They doubtless chose some
lonely spot, which speedily was haunted by other
recluses : but there can be no question that both in
the eastern and in the western desert the first recluses
were solitary hermits living apart in scattered cells
or caves, and not united in any ccenobitic rule of
life, much less congregated within the walls of anymonastic building. Moreover St. Anthony was not
born till the middle of the third century, whereas
the Nitrian valley is said to have been frequented
by the Therapeutse even in the days of St. Mark ;
and it seems certain that St. Frontonius withdrew
there with a company of seventy brethren in the
second century, and St. Ammon, who founded a
hermit settlement there, was rather earlier than St.
Anthony. The monasteries of the Natrun desert
may therefore claim to rest on a site hallowed bythe history of eighteen centuries of Christian wor-
ship, although none of the surviving religious houses
date their first foundation earlier than the third or
fourth century. When to this historic interest is
added the romantic picturesqueness of their situation,
the boundless waste of barren sand that severs
them from the world, the changeless sunshine that
brightens their desolation, their loneliness broken
only by sudden troops of marauding Beduin, the
yearly convoy of friendly camels, or the rare advent
of pilgrim or wayfarer; and when one remembersthe true fairy-tales of the hidden treasures of the
monks, not gold, but books worth their weight in
VOL. I. U
290 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vu.
rubies : then one may feel some astonishment,
perhaps, that the charm of the Natrun valley should
have worked with so feeble a spell, as not to draw
one traveller in ten thousand of those who visit
Egypt.No doubt, however, the route is tedious and even
dangerous. When first I wished to make the
journey in the spring of 1881, the khedive ordered
careful enquiries to be made by the authorities;and
the result was a prohibition. It was reported that
the Beduins were in a restive and hostile mood
owing to some recent fighting with Egyptian soldiers,
and would be certain to rob and turn back anytravellers they might encounter in the desert, thoughon the whole the chances were against their caring
particularly for unnecessary murder 1. I was on the
point of leaving Egypt, as it seemed for ever, and
the disappointment was bitter : yet to go would
have been fruitless folly. But in the winter of 1883-4I was enabled to revisit Egypt
2,and a journey to the
Wadi Natrun fell within the compass of my mission.
This time the khedive, with his usual ready know-
ledge of the country, pronounced the route secure;
and with customary kindness sent a telegram to
the mudir of the province, whence our party wasto start across the desert, ordering all arrange-ments to be made for our safety and honour. We
1 Some idea of the perils of the journey one hundred years ago
may be formed from Sonnini's account. He was robbed, and onlysaved from a second ambuscade by a sudden change of route which
foiled the plot of the Beduins for his destruction. See Voyagedans la Haute et Basse Egypte, vol. ii. p. 179 seq.
2 As an envoy of the Association for the Furtherance of Chris-
tianity in Egypt, to wh om my thanks are due for this opportunity.
CH. vii.] Desert Monasteries. 291
were, however, recommended to wear the tarbush or
fez, as the sight of western hats is somewhat irri-
tating to the children of the wilderness. The Coptic
patriarch furnished us with letters both to the priest
at Tris, which, although a Muslim village, contains
a small Coptic colony and two churches, and also to
the superiors of the four monasteries in the desert.
So we started on the morning after Christmas day,
not unaccompanied by predictions of disaster.
We reached Wardan by train, and there the mudlr's
representative, summoned by the telegram of the
khedive, met us : but, instead of waiting for us to
alight, he came into the carriage to deliver his mes-
sage. We received his obeisance, and bade him be
seated. At the same time the envoy of the priest
at Trls entered the carriage, and we had a long and
leisurely conversation drawn out with copious com-
pliments, for which of course the train politely waited.
The mudir offered us horses and camels and guides,
placing in fact his province at our disposal : but
when we heard that the Copts had already been
warned of our coming and had made every prepara-tion for our journey, it only remained to thank the
mudir for his kindness. We found, however, that
the natives were widely impressed with the ceremonywhich surrounded our arrival. An hour's ride in
hard rain brought us to Tris, where the kindly priest
Ibrahim welcomed us to the guest-room, specially
reserved for the patriarch's use on the rare occasion
of his visit to the desert convents. According to
ancient custom, as recorded for instance by Rufinus 1,
1 See Rosweyde's Vitae Patrum, pp. 348, 349, etc. For a still
earlier reference to the custom, the earliest in eastern literature, see
Genesis xviii. 4.
U 2
292 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vn.
our host offered water to wash our feet : but we were
really more grateful for a large brazier of burningcoals which was set in the middle of the room, and
replenished, as the fire sank, with logs of wood. Theheat and the smoke together soon dried us : and as
the rain without continued, and quickly drenched our
tents, we were very thankful that night to sleep with
a roof above our heads.
Next day rose clear, but with a strong gale
blowing from the west. The shape and relief of the
desert hills were blurred by a ceaseless storm of
sand, in the teeth of which lay our line of march. It
was soon decided that advance against such a wind
was impossible : our guides said that the driving sand
would strike like shot upon our faces, and that the
camels would refuse to move. So as it blew with
unabated fury till sundown, we were forced to remain
another day, which we spent partly in revolver prac-
tice and partly in talking theology with our Coptichosts. We saw the little domed churches which lie
one at each side of the village : but they offered
nothing of interest. The dair within which we were
staying contained, beside the priest's house, a school
for little children, whom we saw through an opendoor sitting on the ground in a windowless room,
with their tin slates on which they write with reed
pens and ink. At our approach they all rose, and
thronged to the door to kiss our hands.
The Copts had been living in daily terror of death
at the time of Arabi's rebellion. At Trls the story
was the same as at Cairo, all agreeing that only the
arrival of the English army had saved the Christians
from massacre. It was curious to notice that the
gratitude of the Copts seemed directed personally to
CH. vii.] Desert Monasteries. 293
the 'gracious lady Victoria the queen,' whose nameand praises they were never tired of repeating. This
unfortunately is no longer the case with dwellers in
the cities, with whom all gratitude seems cancelled bythe usury of suffering added to their lives by Englishmisrule as the price of English deliverance. Herein the country the little colony planted in a hostile
village had not yet recovered from the shock of a
danger, such as the oldest Copts could not remember,and such as could scarcely be found recorded in the
wildest pages of their troubled history.
With the morning the wind had fallen : but thoughwe rose at dawn, it was quite eight o'clock before we
got under weigh. As we were taking leave Ibrahim,
whom illness prevented from coming with us as the
patriarch had ordered, stood at the door of the dair,
and lifting hands and eyes said a prayer for our safety.
Then he walked a short distance with us on our way,ere we parted and filed across the plain. An hour's
ride brought us to the Beduin village of Bani Salamah,to which our guides belonged: we exchanged greetingswith some of the men, passed on across the canal
where our beasts drank deep, as if they foreknew the
parched wilderness before them, and mounted the
ridge that borders the desert table-land. As the
green plains and clustered palms of the Delta fade
from the view, the world seems to close behind one,
leaving a sense of helpless abandonment and desola-
tion : a sense that soon passes away, as one yields
to the silent magic of the desert. The journey lies
over a monotonous series of slightly undulating hills :
ridge after ridge they rise and fall, and each ridge is
precisely like the last;
the ground slopes gently
away, remains flat for a while, and then curves
294 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vn.
gently upward again to make another hillock. Thedistances vary a little, but the view is always bounded
by a ridge in front and a ridge behind. After a longand toilsome day, just as the sun was setting, wemounted the last ridge, and saw an immense valleyof sand stretching far away below us. The brief
purple twilight showed us too in the remote distance
a momentary glimpse of Dair Macarius, where we
hoped to make our quarters for the night. But the
darkness fell, moonless, almost starless, and so deepthat we could scarcely see each other. We were still
some miles from our monastery, which had vanished
again like an evening ghost : our beasts were tired,
our guides seemed doubtful of the way, the partycould only keep touch by continual shouting, and
our camels were far behind, we knew not where. Thesensation of being lost in the Sahara at night without
food or water is something to have experienced, if
only for two hours : nor was the feeling less real at
the time, because the after result proved it to have
been unnecessary. The descent into the valley was
steep : then we stumbled on over loose sand mixed
with rushes and Christ-thorn, and we found the waymuch more difficult than the hard stony surface of
the desert during our journey by day. The gloomand silence around us were awful : it was like the
valley of the shadow of death. But it ended at last,
when a light flashed out in the distance and then
burned steadily, welcome as ever light was to be-
nighted wayfarers in desolate places : for though at
first we took it for a star, we soon knew that it was a
lantern burning on the convent walls to guide us.
We hastened on, and found the monks waiting in a
group outside the dair to receive us : they kissed our
CH. VII.] Desert Monasteries. 295
hands with exclamations of thankfulness for our safe
arrival, and led us through the narrow doorwaywithin the fortress, where we were soon lodged in
the guest-chamber, and lay on rugs upon the floor
to rest and wait for our tents and camels. The
guest-chamber was a bare room with latticed but
unglazed windows : it was on the first floor, and
reached by a flight of steps in the open air without :
some dark cells are annexed to it, but did not look
very tempting. The monks gave us the usual eastern
A.y.n.
Fig. 19. Dair Macarius from the south-east.
thimbleful of coffee, but it was nearly ten o'clock
before we dined. Next morning the unwonted sound
of a church bell roused us at five o'clock, and with
the dawn we got a view of the monastery, which the
darkness of the night before had rendered im-
possible.
All the four monasteries here are built roughly on
the same model, although the details vary in arrange-
ment, and a description of our first resting-place,
Dair Macarius, will more or less accurately describe
the others. The monastery is a veritable fortress,
standing about one hundred and fifty yards square,
296 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vn.
with blind lofty walls rising sheer out of the sand.
A high arched recess in one wall of the quadrilateralmarks the place of the doorway; this however is
very diminutive, being scarcely four feet high, and is
closed with a massive iron-plated door, behind which
tons of loose stones are piled in times of danger.The door is further shielded in front by two large
granite millstones, which the monks roll before it,
and are then themselves hauled up to the top of the
wall by a pulley. These precautions now are seldom
taken : but they have sufficed to secure these dairs
in their age-long existence. Their enemies amongthe Beduin in bygone times had of course no artillery,
and soon tired of the idle siege : but the tribes which
now most frequent that part of the desert are engaged
largely in carrying bullrushes from the lakes across
the desert to the Delta for the making of mats : and
as they find the Coptic monasteries very convenient
places to replenish their scanty stock of food and
water, they are wise enough to remain on friendly
terms with the monks. The walls within have a
platform running round the whole circuit, with a
parapet : but the defenders seem never to have used
any other weapon but stones. Each monastery has
also, either detached or not, a large keep or tower,
standing four-square, and approached only by a draw-
bridge. The tower contains the library, storerooms
for the vestments and sacred vessels, cellars for oil
and corn;and many strange holes and hiding-places
for the monks in the last resort, if their citadel should
be taken by the enemy. Besides the well which
supplies the dair with water in ordinary times, there
is sometimes another in the keep.The four walls of Dair Macarius, or Dair Abu
CH. vii.] Desert Monasteries. 297
Makcir, as the natives call it, enclose one principal
and one or two smaller courtyards, around which
stand the cells of the monks, domestic buildings such
as the mill-room, the oven 1,the refectory and the like,
and the churches. The mill-room, where they grindtheir corn, is a square building, roofed with a largedome : the mill-stones are driven by cogs worked byan ox or a donkey, and the flour, though very coarse
with the husk unsifted, makes a wholesome bread,
when baked as is the fashion in small round cakes.
The refectory is a long, narrow, vaulted chamber, with
a low stone bench or rather shallow trough runningdown the middle : the monks sit on either side the
bench, while one of their number reads a portion of
1Tischendorff, who visited these monasteries, is not more satis-
factory than Sir G. Wilkinson or other writers. He tells us a great
deal about the nitre, very little about the churches, and that little
mostly wrong. Here, for instance, he speaks of an ' oven behind
the sacristy' as being one of the peculiarities of arrangement which
struck him most;a remark upon which Neale, with his usual inac-
curacy, founds a statement to the effect that' in some part of the
Coptic church, especially in the Desert of Cells' (sic), a small
building with an oven is' attached to the east end of the sanctuary:'
as if sanctuary and sacristy were the same thing (Eastern Church,
Gen. Introd. vol. i. p. 190). As a matter of fact the place of the
sacristy in these churches is quite indeterminate, and so is the
place of the oven. Similarly Tischendorff speaks of a 'grotto
chapel'
at Dair-as-Suriani which certainly does not exist;and calls
Anba Bishoi by the odd compound' St Ambeschun.' Of other
travellers, Russegger mentions two monasteries called' Labiat
'
and ' U-Serian'
(!) : Andrdossi gives the names Amba Bischay and
El Baramus : Sicard mentions four, and has the names nearly right.
See Travels in the East, by C. Tischendorff, tr. by W. E. Shuckard,
London, 1847, pp. 45, 46.
I have been at somepains to ascertain the names of the monasteries
correctly; and the names as given in the text may be taken as accu-
rate and final.
298 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vn.
scripture all through the meal. Sometimes the old
garners are still used for storing corn;
but the
monks do not scruple to pile their wheat on the
cool paved floor of the nave in their larger churches.
For their oil they have large earthen jars, of the
kind common in all countries : wine they do not
keep, as it cannot be made on the spot nor broughtacross the desert
;but they make their sacramental
wine, like the rest of the Copts, from dried raisins.
Each dair has a few palm-trees, but not enoughto keep the monks in dates, of which they eat
largely. Their coffee comes with the corn by
convoy from the Delta, and is pounded in an
earthen mortar with a large club-like pestle of
wood to a coarse powder, which does not make a
good drink. At times of festival the corn and oil
and dates and coffee, which form the rude fare of
the monks, are varied with olives and oranges : and
their good cheer is at its height, when a luckless cowor sheep has been driven across the burning sands
to make them a Christmas dinner.
Round the court at Abu Makar are three churches.
The smallest of these is marked by a detached bell-
tower : it is called the church of Al Shiukh 1. Its
greatest length is from north to south, not from east
to west, and may be said to consist of sanctuaries,
choir, and narthex without any nave. The narthex
is divided from the choir by a row of three columns,
one of which has a late classical capital, and the
columns are joined by a screen. Arches springin all four directions from the pillars, and the roof
1
^j-~iJlas written for me by one of the monks
;the word is the
plural of the familiar'
Shaikh,' and means the Elders.
CH. vii.] Desert Monasteries. 299
of the church is consequently a groined vaulting
except over the haikal, which has its own dome,while a second dome is placed over part of the choir
in front of the haikal. The haikal here, as in most
of the desert churches, has a pointed arch, which
corresponds to the English chancel-arch, but is due
of course to Byzantine influence. The church con-
tains nothing of interest except a latish picture of
St. Macarius, who is wrongly represented with a
jewelled epigonation.The church of Abu Makar is much larger and
finer. Like Al Shiukh, it must be styled Byzantinein character, and cannot boast of any nave or of any
very clear plan. It has three sanctuaries, a con-
tinuous choir partially walled off from the rest of the
church westward, and a western end very irregular
in shape. The chief interest here lies in the central
haikal, which is very remarkable, being no less than
25 ft. broad from south to north and 20 ft. long. It
is covered in with a splendid dome of fine brickwork,
which recalls the best period of Arab art. The small
windows in the dome contain remains of fine stucco-
work, set with tiny panes of coloured glass : and
though much of the plaster has fallen, enoughremains to show that the whole inner surface of
the dome was once adorned with fresco paintings.
The ancient doors of the haikal are finely carved
with arabesques in low relief: over the screen rises
a lofty chancel-arch, the soffit of which is cased
with wood, whereon are painted nine medallions en-
closing sacred scenes. The haikal here and without
exception in all the churches of the Natrun valley
is square-ended, a curious reversal of the rule
among the Cairene churches, in which the apse is
3OO Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vn.
almost a universal feature. But the eastern wall
contains the usual central niche, which is covered
with faded frescoes;
it contains also one side niche
and two other recesses, which are square-headed :
while the north wall contains no less than five niches.
A tier of three large steps runs along the whole
length of the eastern wall, making a sort of tribune;
but it is doubtful whether it has more than a formal
value. The altar of course is of stone, and of
the usual description : but by a very remarkable
peculiarity, quite unparalleled in the churches of
Masr, it stands on a raised platform. This platformis loin, high and 12 ft. 6 in. square. In most of the
desert churches the altar either stands on a similar
detached platform, or is raised one step above the
westernmost part of the haikal : but I have not been
able to find any reason for this marked departurefrom the structure of the altar normal in the
churches of the Delta. There are two other pecu-liarities to notice in regard to these altars in the
desert : first, that they very seldom have any canopyor baldakyn overshadowing them
; secondly, that
they usually, as at Abu Makar, have two stone
candelabra standing close beside them, one at the
north and one at the south side. The latter
arrangement is doubtless in virtue of the earlycanon against the use of lights upon the altar.
The chapel adjoining the haikal on the north,
which is dedicated to St. John, is remarkable in
having a sort of inner choir. The outer screen is as
usual in a line with the haikal-screen, but at a distance
of about eight feet eastward from this outer screen
there stands a second, which serves as the icono-
stasis. I know no other example of an inner choir
CH. vii.] Desert Monasteries. 301
stolen, as it were, from the area of a side chapel in
this manner. Of the two screens, that to the west-
ward is the more noteworthy : for it contains a
number of small vertical oblong panels carved with
exquisite arabesque devices in extraordinarily highrelief. Closely as the lines of the design are
grouped together, they stand out no less than i \ in.
from the background. Such carving surpasses any-
thing in woodwork in the Cairo churches, and is a
real triumph of skilful workmanship. The panels are
older than the screen in which they are framed, and
are probably not later than the eighth century.
The altar here stands on a raised platform, not
detached but running across the chapel into the
north and south walls. On the east wall are the
remains of some frescoed figures, now almost indis-
tinguishable, and there are traces of an interlacing
pattern in the recess. Between this chapel and the
haikal stands a partition wall, which is pierced to-
wards the westward with a door having an arched
heading of carved stonework. Nearly all the plaster
has fallen in from the north dome, but the fragmentsthat remain are coloured. Round the lower part of
the dome runs a border of conventional design clearly
visible by aid of a glass1.
The choir of the church of Abu Makar, like that of
Al Shiukh, contains a reliquary: the bones of St.
Macarius are said to rest in the latter.
1 Mr. Greville Chester, in his' Notes on the Coptic Dayrs in the
Wady Natrun,' speaks of '
fine Cufic inscriptions in red upon the
dome.' This is an error. There is not a letter of Cufic or Arabic
in the church, though in the dim light it is easy to mistake the
angular character of this design for Cufic writing.
3O2 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vu;
The third church lies on the southern side of the
courtyard, and is dedicated to Abu Iskharun^, or St.
Ischyrion, a martyr of Alexandria. It is perhapsrather more basilican in structure than the other
churches, but not of a very decided type of architec-
ture. The choir and nave are almost covered byone magnificent dome of brick, the low pitch of which
secures a curve of great beauty. A door once lead-
ing into the north part of the choir is now blocked :
it is square-headed, and above the lintel there is set
a large panel of finely wrought mosaic of brickwork.
Ornamentation of this kind, no less than the noble
span and superblightness of these desertdomes, shows
that the ancient monastic builders possessed an un-
rivalled mastery over brickwork, and delighted in
producing effects on which western architects would
scarcely venture. The shell of these churches is
generally built of unhewn limestone, which is found
in large quantities in the desert hills : but the bricks,
which .are small and dark red in colour, must have
been carried on camels from the far-off cities of
Egypt.The north chapel of Abu Iskharun contains at
present no altar, but doubtless had one originally.
In the haikal there is an unusual feature : againstthe wall in the north-west corner is placed a sort of
small table of stone, which possibly may have been
designed as a credence, and close by it an unmistake-
able piscina. The latter is formed of an ordinaryearthenware jar, or kullah as the natives call it, with
the bottom broken out, and the mouth set downwardsin the wall, in which it is cemented. This is doubt-
>>.
CH. vii.] Desert Monasteries. 303
less in replacement of a marble piscina, and there
is a proper drain to carry off the rinsings. In the
south cha el also is a curious fitting a sort of
small marble basin, half engaged in the wall at
the north-east corner. The monks told me that
it is used in making and consecrating the oleum
infirmorum.
We found posted on the wall by the haikal-screen
in this church a paper covered with finely written
Arabic characters, clearly denoting some sort of fes-
tival occasion. It proved to be a form of thanksgivingfor the entry of the English army into Cairo in the
year 1882.
Quitting Abu Iskharun and mounting a steep and
broken flight of steps, one comes to the drawbridgeof the kasr or tower. The drawbridge now rests
across the deep chasm which divides the tower from
the staircase, but can be raised by a windlass in case
of danger. One lands on the floor of the first story,
which contains three separate chapels.
The first of these, dedicated to St. Michael, con-
sists of a single room divided roughly into haikal and
nave by screens. In the nave stand five pillars, the
shaft of each composed of two small columns set ver-
tically one on top of another. Among them there are
two Doric capitals, and five late Corinthian, with
crosses carved among the foliage. The Corinthian
capitals, and one other of a graceful design not
assignable to any classical order, were picked out in
colours : touches of red and blue are still discernible.
On the south side of the chapel there are some rude
but ancient mural paintings, which represent horse-
men : they are executed in pale red and yellow shades,
and beneath them are Coptic inscriptions. The
304 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vn.
haikal-screen, which is a fine piece of ivory inlaying,is surmounted by another inscription carved in ivory.
The haikal is square-ended and not remarkable,
except for a consecration cross, which is incised upona slender marble shaft placed against the eastern wall,
and for a curious collection of relics. No less than
sixteen patriarchs are here preserved in plain deal
boxes ! Eight cases, each containing two bodies, are
piled one upon another at the south side of the
altar: and so far from being hermetically sealed,
they are so loosely put together and so slender in
make, that one may clearly see the shrivelled forms
of the patriarchs lying like so many mummies in
their coffins.
Next comes the chapel of St. Anthony, which pos-sesses no attraction except in three very ancient
frescoed figures. Of these the dexter figure wears a
decided chasuble of yellow colour: the central
figure wears a white chasuble lined with red : while
the sinister figure is clad in a cope fastened by a
morse. All three wear glories.
The last of the three chapels is dedicated to a
saint called in Arabic Suah 1,who may possibly be
St. Sabas. Like St. Anthony, it contains some fres-
coes, which are interesting as preserving a record of
the vanished chasuble. Here there are nine figures,
of which the greater part show a chasuble with
rounded front falling a little below the girdle. One
figure has also a vestment possibly intended for an
epigonation ;but in the present state of the painting
one cannot affirm positively what would, if established,
be very remarkable testimony.
as written by the monks.
CH. vii.] Desert Monasteries. 305
A sort of dungeon staircase leads down to the
ground floor of the tower, where there are manyempty vaults and chambers, and the church of Al
Adra, which is larger than the chapels on the first
floor, and contains three altars arranged in the usual
fashion. But the altars are not separated : they all
stand on one continuous raised platform, which is
7 ft. distant from the screen. An arch on each side
the haikal forms the only division here as at Al
Mu'allakah; and another point of coincidence between
the two churches is this, that the altar-tops are all of
the exceptional kind found at the great church in
Cairo. The south altar-top encloses a semicircular
slab of marble with a sunken surface and border, but
no outlet westward : the top of the haikal altar is a
marble slab of oblong form with a similar depression :
while on the north altar there rests another semi-
circular tray of marble, so large that it projects in
places five inches beyond the side of the substructure.
I thought here to recover the tradition of the usageor ceremony for which these curious altar-tops were
designed, and was disappointed to find that the
monks of the desert could tell me no more than the
priests of Cairo.
The foundation of this monastery is no doubt
rightly ascribed to the saint whose name it bears.
Rufinus 1 mentions 'two lights of heaven shining
there,' both called Macarius. Of these the elder
was surnamed the Egyptian ;the younger, or the
Alexandrian, flourished in the fourth century: and
the latter it was who founded the dair, distant twenty-four hours' journey from the Nitrian monasteries, at a
1
Rosweyde, Vitae Patrum, p. 367 seq.
VOL. i. X
306 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. VH.
place called Scithium. Rufinus adds that there is
no path or sign by the way to guide the traveller
thither : the monastery has little water, and that
bituminous and very foul of smell :
' sunt ergo ibi
viri valde perfecti! In proof of this perfection is told
the well-known story of the grapes given to Macarius,
and handed from monk to monk and at last returned,
all refusing to partake so sinful a luxury. Macarius
himself once killed a mosquito that was biting him,
and in sorrow for the deed retired naked to the
marshes where the largest and most venomous sort
abounded, and suffered six months' torment beneath
their stings : so that, when he returned to his monks,
they could not recognise his swollen face and body,but knew him only by the sound of his voice. This
legend, it may be noticed, is very remarkable in beingfounded on a trait rare in those early times, and
perhaps now rarer still in Egypt a tender regard for
animal life. He had a power of seeing visions, bywhich we are told he once beheld the evil thoughtsof the monks, in the form of littje black imps playingabout them in church ;
and when a bad monk putout his hand to receive the consecrated bread, one of
these '^Ethiops' placed hot coals in the monk's hand,
and the wafer flew back unaided to the altar. In
short Macarius by his virtues and powers, his fastings,
self-chastisements and abasements, gained a reputa-tion for saintly austerity which made him the wonder
of his own time, and carried his name all over the
Christian world after his death 1
.
1 For further details concerning him see Rosweyde, 1. c. ;Lord
Lindsay's Christian Art, vol. i. p. cxxxviii seq. ;Curzon's Monasteries
of the Levant, pp. 91-2.
CH. vii.] Desert Monasteries. 307
Of the subsequent history of the monastery, next
to nothing is known. It was repaired and strength-
ened about the year 880 by Sanutius the patriarch,
whose body may be one of the sixteen mummies.
About the year IOOOA.D. one Joseph, a deacon of
Abu Makar, complains that this is the only place
where Christians 'come to the throne with confidence,'
i. e. during the great persecution. Abu-'l-Farag men-
tions it in his book of the Christian convents : and
Abu-'l-Birkat relates that in his day the Coptic
liturgy was used without Arabic at Dair Macarius,
implying that the monks still understood the ancient
language of their ritual. Quatremere1
, remarking on
this statement, is anxious to know whether it still
holds good ;but observes that travellers who have
visited the place since, are silent : and Sonnini, whotestifies to the use of both Coptic and Arabic at
Al Baramus, did not even visit Dair Macarius 2.
Of course there is not a grain of truth in the state-
ment as applied to present day practice ;and I very
much doubt whether it was true when Abu-'l-Birkat
wrote it.
At the time of my visit the number of monks at the
convent of Abu Makar was twenty, of whom twelve
were in priest's orders. They are allowed sometimes
to visit the patriarch, and even to see friends living
in Cairo, by special permission : but they must return
to live and to die in the desert.
1 Recherches Critiques et Historiques sur la Langue et la Litte'r-
ature de 1'Egypte ; par Etienne Quatremere. Paris, 1808.2
It was the sudden abandonment of his proposed visit to Abu
Makar, where an ambush of Beduins awaited him, to which
Sonnini owed his life.
X 2
308 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH.
Dair Anba Bishoi \
At our departure from the kindly shelter of Dair
Macarius, the monks escorted us without the walls,
and the kummus or abbot prayed for our safety,
spreading both hands palm-upwards towards the skies.
The surface of the valley proved very different from
that of the desert before we descended : the hard-set
ground covered with dark sheeny pebbles had now
given place to stretches of soft loose sand and beds
of broken limestone, while tufts of reedy grass and
low prickly shrubs relieved the utter deadness of
the wilderness. The ride takes only about four
hours, and is extremely picturesque ; especially as
the lakes come into view, and the strangely bril-
liant purple of their shining surface contrasts with
the dark reed-beds which encircle them, and with the
sombre hues of the desert sand. Here and there the
way is marked by little heaps of stone ranged in
a line, which once reached from the cells of Macarius
to the monastery of Anba Bishoi. The track is
called to this day the Path of the Angels : for
legend tells that angels made the road to guide the
hermits of Scete to church on holy days. At one
point on the route, after Dair Anba Bishoi and Dair-
as-Suriani, which stand within bowshot of each other,
have risen above the horizon in front, the white walls
of Macarius are still visible in the far distance
behind: while on either side the broad valley spreads
reposing in monumental silence.
Lol
CH. vii.]Desert Monasteries. 309
We had heard that Anba Bishoi contained the
best well of water of all the four monasteries, and weresolved therefore to make it our head-quarters for
the remainder of our visit, a decision which we had
no cause to repent. We found our arrival was not
expected : the iron-plated postern was closed, and wehad to ring some time at the bell, which is hung on
the convent wall and sounded by a cord swingingloose below. At last our Beduins and our beasts
were admitted within the dair, and our tents pitched
Fig. 20. Dair Anba Bishoi from the north-west.
in the main courtyard, which is an oblong, boundedon three sides by cells, and on the fourth by a church
dedicated to the patron saint of the convent. Thereare two other courtyards besides, in one of which is a
large well about fifteen feet in diameter, worked with
the usual Egyptian sakkiah or waterwheel and a
string of pitchers. Water pumped up by this rude
machinery, which doubtless dates from the days of
the Pharaohs, is made to irrigate the monastery
garden, which is almost a rood in extent, and
grows some palms, olives, garlic, capsicum, and other
vegetables, to the great pride of the monks.
The name Bishoi is no doubt an Arabic corruption
3io Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vn.
of the Coptic Isa, which corresponded probably to
Isaiah. The Coptic article n was prefixed in com-
mon speech, making the name Pisa, under which
name Anba Bishoi wrote an ascetic treatise, the
original MS. of which Curzon claims to have pro-
cured 1. The Coptic form n<LHce is found in another
MS. of the fourth century2
. There seems no more
to be said on the matter : for a demand for informa-
tion on a point of philology or history has about as
much chance of a profitable answer from the monksas a demand for the philosopher's stone. Theycherish the body of their founder, but his spirit is
indeed departed.The principal church here, which bears the name
of Anba Bishoi, is an extremely fine building, the
main features of which are of the basilican order,
though the whole fabric is too Coptic in its mixture
of styles to be classed with any very definite form
of architecture. There are three entrances, one of
which on the north side is through a porch covered
in with a very fine dome of brick;another lies in
the corresponding position on the south side;while
the third is by a large central doorway in the west
end of the church. The body of the building con-
sists of nave, with north and south aisle, and returned
western aisle or narthex. The roof of the nave is
a lofty pointed-arched vaulting : the aisles are also
vaulted, and are separated from the nave by massive
piers, which carry lofty pointed arches. These arches
are now mostly blocked up to strengthen the nave
1 Monasteries of the Levant, p. 91.2Fragmentum Evangelii S. Johannis Graeco-Copto-Thebaicum ;
ed, A. Georgius. Rome, 1 789. Praef. p. xcii.
CH. vii.] Desert Monasteries. 311
walls, which the thrust of the vaulting seems to have
endangered : for a similar reason doubtless two ad-
ditional piers have been thrown out laterally in the
middle of the nave, with the result of almost sunder-
ing it into two divisions. That this is not part of
the original design is proved by the fact that the
pier so thrown out on the north side is built across
the ancient stone ambon, entirely blocking the steps
by which it was mounted : and in replacement of the
ambon a wooden pulpit has been erected further
eastward. In the floor of the nave is set a small
marble basin, used at the ceremony of feet-washing.The outer walls of the aisles once contained small
windows, now blocked : but traces of the starlike
design in stucco-work, which enclosed panes of
coloured glass, still remain visible.
The choir is entirely walled off from the nave,
with the exception of a very lofty arched opening,the lower part of which closes with folding doors.
This is unquestionably part of the original arrange-ment of the church, and is very curious. It corre-
sponds with the arrangement in one or two western
monastic churches, where women were admitted to
the service, and were thus effectually separated from
the men;but probably no woman has ever visited
these monasteries since their foundation. The choir
doors are set with panels of fine carving in relief,
enclosed in ivory borders : similar doors, though not
so lofty, shut off the aisles also from the choir : but
there are no steps between, the choir and the nave
being on the same level.
Like the nave, the choir is vaulted : but instead
of the vaulting of the nave and aisles being con-
tinued over the choir, it stops short;and the choir
312 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vn.
CHOIR.LATERAL VAULTING OVER
MARBLE BASIN
N M H! FOR MANDATUM ;
AMBON A
I d
Fig. 21. Plan of the monastic church of Anba Bishoi.
CH. vii.]Desert Monasteries. 313
has a separate vaulting at right angles to that of
the nave. A decayed fresco of St. George on the
south wall;the usual ostrich-eggs and a fine bronze
corona hanging before the haikal-screen;and some
small coloured windows of Arab stucco-work in the
north and south gables of the roof these are the
only points of interest in the choir. But there are
two satellite churches or chapels which open out from
the choir, and deserve notice. That at the north side
is dedicated to Al Adra, and contains the bones of
Anba Bishoi in a reliquary: it is vaulted east and
west, and has only a single altar. The other on the
south side is larger, and is covered in with a most
magnificent dome : the altar, which is dedicated to
Abu Iskharun, has for its slab a shallow marble tray of
oblong form. A narrow passage north of the altar
leads to the baptistery, which lies adjoining the
chapel on the east : it contains a plain round font
of the usual type, with a drain at the bottom to carryoff the water.
Both these satellite chapels lie outside the main
building, and are doubtless later erections;for the
large church has its own three independent altars.
The haikal is raised one step above the choir : the
altar is further raised one step upon a platform, three
sides of which stand clear, while the fourth runs into
the eastern wall, which of course is straight not
apsidal. Yet there is a tribune here of fine propor-tions. It consists of six steps, of which the lower
three are straight, the upper three curved. Thethrone is gone entirely : but the broken masonryshows a cavity underneath it, which may have been
intended for relics. All the steps are faced with
vertical strips of coloured marble : the spandrels of
314 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vn.
the niche above the throne still bear rich traces of
the finest opus Alexandrinum : and above is a large
panel filled with mosaic of marble on a larger scale, a
design of crosses in blue enclosed in a white border,
and containing what looked very like traces of gilt
vitreous enamel. But I know no other instance of
this Venetian or Byzantine mosaic in Egypt, and the
impression is probably an illusion. The niche itself
was once ornamented with a mural painting, which
has now quite vanished : but the ceiling of the domestill retains its central cross, and many bright vestiges
of the graceful band of arabesques painted round it.
The peculiar structure of the haikal doors has already
been mentioned l. I have only here to add that in
addition to the ritual interest of their structure, theyare adorned with panels of the beautiful carving in
high relief noticed at the church of St. Macarius :oand above them rises a lofty arch of triumph.
There is a passage of communication between the
haikal and the two side-chapels. Of these that on
the north is very small : the altar is raised on a step
and overshadowed by a tiny dome, but not by an
altar canopy. The south side-chapel is likewise
domed, and rather larger.
All three altars at Anba Bishoi have their topsformed of marble slabs, that in the north chapel
being of oblong form with a horse-shoe depression,
that in the haikal and other chapel being simple
oblongs with a raised border at the sides. There
is no drain pierced through any of these altar-topshere or elsewhere, as one would expect if they were
designed with a view to the rite of washing the altar.
CH. vii.] Desert Monasteries. 315
A bell-tower stands near the porch adjoining the
courtyard, but it contains only a single small bell.
One may follow the outer walls of the church round
on the eastern and the southern side : indeed, alto-
gether, it stands in greater isolation than any of the
other churches; yet there is no attempt whatever at
outside adornment or even finish. Unhewn stones
are used for the walls, which are left in the rougheststate externally, with all sorts of chance buttresses,
offsets, and inequalities. Even here, where there
would seem to be no reason for denying that orna-
mentation to the outside which was lavished within
the building, the Coptic architects, either from the
force of habit or from some curious canon of taste,
have entirely failed to produce a beautiful exterior.
The kasr contains little of interest except a series
of lofty vaulted chambers, which, judging from the
fragments of Coptic and Arabic volumes scattered
about the floor, once served as the convent library.
It has long since been ransacked : not a fragmentof any work remains here, or, I venture to say, in
any of the monasteries of the Natrun valley. Onthe top of the tower is a single chapel, dedicated to
St. Michael, as was customary in the case of a sacred
building raised on any lofty eminence, alike in eastern
and western Christendom. The chapel is but rudelyfurnished. The pictures on the iconostasis datingfrom the last century, shew the twelve apostles vested
in dalmatic, girdle, omophorion, and cope : but there
is nothing else which calls for notice.
The kummus or abbot of Anba Bishoi claimed
for his monastery an antiquity of fifteen hundred
years from its first foundation, but told me that the
buildings had been largely repaired about a century
316 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vn.
ago. This was doubtless the time when the arches
between the nave and aisles were blocked, and the
cross-wall built in the nave of the principal church.
Regarding the date of this edifice it is extremelydifficult to speak with decision : for while the haikal
points on the whole to the sixth or seventh century,
other details, such as the enrichment of the loftier
domes, the coloured glass and stucco-work, and
possibly the structure of the nave, seem to belongrather to the tenth or eleventh century. The truth
probably is that different features of the church are
assignable to different epochs.
Dair-as-Suriani \
No one whose imagination has been kindled bythe romantic story of Curzon's visit to the monks of
the Natrun valley, could resist a feeling of keen
excitement as he neared the walls of Dair-as-Suriani,
where Curzon discovered that horde of ancient literary
treasure which alone would make his name famous.
The excitement is not lessened if the traveller carries,
as the present writer carried, about his waist a heavybelt of gold, wherewith he hopes to retrieve some
fragment of treasure still remaining : and even if the
sense of adventure were wanting, one could not
resist a novel feeling of fascination in surveyingthe singular beauty of the convent. For as the eye
j^ as dictated by one of the monks.
CH. VII.] Desert Monasteries.
follows it, half-climbing the gentle slope of a desert
hill, half-resting on the broad flat summit, its lines
are extremely graceful ; and while over the lower
walls a little forest of palm-trees is seen waving its
clustered foliage as in protest against the barren
sands without, the great white tower and the walls
above stand sculptured in azure clearness against the
desert horizon.
A. J. B.
Fig. 22.-View from the tower of Dair-as-Suriani, showing the interior of that convent, andthe neighbouring convent of Anba Bishoi.
The monastery seems to derive its name from a
colony of Syrian hermits, who either founded it or
occupied it very early. Traces of Syriac literatureremain there even to this day, and many priceless
Syriac MSS. were carried off by Curzon and Tattam.But there are no Syrian inmates now, nor are thereeither books or monks of Abyssinian origin, such asCurzon discovered.
318 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vn.
The monks as usual received us with great kind-
ness, and were eager to show us over the monastery.
They pointed out to us the ancient and venerable
tamarind a rare but not unknown tree in Egyptwhich is said to have grown from a walking-stickthrust in the ground by St. Ephrem : and they told
us the legend, just as their predecessors have told it to
travellers for generations before them l. They gave
us tiny quantities of indifferent coffee, and peeled for
us dry dates with soapless fingers : they talked with
us about our journey and about their own life, theyled us into the churches and over the tower
; showedus their books, their corn and their oil : and, like their
brethren at the other monasteries, they refused to
take our money.There are two principal churches within the dair,
both dedicated to the Virgin : but as the term Al'Adra has already been applied distinctively to the
larger and finer building, the smaller will here be
called for clearness' sake Sitt Mariam an alterna-
tive allowed by local usage. The church of Sitt
Mariam then is aisleless and naveless, rather Byzan-tine in structure and nearly square in plan, and verydark. The entrance lies on the south-west. Overthe doorway a block of white marble is inlet, sculp-
tured with a very beautiful cross in low relief: and
on the pier dividing the haikal from the south chapel
within, there is another block of black marble, on
which a cross is carved with splendid arabesques,and enclosed in a circular moulding. These I think
are probably dedication crosses. The main divisions
1 See for example Huntingdon's Epistles, xxxix. Huntingdonvisited Egypt in 1695.
CH. vii.] Desert Monasteries. 319
of the church are lateral, and include merely narthex,
choir and sanctuaries : unless what I have called the
narthex can be held to include a nave, in virtue of
the low stone screen which runs north and south,
making a sort of partition. But the screen is only
4 ft. high, and the part behind it is so very shallow
that it is more accurate to regard the whole as
narthex : moreover the whole church, except the
sanctuaries, is roofed with barrel-vaulting, in two
spans with lateral axes : of these one span covers
the choir, the other covers the remainder of the
church westward of the choir, and renders it an
architectural unit. A solid wall pierced with two
doorways separates choir from narthex, and helpsto carry the vaulting.
In the choir one may notice a bronze corona of
some merit, a reliquary, and an ancient pulpit, of
which the decayed remains show traces of ivory
figures of saints, which were once inlaid, one in
each panel. The haikal is rectangular, and has a
conventional tribune of three straight steps, a deepeastern niche, and an aumbry at each side. Thealtar is raised above the haikal floor by one step,
which comes at a distance of 4 ft. from the screen :
and at the four corners stand slender columns
upholding a baldakyn.
Altogether different in style and structure, and far
grander in design, is the magnificent church of Al
'Adra. Whereas Sitt Mariam is only about 4 oft.
by 40, Al 'Adra has about the same breadth with
a length of 90 ft. : and whereas Sitt Mariam maypossibly be called Byzantine, Al 'Adra belongs dis-
tinctly to the basilican order of architecture. In its
general arrangement it bears a strong likeness to the
320 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vn.
church of Anba Bishoi, but from internal evidence
seems rather the model than the copy. By the
kindness of the monks I was enabled to make a
plan, which however defective is accurate as far as
it goes, and will serve to give a good idea of the
building. It will be seen that the main entrance is
on the north side by a porch, although there is a
small low western door somewhat singularly thrust
aside from the centre of the western wall. But the
church here is entangled in monastic chambers of
one sort or another;and it is clear that the western
doorway was not designed for a solemn processionalentrance. The fabric consists of nave and two aisles
with western returned aisle, choir, and sanctuaries :
but the choir is shut off from nave and aisles by a
thick and massive wall, which divides the church
into two separate portions. This separation is madeeven more effectual by a pair of lofty folding doors
(H), which close across the archway leading to the
choir. The floor of the whole church is of one
uniform level with the exception of the haikal,
which is raised two steps above the rest : all three
altars are also raised on a platform, one step above
the level of the chapels in which they severally stand.
The nave is roofed with a very handsome and
lofty vaulting, which runs from west to east and is
slightly pointed. It is carried on piers divided by
high pointed arches. The two westward piers are
extremely heavy, the rest are lighter : and all seem
to have massive columns more or less engaged. Alarge rib (L) further strengthens the vaulting : and
a low stone screen (I) runs right across both nave
and aisles, divided by open passages. Unfortunatelythe whole interior of the nave is so plastered with
R ETU R M E D A I S-L E
SCALE of F~EZT
Fig. 23. Plan of the Church of Al 'Atfra, Dair-as-Suriani.
VOL. I. Y
322 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vn.
whitewash, that it is impossible to say whether any
part of the fabric is of later construction than the
rest.
Nearly in the middle of the nave floor lies a basin
for the Maundy feet-washing. It consists of an
oblong slab of marble, with a raised fillet round the
edges, and a small circular hollow in the centre, about
9 in. across. One may notice also two bronze coronse
suspended in the nave : each consists merely of a
flat plate of bronze, about 1 2 in. in diameter, piercedwith holes to receive cups of oil. At the east end
of the north aisle is a large wooden reliquary con-
taining some holy bones, and close by it two
aumbries.
At Anba Bishoi the choir, it will be remembered,is roofed with a vaulting at right angles to the nave
vaulting : but here a different plan is followed. Thechoir roofing consists of a fine central dome, which
covers the whole space before the haikal, and two
semidomes, one at either end northward and south-
ward. Each of these semidomes is adorned with
very rich fresco paintings, which are still in fair pre-
servation : northward the scene is the Death of the
Virgin (F), and southward two subjects are depicted
together, the Annunciation and the Nativity (G).
In the latter our Lord wears the nimb crucifer. There
is a large dome over the haikal altar; one of smaller
size over each of the side-altars;and in the centre
of the western returned aisle another semidome,frescoed with a scene representing the Ascension (K).In looking at the plan it is difficult to resist the
impression that, in spite of the rectangular character
of the church, the architect consciously studied a
cruciform arrangement with his domes and semi-
CH. vii.] Desert Monasteries. 323
domes. Regarding the merit of the mural paintingsI may say at once that they are clear and strong in
design, true in drawing, rich and mellow in tone,
and, in a word, worthy of the church which theyadorn and of comparison with any like work in
Europe.
Curiously enough there is another stone screen
against the western wall of the choir, where it is
hard to say what purpose it can have served; for
the monks could hardly lean upon it, as they do in
ordinary cases. The doors between the choir andnave are evidently of extreme antiquity : they are
inlaid with ivory figures of saints, each on a separate
panel, but only the top panels are so decorated.
Round the posts and lintel of the doorway runs a
Syriac inscription, in raised letters, of a rude bold
character, which fixes their date as not later than the
seventh century of our era.
Between the haikal and the choir there intervenes
a lofty chancel-arch, the lower part of which is closed
by a pair of high folding-doors, each in three leaves.
The leaves fold backward into the sanctuary, openinga full view of the altar : and these doors, like those of
the choir, have their top panels inlaid in ivory with
holy figures, which serve as icons, while all the lower
panels are ornamented with geometrical designs in
ivory inlay. The detail of these designs is verymuch simpler and more archaic-looking than the
ivory designs at Abu-'s-Sifain : and is otherwise
distinguished from them by the entire absence of
the conventional acanthus, which is conspicuous no
less in work of the ninth century and later amongthe churches and mosques of Egypt, than in carvingsand illuminations of Anglo-Saxon, Irish, and other
Y 2
324 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vn.
western artists. Here too a Syriac inscription runs
round the jambs and lintel, but the lettering is rather
later, although still of a kind not found subsequentlyto the eighth century. This church, then, claims the
extraordinary interest of possessing two wooden
screens, of which neither can be later than 700 or
800 A. D., and one must be considerably more ancient ;
an interest which is partly shared no doubt with the
neighbouring churches of Anba Bishoi and Al'
AdraDair al Baramus, but is otherwise unrivalled in all
that remains of Christian architecture throughout the
world.
There is no crewet-holder fastened on the haikal-
screen here, although it is usually found in the
desert churches, as in those of Cairo. The lintel
of the door may be rightly called a rood-beam, for
it carries in the centre a plain bronze cross. All
three altars are raised one step above their several
sanctuaries, but the platform is not detached at the
sides. The central altar stands higher than the side
altar, by reason of the steps before the haikal-screen,
and behind it there is a tier of straight steps againstthe eastern wall, forming a sort of tribune. Fourslender shafts at the four corners of the high altar
(D) support a baldakyn : and at each side, north and,
south, there stands a solid marble candelabrum, 4 ft.
6 in. in height, touching the altar (E). The domewhich roofs the haikal is high in pitch, and for somedistance upwards has vertical sides before the spring-
begins : both in the cylindrical part and in the domewindows are pierced, filled in with stucco tracery and
panes of coloured glass.
The interior ofthe haikal is most richly ornamentedwith designs in plaster of very elaborate and skilful
CH. vii.] Desert Monasteries. 325
workmanship. The ornamentation begins at a heightof about 7 ft. from the ground, and consists of a belt,
4ft. broad, which runs round the three walls. Abeautiful border of a very original design runs alongthe lower edge of the belt : the remainder is divided
by vertical bands into panels, which are enriched
with the same design on a larger "scale, alternatingwith other designs no less sumptuous. The whole
of the work is finely moulded in plaster, and is cast
in high relief. In the eastern wall the niche (B) andan aumbry on either side of it (A) are surrounded
by work in the same style, but even more beautiful.
At each side of the niche stands a pillar half-engagedand covered with close flutes, which cross diagonally:beside the pillars, and round about the arched headingof the niche, runs a large and bold design of very
graceful arabesques ;and above the niche there is
a panel filled with crosses. Within the niche there
hangs a fine cross of bronze. The aumbries also
are roofed with circular arches followed round byelaborate mouldings, and the spandrels are filled
with fine enrichments : moreover the aumbries in
the north and south wall, as well as the round arch
of the doorway into each of the side-chapels, are
lavishly ornamented in the same manner. It
will be noticed that the north doorway has been
blocked.
There is no Epiphany tank in this church, and
none at either of the churches of Anba Bishoi. One,
however, is found in the church of Abu Makar, at the
monastery of that name, and one also in the restored
church at Al Baramus.
The refectory at Dair-as-Suriani contains nothingof special interest, except some rather rude and much
326 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vn.
decayed frescoes : but it is worth remarking that
while all these desert monasteries contain a commonroom for meals, like the frater of our English monas-
teries, there seems no instance of a common roomfor sleeping, corresponding to the dormitory or
dorter. Each monk sleeps in his own cell, and
there seems no evidence of any other rule having
prevailed.It is well worth while to ascend the tower : not
for the chapel of St. Michael at the top, where there
is nothing to repay a visit except a fine bronze lamplike that engraved from Abu Kir wa Yuhanna at
Old Cairo : nor yet for the library, where all one's
hopes of hidden treasure swiftly vanish away : but
for the view, which opens in silent magnificence.
Nearly all the interior of the dair, with its churches,
cells, and garden of palms is visible : close by rise
the ancient walls of Anba Bishoi : farther to the
north, in the distance, the lakes flash like mirrors in
the sunshine : and all around the vast horizon is
bounded by desolate sands, more lifeless, more im-
passable, and more sublime than the ocean.
Dair A'I Baramus.
From our camp in the monastery of Anba Bishoi
to Dair al Baramus was a ride of about three hours,
over loose sand and shale and ridges of limestone
rock, which in some places rose in little hills, and
had evidently been quarried to furnish stone
for the monastic buildings of the neighbourhood.
CH. vii.] Desert Monasteries. 327
Our guide and herald, deputed by the patriarch,
had gone on some way before us : and when on
mounting the last ridge we sighted the monastery,dark figures were faintly visible upon the distant
parapets. As we neared, the monks descended, and
stood grouped in clear relief outside, under the white
walls of their fortress. When we were within two
hundred yards of the gate, the monks advanced
towards us with waving banners. They kissed. our
hands as we dismounted : then formed a procession
in front of us, and advanced chaunting psalms and
Fig. 24. Dair al Baramus .
beating cymbals and triangles, while the great bell
of the convent clashed out a tumultuous welcome.
At the narrow doorway the banners were lowered,
and we bent our heads; but the bell still boomed,
and the chaunt continued, as we marched across the;
courtyard to the church of Al Baramus. There a
service of song was held in rejoicing for our safe
arrival;and when it was ended the abbot read an,
address of welcome such as is customary to read on.
1 The above woodcut is borrowed from Sonnini with trifling
corrections.
328 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. VH.
the arrival of any distinguished personage1
. Fromthe church we were led up to the guest-chamber,where we partook of the frugal fare offered by our
kindly hosts : and we spent the day in talking to the
monks, and in examining the various buildings.
1 The address is worth giving ;it runs as follows :
'
Rejoice with me to-day, O my fathers, my brethren, because of
these blessed people of Christ who have come to this wilderness, to
visit this monastery and these lordly monuments, being favoured
with all grace and divine blessing. Be glad with me to-day,
O Christian people, chief of the clergy, revered deacons and
honoured priests, and you, O blessed children, who come to-dayinto this wilderness, to these holy places which are bright with the
light of saints. Sing tuneful hymns and psalms of David, saying,"Thy habitations, O Lord of Hosts, are bright, my soul longeth
for thy courts," because herein the righteous fathers, saints without
guile, abode.' This is the convent of Al Baramus, in which abode Maximus,
Dumatius, Anba Musa, and the priest Ad Darus, and it bears the
name of Mary the Virgin. This is the dwelling of brave soldiers,
the place of heroes, who, being sons of kings and sultans, of their
own will chose rather to be poor and needy, refusing the pomp and
vanity of the world. They were lovers of Christ our God, and
walked in his footsteps, bearing his cross.' He who visits these mansions with firm faith, fervent desire,
true repentance, and good works, shall have all his sins forgiven.
Then, O my reverend fathers and my beloved brethren, come, that
we may pray for these our dear and honourable brethren, who are
come upon this visit and have reached these habitations. Let us
pray that Jesus Christ, who was with his servants in x every time
and every place, saving them through all evil and sorrow, may nowbe with his servants who have come upon this visit, and maydeliver them from all sins and iniquities. May he grant them the
best of gifts and full reward, recompensing them for all they have
endured through toil and peril and the weariness of the journey as
they travelled hither; give them abundance of blessing, of joy,
and of grace ; grant them length of days, prosperity, and highest
honour; bring them back to their homes in safety, in health of
soul and body, and after a long life transport them to the bright-
CH. vii.] Desert Monasteries. 329
The church in which our solemn welcome washeld is dedicated to Al Baramus, a name of which
the origin is uncertain;but the first syllable is sup-
posed to be the Coptic article, and the remainder to
represent some name like'
Papalo?. Unfortunatelya restoration not quite finished had stripped the
church of every single feature of interest, and
apparently changed even the old lines of the build-
ing. An Epiphany tank has been constructed byraising the level of the ground in the narthex, a feat
of which the monks are decidedly boastful : and
every sign of antiquity has been swept away, exceptthe haikal-screen, which is of no great moment.
There is, however, a fine ancient church still
remaining, though not undamaged by the white-
wash, in which this monastery rejoices. It is dedi-
cated to Al 'Adra, and consists roughly of nave and
aisles, with the usual three eastern sanctuaries. Thenave is roofed with a pointed-arched vaulting, which
is strengthened by three stone ribs : but the structure
here is so far peculiar, not to say unique, that the
ribs instead of running down the nave-walls to the
ground stop short, and are received on corbels at
the spring of the vaulting. Each corbel, moreover,is marked by a fine cross within a roundel, modelled
ness of Paradise and the life of bliss, through the intercession of
our Lady the Virgin and of all our holy fathers. Amen.'
I may here note that the saints called Maximus and Dumatius
(^..^JLftjj.1 ^j^, :.--- ^--) were sons of a Greek emperor Leo, who
went into the desert of Scete, according to a fourteenth century MS.in the Bibliotheque Nationale. (Bib. Or. 258, fol. 16.)
This address seems a very ancient institution : see Rufinus, ap.
Rosweyde, p. 354 :
' ubi autem ingressi sumus monasterium, ora-
tione, ut moris est, data pedes nostros propriis manibus lavat,' sc.
Apollonius.
33 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vn.
in plaster and raised in low relief. Besides these
six crosses, which unquestionably mark places signedwith the holy oil at the consecration of the church,
there are four other dedication crosses in the choir
on the western face of the piers between the haikal
and the aisle-chapels. These crosses in the choir
are each enclosed in a circular border, no less than
20 in. in diameter: they are of the form called patonce,with the end of every branch cleft into three leaves,
or rather a central pointed leaf between two half
leaves. Both crosses and borders are filled with
arabesques or other graceful tracery : the whole
design is in plaster.
Here, as at Anba Bishoi, the haikal-screen con-
sists of a pair of lofty folding-doors, each in two
leaves;and here also, instead of opening back and
showing the whole interior of the sanctuary, the four
leaves have been permanently fixed, and the two
inner leaves have been sawn through in such a
manner that while the upper part of each remains
immoveable, the lower swings open on hinges. Theresult of course is a fixed opaque iconostasis, with
a low doorway in the centre, agreeing with the
fashion which seems to have arisen in the eighthor ninth century. The carvings upon this screen
stand out in very bold relief, and, though purely
conventional, are singularly beautiful.
As usual, all three chapels are rectangular; but
the haikal contains a niche so large as almost to be
worthy the name of an apse. The floor of the niche
is, however, raised so far above the floor of the
haikal as to remove all doubt of the architect's
intention. In the north-west corner of this sanc-
tuary one may notice, embedded in the wall, a
OH. vii.] Desert Monasteries. 33 1
piscina of earthenware ;the monks told me that
the priest washes his hands here before the mass,
but after the mass at the altar. The three altars
are undivided except by screens a very unusual
arrangement in the desert churches;
but each
is overshadowed by a lofty dome.
On the whole one may call the church rather
basilican than Byzantine, rather Coptic than basi-
lican. The nave is divided from the aisles at pre-
sent by massive piers ;but these in some cases
obviously, and conjecturally in all cases, enclose
marble columns of fine proportions. In one or
two places capitals are dimly visible;and a very
splendid early Corinthian capital projects clearly
from the wall in one corner westward of the south
aisle.
Among the fittings of the church one may notice
that the basin for the Maundy feet-washing occu-
pies its customary place in the nave floor;there are
two bronze coronse hanging before the haikal, with
the usual ostrich-eggs ;and in the haikal a larger
corona, 5 ft. high, built in three diminishing tiers.
But not a fragment now remains of the magnificentArab lamps of enamelled glass, several of which
Curzon saw in the church at the time of his visit;1
nor does one single specimen survive in any of the
churches of the desert.
Attached to the church of Al Adra are two
satellite churches or chapels, dedicated to Mari
Girgis and Al Amir Tadrus respectively. Theformer of these lies to the westward of Al 'Adra,
and is entered by a door opening out of the north
1 Monasteries of the Levant, pp. 95-6.
332 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vu.
aisle. Though now used only as a granary, it has
still a small haikal : the body of the chapel is nearly
square, and is covered with a dome. Curiously
enough the western wall contains three decided
niches, arched recesses which cannot have been de-
signed for aumbries, but would seem to indicate
the possibility of there having been a western altar;
of this, however, there are no other traces whatever
remaining, and the niches may have been meant
merely for lamps. The haikal is very small, onlyabout 8 ft. square, and nearly the whole area is
taken up by the altar, about which there is just
room to move. Over the altar is built a low domewith graceful ornamentation
;the eastern niche bears
signs of an ancient mural painting ;the north and
the south wall each have a shallow flat recess, with
arched heading. But the most noticeable thing of all
about this chapel of Mari Girgis is that the altar-
top projects beyond the sides about 3 in., with the
under edge bevelling inwards. This method of con-
struction, so common as to be almost universal in
the early altars of our western churches, is so rare
in the churches of Egypt that I know of no other
example.Al Amir Tadrus very much resembles Mari Girgis
in size and structure, but contains nothing of interest;
it opens out of the middle of the north aisle, which
it adjoins. We may pass on to the refectory, which
lies south-west of Al Adra, and which is worth a
visit merely for the rude antiquity of its furniture.
The room is a long, dark, vaulted chamber, lighted
only by two unglazed holes in the roof; the walls
are, or once were, adorned with a profusion of simpleand clumsy frescoes
;the table is formed by a solid
CH.VII.] Desert Monasteries. 333
bench of stone running down the middle of the room,
with lower stone benches ranged along either side :
and near the entrance there stands a curious ancient
book-rest of stone in the shape of a thick-limbed
letter Y, with short branches, and a large cross
sculptured on the stem. I cannot think that this
refectory is later than the fifth or sixth century.
One more chapel remains, that of the Archangel
Michael, which is in the kasr or tower : a small plain
uninteresting building. Here, however, lies a pile
of loose leaves of MS., which cover nearly half the
floor of the^ chapel to a depth of about 2 ft. : and
here I thought at last was a real chance of undis-
covered treasure. So I spent some hours in digging
among the pile, in choking and blinding dust;armful
after armful was taken up, searched, sifted, and re-
jected. Here and there a tiny fragment of early
Syriac, Coptic, or even Greek on vellum;
half a
leaf of a Coptic and Ethiopic lexicon; several shreds
of Coptic and Arabic lexicons;countless pages of
mediaeval Coptic or Copto-Arabic liturgies : this wasthe only result of the most diligent search, and the
quest ended in final disappointment. The monkswere very good-natured, allowing me to take awaymy little pieces of worthless paper as memorials of
my visit, but declining with courteous firmness to
give or sell the whole collection of rubbish; for they
required the leaves, they told me, to bind their new
books, and all the paper in Cairo would not answer
their purpose so well.
We had much talk with the kindly old abbot, whowas in special distress because the lay council at
Cairo were threatening to sequester the revenues of
the monastery, and administer the estates as a sort
334 Ancient Coptic Churches. LCH. vn.
of ecclesiastical commission. The abbot had a greatidea of our influence with the English and Egyptian
governments, and surrounded his appeal to us for
counsel with some state and solemnity ;but our
answer conveyed cold comfort. The poor old manwas wearing a leathern girdle on our behalf, a more
serious matter than it sounds ;for it meant that
he was doubling all his offices, or, in other words,
making six hundred daily prostrations instead of
three hundred, and praying fourteen times a dayinstead of seven. He was, however, greatly pleasedto find that one of my clerical companions was also
wearing a leathern girdle ;and we spared him the
shock of discovering that it was only a revolver-belt.
Generally the monastery appeared more clean and
cared for than the others. Huntington found here
twenty-five monks two centuries ago, and the num-ber is about the same to-day. One among them is
remarkable for being able to read Hebrew and
Syriac ; for generally they have neither art nor
knowledge, beyond reading and writing Arabic and
sometimes Coptic. Certainly a great change for
the better has come over Al Baramus, since Son-
nini's visit one hundred years ago, if indeed one
can accept his obviously prejudiced story1
. He
1
Voyage dans la Haute et Basse Egypte. Paris, 1798; vol. ii.
pp. 179-207. Sonnini's account of his farewell to the monks of
Al Baramus is so amusing, and the work so little known in Eng-
land, that I may be pardoned for transcribing a few pages :
'L'un des Bddouins avoit tue' sur les bords d'un des lacs de
Natron un phdnicoptere, qu'il me prdsenta. Quoique ce fut un
assez mauvais gibier, il devenoit un mets de"licat pour gens qui
vivoient depuis plusieurs jours d'une rude abstinence. Mes com-
pagnons s'empresserent de le faire rotir : mais au moment ou nous
nous disposions a en faire un excellent repas, les moines se jeterent
CH. vii.] Desert Monasteries. 335
tells, for instance, that the reliquary is full of
donkey and camel bones, gathered at random in
the desert;
that the chalice and paten used at
celebration are of ordinary table glass ;that the
services are exceedingly disorderly ;and that the
dessus avec une voracite" comparable & celle de chackals, animaux
carnassiers et immondes, ddchirant lachement une proie facile et
ddgoutante qu'ils n'ont pas eu le courage de ravir, et dans un clin
d'oeil notre oiseau disparut sous les ongles et les dents de ces chackals
enfroque's.
'En nous disposant de quitter d'aussi vilains notes, je me pro-
posois de kur faire quelque cadeau, pour le se*jour ddsagrdable quenous avions fait parmi eux. Je reconnus bientot que j'avois affaire
a des hommes plus dangereux que les Bedouins, francs et gEnereuxdans leur amitid et qui conservent dans 1'exercice me~me de leurs
brigandages une sorte de loyaute'. Le Superieur me dit qu'il con-
venoit que je donnasse d'abord pour le monastere, ensuite pourrembellissement de 1'eglise, puis pour les pauvres, et enfin pour lui-
me'me. J'e'coutois patiemment cette longue Enumeration de besoins,
et curieux a savoir jusqu'a quel point on en dleveroit la valeur, je
demandai quelle seroit la somme suffisante pour y subvenir. Apres
quelques instants de supputation, le moine me rdpondit que le cou-
vent ayant besoin d'etre blanchi en entier, il pensoit que cinq a six
cent sequins rempliroient tous ces objets. Bagatelle, sans doute,
pour une pension de cinq jours au pain de lentilles et aux lentilles
a 1'eau. Je fis a mon tour ma proposition. Ma bourse sortoit des
mains des Arabes, qui me 1'avoient presque toute e'puise'e ;il m'en
restoit six sequins, que j'offris au Supdrieur. Nous dtions un peuloin de compte : aussi le moine entra dans une fureur difficile a
peindre ;il se rdpandit en invectives, et jura les saints de son e*glise
que je ne tarderois pas a repentir de ce qu'il appeloit mon ingrati-
tude. Le miserable osa invoquer la justice du ciel sur laquelle il
fondoit des esperances sacrileges, et qui, disoit-il, ne manqueroit pasde lui amener bientot des Arabes auxquels il indiqueroit ma route,
et qu'il chargeroit de sa vengeance. A ce trait mon sang-froid
m'abandonna et j'allois assommer le coquin sur la place, si les
Bedouins qui e'toient venus me chercher ne 1'avoient enleve et
soustrait a. mes coups.'
Je sortis enfin d'un sdjour infernal et j'e'tois pret a monter sur
336 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vn.
monks are unspeakably churlish, dirty, ignorant,and vicious. This highly flavoured description
doubtless owes much of its acidity to the fact that
Sonnini was robbed by the Beduins and narrowly
escaped murder, and that he quarrelled with the
monks. Altogether his journey seems to have been
extremely unpleasant, and his misfortunes soured his
remembrance. He got as far as Dair-as-Suriani,
which he says was better built,'
et les religieux m'ont
paru moins sales et moins stupidement feroces'(!),
and thence made his way back from the desert,
1'ane qui m'etoit destine quand le vieux moine me fit prier de lui
donner les six sequins que je lui avois offerts. Le scheick Arabe
s'e'toit charge de la commission, et a sa consideration je les remis.
Nous vimes alors le sce'le'rat faire, pour notre heureux voyage, une
priere au ciel, clont quelques minutes avant il invoquoit centre nous
toute la vengeance.' Get homme n'existe plus probablement : il e"toit deja vieux et
de'charne', et sa vilaine figure s'accordoit parfaitement avec la laideur
de son ame : son nom e*toit Mikael. Mais . . . il est tres important
de faire connoitre a nos concitoyens qui sont en Egypte, le carac-
tere de perfidie de ces pr^tendus religieux, car, a quelques nuances
pres, ils se ressemblent tous. Quels que soient les dehors qu'ils
affectent, Ton peut etre certain que leur haine contre les Euro-
pe*ens est plus profonde et plus atroce que celle des Mahometans, et
que leurs maisons dans le desert seront le point d'appui des excur-
sions des Bedouins, leur magasins d'approvisionnement, et le lieu
des deliberations propres a assurer le succes de leurs brigandages/Contrast this account with that of Rufinus, whose visit was in the
year 372 A.TX After telling how the monks ran out to meet him
with bread and water, escorted him in procession with chaunting to
the church and washed his feet, he remarks :
'
nusquam sic vidi-
mus florere charitatem, nusquam sic vidimus opus fervere miseii-
cordiae et studium hospitalitatis impleri. Scripturarum vero divi-
narum meditationes et intellectus atque scientiae divinae nusquamtanta vidimus exercitia, ut singulos paene eorum credas oratores in
divina esse sapientia.'
CH. vii.] Desert Monasteries. 337
angrily disdaining a visit to Abu Makar. One mayquestion whether the Frenchman's temper was not
somewhat overweening ; but, however that may be,
although the ignorance of the monks is generally
deplorable, they are good kind-hearted people, and
welcome strangers with the utmost power of their
simple hospitality. And so far from being avaricious,
they declined the coins we proffered with a quiet but
decisive dignity.
Not far from the monastery of Al Baramus, in
a westerly direction, there lies the great valley or
channel which the Arabs to this day call' Al Bahr
bila Ma,' or the Waterless River. No doubt it
represents an ancient branch of the Nile once flow-
ing westward of the Libyan hills, and reaching the
sea near Lake Mareotis ;but whether it parted
from the main stream near Dongola, according to
the tradition current in the Sudan, or from someother point further north, has not been decided. Afew years ago, when the western branch of the Nile
burst its banks near Bani Salamah, the stream, in-
stead of passing down along the Delta, rushed
through a gap in the range of hills, and forced its
way along the Waterless River;and this fact proves
that even so far north there is still a considerable
difference of level between the present river and the
ancient channel. In prehistoric times, ere the Nile
left its old bed, the whole intervening desert was
doubtless rich cultivated land;and traces of its
richness may still be found in the gigantic trunks
which lie scattered about the sands at the'
petrified
forest' beyond Al Baramus. The monks have a
characteristic legend for the scene;
for they relate
that the Waterless River was dried up at the prayersVOL. I.
338 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vn.
of St. Macarius, in order to punish the pirates, whose
depredations vexed the early Christian anchorites ;
and they point to the logs cumbering the groundas the wrecks of the pirate fleet, which was turned
to stone 1.
From Al Baramus we made our way back to our
camp at Anba Bishoi, whence we were to start di-
rectly on our homeward route across the desert.
Early on the morning of our departure the monks
requested us to attend a service in the church. Theymet us in the porch, their procession headed by a
large cross, which was wreathed in branches of olive
and palm and decked with burning tapers : and theywent before us singing and beating their cymbals,while the convent bell pealed, until we passed throughthe large church, and came to the chapel of Al'Adra.
We found the dim building illumined with scores of
tapers, which were planted on the lattice screen of
the choir and above the haikal door, and scattered
all over the reliquary containing the bones of Anba
Bishoi, or rather his body, which is said to rest within
it incorruptible. The cross was set upright in the
doorway of the haikal, and censers full of burningincense were swung till the air became heavy with
the fumes, while the monks united in chaunts and
prayers and earnest intercessions for our safety.
This little service was the last scene in our visit,
1 See Huntington, I.e., who however records little else of interest.
He describes Anba Bishoi as' non adeo rimis fatiscens ut cetera.'
Another traveller of not much later date, Le Sieur Granger, whovisited Egypt in 1730, is equally disappointing: giving little more
information than that neither at Abu Makar nor As-Suriani would
the monks allow him to enter the library. See Relation du Voyagefait en figypte, p. 179.
CH. vii.] Desert Monasteries. 339
but not the least impressive. Among those whocame to bid us farewell were some brethren from
Dair-as-Siiriani, and one poor monk from Al Bara-
mus, whose presence was somewhat pathetic. Hewas the proud possessor of one of three venerable
watches owned by the monastery, but silent from
time immemorial : and, unknown to the abbot, he hadentrusted his treasure to me, begging me to take it
to the patriarch, and pray his holiness to have it
mended. When the abbot discovered what had
happened, he was very angry, and made the poor
Loga start on foot across the desert at three o'clock
in the morning to catch us before we left AnbaBishoi. There was no help for it : so I unpackedthe watch and gave it back to the monk, whoreceived it with touching sorrow, and who doubtless
often mourns in secret over his disappointment andhis broken toy.
When our camels were all loaded and our beasts
got out of the low postern of the dair, we exchangedour last farewells and compliments without the walls,
where the abbot gave us a parting prayer and blessing.Thence we rode down towards the lakes, distant about
an hour's journey, and found their surface covered
with hundreds of flamingoes and other waterfowl of
brilliant plumage flashing in the sun. As we looked,
the flamingoes all rose together in a scarlet cloud, and
swept away over the water. We passed among the
great reed-beds, where the Beduins cut the reeds
which they make into mats;round the south end of
the lakes;then upwards, ridge over ridge, till at the
summit we paused, turned our horses' heads, and
looked back over the beautiful desert valley. Wewere now eastward of Dair Macarius, which did not
z 2
340 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vn.
lie quite on our homeward route, though it was still
the nearest in view : and all four monasteries were
visible together, Al Baramus just within the far
azure of the horizon. This was the view we had
missed on our arrival owing to the nightfall. It is a
sight beyond description, but never to be forgotten.
As we turned away, and the ridge behind us finally
closed the scene, shutting out the vast and shiningdesolation of the valley of the monks, we felt as if
we had been living with fifteen centuries of history
cancelled, moving in the ancient monastic world of
Egypt, undreaming of things to come : but now the
sense of reality rushed back upon us, and we found
ourselves alone in the desert.
CHAPTER VIII.
The Churches of Upper Egypt.
The Monasteries of St. Antony and St. Paul in the Eastern Desert.
The Convent of the Pulley. The White and the Red Monastery.Church at Armani. The Churches of Nakddah. Church at
A ntinoe. Miscellaneous.
P to this point the descriptions of churches
and places of interest in Egypt have been
drawn entirely from my own observation
and experience: but there now comes a
large branch of the subject which is still almost
absolutely unexplored, and to which I can unhappilycontribute nothing, except a collection of scantynotes derived from other travellers. The hurried
yet formal progress of the khedive, which I accom-
panied through Upper Egypt to the First Cataract,
did not give me a chance of a single visit to a
Coptic church : nor can I well hope ever again to
ascend the valley of the Nile. But it will be some-
thing to indicate some portion of the work which has
yet to be done, especially in these troubled times,
when the danger is lest a surge of Muslim fanaticism
should sweep away all the still unchronicled remains
of Christian antiquity, ere a'
learned rover'
can be
found to record them.
The number of monks and monasteries in UpperEgypt, from the fourth century onwards, seems to have
342 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vm.
been prodigious. Rufinus relates that in the regionabout Arsinoe he found ten thousand monks : at
Oxyrynchus the bishop estimated his monks at ten
thousand, and his nuns at twenty thousand, while the
city itself contained no less than twelve churches.
Pagan temples and buildings had been turned to
monastic uses : the hermitages outnumbered the
dwelling houses 1: in fact the land 'so swarmed with
monks, that their chaunts and hymns by day and by
night made the whole country one church of God.'
If one can believe these and the like stories, Egyptat this time was one vast convent ;
and the wonder
is that the nation was not extinguished by universal
celibacy. But, with all due allowance for oriental
weakness in arithmetic, it is certain that every town
of importance along the valley of the Nile had its
churches and friars, while many parts both of the
country and the desert were occupied by vast mon-astic settlements.
Among the earliest and most interesting of these,
though unfortunately also the most inaccessible,
must be counted the monasteries of St. Anthony and
St. Paul in the eastern desert by the Red Sea.
St. Anthony is generally called the first monk, but St.
Ammon, or Piammon, as he is often called in Coptic,was contemporary, if not earlier. It is Piammon of
whom the legend is told that he saw an angel stand-
ing at the altar, and recording the names of such
among the monks as received the eucharist worthily,
1 See Rosweyde, pp. 350, 363, especially the passage' aedes
publicae et templa superstitionis antiquae habitationes mine erant
monachorum, ct per totam civitatem plura monasteria quam domus
videbantiv.'
CH. viii.] Upper Rgypt. 343
omitting the others : and when he died, St. Anthonyis said to have seen his soul ascending to heaven.
How soon monasteries, in our sense of the term,
were built upon the sites hallowed by St. Anthony'sdevotions in the desert, cannot be easily determined ;
but it may be conjectured that the first foundation was
not long after the death of the saint. At present Dair
Mari Antonios is the largest of all the dairs of Egypt:a fact which in itself perhaps militates against its
claim to the remotest antiquity.
As the monasteries of the Natrun valley have
their little bases of supply in the Delta, so those of
the eastern desert depend for provisions on somesmaller dairs upon the Nile, one situated near Bani
Suif, and another opposite the village of Maidumcalled after St. Anthony
1. The church of St. Anthony
has already been briefly mentioned 3. I may add, on
Mr. Chester's authority, that the domes here and in
the adjoining Abu-'s-Sifain are supported bycolumns ;
and that the church contains an ancient chalice, and
several porcelain ostrich eggs painted with crosses
and figures of the cherubim. These porcelain eggsare now very rare, but one or two with Muslim
designs may still be seen in the mosque of Kait Bey,
without the walls of Cairo.
Tradition relates that St. Anthony lived here, but
the throng of wayfarers for ever passing up and down
1 My information about the eastern desert monasteries is derived
from Mr. G. Chester's' Notes on the Coptic Dayrs
'
(Arch. Journ.
vol. xxix), and from Vansleb's 'Nouvelle Relation d'un Voyagefait en figypte/ Paris, 1698. To the latter author also I amindebted for much material concerning the other churches men-
tioned in this chapter.2 P. 7-
344 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vm.
the Nile drove him to seek the seclusion of the
desert mountains : and Pococke heard from the
monks at the time of his visit that, owing to the special
sanctity of the spot, crocodiles were afraid to pass it,
and hence were never found in Lower Egypt. The
journey from Bush to the Red Sea monasteries
occupies about three days. According to Vansleb
there are two routes;of which the northern follows
the Nile for some distance, then turns to the right,
and passing a deep well in the natural rock filled with
water, leads in three easy stages to the convents.
The other, by which he himself travelled to avoid
encounters with hostile Beduins, trends south-east for
a day and a half, then due east, and requires four
stages. The monastery of St. Anthony lies on the
slope of Mount Kolzim, at the foot of a gigantic
precipice, and looks over the gulf of Suez to the
distant mountains of Sinai. It is oblong in shape,
girt by a lofty wall, and encloses about six acres of
ground. Unlike the Natrun monasteries, it has no
doorway at all, but man and beast are hoisted up by
pulleys on the wall. At the time of Vansleb's visit
the place was still in ruins, not having yet recovered
from the period of wreckage and desolation which
followed the murder of the monks, some four hun-
dred years ago, by the Muslim slaves whom they
iniquitously had purchased. But since that time
there has been a good deal of restoration. The
gardens are described as being very beautiful;
watered by a mountain stream, which gushes, clear
as crystal, from the rock ;and abounding in palms
and olives and the richest vegetation. Two hundred
years ago the monks had vines, from which theymade a sort of white wine, used at the mass and set
CH. viii.] Upper Egypt. 345
before any guest of distinction. Whether the vine
is now cultivated or not, I cannot say.
There are three churches within the monastery,besides the quite new church of Al 'Adra. That of
Anba Markus is dedicated to a brother of that name,an inmate of the convent in ancient times, who died
there in the odour of sanctity, and whose body is
preserved in the church. The building is roofed
with twelve domes. Similar in structure, but smaller,
is the church of the apostles Peter and Paul, which
Vansleb erroneously says is remarkable for possess-
ing the only bell in Egypt. Mr. Chester saw there
two ancient enamelled glass lamps, but nothing else
of interest is mentioned. Neither of these churches
is anterior to the period of abandonment : but the
third and most important, dedicated to St. Anthony,is extremely ancient
;indeed the monks aver that
St. Anthony was its builder. Even Vansleb is con-
vinced of its great antiquity, and remarks that it
is the only thing which escaped the violence of the
Arabs. Apparently1
it consists of narthex, nave,
choir, and haikal;the nave is divided from narthex
and choir by two stone screens : and the whole
church is covered by domes, except the choir, which
is vaulted. The altar stands at a considerable
elevation above the floor of the nave. All over the
walls of the church are remains of very rude and
early frescoes, which even in Vansleb's time were
blackened with smoke;which arose, not, as he thinks,
from ages of incense, but from the camp fires of the
Beduin. Yet a figure of Christ in glory encompassed
1 Mr. Chester's account is not as clear as could be wished.
346 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vm.
by angels, and other figures in the eastern niche, are
still discernible : and it is probable that with careful
cleaning nearly the whole might be recovered.
The square tower, resembling those in the western
desert, contains a chapel dedicated to St. Michael, a
library of books which deserve examination, a fine
processional cross of silver, a silver-mounted shade
held over the silver gospel on the occasion of the
annual procession to the cave of St. Anthony, and 'a
fine bronze lamp of at least as great antiquity as the
foundation of the convent itself.'
St. Anthony's cave lies outside the monastery,
higher up the mountain : it is a natural cavern in
the sheer face of the cliff with a ledge in front, and
seems one of a number of caves inhabited by the
early anchorites.
Two days' journey south of this monastery there
lies another, dedicated to Mari Bolos or St. Paul
not the apostle, but the friend of St. Anthony and
fellow-anchorite. Here too the story runs that
slaves were purchased, and joined in the conspiracywhich annihilated the monks of the eastern desert.
But this far convent has scarcely ever been visited
by a European traveller : and its beauties and its
treasures must be left to their ancient silence.
Before however quitting this part of the subject, it
will not be out of place here to give some particulars
of the rule of life observed at Mari Antonios, at the
time of Vansleb's visit, and doubtless unchanged at
the present day. The monks renounce marriage,
kindred, and possessions : they vow to live in the
desert, to dress in woollen habits with a leathern
girdle, to eat no meat and drink no wine, to use
abstinence and fasting, to pray and to work. All
CH. vm.] Upper Egypt. 347
but the abbot and the sick must sleep on a mat on
the ground, never removing their dress or their
girdle. They must say the canonical hours, and
every evening must make one hundred and fifty
prostrations, falling flat on the earth with outspread
arms, and making the sign of the cross each time as
they arise. These prostrations are called metanoe
or penance. Seven additional prostrations are re-
quired at church, one before each of the hours.
The monastic dress consists of seven vestments :
(i) a shirt of white wool next the skin : (2) a tunic of
coarse brown wool, which does not open in front : (3)
a black serge overall with wide sleeves : (4) a small
close-fitting hood of black serge : (5) a girdle of
leather : (6) a large mantle of black stuff with white
lining, seldom used except on journeys ; and lastly (7)
the' askim V or '
angelic habit.' Those who wearthe angelic habit are as few and far between as the
very angels ;for the wearer is bound to make three
hundred daily prostrations, and to undergo a special
system of almost impossible fasting and mortification.
All carry a staff in the shape of a tau-cross, on which
they lean while walking or praying ;and their head-
dress consists of a tarbush wound round with a white
and blue turban.
On fast days they eat but once a day, at three
o'clock in the afternoon; they have two meals on
Saturday and on Sunday. Fish is not forbidden, but
very rarely seen among them, although the Red Seais within an easy distance. At Eastertide they are
1 The word seems derived from the Greek <ryi\^.a ;but the Arabic
isj^X-^l
and the Coptic niJULOp6"ri<L, :
is said by Peyron to mean a' monastic girdle.'
348 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vm.
allowed eggs and milk, which are sent from the Nile
convents. Of the twenty inmates at the time of
Vansleb's visit only two were priests, the rest laybrethren ; and all were blind or deaf or lame, or
broken by age and by the terrible rigour of their
monastic rule1
.
Dair al Bakarah, or the Convent of the
Pulley.
We must now return to the valley of the Nile,
where the churches are legion, but for the most part
quite unknown. Some few, however, have been
visited from time to time by travellers, from whose
writings information may be gleaned enough to tan-
talize. Among the convents which have attracted
most attention is Dair al Bakarah 2,or the Convent
of the Pulley, which crowns the summit of a lofty
mountain rising sheer from the river. Gabal-at-
Tair, as the mountain is called, lies on the right bankof the stream, about halfway between Girgah andMiniah. The entrance to the convent is by a deepnatural shaft, cleft through the solid rock from the
summit to the base, where a cave opens on to the
river 3: and the ascent is generally made by a pulley,
whence the name of the monastery. The dair is a
1 Vansleb had the same unpleasantness with the monks at his
departure that Sonnini had when leaving Al Baramus; and, like
Sonnini, he encountered serious perils. See pp. 313-331.
See Curzon's Monasteries, p. 1 1 1 seq.
CH. viii.] Upper Egypt. 349
square enclosure, about 200 ft. each way, built ori-
ginally of hewn stone of Roman workmanship, but
showing considerable traces of Arab repairs.
The church is partly cut out of the solid rock, and
may be called subterranean. Curzon gives a plan of
it unfortunately without scale which I have bor-
rowed with a slight alteration, showing the southern
recess under the staircase. The body of the church
seems to lie in the open, only the choir and haikal
Fig. 25. Rock-cut Church at the Convent of the Pulley.
being actually hewn in the rock. Upon the columns
dividing nave from aisles and returned aisle there
rests a heavy wooden architrave. The choir is raised
about three feet above the nave, and is approached
by a double flight of steps a most unusual arrange-ment. Obviously the wooden screens of the choir and
of the haikal are mediaeval or modern;doubtless the
original haikal-screen consisted of folding-doors like
those still in use at Dair-as-Suriani. Deeply recessed
niches, showing as such on plan, are characteristic of
fourth century churches in Upper Egypt. Thechambers opening out of the choir north and south,
350 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vm.
though not described as containing altars now, were
no doubt originally chapels ;so that the church
possessed the normal number of altars. The dedi-
cation of the church, and indeed of the whole
monastery, is to Al Adra or the Virgin, and the
monastic legend ascribes its foundation to the
Empress Helena.
There is no reason to doubt the truth of the
tradition : and there is a curious point about the
church hitherto unnoticed. I mean its resemblance
to the rock-cut temple of ancient Egyptian work at
the not far distant town of Girgah. There is the
same descent by a flight of steps in each case 1
: the
vestibule of the temple is marked off from the aisles
and returned aisle in precisely the same manner, and
by the same number of columns, as in the church :
there is an ascent of steps corresponding to those
before the choir: and, omitting merely the central
hall of the temple, one finds a space like the choir at
Al 'Adra with rock-hewn chambers opening north
and south, and three recesses eastward, which do not
greatly differ from the Coptic haikal with its three
niches. The comparison is further borne out in a
remarkable manner by the fact that only part of the
temple is subterranean, and the part which stands in
the open is the pillared vestibule, answering to the
pillared nave of the Christian edifice.
It is of course not surprising that Coptic architects
should have been influenced by the magnificent
buildings of the ancient Egyptians : the wonder is
rather that this influence should not have been more
decided. For while it is easy to understand a studied
avoidance of pagan models, one would still expect to
1 See plan in Baedeker's Lower Egypt, p. 168.
CH. viii.] Upper Egypt. 351
find more generally some sort of likeness, somedetails at least reproduced by unconscious imitation.
The White Monastery.
Quite the most remarkable instance of resemblance
between Coptic and ancient Egyptian architecture is
found in Dair al Abiad, or the White Monastery, so
called from the white ashlar of which it is built. It
lies at the foot of the Libyan hills as far south as
Suhag, with some miles of desert intervening betweenit and the present bed of the Nile. It is a large,
quadrangular fortress-like building, having its outer
walls finished off upwards with a fine cornice, after
the manner of the old Egyptian temples. This cor-
nice is of white marble. The walls are relieved bytwo rows of small windows like loop-holes, one half
way up, the other near the top : there are twenty-seven 1 windows in each row on the north and south
side, and nine in each row on the east. At present,
however, all the windows are blocked up. Eachstone of the ashlar is 3 ft. to 4 ft. long and i ft. broad.
There were six gates, not of white limestone but of
red granite ; now, however, only a single entrance on
the south has been left open, called the mule gate,
from a legend which tells of a pagan princess whocame riding on a mule to desecrate the church, whenthe earth opened and swallowed her up. Accordingto an authentic tradition, the White Monastery wasfounded by the Empress Helena. The external di-
mensions of the dair are variously given, but seem
1 Curzon gives the number as twenty.
352 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vm.
to be about 240 ft. by 133*. Its dedication is to
Anba Shanudah 2. A splendid basilican church once
occupied the whole interior, with the exception of a
corridor along the southern side, in which were
crowded together the cells and other domestic build-
ings of the monks in two stories. The church had
133 -FEET - >
Fig. 26. Plan of the White Monastery.f
)
a true narthex with central western entrance : a cen-
tral passage divided the narthex into two portions
north and south, both of which were entirely walled
1 Vansleb makes the measurement 280 ft. by in; but this is
merely a rough calculation. Curzon gives 200 ft. by 90 ;but
Denon and Sir G.Wilkinson both give 250 ft. by 125.2 Pococke writes it 'Embeshnuda '; Sir G. Wilkinson, 'Anba
Shnoodeh or St. Sennode'
(!), deriving the latter name apparently
from Vansleb. Even Curzon is at fault about the name, calling
Sanutius a Muslim saint ! Doubtless this mistake arises from the
fact that the Copts, with prudent ingenuity, did manufacture a
Shaikh Abu Shanud for the benefit of their superstitious oppressors,
and so secured protection and reverence for the Christian shrine.
Shanudah, or cyeno*C"f~, as he was called in Coptic, lived in the
time of St. Cyril, and was famed for his theological writings.
CH. viii.] Upper Rgypt. 353
off the church. In the northern half of the nar-
thex are traces of the most magnificent decora-
tion, which roused the enthusiasm of Curzon, whose
description is quite worth quoting. It runs as
follows :
' The principal entrance was formerly at the west
end, where there is a small vestibule, immediatelywithin the door of which, on the left hand, is a small
chapel, perhaps the baptistery, about 25 ft. long, andstill in tolerable preservation. It is a splendid
specimen of the richest Roman architecture of the
later empire, and is truly an imperial little room.
The arched ceiling is of stone;and there are three
beautifully ornamented niches on each side. The
upper end is semicircular, and has been entirelycovered with a profusion of sculpture in panels, cor-
nices, and every kind of architectural enrichment.
When it was entire, and covered with gilding, paint-
ing, or mosaic, it must have been most gorgeous.The altar in such a chapel as this was probablyof gold, set full of gems ; or if it was the baptistery,
as I suppose, it most likely contained a bath of the
most precious jasper, or of some of the more rare
kinds of marble 1.'
From the arrangement of the chamber with its
apse and circlet of columns, one would rather imaginethat it served as a chapel than as a baptistery ;
and
this conjecture is made certain by the evidence of
Denon, who, in his adventurous travels during the
campaign of Bonaparte in Egypt, paid a visit to the
Red and White Monasteries, upon the day following
1 Monasteries of the Levant, p. 131.
VOL. i. A a
354 Ancient Coptic Churches. [OH. vm.
that on which they had been fired by the Mamelukes.
It is from Denon 1 that I have borrowed the plan in
the text, making such modifications or additions as
are warranted by his own or by independent infor-
mation : and it must be remembered that his de-
scription is thirty-nine years anterior to that of
Curzon. Denon very distinctly speaks of an altar
as standing within the apse of the narthex thoughit was adorned with neither gold nor gems in his
day : and not only does he place the baptistery in
the southernmost division of the narthex in the plan,
but in the text he expressly describes it as containinga '
superbe citerne/ a magnificent font or basin for
total immersion. This basin seems to have been
sunk in a platform of masonry, which was ascended
by a short flight of stairs. Here then it was that in
the days of the foundation of the church neophytesand proselytes were baptized, and immediately after-
wards received their first communion in the opposite
chapel : but it will be noticed that the baptistery has
its outer vestibule.
Regarding the adornment of the chapel, Denondoes not contribute much to our knowledge : but he
mentions that the columns round the wall were
joined by a circular architrave, with frieze and cor-
nice above, and that the whole entablature was
surmounted by a conch. Precisely the same archi-
tectural features are found in each of the three
eastern apses, which vary curiously from the usual
1 See Voyages dans la Basse et la Haute Egypte en 1798-9, par
V. Denon. London, 1807. The narrative is in vol. i. p. 157 seq. ;
the elevation and plan are given in the volume of plates, pi. x;the
description of the plate is in vol. ii.
CH. viii.] Upper Egypt. 355
disposition of the three eastern chapels in having a
sort of trefoil arrangement. The conch of the haikal,
as well as the conches of the other two apses, still
showed their original frescoes as late as half a cen-
tury ago : in the central conch was a large figure
of the Redeemer, while the paintings in the side-
chapels represented various saints. All three apseshad the curve broken by numerous recesses or
niches, which were very richly ornamented;and
if the plaster which now covers them were re-
moved, probably more frescoes or other ancient
decoration of great interest would be discovered
underneath.
The body of the church consists of nave and two
aisles, each aisle being divided from the nave by a
row of fourteen columns, carrying a classical archi-
trave. Most of the capitals are of late Corinthian
order, and Pococke remarks that many of them have
crosses carved among the foliage : but neither the
capitals nor the shafts seem to be uniform, as theywere taken from pagan buildings, and not designedfor the structure in which they are placed, as was the.
case in the adjoining Red Monastery. Vansleb ex-
presses great admiration for the capitals of the two
granite columns beside the door of the haikal. Headds that on one of the shafts was a Greek inscription,
recording the name of Heliodorus: while all over
the walls and the floor of the building, as well as on
the great staircase leading to the dormitories, one
might notice stones covered with hieroglyphics,
which were generally set topsy-turvy. At the time
of his visit all the columns were standing, although
the nave was already roofless.
If one may believe that the plan represents the
A a 2
356 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vm.
original arrangement of the church, it contains an-
other feature no less exceptional than the trefoil
arrangement of the apses, namely the position of the
aisle-chapels. These seem in the present instance
to be an addition to the regular complement of three
chapels, so that the church contains a total of five
eastern chapels : and if the two apsidal chapels at
the side are remarkable in not standing more nearlyabreast of the haikal, these two rectangular aisle-
chapels are still more eccentric in the very same
particular, standing as they do in the body of the
nave. They have too this further irregularity, that
neither chapel has any western doorway, but one
opens southward, the other northward. From the
general structure of the basilica, it certainly looks as
if these aisle-chapels were not originally walled off
from the aisles, and in fact did not exist : or if theyexisted originally, it was as part of the choir, and
not as separate chapels. Yet, in face of Denon's
explicit testimony, one cannot press a mere con-
jecture.
The ambon for the epistle, which stood in the
middle of the north aisle, rested on four heavycolumns, and was ascended by a short stone staircase.
It is described as consisting of two enormous blocks
of granite, but further details of its construction are
unfortunately wanting. The spot marked in the
centre of the choir seems to denote the ambon for
the gospel : it is lettered in Denon's plan, but
the explanation has been altogether omitted. It is
however decidedly not an altar : and the ambon in
the north aisle is specially described as being'
for
the epistle.' Only the choir and the haikal nowremain intact, and are still used for services. All
CH. viii.] Upper Egypt, 357
that could perish by fire perished in the flames which
Denon saw smouldering.About two miles from Dair al Abiad lies another
monastery, almost exactly similar in plan, and called
Dair al Ahmar, or the Red Monastery, from the red
brick of which the outer walls are built. It lies in a
small village sheltered by palms, instead of standingisolated in the open desert : it is rather smaller than
the White Monastery, but has an additional building
covering the well, which seems to have lain outside
the original enclosure. Its patron saint is AnbaBishoi 1
. From the plan given by Pococke 2 the
church seems to contain an Epiphany tank in the
centre of the narthex, and a basin for the Mandatumnear the western entrance of the nave. The northern
half of the narthex is apsidal, the apse of course
being internal, and columns are set against the apsewall. Apparently Dair al Ahmar is in better pre-
servation than its neighbour : for Pococke gives a
section of the nave which shows a continuous woodenarchitrave resting on the columns, with rather highlystilted relieving arches above, one between every
pair of pillars. The columns used for both these
Christian churches were probably taken from the
ancient Egyptian towns of Aphroditopolis or Athribis
in the vicinity : but Vansleb remarks, that, while
those at the White Monastery are of different shapesand sizes, here at the Red Monastery all the columns
are of uniform design and of one thickness : here too
the details of the enrichment are finer, and the
1 Pococke calls it 'Der Embabishai/ vol. i. p. 79.2 Vol. i. pi. Ixxi. p. 246: but I am afraid Pococke's plans are
not very trustworthy.
358 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vm.
capitals of the two pillars by the haikal-door Vansleb
declares to be the most beautiful he has ever seen.
The orientation of these churches is not exact, but
the axis points between N.E. and N.E. by E. in
both cases.
The buildings themselves are doubtless of the
fourth century, and must be ranked among the most
splendid remains of that epoch. It is curious that
Pococke, in mentioning them, should not class with
them the church at Armant, the ancient Hermonthis,near Thebes, which is built on almost precisely the
same model, and which Pococke insists upon regard-
ing as a pagan temple converted to Christian uses 1.
This church is of rectangular form, about 150 ft.
by 100 : it consists of narthex, nave, aisles, haikal,
and eastern chapels. The narthex and nave have
both a central western entrance : the narthex is
divided off eastward by a solid wall from the aisles :
but in the centre opposite the haikal the wall curves
out and forms a large apse projecting westward
into the narthex. It is therefore the external wes-
tern wall of the church, and the curve of this interior
apse which are divided by central doorways ; but it
is quite obvious that this western apse was designed
merely for symmetry, and can never have contained
an altar. The narthex itself shows a curious arrange-
ment, consisting of five chambers : of these, two on
the north and two on the south side are rectangular,
and were used probably for baptistery, places of
penance, or sacristies, while the central chamber is
of course irregular in shape, and served merely for
a passage. Although now in ruins this church must
1 Pococke gives a plan, vol. i. pi. xliv. p. 1 10.
CH. vin.] Upper Egypt. 359
have been extremely fine : for it has the advantageover the Red and White Monasteries in being a
double-aisled basilica, i. e. in having two parallel
aisles both north and south of the nave, and four
parallel rows of columns with eleven in each row.
Although the haikal wall is apsidal, the curve is
broken by five deep irregular recesses, and the apseis wholly internal. The side-chapels are rectangular.
The Churches of Nakadah.
About twelve miles north of Thebes, on the left
bank of the Nile, stands a very interesting group of
monasteries, just mentioned by name in Vansleb l and
Murray, but otherwise unknown in literature. Thefirst of these, which stands detached, is evidently a
Byzantine building, but differs in several particulars
1 Vansleb mentions (i) 'Deir il Salib,' or the Convent of the
Cross, (2)' Deir il Megma,' (3)
' Deir Mari Poctor,' and adds that
the two latter are uninhabited. Murray names four: (i) 'Dayr
es-Seleeb/ (2)'el Melak,' (3)
' Mari Boktee/ (4)' Mar Girgis.' If
Murray is right as against Vansleb in (2), the names should be as
follows: (i) Dair-as-Sullib, (2) Dair al Malak Mikhail, (3) Dair
Mari Buktor, (4) Dair Mari Girgis ;i. e. the monastery of the Cross,
the Archangel Michael, St. Victor, and St. George. For the plans
in the text I am indebted to Sir Arthur Gordon, who however has
been prevented by his absence in Ceylon from communicating in
time for this work the information needful to explain them. I have
not even been able to ascertain the dedication of the churches : but
the plans are so good and so interesting that I do not hesitate to
publish them : and from what Murray says one cannot be wrong in
identifying the second plan as that of Dair al Malak Mikhail.
36 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vm.
from those hitherto noticed. For there seems to be
a narrow atrium at the western end, with a single
entrance into the church : the narthex and the nave
are of equal length, and each is covered with a single
large dome, but at the angles of the nave dome are
placed four semidomes. Moreover, although the
aisles, which once extended from the choir to the
western wall, are now walled off at the narthex, and
are merely coextensive with the nave, still each of
the remaining aisles north and south retains the
I ANCIENT.
SHEDI/tVAL OR MOUERM.
O RUINS.
CHURCH AT NAKADAH.
Fig. 27. (Communicated by Sir Arthur Gordon.)
original arrangement by which it was divided into
two portions, with an archway between, each portioncrowned with an elliptical dome. The choir also is
subdivided into three parts, each with a dome of its
own. Eastwards the church has a plain apsidalhaikal with two square side-chapels, and an arch of
triumph : but it is worth notice that the front of the
haikal seems to have been open originally, or closed
CH. viii.] Upper Egypt. 361
only with a folding screen, precisely in the same
manner as the haikals of the churches in the western
desert. At present the centre of the haikal archwayis blocked by a short. wall of modern masonry, which
leaves two side-doors, one against each pier an ar-
rangement perhaps copied from one of the churches
at Dair al Malak : but each of the other chapels was
built with a single central entrance. The baptisterylies at the south-east corner of the sacred building,
through which alone it is accessible.
Dair al Malak, as will be obvious from the plan,
contains in itself a group of contiguous churches, of
which the most important in the centre is dedicated
to St. Michael. This church is one of the most re-
markable Christian structures in Egypt, possessingas it does some unique peculiarities. There are
four churches, of which three stand side by side in
such a manner that they have a single continuous
western wall. Two of the four have an apsidalhaikal with rectangular side-chapels, while the other
two are entirely rectangular : but the two apsesdiffer from all other apses in Egyptian churches by
projecting on plan beyond the eastern wall, and by
showing an outward curvature. They form a solitary
exception to the rule that the Coptic apse is merely
internal, and so far belong rather to Syrian architec-
ture than to Coptic. The principal church showstwo other features which do not occur elsewhere in
the Christian buildings of Egypt, namely an external
atrium surrounded with a cloister, and a central
tower with a clerestory. Here again we may, I
think, trace the work of an architect more familiar
with Syrian than with Coptic models. Possibly the
same remark may apply to the structure of the
CH. viii.] Upper Egypt. 363
iconostasis, which has two side-doors and no central
entrance, though this arrangement is not quite un-
paralleled in the churches of Upper Egypt, and maybe a later alteration. It will be noticed that the
church has a triple western entrance from the
cloisters l.
The northernmost of the group of churches has
also some points which deserve remarking ;for it
seems to have contained four or more altars instead
of three, unless indeed one of the rectangular spaceswas rather a baptistery an unlikely supposition.
Again, the structure of the body of the church is
most peculiar, there being no sort of division into
nave and aisles, but merely a series of columns set
in quadrilaterals, and joined either by beams or
arches. Lastly, the church seems to have had no
western doorway, but several western windows, with
a considerable splay inwards.
Of the remaining two churches, one seems re-
markable for the subdivision of both nave and aisles
by walls or stone screens, each into three compart-ments : it is curious too that the north aisle is con-
siderably wider than the nave, and the nave than the
south aisle. But the whole building, apparently, is
in a ruinous condition, the altars having been
demolished, and all the domes but two havingfallen. In contrast to this irregular structure the
last of the four churches is beautifully symmetrical,
but entirely different from any of the three former.
1 The steps in the north aisle seem to indicate the ambon, but
I have not been able to refer to Sir A. Gordon for information.
The arrangement of the doorway by the steps appears in any case
awkward.
364 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vm.
The nave is of unusual width in proportion to the
aisles, but the whole design is extremely gracefuland quite Coptic in character; except that here also,
as in the main church of St. Michael, the haikal-
screen is formed by a solid wall of masonry pierced
by a doorway at each side, but having none in the
centre. Towards the western end of the nave a
very fine Epiphany tank is sunk in the floor. Twocolumns and a pier divide the nave from each aisle,
one pair of columns standing against the western
wall, the other pair being detached. From the latter,
and from the isolated piers, arches spring in all four
directions, and carry domes above, which must be as
light and elegant in structure as they are beautiful
in design and arrangement. For of the nine, or
perhaps twelve, original domes eight are now re-
maining : of these only two are circular on plan, the
remaining six being elliptical. The elongation of
these ellipses is very bold and striking : indeed the
whole roofing of this church, as indicated in the plan,
is an architectural triumph.
The Convent of St. John, near Antinoe.
Two degrees further north than Nakadah, on the
right bank of the Nile, lie the ruins of the ancient
Antinoe, and near them the town of Madinah, where,
in an ancient quarry, may be found the subter-
ranean church of St. John, which is said to have
been built by the Empress Helena, the mother of
Constantine.
CH. VIII.] Upper Egypt. 365
Were there no mote of evidence besides to deter-
mine the truth of this tradition, the plan of the haikal
would decide it beyond question. The persistence
with which certain churches are ascribed to Helena,
by a people utterly ignorant of history or architecture,
CONVENT OF Si JOHNNEAR
ANTINOE
Fig. 29. (Communicated by Sir Arthur Gordon.)
is in itself remarkable : and it is still more remarkable
to find that these churches are always marked by a
particular form of haikal. Witness the Red andWhite Monasteries, the church at Armant, and manyothers. Indeed so regular is the coincidence, that a
deep apsidal haikal with recesses all round it, and
366 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vm.
columns close against the wall, may be almost in-
fallibly dated from the age of Helena. In these
churches there is no communication between the
haikal and aisle-chapels, the front of the haikal is
open, and the apse is of course internal.
But the church of St. John differs from those at
the Red and White Monasteries, in being of the
Byzantine rather than the basilican order, or in
containing that admixture of the two orders, which,
even at this early epoch, seems often to have been
characteristic of Coptic architecture. For while
the general plan of the building seems at first sightrather basilican, the narrow aisles, with lateral divi-
sions, the heavy piers at either end and in the middle
of the nave, the arches joining them, and the manydomes and semidomes of the roofing, are decidedly
Byzantine features. The narthex at St. John's is
unusually large, and has a fine western entrance
approached by a modern flight of steps from above.
This church is very rich in mural paintings, the
walls being covered with New Testament subjects
and figures of saints, which have their legends in
Coptic. The same is true of the adjoining chapel.
A great number of vast caverns hewn in the
mountains of this neighbourhood still bear witness
to the zeal of the early anchorites who frequentedthem : the inscriptions, crosses, and figures carved
upon the walls have never been examined. About
a mile further is another Christian settlement, called
the Dair of the Palm-Tree.
CH. vni.] Upper Egypt. 367
MISCELLANEOUS.
THE other churches of Upper Egypt are, alas,
mere names and shadows of a name;and their
number is so great that I cannot pretend to givethem all, even in a dry and barren catalogue of
names 1. Vansleb speaks of a rock-cut church of
the Virgin on a mountain near Siut;and near it
are the ruins of a monastery dedicated to St. Se-
verus, where once there were three hundred and
sixty monks all engaged in alchemy, searching for
the philosopher's stone, 'belle occupation pour des
gens qui ont renonce au monde et aux richesses' 2,
as the traveller drily remarks. Ten leagues from
Dandarah, westward of the Nile, he saw an ancient
convent dedicated to Anba Balamun, and another
near it called after Mari Mlna. At Ballianah was
a very fine underground church of the Virgin ;and
two convents at Bahgurah. Near Asnah is a
monastery dedicated to the Holy Martyrs, and built
by the empress Helena 3. Vansleb mentions also
another subterranean church beneath the church of
St. Gabriel, in the monastery of'
Casciabe/ in the
Faium 4. The upper church is said to have been
built by a retired magician named Ur, the son of
a still more famous sorcerer, one Ibrascit, who
1It scarcely needs remarking that Neale's list of Coptic mona-
steries (Eastern Church, Gen. Introd. vol. i. p. 119), which he calls
'correct,' and which gives twenty-six as the number for all Egypt,is ridiculously incomplete, and in itself a tissue of errors : for
example, it omits the desert monasteries altogether ;mentions six
only at Cairo, including one which does not exist;and gives such
names as ' The Two Swords,''
Beysheuy/ and ' Bersaun.'2
Voyage, p. 380.3
Ib. p. 406.4
Ib. p. 275.
368 Ancient Coptic Churches.[CH. vm.
married a king's daughter. Ur, abandoning his arts,
became bishop of the Faium and erected the church,of which the Virgin Mary laid the foundations,and St. Michael designed the choir and the other
details.
There are said to be several other ancient
churches in the Faium, such as those at the con-
vent of Kalmun 1: but their description has yet to
be written. It only remains to indicate a few other
sites of Christian buildings in Egypt and to close
this sadly imperfect chapter. At Bibbah, about
seventy miles south of Cairo, is a monastery to
which the Copts have attached the name of an
imaginary Muslim saint, Al Bibbawi, as their tal-
isman. The quarries of Suadi, opposite Miniah,
contain some remains of early Christian times.
Isbaidah, below Antinoe, is remarkable for someancient grottoes, in one of which a church has
been cut with an eastern apse. A few miles fur-
ther south the famous catacombs of Tal al Amarnashow frescoes, niches, and other traces of Christian
occupation. Dair al Kussair, on the same bank of
the river a little higher up, is said to date from the
time of Constantine. The Libyan mountains near
Siut are full of caves and tombs, once the dwelling-
places of Christian hermits. There is a Copticchurch at Tahtah, above Suhag. Akhmim was rich
in ancient churches, and the Convent of the Martyrs,mentioned by Al Makrizi, probably still exists. Thesame writer records a monastery of Musah, south
of Siut, and a church at Darankah dedicated to the
1 Al Makrizi says this is the only place where the famous Persea
grows. See Rev. S. C. Malan's Notes on the Coptic Calendar,
p. 6 1.
CH. viii.] Upper Egypt. 369
Three Children. Leo Africanus mentions the Con-
vent of Mari Girgis, at Girgah, as the largest and
richest monastery in gypt. Near Abydus is a
very ancient and curious monastery, within the ring-wall of what seems to be an old Egyptian fortress
or sacred enclosure ;it contains the church of Anba
Musas 1 and some satellite chapels, which togetherare roofed by no less than twenty-three domes. Thesanctuaries are all rectangular, and the architecture
generally Byzantine. The remains of another dair,
called the' Greek Court,' close to Anba Musas,
appear to be of the same antiquity.
In the Great Oasis of the western desert, which
lies a long way south-west of Abydus, the necropolis
by the temple of Al Khargah contains a Christian
church and many inscriptions in both Coptic and
Arabic, which have never been copied. Here, too,
among the most frequent devices on the walls of
the tombs, may be seen the tau-cross, the ancient
Egyptian emblem of life, which the early Coptsseem to have adopted before the Greek form of
the cross prevailed. Other Coptic and Arabic in-
scriptions are found in the Oasis, among the ruins
of Ad-dair.
Returning to the Nile valley one may remark, in
passing, a Coptic settlement at Hu, on the western
bank. A little further south was the island of Ta-
benna, where St. Pachomius retired with fourteen
hundred of his brethren and built monasteries;
but the shifting course of the river has long since
1
Murray's Egypt, vol. ii. p. 437. The spelling of the Arabic
names in Murray is unfortunately very haphazard, and the descrip-
tions of Coptic churches, where intelligible, are not as a rule
accurate.
VOL. i. B b
370 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vm.
annexed the island to the mainland. Ad-dair below
Dandarah, as the name declares, is of Christian
origin. Kibt, the ancient Coptos on the eastern
bank, the town from which it is at least plausible
that the Copts are called, is still a mine of Christian
antiquities, although it never recovered from the
wreck of the Diocletian persecution. At Madinat
Habu, near Thebes, a Christian chapel was built
in one of the courts of the great temple ;and the
name Dair al Bahari, or the Northern Monastery,is an abiding witness to the site of other religious
buildings in the vicinity.
Two ancient monasteries still survive near Asnah,one dedicated to St. Matthew, the other to SS. Ma-naos and Sanutius. The latter church, which is said
to have been founded by the empress Helena, con-
tains some very ancient mural paintings of figures
with legends in Coptic, besides sepulchral inscrip-
tions, among which occurs a stone graven with the
labarum 1,
a symbol which does not occur else-
where in Egypt within the writer's knowledge.From this point down to the First Cataract even
the names of the churches are unrecorded, thoughso large a tract cannot be devoid of Christian anti-
quities ;for the traces of the religion of the cross
are found to the remotest south of Egypt. Part
of the great temple of Isis, on the island of Philae,
was turned into a Christian church, and dedicated to
St. Stephen, in the sixth century, as the sculpturedtokens on the walls still testify. Tafah, close uponthe tropic of Cancer, contains a temple, which was in
like manner converted to Christian uses; jupon the
1
Murray's Egypt, vol. ii. p. 506, is my authority for this state-
ment.
CH. viii.] Upper Egypt. 371
walls is graven a calendar, dating from the fourth or
fifth century. The temple at Amadah, near Korosko,is another instance of a pagan fane adapted to Chris-
tian worship ;and the region about Abu Simbal is
rich in monuments, which prove that even there the
religion of Christ was carried by the Copts, who fled
for shelter from the fury of Diocletian.
So must end the confused and broken tale.
Enough has been said, however, to show what workmust yet be done in order to give the world anythinglike a complete account of the Christian antiquities
of Egypt. Remains so vast in extent, so venerable
in years, so unique in character, so rich in knownand unknown possibilities of interest, are surely as
well worthy of research and exploration as the
colossal monuments of pagan Egypt. Yet day by
day they are perishing, unknown to western travel-
lers, and little regarded by the Copts themselves;
and nothing, absolutely nothing, has been done or
is doing to rescue them from oblivion, or to save
them from destruction 1.
1 There is an Arabic MS. of the highest interest in the Biblio-
theque Nationale (No. 307 in the new catalogue), the title of which
is'
History of the Monasteries of Egypt.' This precious document
is unique, and I have been unable to obtain a loan of it, or even to
consult it, in time for publication.
B b 2
INDEX TO THE FIRST VOLUME.
ABLUTIONS, pp. 16. 23.Acanthus 323.Address at monastery 328 n.
Alb, see Vestments.
Alchemy 367.Alms 134. 138. 218.
Aloe 207.Altar 1-36. 113. 196. 201. 202.
221. 240.300. 305.314.329.354-
-canopy, 60. 63. 68. 91. 113
seq. 120. 121. 193. 196. 223.
225. 235. 254. 300. 324.-
casket, see Ark.- slab 222. 228. 305. 332.Ambon 27. 50. .84. 218. 236.
3 11 - 356Amice, see Vestments.
Ammon, St. 289. 342.Amnis Traianus 178.Anchorites i. 51. no. 131. 147.
366.
Angelic habit 347.
Apse 33 seq. 107. 141. 153. 208.
221. 222. 239. 361. etC.
Architecture, ancient Egyptian350- 35 1 -
-Byzantine 5 seq. and passim.
-Syrian 34. 37. 183. 230. 361.
Architrave 18. 137. 188. 214. 237.
354- 357- etc.
Ark or altar-casket 67. 102. 109.
240. 255. 285.
Armlet, see Vestments.
Art, Coptic 69. etc.
Aster or asterisk 260. 268. 285.
Aumbry 62. 68. 198. 222. 325.
Babylon 155 seq. 171. 172. 179.
234-
Baldakyn, see Altar-canopy.Banner 239. 327.
Baptistery 17. 41 seq. 80. 115.
117. 138. 144. 149. 186. 203.22 5- 3i3- 354- 36j -
Barsum al 'Arian 77.Basilica 3 seq. 169. 359. etc.
Basin, see Ewer.
Beduin 289. 290. 293. 296. 354 n.
336. 339- 344- 345- 358-Bells 72. 138. 269. 285.315.327.
338. 345-Bema 32.Bird 170. 276.Burial 92.
Camel 242.Candelabrum 58. 84. 96. 102.
108. 130. 138. 239. 240. 253.260. 281. 324.
Carpet 101. 279.Cave 368.
of St. Antony 346.
Censer, see Thurible.
Centaur 277.Chair of patriarch 186.
Chalice no. 198. 234. 268. 285.
343-
Chapels, exterior 13.- side 40 seq. and passim.- western 183. 352-354.
Chasuble, see Vestments.
Choir 24 seq. 214. 300. etc.
Chrism 108. 112.
Chrismatory 74. 142.
374 Index.
Churchyard 45. 246.
Clerestory 21. 361.Cloister 361.Columns 79. etc.
Cope, see Vestments.
Coptic writings 57. 89. 108. 189.
225. 244. 303. 366. 369. 370.Corbel 329.Corona 67. 115. 259. 268. 313.
319. 322. 331.
Corporal 225. 268. 285.Cresset-stone 142.Crewet 239.Crewet-holder 141. 324. etc.
Cross, benedictional 260. 268.
281.
golden 54. 82. 186.
of consecration 137. 188. 215.216. 265. 274. 304. 318.
33--
processional 126. 198. 225.
234. 239. 255. 260. 338. 346.-
sculptured on capitals 229.
249. 274. 303. 355.
Crown, bridal, see Marriage diadem.
Crozier 54. 82.
Cruciform groundplan 6.
Crutches or staves 50. 347.
Crypt 78. 199.Curtain 29. 30. 89. 99. 193. 195.
196. 284.
Cymbal 138. 268. 327. 338.
Dalmatic, see Vestments.
Death of the Virgin 108. 322.
Dedication, inscription of 146.Desert monasteries 17. 127. 233.
234. 286-348.Diadem, sec Marriage.Diakonikon 32.
Dolphin 277. 282.
Dome 5 seq. 138. 145. 184. 197.
278.299. 302. 310. 313. 314.
322. 324. 331. 364.- eucharistic vessel, see Aster.
Door lo-n. 75. 76. 182. 257.
296. 309.
Door, folding 311. 323. 344. 361.Dosseret 150.
Dragon 58. 276. 282.
Eagle 112. 192. 242. 276. 279.
Embalming 92 n.
English in Egypt 303.
Entrance, greater and lesser 29.
Ephesus 5.
Epigonation, see Vestments.
Epiphany ceremony 81.
tank 17. 22-23. 4 2~43- 49- 81.
138.185.216. 325.357. 364.
Epitrachelion, see Vestments.
Eulogiae 207.Eusebius 30. 37. 40.
Evil eye 207.Ewer and basin 113. 141.
Exorcism 107.
Fan, see Flabellum.
Fasting 347.Fish 107.Flabellum 194. 198. 260. 266.
Font 62. 115. 117. 203. 226. 253.
354-
Fresco, see Mural painting.Frontal for altar 225.
for lectern 138.
Gallery for women 19. 79. 184.2 37-
Gazelle 170. 191. 242.Girdle 127. 334.
Girdle, see Vestments.
Glassworks 288.
Good Friday 188. 198.
Gospel, book of, see Textus.
carried in procession 126. 234.
Gospel-stand 62. 227.Griffin 242.
Grotesques 239.Guestroom 64. 77. 210. 237. 248.
295.
Hagioscope 29.
Haikal, see Sanctuary.
Index. 375
Hare 242.
Harpy 277.
Healing the sick 272.
Hieroglyphics 270. 355.
Holy water 208.
Hood, see Vestments.
Iconostasis 29. 30. 68. 323. etc.
double 32.
Illumination 99.
Images 36. 40.
Imposition of hands 272.Incense 29. 126. etc.
Ireland 14.
Ivory 87. 148. 220. 304. 323. etc.
Jesse-tree 269. 275.
Key 258.
Kissing curtain 29.
Korban 71. etc.
Labarum 370.Ladder 277. etc.
Lakes in desert 339.
Lamp 36. 55. 84. 89. 113. 154.
163. 197. 198. 228. 248. 259.
265. 268. 272. 279. 281. 331.
345- 346.Lectern 99. 138. 253. 284.
Legend 125. 126. 127. 207. 231
seq. 306. 308. 337. 342.
3 6 7-
Library 315. 326. 333. 346.
Lights, ceremonial use of 51. 82.
123. 272. 275. 282. 338.Lion 121. 131. 140. 242.Lotus 226.
Mandarah, see Guestroom.
Mandatum, see Washing of feet.
Marble 36 seq. 223. etc.
Marriage diadem 268.
Melkites 156. 157. 169. 179.
Mercurius, St. 76. 127. 306. etc.
Monastic buildings 14. 69. 252.2fi6.
Monastic churches, see Desert
monasteries.- dress 347.
Monasticism i.
Monuments 45-46.Mosaic 37 seq. 50. 84. 197. 223.
226. 302. 314.
Mosque 24. 36. 37. 39. 71 bis.
127. 179. 231. 232. 235.Mount Athos 24.
Mummy 91.Mural painting 61. 112. 139. 144.
186. 216. 225. 243 seq. 254.
259- 2 99- 30- ZOi-W'&fr314.322.326.332.345.355.366.368. 370.
Mushrabiah 63. 122. 131. 138.
144.Music 234.
Narthex i6seq. 352. 357. 366.etc.
Natrun lakes, see Desert monas-teries.
valley, see Desert monasteries.
Nave 15 seq. etc.
Niche 36. 300. 353. 355. 368. etc.
Nile, rise of 269.Nimb 90. 130. 153. 187. 193. 240.
322 etc.
Nitria 288.
Nunnery 128. 271.
Oasis, the Great 369.Oil of the sick 303.
Omophorion, see Vestments.
Opus Alexandrinum, see Mosaic.
Orb 140.
Orientation 10. 358.Ostrich egg 55. 163. 240. 281.
3i3- 33 1 -
of porcelain 343.
Outbuildings 43.
Oven for eucharistic bread 71.116. 297. 297 n.
Pall, see Vestments.
376 Index.
Palm 140. 207.Paten 261. 285.
Patrashil, see Vestments.
Peacock 242.Pictures 50-60. 101-108. 139-
140. 151-152. 189. 194. 219.222. 240. 280. 285. 315.
-glazed 1 02.
perspective of 94. 98.
Pilgrim 12. 69. 73. 269.Piscina 226. 302. 331.
Pottery, coping of, 65.- cruse or chrismatory 73.
Prayer, manner of 293. 308. 339.
Procession, 205. 327. 336. 338.Prostration 334. 347 bis.
Prothesis 32.
Pulpit (see also Ambon) 137. 188.
275. 277. 281. 311. 319.
Pyramid 144. 251.
Pyx 108. 195.
Refectory 297. 325. 332.Relics 78. 84. 139. 140. 219 bis.
223.240. 259. 282. 304. 313.
322. 338.
Relieving arches 18. etc.
Restoration 209. 236. 249. 287.Roman architecture 155 seq. 353.- mortar 156.- sewer 170. 177.Rood 275. 324.Roof 9-10. 80. 123. 136. 184.
310.
Rosary 131.Rubbish mounds 71. etc.
Rule of life 346.
Sacristy 83. etc.
Sakkiah 309.
Sanctuary 27 seq. etc.
Sanutius or Shanudah 352 n.
Screen 22. 28. 31. 190. 212. 220.
241. 301. 324. 330. 361.
364. etc.
- of stone 26. 30. 319. 320. 323.
Serpent 112. 279.
Service books 135. 265. 268.
Shamlah, see Vestments.
Shrine 145. 240. 269. 272. 275.282.
Sleeve, see Vestments.
Solea 25. 189. 214.
Spoon, eucharistic 120. 260. 268.
Star, eucharistic, see Aster.
Statues, see Images.
Stole, see Vestments.
Stoup 24.
Structure, general 1-46.Stucco work 311. 324. 325. 330.Subterranean church 349. 364.
367 ter. 368.Svastica 133.
Symbol, apocalyptic 93. 106. 114.etc.
- of Trinity 133.
Synagogue 169.
Syriac 31. 323. 324.
Tamarind 318.Tank for mandatum 23. 136. 185.
etc.
Tau-cross 369.Textus 89. 96. 255. 260. 266. 281.
Throne 35. 77. etc.
Thurible 96. 102. 108. 138. 195.
240. 260. 265.
Tiles, Damascus or Rhodian 112.
120. 121. 153. 163. 224. 276.
277.Tomb 45-46. 246. etc.
Tower 15. 298. 303. 315. 326.
333- 346.
Transept 215. 236.
Triangle 327.Tribune 35. 80. in. 141. 221.
276. 300. 313.Triforium 12-13. J 9- 2I - I 5-
255. 274.Tris 291.Turban 347.
Upper aisle, see Triforium.
Upper Egypt 2. 341 seq.
Index, 377
Vaulting, pointed 329.
wagon 9. 49. 63. 150. 1 60.
184. 215. 255. 274. 319.
Vaults, burial 135.Veil 134.
Vessels, gold and silver 232.Vestments-Alb 98. 153. 187.Amice 186.
Armlet or sleeve 187. 262-263.
SIS-Chasuble 98. 153. 187. 304 bis.
Cope 139. 153. 187. 304. 315.Dalmatic 89. 139. 153. 195!260. 266. 315.
-Epigonation 299. 304.
Epitrachelion or patrashil 98.
139. 262-263. 2 66.
- Girdle 187. 262-263. 3*5-- Hood 139.
Omophorion or pall 89. 108.
216. 315.
Vine in Egypt 344.
Wafer, stamped no.
Washing of feet 23. 81. 292.
311. 322. 329 n. 331. 336 n.
357-Waterless River 337.Well 44. 116. 135. 190. 201. 309.
357-Window n. 185.- in screen 29. etc.
of coloured glass 224. 225.
279. 299. 311. 313. 324.
Wine, eucharistic 298. 344.
Wine-press 115. 277.Women's place in churches 1 9-22.
43- 79- M7- 243-
Wood-carving 123. 163. 191. 241.2 99- 301 - 3 J 4- 330-
Zizyphus tree 130.Zoan 2.
END OF VOL. I.
GETTY CENTER LIBRARY
3 3125 00775 8887
THORNTOV X, <;
No.
No. OG-
l djlj J
DE [/INSTRUCTION PUBLIQUE
MUSEE COPTE
Billet d'entree au Musee
Prix 10 IVlilliemes
THE
Ancient Coptic Churches
f
VOL. II.
Uontron
HENRY FROWDE
OXFOKD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE
AMEN CORNER
A Coptic Painting.
THE
Ancient Coptic Churches
of Egypt
BY
ALFRED J. BUTLER, M.A. F.S.A.
Fellow of Brasenose College^ Oxford
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOL. II.
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1884
[ All rights reserved~\
CONTENTS
OF THE SECOND VOLUME.
PAGE
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xi
CHAPTER I.
THE COPTIC ALTAR. PORTABLE ALTAR. FITTINGS OF THE
ALTAR. COVERINGS OF THE ALTAR i
CHAPTER II.
EUCHARISTIC VESSELS AND ALTAR FURNITURE. CHALICE.
PATEN. DOME OR ASTER. SPOON. ARK OR ALTAR
CASKET. VEILS. FAN. EWER AND BASIN. PYX.
CREWET. CHRISMATORY. ALTAR -CANDLESTICKS.
TEXTUS. GOSPEL-STAND. THURIBLE. BRIDAL CROWN 37
CHAPTER III.
THE FURNITURE AND ORNAMENTS OF THE SACRED BUILD-
ING. AMBONS. LECTERNS. RELIQUARIES. LAMPS AND
LIGHTS. CORONAE. OSTRICH EGGS. BELLS. MUSICAL
INSTRUMENTS. MURAL PAINTINGS. PICTURES . . 64
viii Contents.
CHAPTER IV.
PAGE
THE ECCLESIASTICAL VESTMENTS OF THE COPTIC CLERGY.
PREVIOUS AUTHORITIES. DALMATIC. AMICE. GIRDLE.
STOLE. PALL. ARMLETS . , . . , .97
CHAPTER V.
ECCLESIASTICAL VESTMENTS (CONTINUED). PHELONION.
CROWN OR MITRE. CROZIER OR STAFF OF AUTHORITY.
PECTORAL CROSS. PROCESSIONAL CROSS. SANDALS.
BENEDICTIONAL CROSS. EPIGONATION. ROSARY . .173
CHAPTER VI.
BOOKS, LANGUAGE, AND LITERATURE . , , ,239
CHAPTER VII.
THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS. BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION.
EUCHARIST. PENANCE 262
CHAPTER VIII.
THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS (CONTINUED). ORDERS. MATRI-
MONY. ANOINTING OF THE SICK . . . . ,301
CHAPTER IX.
VARIOUS RITES AND CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. THE
HOLY OILS. CONSECRATION OF A CHURCH AND ALTAR.
CONSECRATION OF A BAPTISTERY. FESTIVAL OF EPI-
PHANY. PALM SUNDAY AND HOLY WEEK. SEASONS OF
FASTING 330
Contents, ix
CHAPTER X.
PAGE
LEGENDS OF THE SAINTS. LEGEND OF ABU-'S-SIFAIN.
ANBA SHANUDAH. MARI M!NA. MAni TADRUS. MARI
GIRGIS. ABU KlR WA YUHANNA. YAKUB AL MU^ATT'A.
THE FIVE AND THEIR MOTHER. ABU NAFR. ANBA
BARSUM AL 'ARIAN. THE VIRGIN'S ASCENSION. SIMAN
AL HABIS AL 'AMUDI. MAR!NA. TAKLA. ABU SlKHt-
RUN. ST. SOPHIA. ST. HELENA. THE FINDING OF THE
CROSS. GIRGIS OF ALEXANDRIA. ANBA MAHARUAH.
ST. MICHAEL. ANBA ZACHARIAS. PETER THE PATRI-
ARCH. ANBA MARKUS 357
INDEX TO VOL. n 405
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. II.
PAGE
A Coptic Painting . . . - . ... frontispiece
Coptic Altar'
. . . . . . . . 4
Marble Altar-slab . . ...... . 8
Altar-top showing marble slab inlet . ... . . . 8
Marble Altar-slab pierced with drain ... . . 9
Consecration Crosses"
. .21Silk Curtain with massive silver embroidery, before the Haikal
door at Al Mu'allakah . . . . . . . 31
Various pieces of Church Furniture .41The Hasirah or Eucharistic Mat . . . . . -45Flabellum in repousse silver . . . , . . . 47
Processional Flabellum of silver-gilt used by the Melkite
Church of Alexandria . .-
. .... 49
Textus Case of silver-gilt . . . . . . .58Gospel-stands with Prickets for Candles . .... -59Bridal Crown . . . . . . . . . . 62
Ivory-inlaid Lectern at the Cathedral in Cairo ... 66
Ivory-inlaid Lectern (back view) . . . . . .67Ancient Iron Candelabrum at Abu-'s-Sifain . . . .70Glass Lamp at Sitt Mariam . . . . . .72Bronze Lamp at Dair Tadrus -73Seven-wicked Lamp of Iron for the Anointing of the Sick . 76
Specimens of Altar Candlesticks . . . . . .76Embroidered Dalmatic . . . . . . . .noShamlah (back and front view) . 119
xii List of Illustrations.PAGE
Patrashil of crimson velvet embroidered with silver . .130
St. Stephen : from a painting at Abu Sargah . . . -137
Seal of the Coptic Patriarch . . . . . . . .151
Fresco at Al Mu'allakah .. 156
St. Michael : from a painting at Abu Sargah . . . . 159
Armlets at the Church of Abu ir . . . . . .167
The Crown of the Coptic Patriarch ...... 205
Priestly Cap 211
Coptic Crozier 220
Benedictional Cross and small Amulet Crosses . . . 232
Head of Processional Cross of silver 234
Wafer or Eucharistic Bread 278
THE
ANCIENT COPTIC CHURCHESOF EGYPT.
ERRATA.
Page 1 1 8, 1. 19, for and read or
163, 1. 2, for HI read ttl
281, 1. 23, for unfermented, and read not unfermented, but
,, 326, note 3, for Oo> read cioj (bis
376, 1. 32, for Ishac read Ishak
[Butler's 'Ancient Coptic Churches,'' Vol. II.}
1 G. P. Badger, The Nestorians and their Rituals, vol. i. p. 228
(London, 1852).
VOL. n. B
xii List of Illustrations.PACK
Patrashil of crimson velvet embroidered with silver . .130
St. Stephen : from a painting at Abu Sargah . . . .137Seal of the Coptic Patriarch . . .>-,. . . -151
Fresco at Al Mu'allakah .. .
'
. . . . . .156St. Michael : from a painting at Abu Sargah . . . .159Armlets at the Church of Abu Kir . . . .' . .167
The Crown of the Coptic Patriarch ...... 205
Priestly Cap 211
Coptic Crozier 220
THE
ANCIENT COPTIC CHURCHESOF EGYPT.
CHAPTER I.
Of the Coptic Altar.
Altar. Portable Altar. Fittings of the Altar. Coverings of the
Altar.
ETYMOLOGICALLY
the Coptic term for
altar seems to correspond very closely with
the Greek. For JUL<LnepojU3Ocyi, which is
the ordinary word, means '
place of makingsacrifice': nor is the significance of this etymologylessened by the fact that the remote root in ancient
Egyptian, from which the Coptic cycoocyi is derived,
has rather the meaning of 'placing' or 'leaving*than of sacrifice. In point of usage ctjuxxyi con-
veyed the idea of sacrifice to the Copts and noother. Accordingly we find the corresponding Arabic
word used in the liturgies and in common speech is
*>&<* (madbah) derived from ^><3 which means to
slaughter, so that the idea is clearly that of a sacrificial
structure like the Bwiao-Tripiov of the Greek Church.
The same word madbah is used now by the Nes-
torians 1. The Greeks often call the altar the holy
1 G. P. Badger, The Nestorians and their Rituals, vol. i. p. 228
(London, 1852).
VOL. II. B
Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. i.
table (dy/a TpdVe^a), and in Latin the term ' mensa'
or 'sancta mensa' is sometimes used for 'altare.'
Thus in a letter of Pope Nicholas I.' mensa effici-
tur :' and Fortunatus 1
says the name is given'
quodest mensa Domini, in qua convivabatur cum disci-
pulis.' But the Copts are not apparently conscious
of any such symbolism, nor do they commonly if
ever speak of the altar as a table; although they do
regard it under two other symbolical aspects, as
representing the tomb of Christ and the throne of
God. The manner in which these types are figuredin the ritual and decoration of the altar will appearin the sequel.
Every altar in a Coptic church is invariably de-
tached, and stands clear in the middle of its chapelor sanctuary. Though the haikal and the side-
chapels are usually raised one step above the choir,
the altar is never raised further on other steps, but
stands on the level of the floor ; yet an exception to
this rule is found in the desert churches, where the
altar is elevated on a step or platform above the
floor of the haikal. The custom of attaching the
lesser altars to the wall in western churches is doubt-
less very ancient;
but originally the high altar
always stood clear, so that the celebrant might movearound it. This is proved by the words of the
Sarum Rite 2,
' thurificando altare circueat,' and again*
principale altare circumquaque aspergat.' So too
in the Ecgbert Pontifical 3 we read '
in circuitu ipsius
altaris.' Gradually, however, the altar was moved
up to the eastern wall, and became attached and fixed
there, which, of course, was the usual though not
1 De Ecclesiae Officiis, torn. iii. p. 21.2 C. 25 and 28. s P. 40.
CH. i.]The Altar. 3
invariable arrangement in our churches before the
reformation. In the seventeenth century, after the
destruction of the ancient altars, in many places adetached communion-table was placed in the chancel
with benches against the wall all round it. This
arrangement was distinctively Puritan in character :
it still survives in one or two churches, such as the
interesting little Saxon church of Deerhurst near
Tewkesbury, and the chapel of Langley, Salop.The Puritans were probably not aware of their re-
version to primitive practice : and their thoughts, of
course, were very far removed from processions andincense.
The Coptic altar is a four-sided mass of brickwork
or stonework, sometimes hollow, sometimes nearlysolid throughout, and covered with plaster. It ap-
proaches more nearly to a cubical shape than the
altars of the western churches. It is never built of
wood *
(though very curiously the high altar at Abu-'s-
Sifain is cased in wood), nor upheld on pillars. Asa rule the structure of the top does not differ from
that of the side walls, but contains an oblong rect-
angular sinking about an inch deep, in which is looselyfitted the altar-board a plain piece of wood carved
with the device of a cross in a roundel in the centre,
A above and fl below this, and the sacred letters of
Sanutius IH XP YC 9C at the four corners. This
arrangement, by which the chalice and paten stand
at the mass upon a wooden base, while the fabric of
1I have heard a traveller speak of a wooden altar at Girgah
in the form of a table. In remote places such violations of right
and custom may occur through indolence, ignorance, or indiffer-
ence. But the evidence is not very weighty. Vide Arch. Journ.vol. xxix. p. 125 n.
B 2
:
PUou
Fig. 1.
CH.I.] The Altar. 5
the altar is of stonework, presents a complete and
singular reversal of the Latin practice : for the Romanrubric enjoins that, even where wood is the main
material of the altar, a tablet of marble or stone
must be placed for the sacred elements to rest uponat consecration.
On the eastward side in every altar, level with
the ground, is a small open doorway showing an
interior recess or cavity. Whether or not this door-
way was originally closed by a moveable stone or
board is uncertain : but there is in no case any signof the opening ever having been blocked or closed,
and no door-stone or the like exists in any church
to-day. The cavity is of varying size;but very
often it is nearly co-extensive with the altar, which
in that case consists merely of four walls and a topof masonry. Where the masonry is more solid, the
recess is still large enough to denote a usage rather
different from that of the corresponding recess in
western altars, e.g. in the sixth-century altar at the
church of Enserune and Joncels in H6rault. Thesehave openings in the back or eastward face, but high
up under the slab and of small dimensions. Thenearest approach in structure to the Coptic altar
occurs at Parenzo in the altar of St. Euphrasiusascribed to the sixth century
1.
In the Latin Church the altar was generally a solid
structure, and the top, at least in all historic times,
was required to be of stone or marble as an essential
condition of consecration. The top too had to be a
single slab projecting on all sides and forming a shelf,
The Greek Church to the present day retains its
1 La Messe, vol. i. pi. xxvii and xxxiv.
6 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. i.
ancient, more ordinary custom of supporting the altar-
top on four pillars. This top is of stone. Goarstates that the Greek altar was invariably a table,
open underneath and resting on four columns. But
in the office of dedication as given by the sameauthor 1
,it is expressly provided that the substructure
may be solid, consisting either of a single block of
stone, or of smaller stones in courses. But from the
earliest times the table-like form seems to have been
far more common. Thus Paul the Silentiary, in his
description of St. Sophia, says the altar of Constan-
tine was made of gold and silver and costly woods,and adorned with pearls and jewels. It was raised
on steps, and stood on golden columns resting uponfoundations of gold. The '
costly woods'
were doubt-
less used for some kind of inlaying or outer embel-
lishment, and cannot be taken to imply any sanction
of an entirely wooden altar, which does not seem to
have been canonical in any part of the Christian
world after the fourth century. Up to that date
wood was doubtless a common material in Africa.
Thus a wooden table is mentioned by Athanasius
and by Optatus bishop of Milevis c. 370 A.D.
Asseman states 2 that the altars of the Syrian
Jacobites and Maronites in the East were sometimes
of wood, sometimes of stone. So too in Gaul the
earliest altars were wooden. Yet stone altars were
used as early as the fourth century, and in more
historical times stone was the sole material recog-nized. Thus among the Nestorians wooden altars
are plainly prohibited by the canons : those of John,
fifty-seventh patriarch, in the tenth century ordain
that the altar must be fixed and made of stone in
1 Euchol. p. 832.2
Bibl. Orient, iii. 238.
.CH. i.]The Altar. 7
settled abodes and times of peace1. So too one of
the canonical judgments of Abu Isa is to the effect
that, where men are dwelling in a city free from per-
secution and peril, there the altar may never be
made of wood : but if they are in some place where
a stone altar is impossible, then a wooden altar may be
used by force of necessity. But a bishop may always
destroy an altar, if he think well 2. The wooden
altars mentioned by Mr. Warren 3,as used in the
early Irish church of St. Bridget and elsewhere,
were probably only an accident of the time whenthe whole fabric of the church building was merelyof wood: and in the Anglo-Saxon ritual it was
expressly forbidden to consecrate a wooden altar.
Both in the Greek and Latin ordinances it was pre-
scribed that the altar-top should project beyond the
sides or pillars of the altar;but there is only one
instance of such a projection in the altars of the
Copts. With them too the top is rarely formed of
a single slab. Commonly it is a mere plastered sur-
face, like the sides, with an altar-board 4 as described.
Where a stone slab is used, it is hollowed to a depthof two inches, leaving a border or fillet all round,and usually inserted thus in the masonry so that the
fillet is flush with the altar-top. These slabs, thoughcommon in the desert, are so rare in Cairo that I
have only seen four in all the churches there, three
1
J. A. Asseman, De Catholicis seu Patriarchis Chaldaeorum et
Nestorianorum Commentarius, p. 112. Rome, 1775.2 Id. p. ii 8, n. i.
3Celtic Church, p. 91.
4 The Arabic term for this altar-board is merely ,-j-UI,
'
the slab.'
A similar slab is prescribed as necessary in the constitutions of the
Church of Antioch by the patriarch Kyriakos ; see Renaudot, Lit.
Or. torn. i. p. 165.
8 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. i.
being at Al Mu'allakah, and one at Abu-'s-Sifain.
Of the four, two are horseshoe shaped, one circular,
and one is rectangular, pierced with a hole in the
centre. They occupy the greater part of the top
surface, but not the whole summit of the altar, with
the possible exception of the rectangular slab, whichI only saw dismounted after the altar had been dis-
mantled. There are however three other small
rectangular slabs, which ought perhaps to be addedto the number, namely those on the floor of the re-
A.J.B
SCALE OF FEET
Fig. 2. (i) Marble Altar-slab. (ii) Altar-top showing marble slab inlet.
cesses or arcosolia in the crypt of Abu Sargah.From the position of two of the recesses in the north
and south walls instead of the east, it might be doubt-
ful whether these slabs were designed for altars, or for
some other purpose : but I think the analogy with
Roman arcosolia, and a comparison of these stones
with other stones described above, will tell in favour
of the belief that all the slabs in the crypt denote
altars. The design is at once so rare and so marked
that, wherever it is found, it may fairly be assumed
that the purpose is identical. In that case the num-
CH. I.]The Altar,
ber of Cairene altar-slabs of marble with raised fillet
will amount to seven : a very small proportion.
On the other hand the monastic churches of the
western desert abound in altars with slabs of this
description, which are, in fact, as normal there as
they are exceptional in the churches of the two Cairos.
It is not easy to understand this remarkable differ-
ence between the altars of the desert and the capital :
nor can one see why the examples in Cairo are fur-
nished by the three main altars at Al Mu allakah, by
SCALE OF FEET
Fig. 3. Marble Altar-slab pierced with drain.
the altars of the crypt at Abu Sargah, and by a
single altar in a small exterior chapel at Abu-'s-
Sifain. Of course where the altar-top is formed of
a marble slab in this manner, the ordinary loose
rectangular plank of wood graven with the sacred
monogram the altar-board as I have called it
does not occur. That the marble slab was designedwith special reference to the ancient ceremony of
washing the altar, cannot I think be doubted : for it
is proved by the presence of the raised moulding,
io Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. \.
by the break in the border generally found on the
western side of the slab to let off the water, and in one
example by a drain in the centre of the slab. Thecase is further strengthened by the hitherto unre-
marked but very striking coincidence ofwestern usage.At the church of Sta. Pudentiana in Rome there
is a rectangular slab, about 4ft. 6 in. by 4ft. 2 in.,
dating from the fourth century : it is surrounded bya raised moulding and pierced with two drains, one
of which is in the centre 1. Slabs unpierced and
surrounded with unbroken mouldings are of very
frequent occurrence from the earliest times in Europe.The fifth-century altar of St. Victor at Marseilles,
and the sixth-century slab of the Auriol altar, maybe cited among very early examples
2. The Society
of Antiquaries of the West of France possesses a very
interesting slab of this kind, found in the church of
Vouneuil-sous-Biard 3,and ascribed to the sixth cen-
tury: a seventh-century example is preserved in the
museum at Valognes4
: the altar of S. Angelo at
Perusia, built in the tenth century, of Vaucluse in the
eleventh, and at Toulouse in the twelfth, show howcontinuous in the West was the design of altar-slabs
framed with a raised moulding.Nor are we altogether without a western parallel
for the curious horseshoe or semicircular slabs of the
Coptic altar. In the museum at Vienna is a marble
1 La Messe, pi. xliv. On p. 1 1 2 M. de Fleury observes :' Les
trous qu'on remarque sur la surface doivent provenir d'un autre
usage qui n'a rien de commun avec son origine, ou servaieni au
lavage de Fautel.' The italics are mine : I think the Coptic
examples settle the point.2 La Messe, vol. i. pi. xlvi, xlvii.
3Id. ib. pi. xliv. p. 147.
*Id. ib. pi. xlv.
CH. i. The Altar. \ i
slab, said to be of Merovingian origin, dating from
the sixth or seventh century : it is semicircular in
form with three sinkings of different levels, the
outermost being six-lobed, the other two semicir-
cular;but all three have a broken angular line across
the chord, singularly resembling the Coptic model 1.
Another semicircular altar-slab is to be seen in the
museum of Clermont. I have no doubt that this
particular form arose from the desire of imitating the
table of the Last Supper, which in Coptic art is
sometimes figured in the same shape. A glance at
the Abu Sargah carving of the eighth century2
almost decides the matter. There our Lordis sitting with his disciples at a table of almost
exactly the same form as the Coptic horseshoe
slabs, and the table has a border or moulding round
it : moreover the intention is rendered quite un-
ambiguous by the canopy above the table and the
altar-curtains which are looped round the pillars.
Western art furnished abundant examples of the
same idea : thus the semicircular table is depictedin the catacombs of St. Calixtus, the mosaics of
St. Apollinare at Ravenna, on the columns of the
ciborium at St. Mark's, and in a miniature at
Cambridge3.
As in the western so in the Coptic Church, there
seem to have been no fixed dimensions for the altar.
English altars varied from 8 ft. to 14 ft. 6 in. in
length, but were usually 3 ft. 6 in. high. The Copticaltar is smaller: that for instance at St. Mark's
chapel in Al Mu'allakah is 3 ft. IT in. long by3ft. 3 in. broad-: the principal altar at Abu Sargah
1 La Messe, vol. i. pi. lii.2 See vol. i. p. 191.
3 La Messe, vol. ii. p. 164.
12 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. i.
is 4 ft. 5 \ in. by 3 ft. 3 in. : at Abu-'s-Sifain the prin-
cipal altar is 7 ft. i in. by 4 ft. 3 in. The height too
varies considerably : thus the chief altar at Abu
Sargah is only 2 ft. lo^in. high, and that at Abu-'s-
Sifain is 3 ft. 4 in.
The cavity, which has been mentioned as openingeastward in the altar, has doubtless a symbolicalreference to the martyr-souls seen under the altar
in the apocalyptic vision 1. In the early ages of the
church, in reminiscence of this vision, it was cus-
tomary to bury the bodies of saints or martyrsunderneath the altar, either in a vault or cryptbeneath the floor of the sanctuary, or else actually
within the fabric of the altar. One of the most
notable instances of this practice was at the ancient
patriarchal church of Alexandria, where rested the
body of St. Mark the Evangelist, before the church
was plundered and the sacred remains carried over
sea by the Venetians in the early middle ages.
And to this day the high altar of St. Mark's at
Venice encloses the body of the Evangelist, and
bears the inscription'
Sepulcrum Marci.' In more
tranquil times and places, when a new church was
built, and no famous martyr's body was ready to
hallow the sanctuary, the usage still prevailed of
placing within the altar relics of some saint or
anchorite. There is nothing to show that the
cavity in the Coptic altar was meant to be sealed
up, once the relics were deposited. On the contrary,
the probability seems that they were merely enclosed
in some kind of coffer, and then laid under the altar,
so as to be easily removable in rase they were
required for healing the sick, carrying in procession,
1 Rev. vi. 9.
CH. i.]The Altar. 13
or other ritual purposes. At the present day every
Coptic church possesses its relics, which are enclosed
in a sort of bolster covered with silk brocade and
kept in a locker beneath the picture of the patronsaint. At Al Mu'allakah, it will be remembered,there is a special wooden reliquary containing four
such cases besides a marble grill in the south aisle-
chapel : and some of the desert churches have
reliquaries enclosing entire bodies. But there can
be little doubt that the practice of keeping relics
in lockers or aumbries is of mediaeval origin, andthat originally their right place was in the cavityunder the altar. Two or three examples of Copticsubterranean altars have been cited in the foregoing
chapters of this work : but probably the clearest
instance of a confessionary crypt is at Abu Sargah,
though there is no direct evidence to show that it is
regarded as the tomb of any martyr. Still, inas-
much as tradition marks this under-chapel as the
resting-place of the Holy Family, and therefore con-
secrated in a special manner by a holy presence, the
building of the high altar of Abu Sargah above it
gives a close enough analogy to the western practice.
Moreover the eastern niche in the crypt bears a very
singular resemblance to the arcosolium in the tomb
of St. Gaudiosus at Naples1, dating from about
460 A.D., and to other arcosolia of the fourth and
fifth centuries at Rome, some of which undoubtedlyserved as altars : nor are the other recesses of the
crypt very different. The whole plan is singularly
like that of the crypt of St. Gervais at Rouen 2.
1 See La Messe, vol. i. pp. 106-7, and P1 - xx *v;
Sotteranea, vol. iii. p. 44.2 La Messe, vol. ii. p. 118.
14 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. i.
At present, as far as I can ascertain, the chief if
not the sole use of the altar-cavity among the Coptsis on Good Friday, when a picture of the cross is
buried in rose leaves within it, to be uncovered on
Easter morning.In the Latin Church the use of relics for the con-
secration of an altar, and the association confusion
one might almost say between the ideas of sacrifice
and sepulture, reach back to the remotest antiquity.
Thus Jerome remarks 1
,' Romanus Episcopus . . .
super mortuorum hominum Petri et Pauli secundumnos ossa veneranda . . . offert Domino sacrificia et
tumulos eorum Christi arbitratur altaria.' The placewhere the relics were laid was called technically the
sepulcrum, and in England the sepulchre was alwaysin front or on the westward side of the altar : the
idea being that the congregation in the nave, andnot as in the Coptic arrangement the elders round
the apse, should be thus reminded of the'
souls
under the altar.' In the crypt under the south
chancel aisle at Grantham Abbey the cavity is 3 ft.
2 in. long by 2 ft. 4 in. broad. The cavity was alwaysclosed by a sealed slab engraved with five crosses,
such as may still be seen in the cathedrals of
Norwich and St. David's. A very early instance,
dating probably from the fourth century, occurs in
the church of San Giacomo Scossacavallo at Rome 2,
where the cavity is in the middle of the altar-top,
which legend says was once upon the altar of pre-
sentation in the temple of Jerusalem. This same
altar at S. Giacomo has a second sepulcrum or
confessio below, with an arched doorway very like
1 Tom. ii. adv. Vigilant, p. 153, quoted by Gibbon.2 La Messe, vol. i. pi. xxiv.
CH. i.]The Altar. 15
the Coptic arrangement. Other examples are fur-
nished by an altar at the church of Esquelmes in
Belgium, All Saints' chapel at Ratisbonne, and the
altar in the north transept of Jervaulx Abbey, where
the sealed slab was only 6^ in. by 7^ in. Thoughthe confessio or crypt below the altar is quite
distinct from the sepulcrum, yet the two terms are
sometimes used interchangeably. Thus in the
Ecgbert Pontifical 1 at the consecration of an altar
the bishop is directed to make a cross with chrism
in the middle and at the four corners of the'
con-
fessio,' where the slab of the '
sepulcrum'
is clearly
intended. So too in the Ordo Romanus exactly the
same form is prescribed in the words '
ponat crisma in
confessionem per angulos quattuor in crucem . . . tune
ponat tabulam super relliquias.' The true con res-
sionary or crypt seems to have been introduced into
England by the Roman missionaries, and is in fact
essentially Latin 2. It does not occur in any Saxon
churches, except such as were built under the influ-
ence of Italian models, and is quite unknown in
Ireland. Eadmer, c. 1000 A.D., describes that at
Canterbury as made expressly in imitation of the
crypt under the original basilican church of St. Peter
at Rome. In the high altar was buried the body of
Wilfrid of York, and in the Jesus altar the head of
St. Swithin : while in the confessionary were the
head of St. Furseus and the tomb of St. Dunstan.
At Canterbury and elsewhere there was a flight of
steps leading from the choir to the presbytery, the
stone floor of which was thus raised four or five feet
above the choir floor : underneath it was the subter-
1 P. 45-2 Hist. Eng. Ch. Arch. p. 47, &c.
1 6 Ancient Coptic Churches. LCH. i.
ranean chapel with its own altar and shrine !. The
name is clearly given in the Ceremoniale Episco-
porum2
: 'locum qui in plerisque ecclesiis sub altari
majori esse solet ubi et martyrum corpora requiescunt
qui martyrium seu confessio appellatur! The crypttoo was sometimes called confessorium, and Du Cangequotes from the ' Laudes Papiae apud Muratorem
'
as follows :
' Fifteen churches are found having very
large crypts with vaulted roofs upheld on marble
columns : these are called confessoria, and in them
bodies of saints rest within marble coffers.' Richard,
prior of Hexham, says of St. Wilfrid's church there,
about 1 1 80 A.D., that there were many chapels below
the several altars throughout the building. Mr.
Scott gives instances of Saxon crypts at Brixworth,
Wing, and Repton : and of later crypts at York, Old
St. Paul's, Winchester, Gloucester and elsewhere.
I may add that a very good instance of a confes-
sionary occurs in the church of St. Clement at
Hastings. But essential as the presence of relics
was considered in the early ages of the church, in
later times, despite the miraculous power of multi-
plying possessed by martyrs' bones, there seems
to have been a dearth of such remains, and altars
were consecrated without them. In a MS. of the
fifteenth century, now in the British Museum 3, may
be found a rubric providing that the practice of
placing relics inside the altar'
raro fiat . . . propter
relliquiarum paucitatem.' This ordinance, hitherto
unnoticed, was pointed out to me by Mr. Middleton.
Corresponding to the altar-cavity of the Coptic
1 See Rock, Church of our Fathers, vol. i. p. 219.2
Lib. i. c. 12.3Lansdowne, 451, fol. 137 a.
CH. i.]The Altar. 17
Church and the sepulcrum of the Latin, there was
always a place beneath the Greek altar (sub altari
locum excavatum*),
.called the sea, QdXao-a-a or
OaXao-o-iSiov. Here were thrown away the rinsings
from the priests' hands and the water used for
washing the sacred vessels;and here were laid the
ashes of holy things, such as vestments or corporals,
that were burnt by fire by reason of their decay.
These uses give some colour to the derivation of
the term propounded by Ligaridius, who says that
the idea comes from the lustral service of the sea,
because in the words of Euripides OdXaa-cra iravra
KXvgei. The thalassa no doubt was pierced with a
drain to carry off the rinsings, and so far corre-
sponded with the western piscina. Moreover, in
early times the piscina in English churches was a
drain at the foot of the altar on the westward side.
This is proved for instance by the words of the
Ecgbert Pontifical, according to which the holy water
that is left over after sprinkling a church at dedica-
tion is poured'
at the base of the altar.' There is
also a symbolical reason assignable ;for as the altar
figures the throne in heaven of St. John's vision,
so this thalassa figures the sea by the throne. Besides
the uses above given the thalassa had a further
purpose as a receptacle for vestments on the eve of
a festival, for which they were specially hallowed by
being placed under the altar 2. In the thalassa too,
as in the sepulcrum, relics were sometimes though
rarely placed : usually they were kept in separatechests or coffers, as became the later practice in the
Latin and the Coptic churches alike. Evagrius for
1
Goar, Euchol. p. 15.2
Id. p. 518.
VOL. it. C
1 8 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. i.
example1
speaks of a '
finely wrought shrine of silver*
used as a reliquary. Goar, after asserting that the
altar was merely a table on four columns, states that
the relics, which by the Greek canons were absolutelyessential to the dedication of a church, were placedeither inside the slab or else inside the pillars. But
I have already shown part of this statement to be
erroneous, inasmuch as the rubric for dedication
allows the altar to be built up as a solid structure.
When moreover we read of the thalassa being the
place in which the relics sometimes though rarely
were deposited ;the right conclusion doubtless is,
that where the rarer, i.e. the solid form of altar pre-
vailed, there the thalassa, being walled all round like
the Coptic cavity, served to give the relics a shelter
and security which they would not receive under the
open table-altar. The hollow form of the Greek
altar is expressly mentioned in early times. Thus
Ardon, Abb6 of Aniane, who died in 82 1 A. D., writes :
' Altare illud forinsecus est solidum, ab intus autem
cavum, retrorsum habens ostiolum, quo privatis
diebus inclusae tenentur capsae cum diversis relliquiis
Patrum V And of vestments we read :
'
vespera
praecedente, sanctum habitum suscepturi vestimenta
ad sanctum altare asportantur et in sanctae mensae
gremio seu mari (cV r<S 6a\a<rcri8ta> r^y ayfay rpaTre^y)
reponuntur3.' Conversely, altars supported on columns
are sometimes found in Latin churches. An altar
on four pillars is depicted in the mosaics of the
baptistery at S. Apollinare in Classe, Ravenna;
similar is the altar of St. Rusticus at Minerve in
1Hist. lib. ii. c. 3.
2Thiers, Les Principaux Autels des Eglises, p. 20. Paris, 1688.
3Id. ib. p. 33.
CH. i.]The Altar. 19
H6rault, dated 457 A.D. 1 The slab in the Vienna
museum rested on three 'supports : as did a slab in
the church of SS. Vincent and Anastasius at Rome.A single central pillar is found in the case of an
altar of the seventh century at Cavaillon, and another
at Six-Fours 2.
There seems to have been nothing in the structure
of Greek churches corresponding to the confessionary.Neither in the description of St. Sophia nor in anyother record, as far as I know, is any indication of
it : and this fact, taken in connexion with the .many
analogies existing between Greek and Coptic usage,so far bears out the idea that the arrangement of the
crypt at Abu Sargah is accidental, and is not a
martyr's shrine placed intentionally beneath the highaltar. It will be remembered too that the only other
example of a subterranean chapel in a Cairo church,
the chapel of Barsum al 'Arian at Abu-'s-Sifain, is
not merely not under the high altar but is outside
the main church altogether : while in regard to the
examples in Upper Egypt information is wanting.The church of Anba Bishoi in the Natrun valleyhas a curious cavity showing under the patriarchal
throne in the tribune, which may possibly have been
designed for relics.
One further point remains. In western Christen-
dom the altar was nearly always marked with five
crosses incised on the slab, one in the centre, and
one at each of the four corners. These are called
consecration crosses, and are sculptured in the placeswhere the bishop at dedication signed the sign of
the cross with chrism, and burnt over each spot a
1 La Messe, vol. i. pi. xliii.
2Id. ib. pi. Ivi and Ixxv.
C 2
2O Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. i.
little heap of incense and two crossed tapers. In
England most of the original altar-slabs were thrown
down at the reformation or in Puritan times, and
used as paving-stones or tombstones. Some few
remain in situ, such as on the high altar at Peter-
church in Hereford; in the parish church at Forth-
ampton, Gloucester; the collegiate choir at Arundel;
the chapels of St. Mary Magdalene and of Maison
Dieu at Ripon. A very good example was the
splendid slab on the high altar at Tewkesbury
Abbey (re-discovered and replaced by Mr. Mid-
dleton), but unfortunately the crosses have been
almost obliterated by a process of repolishing. Aslab used as a tombstone may be seen in the north
aisle of St. Mary's, West Ham, Pevensey, and ex-
amples are not uncommon elsewhere.
The Greek rite does not differ materially from
the English, except that the cross is marked in three
places instead of five on the slab and of the three
crosses one is in the centre, one at each side. The
crosses, however, are rather larger ;for the chrism is
poured out in the form of a cross, as at baptism.
Though the corners of the slab are not marked,
yet each of the four pillars upholding it is signed
by the pontiff with three crosses of chrism;and it is
probable that on all the places thus anointed the
figure of a cross was afterwards incised in the stone.
On the whole altar, therefore, there would be fifteen
consecration crosses.
The Coptic altar bears no incised crosses other
than those which are cut upon the slab of wood ;
and where this slab is wanting, the marble top does
not generally show the symbol of consecration,
though there is a single large cross sculptured on
CH. I.]The Altar. 21
two of the three slabs in the crypt at Abu Sargah.But the Egyptian custom is said to tally with the
Greek, three crosses of chrism being anointed on
the altar at its dedication in the name of the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Ghost respectively1
. Theuse of chrism for the consecration of the altar is
particularly mentioned by Renaudot, who, speakingof the church of St. Macarius in the Natrun valley,
says, '^cclesiae consecratio facta est episcoporum et
Fig. 4. Consecration Crosses. o1. On the columns of AI 'Adra, Harat-az-Zuailah. 2. On the columns at Abu Sargah. [2.6 I
3 and 4. On the slabs in the recesses of the crypt at Abu Sargah.
ipsius patriarchae ministerio, chrismatis tarn ad altare
quam ad parietes consignationibus factis 2.' This was
in the time of Benjamin, thirty-eighth patriarch, or
about 620 A. D. Even though Renaudot is some-
1 See Vansleb, Histoire de 1'Eglise d'Alexandrie, p. 220 (Paris,
1677).2
Historia Patriarcharum Alexandrinorutn, p. 166
22 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. i.
what fond of assuming the existence of Coptic rites
on the analogy of the Latin, there is on this point
every reason for believing his testimony. For, apartfrom more direct evidence, since it is unquestionablethat consecration crosses were made on the walls
and columns, just as in the Greek and western rituals;
it is scarcely possible that the chrism should have
been used to anoint the fabric of the building, and
not used to anoint its most sacred part, the altar.
The rubric for the re-consecration of a defiled altar
in Gabriel's Pontifical 1
speaks of five crosses, appa-
rently one on the top and one on each of the sides.
But where exactly the crosses were made is uncer-
tain. There is, as was mentioned, a central cross
carved on the altar-board, which fits into an oblong
depression on all such altars as have not a marble
top. Probably one cross of chrism at least was
marked by the bishop upon the wooden slab,
though this would be against the western prac-
tice, which disallows* the use of chrism upon wood.
Indeed that the Copts did not scruple to use chrism
on a wooden surface seems proved by another pas-
sage in Gabriel's Pontifical, headed in Renaudot'
Consecratio tabulae ut altare fiat.' Subsequentlythe words ' benedic huic tabulae ligneae, ut fiat altare
sanctum et mensa sancta pro altari excelso et lapide
exstructo,' seem to point to the tabula decisively as
a portable altar, although possibly the word maydenote the wooden slab, which is the common
appurtenance of the stone altar. In any case the
rubric runs :
' tune accipiet chrisma sanctum et ex
eo signabit tabulam in modum crucis in quattuor
1Lit. Or. torn. i. p. 56.
'
Quinquies mensam et ejus quattuor
latera cruce signabit.'
CH. i.]The Altar. 23
ipsius lateribus;' though here again the points
anointed with the holy oil are not clearly defined.
Nevertheless, even though the slab be used on
occasion as a portable altar, the very fact that it
is detached from the stone structure and easily re-
moveable makes it unlikely that the symbols of
dedication should have been confined to that part.
We must imagine then that the chrism was anointed
on the top or walls of the altar itself, in places of
which no sculptured record is preserved.It has been already mentioned that a Coptic
church always possesses three altars in contradistinc-
tion to the single altar of the Greek ritual. Theside altars are, however, used only on the occasion
of the great festivals, namely, Easter, Christmas,
Palm Sunday, and the feast of the Exaltation of
the Cross 1. On these days more than a single
celebration is required ; and the result is obtained
without violating the Coptic canons, which forbid
a second celebration on the same altar within the
day. The altar, like the communicant, must be*
fasting,' as the Copts phrase it;and the same
expression is applied to vestments and vessels
which are used in the ceremonial of the mass.
So many points of resemblance may be noted
between Coptic and Armenian practice, that it is
not surprising to find the Armenian Church uphold-
ing the same canon, and consequently requiringthree as the normal number of altars 2
;there is,
however, this difference, that the side-altars in the
sacred buildings of the Armenians stand before the
1 Abu Dakn omits Easter, but seems wrong. See his History,tr. by Sir E. Sadleir (London, 1693), p. 13.
8 Fortescue's Armenian Church, p. 177.
24 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. i.
sanctuary or in some other place, and not in a line
with the high altar and behind one continuous
screen, as usual in the Coptic arrangement. Yetthe Armenian church at Urfa is described as having'
three aisles,' i.e., nave and two aisles, 'and an altar
at the end of each aisle' 1;the bishop's throne is in
the north-east corner of the choir, and faces east.
Several altars seem to be allowed in the ritual of
the Syrian Jacobites, of the Nestorians, and of the
Maronites. Thus at Urfa a Syrian church of moderndate has a long narrow platform at the east end with'
several altars,' and before each a step for the cele-
brant. The Nestorian church at Kochanes has4
three tables or altars in the nave,' two of which are
called the'
altar of prayers' and '
altar of the gospel'
respectively, besides a small stone altar at the east
end. It is open to question, however, whether anybut the last-named are really eucharistic altars. At
Aleppo the Maronite church is described as havingfive altars 2
,and a throne against the east wall facing
west, according to the proper arrangement.
Quite enough then has been here written to show
the fallacy of Neale's generalization to the effect that'
throughout the whole East one church contains but
one altar 3.' Neale is very positive about the matter,
and adds ' nor is this peculiar to the church of Con-
stantinople : the rule is also observed in Ethiopia,
Egypt, Syria, Malabar, by Nestorians and Jacobites,
in short over the whole East :' though with curious
1Christians under the Crescent in Asia, by Rev."E..L. Cults;
London S. P. C. K. (n. d.), p. 83.3
Id. ib. pp. 84, 217, 48. The author is not very clear in his
evidence on the subject.3History of the Holy Eastern Church, Gen. Introd. vol. i. p. 182.
CH. i.]The Altar. 25
inconsistency he admits, almost in the next sentence,
that examples of churches with several altars are not
wanting from the earliest times. However the ques-tion is one of rule, to be settled by rule. And, so
regarding it, one need only remark that the law of
three altars is not merely universal in Egypt at the
present time, but there is not a single religious build-
ing of the Copts, however ancient its foundation,
which does not bear the clearest structural proofs of
having been designed with a view to precisely the
same ritual arrangement. And though there is no
express evidence for Abyssinia, yet considering the
historical and actual dependence of the Church of
Ethiopia on that of Alexandria, one can scarcely
question that the same rule holds good there also.
The practice in Armenia is clear in upholding the
same custom : and if the practice in the Syrian and
Nestorian Churches is not quite clearly established
as identical with that of the Egyptian, Ethiopianand Armenian, yet obviously the truth lies rather in
the complete reversal of Neale's canon, and mustrather be expressed by saying that nowhere in the
whole East does a single church contain only a single
altar, with the exception of buildings belonging to
the see of Constantinople. The Greek Church re-
cognises one altar : all other Churches recognise a
plurality of altars.
PORTABLE ALTARS 1.
The Coptic clergy rarely make use of portable
altars, not from any canonical objection to them, but
1 Renaudot is quite wrong in his remarks about the Copticaltar. He says (Lit. Or. torn. i. p. 164):
' consuetude a multis seculis
26 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. i.
merely because the necessity for their employmentseldom arises. Both in the capital and in most other
towns of Egypt churches are thickly scattered, and
the Christians have a way of clinging round them.
Being thus always within easy reach of a church,
those who are hale can resort to the celebration,
while the sick receive a portion of the korban which
is carried from the church by a priest. The rule
of to-day is that the korban must always be conse-
crated within the sacred building ; although in places
where there happens to be no church, in case of
emergency the priest is allowed to consecrate as he
judges necessary. I have found but one notice of
such an altar in Coptic history. When Zacharias,
king of Nubia, about 850 A.D. sent his son and heir
George to Egypt to settle a question of tribute
money, the royal envoy paid a visit to the patriarch
invaluit ut tabulas solas sive mensas haberenl, quibus insternebatur
mappa benedictionibus episcopalibus consecrata, aut tabula ad ipsius
altaris longitudinem, aut tandem altaria ut apud nostros vocantur
portatilia: laminae scilicet aut segmenta ex marmore quae facile
afferri et removeri possint . . . . Ita non modo Graecorum sed etiam
Latinorum disciplinae de sacris altaribus convenire deprehenditur
Orientalis disciplina.' It is this perpetual assumption by analogywhich vitiates so much of Renaudot's information. 'Graecae
Ecclesiae, cui aliae in Oriente similes sunt' (p. 166) is his maximin all cases of doubt. So he says that for the most part there is
but a single altar in one church, a conclusion reached as follows :
'Cum autem insignes olim ecclesiae multae in Aegypto essent,
jam omnino paucae supersunt, in quibus primaevae antiquitatis
obscura vestigia agnosci possint .... nihil ex antiquis Christianis
aedificiis residuum est unde conjectura de ecclesiarum aut al-
tarium forma capi queat ; nihilque vero propius quam ut illorum
forma ex Graecarum (sic) lineamentis intelligatur ; eadem enim
erat ulrarumque dispositio! The dangers of such a method are
obvious.
CH. i.]The Altar. 27
Joseph, then in the chair of St. Mark, to whom he
carried letters. Thence he proceeded to do homageto the khalif at Bagdad ;
and on his return to Cairo
was granted as a very great privilege by the patriarch
a portable altar of wood to carry to his father. Tra-
dition says that such a thing was never known before ;
and the concession was only justified by the peculiar
circumstances of the Nubians, who were restless
nomads and dwellers in tents, and whose life was all
fighting and foray1
. It is quite likely that this altar
was a board from one of the churches : indeed the
Copts of to-day allege that the portable altar used
in cases of extreme necessity is nothing else than
the wooden slab, which must therefore be conse-
crated with chrism. Moreover the entire disappear-ance of the altar-board from some of the minor chapelsin Cairo may well point to the fact that the board
was carried outside the building, and used as an altar.
It is curious to remark that the Nestorian canons,
while not apparently sanctioning the use of portable
altars, yet in cases of urgent need allow the eucharist
to be consecrated over the hands of a deacon, pro-
vided express permission be first obtained from a
bishop2
. The Syrians use consecrated slabs of wood,like the Coptic : or where neither an altar nor a con-
secrated slab is at hand, they allow the eucharist to
be celebrated on a leaf of the gospel3
.
About the practice of the Greek Church there is
no such ambiguity. The consecration of portablealtars or antimensia, as they are called, was a regular
1Renaudot, Hist. Pat. Alex. p. 282.
2J. A. Asseman, De Cathol. seu Pat. Chald. et Nestor. Com,
p. 1 20.
3Renaudot, Lit. Or. vol. ii. p. 46.
28 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. i.
part of the ritual for the dedication of a new altar.
The antimensia were laid on the altar;and after
olvdvQr) or scented wine had been poured upon them,and three crosses had been made upon each with
chrism, relics mixed with ceromastic to prevent the
loss of any of the holy fragments were brought forth,
anointed with chrism, and enclosed in a pocket behind
each tablet. The celebration of the eucharist com-
pleted the form of consecration for the antimensia,
which then were ready for use. Their employmentwas as common in the Greek as it was rare in the
Coptic Church.
Many examples might be quoted to prove the
custom of using portable altars in western Christen-
dom. In England the practice prevailed from the
earliest times, every large church possessing one or
more tablets of wood or metal, which the priests
could carry when they wished to minister to sick
people, or to celebrate in remote places where there
was no consecrated building. Perhaps the most
ancient extant specimen of the kind is the portablealtar used by St. Cuthbert, which is now preserved,
though in a mutilated condition, in the cathedral
library at Durham. It is a small wooden tablet
covered with a leaden casing which seems to be of
later date and bears some indecipherable Greek
characters.
THE FITTINGS OF THE ALTAR.
Over every high altar in the churches of Egypt,and sometimes also over the side altars, rises or
rose a lofty canopy or baldacchino resting on four
CH. i.]The Altar. 29
columns. The canopy, which is always of wood
though sometimes upheld by stone pillars, is gene-
rally painted in rich colours within and without,
and adorned with a picture of our Lord in the
centre of the dome and with flying angels and
emblematic figures. A full description of such a
canopy has been given in the chapter on the church
of Abu-'s-Sifain and need not here be repeated1
:
only it may be added that the domed canopy sym-bolises the highest heaven, where Christ sits throned
in glory surrounded by angels, and the four pillars
on which it is upheld typify either the four quartersof the globe, according to Germanus, or else the four
evangelists, whose symbols are also sometimes
painted within the canopy. The Coptic baldakyn is
invariably in the form of a cupola, never having a
pointed roof with gables, as in the church of St.
Anastasius at Rome;nor a flat roof, as in two
examples at St. Mark's, Venice ; nor a pyramidal
roof, as in a third example at St. Mark's, also in the
church of Sta. Potenziana near Narni, and that of
Spirito Santo at Ravenna 2. Yet it is curious that in all
cases where a canopy is now standing, the columns
which support it have, if I remember rightly, Sara-
cenic capitals. This is natural enough at Abu-'s-
Sifain, *which was built in Arab times, but more
surprising at Abu Sargah, where the columns of
the nave are Greek or Roman. In some cases
1 The description (vol. i. p. 114) may be compared with that of
the ciborium over the altar of St. Gregory built by Gebehard, bishopof Constance. M. de Fleury, in giving a cut of the ceiling which
shows the figures of the four evangelists, conjecturally inserts their
symbols. La Messe, vol. ii. p. 26.
2 La Messe, vol. ii. pi. ciii, civ, cix, xcvii.
30 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. i.
the columns have disappeared altogether, and the
canopy rests on cross-beams driven into the walls.
No doubt the true explanation is, that in the ancient
churches the altar with its canopy received a morerich and sumptuous adornment than any other partof the church, and therefore specially attracted the
malice of Muslim fanatics engaged in plunder or
destruction of the Christian edifices. It seems how-
ever very possible that in some cases, where a full
dome roofed the sanctuary and overshadowed the
altar, a separate baldakyn on pillars was dispensed
with, in later times at any rate, after the disuse of
hangings. Certainly it would be quite wrong to
infer that the altar-canopy was a mediaeval innova-
tion among the Copts : for it is one of the earliest
traditions of primitive church decoration.
Between the four columns of the canopy run four
slender rods or beams, which should be painted with
texts in Coptic as at Abu Sargah. These beams
were meant originally to hang the altar-curtains upon.For in ancient times the altar was veiled with hang-
ings : and though there is no instance of such curtains
remaining in an Egyptian church, yet both the beams
themselves, and the rings with which they are some-
times (as at Abu-'s-Sifain) still fitted, prove that even
in the middle ages the practice of surrounding the
altar with hangings was not disused;
while the
seventh or eighth century panel at Abu Sargah, in
which they are figured, furnishes a good example of
earlier usage. At Abu Sargah two of the columns
stand at a distance of 2 ft. 9 in., two at 3 ft. 3^ in., from
the nearest corner of the altar;so that there remained
quite room enough for the celebrant to move round
the altar inside the curtains. At Abu-'s-Sifain the
CH. I.]The Altar.
shortest distance is 2 ft., which leaves rather a narrow
space for movement. No doubt the altar-curtains
were richly embroidered with texts and figures in
SCALE OF FEET
Fig. 5. Silk curtain, with massive silver embroidery, before the haikal door at
Al Mu'allakah.
needlework, or in tissue of gold and silver. To this
day a curtain always hangsbefore the doorof the haikal
embroidered either with a red cross or with figures.
32 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. i.
In his description of the great church of St. Sophia,Paul the Silentiary relates that over the high altar on
four columns of silver gilt, which were spanned byarches, rose a lofty
* tower' or canopy, the lower part
of which was octagonal, while above it tapered off in
a cone. On the top of the cone was set a golden orb
and on the orb stood a cross of gold encrusted with
jewels. Between the silver pillars costly hangingswere spread ;
and on the curtain before the altar there
was wrought in glorious embroidery of gold the figure
of Christ in the attitude of benediction and holding a
book of the gospels in his left hand. This descrip-
tion is sufficient to prove the early practice of the
Greek Church: but Goar also mentions 1 the altar-
canopy as symbolical, of heaven, and in the same
place speaks of a curtain before the altar embroidered
with a figure of our Lord. These hangings too are
found depicted in early monuments : thus in the
splendid mosaics that adorn the dome of St. George'schurch at Salonica (now used as a mosque) may be
seen a fine representation of an altar shrouded in
curtains and covered with a canopy. The work dates
from about 500 A. D. A silver canopy, too, datingfrom the early fifth century, stood over the altar at
the neighbouring church of St. Demetrius. At the
present day such curtains are not used in the
Greek any more than in the Coptic ritual. Their
chief purpose, besides giving an air of mystic sanctity
to the precincts of the altar, was to veil the celebrant
at the moment of consecration. Accordingly theywere always drawn close during the recitation of the
canon. Their disuse is probably due to the fact that
the iconostasis formed an effectual screen in itself;
1
Euchologion, p. 15.
CH. i.]The Altar. 33
and if there were no express testimony to the contrary,
it would be natural to conclude that the iconostasis
is a more mediaeval arrangement, the adoption of
which did away with the necessity for altar-curtains.
At St. Sophia, however, Paul the Silentiary tells us
there was before the sanctuary a screen with three
doors, and on it were blazoned figures of angels and
prophets, while over the central door was wroughtthe cypher of Justinian and Theodora- There was
in fact even at that early date, coexisting with the
magnificent curtains, a true iconostasis. Neither the
Armenian nor the Nestorian churches have anyscreen before the high altar other than a curtain,
which is drawn across the whole chancel, and seems
to serve not merely as a screen but also as the
Lenten veil.
In the western Church, wherever the basilican
type of building prevailed, the altar was overshadowed
by a domed canopy and veiled with curtains, as for
instance in the old basilica of St. Peter and that of
St. Paul without the Walls at Rome. The baldakynat St. Peter's, presented by Gregory the Great, was
of silver ; so too was that given by Honorius I. to the
church of St. Pancratius. Rock * makes mention of
curtains hung at the north and south sides of the
altar to keep the wind off the candles : but this was
only a remnant of the earlier arrangement, which was
designed above all to screen the celebrant at the
moment of office. Indeed the essential part of the
baldacchino was the curtains, as the very name
proves, being derived from Baldacco the Italian for
Bagdad, as damask from Damascus, fustian from
Fustat, the ancient Arab name of Old Cairo. Baldac-
1 Church of our Fathers, vol. i. p. 230.
VOL. II. D
34 Ancient Coptic C/ntrc/ies. [CH. i.
chino, then, means properly a costly tissue woven in
the looms of Bagdad : in its anglicised form '
balda-
kyn'
it is not uncommon in our ancient church
records : but the name passed by an easy transition
from the hangings to the canopy above the altar.
The baldacchino was a common feature in our early
Anglo-Saxon churches. A very clear and fine
representation of an altar-curtain may be seen, for
example, in the South Kensington Museum on an
ivory tablet of Anglo-Saxon workmanship. The
subject is the Adoration of the Magi : the figures
are grouped under an arch, above which and in the
spandrels the structure of the temple is pourtrayed :
all round the arch runs a rod, on which hang curtains
looped and falling in folds. This tablet has somecurious points of resemblance with the carved panelat Abu Sargah. A similar arrangement is shown in
an engraving figured in Rock 1,and taken from an
illumination in Godemann's Benedictional. More-
over the Ecgbert Pontifical orders the curtain to be
drawn across between clergy and people at the con-
secration of an altar 2. There was no elevation of the
host before the congregation in the Saxon ritual, a
fact which Mr. G. Gilbert Scott connects, no doubt
rightly, with the use of altar-curtains. One may pushthe argument a step farther, and suppose that the
disuse of altar-curtains in the eastern as well as the
western churches was hastened, as the practice of
elevating the host won its way into predominance.This practice was unknown in the West before the
end of the eleventh century, and was not received in
England till the thirteenth century3
, though it very1 Vol. i. p. 194.
* P. 45.*
Rock, vol. iv. p. 155.
CH.i.j The Altar. 35
probably originated in the East much earlier. Yetit was about the end of the eleventh century, namelyin the time of St. Osmund, who was bishop of Sarumand Chancellor of England 1078 A.D., that the use of
the canopy was discontinued in this country. In
many cases however the two eastward columns and
the beam joining them were left standing *, and on
this beam was set a crucifix together with a vessel of
holy water, a box with singing-breads, wine, and the
like. The curtains which were hung north and south
of mediaeval altars have been mentioned : they were
suspended on rods driven into the wall and called'
riddles.' Another trace of the old usage was pre-served in the Lenten veil, which shrouded the altar
from the eve of the first Sunday in Lent till MaundyThursday during the mass, and was withdrawn onlyat the reading of the gospel. In some churches,
where the chancel-arch was narrow, the Lenten veil
hung across the entire width : in cathedrals it hungbetween the choir and the presbytery. It was madeof white linen, or sometimes of silk, and was markedwith a red cross.
COVERINGS OF THE ALTAR.
The ordinary covering of a Coptic altar (sitr) is
a tightly-fitting case of silk or cotton, sometimes
dyed a dim colour or brocaded with small patternsof flowers in needlework or silver. This reaches
to the ground, entirely concealing the fabric of the
altar. More splendid stuffs are used for great
1
Rock, vol. iv. p. 208.
D 2
36 Ancient Coptic Churches.
festivals, and even in common use an outer cover-
ing is sometimes put over the first1. The only
other form of altar-vestment that I have seen is
a sort of frontal, about i8in. square, hanging on
the western side ; this is of costly material, and
richly embroidered with a cross in the centre and
figures in the corners. But even the most intel-
ligent of the Copts seem to have no information
concerning its usage.In our early English churches there were three
principal coverings: the cerecloth, fitting tightly
like the Coptic vestment and removed but once a
year, on Maundy Thursday, for the washing of the
altar;then a white linen cloth the size of the slab,
not falling over the sides, but having a super-frontal
attached;and thirdly, a cloth of fine linen covering
the top and hanging over the north and south sides ;
upon this were embroidered five crosses.
The Greek vestments were also principally three,
called the TT/OO? o-ap/ca or cerecloth, the cTrwSvo-is or
overall, and the dXr^rov or corporal (?) : but under-
neath all, at each corner of the altar, was hung a
narrow strip of embroidery worked with the figure
of an evangelist, and hence called cvayyeXio-Tifpiov2
.
The term evangelisterium is sometimes wronglyused for the textus or book of the gospels.
1 There is no distinction of name between the coverings, which
are simply called^>1U ^U-kc.
2Thiers, Les Principaux Autels des Eglises. ch. xxi. p. 154.
CHAPTER II.
Euchavistic Vessels and Altar Furniture.
Chalice. Paten. Dome. Spoon. Ark. Veils. Fan. Ewer andBasin. Pyx. Crewel. Chrismatory. Altar-candlesticks. Textus.
Gospel-stand. Thurible. -Bridal Crown.
I~'N
the celebration of the eucharist the Coptsuse five instruments chalice*, paten, dome,
spoon, and ark. None of the extant chalices
that I have seen are very ancient or interesting.
They are usually of silver, though the church
of Al Amir Tadrus had one of plain white
Venetian glass gilded. As a rule the bowl is small
and nearly straight-sided ;the stem long and ending
downwards in a round knop, below which the base
slopes away rather abruptly, but the foot is relieved
with plain mouldings and is always circular. The
shape thus differs from that of the English chalice
in two chief particulars : the bowl, in being moreconical and less hemispherical, more nearly resembles
that of the Elizabethan communion-cup ;and the
knop is below the stem instead of dividing it in
the middle, and is less prominent. Moreover, in
England the base of the chalice was changed from
circular to hexagonal after the fourteenth century,
1 Arabic ^iXJI, Coptic ni noTHpIOIt.
38 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. n.
owing to a rubric which ordered the chalice to be
laid on its side to drain after the celebration : and
the hexagonal base obviated the danger of rolling.
But a chalice with an angular foot is never found
in the churches of Egypt. The Nestorians some-
times use for a chalice a plain bowl of silver.
Glass chalices only came into use when the more
precious vessels had been plundered or destroyed
by the Muslims. Thus it is recorded that about
the year 700 A. D. so great a spoliation of the
churches took place, that glass chalices and wooden
patens were substituted for the lost vessels of silver
and gold1. As regards western practice, Durandus
says that Zephyrinus in the early third century
enjoined the use of glass chalices, but pope Urban
prescribed metal. About the same time, 226 A.D.,
the Council of Rheims forbade the use of glass. In
England horn and wood were forbidden materials
on account of their absorbent qualities. The canons
of Aelfric mention gold, silver, glass, and tin as per-
missible : and glass chalices were used in the very
early Irish Church, though afterwards disallowed 2.
In the thirteenth century tin was forbidden by the
Constitutions of Archbishop Wethershed 3. But in
eastern and western ritual alike gold or silver
seems to have been the normal metal for the
chalice. Renaudot relates that about the year 1210
the khallf Malik Al 'Adal, hearing that there were
great treasures buried in a well at Dair Macarius
in the Natrun desert, sent and discovered, amongother things, a silver chalice and paten, which were
1Renaudot, Hist. Pat. Alex. p. 193.
' Warren's Lit. and Kit. of the Celtic Church, p. 143.3
Archaeological Journal, vol. iii. p. 133.
CH. ii.]Eucharistic Vessels. 39
carried off, besides a silk embroidered curtain for
the haikal-door valued at 3000 gold pieces. The
story adds that when the Copts pleaded, and provedfrom the inscriptions and the Book of Benefactions,
that the vessels and the hanging were special offer-
ings made to the church, the khalif generouslyrestored them, and they were carried in chests on
camels to Old Cairo surrounded by companies of
men singing and bearing lighted tapers. Forty
years later, when Al Mu'allakah was spoiled, a fine
chalice of ancient workmanship was found buried
under one of the altars, i. e. doubtless hidden awayin the sepulcrum. I have not seen any cross or
engraving of the crucifixion upon the foot of a
Coptic chalice, such as was usual in western
mediaeval chalices, though not in those of a more
primitive epoch. The donative inscription is gene-
rally round the base.
Patens 1 are. as a rule, plain, flat, circular dishes,
with a vertical raised border round. They have
not any depression in the middle, nor any engraved
figure of the Veronica, like our fourteenth and
fifteenth-century patens ;nor have they any stem
or foot like those of the Elizabethan and later
periods. In fact both chalice and paten correspondin their simplicity of design, if not altogether in
shape, more closely with the earliest extant speci-
mens of the like vessels in western Christendom.
The dome z,or kubbah as it is called in Arabic,
consists of two half-hoops of silver crossed at right
angles and rivetted together. At the celebration of
mass the dome is set over the consecrated bread
Arabic ..;^il, Coptic *f~!XlCKOC.
4o Ancient Coptic CJmyches. [CH. H.
in the midst of the paten, and the corporal which
covers the dome -is thus held clear above the housel.
The Greek Church makes use of a correspondinginstrument termed the
'
star,' do-rePIO-KOS or darrjp,
said to have been introduced by St. Chrysostom..The name 'star' is given from the shape of the
instrument perhaps ;but when it is placed over the
host, the priest recites the words,' And there came
a star and stood over where the young child was 1.'
The spoon2
is employed for administering the
Coptic communion;
for the custom is to put the
wafer into the wine, and to administer both kinds
together. The bowl of the spoon is hemispherical,the handle consists of a straight even strip of metal,
on which is usually graven a dedicatory inscription.
In the Armenian ritual a spoon is used some-
times, though very rarely3
. The Greek custom
as regards the administration is precisely similar to
the Coptic. A spoon (Aa/3ty) is used to take out
of the wine the crumbs of bread, or'
pearls' as
they are called, which are given to laymen. Eccle-
siastics, however, and the czar at his coronation,
receive the two kinds separately. In England the
mention of sacred spoons is common in church in-
ventories;thus among the ornaments of Richard
II.'s chapel at Windsor in 1384 are mentioned a
golden chalice, paten, and spoon. But these spoonswere used rather for mixing water with the wine,
1 Renaudot in his Liturgiarum Orientalium Collectio (vol. ii. p.
60, 2nd ed., Frankfort, 1847) sa>'s that tne Orientals, including the
Syrians and Egyptians, do not use the Aster. As regards the
Egyptians, of course, he is wrong.2 Arabic q.iAl, Coptic *fKOKXl^-pIOIt, *fJULTCTHp,
'fjULTCOHpI.3Fortescue's Armenian Church, pp. 177, 180.
SACRAMENTAL SPOON WITHDEDICATORY INSCRIPTION IN
ARABIC. OF BASE SILVER.
WOODEN CUPTO HOLD
WINE CRUET
CLASS LAMP OF
ARAB FORMCH OF ABU SARCAH
TEXT US -STANDSHUT UP
CHURCH OF AMIR-TADRUS - OLD CAIRO
SIZE. ABOUT29X22"
WOODEN TEXTUS STAND WITH PRICKETS FOR CANDLES
< 8 >
WOODEN CHRISMATORY WITH REVOLVI NC LIDCHURCH OF ANBA SHANUDAH OLD CAIRO
6" * 8"
IRON DOOR-KEY AT DAIR TADRUS
Fig. 6. Various pieces of Church Furniture.
42 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. n.
or as strainers to remove flies and the like from
the chalice ; while the analogue of the eastern
spoon in the early Latin Church was the tube or
pipe, such as is recorded in an inventory of vessels
given to Exeter church c. 1046. The use of the
tube, which lingered on at St. Denis, Cluny, and
other monasteries, now survives only with the
pope1
.
Besides the above vessels every Coptic altar is
furnished with a wooden ark or tabernacle 2, differ-
ing both in structure and in purpose from those of
the Latin Church. With us the tabernacle was
used to guard the housel, which was commonly en-
closed in a pyx within it. The tabernacle was veryoften made in the form of a tower, and wrought of
precious metals adorned with jewels. But in Egyptthe practice of reserving the host, which once pre-
vailed, has long been discontinued, owing chiefly,
no doubt, to the compactness of the Coptic com-
munities, which made it easy to find a priest at
hand to consecrate in case of sickness. There is,
however, a lurid legend which accounts for the
discontinuance of the practice by relating that the
housel was once found to have been devoured bya serpent in the night. The Coptic tabernacle is a
regular instrument in the service of the mass, and
at other times lies idle upon the altar. It consists
of a cubical box, eight or nine inches high ;the top
side of which is pierced with a circular opening just
large enough to admit the chalice. At the conse-
cration the chalice is placed within the tabernacle,
1 Vide Journal of Archaeology, vol. iii. p. 132.2 Called in Arabic ^-ISJI <e-J~ or simply ^--/XJI,
i. e. 'the
chalice-stand'
or ' the stand :' in Coptic
CH. ii.] Eucharistic Vessels. 43
and the rim when it is thus enclosed is about flush
with the top, so that the paten rests as much on
the tabernacle as on the chalice. The four walls
of the tabernacle are covered with sacred paint-
ings, our Lord and St. John being the most fre-
quent figures. Most of the tabernacles now in use
are modern and artistically worthless, but one beau-
tiful ancient specimen I discovered at Abu-'s-Sifain,
and of this a full description is given in another
place *.
There can, I think, be no doubt that this taber-
nacle or altar-casket of the Copts is the mysterious'area' which has puzzled liturgical writers from Re-
naudot to Cheetham 2. Renaudot quotes a prayer
preceding the Ethiopic canon entitled'
Super arcam
sive discum majorem,' and thinks that the ark was
a sort of antimensium. But the title is at once
explained if we remember the Coptic practice of
placing the chalice inside and the paten on the
box, a practice from which the Ethiopic was doubt-
less derived. The very words of the prayer, taken
in connexion with the Coptic custom, really set the
vexed question at rest. They follow the dedica-
tion of chalice, paten, and spoon ;and are, as ren-
dered by Neale 3:
' O Lord our God, who didst
command Moses thy servant and prophet, saying,Make me precious vessels and put them in the taber-
nacle on Mount Sinai, now, O Lord God Almighty,stretch forth thy hand upon this ark, and fill it with
the virtue, power, and grace of thy Holy Ghost, that
in it may be consecrated the Body and Blood of Thine
1 Vol. i. pp. 109, no. 2Diet. Christ. Ant. s. v.
3 Eastern Church, Gen. Introd. vol. i. p. 186.
44 Ancient Coptic Churches, [CH. n.
only begotten Son our Lord.' Neale himself comes
to the conclusion that this ark is'
simply used for
the reservation of the blessed sacrament;' but the
words of the prayer which I have just cited, (the
italics are mine,) leave no doubt whatever that
the ark at its dedication is intended not for the
reservation but for the consecration of the host;
and even if this deduction were doubtful, it is ren-
dered absolutely certain by the analogy of Coptic
usage, of which both Renaudot and Neale are quite
ignorant. It may be true, as Neale alleges, that in
the Ethiopian Church the host actually is some-
times reserved in the ark;but that is an accident,
and a perversion of the original intention.
The Copts have no instrument corresponding to
the holy lance of Greek ritual for the fraction or
division of the wafer.'
A special appurtenance of the Coptic liturgical
worship is the little mat or 'plate'1 as they call it,
numbers of which are used in the celebration of the
korban. They are circular in form, five or six
inches in diameter, and made of silk, strengthened at
the back with some coarser material. Each mathas a cross embroidered or woven upon it : and
sometimes, as in the woodcut, smaller crosses are
set between the branches. The mat here given is
of cloth of gold with designs embroidered in thread
of silver gilt, an ancient example from the church of
Abu Kir wa Yuhanna at Old Cairo. Red, pink and
green are equally common hues, there being no re-
gulation as to colour. The manner in which these
1
<j-JJI ori>j*<& ;
in Coptic TTIOOJUL : it seems to correspondwith the 'minus velum' mentioned by Renaudot, Lit. Or. torn. i.
p. 304.
CH. II.]Eiicharistic Vessels. 45
mats are used at the mass will be explained in
another chapter.
Before the commencement of the mass the sacred
elements are covered with a veil or corporal called
sJUJJi in Arabic, and ni npoc^pm 1 in Coptic. Theveil is of white or coloured silk, generally about 18 in.
square ;the middle is embroidered with a cross
;
Fig. 7 The Hasirah or Eucharistic Mat.
and tiny bells are sometimes attached to the centre
and the corners. This lafafah seems to answer to the
1 Renaudot (I.e.) remarks that this, the 'velum majus/ is called
anaphora'
praecipue in Syriacis Ritualibus.' Nauphir is no doubt
the term used by the Syrians, but the Coptic name is that given in
the text.
46 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. n.
of Greek ritual, while the hasirah or
tabak corresponds in some mea .ure to the Greek
chalice veil. But the Copts employ only these two
eucharistic veils, and have nothing analogous to the
Greek drjp or ve<f>e\rj.
The use of the fan1 or flabellum no doubt origin-
ated in the sultry East, where being almost a neces-
sity of daily life, it passed very early into the service
of the Church. Its employment in Coptic worshipdates from a great antiquity.
In the Liturgy of St. Clement, translated from the
Apostolical Constitutions, a rubric runs thus :
' Two1 deacons on each side of the altar hold a fan made' of thin vellum, fine linen, or peacocks' feathers, to'
drive away flies or gnats, lest they fall into the'
chalice.' Costly fans are mentioned in the yearA.D. 624
2. These doubtless, as was usual later, were
made of metal, either gold or silver. A common
type is that given in the illustration, a disk of silver
fitted with a silver socket, into which is fastened a
short wooden handle. The disk is surrounded anddivided across by dotted bands, and upon it are
worked two rude figures of the seraphim. The whole
of the design is repousse. At the church of Al AmirTadrus there were four of these flabella : but their
purpose is so far forgotten, that they are only used
as ornaments upon the occasion of the silver textus-
case being set in the choir. The textus-case then is
placed upright upon a sort of stand, which has at
each corner a short pricket to receive the wooden
2
Gregory the Great's Liber Sacramentorum, ed. H. Menardus,
Paris, 1642, p. 319, where several authorities are cited.
Fig. 8. Flabellum in repouss^ silver.
48 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. n.
handle of the flabellum 1. A taper is further stuck
or crushed upon the upper part of the disk and
lighted; so that the fan seems to serve only as an
elaborate candlestick. It may well be, however, that
this usage betrays a consciousness of some such
mystic symbolism as undoubtedly is attached to the
fan in the Greek ritual. At Abu Sargah, where the
ritual, or at least the worship, has suffered less decaythan at the deserted Tadrus, similar silver fans exist,
and are, I believe, used at solemn festivals, if not in
the regular celebration of the mass. Upon the altar
at Anba Shanudah I found a rude axe-shaped fan of
woven rushes, such as the Arabs wave to cool their
faces;and the fact that this fan is still employed,
either regularly or in the hot season, for the service
of the altar, proves that the right use of the flabellum
is not entirely forgotten.In the office for the ordination of the patriarch of
Alexandria, the rubric speaks of a procession throughthe church with crosses, gospels, tapers, and fans or
figures of the cherubim. Flabella were waved bythe deacons in the Syrian Jacobite, and probablyalso in the Coptic rite for the ordination of a priest
at the laying on of hands. In the ritual of the Mel-
kite Egyptians to-day a metal flabellum is sometimes
used : thus at the ancient church of St. George on
the tower at Old Cairo two fans stand upon the
altar. More often, however, they use a fine linen
cloth or corporal, such as is employed also for the
same purpose in the service of the altar at the Copticmonasteries in the desert, and is called al lafafah. Yet,
even where a veil or corporal is used to fan the sacred
elements, the original metal flabellum survives still as
1 See illustration, page 41 supra.
CH. II.] Eucharistic Vessels. 49
J1.J.B
Fig. 9 Processional Flabellum of silver-giltused by the Melkite Church of Alexandria.
VOL. II.
a processional ornament
among the Melkites, as
will be seen from the illus-
tration.
We constantly read of
fans carried in processionin the Coptic ritual, as well
as in the Armenian. In
both cases there was prob-
ably a special form of the
instrument for processions
corresponding to the Mel-
kite flabellum : but this
form has long since disap-
peared among the Copts.In the Greek Church the
fan, or purtSiov, seems to
have departed altogetherfrom its original purpose,and to have a ceremonial
rather than a practical
value. The one given in
Gear's illustration is madeof wood, and consists of a
small carved image of the
seraphim mounted on a
short handle, an instru-
ment which could be of
little service in driving
away gnats and flies. It
is just after the pax and
hymn of victory, and again
just before the diptychs in
the Greek rite, that the
fan is employed; and on
50 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. n.
both occasions the deacon solemnly fans the elements,
signifying a wafting of divine influence upon them.
Moreover, on Good Friday, at the consecration of
the chrism, when the box with the holy oil is carried
in procession, seven deacons move on each side of it,
every one holding a fan above it. In the absence of
a proper flabellum, the Greek rubric sanctions the
use of a napkin or corporal to fan the oflete.
That the same usage existed among the Copts is
clear from a MS. in the Vatican 1,which describes
the procession for the consecration of the chrism as
consisting of twelve subdeacons carrying lamps,twelve deacons carrying fans, twelve priests carrying
thuribles, and the bishop with the vessel of oil covered
by a white pall which is borne by deacons;and round
the bishop a throng of clergy moves, all carrying in
their hands 'cherubim,' i.e. fans, and crosses. Theword employed in the Coptic rubric seems to be
piTUCTHpiort, a mere transliteration of a form still
found in the Greek.
The Maronite and the Armenian Churches both
employ a metal flabellum silver or brass having a
circular disk surrounded with a number of little bells.
These bells are no doubt meant to call attention to
the special part of the office which is being performed :
and I may repeat that they are occasionally fastened
in the same manner on a Coptic corporal, stole, or
dalmatic.
A full and interesting account of the Armenian
use of the flabellum is given in the Rev. S. C. Malan's
introduction to his translation of the Divine Liturgy
1 Ordo consecrationis chrismatis et olei catechumenorum, ex
cod. Vat. 44, ed. Tukio, quoted by Denzinger, Ritus Orientalium,
torn. i. p. 251.
CH.ii.] Eticharistic Vessels. 51
of St. Gregory the Illuminator. We read there that'
the bishop before celebrating goes round the church
preceded and accompanied by clergy having fans and
banners, holding in his hand the cross, with which he
blesses at the end of every prayer said aloud up to
the Song of the Cherubim.' Another passage speaksof the waving of the fans at the trisagion as sym-bolical of the quivering wings of the seraphim : and
a Russian eyewitness of the ceremony mentions ' the
noise of silver fans' as being strange to.him, but not
disagreeable. The noise of course arises from the
bells;for the flabellum without bells is a familiar
instrument in Greek worship.In Georgia the flabellum was used in early times,
as is proved by an ancient fresco at Nekre"si, in
which two angels are shown beside the altar, each
holding a long-handled flabellum, the disk of which is
ornamented with a figure of the seraphim, but has no
bells.
The flabellum found its way at an early date into
the western churches 1. Cardinal Bona quotes an
instance of its use in the sixth century. Two figureswhich seem to be flabella are incised on an eighth-
century altar, which stood in the church of St. Peter
at Ferentillo 2. In an inventory at St. Riquier near
Abbeville, 831 A. D., occurs a '
silver fan for chasingflies from the sacrifice.' In 1250, at Amiens, is men-tioned a 'fan made of silk and gold': in 1253 the
Sainte Chapelle at Paris possessed' duo flabella,
vulgo nuncupata muscalia, ornata perlis': and 'esmou-
1 See paper in Archaeological Journal by the late Albert Way,vol. v.
2 La Messe, vol. i. pi. Iviii, and p. 171.
E 2
52 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. H.
choires'
are given in an inventory of 1376. In the
Library at Rouen is an illuminated thirteenth-centurymissal with two illustrations of a deacon waving a
flabellum over the celebrant at the altar.
Coming to our own country, a Salisbury inventoryof 1214 mentions two fans of vellum and some other
stuff, perhaps silk. In 1298 the chapel of St. Faith
in the Crypt of St. Paul's had a'
muscatorium,' or
fly-whip of peacocks' feathers. About the year 1400one John Newton gave to York minster a silver-gilt
handle for a flabellum : and even in remote parishesthe use of peacocks' feathers was not uncommon.Thus in the churchwardens' accounts at Walkerwick,in Suffolk, there is an entry of
'
ivd . for a bessumeof pekok's fethers.'
From the connection of the Irish Church with the
East, it is not surprising to find evidence for the use
of the fan as early as the sixth century in the sister
island. The Book of Kells has an illumination
representing angels holding flabella, which closely
resemble those of the Maronites : in the Gospelsof Treves l the curious figure of the conjoined
evangelistic symbols holds a flabellum in one
hand and a eucharistic knife or lance in the other.
This figure belongs to the eighth century : and in
another Hiberno-Saxon MS. of the eighth centurySt. Matthew is figured holding in his hand a fla-
bellum 2.
In the western Church, according to Rock 3,the
flabellum was used after the consecration and before
1Westwood, Miniatures and Ornaments of Anglo-Saxon and
Irish MSS., pi. xx.2 Warren's Lit. and Rit. of the Celtic Church, p. 144.3 Vol. Hi. pt. 2. p. 194.
CH. ii.] Eucharistic Vessels. 53
the pax. The consciousness of its symbolical value
was rare and late in growth ;and the idea, where
existent, differs from the Greek idea of waftingdivine influence, being rather that of driving away
light and wandering imaginations. By the sixteenth
century the fan seems to have fallen into disuse
entirely ;for in the
' Missae Episcopates,' drawn upfor general guidance by order of the Council of Trent,
and published at Venice in 1567, no mention is madeofany such instrument. At the present day the sole
reminiscence in the West of the liturgical flabellum
is furnished by the large fans of peacocks' feathers
sometimes carried in procession before the pope1. But
in the Greek Church the fan is still delivered to the
deacon at ordination as the symbol of his office.
The ewer and basin for the washing of hands at
the mass are part of the complete furniture of a
Coptic altar, and in ancient times were doubtless
made of precious metals. At the present time how-
ever a common pitcher of clay and tin bowl serve
the purpose in most cases. At Abu-'s-Sifain there
is a bronze basin of Arab work with some medal-
lions or bosses upon it of fine enamel. The ewer of
the same kind belonging to the basin seems to have
disappeared within the last five or six years. Thebasin generally rests upon a low wooden stand at
the north side of the altar. At the cathedral in
Cairo there is a ewer of silver, which I have seen
used in a curious manner. After the celebration of
the korban an acolyte pours water from the ewer
over the hands of the priest, who sprinkles first the
haikal, then other priests or. attendants, then mounts
1 Diet. Christ. Antiq. s. v. Flabellum.
54 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. n.
a bench outside and scatters drops of water over the
congregation, who crowd round with upturned faces
eager to catch the spray. This is a near approachto the use of holy water. In the Latin church the
basin was called aquamanilc, and was delivered as
an emblem of office to the deacon at ordination, just
as the ewer or urceolus was delivered to the acolyte.
Thus in St. Osmund's Consuetudinary1 an acolyte
after the entrance of the mass is ordered to bring
'pelves cum manutergio.' Rock, however, says that
the deacon at ordination received ewer, basin, and
towel 2, remarking that the vessels were of precious
metal. The Greek vessel corresponding to the aqua-manile is called xepviftov.
Receptacles for the reserved host in the Copticchurches must have been common when the practice
of reservation prevailed ;but as on the whole the
canons discountenanced reservation, so naturally the
evidence for the use of vessels like the pyx is
very scanty. Renaudot in relating a legend about
Philotheus, LXIII patriarch of Alexandria, mentions
incidentally an '
arcus seu ciborium quod altari im-
minebat.' The same writer alleges, however, that
although reservation was permitted in case of great
necessity, the host was ordered to remain on the
altar with lamps burning near it, and a priest watch-
ing3
. Still this arrangement would not preclude the
use of a separate vessel. Later, about the year 1000
A.D., a complaint was lodged against certain priests,
that they broke the canon in keeping the oflete a
whole week, lest they should weary themselves with
1 C. 93.2 Vol. iii. pt. 2. p. 34 n.
3Lit. Or. vol. i. p. 116.
CH. ii.] Eucharistic Vessels, 55
daily consecrations. Now the host is never reserved,
and no Coptic church I believe contains any sort of
pyx, unless it be possible that what I have called the
tabernacle or altar-casket may anciently have held
the reserved host, as among the Abyssinians. AtAbu Sargah, however, there is a very interesting
painting of St. Stephen, to be figured hereafter, in
which that saint is represented holding in his left
hand upon a corporal a beautifully jewelled vessel in
the form of a circular crown-like casket surmounted
by a cross. This may possibly represent a pyx, but
is more probably a box for incense. The paintingis by no means recent, and I have seen no other
like it, though it may be a copy of some traditional
design. It was not customary, as far as I can dis-
cover, to suspend the reserved host over the altar at
any time, unless Renaudot's remark can be taken to
imply the custom ; nor had the Copts anything cor-
responding to the eucharistic dove, which hung over
the altars of western Christendom.
Crewets of gold or silver were probably amongthe appurtenances of an altar in olden times
;but
now nothing but the most commonplace vessels of
glass is to be found. But there is one singular
usage of the Copts, which has been already noticed.
In several of the churches, Mari Mina, for example,
though not in all, a small glass crewet filled with
unconsecrated wine may be seen resting in a cuplikewooden crewet-holder, which is nailed on to the
haikal-screen outside, and usually towards the north.
There is no such arrangement in the Cairo cathedral,
nor does the position of the crewet connect at all
with any point of the present ceremonial. One can
only surmise that it is the relic of some forgotten
56 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. n.
ritual practice. At Sitt Mariam Dair Abu-'s-Sifain
there are two such crewet-holders on the screen.
The use of crewets in the West amae, amulae,
ampullae dates from an early period. Two silver
crewets, 7 in. high, belonging to the fifth or sixth
century, are preserved in the Museo Cristiano at the
Vatican. John III., c. 560 A.D., is related to have
ordered crewets among other vessels for the shrines
of the martyrs in Rome. They are mentioned in
the Ordo Romanus : and Gregory the Great speaksof crewets made of onyx, or perhaps glass resembling
onyx.The word ampulla was used also to signify the
vessel used by the Latins for the holy chrism. Nosuch specific vessel remains among the Copts of
to-day ; who, while retaining the use of the chrism,
seem to have forgotten its former sanctity, and its
distinction from the other sacred oils. Yet the chrism
may be found here and there, lying about in a small
glass phial stuffed with a rag and thrust into a dustycorner. Moreover the church of Anba Shanudah
contains an ancient chrismatory, a curious round
wooden box with a revolving lid. The box is solid
throughout, but has three holes scooped out inside,
in each of which is deposited a small phial of oil.
But even the priest does not now know that the
original purpose of the box was to hold the three
distinct kinds of oil used in the church ceremonial 1.
In regard to altar-lights the most ancient custom
seems to have been to place a pair of candles close
against the altar, but not upon it. Evidence of this
still remains in the monastic churches of the desert,
in some of which the pair of stone candelabra, which
1 See illustration on p. 41 supra.
CH. ii.] Eticharistic Vessels. 57
held the lights, still stand almost touching the altar
on the north and south side. But the prevailing
custom of the Copts at present is in harmony with
that of the western churches. Two candles and no
more are allowed upon the altar, though any number
of lamps or candles may be lighted round about it.
The candlesticks are often, especially in the side-
chapels, of wood with iron sockets somewhat resem-
bling the ancient candlesticks in the hall of St. Cross
near Winchester ;and various designs in bronze are
common. Silver was once the usual material, and
silver candlesticks are still used at the cathedral.
It is curious to note that while only the two lights
are suffered to stand upon the altar, acolytes with
tapers in their hands move round it at the mass, and
sometimes hold their tapers over the altar. This
practice also had its counterpart in the Latin Church,
as recorded by Isidore of Seville 1 in the seventh
century. Of the various lamps found in the churches
of Egypt an account is given elsewhere.
The crucifix is unknown to the altars or churches
of the Copts, though upon every altar is found lyingdown (not set upright) a small hand-cross for cere-
monial use. This cross, anciently of precious metal
and set with jewels, is now usually of base silver : it
has a peculiar design, to be given in a woodcut here-
after. The only exception that I know to this form
of altar-cross occurs in the south chapel at Anba
Shanudah, which has a tiny cross of wood inlaid with
medallions of mother-of-pearl.
Among the altar-furniture of the Coptic churches
may be counted the book of the gospel, whose usual
resting-place is upon the altar at all times except at
1
Etym. vii. xii. 29.
58 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. H.
the reading of the gospel. This book consists of a
MS. enclosed in a wooden case, and covered all over
with plates of metal nailed tightly down. Thus the
writing is sealed against all opening. The outer case
* .13.0
Fig. 10. Textus case of silver-gilt.
is generally of silver, though copper is found, and
embossed with Coptic lettering and designs of cheru-
bim, flowers, and crosses. Some are of extreme
beauty, such as the fine large one belonging to AbuKir given in the engraving; but the average size is
CH. II.] Eucharistic Vessels. 59
much smaller, being about 7 in. by 4 in. The metal
cases were of course devised originally for security,
at a time when copies of Holy Writ were scarce, and
they must have been meant to open : then as copies
multiplied, the older and more precious MSS. were
sealed up entirely, and retained as venerable relics.
Yet as none of the existing cases date farther back
than the fifteenth century, it is doubtful whether
they still contain MSS. of any great antiquity or
AJ.B
Fig. 11. Gospel-stands with prickets for candles.
value. One or two which have been opened revealed
nothing but a loose leaf or two of a gospel and some
fragments of silk tissue. But the meaning of the
cased textus is not forgotten ;for at the present day,
before the reading of the gospel at the mass, an
acolyte brings the silver book from the altar and
delivers it to the deacon, who places it reverently
upon the lectern : and when the gospel is finished,
the silver-book is carried back again to the altar.
The same symbolical usage of the sealed textus is
found at baptisms and other ceremonies in which the
60 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. n.
curious gospel-stand is employed. The gospel-standis sometimes a mere board, square or octagonal,sometimes a four-legged table, but fitted always with
a socket to receive the silver book which stands on
end in the centre. All round the gospel-stand iron
prickets are fastened, upon which burn lighted tapers:
and sometimes crosses of metal or wood are set at
the corners or even, as at Al Amir Tadrus, silver
fans. The silver-cased gospel is also frequently used
for the kiss of peace like the Latin pax ;and it is
carried in all solemn processions, with censers, tapers
and crosses a custom to which allusion is made in
the time of Ephraim, c. 980 A.D., and again at the
institution of Macarius, about 1 100 A.D.
The Armenian practice in this regard may be
noted among the many coincidences between Arme-nian and Coptic usage. For in the churches of the
Armenians the gospel is bound in silver and often
encrusted with jewels : it has also a silver case in
which it is kept, and it rests upon the altar. TheNestorians also use a cover of some kind for the
gospel, though I cannot ascertain its exact nature :
it seems however more nearly akin to the Irish
cumhdach than to the sealed case of Coptic usage.Allusion to it may be found in the rubric for the
ordination of a bishop, which directs the archdeacon
to open out the cover of the gospel above the back
and head of the bishop, and to lay the gospel on the
cover in such a way that the book may face him
who is to read out of it1
.
That the sealed textus is exclusively Coptic seems
proved by the fact that it is not found among the
1
Denzinger, Ritus Orientalium, torn. ii. p. 271.
CH. ii.] Rucharistic Vessels. 6r
Melkite Egyptians belonging to the orthodox church
of Alexandria. For example, in the treasury of the
church of St. Nicholas in Cairo, while there is
nothing corresponding to the Coptic gospel-cover,there are many books in the most sumptuous bind-
ing, gospels and psalters and liturgies, bound in solid
plates of gold and silver, studded with gems, and
closed by jewelled clasps.
Though in our own Church the gospel was not
hermetically sealed, yet we read of a copy' bound
up between thick sheets of solid gold and studded
with gems1.' Another, as quoted from Eddius in
the life of St. Wilfred, was likewise enclosed in plates
of chased gold and adorned with jewels. At Salis-
bury in 1222, the cathedral had a textus bound in
solid gold with sixty-two precious stones : while
Canterbury cathedral possessed, in 1315, no less than
seven similar gold-cased books and many in silver.
Many too were at St. Paul's, St. Peter's in York,
Lincoln, and other places2
. But the resemblance of
the Coptic to the ancient Irish practice seems closer
and more curious. As early as the sixth century in
Ireland,' metal cases of embossed bronze or silver
(cumhdachs) for enclosing copies of the gospels or
other MSS.' were in common use 3. Fine examples
are the Book of Armagh, the Psalter of St. Columba,now in the Royal Irish Academy, the Book of DimmaMac Nathi, and the Miosach now at the college of
St. Columba, Rathfarnham 4. The Stowe missal has
a metal case of eleventh-century workmanship : so
1Rock, vol. i. p. 272.
2Id. ib. p. 297.
3 Warren's Lit. and Rit. of the Celtic Church, p. 21.
4 Westwood's Miniatures, &c., pp. 80, 82, 83, 84.
62
:**.- {***
- ^ v^ 4--
w v:
Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. n.
that the practice lasted for seve-
ral centuries. It may be taken
as another point of correspond-ence between the Irish Church
and the East, in addition to
those adduced by Mr. Warren.
A silver box for incense is a
common belonging of the altar,
though none now seem left of
any great artistic interest. AtK. Burbarah there is a small
wooden incense-box with high-relief carving of great merit.
Thuribles also or censers of
bronze or silver abound in all
the churches. Silver is the more
common metal, and some of the
silver censers are of very beau-
tiful workmanship, resemblingthose used in the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries in the West.
Some indeed are of plain
bronze with a mouldedbase, anda donative inscription round the
rim : but gold was a commonmaterial in ancient times, and
now in most ofthe churches the
thuribles are of silver, decorated
with open-work or repousse de-
vices, and swung by chains with
or without little bells attached.
An example maybe seen figuredin the illustration of St. Stephenin a later chapter.
Lastly may be mentioned as
Fig. 12.
Bridal Crown.
CH. ii.] Eucharistic Vessels. 63
a proper appurtenance of the altar the marriage-diadem. This is a coronet of silver or gold, adorned
with texts, crosses, or other suitable ornamentation :
it is bound upon the brow of bride and bridegroomalike at the wedding ceremonial in the church. The
example here figured is of silver-gilt with designs in
repousse" : a cross in the centre : an Arabic text
signifying'
Glory to God in the highest' arrangedon either side : the whole between two double bands
of pellets. The ground is covered with fine tooling,
and a brief donative inscription is engraved at either
end by the rings.
The use of the crown, wKich at the outset was re-
garded as a heathen ornament, dates notwithstandingfrom so early an epoch, that it was sanctioned and
enjoined by the Church in the fourth century. In
Greek ritual, as in the Coptic, bride and bridegroomare both crowned : the same custom holds with the
Armenians, who however use a wreath of flowers in
lieu of a metal diadem. In our own country there
is not much evidence for the crown as part of the
altar furniture. Rock mentions a wreath of jewelscalled a '
paste' for brides to wear at the altar, and
quotes from some churchwardens' accounts'
paid for
a serclett to marry maidens in iii/.' in the year 1540.A decree of the council of Exeter in 1287 ordered
that every church should possess a marriage-veil1
.
Some Danish marriage-crowns are preserved in
the South Kensington Museum.
1 Church of our Fathers, vol. iii. pt. 2. p. 174.
CHAPTER III.
The Furnitiire and Ornaments of the
Sacred Building.
Ambons. Lecterns. Reliquaries. Lamps and Lights. Coronae.*
Ostrich Eggs. Bells. Mitsical Instruments. Mural Paintings.
Pictures.
OLYGONAL pulpits closely resemblingwestern models are neither of modern
date nor of rare occurrence in the Egypt-ian churches : but the Coptic ambon has
a distinct character of its own. It differs
from the western pulpit in having a straight-sided
balcony attached to the circular preaching place.
The balcony always runs east and west : both bal-
cony and pulpit are usually of white marble, carved
with flowers or enriched with exquisite marqueterieor mosaic of coloured stones. Sometimes a flight of
steps leads up to the ambon, yet often a moveable
ladder is the only means of mounting. It is doubtful
whether any remaining ambon dates further back
^
than the tenth century, though presumably those at
V^Al Mu'allakah and Abu-'s-Sifain, of which illustra-
tions have been given, may claim as great antiquity.
It must always be remembered that the Arabs in
Egypt borrowed most of their arts from the Copts :
and that the arts, once developed, had a mechanical
persistence, which renders any argument from resem-
blance of style to parity of date uncertain and
Furniture. 65
perilous. One cannot therefore safely determine
the date of Coptic work by comparison with like
Arab work of which the date is ascertained. But
there is an octagonal wooden pulpit in one of the
churches of the Natrun valley, which must be as old
as the eighth century.In England pulpits' were not used before the thir-
teenth century, previous to which the sermon was
delivered from the roodloft : but in neither our ownChurch nor the Coptic does the ambon seem to have
been known precisely in the form which was commonin early Greek buildings, and in early Latin basilicas,
which occurred for instance at St. Sophia in Con-
stantinople, and may still be seen at S. ApollinareNuovo in Ravenna, S. Clemente in Rome, and at
Torcello near Venice, namely the form with two
low flights of steps, a double entrance, and two short
balconies without the circular area. This form is
the usual one in pourtrayals of the ambon in tenth
and eleventh century Italian miniatures. Whereas,
too, the Latin ambon generally stood in the middle
of the nave, the Coptic pulpit, like that of our own
churches, is placed on the north side of the nave
near the choir.
The lectern in use among the Copts is a moveable
wooden desk about 15 in. square and about 4ft. high,
furnished with a sloping book-rest. The lower part is
made as a cupboard to contain the books of service :
the upper half is sometimes open, showing only the
corner-posts. The lectern is adorned with geometri-cal designs, and sometimes inlaid with ivory carvingsof the richest and most intricate workmanship. Thefinest example is that now at the cathedral in Cairo,
but once belonging to Al Mu'allakah : it may date
VOL. II. F
66 Ancient Coptic CJinvches. [CH. m.
Fig. 1?. Ivory-inlaid Lectern at the Cathedral in Cairo (front view).
CH. in.] Furniture.
Fig. 14. Ivory-inlaid Lectern (back view).
F 2
68 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
perhaps from the tenth or eleventh century, and is a
really beautiful work of art, the ivory enrichments
being wrought with the utmost conceivable delicacyof finish. The crosses and tablets chased with
Arabic inscriptions are solid blocks of ivory with
the designs in relief. The illustrations are from
photographs. The lectern always stands in the
choir before the haikal door, which was the position
occupied by the ambon at St. Sophia. Occasionallytwo lecterns are found, but in such cases one belongsof right to a side-chapel. The reader stands facingthe East with his back to the congregation.
Coverings of silk or some rich material are some-
times used for the lectern. That at Anba Shanudahcovers the sloping desk, and reaches halfway downthe front or western side
;and the frontal is embroi-
dered with a cross. An illuminated psalter is gen-
erally left upon the lectern;and under the desk, on
an open shelf or in the cupboard, are often kept
alms-trays of rushwork or of metal, and the musical
instruments used in divine service, i.e. cymbals,
triangles, and small tongueless bells struck with a
metal rod. Close beside the lectern there stands a
tall and highly ornamented bronze candelabrum with
a pricket, clearly recalling the graceful column which
stood beside the ambon in the Greek and Latin
churches, and served as a candlestick for the paschal
candle 1. The censer in common use may generally
be seen hanging from the circular plate below the
pricket of the lectern candlestick.
Although the worship of relics is forbidden by the
Coptic Church, yet the faithful have a firm belief in
1 See the illustrations of this in La Messe, vol. iii. pi. cxciv-cci.
The examples figured are mainly Italian.
CH.in.;] Furniture. 69
their sovereign virtue. Hence every church has
its relics, generally those of its patron saint. - -But
instead of being made a gazing-stock, they are -care1-
fully shrouded from view and sewn up in bolster-fike
cases which are covered with silk or some rich tissue,
embroidered or shot with gold. What these cases
contain teeth, bones, hair, or shreds of raiment-
can only be conjectured, as they are never opened.
They are kept in lockers or aumbries underneath
the picture of the saint or martyr to whom they
belonged, or rarely, as at Al Mu'allakah, in separatemoveable reliquaries. In the churches of the Harat-
ar-Rum, women may often be seen sitting on the
floor and nursing a case of relics, which is passedfrom one to another as they chat unconcernedlyabout their worldly matters
;for they have recourse
to the healing powers of the relics for the slightest
ailments. In the same way I have seen a priest
laying his hands and making passes on the head of a
boy who was troubled with headaches. If ever the
Coptic churches had relic-cases of metal or costly
work, like the sumptuous enamelled and jewelledshrines of western mediaeval art, they have long ago
perished, and their memorial with them. But while
the Copts retain the common early faith in the
efficacy of relics, they do not and never did pay 'to
them the same idolatrous honour that was often
bestowed in the church of Rome : and so doubtless
they did not lavish the same skill and wealth in
making shrines to contain them.
The lamps and lights of the Egyptian churches
are of such variety and beauty as to deserve a full
notice. First of all to be mentioned only with
sorrow and regret come the ancient lamps of glass
yo Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
enamelled with splendid designs and bands of Arabic
writing in the most lovely colours. These, the workof thirteenth-century artists, were once hung before
the haikal in many Coptic churches, but have now
entirely disappeared : one or two specimens however
may be seen at the British Museum and at South
Kensington. Each lamp hadthree handles by which it was
suspended, and formed really
only a case for an inner ves-
sel of oil. The effect of the
light shining through and
throwing out all the enamel-
led colours was superb. Thesame form of lamp in plain
glass still lingers in one or
two churches, as at Abu
Sargah, where it is hidden
away and only used once a
year, on Good Friday1
: there
is another at Sitt Mariam byAbu-'s-Sifain. The churches
in the monasteries of the
desert, and many of the
ancient mosques of Cairo,
were quite lately adorned with these magnificent
lamps : but shortly before the war all that remained
were taken down by order of the then prime minister,
Riaz Pasha, and stowed away in packing cases in
the public library. It is a relief to hear that now they
have been placed to the number of eighty in the
museum of Arab art in the mosque of Al Hakim,
. 15 Ancient Iron Candelabrumat Abu-'s-Sifain.
See the illustration on p. 41 supra.
CH. in.] Furniture. 71
from whence four have been sent on loan to the South
Kensington Museum. These latter date from the
fourteenth century, and are extremely beautiful.
Three of them belonged originally to the mosque of
Sultan Hassan, and are inscribed with the titles of
that sovereign, who reigned about 1 350 A. D. ;and the
fourth bears the name of Al Malik az-Zahir Barkuk,about 1390, the first of the Circassian Mamelukesultans. The three former lamps have a text from
the koran, enamelled round the neck, and runningas follows :
' God is the light of the heavens and the
earth : his light is as a niche in which is a lamp :
the lamp is in a glass : the glass is as it were a
glittering star.' Cobalt and a dark red are the pre-
dominant colours in these enamels : white and olive
green are also used in slighter touches.
There can be no question that most of the extant
specimens of enamelled lamps are of Arab manufac-
ture, and that there were large glassworks in the
middle ages at or near Damascus, and possibly also
at Cairo. But whether these lamps are really Arabor Venetian in origin, whether the art of enamellingon glass passed from Venice to Cairo and Damascus,or arose first in the East, is a moot point which I
shall not attempt to settle. There are however
some waifs and strays of evidence, which seem to
indicate that the flow of the current was eastward
rather than westward. Another form of pensile
lamp with a globed body, short neck, broad lip, and
stem built of rings successively tapering downwardand ending below in a fluted drop, seems to me of
distinctly Venetian origin. The body too is decked
with medallions, each enclosing a lion's head in highrelief a form of ornamentation in glass almost
J2 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH.MH;
exclusively Venetian. I have only found two of these
lamps in all the churches one, figured in the illustra-
tion, in an aumbry at Sitt Mariam by Abu-'s-Sifain,
and one hanging before the altar screen at Al 'Adra,in the Kasr-ash-Shamm'ah. They are not unlike
some of the gabathae used in the western churches.
Fig. 16 Glass Lamp at Sitt Mariam.
Almost identical with these in form, and not less
Venetian in character, are the graceful silver lampsof which examples may be seen in the Harat-ar-Rum
and in many other churches. Dair Tadrus is par-
ticularly rich in them. They vary from 4 in. to Sin. or
. III.] Furniture. 73
10 in. in height, and the beauty of their shape is en-
hanced by pierced designs which give them an air of
great lightness and elegance. Many of the specimensare quite modern and of base silver
;for though the
art of working in glass is lost, metal-working still
flourishes in Cairo, and these
copies in metal of the old
glass shapes have been
handed down to the present
day.
Yet another kind of metal
hanging lamp differs from the
last in having a broader and
fuller body and no stem be-
low : moreover instead of
being hung by chains, it is
upheld by three short metal
rods which are loosely at-
tached to the three handles
on the body and are joined
by a cross piece above : theyare also ornamented with
loose spherical bosses. Alamp of this description is
very rare, but I have seen
two or three in Dair Tadrus.
^Tlf Bell -shaped cups and
rimmed bowls of plain whiteFig. 17. Bronze Lamp at Dair ladrus.
glass suspended by chains
are common in all the Coptic churches, and are
hung before paintings, before the altar-screen, or
in the niche of the eastern wall.
In the middle ages there was in use a very beauti-
ful form of lamp, of which I have never seen a perfect
74 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
specimen surviving. It was modelled roughly after
the common pattern of classical earthenware lamps,but differed in having a spheroid body, from which
arose a short broad-lipped funnel, joined to the body
by a handle : the spout was long, narrow, and open.
Though made of earthenware, the lamp was covered
with a very rich and lovely glaze or rather enamel,
generally of a most exquisite turquoise blue colour,
though sapphire blue and many very beautiful shades
of green are also found. Fragments of these lampsare pretty plentiful among the rubbish-mounds of
Old Cairo ;and I discovered one specimen very little
mutilated, and not long disused, in an outhouse be-
longing to the Dair-al-Banat by Abu-'s-Sifain.
Of a pharos, or tower for lights, I have seen but few
specimens. One example, a wooden structure, taper-
ing upwards in four polygonal tiers or stages, is at
Abu-'s-Sifain lying overthrown in the dust behind
the wall pictures on the south side of the nave. The
light-tower was common in the West, and is often
mentioned in the Liber Pontificalis of Anastasius
among the gifts to churches. Something of the
same kind is the silver tower described by Paul the
Silentiary as belonging to St. Sophia. There was a
golden phare at the cathedral at Aix-la-Chapelle.
Pope Sylvester also had one made of pure gold1
,and
Adrian I. a cross-shaped phare to hold 1370 tapers.
A tenth-century painting showed two Byzantine-
looking light- towers as belonging to Canterburycathedral. Splendid works of the same kind were
also at Cluny and St. Remy. The term pharos is
1 Lenoir's Architecture Monastique, ii. 137. quoted by Texier
and Pullan.
CH. in.] Furniture. 75
of course derived from the great lighthouse of
Alexandria, and it lingers, little changed, in the
modern Arabic '
fanus.'
Coronae or crown-like chandeliers, once existed in
the churches of Cairo in great profusion, and were
doubtless made of precious metals. The few that
remain are of pierced bronze or copper, and are
flung away disused into dark corners. Two .belong
to Mari Mina, one to Abu-'s-Sifain, and one to Dair
Tadrus. Regarding the English use of the corona,
one cannot do better than quote the words of Rock 1
,
who, after saying that the pyx hung under the altar-
canopy in the form of a dove or a covered cup, adds :
' Round it in most if not in all churches there shone a
ring of ever burning lights fastened upon a hoop of
silver or bright metal, hanging also by a chain from
the inner roof of the canopy/ Bede speaks of a
large bronze hoop studded with lamps surrounding a
silver cross;and in the eighth century in Ireland
' crowns of gold and silver'
hung over the shrine of
St. Bridget in her church at Kildare. But I think
that in the churches of the Copts the corona never
hung from the canopy over the altar : its place was
either before the haikal-screen, or possibly within the
haikal eastward of the altar.
Of the curious seven-wicked lamp of iron at Abu-
's-Sifain, the cresset-stone at Anba Shanudah, the
standard candlesticks and gospel-stands in various
churches, the various altar - candlesticks, and the
beautiful dragon-candlestick at M&ri Mina, descrip-
tions will be found in their several places elsewhere.
I will only add a rough parallel to the last mentioned
1Vol. i. p. 200.
76 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH.
JLJ.B
Fig. 18. Seven- wicked Lamp of Iron for the Anointing of the Sick.
i
TTFig. 19. Specimens of Altar-candlesticks.
CH. in.] Furniture. 77
from an Anglo-Saxon ritual 1. The fire which was
kindled at the church door on each of the three last
days of passion week, was caught by a candle set in
a dragon-candlestick, and from it all the other taperswere lighted. This candlestick however was merelya serpent so mounted on a staff that its mouth formed
the single socket : and it further differed from the
many-lighted dragons of Mari Mina in being portableinstead of fixed. But the symbolism is doubtless the
same in both cases. Rock 2gives a woodcut of a
candle set in a dragon's head from the SalisburyProcessional of 1528 A.D.-
The ostrich-egg is a curious but common ornamentin the religious buildings of the Copts, the Greeks,and the Muslims alike. It may be seen in the ancient
church of the Greek convent in Kasr-ash-Shamm'ah,and in most of the mosques of Cairo, mounted in a
metal frame and hung by a single wire from the roof.
In the churches it usually hangs before the altar-
screen : but at Abu-'s-Sifain an ostrich-egg hangs also
from the point of the arches of the baldakyn. Hereand there it hangs above a lamp, threaded by the
suspending cord, as in the church of the Nativity at
Bethlehem : and sometimes it hangs from a wooden
arm, fastened on to the pillars of the nave, as in the
Nestorian church of At-Tahara at Mosul 3. Some-
times instead of the egg of the ostrich, artificial eggsof beautiful Damascus porcelain, coloured with de-
signs in blue or purple, were employed. These have
almost entirely disappeared : in the churches of the
1 See Warren's Lit. and Rit. of the Celtic Church, p. 53.2 Vol. iii. pt. 2. p. 244.* See the illustration in Dr. Badger's work, The Nestorians and
their Rituals (London, 1852), vol. ii. facing p. 20.
j8 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
two Cairos there is I believe not one left : but a few
still remain in the churches of Upper Egypt, and in
the mosques. The tomb-mosque of Kait Bey without
the walls of Cairo contains some fine specimens.These porcelain eggs are considerably smaller than
an ostrich-egg, but larger than a hen's egg. In the
British Museum there is a porcelain egg from
Abyssinia with cherubim rudely painted under the
glaze. It clearly belonged once to a Christian placeof worship.The 'griffin's egg' was a common ornament in our
own mediaeval churches. In an inventory of 1383A.D. no less than nine are mentioned as belongingto Durham cathedral 1
,and Pennant speaks of two
as still remaining in I/So2
. These griffins' eggswere hung up with other curiosities such as the' horn of a unicorn
'
before the altar or round St.
Cuthbert's shrine. They were merely rarities
brought by soldiers or pilgrims from foreign lands,
and presented as offerings of devotion to the church :
and in some chancels special aumbries with locked
gratings were provided for them. Many of the richer
churches had quite large collections of curiosities, and
served as a sort of museum. But in our own countrythe ostrich-egg does not seem to have had any sym-bolical import or to have been regarded as a distinctly
ecclesiastical ornament. From the fact that marble
eggs are said to have been discovered in some early
martyrs' tombs at Rome, and that in all Christian
lands eggs are associated with Easter-time, somethink that the egg was regarded as emblematic of
the resurrection. An entirely different explanation
1 Raine's Tomb of St. Cuthbert, pp. 123-127.2 Tour in Wales, vol. ii. p. 228.
CH. in.] Furniture. 79
of the symbol, one current among the Copts them-
selves, was given to me by the priest of Abu'-s-
Sifain. In contradiction to common belief, he said
that the ostrich is remarkable for the ceaseless care
with which she guards her eggs ;and the people have
a legend that if the mother-bird once removes her
eyes from the nest, the eggs become spoiled and
worthless that instant. So the vigilance of the
ostrich has passed into a proverb, and the egg is a
type reminding the believer that his thoughts should
be fixed irremoveably on spiritual things. This
explanation seems rational;for the devotion of the
ostrich to its brood is, I believe, in accordance with
the facts of natural history, and the use of the egg
may well have arisen in Africa where the habits of
the bird are better known. At any rate it is the
best solution of a vexed question.
Bells, though for the most part long since
abolished, were once in common use in the Copticchurches. Apollinarius, the emissary of Justinian,'
rang the bells'
on the first day of the week in
Alexandria to call the people together to hear the
king's letter 1. The present patriarch told me that
when the churches of Alexandria were destroyed,
many of the bells were rescued and carried off to the
Natrun monasteries where they still remain. Onein particular he described as having the figures of
the four Evangelists engraved upon it and an inscrip-
tion round the border. A church bell hung in a
niche in the western wall is still used at Dair Mikhail
towards Tura; but the church stands in open country,
where the ringing of the bell can wound no Muslim
prejudice. The same remark applies to the bell at
1 Al Makrizi, Malan's trans, p. 65.
80 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
Mari Mina, but no church bells besides are used nowin Cairo or Old Cairo. It is more than a thousand
years since their voice was silenced by order of the
conquerors, and the silence remains unbroken. Nowit is only in the solitudes of the desert that the clangis ever heard of a church-bell ringing from afar.
After the formal prohibition of bells in 850 A.D. a
board struck with a mallet was employed for the
same purpose an instrument which continues in
usage to-day, though that too was forbidden in 1352A. D. To this day the monks on the top of Tchad-
Amba, a mountain in Abyssinia, use in place of bells
three curious gongs which preserve the tradition of
the board. They are merely flat stones suspended
by leather thongs to the branches of a tree, but
when struck with smaller stones they give out a
pleasant metallic sound l.
In the Greek Church the use of bells was not
known before about 900 A. D., and is said to have
been derived from the Venetians 2. The mallet and
board however are frequently depicted in the paint-
ings at Mount Athos. The Maronites use two boards
which form a sort of large clapper. Instead of woodwe sometimes find a plate of iron or brass hung bychains 3
,which was called
' sementron' or 'semantron.'
Gongs of this kind are figured in Curzon's Monas-
teries 4;and they are mentioned by Leo Allatius, who
cites some ancient Byzantine authorities for their
employment. The semantron was suspended in the
1 The Wild Tribes of the Soudan, by F. L. James ; London,
1883, p. 236.2 Goar's Euchol. p. 560.
3Lenoir, i. p. 155.
4 On the title-page a monk is shown beating a wooden seman-
tron, and another wooden gong and also one of iron are given on
p- 300-
CH. in.] Furniture. 81
narthex or atrium : for bell-towers to hold a chime of
bells were quite unknown in the East before the
middle ages ;and even the Coptic churches had never
more than a pair of bells, each about eight or ten
inches in diameter. The familiar peal of our Englishchurches is scarcely older than the buildings fromwhich it resounds, and it carries to the ear no clear
echo of early Christian times.
Yet even in England the wooden gong was used
instead of bells l on the last three days of passion
week, the '
still days' as they were called for that
reason.
Handbells are still rung, or rather beaten, as partof the regular musical accompaniment of the chants
in the Coptic service. Renaudot 2 relates that the
bishops who accompanied George, the son of the
king of Nubia, on his mission to Egypt, used to ringbells at the elevation of the host, adding that the
practice was in conformity with the early usage of the
Church. This was about 850 A. D. But the custom,if ever it was in vogue among the Copts, has nowdied away completely : there are no handbells be-
longing to the altar.
In the records of the early British and Irish
churches handbells are mentioned as early as the
sixth century : and there seems some reason for the
opinion that even larger church bells were in use at
the same period in Ireland, and that the round towers
in some cases served as belfries. The handbell was
part of the regular insignia of an Irish bishop de-
livered to him at his consecration; and a bell of this
1Cf. Udalric, lib. i. Consuet. Clun. c. 12, quoted by Ducange,
and Amalarius de Eccl. Off. lib. iv. c. 22, quoted by Rock.2 Hist. Pat. Alex. p. 282.
VOL. II. G
82 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
kind attributed to St. Patrick is still preserved at
Dublin. For a fuller account of the matter, the
reader is referred to Mr. Warren's Celtic Ritual l.
It does not however appear that these bells
were used at the elevation of the host;nor is there
any evidence to show that the practice of elevation
was introduced into the western churches before the
eleventh century, though it had existed for manycenturies previously in the East. In English records
the mention of handbells is late and scanty. Bythe constitutions of ^Egidius de Bridport, bishop of
Sarum 2 in 1265, they were ordered to be carried in
procession in the visitation of the sick : the same
usage prevailed also in funeral processions. The use
of the handbell, or sacring bell as it was called, at
low mass, and the ringing of the sanctus bell at high
mass, date no doubt from the thirteenth century,
when the custom of elevating the host first began to
be adopted in our own country. The Coptic hand-
bell is always tongueless, and is sounded by beingstruck with a short rod of iron.
The wild and somewhat barbaric clash of cymbals,which accompanies the chanting in every ancient
church of Egypt, is probably a relic of pagan rather
than of Jewish tradition. The very sound seems to
bridge over the gulf of ages, and to carry the imagi-nation back to the days of Bacchic dances and
frenzied rites of Cybele, in much the same manner
as the sound of church bells at home seems to place
one back in the England of five centuries ago. But
beyond this romantic interest the cymbal seems to
have little history : eastern in origin and orgiastic in
character, it seems never to have been widely adopted
1
Pp. 92-94.2Rock, ii. 462, n. 31.
CH. in.] Furniture. 83
as an instrument in the worship of the West. Yet
cymbals are mentioned now and again as used in Latin
churches. A gift of cymbals to a church is quoted
by Du Cangel
,and allusion to cymbals is not un-
frequent in the Ordo Romanus. Sometimes no
doubt their usage corresponded rather to that of
bells, as they summoned the people to worship or
sounded at funerals : yet there is clear though scantyevidence of their employment in the choral service
of the church 2.
Staves or crutches shaped like a tau-cross may be
seen in many of the old churches, where there are no
seats to relieve the aged or ailing among the con-
gregation during the long services. Similar crutches
were allowed, according to Rock 3,in the early days
of the western Church- to certain ecclesiastics;but it
was customary to lay them down during the readingof the gospel. This usage lasted till the middle of
the twelfth century.
MURAL PAINTINGS.
That the churches of Egypt were once rich in
wall-paintings is proved no less by the fine remains
existing than by the testimony of history. Accordingto Al Makrizi 4
,the patriarch Cyril, c. 420 A.D., was
the '
first to set up figures'
(i.e. paintings and not
'
statues or images' as Mr. Malan rendersit)
'
in the
churches of Alexandria and in the land of Egypt.'
1 From the Acta Episc. Cenoman. p. 303.2 Beletus de Div. Off. c. 86.
3 Vol. ii. p. 134, n. 22. It should be noted however that the
authorities cited are all French.* Malan's transl. p. 56.
G 2
84 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
There is not the smallest evidence that the Copts at
any period sanctioned the use of statues or sculp-tured images for the adornment of their religious
buildings, and there is decided evidence to the con-
trary. Three centuries later, we read l that one
Usama ben Zald pulled down churches,' broke the
crosses, rubbed off the pictures, broke up all the
images:' but as it is clear that 'pictures' here can
only mean wall-paintings, so I believe that by'
images'
the writer intended what we call pictures ;
for the Arabic in such cases is usually ambiguous,the same term applying to both statues and pictures.
Again, about 860 A. D. Theophilus' ordered all
pictures to be effaced from the churches, so that
not a picture remained in any one church 2 '-- words
which again seem clearly to convey the idea of wall-
painting. Even as late as the eleventh century the
art had not entirely perished : for Renaudot relates
that in the Field of the Abyssinians3 near Old Cairo
was a church dedicated to Mari Buktor, which in the
days of Abu Salah 4 the Armenian had a Coptic
inscription, stating that the wall-paintings were done
in the year of the martyrs 759 or 1043 A. D. Not a
stone, not a trace, not a rumour of Mari Buktor nowremains : and we have no means of comparing any
eleventh-century wall-paintings, which were perhapsthe last effort of the art before its final extinction in
Egypt, with those earlier works which still adorn
many of the churches. For no one of the numerous
1 Al Makrizi, p. 77.2
Id. p. 84.3 This name has quite vanished ;
and the most diligent enquiries
among the Copts of to-day failed to produce anything but a con-
fession of blank ignorance.4 The spelling JL y\ is given in MS. 307. Bib. Nat. Paris.
CH. m.] Furniture. 85
paintings that survive has a date clearly fixed by an
inscription or other evidence : yet several of them
cannot be later than the eighth century, and some
original frescoes remain from the days of Constantine.
All these paintings are done upon dry plaster or
marble, and not on fresh plaster ;and the colours are
mixed with some viscous medium : they are, in fact,
distemper paintings, and should not in strict accuracybe called frescoes. But I have already claimed for
convenience sake to use the term fresco in the wider
sense conferred upon it by popular usage.The parts of a church most commonly beautified
with these paintings are the pillars of the nave, and
the curved wall and the conch of the apse. I have
no doubt that where we now find the apse-wallencrusted with marble and set with fine mosaics,
the same space was originally occupied by fres-
coes, which were replaced when decayed by the
later style of decoration. Thus at Abu Sargahthe principal apse is covered with this marble
work, while the dim and disused western chapelstill retains in its apse some of its original eighth-
century paintings. Moreover on the eleven pillars
in the nave which are unaltered, the colour and
outline of the figures once blazoned upon them
are still dimly discernible. All the figures in this
church are five or six feet high, and are specially
interesting as showing the resemblance of the early
Coptic vestments to those of the western Churches.
In style there is little difference to be detected
between the various specimens surviving. All are
Byzantine in character, with set faces, conventional
drapery, and stiff outlines. But there are signs of
more life and freedom sometimes to be found in the
86 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
rare examples of grouped figures, which exist for
instance in the satellite church of Al Mu'allakah and
in the triforium of K. Burbarah. In Al Mu'allakah
itself there remains only one single incomplete figure
on a pillar. Anba Shanudah has also one figure
on a pillar, and some very rude uncoloured frescoes
in the chapel of Mari Girgis above it. Traces of a
monochrome design of the Baptism of our Lord maybe seen also on the eastern wall of the chapel of
Sitt Mariam over the mandarah of Abu-'s-Sifain.
Besides the foregoing examples, most of the niches
in the sanctuaries and other chapels contain a fresco
figure of Christ in glory, his right hand raised in the
attitude of benediction. This figure, found in the
tombs of Urgub in Cappadocia and common all over
the East, may be seen also in some Roman and
Lombard churches, but not elsewhere in the West 1.
The Latin Church preferred to depict Christ crucified.
All over Egypt the same practice of decorating the
church walls with figures of saints and angels seems
to have prevailed. Not merely in the churches
dotted along the banks of the Nile, to the very farthest
boundary of Egypt in the south, may ancient frescoes
still be traced upon the walls;but wherever the
monks penetrated the remotest desert, there theycarried with them the art of mural painting. In the
western desert the monasteries of the Natrun valleyhave many examples still remaining, as for instance
the refectory at Dair-as-Suriani, and the nave of the
church dedicated to Anba Bishoi : while in the
eastern desert by the Red Sea the ancient church
of Mari Antonios has its walls nearly covered with
dim and venerable frescoes.
1 Texier and Pullan, p. 42.
CH. in.] Furniture. 87
PICTURES.
The ordinary paintings on panel or canvas havebeen described so very fully elsewhere that a few
general remarks here will be sufficient. Panel-
pictures are older and generally more interestingthan those on canvas a material which has onlybeen used during the last two hundred years : and
the painters on canvas were so childishly wanting in
all power of design and colouring, that their works
may be dismissed in one sentence as worthless.
The paintings on panel are rather difficult to classify,
either by date or style, owing to the persistence of
Bvzantine methods and traditions. Yet there are a*
small number of pictures clearly dated, and these
serve as marks by which a certain order of progress,or rather decadence, can be noted.
There are no remaining pictures, I believe, older
than the thirteenth century, and only one that can
be assigned beyond question to that period the
beautiful tabernacle or altar-casket at Abu-'s-Sifain.
This forms a class by itself, being distinguished by a
luminous softness of chiaroscuro and a depth of
idealised expression, both very surprising in an
oriental picture. The date, 1280 A. D., is determined
by a clear inscription in Coptic. So much has been
said already about the picture, that I will only add
that this solitary work of art is enough by its sole
evidence (if no other picture can be assigned to the
same epoch) to establish the existence in Egypt of a
school of painters far superior to contemporaryartists in Italy. Possibly the large painting of the
\M-* Life of our Lord in the same church may belong to
the same period : or even if somewhat later, it is
88 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
little inferior in execution. Both pictures, and in
fact all the older pictures in Coptic churches, are
painted on panel prepared in a peculiar manner.
The wood is sometimes (but not generally) overlaid
with canvas to prevent it splitting ;on the canvas
is spread a thin coating of gesso ;and the gesso is
then covered with gold. The golden background,
therefore, common in these early paintings, is not
put in separately, but is merely that part of the
prepared surface which is not covered in with colours.
This point is proved by many examples by two
pictures for instance in the writer's possession in
which flakes of colour have fallen off revealing a
surface of gold below. The gold seems to have
been burnished to a high degree of brilliancy, gleam-
ing like pure metal, as in our best manuscript illu-
minations. In some cases the principal outlines of
the design were engraved on the gold with a steel
pointel, being doubtless transferred in this manner
from paper sketches : and sometimes ornamentation
of scrollwork or dotwork especially upon the nimbus
of saints is stamped into the gesso. The picture
from which the frontispiece is taken bears in Arabic
the signature of '
the pilgrim Nasif/ and dates from
the fifteenth or sixteenth century. It is remarkable
for a most beautiful effect which shows upon the cover
of the gospel, on the tunic of St. Mercurius, and in
other places, a lustre of the most brilliant and pel-
lucid ruby-colour, as pure and as metallic as the lustre
of the finest Gubbio ware. This effect is produced
by overlaying a fine clear pigment on a ground of
burnished gold. The use of canvas as the material
for receiving the colours, which did not begin till the
eighteenth century, marks the last stage in the decline
CH. in.] Furniture. 89
of Coptic painting. No pictures of the last or present
century have any value, except as preserving in a
sort of mummy-like embalmment the lifeless tradi-
tions of the past.
There is reason to believe that the art of paintingon panel existed from a very early period in Egypt :
and if one remembers how for ages the Copts and
their churches were harried by fire and sword, and
how their Muslim persecutors hated not only the
religion of Christ, but all delineation of divine or
human figure ;the wonder is not so much that all
more ancient pictures have perished, as that any
paintings dating from so remote a period as the
thirteenth century should have survived the devasta-
tions of six hundred years. It is however quitecertain that such a work of art as the tabernacle at
Abu-'s-Sifain never arose in full perfection as a
sudden growth of chance. The power it betokens
was not developed within the limits of a single life-
time, but followed upon long antecedents of trained
skill and practised imagination. How early the
painting of panels began we do not know : but the
story told by Vansleb proves at least that the Coptsclaimed a tradition of art ascending to the very time
of the apostles. He relates 1 that in the church of
St. Mark at Alexandria there was two centuries agoa picture of St. Michael, said to have been painted
by the hand of St. Luke the Evangelist. The legendis that the Venetians seized it, and put out to sea
meaning to carry it away : but five times they were
driven back to harbour by tempests, until at last
they relinquished the picture. Next some Beduins,
hearing the story of its value, broke into the church,
1
Voyage fait en Egypte, p. 183.
90 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
thinking to steal the icon and sell it to the Venetians.
But, once in the building, they found their feet holden
by some miraculous power, as often as they tried to
go out with their booty. So they too failed in their
unholy enterprise. Whatever be the worth of this
legend, extant remains of mural painting prove that
in the fourth century at least Coptic artists possessedsuch skill in design and colour as might by a natural
process of development, if unchecked and unarrested,
achieve very great results. It is true no doubt that
Coptic art generally has a certain large leaven of
Byzantine elements, and true that Byzantine art in
Europe preserved a crystalline fixity of style and
merit for centuries together : yet the Coptic paint-
ings that remain, instead of indicating a single type
immutably permanent, show a steady continuous
order of change ;and although this change is a
change of disintegration and decay, it proves never-
theless that the art contained organic vitality and
vigour. So we may reason backwards, and from the
splendour which we can witness slowly waning
through six centuries, we may infer a dawn far
beyond our ken, and watch the light growing larger,
in stages at least as slow as those by which we have
seen it diminish.
Of pictures with fixed dates there are two sets
belonging to the fifteenth century, both at Sitt
Mariam in Dair Abu-'s-Sifain. One of these, on the
south wall of the choir, contains three pictures the
Baptism of our Lord, Abu Nafr, and Anba Shanudah :
these are dated 1179 of the Coptic era or 1462 A.D.
Close beside them on the haikal-screen of the south
aisle-chapel is a very interesting set of five paintings
with a date corresponding to 1477 A.D. In com-
CH. in.] Furniture. 91
parison with the art of the thirteenth century, the
faces in these pictures have lost somewhat in lifelike
expressiveness : the features have become more set,
and the folds of the drapery more conventional :
there is not the same masterly softness of outline,
the same delicate gradation of light and shadow.
Yet the technical manipulation of colour is still
admirable : only it seems as if -the spiritual qualities
had in a great measure gone out of the painting.Works of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
are tolerably common;but there is a marked su-
periority in the former, in which the stiffness of
decay is far less conspicuous. Good examples may be
seen in Abu Sargah, Al Mu'allakah, Al Amir Tadrus,and other churches. From the sixteenth centuryonwards the decline in power and originality becomes
more and more decided : till the last stage is reached,
after the lifeless daubs of the last century, in the dead
cessation of painting at the present time.
To sum up : Coptic art seems never to have been
tied and bound by rigid laws of tradition in the same
manner as the art of the Greek Church. There is
no analogy in Cairo to the experience of Didron,
who fifty years ago saw the monks of Mount Athos
reproducing by rule of thumb the designs and colours
of the fourth or fifth century, and who found a school
of painters'
painting by instinct, as the swallows
build their nest or bees their honeycomb.' Nor are
there to-day in Egypt, as in Russia, artists who still
paint in the manner of the thirteenth century.
Further, it is not merely in style that the Coptic
painters indicate their independence and individuality.
The variety of subjects is no less striking than the
variety of treatment of the same subject. The arch-
92 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
angel Gabriel is painted sometimes with a sword,
sometimes with a cross, sometimes with a trumpet :
sometimes in a single flowing robe, sometimes in
full pontificals. The Annunciation and the Nativityare seldom rendered twice with the same details : and
while, generally speaking, the subjects correspondin frequency and variety with those early Christian
paintings in the West, yet there are some curious
exceptions and differences. While, for example, in
the catacombs at Rome the commonest subject of
all is Christ as the good shepherd!
,I do not re-
member a single instance of the same figure depictedon any Coptic wall or panel. Not less remarkable
is the absence of many of the most familiar symbolsof western Christendom. Birds eating grapes, and
stags, occur in one or two wood-carvings ;there is
one solitary instance of a dolphin carved in marble :
the ship and the fish are found neither in carvingnor painting, although Clement of Alexandria is the
first to bear witness to the use of IXOUC as a
Christian symbol. On the other hand the churches
abound in paintings of scenes and persons distinc-
tively Coptic, martyrs like the Five and their
Mother, saints like Mari Mina, patriarchs like AnbaShanudah, and hermits or ascetics like Antony, AbuNafr, or Barsum al 'Ariin. Some of these, and
only some, left a renown that travelled beyond the
borders of Egypt ;but all received more honour in
their own country, where their heroic deeds and
sufferings are still told in legend, and their forms
are still blazoned upon the panels of the sanctuary.
There is yet another remarkable difference be-
1 Roma Sotteranea, transl. by Northcote and Brownlow, Lond.
1879, vol. ii. p. 45.
CH. in.] Furniture. 93
tween Greek and Coptic painting, and it is a pointwhich should not be passed in silence
;for it dis-
tinguishes Coptic art not only from Greek but also
from all art of western Christendom. The Coptsseem to be the only Christians who do not delightto paint the tortures of saints on earth or sinners
in hell. Our ancient English churches abound in
frescoes of skulls and bones and hideous devils. It
was a common thing to depict the Last Judgmentover the chancel-arch
;and nothing could be too
revolting to embellish the scene. The church at
Lutterworth, for instance, has this fresco still in
good condition; round the Lady chapel at Win-
chester cathedral malignant imps, enacting dreadful
scenes of torture, may still be traced upon the faded
surface of the walls;and over the western door of
Amiens cathedral the Resurrection and Judgment,
sculptured in stone, display the same horrors as the
illuminations of the Utrecht Psalter, the frescoes of
Andrea Orcagna in the Campo Santo at Pisa, and
the mosaics of the Duomo at Torcello. So too in
the monasteries of Mount Athos every church has
its Last Judgment painted in the porch, with details
of horror which Curzon has described with keen
humour 1
. Elsewhere the same author remarks,' These Greek monks have a singular love for the
devil and for everything horrible and hideous ;
I never saw a well-looking Greek saint anywhere2.'
In the Coptic Church these horrors have no
counterpart. In no part of the world do they
belong to the early ages of the Church, but are
the outcome of a diseased taste in the middle ages.
1 Monasteries of the Levant, pp. 301-302.2
Id. p. 258.
94 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
Mr. Ruskin indeed thinks that the mosaics at Tor-
cello may be as old as the seventh century'
;but
if so, there is a wide gulf of time between themand the like delineations elsewhere. The frescoes
at Mount Athos are in some cases quite modern;
but the subject, if not the work, carries back for
some centuries. Texier and Pullan 2 record other
examples of the Last Judgment, but none of great
antiquity. The more refined and tender feeling of
the early Church, while delighting to paint our Lord
in glory surrounded by triumphant saints, yet left
the doom of the wicked to the silence of imagina-tion. This wise reserve, this refusal to pourtray in
colours the torments of hell, or to countenance a
religion of terror, has been and is now the con-
tinuous characteristic of Coptic art as opposed to
all other Christian art whatsoever. If then Texier
and Pullan are right in thinking these horror-
paintings exclusively Byzantine in character, and in
deriving their origin from the soul-weighing and
other legends of the ancient Egyptian mythology ;
it is at least very curious that for the first six
centuries of our era the time when the worship of
Isis and Osiris was still practised there should be
no trace and no mention of such paintings, and that
Egypt itself should be the one country distinguishedfrom all others by the absence of such paintings at
all epochs of Christian history. Rather, if the time
and place nearest the supposed connexion prove to
be the only time and place conspicuously wantingin all sign of it, common sense and common logic
demand some other explanation. It would surely
1 Stones of Venice, vol. ii. App.2
Byzantine Architecture, p. 41.
CH. in.] Furniture. 95
be just as reasonable to dwell upon the extraordi-
nary resemblance between the mediaeval paintingsof hell throughout Europe and the place of torment
depicted in the Buddhist paintings of India 1
,and
to frame from this resemblance a theory of the con-
nexion of Byzantine art with Buddhist. But there
is no need, I think, of any recondite searching.
Similar phases of belief and of artistic utterance
may have quite independent origins and develop-ments. One has only to remember how as time
went on the primitive idea of Christian life and
thought hardened down to an intolerant dogmatismin theology, while its spirituality was sapped bya vulgar craving for artistic realism
;and it is then
easy to understand how, from the slender material
furnished by Holy Writ, a depraved taste and a
diseased imagination, working in an age of super-
stition, devised and painted in colours horrors worse
than those of any heathen Tartarus.
Passing now from subject to form, one may note
that the Copts do not share the Byzantine or Greek
practice of overlaying their panel pictures with platesof silver, or setting them in metal frames. In most
of the Greek churches to-day such pictures may be
seen or rather conjectured ;for the whole panel is
covered except the faces of the figures, which peer
through holes in the silver, while the drapery andother details of the scene are rudely engraved in
outline upon the surface. It is uncertain whenthis custom began, but it seems of some antiquity.
Curzon mentions, among other pictures treated in
this manner, two portraits of the empress Theodora,
1 See Lord Lindsay's Sketches of the History of Christian Art,
vol. i. p. xxxiii.
g6 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. m.
and two other paintings brought from Constanti-
nople in the middle of the fifteenth century. Theseare at the monastery of Vatopede, Mount Athos !
.
Of course the silver casing is designed as a safe-
guard against the damage which would arise from
the custom of kissing pictures. From time to
time there seem to have been outbreaks of icono-
clastic violence against the pictures in the churches
of Egypt. Thus as late as 1851 the patriarch
Cyrillus, the tasteless builder of the present hideous
cathedral in Cairo, considering that too much rever-
ence was shown to pictures, and being determined
to put down the superstition, ordered paintings to
be brought from all quarters, and made a grandbonfire of them. No doubt many of the oldest
and best thus perished, though in many other cases
the order was fortunately disregarded.The Copts have a certain number of religious
pictures in their houses, mostly of small merit.
They pray before them, and burn tapers before
them, as offerings in fulfilment of a vow ;and
although the Church forbids prayer to saints, the
practice is not uncommon among the women, whoare of course more ignorant and superstitious than
the men. The saints so worshipped are chiefly
St. Michael, the Virgin Mary, St. George, and St.
Mercurius 2.
1 Monasteries of the Levant, p. 326.2
It may be useful to give in Arabic the three different eras by
which the date of Coptic pictures is marked. They are
(1) b^-*-H ^-+*ithe Coptic era of the Martyrs, which com-
mences in 284 A. D.
(2) j->^- or **"- *, the era of the Messiah or of the
Nativity, = A. D.
(3) sjs*, the Mohammedan era of the Flight.
CHAPTER IV.
The Ecclesiastical Vestments of the Coptic
Clergy.
Previous Authorities. Dalmatic. Amice. Girdle. Stole. Pall.
Armlets.
ARIOUS writers who have ventured to
treat of Coptic ecclesiastical vestments
have admitted the difficulty of reaching
any conclusions at once lucid and final,
and have for the most part, unconsciously as well
as consciously, exemplified and intensified the
obscurity with which the subject is beclouded. Themethod I propose to follow now is, first, briefly to
review and compare together all the chief written
evidence upon the matter, and by the light of myown information to decide, if possible, what really
are the canonical vestments : then to take these one
by one, describe them, and compare them with cor-
responding vestments in other Churches eastern and
western : and, finally, to make mention of one or two
forms of vestments unrecorded by previous writers,
forms for which the evidence is rather pictorial than
written.
The first list to be given here is quoted from the
VOL. II. H
98 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
Arab historian Abu Dakn 1,as rendered in English
by Sir E. Sadleir in 1693. I strongly suspect that
this English translation is second-hand work, beingtaken direct from the Latin version of the same
author, published at Oxford in 1675. It is not sur-
prising that mistakes arise in such a process of
translation and retranslation, even if the liturgical
terms in the original authority are technically accurate
and clearly distinguished, which is seldom if ever the
case. A further source of error, no less frequentthan vexatious, is the ignorance of lexicographers,
who seem to have not the smallest understanding of
liturgical language2
. But to proceed : Abu Dakn
gives as the priestly vestments the following :
1. A woollen'
ephod' about the head. This is
clearly the amice, though Abu Dakn remarks that it
is worn not only by priests but by all who enter the
church, a statement not easily intelligible unless it
refers also to the turban ; but another explanationwill be suggested presently.
2. Dalmatic. A long linen garment reaching to
the feet and set with jewels in the form of a cross
upon the back, breast, borders, and cuffs of the
sleeves, or, if the church be poor, with silk embroideryinstead of jewels. This is one of many testimonies
to the great splendour of the ancient Coptic ritual.
3. Girdle.
4. Maniple carried by the priest only in the left
hand and not allowed to deacons or inferior orders.
This statement is extremely doubtful.
1
History of the Jacobites, tr. by Sir E. Sadleir, London, 1693.a
It is a matter of great regret that even the best and most recent
Arabic lexicons, such as Lane's and Dr. Badger's, are so remarkablydeficient in this respect.
CH. iv.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 99
5. Cope. The Latin rendering is 'pallium cum
cucullo,' and the vestment is stated to be used at
solemn times by priest, deacon, or subdeacon for
the mass, when no bishop is celebrating. The hood
goes over the amice. The cope was and is worn bythe Coptic clergy, and may be rightly so called here.
6. Stole. About this vestment the Latin version
remarks.
'
nulli ferunt nisi pontifices,' which becomesin the English translation
' none wear the stole ex-
cept bishops!' an absurdity which needs no refu-
tation.
Let us now turn to the list given by Vansleb *, wholived in Cairo in the years 1672-1673, and was for
the most part a careful observer. He gives seven
as the number of priestly vestments, viz.
1. Aid, called in Arabic tuniah.
2. Amice. A long band of white linen which
priests and deacons wear twisted round the head.
Arabic 'teleisan ;' Coptic niXoviort.
3. Girdle of silk.
4 and 5. Sleeves or armlets.
6. Stole.
7. C^(chappe)which must have a hood (chaperon)for bishops but not for priests. The vestment seems
clearly marked by the hood as that mentioned byAbu Dakn, but the two authorities are at hopelessvariance as regards usage : for whereas Abu Dakn
assigns the cope with hood to priests and deacons,to the exclusion of bishops, Vansleb makes the
hooded cope as opposed to the hoodless distinctive
of bishops as opposed to priests. Vansleb gives'
al burnus' as the Arabic equivalent.
1 Histoire de 1'figlise d'Alexandrie, p. 60.
H 2
ioo Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
Renaudot 1 in his wonderfully learned work on
the Oriental Liturgies cites two authorities for the
Coptic vestments, Gabriel and Abu Saba. Gabriel,
the LXXXVIII patriarch of Alexandria, in his book
on ritual, published in 1411 A.D., enumerates the
vestments as follows :
1. Aid or dalmatic of silk.
2. Epomis or amice of white silk.
3. Stole.
4. Girdle.
5 and 6. Sleeves.
7. Cope (pallium seu cappa) of white silk.
Similarly Abu Saba gives seven :
1. Aid or dalmatic (vestis longa sive tunica).
2. Epomis or amice, like the ephod of Aaron.
3. Girdle.
4 and 5. Sleeves.
6. Stole or 7nrpax^Atoi>, which the priest hangsfrom his neck.
7. Chasuble or cope (?) :
' Camisia sive alba,'
which for bishops has an orfrey of gold or precious
embroidery round the neck, but not for priests. If
we compare this statement with Vansleb's, it seems
quite possible that the vestment, called of course'
camisia sive alba'
quite erroneously, is rather a copethan a chasuble
;and that the hood having disap-
peared is merely indicated by embroidery, in strict
analogy with a common western practice.
Renaudot, after remarking that it is extremelydifficult to give a clear account of these several
vestments, owing to the fact that the terms are so
ill understood even by lexicographers, proceeds to
1
Lilurgiarum Orientalium Collectio, second edition, Frankfort,
1847, 410., vol. i. pp. 161-163.
CH. iv.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 101
discuss them in order a process which it will be
convenient to follow with a rough translation.
1 .
' This is a long robe reaching to the ancles. A bu
Sabd 1 calls it djabat, the patriarch Gabriel tunta.
It is the Greek xiT( vlov or rather a-riyapiov, and is
worn by all orders down to subdeacon : it is tight-
fitting and of white colour?
There can be no doubt that Renaudot's account
is quite accurate, and the vestment is what we call
a dalmatic.
2.' This is called in Arabic Tilsan, the Coptic
equivalent being GTUJDJUUC, corruptly T ^.nojuuc, or in
someglossaries niXovion. Here it must be understood
ofa vestment or ornament worn on the shoulders, and so
nearer a superhumeral than rational. But it seems
capable of being aptly explained as the (paivtoXiov or
chasuble of the Latins'
This last remark of Renaudot's, though apparently
agreeing with Du Cange, is unfortunate. Neale has
adopted the blunder from Renaudot without acknow-
ledgment, thus stamping it with his own authority.
He states flatly that the chasuble is named tilsan bythe Copts
2. Abu Dakn and Vansleb are both quite
clear that the amice is a Coptic vestment, and the
latter identifies the word under discussion by givingthe Arabic and Coptic names, 'teleisan' and mXovioit.
There can be, therefore, no shadow of reason for
confounding amice with chasuble, or for allowing any
uncertainty as to the meaning of the 'tilsan': it is
established beyond question by Renaudot's own
1 This writer is constantly called Abu Sebah by Renaudot and
others, but the spelling in the text seems correct : it is taken froman Arabic MS. which gives L*-
j>\.* Eastern Church, Gen. Introd. vol. i. p. 309.
IO2 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
authorities, as well as by the independent autho-
rities which I have cited. A point that does demandsome notice is the confusion between amice and
rational, a point which Renaudot passes over with-
out explanation. The truth is that from the earliest
times there was the closest association between ephodand breastplate, or superhumeral and rational. Thus
St. Jerome in his letter on the sacerdotal vestments 1
remarks,'
the ephod or superhumeral is so coupled to
the rational that it may not be loose nor unattached,
but that both may be closely joined and be a mutual
help, each to other:' and again2 he describes the
rational as' woven in gold and fine colours, the same
as the ephod.' In another place3 St. Jerome notices
that the corresponding word in the Septuagint is
7ro>/>uy. Now there is some evidence that the
breastplate or rational was used as a regular Chris-
tian vestment in the East. Marriott gives an en-
graving of a leathern breastplate, found in a coffin in
the church of the Passion at Moscow 4,which cannot,
he says, be older than the tenth century, and is a'
wholly exceptional instance of a direct imitation of
the Jewish"rational.'" He quotes however a state-
ment from King5
,that Russian metropolitans wear
two jewelled ornaments upon the breast, which are
imagined to be taken from the Urim and Thummimon Aaron's breastplate. But the strongest evidence
is offered by another eastern Church, the Armenian,where to this day amice and rational are not only
found, but found attached together, as St. Jerome
1 Marriott's Vestiarium Christianum, p. 23.2
Id. p. 17.3
Id. p. 14.4 Vest. Christ, pi. Ivii. and p. 245.
6 Greek Church, p. 39.
CH. iv.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 103
describes the ephod and breastplate. The varkass
is defined as a small amice having a stiff collar, and
sometimes a breastplate of silver or gold attached 1.
It seems then very probable that at some rather
early period in the Coptic Church both the amice
and rational may have existed : and if, like the cor-
responding Armenian vestments, they were actually
fastened together, it is easy to understand how the two
names enu3JULic and niXovion may have been used
almost interchangeably, and finally, when the rational
disappeared from use entirely, have given rise to an
apparent confusion. Or this confusion may be ex-
plained in a different manner. In the western Church,
at any rate, the amice was originally of square or
oblong shape, and was worn with two of its corners
overlapping each other across the upper part of the
breast;and the strings after being carried round the
body were fastened in front. The amice thus worn
actually formed a kind of breastplate or rational ;
and, if the practice of the Egyptian Church was
analogous, it is quite natural that the terms enojJULic
and niXonon should sometimes have been used as
synonyms.
3.' The Girdle needs no explanation: it has the
authority of all antiquity, and a special meaning
among the Christians of the East since the Moham-medan conquest, having been prescribed by several ofthe khalifs as a secular distinction between Christian
and Muslim. A I Hakim and Saldh ad-Din were
very rigorous in the imposition of this mark of
ignominy ; for such it was regarded by the laityy
while ecclesiastics vied with each other in praise of so
1 Fortescue's Armenian Church, p. 133. .
IO4 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
honourable a vestment. From the fact that the
Christians of Egypt were distinguished by this zone,
they were often called"Christians of tJie Girdle?
a name which has given rise to many foolish inter-
pretations'There is little need to alter or qualify the foregoing
remarks. The girdle was used not merely as a
priestly vestment, but it had its place in the cere-
monial both of baptism and of marriage. The title
(Christians of the Girdle
'
seems to have been givenfirst by the Venetians. The secular ordinance en-
joining upon the Christians the wearing of a girdle,
to distinguish them from the Muslims, was first issued
not by Al Hakim, but a century and a half before
that time by the khalif Mutawakkil.
4 and 5.' The two Sleeves are probably the same as
the knifiavLKia which the Greeks, as Goar remarks, wearloose with a silk string to tighten them on the arms.
The f-rripaviKia correspond under anottier form to the
maniples of the Latin rite. But the Coptic sleeves,
judging by native descriptions, may be of a different
shape, though on this point we can give no certain
information.1
The identification of maniple and epimanikia is, I
think, a mistake. The '
certain information,' which
Renaudot desired concerning the form of the Copticsleeves, will be found elsewhere in this volume.
6. 'The Stole is hung from the neck. Abu Sabas
ignorance of Greek has led him to offer an extraordi-'
nary etymology : he says that Bitarchil means ' a
thousand rocks' The glossaries give cKop^iort as
an equivalent to this Arabic word, but that is a term
unknown in ritual!
The etymology is absurd enough, but Renaudot,
CH. iv.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 105
by misquoting the Arabic, makes it appear still moreridiculous. I am inclined to think that Abu Sabaknew a little Greek : the word he starts with is not
bitarchil but patrashil, or petrashil, which he derives
doubtless from 7rer/>a and \i\ios. He adds that the
stole is thus symbolical of the 'thousand rocks' which
beset the course of the Church, and demand ceaseless
vigilance on the part of the priests who pilot her !
His real ignorance lies in this, that he failed to see
that patrashil is a mere corruption of the Greek
term tirnpayj}\iov. It will be noticed that Renaudot
says nothing of the form of the stole, of which moreanon.
7. ^Last comes Al Burnus, or Ka^ao-iov, as the Coptstinderstand it, a term which often answers to the
Camisia, or alb of the Latins, but here denotes rather
a vestment corresponding to the ancient chasuble, comingon the top of the other vestments and encircling the
whole body. The upper part has a border of gold or
rich embroidery (called 'f'KOKXi^L in Coptic, kaslet in
A rabic] like the Greek vestments carefully described byGoar. The Burnus is usually of silk: but Abu 7Birkat relates that many monks and priests of Cairo
wear a plain chasuble of white wool without anyborder, such as the Carthusians use at the altar. Themonks of St. Macarius did not use the chasuble in the
service of the altar, but only at public prayers.'A II these vestments have symbolical meanings very
like the Greek. Authorities are confused, owing to
the reckless interchange ofArabic terms and the want
of a definite nomenclature, Coptic or Greek, corre-
sponding to the Arabic : they will not repay study, as
they are not clear about the ancient form of the vest-
ments, and the present form, perhaps a little changed,
106 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
must be settled by observation, and not by written
evidence.
'But it is clear that all the Coptic vestments answer
very closely to the Greek. The Burmis answers to tlte
<f>aiv6\iov or faXoviov as figured by Goar, and to the
casula or planeta of the Latins. The first on the
list answers to the western alb, and the a-Ti\dpiov : the
Christian Arabs have kept tlie latter term which
Echmimensis explains as kamis or camisia. The
Sleeves or firifiaviKta are tightened by silken strings,
whence it is obvious that they are made in the Greek
fashion. The Tilsan or Epomis is the Amice, as
before remarked, and has a hood attached, according to
Echmimensis. The Stole is placed about the neck, anddescends crosswise over the shoulders, as in Goars
illustration. Mention is made also by Echmimensis ofa priest's cap (cidaris] ornamented with small crosses.
'These vestments were once, and are still, a,s rich
and costly as the several churches can provide. Theyare jealously guarded, and may not be removedfromthe church or tJte sacristy, as ordained in the most
ancient canons and confirmed over and over again.
They are consecrated, like every appurtenance of the
sacred service, by the bishop's benediction. If used byheretics or persons of a different communion, they are
considered as profaned, and must be purified by set
prayers or else consumed by fire. Thus in the life of
Chail, the fifty-sixth patriarch, we read that the Ja-cobitesgot leavefrom the sultan to burn the sacerdotal
vestments of six Melkite bishops. There is scarcely any
difference of actual form between a bishop's and a
priesfs vestments for the celebration : they are distin-
guished, as among the Greeks, by embroidered circles,
orfreys, and crosses'
CH. iv.]Ecclesiastical Vestments. 107
The question of the seventh vestment Renaudot
thus decides in favour of the chasuble almost without
discussion : and he is doubtless right. The cope in
the Coptic ceremonial, as in the West, was rather an
ornament for great festivals and solemn processions,
than a regular vestment to be worn in the service
of the altar. Renaudot points out the confusion
between alb and chasuble caused by the identifica-
tion of the Burnus with the Greek Kafida-iov or Kapfoiov,
a confusion which is the less easy to understand as
the alb is called in Arabic kamis. But Renaudot
himself seems as inconsistent as the authorities he
discusses. After stating that the Greek fcrjyMp&M
were furnished with silken strings, but that he had
no certain information about the Coptic sleeves, on
the next page he coolly remarks that the Copticsleeves have silken strings and therefore are like
the Greek ! Again, in the passages quoted above
he mentions several times over without question the
amice (amiculum) as one of the seven vestments :
yet in another place* he sweepingly alleges that the
amice (amictus) is unknown in the eastern Church.
The statement, quoted from Echmimensis, that the
amice had a hood attached, either points to a time
when the original form had so far been altered that
it consisted virtually of two distinct parts, or else is
a mere misapprehension arising from the manner in
which the amice was worn over the head, and which
is rightly described by Vansleb.
Between Renaudot and Denzinger, who publishedhis
' Ritus Orientalium' in 1863, there is so long a
lapse of time, that one might fairly expect the
1 Vol. ii. p. 55.
io8 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
interval to have added something to our knowledgeof the subject. But such is not the case. Denzinger
merely reproduces the very words of Renaudot and
the earlier authorities in a slavish manner, mildly
correcting Renaudot's mistake about the amice,
wrongly doubting his interesting testimony about
the Coptic priest's cap ', but adding otherwise not a
word of original criticism, and leaving, if possible, the
old confusion worse confounded than ever. Den-
zinger's work is, of course, in many ways extremelyvaluable : it contains masses of citation and transla-
tion from those oriental and other writers, who must
remain the principal sources of our knowledge for
the ancient eastern ritual : but on the subject of the
Coptic vestments he has produced a very quagmireof inconsistent evidence. He neither attempts to
reconcile the conflicting statements of previous
writers, nor does he add on any single point the
testimony of one single fresh observer.
Having thus passed in review the several author-
ities who have written about the sacred vestments
of the Church of Egypt, and having balanced one
authority against another, in order as far as possibleto reconcile their contradictions, we may conclude
this much for certain that there were at least seven
canonical vestments which may be fitly rendered bythe English equivalents dalmatic, amice, girdle, two
sleeves, stole, and chasuble. This list tallies almost
exactly with the number and name of the vestments
in usage at the present moment, although the modern
practice has become somewhat lax, and the full tale
1 ' Cidaris . . de quo tamen varia nobis dubia occurrunt, vide-
turque nihil aliud esse nisi pilogion'(l) i.e. the amice. Ritus
Orientalium, ed. H. Denzinger. Wirceburgi, 1863 : torn. i. p. 130.
CH. iv.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 109
of vestments is not worn for ordinary celebrations,
but only on great festival occasions. Such dis-
crepancies as exist between past and present custom
will be noticed in due order.
THE DALMATIC.
(Coptic ni noTHpion, ni cyeirroo, -fjm^pim^ or
-fjUL^im^. \ Arabic5oo>yO|.)
In most of the eastern Churches the vestments
of the celebrant were required to be of white colour
in accordance with primitive custom 2. Thus Ibn al
'Assal quotes a canon of Basil that' vestments for
the celebration must be of white and white only/and the Imperial Canons similarly enjoin that
'
the
priestly vestments must reach down to the ankles
and be white, not coloured.' In both the passagesthe principal reference is doubtless to the dalmatic,
which then as now was the most essential vestment
for the holy office, though in the West at any rate
the name '
alb,' connoting the prescribed colour,
seems more ancient than '
dalmatic.' The genericname of course is tunic alb being merely tunica
alba and dalmatic tunica dalmatica: and it is this
generic name which has survived in the term bywhich the vestment is now denoted among the Copts
tunlah. The name dalmatic is here retained
1 The Coptic name of the vestments is generally that given to
me by Abuna Philotheus, Kummus of the cathedral in Cairo, and
the most learned of the Copts in such matters. Where two or
more distinct names are given, all but the last are derived from
MS. authority. TlOTHpIOIl is obviously from the Greek Tr
2 See Marriott, Vestiarium Christianum, Introd. chap. iv.
no Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
as being perhaps the nearer of the two;but it is
important to remember that the Coptic form of the
vestment does not accurately correspond to the
Latin form, but rather to the earlier colobion. Thedalmatic was a tunic with long full sleeves
;the
colobion had short close-fitting sleeves ]: and the
colobion is said to have been abolished in favour of
the dalmatic by Sylvester, bishop of Rome, in the
time of Constantine 2. It is therefore interesting to
Fig. 20. Embroidered Dalmatit.
find that Egypt, which never fell under the sway of a
Roman pontiff, retains to this day in the ministration
of the altar the form of tunic disused by the Latins
fifteen centuries ago. It will be seen that the
dalmatic figured in the illustration has rather a full
body but short close sleeves. It opens by a slit
along the left shoulder which is fastened by a loop
and button. The seams have no ritual meaning, but
1 So Marriott, p. Iv: yet the same author, p. in. n. 220, calls
the colobion ' a tunic without sleeves.'
2Vest. Christ, p. Ivii.
CH. iv.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. \ \ i
probably denote that the vestment has been pieced,
where soiled or decayed, from some other dalmatic
in like condition but less valuable.
The embroidery upon this vestment corresponds
very closely in arrangement with the description
given by Abu Dakn. On the breast is a figure
of the Virgin Mary holding the infant Saviour on
her left arm : below this is a rude figure of Mari
Girgis slaying the dragon, and a dedicatory inscrip-
tion in Arabic. On each sleeve is the figure of an
angel with outspread wings : a border enclosingsome beautiful crosses runs round the edge of the
sleeves, and a fine cross is also worked upon the
back of the vestment. Various soft colours are
blended together in this needlework, which is
wrought in fine stitches with silk, harmonising well
with the white or rather cream-yellow ground on
which it is embroidered. The ground is of linen,
and the yellow tinge is merely an accident of age.
The white short-sleeved dalmatic embroidered in
the manner set forth above is the principal vestment
worn at the celebration of the korban by the Coptic
clergy of to-day ;and the distinction between the
dalmatic as worn by the priest and the deacon
respectively is a distinction not of form but of
ornamentation. The priestly dalmatic has the figureof the Virgin on the breast and of an angel on each
sleeve, embroidered in gold or silver or fine needle-
work : while instead ofVirgin and angels the deacon's
dalmatic has merely small coloured crosses.
At the time when the ordinary dalmatic was
decked with borders and crosses of costly jewels,
as recorded by Abu Dakn, the ground was often
of rich white silk as well as linen : and silk is
1 1 2 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv,
the material most commonly mentioned in ancient
writings. I have been unable to find any evidence,
pictorial or written, for the use in olden times bythe Copts of the dalmatic with stripes, or clavi, such
as are figured in the early mosaics of the West for
instance at the church of S. Vitale at Ravenna and
in early frescoes of the Greek Church. These
stripes descended one from each shoulder before
and behind : they were originally black, but in later
times, in the seventh century, were often purple :
and it was perhaps about the same period that the
sleeves began to be adorned with small stripes, which
were soon conventionalised into such a border as
survives now in the Coptic form of the vestment
White then seems to have been the universal
colour for the dalmatic in the early ages of the
Church both eastern and western. White is the onlycolour mentioned in the early Irish canons l
,arid in
this the British and Gallican practice probably
agreed with the Celtic. Yet towards the end of
the seventh century we find that St. Cuthbert wasburied in a purple dalmatic, although this may havebeen in special attribution of kingly honour to that
saint, and does not necessarily imply the recogniseduse of purple as an ecclesiastical colour : and in the
eighth century in Ireland albs are represented, as onthe shrine of St. Maedoc 2
,with embroidered borders
or apparels. But in . mediaeval times the use of
various colours in the vestments of the Latin Church
became systematic special colours being set apartfor special seasons or festivals. In England it was
only after the Norman conquest that embroidered
1 Warren's Lit. and Rit. of the Celtic Church, p. 124.1
Id. p. 114.
CH. iv.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 113
and coloured dalmatics came into use l. For the
latter, I think, there is no clear authority in Coptic
liturgical history. That the Copts adorned their
dalmatics with the most gorgeous jewels and
embroidery, has been already shown : but I have
not seen in actual usage any such vestment madeof red, purple, or other coloured material. Coloured
dalmatics, however, abound in the paintings which
adorn the churches. Thus St. Michael in a picture
at Abu Sargah is robed in a crimson dalmatic tricked
with gold : the figures round the apse at Abu-'s-Sifain
wear alb and dalmatic both coloured : and the sameis true of the apostles on the iconostasis, and the
figures on the screen of the south chapel, at Al 'Adra
Damshiriah. Red and green are the favourite colours.
In some of the embroidered dalmatics the work is
spread all over the ground in so lavish a manner as
almost to give the idea of a coloured vestment. Anexample of a dalmatic, cream-coloured and covered
with small embroidered flowers, may be seen at the
church of St. Stephen in Cairo : another is figuredin the woodcut which represents St. Stephen, and is
taken from a painting at Abu Sargah done in the
fifteenth or sixteenth century. Here the vestment
has a white ground, but is almost entirely covered
with beautifully embroidered roses, each with a tiny
branch and foliage attached. It should be noticed,
moreover, that the dalmatic opens by a slit in the
front on the chest, and that the neck and the openingare adorned with a rich orfrey, while another border
of jewelled work runs round the lower hem : the
cuffs also have their special embroidery. The sleeves
of this dalmatic are, as usual, close-fitting ;but it is
1Rock, vol. ii. p. 100.
VOL. II. I
ii4 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
worth remarking that instead of being cut short theycover the entire arm. It is very possible that the
custom was for deacons to wear the long-sleeved
dalmatic, while priests wore shorter sleeves by reason
of the fact that the epimanikia covered their fore-arm.
This distinction however does not seem to have been
observed in the ancient pillar-painting at Al Mu'al-
lakah, which is not later than the eighth century.
There the archbishop or patriarch who is figuredwears a fine dalmatic embroidered all over with
small circles, but the sleeves of the dalmatic reach
to the wrist;unless indeed, as is possible from the
drawing, the sleeves do not belong to the dalmatic,
but are detached epimanikia, only made of the same
material as that vestment, and adorned with the like
embroidery.One other example of the Coptic dalmatic deserves
special mention. At the church of Abu-'s-Sifain, on
the north side of the nave near the ambon, are two
paintings representing Constantine and Helena re-
spectively. Each of these figures is vested alike,
and they have both the alb and the dalmatic. Herethe alb is long and rather loose, while the dalmatic
is not merely extremely short reaching only a little
distance below the waist but is further remarkable
for having two broad indentations in the lower hem,
making thus a sort of zigzag instead of an even line.
These indentations may perhaps remind one of the
side-slits usually figured in western dalmatics. Therecan be no doubt of the ecclesiastical character of the
vestments : whether their pourtrayal is accurate, is
another question, to which unfortunately no answer
can be given. This much only is certain, that the
authorities make no mention of the two vestments as
CH. iv.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 115
distinguishable and capable of being worn together :
nor does present practice in any way confirm such a
distinction.
The tuniah of the Copts corresponds, as Renaudot
rightly remarks, to the sticharion (vnydpiov or o-rot-
Xaptoj/) of the Greek Church, and indeed the very word
seems to be found in the full form cTorx>Lplon and
in the mutilated cmf^x^pi in Coptic rubrics *.
The vestment is described by the Greek patriarch
Germanus, perhaps the first of that name, early. in
the eighth century, as follows 2:
' The sticharion
being white signifieth the splendour of Godhead,and the bright purity of life which becometh Chris-
tian priests. The stripes of the sticharion upon the
wristband of the sleeve are significant of the bands
wherewith Christ was bound . . . the stripes across
the robe itself signify the blood which flowed from
Christ's side upon the cross.' The stripes here
referred to are probably the two shoulder-stripescommon also to the Roman dalmatic. Marriott
quotes! a good example of these stripes in an
eastern vestment from the very ancient fresco at the
rock-cut church of Urgub, as mentioned by Texier
and Pullan : another good instance is the fresco at
Nekresi in Georgia, figured by Rohault de Fleury :
and examples abound in the East and West alike.
There is, however, a slightly different form of sti-
charion worn by bishops, in which there are not two
but several vertical stripes4
. For this form, as for
the ordinary striped sticharion, no strict counterpartexists in Coptic usage, although the Greeks have a
1Denzinger, Rit. Or. torn. ii. pp. 40, 49.
2Marriott, Vest. Christ, p. 85.
8Id. xxxvii. note.
* See the figure of St. Germanus in Marriott, pi. Iviii.
I 3
u6 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
kind of sticharion without stripes, long-sleeved, and
sometimes covered with rich embroidery, which
answers to the Coptic dalmatic as worn bydeacons. Among the treasures of the orthodox
Alexandrian church of St. Nicholas at Cairo is a
splendid ancient sticharion of pale blue silk, almost
smothered with embroidered flowers and medallions
blent in a bold and beautiful design. The flowers
and the medallions, which enclose figures of saints,
are all marked out with tiny pearls strung close
together, which follow the lines of the pattern.
The dalmatic worn by the patriarch at great festi-
vals to-day is woven of gold tissue. It agrees with
the much older vestment just described ia being
quite open at the sides almost up to the arm, and in
having little bells attached.
Like the Copts and the Greeks, the Syrians also
used the white tunic whether alb or dalmatic as
a priestly vestment. Their term for it is kuttna,
derived, as Renaudot remarks *, from the Greek
\iTtoviov. But Renaudot is perhaps wrong in stating
that the Arabic tuntah is a mere corruption of this,
instead of connecting it with the independent Arabic
tun, ^o, or the Latin tunica. The Syrians retained
the orthodox colour, white, though Renaudot speaksalso of dalmatics of other colours represented in
some rude miniatures of a Florentine MS.
Lastly, we find the same vestment, an alb of white
silk, in use at the present day among the Armenian
Christians, who call it the shapich2
. Thus all parts
of the Christian world unite in supporting the ancient
tradition that the ministers of the altar should be
1Lit. Or. vol. ii. p. 4.
2 Fortescue's Armenian Church, p. 133.
CH. iv.]Ecclesiastical Vestments. 117
robed in a white tunic. But beyond the embroideries
already noticed, there seems no analogue in the
eastern Churches for the square apparels which
formed a regular part of the adornment of the alb
in our western ritual.
THE AMICE.
(Coptic m n.Xin, ui &<LXXm, ni Xovion 1
,ni
ecf>oTT2
: Arabic cxs^l *UM, t/LuLvy 1
3.)
We have found Abu Dakn speaking of the amice
as a woollen, or more probably linen, ephod worn
about the head by priests and '
all who enter the
church.' I cannot help thinking that' church
'
here
is a mistranslation for the Arabic '
haikal,' which,
literally signifying'
temple,' may have been rendered' church
'
by a translator ignorant of its technical
limitation to the'
holy of holies,' or sanctuary about
the altar. If the amice were worn merely as
part of an ordinary laic's church-going dress, AbuDakn would hardly have enumerated it in a list of
distinctively sacerdotal vestments. Vansleb more ex-
plicitly describes the amice as a long band of white
linen, worn twisted round the head by priests anddeacons. I emphasise the latter point, because it
seems to bear out the idea of a mistranslation of
1 Notice that XoVIOft or Xdytnr is the word used by St. Jeromeand subsequent writers to denote the 'rational' or breastplate of the
Levitical priesthood. (Marriott, Vest. Christ, p. 17.)2 The name ec^OTfT is given in Peyron's Lexicon.3 This orthography, which, of course, is correct, gives the right
English spelling tailasan, and not 'tilsan
'
or'
teleisan,' as Renaudotand Vansleb have it.
Il8 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
Abu Dakn, as suggested above. Deacons, of course,
do enter the haikal at certain parts of the celebra-
tion : so that if we take Abu Dakn's statement to
be that the amice is worn by'
priests and all whoenter the haikal,' it will then tally almost exactly
with Vansleb. Lastly, the patriarch Gabriel men-
tions white silk as the right material for the amice,
and Abu Saba simply records the vestment without
adding to.our knowledge about it.
By putting together these small pieces of infor-
mation, we shall arrive at the fact that the amice is
a long band or scarf of white silk or linen, worn
twisted round the head by priests and deacons.
This definition answers almost word for word with
the amice as worn by the Coptic clergy to-day : the
authorities, however, seem mistaken in allowing the
use of the amice to deacons, the truth being that it
is distinctly a sacerdotal vestment. In Arabic the
amice is called either shamlah and balltn indifferently :
but although the terms are in common speech quite
synonymous, yet str ctly speaking the two vestments
are distinct distinct in colour and mode of usage,
though similar in point of shape. For the shamlah
is a long band of white linen embroidered with two
large crosses, and worn by priest and arch-priest or
kummus : while the balltn is made of grey or other
coloured silk, embroidered with texts and manycrosses, and is worn by patriarch and bishops.
Again, the shamlah is twisted like a turban round
the head, and while one end hangs down the back
of the priest, the other is passed once round his face
under the chin, and then is fastened on the top of his
head : but the ballin is put on in quite a different
manner as follows. First, it is doubled and then
CH. iv.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 119
hung over the bishop's head from the middle, so
that the ends hang evenly in front;each end is then
passed across the breast under the opposite arm, and
thence across the back over the opposite shoulder
and straight down under the girdle. It thus forms
a hood for the head as the shamlah does : but
Fig. 21. Shamlah, back and front view.
whereas the ballin is arranged crosswise both uponthe breast and back, the whole length of the shamlah
is used up in the hood or head-dress, leaving onlyone end free which hangs down the middle of the
back. Upon this straight piece there shows an
embroidered figure of a cross, and a similar one is
visible over the crown of the head upon the hood.
The shamlah is usually of white linen or white
1 20 Ancient Coptic CJntrches. [CH. iv.
silk, and the crosses upon it are often embroidered
in gold. As a rule its length is about 8 ft. and
breadth i ft. : but a specimen in the writer's posses-sion measures no less than i6ft. 8 in. in length and
i ft. 4 in. in width;the embroidered crosses, which are
3 ft. 4 in. and 2 ft. 6 in. respectively distant from the
nearest end, are worked in red and yellow silk, and
have the Coptic sacred letters in the angles. There
is no fringe to the vestment, but each end is markedoff by a single red line of needlework.
The tailasdii, where distinct from the shamlah, is
merely a conventionalised form of the same orna-
ment, and consists of a broad strip of linen or silk,
which hangs down the back and ends upwards in a
hood, instead of being twisted round the neck and
over the head, as the shamlah. It is only uponspecial occasions, such as Good Friday, that the
patriarch wears the ballin, never during the celebra-
tion of the mass. Metropolitans and bishops how-
ever wear it during the mass, whenever they do not
wear the crown or mitre : outside their own dioceses
too, and at such times within their dioceses as the
patriarch happens to be present, they wear the
ballin : the use of the mitre being on such, occasions
prohibited. It scarcely needs remarking that the
cope is seldom worn with the ballin.
The amice in ordinary use now is not adorned
with any magnificent orfrey, or apparel embroidered
with jewels and gold, such as was common in the
richer churches of the West. Yet in this as in every
particular there is reason to believe that the Copticritual rivalled or even outrivalled the splendourof our western services. In ancient Coptic pictures
however, and in modern alike, one searches vainly
CH. iv.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 121
for a single clear pourtrayal of the amice. Such an
example as that in the painting of Anba Shanudah
at the church of that name in old Cairo is perhapsnot to the purpose ;
for the head-dress there is rather
a hood. Yet the vestment may be meant for the
tailasan ;and the amice is found represented as a
hood, though rarely, even in English monuments, as
on the effigy of a priest in the church of Towyn in
Merionethshire, and on an effigy in Beverley Minster1.
The more frequent form of the amice on western
tombs and brasses is a rich collar standing about the
neck : and for this there is a possible parallel in
Coptic usage. For what may be an amice in the
form of a richly embroidered collar is representedon the neck of the patriarch in the very interesting
seal of the patriarchate of Alexandria, which will be
given in a woodcut below. And even if evidence
were wanting, we might be sure that at a time whenas a matter of course the dalmatic was adorned with
a wealth of precious stones, the amice did not fall
short of it in richness, whether its adornment was in
the form of orfreys or of jewelled crosses.
To what antiquity the use of the amice in the
Coptic Church ascends, is a question which I fear
cannot be answered. In the West the first mention
of it seems to be made early in the ninth century
by Rabanus Maurus. Originally it was a square or
oblong piece of linen fastened across the shoulders
and breast, and, like the Coptic vestment, it had
usually a large cross embroidered upon it2
. It is
1 Bloxam's Ecclesiastical Vestments, p. 47 (eleventh edition).2 See Chambers' Divine Worship in England, p. 34, and the
illustration there given of an amice once belonging to St. Thomas
of Canterbury.
1 22 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
not till the twelfth century that we hear of the amice
being worn over the head, and it was then regardedas an emblem of the helmet of salvation, accordingto Durandus. When so worn veiling the head, the
amice was nevertheless lowered on to the chasuble
at the moment of consecration. A sort of amice,
though sometimes called a fanon, was worn over the
head by the pope when celebrating mass, and the
same ornament was used instead of the mitre on
Holy Thursday, when the pope performed the
ceremony of feet-washing.The rational, though not the amice, is mentioned
among the ancient ornaments of the Celtic bishops1
:
but it is quite possible that the amice too may have
existed at an earlier date than is generally assignedto it, though from its natural association with the
rational no separate early mention of it is clearly
recorded. Yet no such vestment as the amice seems
known in the practice of the Greek Church, althoughthere the rational survives in a breastplate of gold or
silver, worn over the chasuble by patriarchs and
metropolitans, and called the Trtpio-TriQiov2
. On the
other hand, the amice or varkass is still worn by the
Armenian clergy, amongst whom it is small with a
stiff collar, as described above, and sometimes has
attached to it a breastplate of precious metal. Theamice without a rational is also a familiar vestment
in the Syrian Jacobite and in the Maronite Churches,
where it is one of the ornaments with which a
bishop is attired at ordination, as may be seen in the
rubrics 3.
1 Warren's Lit. and Kit. of Celtic Ch. p. 113.2 Id. p. 114.
3
Denzinger, Kit. Or. torn. ii. pp. 93, 157.
CH. iv.]Ecclesiastical Vestments. 123
Seeing then that not merely the Coptic but also
the Maronite, Syrian, and Armenian Churches still
recognise the amice as a priestly vestment, and that
it has in all cases at least a respectable antiquity,
even if it does not ascend to the first few centuries
of our era, we may feel some surprise that ecclesio-
logists from Renaudot to Marriott should deny its
existence as an eastern vestment. Renaudot has
already been refuted above out of his own lips :
Marriott rightly says* there is no corresponding
vestment in- the Greek Church,' but quotes with
approval the far more sweeping statement of M.
Victor Gay1
:
' Les Orientaux plus stricts observa-
teurs des traditions du costume primitive ne 1'ont
jamais adopteV Even Neale, while admitting the
existence of the Armenian amice, remarks that it'
is
unknown in any other part of the eastern Church,
and seems to be adopted from the Latin amice 2;'
thus sealing afresh the error.
It is precisely because the orientals are so conser-
vative in their practice, and because the Copts are
perhaps more conservative than all other orientals,
that the Coptic use of the amice constitutes a. strong
argument for the high antiquity of that vestment. In
default of direct evidence, the date of its adoption in
the church of Egypt can only be matter of con-
jecture : but I think it far more likely that it origi-
nated there, where the heat of the climate would soon
make the necessity felt of such a protection for the
neck. Again, it is not less but more natural that the
close association of the amice with the Levitical
ephod or breastplate should have arisen in the
1 Vest. Christ, p. 2 1 2 n.
2 Eastern Church, Gen. Introcl. vol. i. p. 306.
124 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
East, an association stamped on the very name of
the Coptic vestment.
On the whole, then, not only is the statement quiteuntenable that the amice is unknown in the eastern
Churches, but a balance of probabilities seems to
show rather that it first arose in the East and passedover to the West, than that it came as a fresh gift
from the ritual of Rome to the ritual of Alexandria.
THE GIRDLE.
(Coptic ni ^cnrit.pion, ni ofit^pion : Arabic
Though the penal use of the girdle as a secular
distinction of dress between Christian and Muslim
in Egypt has long since passed away, yet to this
day Christian and Muslim alike wear it for the
sake of convenience, and afford a living illustra-
tion of the manner in which it was worn in the
most ancient times, before it was adopted as a
sacred vestment of the Church. For, as in the
ministration of the Church the girdle is worn over
the alb or dalmatic, so in daily life at Cairo now it is
worn by prosperous merchants or venerable sheikhs
to confine a robe which only differs from the dalmatic
in being open down the front. The analogy between
the two sets of vestments is so striking to view, and
so well founded in fact, that one cannot understand
how it should have received so little recognition from
1 This word,'
zinnar,' and the two Coptic terms are obviouslyalike derived from the Greek
CH. iv.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 125
ecclesiologists. Much labour and ingenuity have
been spent in deriving the various forms of ecclesi-
astical vestments from styles of classical costume
recorded in literary or sculptured monuments : while
oriental costume has been quite neglected, althoughthe early Christians, like the Jews, were mostly
orientals, and eastern dress is much the same to-dayas it was two thousand years ago. A well-dressed
Arab from the bazaars of Cairo is a better illustra-
tion of the origin of Christian vestments than all the
sculptures of Athens and Rome.As the burnus or chasuble of the Copts is the
burnus or overall cloak of the Egyptian Arab;and
as the dalmatic or camisia is the long robe worn
underneath by the Arabs and called kamis;so the
sacred girdle is the native mantakah or hazam, i. e.
belt or sash ; and the amice has its analogue in the
well-known kaffiah. Like most of the priestly vest-
ments, however, the girdle is only worn to-day on
great ceremonial occasions, and not as part of the
ordinary ministering dress for the altar. The dal-
matic is always worn for the celebration of the
korban, and generally amice and stole are worn also :
but the rest of the canonical vestments, thoughretained by the Church and used for high festivals,
are not now considered essential for the holy office.
An ancient and very beautiful example of a girdle of
crimson velvet with clasps of niello silver exists, and
has already been described in the account of the
church of Abu Kir wa Yuhanna at Old Cairo : it
probably dates from the sixteenth century. Thatworn by the present patriarch is of yellow silk, and is
fastened by large pear-shaped clasps of filigree silver-
work set with precious stones.
1 26 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
The use of the girdle as a sacred vestment is not
distinguishable from the use of the other vestments
in point of antiquity. There is no reason whatever
for considering it a later addition, or anything but
the natural companion of the dalmatic. It is clearly
figured in the pillar-painting at Al Mu'allakah alreadymentioned
; which, whether it belong to the eighth
century or to an earlier epoch, certainly representsan ecclesiastical costume of a fixed and developednot of a rudimentary character. In this painting the
girdle is not a mere loose sash, but a belt with
embroidered edges and with a clasp, thus closely
resembling the girdle at Abu Kir wa Yuhanna. It
seems then reasonable to infer that at the time whenthis fresco was painted, the girdle was already a
thoroughly familiar and thoroughly conventionalised
vestment, and consequently that the use of the girdle
in the Coptic Church is more ancient than in the
Churches of western Christendom.
This idea is further borne out by the fact that
the first clear mention of the girdle as a sacerdotal
ornament is made in the eighth century by St.
Germanus of Constantinople, an eastern and not
a western writer. Nearly a century later it is
found in the western catalogue of vestments given
by Rabanus Maurus : and from that time forward
allusions to it are frequent. The girdle was often
of great magnificence, being made of the most costly
gold embroidery, and studded with precious jewels.
In the Latin Church to-day it is still used by bishops,
but is sometimes a mere cord with dangling tassels.
Goar mentions it as among the vestments of the
Greek patriarch, but not as belonging to other
orders. In the Armenian Church it is a part of
CH.IV.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 127
the regular ministering dress of priests, and is worn
over the stole. The Armenian name for it is kodi.
The Syrian priesthood also wear a girdle, resemblingthe Coptic in form, and fastened by clasps : and in
the Maronite Church the priest at ordination is girt
with a girdle, which thenceforth becomes one of his
regular vestments for the celebration. Among the
Nestorians also the girdle still lingers, and is called
by the same name as among the Syrians, sunndra 1,
obviously a reminiscence of the Greek favdptov. Wemay say, therefore, that the girdle is universally-
recognised in the eastern Churches as part of the
liturgical costume.
THE STOLE.
(Coptic ni uop^pion, m c.xop^ion : Arabic
All the authorities which are cited above for the
Coptic vestments go wrong together in failing to
distinguish the ordinary stole from the patriarchal
pallium or pall, and in failing even to notice the
existence of the latter. Yet neither its existence,
nor its difference from the stole, nor its antiquity,can be called in question for a moment, as will be
shown in the sequel. Here I have merely raised
the point in order to reserve it, because it is one
that should be remembered from the outset, althoughwe are chiefly concerned at present with the sacred
dress of the priesthood.
1 G. P. Badger, The Nestorians and their Rituals, vol. i. p. 225.
128 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
But, leaving aside the pall, the authorities entirely
omit the fact that the priestly stole has two forms
quite unlike each other; and, worse still, granting
that the Copts do wear a stole, by a strange con-
spiracy of silence they leave the reader to shape it
out of his imagination. Abu Dakn is made by his
translators to remark that it is worn only by'
ponti-
fices,' i.e. 'bishops.' Doubtless 'pontifices' should
be rendered 'celebrants;' but it is hard to see how
any credit given for mistranslation can redeem the
original statement from mere error. Vansleb and
Gabriel say nothing at all;while Abu Saba notes
that the stole or kinrpa.yj\\iov is' worn from the neck
by the priest,' an observation which is true as far
as it goes, but not a brilliantly clear account of the
whole matter. Renaudot makes no effort to illu-
mine the darkness. This is a good sample of the
amount of information to be derived from previouswriters on Coptic subjects, and of the ignorancewhich prevails even now amongst more recent eccle-
siologists.
I have said that there are two forms of the stole.
Both these forms, as well as the patriarchal pall, are
called by the generic name '
patrashil,' an Arabic
corruption for the Greek kTtiTpa.yj]\iov \ and both
seem called in Coptic by the same name ujpA.piort.
While, however, the pall has also its own distinc-
tive term, the two kinds of stole do not seem to be
distinguished in name;and this fact has doubtless
given rise to a confusion and perplexity which partly
accounts for the silence of the authorities. Of the
two forms, one corresponds to the Greek tiriTpa.yj}-
Ato*/, or irtpiTpayjiXiov as it was also called;the other
approaches nearer to the Greek <0pdpioi> and to the
CH. iv.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 129
stole of western usage. For the sake of clearness,
in the following pages I shall use the name epitra-
chelion, or the kindred 'patrashil,' to denote the
former shape exclusively, and reserve the familiar'
stole'
for the latter.
i. The epitrachelion proper consists of a single
band or scarf about 9 in. broad and 6 ft. in length ;
the upper end is divided by an opening throughwhich the head passes, so^that the vestment hangsdown the middle of the dalmatic in front. Fromthe neck downwards the epitrachelion is embroi-
dered either with gorgeous crosses, or with the
figures of the twelve apostles in six pairs, one pair
above another; and the dedicatory inscription is
often woven above this adornment. Some idea of
the splendour of this vestment in bygone times maybe formed from the illustration, which represents a
patrashil of crimson velvet woven with silver em-
broidery, which belongs to the church of Abu Kir
wa Yuhanna. Even now the patrashil is often of
great magnificence; sometimes it is nearly i8in.
wide. Blue silk; ornamented with richly coloured
crosses, scrolls or figures, is a common material.
But it is worth remarking that the patrashil without
figures is called by a separate name sudr. Aglance will show the origin of the, present form of
the vestment. It is quite clear that originally the
epitrachelion passed, like the western sacerdotal
stole, once round the back of the neck and hungin front over both shoulders. The two pendantswere subsequently brought together, and fastened
close from the collar downwards by loops and
buttons;and finally, as this usage was established,
the epitrachelion was made of a single broad pieceVOL. II. K
Fig. 22. Patrashil of Crimson Velvet embroidered with Silver.
CH. iv.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 131
with an opening for the head. And the conscious-
ness of this origin is still sometimes betrayed bythe arrangement of the embroidery : for the lines
down the centre of the vestment in the woodcut
preserve the idea of two bands joined together,
though in reality there is no seam in the material.
On the other hand the epitrachelion as worn byConstantine in the painting at Abu-'s-Sifain shows
under the short chasuble no indication of a
vertical division ;it is rather narrow, and has
three crosses embroidered and divided off byhorizontal lines
;it has also a fringe which is
not often found on the epitrachelion. After the
foregoing explanation of the origin of the patrashil,
it scarcely needs remarking that the vestment in
this form belongs solely to priests and bishops, whoof course wore the unconnected stole over both
shoulders, in contradistinction to deacons, who wore
it only over the left shoulder. Precisely the samevestment with the same name, the same shape and
origin, and the same limits of usage, is found in
the Greek Church. An example is given by Mar-
riott in an illustration 1;but that author does not
give any clear account of the matter, nor state
whether the epitrachelion figured is made of a
single straight piece, or is joined by a seam or byfastenings down the middle. In another plate
2 St.
Sampson and St. Methodius are represented as
wearing the single united epitrachelion : yet Mar-riott remarks that
'
the ends of the peritrachelion . . .
are seen pendant,' implying that there are two ends
capable of separation ;and in the same plate the
1 Vest. Christ, pi. Ivi.2
Id. pi. Ivii,
K 2
132 Ancient Coptic ChnrcJies. [CH. iv.
vestment, as worn by St. Germanus, is parted and
stands asunder the whole way down without any
sign of union. It might seem probable, therefore,
that the Greeks only attach the two edges of the
stole together loosely to form the epitrachelion, and
that they have not gone a step further with the
Copts and abolished the central joining.
Yet the learned writer in the Dictionary of Chris-
tian Antiquities1
speaks confidently of the Greek
form as having' a hole for the head to pass through
'
and ' a seam down the middle ;' so that it would
only differ from the Coptic shape in actually retain-
ing the seam, instead of merely indicating it by an
embroidered ornament. Moreover, Neale's account
of the epitrachelion is exactly similar 2. The ortho-
dox Alexandrian church of St. Nicholas at Cairo
possesses several ancient and extremely beautiful
specimens of the epitrachelion richly worked with
gold embroidery. I saw one with a blue grbund,two with yellow, one crimson, and one crimson and
green. All are of silk;
all have the figures of
apostles or saints inwrought, except one, which is
covered with a design of crosses;and most, though
not all, have a fringe at the bottom. From these
examples it is obvious that the closure in front is
a matter of indifference with the Melkites;
for in
some cases the closure is so complete that the vest-
ment has merely a seam down the middle ; even
this seam has quite vanished in some modern speci-
mens, which are made of a single piece of stuff
1Diet. Christ. Ant. s. v. Stole.
2 Eastern Church : Gen. Introd. vol. i. p. 308 : see also the
illustration there given.
CH. iv.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 133
covered with a large branching design ;while in
other cases the central division is left entirely open.I may add that some of these epitrachelia are
adorned with tiny bells.
The close correspondence in the shape and usageof the Greek and Coptic form of the vestment war-
rants, I think, the inference that the epitrachelionhad been adopted and settled as part of the sacer-
dotal dress before the rupture between the Jacobiteand Melkite factions in the Church. At that time
the vestments of the Constantinopolitan Greeks and
of the Alexandrians would be one and the same;
but it is in the last degree unlikely either that the
Greeks should have subsequently borrowed the
patrashll from the Jacobites, a supposition refuted
by the very name, or on the other hand that the
Jacobites should have been beholden to the despisedand detested Melkites.
This theory will, of course, give the epitracheliona much higher antiquity than can be claimed for
the corresponding vestment, the stole of the western
Churches;and being such, it only falls in with and
strengthens my general contention, that the forms
of the ecclesiastical vestments were fixed, and defi-
nitely consecrated to the service of the Church, at
a much earlier period in the East than in the West,and possibly earliest of all in the Church of Alex-
andria. At the same time it is not of course denied
that the epitrachelion, however ancient, is only a
secondary developed form of the original stole or
orarion.
Before quitting this part of the subject, it maybe mentioned that the form of the epitrachelion is
expressly defined in the rubric for the ordination of
134 Ancient Coptic Chtirches. [CH. iv.
a bishop1 as given by Renaudot. It is there laid
down that the vestment must be of silk, and must
be embroidered with the figure of the Saviour and
of the disciples. Yet there is nothing to show that
this special form of adornment belonged to bishops
only, or that the epitrachelion decked with crosses
was given specially to priests. Other communities
which use this form of ornament, besides the Greeks,are the Malabar 2 Christians
;the Armenians 3
, amongwhom it is called pour-ourar obviously a remi-
niscence of orarion and is described as a costly
brocade of silk studded with jewels ;and possibly
the Maronites.
2. The orarion or common stole seems only dis-
tinguishable from the epitrachelion by a convention;
for in the rubrics orarion is found even for the stole
as worn by the patriarch4
,which is undoubtedly the
patrashll. The word 0-7-0X77 is of frequent occurrence
in Graeco- Coptic pontificals, but never in the sense
of 'stole;' it always means 'dress' or 'vestments,'
a sense which did not give place to the technical
'stole' until the ninth century even in western
Christendom; where it is first clearly identified with
the orarion by Rabanus Maurus about 820 A.D. Into
the hopeless controversy concerning the etymologyof the word orarion I do not propose to enter : I shall,
however, for the present decline to believe that either
1
Denzinger, Rit. Or. torn. ii. p. 28.2Howard, Christians of St. Thomas, p. 133.
3Fortescue, Armenian Church, p. 133.
4Denzinger, Rit. Or. torn. ii. p. 49. Marriott is therefore wrong
in saying that the orarion is only used of the deacon's stole, not of
the corresponding vestment as worn by priests. See Vest. Christ.
p. 84, note 144.
CH. iv.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 135
the vestment or its name was originally Latin. The
adoption of a Roman vestment by the eastern
Churches would be a process against all analogy ;
and the name orarion is found in the East just two
hundred years before it is mentioned in the West.
The canons of the Council of Laodicea, about
363 A. D., forbade the orarion to orders below the
diaconate;whereas in western history it is not till
the second Council of Braga in Spain that the
orarion is mentioned, and deacons are commandedto wear it plainly showing on the left shoulder, and
not under the dalmatic. This council was held in
the year 563 A.D.
The orarion is, of course, older in point of usagethan the epitrachelion ;
but there seems some reason
to think that, even after the priestly manner of wear-
ing the orarion over both shoulders had given rise
to the epitrachelion as a distinct vestment, the orarion
still continued to be used by the Coptic priesthoodside by side with the epitrachelion. The latter was
required to be an ornament of some splendour;and in the poorer churches it would of course be
much more easy to provide a plain band or scarf
of linen, embroidered with crosses, to be wornover both shoulders. It is then very possible that
the co-existence of the two methods of wearingthe stole permissible to priests may have caused
the names to be used almost interchangeably.For as the patrashtl was styled orarion in the
rubric quoted above, so undoubtedly the orarion
as worn by priests is called patrashll at the present
day.
The prohibition of the Council of Laodicea seems
never to have affected the Church of Alexandria;
136 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
for in the Tukian 1 Pontifical there is a rubric direct-
ing the investiture of the subdcacon with the orarion
at ordination. Similarly the subdeacon 2among the
Syrians, and even the reader 3among the Maronites,
at ordination receives the orarion. In most of these
cases the stole is worn over the left shoulder only,
in the manner prescribed for deacons ;but in the
Maronite Church the practice is somewhat different.
There 'the reader at ordination has a folded orarion
laid across his extended arms, the subdeacon has
it placed about his neck presumably with the ends
hanging behind 4,
while the deacon has it taken
from the neck and put upon the left shoulder. There
can be no doubt that originally the orarion was worn
by deacons hanging free before and behind ; so that
the Coptic practice agreed with that of the Greekand Latin Churches. In the West this arrangementwas found inconvenient, and one end of the stole
was fastened at the right hip for greater security.
The same difficulty gave rise to various ways of
wearing the orarion in Egypt, some no doubt formal
and legal, others fanciful or haphazard, setting all
customs and canons at defiance, like the lax and
slovenly usage of the present century. In the figure
of St. Stephen already referred to, the intention of
the stole hanging over the left shoulder in front is
conspicuous ;but instead of hanging loose behind,
the stole passes close under the left arm, downwards
across the breast to the right hip, round the back,
and from the left hip upwards to the right shoulder,
over which the end hangs behind. From the care
1
Denzinger, Rit. Or. torn. ii. p. 6.
2 Id. ib. p. 82.3
Id. ib. p. 118.
4Id. ib. pp. 229 and 233: but the rubric is obscure.
CH. iv.j Ecclesiastical Vestments. 137
bestowed on this picture, the splendour of the vest-
ments, and the universal recognition of St. Stephen as
a typical deacon, it is probable that this way of wear-
ing the orarion was habitual and lawful. It will, of
course, be noticed that the stole is really crossed
upon the breast, and that this fashion of wearingthe vestment requires it to be of much greater
length than the Latin stole. Very possibly it repre-sents a special arrangement of the stole previous to
Fig. 23. St. Stephen : from a painting at Abu Sargah.
communicating, such as Goar 1 tells us was usual in
the Greek Church;for a Greek deacon, when about
to receive, so altered the orarion that it formed a
cross on both breast and back, and a sort of girdleround the waist. This custom of changing the
orarion may perhaps also account for the fashion
of the Coptic stole as worn by subdeacons a
fashion which will be described presently. Yet
1
Euchologion, p. 146 : see also illustrations, p. 147.
138 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. \\.
sometimes the deacon's stole is represented as wornin the ordinary way, merely placed upon the left
shoulder : St. Stephen himself, for instance, is de-
picted so wearing it in a painting on the choir walls
of the church of Abu-'s-Sifain. Yet a third fashion
is shown in a third picture of the same saint at the
church called after him adjoining the cathedral in
Cairo. Here one end is seen hanging behind the
right shoulder, over which the stole passes ;hence it
falls in front straight down the right side to the hip ;
there it loops, and passes diagonally across the chest,
under the left arm, and out over the left shoulder.
The end which thus hangs from the left shoulder in
front is carried in the left hand as a maniple. Curious
as these three fashions seem, the last is distinctly
recognised at the present day as the right way of
wearing the orarion for archdeacons. A somewhatsimilar practice obtains in the orthodox Alexandrian
Church of Egypt, where the deacon carries in his left
hand one end of the stole, which hangs over the left
shoulder before and behind;while the archdeacon
wears it crossing the breast from the left shoulder
to the right side. The choristers and subdeacons
of the Coptic Church at the present day wear the
orarion in a peculiar manner. The centre part of the
stole is placed on the waist in front forming a sort
of girdle ;the ends are then drawn behind, crossed
over the back, and brought one over each shoulder
to the front, where they fall straight down and passunder the portion which girds the waist 1
. Theorarion thus worn forms a sort of H in front and
1
It appears that the name i&Jt, which applies properly to the
girdle, is sometimes used to denote the deacon's stole as thus worn.
CH. iv.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 139
X at the back, and recalls, half in resemblance and
half in contrast, the stole as worn, not by deacons
but by priests, in our own Church before the
reformation.
The priestly stole in the West passed from the
back of the neck over both shoulders, was crossed
upon the breast, and confined at the waist by the
girdle. Owing to the fact that in most monumentsthe chasuble hides this particular arrangement, so
that nothing more is seen of the stole but the ends
depending, clear illustrations are somewhat uncom-
mon. There is, however, a good brass in Horsham
Church, Sussex 1,in which the crossed stole is visible ;
it may be seen also in a window painting represent-
ing the marriage of Henry VI. with Margaret of
Anjou, now in the east window of the Bodleian
Library at Oxford. Viollet-le-Duc gives a goodillustration of the crossed stole from a twelfth cen-
tury MS. in the Bibliotheque Nationale 2; and the
same arrangement is figured in Rock's Church of
our Fathers 3. Perhaps the first clear ordinance on
the subject is that issued by the third Council of
Braga, enjoining that every priest at the altar
should wear the stole of even length over each
shoulder, and should pass it crosswise over the
breast.
The Coptic practice then of wearing the orarion
as both girdle and stole is not very different from
this western custom, though obviously it demandsa scarf of greater length. But I may repeat that
neither priests, nor even deacons, among the Copts
1
Figured in Waller's Monumental Brasses.2
Mobilier, vol. iii. p. 375.3 Vol. ii. p. 89. See also vol. i. p. 421.
140 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH.IV.
now wear the stole in this manner, but only sub-
deacons and inferior orders;while the priests in ordi-
nary celebrations at the present day are distinguished
by the arrangement of the amice described above,
without either epitrachelion or orarion. The stoles
of the subdeacons are narrow in shape, and usuallymade of silk or other rich materials
; they are of
various hues, purple, yellow, red, and green,
usually having three or four colours side by side
in longitudinal bands;and they are adorned not
only with crosses but also with flowers finely em-
broidered. In ancient times the deacon's orarion
too, like the epitrachelion, was made of silk or cloth
of gold, and set with jewels, just as in the Westthe original white linen gave place to more showyand costly materials
;for by the ninth century
stoles of various colours, and decked with gold,
were familiar in the churches of Spain, Gaul, and
Italy1.
Many magnificent examples of mediaeval stoles
are still extant, some of the best being in the South
Kensington Museum. One of Sicilian work, datingfrom the thirteenth century, is described as being
'
of
gold tissue profusely decorated with birds, beasts,
and Roman letters and floriated ornaments :
'
while
another of Italian make, fifteenth century, is of'
deep purple silk brocaded in gold and crimson with
flowers V Old inventories too abound with such
descriptions.
The Syrians use the stole, which they call uroro,
a corrupted form of orarion, which adds its evidence
1
Marriott, Vest. Christ, pp. 215-6.2 Chambers' Divine Worship in England, p. 51.
CH. iv.] Rcclesiastical Vestments. 141
in favour of the eastern origin of the word. Ap-parently the same ornament is used both for priests
and deacons, though the rubrics given by Morinus
are not very lucid. In ordaining a deacon the
bishop'
accipit orarium et circumfert circum caput,'
and then subsequently lays the stole upon the left
shoulder *. In the case of a priest the bishop'
accipit
orarium quod super ipsum positum est et traducit
illud super humerum eius dexterum a parte anterior} 2.'
It is clear that the deacon wears the stole upon the
left and the priest upon the right shoulder : and the
second rubric seems to imply that the priest wears
it upon both shoulders. The action of the bishopis doubtless as follows : the candidate for the priest-
hood being vested as deacon, with the orarion hang-
ing loose over the left shoulder before and behind,
the bishop takes the end which hangs at the back,
and brings it round (traducit) over the right shoulder.
When the ac-tion is complete, the stole would show
both ends in front, one hanging over each shoulder.
So far the process tallies with that described in all
the English pontificals. But upon the questionwhether the bishop crosses the stole upon the breast
of the priest after bringing it round the neck, the
Syrian rubric is silent. It seems fairer to conclude
that the stole was not crossed ;and this conclusion
seems borne out by Asseman, who describes it as'
hanging from the neck before the breast on either
side V The Syrian stoles in the miniatures of the
Florentine MS. cited by Renaudot 4 are either divided
by bands of embroidery, or else adorned with small
1
Denzinger, Rit. Or. torn. ii. p. 70.2
Id. ib. p. 73.3 Bibl. Orient, torn. Hi. pt. ii. p. 819.
4Lit. Or. torn. ii. p. 54 seq.
142 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
coloured crosses;but the bishop's stole is always of
the latter kind. Renaudot says nothing about the
epitrachelion, for the use of which by the Syriansthere seems to be no evidence : and Neale is there-
fore wrong in identifying the uroro with the epi-
trachelion on Renaudot's authorityJ
.
The deacon's stole in the Armenian Church is
worn in the orthodox manner, and is called ossorah
possibly another corruption of orarion. We have
already noticed the survival of the term in pour-
ourar, the Armenian designation of the epitrache-
lion : but there is no law or limit to the forms which
a classical word may take in passing into an oriental
language. The Armenian stole is generally plain,
unlike the Greek, which is embroidered with the
trisagion or the word AT IOC thrice repeated.
The Nestorian clergy, both priests and deacons,
recognise precisely the same usage of the orarion as
the Syrians. There is however this difference as
regards subdeacons, that in the Syrian Church the
subdeacon wears the orarion hanging from the left
shoulder as well as round the neck : whereas in the
Nestorian ordination service for a deacon, the dis-
tinction of the two orders is made by the removal
of the stole from around the neck of the subdeacon,and the placing of it upon the left shoulder. But
it is far from clear in what manner in either case
the subdeacon wore the orarion' about the neck,'
whether it was twisted round and round, as seems
most probable, or whether it hung behind 2. The
1 Eastern Church : Gen. Introd. vol. i. p. 308.1 The rubric for the Syrian ordination of subdeacon, as given by
Renaudot, is as follows :
'
Episcopus . . . circumdat orarium collo ejus
demittitque super humerum ejus sinistrum.' In the corresponding
CH. iv.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 143
Nestorian name for the stole, hurrdra *, agrees with
the Syrian name in its descent from the Greek term
wpdpiov.
THE PALL.
(Coptic ni twjuLoc^opiort, ni n,&.XXut : Arabic
Renaudot in his account of the Coptic vestments
ignores, as was remarked above, the very existence
of any ornament corresponding to the archiepiscopal
pall of western usage, or the Greek omophorion.Yet not only is the pall represented in the earliest
Christian frescoes of Egypt and in many pictures,
but Renaudot himself gives rubrics which mention
it in the office for the ordination of the patriarch of
Alexandria. Nevertheless it is extremely difficult,
if not impossible, to understand the various rubrics
which relate to the investiture of the patriarch, or
to reconcile the apparent repetitions and inconsis-
tencies in a single version of the office. Much of
this confusion is doubtless due to mistranslation,
which might be removed by careful study of the
originals ;but these unfortunately are inaccessible.
Abu '1 Birkat mentions only three vestments-
dalmatic, omophorion, and chasuble (couclo sive
Nestorian rite, as given by the younger Asseman, the rubric runs
thus :
' Orarium accipit eoque collum ejus circumdat :
'
while in
the case of deacons it is'
turn tollit orarium de collo eorum,' i. e.
which they wore as subdeacons, 'et ponit illud super humerumsinistrum.'
1 G. P. Badger, Nestorians and their Rituals, vol. i. p. 225.
144 Ancient Coptic Clmrches. [CH. iv.
casula) ; the list is correct as far as it goes but
obviously deficient. According to the Tukian
Pontifical1
,when the patriarch elect first approaches
the altar at the beginning of the ordination service,
he is vested in dalmatic and amice only, or as theyseem to be termed in the original CTi^^piortand Xermoit. There follows a long ceremony,until the prayer of invocation is reached, which
contains these words,' Clothe him with the alb
'
(podere, noTHpiort)'
of thine own holy glory : laythe mitre upon his head, and anoint him with the oil
of gladness/ After the proclamation, the senior
bishop arrays the patriarch elect in dalmatic, stole,
and chasuble (c"roix^-PIOIt. twpA-piort, 4>eXomon).
Then came the decree of the synod and several
more prayers : after which '
princeps episcopus induit
eum omophorio (cujmocbopion) symboli2
(cnrJUL&oXon)
1
Ap. Denzinger, Rit. Or. torn. ii. p. 40 seq.2 Sic. I can only conjecture that '
symbolo'
should be read, and
that it refers to what follows, viz., linteum. The rubric will then
run omophorio et symbolo, etc., and the meaning as follows :
' Vests
him with the pall ;and with the sign of the apostolic gift which is
the amice hanging from the head;and with the epicheri upon his
shoulder.' The words of Greek origin in these rubrics are given
as they octur; and though Denzinger prints them in Greek
characters, I have thought it better to give the original Coptic.
What the epicheri may be, is quite uncertain. Denzinger quotes
an opinion that it seems to be a sort of veil hanging over the hand,
i. e. presumably a maniple, an opinion obviously based on the
supposed etymology of the word, but supported by no external
evidence whatever. There is nothing corresponding to the maniple
in Coptic ritual, nor even to the Greek eyxftpioi/: moreover the
rubric in both cases expressly states that the epicheri is worn over
the shoulder, which is not a likely place for the maniple. Nor is
the maniple likely to be distinctive of the patriarch.
I can offer no suggestion except the following. In the 'Systatical
OH. iv.] Rcclesiastical Vestments. 145
doni (^cupe<L) apostolici (<LTiocT'oXi]<ort) quod est
linteum (Xerrrion) a capite eius dependens, et epicheri
(eni^xepi) super humerum ems.' The language of
this rubric, marvellous as it seems, is surpassed bythe next :
' Et cum indutus est (cj>opeilt) omni habitu
archisacerdotali (^.p^xiep^TiKort) : morphotacio
(jULOp$oTLiaori) et phelonio (cbeXomon) et pha-cialio (4>.Ki.Xion) quod a capite eius dependet,
omophorio (uujULocbopion) i.e. morphorin
4>opm) habitus (CTOXH) et epicheri
super humerum eius,' &c. The absurdities of the
various foregoing rubrics scarcely need pointingout. First, the patriarch is robed in dalmatic and
amice : the mitre is mentioned in the prayer of
invocation, but the rubrics contain no hint of such
an ornament : next, the patriarch is invested with
Letter' or decree of the synod, read by the deacon from the
ambon or pulpit, setting forth, amongst other matters, the duties of
the patriarch, it is expressly mentioned that he is to perform the
office of feet-washing on Maundy Thursday. For this office a
towel would be used, doubtless of fine embroidery ;and I think it
very possible that epicheri may mean a towel (cf. Lat. mantile, Germ.
handtucK). Such a towel, gorgeously woven with silver or gold,
may well have been laid upon the patriarch's shoulder at his ordi-
nation, in token of this special duty of feet-washing, to which it is
clear the Church attached great importance. Such an explanation
removes all difficulties, but cannot claim to be more than a conjec-
ture. The epicheri then would not be a regular vestment, corre-
sponding to the Latin maniple, and worn by all orders : nor would
it even be part of the patriarch's pontifical apparel : but merely a
special symbol worn but once on the occasion of his ordination.
The natural place for such a towel would be the shoulder.
It will be noticed that Denzinger's translation, as far as it has anysense at all, makes the omophorion the same as the linteum : but
the rubric so running refutes itself, for the pall would in no wise be
described as'
hanging down from the head.' Vide Rit. Or. torn. ii.
PP- 56, 57-
VOL. II. L
146 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
dalmatic, stole and chasuble : thirdly, with pall,
amice, and the mysterious epicheri. Then, after
twice putting on the dalmatic, twice the amice,
besides stole, chasuble, and pall, he comes out
arrayed in the dress of an archpriest, to wit, chas-
uble, pall,'
morphotacion,''
phacialion,' and '
epi-
cheri'
! Truly a wonderful metamorphosis : and
it must be a strange kind of a figure which the
patriarch presents, when at last he is apparelledin full pontificals.
Renaudot's account of the matter is simpler, but
by no means free from perplexity. At the com-
mencement of the service the new patriarch wears
dalmatic and amice. Renaudot here translates
Xerrriort by mantile, instead of by linteum as
Denzinger1 renders it, and is rightly thinking of
the amice; whereas Denzinger in another place
2
applies the term linteum to the archiepiscopal pall' Est autem omophorium linteum sive species
quaedam stolae similis pallio.' The truth is that
amice and pall are as inextricably confused in
language as in usage.As regards the second process in the investiture,
Renaudot agrees with the Tukian Pontifical
that the patriarch is robed in dalmatic, stole, and
chasuble.
The third process is far more intelligible in
Renaudot. It is as follows :
' Then the chief bishop
places on him over his head the omophorion which
is the mark of his rank, and it shall hang in such a
way as to fall over the breast.' And instead of all
the barbarous jargon that ensues in the Tukian
1 Tom. ii. p. 40.2 Tom. i. p. 130.
CH. iv.j Ecclesiastical Vestments. 147
Pontifical, Renaudot has the words,' Then he shall
be arrayed in full archiepiscopal*
vestments, namelymitre, omophorion, and orarion.' There is nothinghere about morphotadon, phacialion, or epicheri : but
cutting away what might seem to be mere repetition,
we get as the vestments of the patriarch dalmatic,
amice, stole, chasuble, pall, and mitre. There is
however reason to think that during the ceremonyof ordination some of the vestments are actuallyremoved and replaced. Which of the vestments are
so removed, cannot be determined : and it is natural
that the fresh enumeration should look like a clumsy
repetition. But in the corresponding service in the
Maronite Church, after the new patriarch has been
robed in alb, inferior orarion, sleeves, amice and
chasuble, there elapses a considerable time spent in
prayer and various rites;and then, according to the
rubric,'
the bishops bring him before the altar andtake offfrom him the chasiible and amice of the priest-hood:' subsequently he is vested in mitre, chasuble,
and orarion, the last being either the epitrachelionas opposed to the inferior orarion above, or else the
omophorion : and the chasuble here mentioned seems
a richer vestment than that which was put on and
removed in the first instance.
From this analogy we may, I think, conclude that
there were five distinct stages in the investiture of
the Coptic patriarch. First, he wears only dalmatic
and amice : next, the priestly stole and chasuble are
added : thirdly, amice and chasuble being removed,a more splendid chasuble and probably a finer amice
1It is quite clear that Denzinger's archisacerdolali is a mere
mistake. The original is ^.p^iep^.TIKOIt, which elsewhere
the same author repeatedly renders, and rightly, by archiepiscopalis.
L 2
148 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
are put on : then over the chasuble the patriarchal
pall is lowered : and finally the mitre is placed uponthe head. It is, however, very singular that neither
girdle nor sleeves are mentioned in the ordination
service : and I do not feel at all confident that the
account I have given of the process of investiture
is accurate, inasmuch as both girdle and sleeves are
undoubtedly part of the patriarchal costume for
celebration at the present dayl
.
1 Without attempting to settle decisively the meaning of mor-
phofaa'on, phacialion and the like, which cannot be done without
reference to the text, I may call attention to the criticism of Den-
zinger, who, with the text before him, is not merely helpless in
himself and to his readers, but literally abounds in error. Speak-
ing of the Coptic patriarchal vestments, he says (torn. i. p. 130)
they are'
a-n-^apiov (Arabs: tunica [sic]), wpdpiov, (piXwiov hoc est
</>mi>oXtoi', quae sunt presbyterorum vestes : praeterea vero ex ordi-
nationis textu Renaudotiano <ano$6piov quod est super caput et
pendet ita ut descendat super pectus ejus, ex textu autem Tukiano
fu>p<j)oTaKioi>, <f)(\ouot>, hoc est penula sive casula, (paxtaXiov quod a
capite ejus dependet, scilicet de homophorio (sic), et Epicherion
(tnixfpi) super humerum ejus. Phakialion absque dubio erit mitra,
quae in orationibus memoratur ut insignium patriarchae peculiarium
pars quaedam. Est autem Omophorium (sic) linteum sive species
quaedam stolae similis pallio, crucibus insignita, collo et humeris
circumvoluta.'
Now Renaudot's text does not say that the omophorion'est
super caput,' which would be a description equally false and
ridiculous of the manner in which the pall is worn : but the words
are '
episcopus imponet ei homophorium (quod est insigne digni-
tatis) super caput ejus,' meaning of course that the pall is lowered
over the head, not that it rests upon the head.
Denzinger makes no remark about the morphotacion, and
indeed there seems nothing to give a clue to its meaning: but
over the phacialion he blunders strangely. The rubric, it is true,
describes this vestment as hanging from the head : and Denzinger,
having just placed the omophorion on the head instead of round
CH. iv.] Rcclesiastical Vestments. 149
But whatever else remains secret in the mysteriousrubrics I have cited, this much at least is clear. that
they offer abundant evidence for the existence of the
the shoulders, now explains the position of the phacialion by
saying that it hangs down from the omophorion ! Had I not cited
his words accurately, it would seem incredible that his next step is
to identify the phacialion with the mitre in the most confident
manner (absque dubio). So then the initre hangs down from the
head, where it is fastened to the omophorion or pall ! The learned
German has very singular notions of ecclesiastical costume. But
a still more extraordinary statement remains. Two pages later
(p. 132) Denzinger enumerates among the Nestorian vestments,'
Maaphra quod et dicitur Phakila et Kaphila, quod est pallium in
modum pluvialis nostri quo totum corpus ambitur, estque Grae-
corum $aoXioi/.' Now it is quite certain that QaKioXiov and $aKid-
Xioi/ must be the same thing : and here we are told that the phacia-lion is no longer a mitre but a cope ! But what authority is there
for the existence of a Greek vestment called <aicidXioi> resemblingthe Latin cope ? I know of none. The patriarch Germanus in
his account of the Greek vestments uses the word <f)aKi6\iov or
$aa>Xiof to mean a bandage, remarking that the peritrachelion is
typical of the bandage wherewith Christ was bound when led awayfrom the High Priest : but there is not the smallest authority in
this passage, nor, I believe, in any other, for speaking of the
(fraicioXiov as a Greek vestment at all, much less for identifying it
with a cope. The cope can hardly be said to exist in the Churchof Constantinople : for the patriarch's pavftvas, which comes nearest
to it, is part of his secular and not of his ecclesiastical apparel.
Du Cange in his Glossarium ad Scrip/ores Mediae et InfimaeGraecilatis gives the several forms <aKeo>Xioi/, QaiceoXiov, <f>aici6\iov,
and (f>aKu>\is : and defines the word as'fascia qua caput involve-
bant olim Saraceni atque adeo Graeci ipsi Byzantini ut hodie
Turci/ i. e. a sort of turban. The primary meaning seems to be
a long band or bandage, such as still is wound round the head to
make a turban. Hung over the shoulder, it might resemble a
stole;and accordingly there is some questionable evidence to
show that the term phacialion may have been used as equivalent
to orarion by one or two loose writers. Goar cites a definition
from Coresius Chiensis,'
^aKewXij tiara est et militum pileus, pro*.
150 Ancient Coptic C/iuyc/ies. [en. iv.
omophorion as an essential vestment of the Coptic
patriarch. It is a question whether metropolitansand bishops, as well as the patriarch, wear the
omophorion. Analogy would seem to answer the
question in the affirmative : and Marriott *
says
prie inquam capitis KaAurrrpa, Turcicae persimilis, qua caput velut
zona vel cingulo circumcingitur.' It is stated too that one of the
several early patriarchs of Alexandria called Timotheus was sur-
named craAa$a/a'oXo? because he wore a white head-dress. It seems
then probable, on the whole, that the phacialion, though not resem-
bling in any way the Latin mitre, was some kind of eastern head-
dress, more like a turban, with a lappet hanging over the back of
the neck, by virtue of which it is described as '
hanging down from
the head' in the difficult rubric of the Tukian Pontifical. Very
possibly it is neither more nor less than what Vansleb calls the
bellin, which he describes as a long band of white linen, a foot
wide and four ells in length, which is worn above the turban, woundround the neck, and with ends falling over the shoulders (vide His-
toire de 1'Eglise d'Alexandrie, Paris, 1677, p. 9 seq.). The bellin he
assigns to the patriarch only : but in the rubric for the ordination
of a bishop in the Tukian Pontifical, one of the priestly vestments
is called Tl.Xin, which Denzinger translates by pallium, an
ambiguous word, possibly denoting the omophorion. I have
no doubt that the bellin and the FULXllt are identical, and that
they are simply the amice, as worn in the peculiar manner described
in the text above (p. 118). I have there mentioned that the namebattin (which is the correct form of the word) survives to-day as
the name of the turban-like amice worn by the Coptic priesthoodat the altar, and of another vestment worn by bishops. Takingthis fact along with Vansleb's description of the tailasan or
Xoviort as 'a long band of white linen wound turban-wise
around the head,' it can scarcely be doubtful, that the terms
ballin, n<O\IIt and XoTIOtt are used for the same thing, though
originally denoting two distinct vestments.
As regards the other word morphotacion, I can find no hint of its
meaning or even of its existence in either Byzantine or Coptic
lexicons. It may perhaps be connected with the Coptic root
JULOp, to bind, and signify a girdle.1Vest. Christ, p. Ixxiv.
CH. iv.]Ecclesiastical Vestments. 151
decidedly that' from the fifth century, if not from
an earlier time, down to the present, it has been
worn by patriarchs and metropolitans, and by almost
all bishops in the East.' There is, however, as
far as I am aware, no warrant for extending this
generalisation now over the Church of Alexandria.
For the omophorion, un-
less the ballin be so re-
garded, is not clearly men-
tioned in any of the known
Coptic pontificals as used
in the investiture of either
bishop or metropolitan : a
singular omission, if the
pall were really the orna-
ment which distinguishedall prelates from inferior Fig - 2*-Seal of the Coptic Patriarch -
orders. Nor is there any pictorial evidence to
associate the omophorion with any other rank than
patriarchal. On the other hand, in the seal of the
Alexandrian patriarchate, while the pontiff is shown
wearing a pall, there is no sign whatever of such
a vestment on any one of the twelve figures which
surround him. The evidence then of this designtells rather in favour of the pall being considered
distinctive of the patriarch, as in the Roman Church
it is distinctive of an archbishop.Yet it is not at all inconsistent with the fore-
going remarks to suppose that in ancient times and
originally the omophorion may have been worn by
bishops in the Coptic as in the Greek Church.
St. Isidore of Pelusium, himself an Egyptian, wholived in the early fifth century, speaks of the'
omophorion of the bishops'
in language which
152 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. \\.
seems unmistakeable : though the earliest mention
of the vestment is in connexion with a patriarch
some twenty years previously, Theophilus of Alex-
andria. The words of St. Germanus in speaking of
the Greek ecclesiastical vestments l seem to denote
a different form of omophorion, though called by the
one name, for patriarch and bishop : and this mayhave been the case also in the Church of Egypt.Yet there is scarcely justification enough in the
Greek text for the arrangement of paragraphs in
Marriott's translation ; by which it is made to appearthat the episcopal is distinguished from the archi-
episcopal omophorion by having crosses embroidered
upon it, though the distinction is neither clearly
formulated by that writer, nor borne out by anyother evidence literary or monumental.
Coming now to the form of the Coptic omophorion,we are met by a very curious coincidence
; for it
resembles far more closely the later shape of the
Roman pallium than the common form of the Greek
omophorion. There can be no question that origin-
ally this vestment consisted of a single long woollen
band or scarf, which hung in a loop over the breast
in front and over the shoulders behind, and showed
one end hanging in front over the left shoulder, and
one end hanging behind. This form remains with
scarcely any change to-day in the Church of Con-
stantinople, although the pendant now falls in front
down the centre of the body, instead of falling from
the left shoulder, and the loop is drawn up higherround the neck instead of hanging so loosely as to
allow the right hand to rest upon it, as was the case
1 See Marriott, Vest. Christ, pp. 84-86.
CH. iv.j Ecclesiastical Vestments. 153
in ancient times. Such variation from the primitiveform as has taken place may be readily seen by
comparing plates xli and Iviii in Marriott's Ves-
tiarium Christianum : and it will be noticed at
once that the modern Greek form bears only a
distant resemblance to the modern Roman pall, andthis resemblance is merely accidental. Any sus-
picion of Roman influence in determining the form
of the Egyptian omophorion is at once refuted bythe fact that the vestment as illustrated on the
patriarchal seal to-day is almost precisely the sameas that figured in the earliest known representationof the omophorion, and that representation is oriental,
not Roman. For the mosaics of the mosque of St.
Sophia at Constantinople, dating from 537 A. D. and
therefore sixty years anterior to the well-known Roman
figure of St. Gregory, still preserve the forms of St.
Basil and four other bishops who lived in the fourth
century, and these are all arrayed in white sticharion,
white phelonion, and white Y-shaped omophorion1.
It is this Y-shaped vestment which the omophorionof the Coptic patriarch almost exactly resembles.
These sixth-century mosaics prove of course alreadya fixed conventional formation of the omophorion,and consequently a considerable previous antiquity.
Subsequent monuments, however, show that the
form fluctuated from time to time, the original
flowing scarf being never definitely abandoned. It
is curious therefore to find the conventional form
engraved on the seal of the Coptic patriarch identical
with the conventional form depicted on the walls of
St. Sophia.
1Marriott, Vest. Christ, pi. Ixxv.
154 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
In the West also the records of early art provethat the pall was originally a scarf worn precisely as
in the East. A fresco of the eighth century recentlydiscovered at Rome l shows St. Cornelius and St.
Ciprianus both vested in a pall, which is the same as
the Greek omophorion figured in the ninth-centuryGreek miniature belonging to a MS. in the Biblio-
theque Nationale, and representing the second
General Council of Constantinople. I i this minia-
ture, which is given by M. Rohault de Fleury, and
in the similar one of the tenth or eleventh century
given by Marriott, and representing the seventh
General Council, all the bishops assembled wear
the omophorion over the breast, and with one end
hanging from the left shoulder. There is howevera decided difference in the arrangement of the vest-
ment in the two pictures. In the earlier, the
omophorion droops over the breast much lower and
looser than in the later delineation, where it is
drawn up more closely round the neck, more like
the present fashion. Further, it is curious to remark
that in the ninth-century MS. the omophorion has
apparently only two crosses, one on each side of the
loop : there being no sign of the third cross, which
is figured on the straight piece hanging from the
shoulder in Marriott's illustration and generally in
all Greek miniatures. But this Greek way of wear-
ing the pallium soon gave way in Rome to what has
been hitherto regarded as a distinctively Romanfashion. How easily the transition was effected
may be gathered from a glance at the well-known
1
Marriott, Vest. Christ, pi. xxx, from De Rossi's Roma Sotter-
ranea.
CH. iv.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 155
figure of Gregory the Great 1
dating from about
600 A.D. There the pall is already worn across the
shoulders;and the ends, after passing through the
loop before and behind, hang down the centre of
the body. As the consciousness of the original was
lost, the pendent pieces were merely tacked on to
the circular band which was put over the shoulders,
so as to form the T-shaped or Y-shaped pall commonin miniatures of the West from the ninth centurydownwards 2
. It is true that for some time the
Greek is found side by side with the Latin shapeof the pall. Thus in a ninth-century mosaic
at the Triclinium Lateranum the vestment of St.
Peter is still an omophorion : and even as late as
the twelfth century a very decided omophorion is
figured as worn by St. Ambrose in a mosaic of the
church called after him at Milan 3. Possibly however
the Byzantine character of the whole composition,
indicating the work of a Byzantine artist, maydetract from the value of this mosaic as evidence
for contemporary Roman custom.
The frequent destruction or defacement of the
Coptic churches after the Arab conquest has un-
fortunately swept away nearly all the pictorial
monuments which recorded the earliest forms of
ecclesiastical costume. It is, however, remarkable
that the most ancient representation of the omo-
phorion which I have found shows already a fixed
and conventionalised form of the vestment, nearly
1Marriott, Vest. Christ, pi. xxv.
2 See for example, Marriott, pi. xxxix; Westwood, Miniatures,
pi. 50.3 Rohault de Fleury, La Messe, vol. i. pi. xvii.
156 Ancient Coptic Churclies. [CH. iv.
resembling the Latin pallium of later usage. Thenameless pillar-painting on which this omophorionis figured has escaped by some accident the destruc-
tion which has overtaken the like paintings on the
other nave-columns at Al Mu'allakah. There is
no doubt that the nimbus, the mitre, and the pall
denote some patriarch, whose name has been effaced
or forgotten. The pall is T-shaped and consists of
an unbroken band placed low across the shoulders,
with another band hanging from
the centre and concealing the claspof the girdle. Curiously enoughthere is no sign of any cross uponthis pall : each side of it has a
narrow embroidered border, and
the space between is filled with a
design of interlacing circles or
ovals : but the large crosses, charac-
teristic alike of the Greek omopho-rion and the Latin pallium from the
earliest times to the most recent,
are entirely absent. It has been
mentioned that the same inter-
lacing design adorns the mumbarof a mosque built in the fourteenth
century at Cairo : notwithstanding which I aminclined to refer the fresco to the eighth or
ninth century. In any case it is the earliest piece
of monumental evidence for the use of the omo-
phorion. In panel pictures of a later date the vest-
ment is sometimes though not very often pourtrayed.
Occasionally the Coptic pall may be seen arranged in
a manner nowise differing from the early Greek wayof wearing the omophorion, i.e. with an angular loop
Fig. 25. Fresco at AlMu'allakah.
CH. iv.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 157
or fold upon the breast, and one end hanging from
the left shoulder : upon it are three large crosses.
This form of the vestment is illustrated, for instance,
in the oft-mentioned picture of St. Nicholas *. In the
north part of the choir at Abu-'s-Sifain, in the picture
representing the Death of the Blessed Virgin, all
the apostles thronging round the bier wear the
omophorion precisely in the Greek fashion 2. The
adjoining church of Al 'Adra or Sitt Mariam contains
a picture of St. Mercurius in which a bishop is re-
presented wearing a Greek omophorion over the
chasuble. But on the iconostasis of the same church
the twelve apostles are all arrayed in alb, dalmatic,
chasuble, and Y-shapedomophorion, and carry crosses
and gospels. As I have already noticed, the omo-
phorion on the patriarchal seal is also Y- shaped and
rather Roman than Greek in character : it hangsclose about the neck and reveals in front three
nearly equal oblong divisions in each of which is a
cross. Probably a similar arrangement is concealed
rather than displayed in the very curious paintingsround the apse wall at Abu-'s-Sifain, where each of
the figures is vested in a cope which falls over
and hides the loop of the omophorion ; and yetit is impossible to confuse omophorion and epi-
trachelion, because both vestments are represented,the latter showing over the alb and under the
shorter dalmatic. Puzzling as this arrangement
appears, it is not uncommon in Coptic pictures;
though sometimes again, where alb and dalmatic
are both given, the epitrachelion is worn over the
1 See frontispiece.2 Vol. i. p. 108,
158 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
latter, as in the fifteenth-century paintings at Sitt
Mariam.
The fact, then, that the Y-shaped pall was de-
veloped out of the early Greek form, seems proved
by the testimony of mediaeval Coptic monuments,and the process is easy to understand
; but the
same monuments prove no less clearly that the
ancient form continued in vogue side by side
with the later omophorion. But this is not the
whole account of the matter;
for besides these
two forms, both more or less familiar even in
the West, the Coptic paintings give evidence of
a peculiar and characteristic usage. For some-
times the Coptic pall appears much longer than
in the ordinary arrangement, and shows besides
the ordinary Y-shaped vestment a band of the
same material and colour, marked with similar
crosses, passing across the waist from the right side
to the left : at the left side the end falls over the
wrist or is held in the hand. Illustrations of this
manner may be seen in the seventeenth-century
picture of St. Mark attired as patriarch at the
church of St. Stephen by the cathedral in Cairo,
and in the figure of our Lord in the midst of the
row of paintings on the choir screen at Abu-'s-Sifain.
It seems from this arrangement that one end of the
omophorion is imagined as passing from the left
shoulder behind, across the back, to the right side,
and thence in front of the wearer across the waist,
whereas of course in the usual arrangement the end
hung behind over the left shoulder. Yet another
method of wearing the omophorion is one depicted,for instance, in the painting of the archangel Michael
at the church of Abu Sargah. There also the scarf
CH. iv.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. '59
Fig. 26. St. Michael : fromat Abu Sargah.
painting
is of great length, and it will be easier to follow its
disposition by beginning with that end which hangsover the left wrist. From the left, as in the figure of St.
Stephen, it passes across to
the right side, thence behind
the back, under the left arm,across the breast to the right
shoulder, round the nape of
the neck, over the left shoul-
der. From the left shoulder
it passes half across the
breast, where it is pinnedunder the other cross-piece,
and thence the end or por-tion remaining hangs downthe middle of the dalmatic
in front. Thus it recalls in
a way the Y-shaped vestment, but presents also a
curious variation.
These peculiar arrangements of the Coptic omo-
phorion are not very easy to account for. But
perhaps the most noticeable thing about them is the
length of scarf required ;and I cannot help thinking
that they represent the transition from the ancient
omophorion to the modern ballin as worn by bishops.For the pictorial evidence of this peculiarly Coptic
pall is comparatively late, dating no further back
than the sixteenth century at the earliest;while the
episcopal ballin is so recent as never to have been
received into the domain of art, and its likeness will
be sought in vain in any Coptic picture. This con-
jecture is perhaps made surer by the fact that neither
the lengthened omophorion nor the episcopal ballin
rests on the sanction of any rubric or other formal
160 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
authority. But if it be true that the modern ballin
is the representative of the ancient omophorion, and
was developed from it, doubtless the process of de-
velopment was chiefly a process of confusion con-
fusion between the shamlah or priestly amice, the
orarion, the epitrachelion, and the omophorion, vest-
ments whose points of difference were easily disre-
garded in the long darkness which has settled on
the Coptic Church. It must be owned with reluct-
ance that much of this confusion is likely to persist,
and cannot be quite dispelled by any reasoningfounded upon such evidence as remains. It should
be remarked, however, that the Melkite or orthodox
Church of Alexandria retains to the present day the
ancient usage of the omophorion, and knows nothingof the ballin 1
.
Concerning the antiquity of the patriarchal pall
there is little to add to the information already
brought together. In the East we have seen the
vestment first mentioned in connexion with a patri-
ot.AAI It is not a Coptic word by etymology, and is doubt-
less derived from the Latin pallium through the Greek form TraXX/ov,
which occurs now and then in early Byzantine writers. Stephanus in
his Thesaurus (s. v. tmxapiov) says that Gregory of Nazianzen in his
will left toEvagrius the deacon Kapavov tv, (Tt\apu>v tv,ira\\ia 8vo: cf. also
Epiph. II. 1 88 B. The form naXXiv (or ? n-oXXtv) actually occurs in
Porphyrius. In Byzantine Greek, however, the word merely means
a cloak or mantle, and was never used to denote the omophorion.It is therefore by a mere accident that the na\\iov among the Copts,
like the pallium among the Latins, was specialized to denote an
ecclesiastical ornament. By a precisely analogous change of
meaning the early Byzantine Ka^daiov (or jcd/maoi/), which meant
some sort of undergarment, became in Coptic ritual KJUl<LCIOIt,which, as we shall see presently, means sleeve or armlet. So wide
is the departure of the Coptic from the Byzantine sense in each
case, though the sound is scarcely altered.
CH. iv.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 161
arch of Alexandria, about 385 A.D. In the West,
omitting the doubtful instance of the bestowal of the
pall upon the bishop of Ostia by the bishop Marcusof Rome (c. 330 A.D.), we have no mention of it
until about 500 A.D., when Symmachus granted it to
Theodore, archbishop of Laureacus in Pannonia.
A century later Gregory the Great, in writing to
Vigilius, bishop of Aries, terms it a matter of
ancient custom for a bishop to petition the see of
Rome for the pallium and for the vicarial authoritywhich it carried. While, however, there is not di-
rect testimony enough to solve the question whether
the use of the pall first arose in Rome or in Alex-
andria, yet the first undoubted mention of that
ornament is from the pen of an Egyptian writer. Weknow' that in the sixth century, at least, it was cus-
tomary for a new patriarch to take the pall of
St. Mark from the neck of his deceased predecessorbefore burial, as part of a solemn rite. Moreover
the omophorion in both the Greek and the EgyptianChurches has existed and continued in use down to
the present moment, without any record of Latin
interference.
All this tells strongly against the claims of Rometo regard the pall as an exclusively Roman privilegeto be granted as a mark of honour and received as
a token of allegiance. There seems some reason
from a decree of the Council of Macon in 581 A.D.,
that no archbishop should celebrate without a pall
to think that this pretension was not fully acknow-
ledged by the Gallican Church in the sixth century;but it is needless to trace its growth, and needless to
repeat that neither Copt nor Greek in any way con-
fesses the supremacy of the Roman pontiff.
VOL. II. M
1 62 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
All over the Christian world the pall is rightly
made of wool and not of linen, to remind the wearer
that he is the spiritual shepherd of his flock. Both
the material and the symbolism are mentioned bySt. Isidore
;and to this day the benediction of the
white lambs destined to furnish the wool takes place
yearly on the day of St. Agnes, at the church called
after her in the Via Nomentana at Rome. After
the ceremony the lambs are kept in a convent till
the time for shearing is come. The palls made of
their wool are placed to rest all night upon St. Peter's
tomb on the eve of the apostle's festival, and on the
day following are consecrated upon the altar 1.
An omophorion resembling the Greek in form, but
wider, is worn by prelates among the Armenians ;
among the Maronites also and the Syrians it is
recognised as part of the patriarchal investiture.
It is, of course, only by reference to the original
manner of wearing the omophorion, that our ownancient rubrical directions for fastening the pallium on
the chasuble can be rightly understo'od. For we read
that it was ' fastened with a pin before and behind
and on the left shoulder 2/ i. e. at the lowest point
of the curve or loop both on the breast and on the
back, and at the point where the ends crossed each
other on the left shoulder. If we attempt to applythis direction to the T-shaped or Y-shaped pall, it
becomes meaningless : it is an intelligible and neces-
sary arrangement as applied to the omophorion or
the pall as worn in the primitive fashion.
1 Cate"chisme de Perseverance par TAbbe* I. Gaume, vol. vii.
p. 234 (4th edition, Brussels, 1842).8 Bloxam's Ecclesiastical Vestments, nth edition, p. 5.
CH. iv.] Ecclesiastical yestments. 163
THE ARMLETS.
(Coptic ni KJUL.cioK : Arabic
In speaking of the next ornament of the Coptic
priesthood, the sleeves or armlets, it is well at the
outset to guard against any identification or con-
fusion of them with the maniple. The latter is so
familiar a vestment in the usage of the western
Church, that one may well feel surprise if nothing
exactly corresponding to it can be discovered in
Greek or Coptic ritual. Even allowing that the
Greek ty\tipiov both in name and purpose offers a
kind of parallel, there is no such ornament as this
napkin mentioned in the pontificals among the
Coptic vestments. The nearest approach that I
can find to any such appurtenance in Coptic cere-
monial apart from the veil or sudarium belongingto the pastoral staff, of which more hereafter is a
kerchief of some kind mentioned in a rubric as pre-
sented with the cross to a bishop at ordination.
The rubric runs '
dabitque illi crucem et mantile'
in
Renaudot's translation;but while the word ' mantile
'
is obscure, the original text is inaccessible, and this
is the one solitary allusion to the existence of such
a kerchief, whatever its nature, in either the Copticor the Syrian or the Nestorian pontificals. Thecross delivered is, of course, the small hand-cross
used for benediction and not a crozier, so that the' mantile
'
in this case cannot possibly correspond to
the veil or pannicellus. It has already been men-tioned that in both the Jacobite and the Melkite
M 2
164 Ancient Coptic Churches. ICH. iv.
branches of the Church of Alexandria one end of
the stole is carried in a way strongly suggestive of
the western maniple. This custom would perhapsin itself rather tell against the existence of the man-
iple as a distinct vestment, though betraying a con-
sciousness of it, and possibly explaining its origin.
Yet it is only fair to recall here the fact that AbuDakn (if his English translator can be trusted) does
mention a maniple among the Coptic sacred vest-
ments as carried in the left hand \>y priests, and not
allowed to deacons or inferior orders. This state-
ment, however, stands alone, entirely unsupported
by external evidence : it is against all analogy, and
it is discredited by Abu Dakn's inaccuracy in other
matters. On the other hand, although the rubrics
are silent on the question whether a napkin was
ever used by the Copts, there is pictorial evidence,
slight in amount but decisive in character, provingthe existence of this appurtenance of worship.Thus in the painting of St. Stephen at Abu
Sargah1
,the sacred vessel carried in the saint's left
hand, whether it be a pyx or merely a coffer for
incense, rests upon a napkin which saves it from
actual contact with the fingers. It was doubtless
from precisely such a napkin in the West, designedfor the more reverent handling of the eucharistic
vessels, that the maniple arose. While, however,
in the Latin Church it became an essential, amongthe Copts it remained an accident of the altar ser-
vice. Hence in the one case the original intention
of the maniple was forgotten, and it was exalted into
an ornamental vestment : in the other case it re-
1 See illustration, p. 137 supra.
CH. iv. j Ecclesiastical l/estments. 165
tained its original and more lowly purpose, being so
little honoured or regarded that the very fact of its
existence has required to be demonstrated. Granting,however, the existence of this napkin, we must still
consider it as absolutely distinct from the sacerdotal
sleeves both in origin and in purpose.The Coptic armlets correspond so obviously
in all respects with the Greek empaviKia, that
I shall not hesitate to use that term for them,wherever convenient. Marriott has an illustration *
of the epimanikia worn by the Russian bishop Nikita
in the twelfth century; but unfortunately no scale is
given with the drawing, and the author says nothingto determine whether the ornaments are merely short'
cuffs/ as he terms them, or are real sleeves coveringthe forearm. Yet Goar 2 describes the epimanikia
explicitly enough as reaching -from the wrist to the
elbow. Whatever may be the case in the Greek
Church, the Coptic sleeves undoubtedly cover the
whole forearm, being broadest at the elbow and
tapering away towards the hand. They differ from
the Russian epimanikia just mentioned in being for
the most part entirely closed and having the seamconcealed ; whereas those figured by Marriott look as
if they were intended to open, and were fastened on
to the arm by strings or buttons. Goar distinctly
alleges that the Greek priests use silken strings to
tighten the epimanikia on their arms, and his state-
ment seems to bear out the inference suggested byMarriott's illustration, that the cuff when unfastened
would open out flat. I have already joined issue
with Renaudot for first disclaiming all knowledge on
1 Vest. Christ, pi. Ivi.2Euehologion, p. in.
1 66 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
the subject, and subsequently assuming the very
point in question, namely the correspondence in'
shape between the Greek and Coptic epimanikia.
Neale 1 describes the Syrian sleeves as differing en-
tirely from the Greek epimanikia without further
explanation : but he adds that the latter'
hang downin two peaked flaps on each side the arm, and are
fastened under the wrist with a silken cord run alongthe border, by which they are drawn in and adjustedto the arm.' This account is not so lucid as could
be desired, but seems to show that the epimanikionis merely a napkin or cloth fastened round the arm,
and not a sleeve or cuff in the true sense of the
word. Neale, however, remarks that in some mosaics
on the walls at Nicaea, the vestment '
is representedunder quite a different form and approximates to
the sleeve of a well-made surplice.' Here againthere is surely some confusion in the language.One cannot imagine the epimanikia as resemblingin any way the loose flowing sleeve of a surplice,
however ' well-made ': surely the tight-fitting sleeve
of an alb or dalmatic is meant. But whatever be
the right reading, we are still left in the dark as re-
gards the length of the sleeve, whether it covers the
whole arm or merely the forearm. It is therefore
difficult to speak positively about the Greek form of
epimanikion ;but as far as I can discover the Greek
and Coptic forms are rather different. The Copticsleeves are longer than the Greek : they are generallysewn up and closed altogether, pains being taken to
hide the joining : and they are not fastened on, or
tightened, by silken strings. A pair at the church
1 Eastern Church: Gen. Introd., vol. i. p. 307.
CH. iv.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 167
of Abu Kir wa Yuhanna are made of crimson velvet,
richly embroidered with stars and crosses wrought in
massive thread of silver. Round either end runs a
double border enclosing designs, and while one
sleeve is ornamented with a representation of the
Virgin Mary and her Son, the other has a figure of
an angel with outspread wings. Nothing can exceed
the fineness of the needlework and the delicacy of
the colours in which these figures are embroidered.
The extreme richness of the work denotes that this
Fig. 27. Armlets at the Church of Abu Kir.
pair of sleeves belonged to a bishop, doubtless the
bishop of Babylon : indeed I believe that the mere
presence of figures, as opposed to crosses, is dis-
tinctive of the sleeves as an episcopal ornament.
The Greek epimanikia, as belonging to the two
orders bishops and priests, are apparently not dis-
tinguished in the same manner. Like the dalmatic
and other vestments of the Church of Alexandria,
the Coptic armlets were in bygone times not merelymade of the richest materials, and decked with the
most costly embroideries, but they were also em-
1 68 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
bellished with jewels of much splendour. None of
these, I fear, are now remaining ;but in the painting
of St. Nicholas, to which I have referred, the cuffs
of the sleeves are shown as of gold or cloth of gold,
studded with gems of great value.
The epimanikia now worn by the Melkite or
orthodox Alexandrian clergy in Egypt are decidedly
cuffs, not sleeves, and are made indifferently either
close or open : in the latter case they are fastened
with strings.
The Coptic sleeves, though still part of the canon-
ical dress of priests, bishop, and patriarch, at the
present day are seldom used except in the ceremonyof investiture at ordination, and consequently can
be seen with difficulty. The specimens figured in
the illustration are still at the church of Abu Kir waYuhanna in Old Cairo, and date probably from the
sixteenth century. Modern examples likewise are
often of crimson velvet, covered with gold or silver
embroidery, in which designs of flowers and the six-
winged seraphim are the most usual ornaments.
Although generally they are entirely closed like
gauntlets, yet some examples are open and fastened
by loops and buttons, not by strings.
No satisfactory explanation has been given of the
origin or purpose of the epimanikia. The patriarch
Symeon describes them as symbolical of the divine
strength, citing the words '
Thy right hand, O Lord,
is glorified in strength/ and '
Thy hands made meand fashioned me '
: he adds also that they figure
the consecration by our Lord of his mysteries, and
the binding of his hands at the Passion. But such
an assignment of mystical meanings, characteristic
of a mediaeval writer, is no help whatever towards
CM. iv.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 169
solving the purely antiquarian question of the originof a sacerdotal vestment. It is faintly possible that
as the maniple in the Latin Church was convention-
alised into a mere strip of brocade with a loop at one
end to go over the wrist, so in the Coptic Churcha corresponding napkin, laid in like manner on the
arm, may have been conventionalised into a sleeve,
and another added for the sake of symmetry. But
this account, which sounds decidedly improbable, is
rendered still more unlikely by the fact that both in
the Greek and in the Armenian Church the napkinis always described as hanging not over the left
wrist but at the girdle. The tyyttpiov is so men-tioned by the patriach Germanus 1 as worn upon the
girdle by deacons, and lasted in this form until the
eleventh century, when it became the lozenge-shaped
piece of stiff material called now epigonation, from
its position as worn near the knee, but still hung bya cord from the girdle. It is questionable whether
the use of the epigonation is entirely confined to
bishops, as stated by Neale 2 and Marriott 3, though
no doubt it is principally an episcopal ornament,while the lyyeipiov was worn by priests. But the
inherent difference between the sleeves and the
maniple or napkin is more convincingly illustrated
in the Armenian practice : for the Armenian clergystill wear a napkin, for wiping the hands, attached to
the zone, while at the same time sleeves also, called
pasbans, form part of the ecclesiastical apparel. It
1
Marriott, Vest. Christ., p. 87.2 Eastern Church: Gen. Introd.,vol. i. p. 311, where the epigo-
nation is figured.3 Vest. Christ., p. 171 n.
1 70 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
is true that the pasbans have now degenerated into
mere slips of brocade ! worn one upon each wrist :
but the coexistence of maniple and sleeves in the
same ritual tells strongly against the suppositionthat the sleeves are a mere development from the
napkin, although Fortescue does not hesitate to call
the pasbans maniples, just after enumerating the
maniple as a separate vestment of the Church. It
must be acknowledged, however, that there is scarcely
a jot of positive historical evidence bearing uponthe question, or tending even to guide conjecture.
The use of sleeves seems almost universal in the
eastern Churches : for besides the Coptic, Greek,and Armenian custom already mentioned, armlets
are found also among the Syrians and the Nes-
torians. The Syrian term for them is zendo* or
zenda, according to Renaudot 2, who remarks that
they correspond to the epimanikia or manicae,' de
quarum forma inter orientales Christianos nihil certi
affirmare possumus.' He adds that in a miniature
of the Florentine MS. a priest is represented as
wearing a kind of epimanikia, which enclose the
arms above the elbow : and these, he says, have
nothing in common with the Greek form. Hence it
would appear that he imagines the Greek epimanikiaas short sleeves or cuffs : but there is nothing to
cancel his direct confession of ignorance. Equally
ignorant but less ingenuous is Denzinger3
, who in
treating of the Nestorian vestments merely mentions'
brachialia'
as an ornament worn by both priests
and bishops.
1Fortescue, Armenian Church, p. 133.
2Lit. Or., torn. ii. p. 55.
3Rit. Or., torn. i. p. 132.
CH. iv.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 1 7 1
Coming now to western Christendom, Rock 1
hazards a conjecture that sleeves or armlets were
part of the sacerdotal dress in the early Church of
Britain. This however he admits to be a mere
inference from the analogy of early Gallican custom,
and as a pure guess has no serious weight. In
Gaul however ' metal bracelets, or cuffs of silk or
other handsome texture V were undoubtedly worn
among the ecclesiastical vestments in the sixth
century3
, according to the explicit evidence cited
by Mr. Warren :
' manualia vero, id est manicas,
sacerdotibus induere mos est instar armillarum quas
regum vel sacerdotum brachia constringebantur.'This testimony is extremely interesting as pre-
serving the record of a now forgotten ornament
once adopted by the early Church of Gaul. Whetherthese armlets were subsequently disused from mere
indifference, or were actively discountenanced byRoman missionaries, cannot now be determined.
But no one, I imagine, will venture to maintain that
the eastern armlet was derived from Gallic examplein the far West. Unless, therefore, we take refugein the theory of a quite independent origin for this
peculiar priestly ornament in the eastern Churches
and in the Church of Gaul, we are driven to the
conclusion that the epimanikia were brought from
the East perhaps by some colony of Egyptianmonks, such as we know came over to Gaul and
to Ireland in the earliest Christian times and were
deliberately adopted by the Gallic clergy. If this
idea of eastern influence be correct, it is not merely
1 Church of our Fathers, vol. i. p. 438.2Warren, Lit. and Rit. of the Celtic Church, p. 117.
3Id. ib. note 3.
172 Ancient Coptic Churches.
curious when taken in connexion with other tokens
of the same influence in the early British and Irish
Churches ; but it furnishes also an argument for the
extreme antiquity of the Coptic sleeves as a sacred
vestment. Moreover if the sleeves had passed from
Egypt to Gaul, and there become an habitual orna-
ment by the sixth century ;not only must they have
been in use in the Church of Alexandria for someconsiderable time previously, but the proof of the
original distinctness of the sleeves and the manipleor napkin, for which I have contended above, is
rendered quite conclusive.
According to the testimony of Goar the use of
sacred armlets still lingered on as late as the seven-
teenth century in some of the French churches, and
was particularly maintained by the Dominican order
of Preaching Friars, of which he himself was a
brother. Such being the case, it is singular that so
remarkable and ancient an appurtenance of church
worship should be so entirely ignored by French
and other liturgical writers.
CHAPTER V.
Ecclesiastical Vestments (continued],
Phelonion. Crown arMitre. Crozierer StaffofAuthority. Pectoral
Cross. Sandals. Benedictional Cross. Epigonation. Rosary.
THE PHELONION OR SUPERVESTMENT.
(Coptic ni cfceAomon, m KOTKXiort, ni jui$opiort :
Arabic
iHILE it is necessary at the outset to use
a vague term like'
supervestment'
to
denote the outer garment of the Coptic
priesthood, concerning which there is
the most bewildering conflict of authorities, I shall
endeavour to show that this conflict of evidence,
pointing now to a chasuble, now to a cope, does not
arise from any mere misunderstanding of terms, but
indicates a real confusion of usage.
From a brief review of the writers cited above for
the Coptic ministerial dress we may gather the fol-
lowing statements about the supervestment. AbuDakn, if rightly rendered, describes it as '
palliumcum cucullo,' worn not only by priest but even bydeacon or subdeacon at the korban, when no bishopis celebrating. Vansleb, writing towards the end of
the seventeenth century from personal observation,
has no hesitation in calling the outer robe a cope,and adds that the vestment as worn by priests is
plain, but that the episcopal cope is hooded. He
174 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
further identifies the vestment by giving the Arabic
na.me,a/6urnus. The Ritual of the patriarch Gabriel,
dating from the beginning of the fifteenth century,
speaks of a '
pallium seu cappa e serico candido,'
according to Renaudot's translation ; but the same
writer is responsible for rendering Abu Saba's term
for the Coptic supervestment by the Latin'
camisia
sive alba.' Finally, Renaudot himself alleges that
by al burnus is meant a vestment corresponding to
the Latin chasuble, called apparently KAJU.A.CIOK T
in the Coptic pontificals. With characteristic in-
difference he quite ignores the fact that, by his own
testimony, the same vestment is called a cope in
Gabriel's Ritual.
So much for the direct literary evidence, which
obviously is not very cogent. Now the weightiest
authority here quoted is that of Gabriel. It is
extremely disappointing that one must remain in
ignorance of the actual word used by the patriarch,
and rendered '
cope'
by Renaudot. '
I have scarcely
any doubt that in this instance the word should be
translated not'
cope'
but '
chasuble.' The merefact that the material is white silk tells rather in
favour of the chasuble;for all the ordinary priestly
vestments were originally ofwhite colour according to
the canons, whereas the cope, being a festal robe
worn in processions and great ceremonies, might be
of any colour. Again, Abu Sabd, who wrote about
a century earlier, calls the supervestment by a
1 This of course seems inconsistent with the present use of
KJUl.CIort to denote the armlet, as stated above : though
obviously it would a priori be the more natural application of the
term. But the Copts are responsible for the inconsistency.
CH. v.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 175
name which unquestionably is wrongly rendered'
alb'
by Renaudot : yet the confusion may be par-
doned if KJUL<Lcion is really the Coptic term for
chasuble, as the word bears so close a resemblance
to (^.A*i> (kamis), the popular Arabic term for the
alb or dalmatic. In any case I think it impossibleto construe Abu Saba's evidence as establishing
decisively the use of the cope as a regular part of
the ministering dress. It must be remembered that
both Gabriel and Abu Sabd speak with some
authority, if only their language were clearer,
Gabriel being the primate of the Coptic Church,and Abu Sabd a native writer deliberately com-
posing a treatise on ecclesiastical matters. It maybe taken for granted, therefore, that their testimonywill agree exactly with that of the other Coptic
pontificals, where it is intelligible, and is to be
explained by them where it is doubtful. Unfor-
tunately here again we are met by ambiguities,as the words '
pallium album,''
cappa alba'
are
found used of the last vestment put on by the
bishop at his ordination, in the Tukian Pontifical *.
Yet both names apparently denote one and the
same vestment, and that is apparently the chasuble.
That the chasuble is meant, seems proved by the
rubric at the end of this same office for the con-
secration of a bishop, which runs 2,
'
Quando danda
est ultima benedictio ad dimittendum populum,
patriarcha induct novum episcopum cappa nigra
praeter candidam et invitabit eum ad benedicendum
populum seorsim. Denique procedunt ad cellam
patriarchalem.' Now if by'
cappa' a cope is meant
1
Denzinger, Rit. Or., torn. ii. pp. 29, 31.2 Id. ib. p. 32.
1 76 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
in both cases, we have to imagine the new bishop
weighted with two copes : but the mere task of
arranging two copes in a becoming manner uponthe same person would not be easy, apart from the
intolerable burden of wearing them in a climate like
that of Egypt. But if the last liturgical vestment
with which the new bishop is invested the '
pal-
lium album'
or '
cappa alba'
be really a chasuble,
then it is easy to understand how, after the com-
pletion of the ceremony of ordination, the bishopis finally arrayed in a dark-coloured cope (nigra) for
the procession to the patriarch's residence a pro-
cession which we know from other sources was one
of great magnificence. But even if we must putaside this doubtful evidence, there is happily no
question whatever that the chasuble is definitely
mentioned in the rubrics and elsewhere. For in
his work called' A Light in the Darkness
' Abu '1
Birkat, a Coptic priest of the fourteenth century,
mentions the chasuble as part of the patriarchal
vestments 1 under the term '
couclo sive casula' This
word may be another form of the' KorXX<L
'
which
occurs in the pontificals, and seems to mean either
a hood, or more probably a hooded chasuble such as
existed in early times in the western Churches 2. But
more decisive still, in the Tukian Pontifical in the
office for the ordination of a patriarch3 the chasuble
is mentioned along with stole and dalmatic, and is
here called cJ>iXomon, which is obviously the sameword as the familiar faXoviov or chasuble of the GreekChurch. Indeed in the curious rubric a few pages
1Renaudot, Lit. Or., torn. i. p. 396.
2Marriott, Vest. Christ., p. 227.
Denzinger, Kit. Or., torn, ii, p. 49.
CH. v.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 1 77
later in the same service \ the Coptic term corre-
sponds exactly with the Greek 4>eXonion. Wefind, then, that, in the only cases where our authori-.
ties cite the original Coptic, the vestment is unmis-
takeably determined as the chasuble.
This conclusion is borne out by pictorial evidence.
Thus the figure of Constantine in the painting at
Abu-'s-Sifain shows a chasuble with a short rounded
front barely reaching to the waist : while the con-
siderably earlier picture of St. Nicholas in my pos-
session represents the outer robe as a very full
flowing garment2
. The arms raised one in the
attitude of benediction, the other holding the bookof the gospel show the folds of the chasuble very
clearly, though unfortunately, as the figure is only
half-length, one cannot see whether the lower edgein front was rounded or pointed. About the openingfor the neck there runs a richly jewelled orfrey,
which is doubtless the' border wrought in gold or
other fine embroidery,' mentioned by Renaudot as
belonging to the chasuble, and called ^KOKXi^. in
Coptic, kaslet in Arabic. It will be rememberedhowever that, according to Abu '1 Birkat, both
monks and priests at Cairo in the fourteenth
century, whether from poverty or simplicity, wore
a woollen chasuble without any orfrey, instead of
the proper silk vestment : and the monks of St.
Macarius in the desert disused the chasuble en-
tirely in the service of the altar, retaining it onlyfor their times of public prayer.At this day, within the kasr or keep of this very
convent, there may still be seen upon the walls of
1Denzinger, Rit. Or., torn. ii. p. 57.
2 See the frontispiece to this volume.
VOL. II. N
1 78 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
the little church dedicated to St. Antonius some veryancient frescoes representing three nimbed and vested
figures, one of which wears a yellow chasuble, another
a white chasuble striped with red, the third a copefastened by a fine morse. In the church of St.
Michael in the tower of Dair Anba Bishoi the
apostles on the iconostasis are all robed in copes.
Returning to Cairo, one finds the cope depicted in
two pictures of Anba Shanudah in the church called
after him, on the figures round the apse-wall at
Abu-'s-Sifain, and in many other places : while true
chasubles may be seen in the paintings of the twelve
apostles on the central iconostasis, and in the fif-
teenth-century paintings on the south iconostasis, at
Al 'Adra Damshiriah. In the same church on the
north wall of the choir there is a picture of St.
Mercurius, which shows a bishop wearing chasuble
and Greek-like omophorion : and in the villagechurch at Tris in the Delta there is a picture
showing St. Macarius clad in a green chasuble.
On the whole, however, the chasuble is of muchrarer occurrence than the cope in such paintings as
have survived from Muslim iconoclasts.
In many of the Coptic pictures a chasuble, exactly
resembling that worn by priests or saints, is repre-sented as the outer garment of the Virgin Mary or
other holy women, the only difference being that in
this case a hood is attached to the chasuble, and is so
arranged in the painting as to make a graceful head-
dress. Very often however the Virgin wears a
beautifully embroidered cope, fastened with a goldenmorse, and having a rich orfrey on the hood which
covers the head. This ecclesiastical style of female
costume, it may be remarked, is characteristic of
CH. v.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 179
Coptic painting, and differs altogether from the
nameless flowing draperies in which the Italian
painters for the most part array their madonnas.
But wherever the chasuble is depicted, it seemsto differ widely from the Latin chasuble, and to
approach much more nearly to the Greek model.
No doubt originally it was a complete coveringor overall, such as is seen in the figure of St.
Sampson in the illustration given by Goar and
adopted by Marriott. But between eastern and
western usage a distinction arose, when the vest-
ment came to be cut away over the arms for the
sake of greater lightness and freedom of movement.For while in the West the chasuble became in
course of time almost equally reduced both before
and behind;the reduction in the East was less
marked, and amounted only to a slight curtailment
in front and over the arms, with scarcely any altera-
tion at the back. Viewed from behind, therefore, it
presented the form of a full flowing robe reaching
nearly to the ground, while in front it resembled
rather the corresponding Latin vestment. The
change of course was gradual in both cases. Wefind the large flowing chasuble in the fresco of
S. Clemente at the altar, and in the well-known
miniature of St. Dunstan \ both dating from the
eleventh century: while in a twelfth-century mosaic
at St. Nicholas in Urbe at Rome, Silvester and
Anastasius are represented in long full chasubles
exactly like that worn by St. Nicholas in the Coptic
picture figured above. But the changes under-
gone by the Latin chasuble only tended to differen-
1Marriott, Vest. Christ., pi. xliii and xliv.
N 2
i8o Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
tiate it more completely from any other vestment :
whereas the Coptic chasuble, changing only in the
front, approximated more and more closely to the
form of the cope. And this, I think, is the secret
of the confusion between the two vestments.
For it is impossible to reject the evidence of
Vansleb concerning the existence of the cope as a
ministerial vestment in his own time in Cairo, even
if Abu Dakn's testimony has a doubtful ring. Wefind too that the cope is clearly depicted as worn bya patriarch in one of the earliest monuments sur-
viving the pillar-painting at Al Mu'allakah. More-
over at the present day the cope unquestionably is
worn. I have mentioned a beautiful cope as existingat the church of Al 'Adra, Dair Abu-'s-Sifain : and
there are some splendid specimens of coloured copesenriched with silver-embroidered hoods and fine
needlework at the church of St. Stephen by the
cathedral in Cairo. Moreover the vestment nowdenoted by the term al burnus among the Copts is
decidedly a cope, and not a chasuble. I have never
seen a chasuble in any of the Coptic churches,
though I have heard of a dalmatic split up the sides
and made into a sort of vestment probably intended
to resemble a chasuble, as if the tradition of its use
were still alive. This was in a remote church in
Upper Egypt.It is now possible to state the problem under
discussion more succinctly and more clearly, if not to
solve it. Setting aside all ambiguous testimony, wecan now bring face to face two apparently contra-
dictory conclusions each supported by unmistakeable
evidence. On the one hand, we find the ancient rubrics
and independent observers alike bearing witness
CH. v.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 181
to the chasuble as the supervestment of the Coptic
priesthood : on the other hand, we find contemporary
usage and observers as far back at least as the seven-
teenth century agreeing that the supervestment is a
cope, and not a chasuble. And pictorial evidence
may be adduced to favour either conclusion.
What seems the true solution of this problemhas already been briefly indicated. It is impossibleto doubt either that both chasuble and cope have
been recognised as canonical vestments, or that the
chasuble has now practically disappeared : and I
have no doubt that the explanation of the whole
matter is to be found in the gradual transformation
suffered by the chasuble. From the first it retained
its original flowing form at the back and sides;but
the process of lightening in front went on, until the
part of the chasuble across the breast was so far
diminished, that both for appearance and for con-
venience' sake it was entirely severed by a vertical
division down the front;and the vestment was abso-
lutely assimilated to the cope. This explanationseems to remove all difficulties : moreover it is
supported by the strongest analogies. For an
exactly similar process of transformation may be
traced in the history of the Greek chasuble or
phenolion, although the process has been arrested
just before the last modification seen in the Coptic
vestment, and a slight portion of the material
still stretches across the breast instead of beingdivided. But the change has gone so far, that it
would be easy on a careless view to mistake the
phenolion for a copeT
. For the front has been
1 See G. Gilbert Scott, Essay on the History of English Church
Architecture, pi. xxii, figs. 12 and 13, and text, p. 116, note n.
1 82 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
almost entirely cut away, while the back part is
quite unaltered. As in the West, so in the East,
it is chiefly the custom of elevating the host
which has given rise to the mutilated form of the
chasuble. On this point I cannot refrain from
quoting the admirable remarks of Mr. G. Gilbert
Scott, who says,'
In the early ages during the canon
the priest was concealed from view by the altar-
veils. The adoration of the people did not therefore
take place at the moment of the sacrifice, as is nowthe custom of the western church, but at a later
point in the service, when, the veils being withdrawn,
the celebrant advanced, and while presenting the
eucharist to the worship of the people, gave with
it the solemn blessing. This, the primitive mannerof the eucharistic adoration, has never been aban-
doned by the easterns, and as it does not requirethe celebrant to raise his arms above the level of
the breast, the mutilation which the oriental pheno-lion has undergone is confined to the front of the
vestment.' Apart from the mistake, almost universal
in writers on oriental ecclesiology, of generalising' Greek
'
into'
eastern'
custom, no better or briefer
account of the change in the form of the chasuble
could be given. This account however will not
apply in letter, but only in spirit, to the Copticchasuble as affected by Coptic ceremonial. For
although the elevation of the host takes place nowas in ancient times not at the moment of office, but
at the end of the service, just before the thanks-
giving ; yet in the Egyptian rite the sacred elements
are raised now not merely to the level of the priest's
breast, but over his head. Such an action would
have been awkward or impossible, so long as the
CH. v.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 183
arms of the celebrant were cumbered with the heavydraperies of the ancient chasuble : and it is obvious
that such a change in the ritual would necessitate a
change in the vestment. If, therefore, the Greeksretain the ancient manner of elevating the host
breast-high ;and if notwithstanding the phenolion
has been so curtailed in front as almost to resemble
a cope ;it is not surprising that the Copts, in raising
the point of elevation, have so changed their chasuble,
that it resembles a cope, not almost but altogether.How easily this transformation may have taken
place, can be judged from a glance at even an
ancient Coptic chasuble, such as that worn by St.
Nicholas in the picture already mentioned. For the
opening for the head is not circular merely as was
the case in the Latin vestment, but is extended by a
slit down the middle of the breast for eight or ten
inches : and the only orfrey with which the chasuble
is adorned runs round the neck and down both sides
of this slit. Once imagine the vestment curtailed
in front, and the slit or division carried a little down-
wards to reach the hem, and the result is a robe
in no wise distinguishable from a cope, unless pos-
sibly the hood may have been a later addition. But
even this is doubtful;
for the hooded chasuble is
certainly not unknown and may have been common :
and on the other hand, the hood is not invariably
found on the Coptic cope, but is a distinguishing-
mark of the episcopal and patriarchal as opposed to
the priestly form of the vestment. The cope worn
at solemn festivals by the present patriarch is of
crimson velvet decked with heavy gold embroidery:the hood of like material has a gold tassel hangingfrom the point, and is fitted inside with a sort of cap,
184 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
which may be worn instead of the mitre. It mayhere be mentioned that there is no parallel in any
Coptic chasuble, for the elaborate orfrey which
branched over the western chasuble, and is madefamiliar to English eyes in many ancient brasses
and monuments.
If there is any shadow of doubt still resting on the
history of the Coptic supervestment, as here given, it
will, I think, be dispelled by a consideration of the
exactly similar transformation which has befallen the
Armenian phenolion. For the phenolion, though it
existed in the early Church of the Armenians, as in
every eastern Church, has now entirely vanished from
their ceremonial, and, as in the Coptic rite, has been
replaced by the cope. When one remembers that
one of the questions put to an Armenian bishop at
ordination is,' Dost thou anathematise Eutyches and
all his following ?' one may feel surprised at the
number of close analogies that exist between Arme-nian and Coptic practice, analogies which will be
multiplied, when we come to treat of rites and cere-
monies. The native term for the cope is sciursciar
according to Denzinger1
,shoochar according to For-
tescue 2, while Neale alleges that they have retained
the name phenolion*, after changing the vestment.
Neale cites no authority for his statement, which is
very interesting if true : but of course it is possiblethat the Greek name may linger on in the rubrics
or in ecclesiastical treatises, though lost to the ver-
nacular. He adds that the chasuble had been aban-
doned, at least as long ago as the time of the
1Rit. Or., torn. i. p. 133.
* Armenian Church, p. 134.3 Eastern Church : Gen. Introd., vol. i. p. 309.
CH. v.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 185
Katholikos Isaac, who comments severely on the
fact in his work upon the errors of the Armenians.
This would be in the twelfth century : but Neale
seems to have mistaken the sense of the passagereferred to, which censures the priesthood for not
using the phenolion, but says nothing about any
change in the form of the vestment.
The true nature of the eucharistic supervestmentseems no less difficult to determine in the case of
the other eastern Churches. Neale, indeed, is bold
enough to state that '
the other branches of the
eastern Church have retained the usual form'
of the
phenolion1
: but once more he seems in error. Totake the Syrian practice first. There can be no doubt
that originally the chasuble existed among the Syrians,
and was called by a name derived from the Greek
phelonion. In ancient rubrics and the like, the
Syrian word employed is phelono or phaino. ThusSeverus Alexandrinus, in his work on the Ritual
of the Syrians, notes that the priest in apparellinghimself for the altar puts on dalmatic, stole, sleeves
(the left before the right), and then the phaino or
chasuble ; though Boderianus absurdly renders the
word by 'amictus' in his Latin translation2
. The
Syrian lexicographer, too, Isa-bar-Hali, gives the three
forms faino, filono, and phaino ; explains the term to
mean the eucharistic vestment worn by priests, as
opposed to the kutino or dalmatic worn by deacons;
and renders it by 'al burnus' as the Arabic equivalentfound in Copto-Arabic writings
3. In the illuminated
1 L. c.
2 Severus Alexandrinus, De Ritibus apud Syros, etc.;
ed. Guido
Fabricius Boderianus : Antwerp, 1572.3Renaudot, Lit. Or., torn. ii. p. 55.
1 86 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
Syrian pontifical at Florence, cited by Renaudot, the
phaino is represented as a full flowing vestment,
resembling the early Roman chasuble : it is gen-
erally of uniform colour purple in three examples,and green in one
;but there is also a miniature in
which the phaino is depicted as covered with em-
broidery of flowers. Moreover in a still moreancient Syriac MS. dated 580 A.D., the figure of
Eusebius is represented in a miniature as draped in a
perfectly formed ecclesiastical chasuble of the early
type, and the hole for the neck is already marked bya square orfrey
1. So far the evidence in favour
of the unchanged phenolion or chasuble seems explicit
enough. But as we come down to more recent times,
we find equally explicit evidence to the contrary.
Thus Asseman writing in the early eighteenth cen-
tury, remarks that the phaino, while corresponding in
name to the Latin penula and the Greek phenolion,
yet is open down the front, resembling the western
cope and not the chasuble : and this information
may be based on a Syrian pontifical in the autographof the patriarch Michael 2
. The Syrian rubrics
frequently use the word phaino, and sometimes
define it as white : but of course do not explain the
form of the vestment. It is only fair, however, to
remember that Asseman seems clearly to be writing
from his own observation ;and even if such be not
1 Bibliothecae Mediceae Catalogus, Cod. I, tab. iii : Florence,
1742. Marriott has adopted the illustration (Vest. Christ., pi. xxvii)
but not very faithfully.2Denzinger, Rit. Or., torn. i. p. 131, and torn. ii. p. 73 n. The
note, however, is very difficult to follow as it speaks of a '
pallio
seu casula,' used instead of the dalmatic, and distinguishes this
from '
phaino, h. e. penula, quae est phenolium .... ad instar
pluvialis Latinorum.'
CH. v.] Ecclesiastical Vestments, 187
the case, there is much to confirm and nothing to
discredit his evidence.
Whether among the Maronites the cope has been
substituted for the chasuble, is a question on which
I can find very little information. This much onlyis certain, that the same name for the vestment
phaino obtained in their pontificals. Asseman 1
indeed alleges that this phaino is like the ma-
aphra or phakila of the Nestorians, in other words
is a cope and not a chasuble : but it is extremely
probable that, even if the character of the vestment
had been thus entirely changed by the seventeenth
century, the original or at least the modified Romanform of the chasuble has been restored by subse-
quent Roman influence.
Regarding the Nestorian practice at the present
day, it is impossible to speak precisely. Denzinger2
indeed declares twice over that the phelonion, as
worn by the Nestorians, resembles the western cope :
but the whole paragraph which he devotes to the
Nestorian vestments is a matchless puzzle, of which
he retains the key3
. Or perhaps the key is to be
1 Bibliotheca Orientalis, torn. Hi. pt. 2. p. 68 1 : Rome, 1728.2 Rit. Or., torn. i. p. 132.3 In the passage just cited he says that the priest wears dalmatic,
orarion over both shoulders, a 'pallium' (whatever that means)called gulta, and over the orarion a phelonion or cope (ptuvi'ati)
instead of a chasuble. The ornaments which bishops and priests
wear in common are, (i) the maaphra, called also phakila and
kaphila, which is a '
pallium'
like the western cope, enveloping the
whole body and corresponding to the Greek <f)aKi6\iov (sic) ; (2)
biruna, a cap or head-dress like the amice; (3) sciuscefo, or veil
(velum).I have elsewhere pointed out the absurdity of comparing with the
imaginary Greek vestment (f>aKi6\iov our cope or any other western
1 88 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
found with Asseman, whom he has quoted without
understanding. Asseman however uses decisive lan-
guage, identifying with the cope a patriarchal vest-
vestment. Asseman is really responsible for this blunder: but
Denzinger ought not blindly to have adopted so obvious a fallacy.
Now there is a prayer in the ordination service for bishops to be
said at the moment of investiture with the maaphra, where Denzin-
ger renders the original thus :
' Induat te Dominus/>0//z'0 (seu casula)
lucis,' &c. (torn. ii. p. 247). A rubric also in the ordination service
for a patriarch is as follows :
' Tune afferunt Kaphilam et princeps
metropolitarum illam super caput ejus demittit'
(ib. p. 255). Wehave therefore first the word maaphra rendered as chasuble and
secondly the kaphila (which is identical with the maaphra) described
as being lowered over the head a description which obviously
will not apply to a cope, and suggests irresistibly a chasuble. Yet
another rubric (ib. p. 272), with the prayer of investiture that fol-
lows, may be taken to establish the identity of the maaphra with
the chasuble : for there the vestment is described symbolically as.
'the garment of celestial glory,' and the prayer continues ' TheLord arm thee with the mystical armour of the spirit, adorn thee
with the works of righteousness, and enrich thee with the gift of
chastity : that without spot or blemish thou mayest feed the sheep
entrusted unto thee in the fear of God and in all holiness, now and
alway.' This passage cannot fail to recall the corresponding words
and symbolism used in western pontificals at the point of investiture
with the chasuble. There is then ample ground for believing that
at the time these rubrics were written, which is probably not later
than the ninth century, the phenolion was still the recognised super-
vestment at the Nestorian celebration of the mass.
Reverting now to Denzinger's statement concerning the 'pallium'
or gul/a, we may, I think, explain it by reference to Dr. Badger's
mistake in the text above, which Denzinger has seized with his
usual avidity for blunders. The truth is that the so-called 'pallium'
is nothing but the dalmatic;and because Dr. Badger, being igno-
rant of the right term, uses a wrong one,'
surplice,' in English,
Denzinger out of this manufactures an entirely new vestment for
the Nestorians. This will be made quite clear by a comparisonof torn. i. p. 132, 'Presbyter orarium habet collo impositum . . .
supra tunicam albam, . . . et pallium quod dicitur gulta, et super
CH. v.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 189
ment called maapkra, which he remarks'
apud
Syros Nestorianos pro phenolic seu phelonio Grae-
corum et penula, casula, planeta Latinorum sumitur,
quae tamen ante pectus aperta sit et pluvialis formam
repraesentet1.' The question seems so far settled for
that period : and there is a distinguished orientalist
of our own times, Dr. Badger, whose evidence oughtto be worth quoting. In describing the Nestorian
vestments which he saw at Ashitha 2, he mentions
two which he calls'
surplice,' and '
chasuble,' respec-
tively : but he defines the'
surplice'
as a sort of
shirt with short sleeves, by which it is clear that he
means a dalmatic;and the
' chasuble'
he explains as
orarium induitur (sc. presbyter) phelonio sive pluvial!/ with torn. ii.
p. 266, where he remarks upon the '
pallium'
or dalmatic which
the bishop lays on the left shoulder of the priest at the very begin-
ning of the ordination service,'
Anglice est Surplice. Posuimus
vocem ab Assemano usurpatam. Est gulta, quae super orarium
induitur.' Now in the first of these passages the position of the
gulta as worn is left to the imagination, but it seems to come over
the orarion : in the second passage we are told plainly that it does
come over the orarion. But what the first passage states unam-
biguously is this, that it is the supervestment which comes directly
over the orarion. What then becomes of the guild or surplice?
Obviously it must disappear, and merge back into the tunica alba
or dalmatic, from which it has been conjured up by a process of
mere misunderstanding. Were this conclusion doubtful, it would
be rendered certain by the rubric on the next page as follows :
' tune episcopus pallium sumat de humeris eorum et eo induat eos,
et sumat stolam de humero eorum sinistro et circum colla appendat.'
This proves finally that the priest at ordination was invested with
the 'pallium' or gulta first, and that the orarion was then placedover the 'pallium ;' in other words, that the 'pallium
'
and dalmatic
or sticharion are identical.
1Bibl. Or., 1. c.
2 The Nestorians and their Rituals, vol. i. pp. 225-6 : London,
1852.
190 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
'a plain square cloth with a cross inscribed (? em-
broidered) in the centre, which is thrown over the
head and shoulders, and the two parallel corners (sic)
held between the thumb and forefinger of each hand.'
Were this a chasuble, there could not be a cross in
the centre, for there the hole for the head must come :
moreover a chasuble could not rightly be described
as' thrown
'
over the head and shoulders, but as so
placed or lowered : and there could be no reason for
holding a chasuble by the'
corners,' whatever that
term could denote. It is much to be regretted that
so learned a scholar should be so ignorant of liturgi-
cal terms as to confuse a dalmatic with a surplice, and
to call a '
plain square cloth'
a chasuble : but the
same ignorance is displayed in his magnificent work,the English-Arabic lexicon, and his authority as a
ritualist is nothing. Dr. Badger adds that the vest-
ment which he terms a surplice is called peena in
Syriac, a name which suggests the phaino orpkaina,but may of course be a mistake in borrowing on the
part of the Nestorians, and that the'
chasuble'
is
called estla or shoshippa. The latter word might be
akin to shouchar, which, as we have seen, is the Ar-
menian term for a cope. But on the whole, Dr.
Badger's testimony cannot be taken as of serious
value : indeed, if it stood alone it would be so per-
plexing as to be worse than useless. But there is a
later writer 1 than Dr. Badger, who very decidedlyaffirms the long disuse of the chasuble by the Nes-
torian clergy. He adds that the Nestorian deacons
wear the alb or dalmatic, called soudra, 'with red and
purple crosses sewn on the breast,' girdle, and a
1 See Christians under the Crescent in Asia, pp. 219, 220.
CH. v.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 191
short stole over the right shoulder : while priests
wear dalmatic, girdle, stole falling over both shoulders
and crossed on the breast; moreover, at celebration
the priest has also a chadra(i.
e. tent), a large squareof white linen with coloured crosses at the upper
angles. This chadra is' thrown over the shoulders
and held in front by one hand : at certain places in
the service it is raised so as to cover the head, at
others stretched out so as to form a screen between
priest and people.' The chadra is obviously identi-
cal with Dr. Badger's shoshippa or chasuble : but is
neither cope nor chasuble, but a nameless vest-
ment peculiar to the Nestorians. But Mr. Cutts
states positively that the Nestorian clergy wear the
cope instead of the chasuble : for although he
strangely calls the vestment 'pallium,' he describes it
clearly as resembling the cope, which the canons of
1603 require the celebrant to wear in our Englishcathedrals. Thus the evidence of Asseman seems
established.
Yet one branch of the oriental Church still remains
faithful to the tradition of the chasuble, the ancient
orthodox Church of Alexandria in Egypt. There the
cope is still worn too, but only as a processionalvestment. Thus on great festivals the patriarch,
entering the church in solemn procession, wears a
cope of richly coloured and embroidered silk, but
lays it aside when he is vested for the mass. Thechasuble worn by the patriarch differs in form from
that of the priest ;for the latter is a true chasuble,
rather of the Russian form, very much curtailed in
front, and barely reaching to the girdle : but the
patriarchal phenolion or phelonion, as they by pre-
ference call it, reaches nearly to the ground both
1 92 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
before and behind, and so far recalls the ancient
shape of the vestment. Yet it has been so far
changed and conventionalised, that at the sides and
under the arms it has formal openings, which are
loosely fastened together with silken strings or rib-
bons. The front is not pointed, as in the English
chasuble, but rather shield-shaped, the lower edge
being horizontal and the corners turned in curves :
and the vestment when laid out flat would be in
the form of a cross, in which the upper and lower
limb are much larger than the two side branches,
and all the angles are rounded off. This cruciform
chasuble is obviously the result of a long process of
mutilation;and the difference between the patriarchal
and priestly shape probably arises from the mereneed of lightness in the former, owing to the greater
weight of vestments which the patriarch has to carry.
The treasury of the church of St. Nicholas in Cairo
still possesses some chasubles of the fifteenth or six-
teenth century, which are nearer in form to the old
models, and which for sumptuous splendour of ma-
terial and colour, for boldness of design and for
delicate fineness of work, must rank among the mostbeautiful known embroideries.
Seeing, however, that the phenolion has fallen into
more or less final disuse in the Nestorian, the Ma-
ronite, the Syrian, and the Coptic Church, though
originally deemed essential by all, and still recognised
by the canons;there seems not a single stay left to
support Neale's assertion, that the usual form of the
phelonion has been retained by the other branches of
the eastern Church, excepting only the Russians, whohave mutilated it, and the Armenians, who have aban-
doned it. On the contrary, the disuse of the chasuble
CH. v.] Ecclesiastical Vestments; 193
is one of the most marked and most universal depar-tures from primitive custom among all the liturgical
changes in the East. We have seen that it had a
long canonical existence, an existence indeed never
formally terminated, and its origin is lost in the
mists that veil the dawn of Christian ceremonial.
Like most vestments, however, it seems to have
arisen from some form of ancient oriental costume,a statement which is scarcely weakened by the admis-
sion that some vestments may seem more directly
copied from classical models : for classical costume
was eminently oriental. In Greek the name for the
chasuble appears as 0eA6i/iov, 0ei/6Atop, fyaiXoviov, (f>at\<o-
viov, <fxx.iv6\Lov, (paivwXiov, (f)aii/6Xr]s, &c. The word meant
some sort of heavy overall made to envelop the whole
body. It is, of course, impossible to discuss seriouslythe question raised by Cardinal Bona and others,
whether the (j>ai\6vri$ left by St. Paul at Troas wasa eucharistic chasuble. The idea is a mere ana-
chronism;for both the ritual and the apparel of the
eucharist were slow developments, as usage after
usage, fostered by reverence, was received and con-
secrated by the Church. Thus the phenolion is not
found recorded before the fourth century, and even
then the evidence is not literary but pictorial. Themosaics in the church of St. George at Thessalo-
nica 1,
said to have been built by Constantine,
represent several figures clothed in sticharion and
phelonion, which vestments seem decidedly of an
ecclesiastical character, although there is little or
nothing to distinguish the dress of bishop, presbyter,
physician, or slave. Yet the fact that each one of
1 See Marriott, Vest. Christ., pi. xviii-xxi, and notes pp. 236-7.
VOL. II. O
194 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
the figures is represented as standing before the
altar in an attitude of intercession, renders it pro-bable that all the martyrs after their death were fitly
regarded as ministers in God's service, and so were
alike represented as vested in sacerdotal costume,and performing a sacerdotal duty.
' Sacerdos vocari
potest sive episcopus sit sive presbyter,' says Ra-
banus 1
; so too Pope Celestine, St. Gregory, and
other early writers speak of 'sacerdotes' where theymean bishops ;
so that in the fourth century, whenthese mosaic pictures were made, the sacerdotal
character of the saints depicted may have been
considered the one thing essential to represent, as
opposed to the accidental distinction of higher and
lower orders. Marriott, indeed, alleges unwaver-
ingly that these mosaics ' do not represent a dress
of holy ministry2,' and most recent writers agree in
this opinion. There is, however, one point which
they seem to have overlooked. On examining the
details in the background of the pictures, it becomes
clear that the altars there figured are arranged and
furnished in a manner which already betokens a fixed
system of decoration, and a considerable elaboration
of ritual. The steps in front of the altar;the four
columns at the four corners, and the altar-canopy
above ; the curtains running on rods between the
columns;
the apses, the hanging lamps, and the
screens, all these denote a well-established cere-
monial, and are indeed the very characteristics of
altar decoration which lasted in the eastern churches
for full a thousand years later, and may now be seen,
little changed, in connexion with the Coptic altars
1
Marriott, Vest. Christ., p. 46, note 71.2
Id. ib. p. Ixxv.
CH..V.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 195
of Egypt. If then the ritual was so far developed,when these mosaics were designed, is it not reason-
able to conclude that the dress of the priesthoodalso was specialised, and distinguished from the dress
of common life ? It seems to me easier to believe
even that the artist was inaccurate in certain details
of the drapery, than that the priests who ministered
at such altars as he has reproduced wore no vest-
ments clearly distinctive of their office.
I have already mentioned the white phenolia de-
picted in the sixth-century mosaics of St. Sophiaat Constantinople, and the phenolion in the Syriac
miniature, dating about 580 A.D. But it is not till
nearly a century and a half later that we find the
vestment distinctly mentioned as such in any writing.
Then the patriarch Germanus speaks of the phenolionas emblematic of the scarlet or purple robe in which
our Lord was arrayed before the crucifixion. Fromthis time onward notices of the supervestment are
numerous. Thus Goar 1 mentions that Nicephorus,
patriarch of Constantinople about 800 A.D., sent to
the Roman pontiff a chestnut-coloured phenolion, as
well as a seamless white sticharion, gifts no doubt
which could be used in the Latin service, and not
mere curiosities. This is one more proof of the fact,
which becomes clearer and clearer as we penetrate
deeper into the past, that Roman and Greek vest-
ments were originally the same, or rather that the
vestments, like the ritual and the language of divine
worship at Rome, were adopted from eastern originals.
As regards the colour of the Greek ministering dress,
Goar remarks that red or purple vestments are used
1 Euchol. p. 113.
O 2
196 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
through the season of Lent, but that white is the
normal colour for the rest of the year; and he
cites Symeon of Thessalonica to this effect. Purple
vestments, however, seem to have been regarded in
general as befitting mournful rites, and to have been
worn during the office for the burial of the dead.
Besides the ordinary chasuble now in vogue amongthe Greeks there is a particular kind of phelonion,called the TroXvo-ravptov, worn by bishops ;
it is dis-
tinguished by being thickly sown with small em-broidered crosses.
As regards the origin and use of the western
chasuble, the materials for its history are so well
known, and have been so thoroughly winnowed byvarious writers 1
,that it is needless here to speak
at length. Suffice it to remark that up to the ninth
century planeta was the term used to designate the
ministerial supervestment ; that from this point the
term casula appears, and ere long the two namesare used interchangeably ;
and that, finally, the later
term, from which our 'chasuble' is derived, so far
prevailed as to extinguish the older planeta. Thetransition from the secular to the ecclesiastical gar-ment seems slow and hard to mark
;but it is not
surprising to find the most ancient testimony for the
use of the planeta, as the distinctive vestment of
priests and bishops at the altar, in a remote countrylike Spain, where probably the common dress differed
widely from those classical models which in Italy both
1 See Marriott, Vest. Christ, App. C, and p. Ix seq. G. Gilbert
Scott, Essay on the Hist, of Eng. Ch. Archit, p. 113 seq. Cham-
bers, Divine Worship in England, p. 60 seq. Bock, Geschichte
der Liturgischen Gewander, i. 427. Rock, Church of our Fathers,
vol. i. p. 317, &c.
CH. v.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 197
ruled the fashion of daily life and determined the
form of clerical costume. If, for example, the priestly
attire in Rome during the second century, which
doubtless differed only slightly from lay attire,
were introduced into less civilised places like Spainor Gaul at that epoch, it would at once be markedoff as distinctively sacerdotal by contrast with a
different type of dress in common use among the
Spaniards or the Gauls. Thus an impetus would be
given to the development of an exclusively ecclesi-
astical costume, and a certain fixity would be obtained
earlier among remoter communities than at the veryfountain-head, whence they drew their inspiration.
It is in the Acts of the Council of Toledo (633 A.D.)
that the planeta is first recorded as the priestly super-
vestment, though even there it is only mentioned inci-
dentally as the familiar ornament of the presbyter,with nothing to suggest that it may not have been
in use for generations. There is artistic evidence that
the chasuble was worn in Ireland as early as the
eighth century ;for to that date belongs the reli-
quary of St. Maedoc, on which are represented
figures draped in full flowing chasubles with em-
broidered orfreys1. In Scotland priests in chasubles
are found upon some very ancient sculptured stones;
and in the Book of Deer, dating from the ninth
century, chasubles are worn by the evangelists there
depicted2. France is rich in sculptured evidence
for the chasuble of the same epoch ;for almost
every plaque in the ivory covers of the Sacra-
mentary of Drogon has one or more examples of
1Warren, Lit. and Rit. of the Celtic Church, p. 1 1 2.
2Westwood, Facsimiles of Anglo-Saxon and Irish MS., pi. li.
igS Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
the vestment, and the Sacramentary at Tours, also
belonging to the ninth century, bears further testi-
mony to its prevailing use. England is rather
destitute of early ecclesiastical art-remains ;but the
chasuble is found mentioned, apparently as long
established, in the eighth-century Pontifical of Ecg-bert. It is curious to find, in confirmation of the
Coptic usage as described by Vansleb, that up to
the tenth century, at least, the episcopal chasuble
was distinguished from the sacerdotal by its hood ;
a tradition dating from very early times, as is proved
by the fact that St. Isidore of Seville speaks of the
casula as 'a garment provided with a cowl/ or hood 1
;
and by the very name for the chasuble in Coptic,
KoifKXlott, which is clearly derived from the Byzan-tine Greek KovKovXXiov, which occurs in the writingsof Pachomius, Evagrius, and Palladius a word
ultimately traceable to the Latin cucullus. The
elaborately embroidered maniple which was found
in the tomb of St. Cuthbert, at Durham, bears
still upon it the figure of St. Sextus, an early
bishop of Rome, arrayed in a chasuble, which
already has suffered some curtailment as comparedwith the ancient form, although the figure belongsto the tenth century. This is said to be the
earliest English example of the chasuble. Others
are contained in the Benedictional of St. Ethelwold
(c. 970 A. D.), the miniatures of which display several
fully vested figures2
;and in the somewhat later
pontifical of the Anglo-Saxon Church, now in the
Rouen Library, there is a bishop depicted wearing
1Marriott, Vest. Christ., pi. Ixvi.
2Bloxam, Ecclesiastical Vestments, pp. 14-16.
CH. v.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 199
a chasuble which, like that of St. Sextus, is consider-
ably shorter in front than behind. Another bishop in
the same pontifical is represented in a cope ;and
this is the earliest instance known to Bloxam of
that vestment. But surely an example some five
hundred years earlier may be found in the mosaics
of S. Apollinare in Classe near Ravenna, where
the figure of Melchisedech, who is breaking bread
at an altar, on which lie wafer and chalice, is robed
in a violet cope, clearly defined by its golden border
lines and fastened over the breast by a morse, in the
fashion usual to this very day. A similar vestment
is seen in a mosaic at the church of S. Vitale, Ra-
venna, worn in this case also by Melchisedech 1,but
not so distinctly shown, owing to the sideward posi-
tion and the uplifted arms of the celebrant.
But although the shortened chasuble appears thus
early in our own country, it had not in Anglo-Saxontimes arrived at that pointed form, with which our
mediaeval monuments have made us familiar. This
further alteration arose not from general reasons of
convenience, but from the specific requirement of
more freedom of action in elevating the host, so that
it might be seen by the people over the head of the
celebrant, who stood with his back towards them.
In Italy the priest faced the people at the momentof elevation, so that there the same cause did not
operate. Yet even the Roman chasuble has suffered
great diminution, as is proved for instance by the
well-known eleventh-century fresco of St. Clement at
St. Mark's, in Venice. On the other hand, there is
an overwhelming mass of evidence to show that the
ancient ample vestment continued in use in Rome1 See La Messe, vol. i. pi. iii. and pi. ii.
2OO Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
down to the year 1600 A. D.1
: and even at the pre-
sent day the Roman rubrics require the full flowingchasuble. There are also in our own churches manysepulchral effigies and brasses, which bear witness to
the fact that the ancient chasuble lasted side by side
with the mutilated form of the vestment, almost upto the period of the reformation.
These chasubles in our own and in all Christian
countries were not always of white : pale and golden
yellow, crimson and purple, were not uncommoncolours. The richest materials, too, were employed,such as silk, velvet, and cloth of gold ;
and these
were embroidered with beautiful orfreys, sometimes
having costly jewels inwoven, or even covered en-
tirely with flowers and other designs in the finest
needlework. No pains or cost were thought too
great to adorn the apparel used at the service of
our altars, and our churches were unrivalled in the
splendour and number of their vestments, as manyrecords still remaining testify.
THE CROWN OR MITRE.
(Coptic -fJULHTp^.2
, ni KX^JUI, ni
Arabic
Both branches of the ancient Church of Alexandria
in Egypt recognise the mitre as part of the episcopal
1 G. Gilbert Scott, Hist. Eng. Ch. Archit, p. 117 n.
8Denzinger, ii. 48.
3Peyron's Coptic Lexicon has also 6*pHTTe, diadem or (rKfjirrpov.
If (TKfinrpov is the etymology of the word, we have another instance
of an entire change of meaning in present usage of the Coptic as
compared with its original.
CH. v.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 201
insignia ;and in both the mitre is worn by the, patri-
arch as well as by bishops. There is no reason for
doubting the tradition which derives the use of the
mitre by the patriarch of Alexandria from the presi-
dency of Cyril at the Council of Ephesus1
,in the
year 431 A. D. : or, if that be too precise a statement
to please historic minds, it may at least be main-
tained that the legend points to a very early use of
the mitre in Egypt. Moreover, if we remember the
deadly feud which, twenty years later, rent asunder
the two branches of the Church and kept them in per-
manent antagonism ;and if we think how likely it is,
on the one hand, that both lines of patriarchs should
cling to all their ancient privileges, and how unlikely,
on the other hand, that either line should borrow an
innovation from its unorthodox rival ; then the fact
that both the Jacobite and the Melkite Churches do
acknowledge and retain the mitre may be taken as
strengthening the legend, and almost establishing
the existence of some sort of distinctive head-dress
for the patriarch of Alexandria, at least as early as the
first half of the fifth century, before the separation.
There is an antecedent probability that the use
of the mitre arose early in the East, where the
covering for the head has always been a matter
of great dignity and importance, and where the
modern tarbfish or fez still remains as the direct
descendant of the ancient Phrygian cap, which the
earliest mitres both in the East and the Westseem to have imitated. It is true that the evidence
upon the question is not very copious; but enough
may be mustered to repulse all Roman claims to the
mitre as an exclusively Roman vestment. Goar
1Goar, Euchol., p. 314.
2O2 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
himself cites Allatius as authority for a pontifical
Ka\vTTTpa, and further quotes from Coresius of Chios
a story of a dispute between Theophilus, a patriarchof Alexandria in the tenth century, and the Greek
emperor, who, to settle matters in a friendly way,conferred a royal crown upon the patriarch, and washimself received among the members of the patri-
arch's sacred college. We are told, too, that up to
869 A. D. the patriarch of Jerusalem wore on solemn
occasions the mitre of St. James.
Turning now to the various rubrics, we find the
mitre clearly mentioned as one of the insignia puton by the patriarch of Alexandria at his consecra-
tion. This is in the Tukian Pontifical. It is worth
remark that none of the ancient Coptic versions of
the order for the consecration of bishops contain
very explicit evidence for the use of the crown or
mitre. The fact may however be accounted for
either by the utter confusion on the subject of the
head-dress, which marks the rubrics in their presentform
;or by the supposition that the privilege of
wearing the mitre was extended to bishops at a late
epoch ;or possibly by the custom now holding, by
which bishops are forbidden to wear the mitre in
presence of the patriarch. Yet in the ritual of the
Syrian Jacobites the imposition of the mitre on the
head of the new bishop is the most solemn act in his
investiture by the patriarch. The mitre is twice men-
tioned in the order as given by Morinus 1,and twice
also in the text of Renaudot 2. Renaudot asserts too
1
Denzinger, Rit. Or., torn. ii. pp. 74, 75.aDenzinger cites from Renaudot the words '
imponit illi cidarim
seu mi/ram, alligalque illi epomidem,' but adds in a note ' ornamentum
de quo agilur (sc. mitre?) est Maznaphlho, amictus phrygio opere
CH. v.j Ecclesiastical Vestments. 203
that in several Syriac manuscripts the mitre is men-
tioned under the name '
togo'
(obviously the sameas the Arabic '
tag ')as one of the episcopal orna-
ments. Asseman is therefore probably mistaken in
denying the mitre to Syrian bishops ;and there seems
no question that it was worn by their patriarch.
It is extremely unfortunate that nearly all the
really ancient Coptic paintings have perished, and
that bronze or stone monuments carved shrines or
effigies of great ecclesiastics are simply unknownin Coptic history. Yet from such scanty relics as
the hand of time has spared some little evidence
may be gathered for the early use of the mitre.
Thus one of the saints whose figures are carved uponthe panels now in the iconostasis at the church of
Abu Sargah seems to wear some kind of head-dress
ornatus? thus asserting that by' mitra
'
of the text is meant an
amice with an embroidered orfrey. This mistake is sufficiently
refuted by the remainder of the sentence quoted from the rubric'
alligatque illi epomidem.' Epomis is obviously the amice, and is
quite distinct from the 'cidaris seu milra! The synonym too
proves that the mitra answers to our mitre. As regards the patri-
archal mitre, there is no conflict among our authorities. I think,
therefore, that Mr. Cutts must be mistaken in stating that the
Jacobite Syrian patriarch' does not wear a mitre but a veil on his
head, which is thrown off at the reading of the Gospel.' (Chris-
tians under the Crescent in Asia, p. 84.) He describes this veil as
'set with plates and bosses of silver/ Doubtless it correspondswith the Coptic ballin, and is the common vestment of the patriarch,
whereas the mitre is only used on great festivals. It is a mistake
into which a traveller might fall very easily from seeing the patriarch
celebrate without a mitre, and from failing to find any example of
such an ornament. In the same way, the Coptic patriarch seldom
wears the crown to celebrate, and in all the scores of visits that
I have paid to various churches I have only seen one example of
any mitre. Yet beyond all shadow of doubt the mitre is worn, not
only by the Coptic patriarch, but also by the bishops.
2O4 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
resembling a low diadem. They date from the
eighth century, and may be denoted as patriarchs
by the cross upon the long spear-like staff which
they carry. Probably of the same date, or a little
later, is the ancient pillar-painting at Al Mu'allakah *,
now much defaced, but still showing very clearly
the patriarchal pall, and a nimbed head wearing a
jewelled diadem. The diadem consists of a band of
silver or gold divided into tiny compartments, each
enclosing a precious stone something like the dia-
dem on the head of Justinian in the mosaic picture at
S. Vitale, Ravenna, and the intention is so obvious
that, if this monument stood quite alone, it wouldalone suffice to prove the use of the crown as a
distinctly recognised vestment at a time when the
metal mitre at least was quite unknown in Europe.Between this fresco and pictures on panel, datingfrom the fifteenth or sixteenth century, there is a
gulf void of artistic evidence. But thenceforward
patriarchs, and patriarchal figures of St. Mark and of
our Lord, become common : and they generally wear a
golden crown beset with jewels. The shape howeverof the crown had by this time changed : and instead
of the low diadem, a narrow band or fillet of metal
encircling the brow, we find a solid covering for
the head more resembling the royal crown of moderntimes. There is no instance in Coptic painting of
the two-peaked mitre, familiar to us in Roman usageand in our own brass effigies and heraldic designs.
But though the mitre of western shape is quiteunknown to Coptic bishops, the exact form of their
own head-dress is not fixed after any rigorous model.
1 See illustrations, vol. i. p. 191, and vol. ii. p. 156.
CH. V.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 205
The Copts in fact do not, strictly speaking, use the
word ' mitre'
at all : with them the mitre is a tag or
crown : and the crown may be made after manypatterns, so long as it preserves the essential idea of
a kingly head-dress, the symbol of sovereign power.
Fig.' 28. The Crown of the Coptic Patriarch.
Nor is there any recognised or necessary difference
in the form of the crown as worn by bishops and
as worn by the patriarch. The only distinction is
one of usage, which forbids a bishop either to wear
his crown or to hold his staff outside his own
diocese, or during the presence within it of the
patriarch, by whom his authority is overshadowed.
206 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
It must therefore be clearly understood that the
form of the patriarchal crown given in the illustration
has been determined by the artist's fancy, and has
no symbolic or ritual significance whatever. The
crown, which is of solid silver gilt and is covered with
various enrichments, was sent as a gift from king
John of Abyssinia, by whose order it was made, to
the present patriarch Cyril. Much of the work uponit is extremely fine, and the whole produces an effect
of real, though somewhat barbaric, magnificence.The body of the crown is cylindrical : the top is
domed : and above the dome, which ends in a beau-
tiful boss of filigree work, rises a little open tower
supporting a cross set with five large diamonds.
The cylindrical part is divided into two sections bythree horizontal fillets or bands of raised work : each
band is thickly studded with paste jewels of various
colours separated by finely wrought metal bosses : a
profusion of short tiny chains with pendants hangfrom the lower rim of every band, while on the upperrim stands a delicate open parapet of very minute
workmanship. Vertically, the walls of the crown are
divided by raised bands into eight sections, which are
alternately filled with a spiral design of filigree workand chased with rude engravings of the Virgin and
Child or other sacred figures. The front of the
crown is distinguished by a small curved projection
upon the lowest fillet. The dome is ornamented bya number of lines radiating from the centre, and the
spaces between them are filled with a chased designof very graceful scrollwork. A glance at the illustra-
tion will show the triple character of this pontifical
crown : but that character is due merely to a local
accident, the affectation of this form of crown by
CH. v.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 207
the kings of Abyssinia1
,and must not suggest
any comparison with the triple crown of the Roman
pontiff.
The practice of the Melkite Church of Alexandria
agrees with that of the Coptic Church in granting the
mitre or crown to bishops, as well as to the patriarch ;
but dissents in having a specific form of mitre for the
patriarch, different from the episcopal crown, andcalled by a distinguishing name. For the patriarchalmitre is called tiara, the episcopal mitra : and the
distinction of shape is this, that the tiara is lofty and
conical, resembling the western mitre without anycleft or horns at the top ;
while the mitra is a real
crown, low, and rather globular than conical. It is
impossible to say when this distinction arose, or for
what reason. The only tiara which I have seen in
Cairo is quite modern : it is made of crimson velvet,
with a zone of silver or gold about an inch broad
encircling the head, and from this zone four metal
bands rise and meet at the top of the cone, uponwhich there stands a jewelled cross. Each of the
four vertical divisions of the tiara encloses a porcelain
medallion, painted with sacred figures, and set round
with precious stones. The mitra has all the charac-
teristics of a royal crown : it is generally made of
silver gilt, more rarely of very rich velvet, covered
with elaborate gold embroidery, and studded thick
with jewels. The mitra, though of metal, is never of
openwork : the ground is a solid plate of silver or
gold, casque-like in this regard, and not a circlet with
1 The gold crown of king Theodore, captured at Magdala, has
the same peculiarity. It may be seen at the South Kensington
Museum.
2o8 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
bands of metal coming down from the top to meet it.
There is at the church of St. Nicholas in Cairo
a large collection of these crowns, some of which are
ancient and exceedingly beautiful. The oldest there
is a most magnificent specimen of silver-work and
jewellery. The head-piece is of solid silver : round
the bottom runs a circlet enclosing an exquisite
design of small flowers repousse\ Immediately above
this is another zone of the richest blue enamel, in
which is wrought some sacred writing in Greek
characters. Above this comes a third narrow band
of delicate work, raised, and standing out from the
ground ;and all the points and angles of the design
enclosed are set with lustrous jewels. The globeor main body of the crown is marked off into four
equal compartments by vertical bands descendingfrom a circlet near the top. These bands are of
open silver work, soldered on to the ground, like the
third of the narrow circlets just mentioned. In the
centre of each compartment, and slightly raised, is an
oval medallion of superb enamel, in which the Virgin,our Lord, and other sacred figures are wrought in
soft yet resplendent colours, red, green, and blue;and
round every medallion runs a border of costly gems.The circlet round the top of the crown, too, which
receives the four vertical bands, is richly jewelled on
the edges, while the interior consists of blue enamel
enclosing a text from Holy Writ in Greek letters.
But the topmost point is covered with a large boss,
which tapers upwards in three low stages, all set
with precious stones, and on the summit stands a
small cross. From the style of the enamelling and
of the workmanship generally, I think that this most
sumptuous and splendid mitre may be assigned to
CH. v.] Rcclesiastical Vestments. 209
the eleventh or twelfth century: but no descriptionand no picture can convey any idea of its beauty.
In the same treasury I saw several other crowns, all
of rich metal work or jewelled embroidery, and someof them ancient. In every case the crown is sur-
mounted by a cross, which is a characteristic feature
of the bishop's head-dress, both Greek and Coptic.It is, then, very clear that in both branches of the
Church of Egypt the use of the mitre is not merelyknown, but ascends at least to a very considerable
antiquity. It is clear, too, that Neale's account of the
matter is very inadequate, when all he tells us is that'
the patriarch of Alexandria employs a cap resemblinga crown, and never removes it during the liturgy
1.'
The Melkite patriarch of Alexandria wears no sort
of cap, but only the tiara : and the Coptic patriarch
wears a crown on all solemn occasions, and the onlykind of cap which ever covers his head is a sort of
tarbush concealed within the hood of the. cope.There is, however, a cap recognised as a liturgical
vestment at the present day, and dating from a veryremote epoch. It is first mentioned by a Copticwriter of the twelfth century, a bishop of Akhmlm 2
,
who gives it in a list of sacerdotal vestments
and describes it as' adorned with small crosses/
Renaudot merely cites this very interesting passagewithout criticism 3
, having no further evidence uponthe subject. For a like reason, doubtless, Denzinger
1 Eastern Church: Gen. Introd., vol. i. p. 313.2 This author is repeatedly cited by Renaudot, as
' Echmimensis.'
Denzinger gives his full name as '
Ferge Allah Echmimi,' which
should doubtless be Farag Allah Akhmimi.3
Lit. Or., torn. i. p. 163. 'Mentio fit praeterea cidaris quarrt
sacerdos imponit capiti et quae cruciculis ornata est,'
VOL, II.
2io Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
prefers to reject the Coptic bishop's testimony, and
to explain away the priest's cap as a mere mis-
understanding of the epomis, or amice 1
. Such a
confusion is extremely improbable, for the same
authority mentions the amice in his list as a separatevestment of the priesthood. When all known au-
thorities beside are absolutely dumb on the subject,
and when not a grain of evidence could be found in
any quarter, it was only natural for Denzinger to be
suspicious of so isolated a statement : nevertheless
the bishop was right, and the critic is wrong. The
proof of this is remarkable, but quite modern : it has
to leap across seven centuries of silence;but I think
it strong enough to pass with an electric flash of
conviction. For a cap exactly answering the descrip-
tion of the Coptic writer seven hundred years ago is
now used in the service of the Church, not as a rule
by priests, whose heads are generally covered by the
shamlah or amice, but by deacons. For instance, in
the church of Abu-'s-Sifain among the vestments is
a cap of crimson velvet, shaped like the ordinary
tarbush, but having the upper and lower rim encircled
by a band of silver lace, and the sides divided
into four compartments by vertical bands of lace :
within each compartment is a cross of solid
silver with smaller starlike crosses between all
the branches, and another cross of silver lace
is fastened on the top. A very similar cap of
crimson velvet with four divisions may be seen
at St. Stephen's church by the cathedral : but
1Kit. Or., torn. i. p. 130.
' Mentio fit etiam teste Renaudotio
apud Echmimensem cidaris cruciculis ornatae, quam sacerdos
capiti imponit, de quo (sic) tamen varia nobis dubia occurrunt,
videturque nihil aliud esse nisi pilogion.'
CH. v.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 211
in this example only two of the divisions are filled
with crosses, the other two containing each a figure
of the six-winged seraphim. But in every case the
predominant impression is that the cap is' adorned
with small crosses,' precisely as described in the
twelfth century. I have no doubt at all that the
vestment was originally a priest's cap exclusively-such as existed in our English ritual of old, thoughtraces of it are not common in our monuments 1
;
and as the use of the shamlah prevailed more and
AJB
Fig. 29. Priestly Cap.
more, was relegated to deacons, just as the priestly
mode of wearing the stole seems to have descended
even to sub-deacons. Indeed it is very probable that
the priestly cap itself is a descendant from the earlier
episcopal crown : and the mere fact that priests were
able to wear in the twelfth century the'
cap adorned
with small crosses'
obviously a head-dress of some
splendour constitutes in itself a powerful argumentfor the antiquity of the Coptic mitre.
1 There is a brass in Hackney church, dated 1521 A.D. (figured
in Waller's Monumental Brasses), in which a priest is shown wear-
ing a low rather closefitting cap with a point on the top.
P 2
212 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
It is worth while dwelling a moment on the curious
gap in the history of the priestly cidaris as an illus-
tration of what may be called the accidents of evi-
dence upon questions of ritual. Had Farag Allah's
statement stood absolutely alone, as Denzinger
thought, the temptation to reject it, as he does, is
almost irresistible : it seems so much safer to argue
that, if such a vestment had existed, it must have
been noticed by other writers. If, on the other hand,
the mere existence of the cap as a present appurten-ance of worship were the sole fact known about it,
while pictures and books of the past were silent;
then the critic would conclude with a great show of
reason that the cap was a mere modern invention of
no authority. Thus in either alternative, however
faultless the logic, the conclusion would be wrong :
and it is only the accidental coincidence of the two
facts, divided by seven centuries, that establishes
the truth, which either singly would seem to deny.It remains to touch lightly on the use of the
crown or mitre in other Churches of the East and in
the West. I have already spoken of the Syrians as
recognising the mitre, on the testimony of Renau-
dot and Morinus;and although Denzinger alleges
Jacques de Vitry and Asseman against Renaudot,he is, as usual, uncertain and even contradictory, and
his reasoning is quite unable to shake the solid
authority of the great French ritualist '. Or even
1
Briefly Denzinger writes as follows (Rit. Or., torn. i. pp. 131-2):Renaudot mentions among the bishop's ornaments the
'
Thogo, corona
sive mitra? According to Asseman ' mitras non deferunt SyriJaco-bilae
'
except the Catholics. Renaudot speaks of1 mitram sive cidarim'
which is doubtful. Doubtful too is Morinus' rendering of the Syriac'
Maznaphtho'
or amice by cidaris. Jacques de Vitry expressly states
CH. v.j Ecclesiastical Vestments. 213
if there be not sufficient evidence to prove conclu-
sively the use of the mitre by Syrian bishops, there
is no question that the tiara is worn by the patriarch,
both Jacobite and Maronite;and this fact creates a
strong presumption that the privilege of wearing a
crown was granted to bishops also, a presumptionwhich is rendered almost certain by the identity of
the Syriac togo, as given by Renaudot, with the
Arabic tag, the name for the episcopal crown in
the two languages.The mitre is a customary ornament of the bishop
among the Maronites, and is placed on his head at
ordination, according to ancient rubrics. Regardingthe Nestorian practice there is some ambiguity
arising from the difficulty of interpreting the terms
used in the pontificals. Denzinger says plainly,'
Mitras non gerunt nisi Chaldaei Romanae ecclesiae
uniti 1'. Yet, from the close conjunction of the
biruna with the pastoral staff in the rubrics, it is
hard to doubt that the biruna means some sort
of head-dress resembling a mitre, rather than an
amice as alleged by Denzinger. Thus we read,
thai Syrian bishops, except the Maronites, do not use mitre or ring.
Then follows immediately the list of the Syrian patriarch's pon-tifical vestments, which I give word for word : Apud Syros Maro-nitas et JacoUtas patriarcha insignitur Masnaphta (sic) seu amictu
simili Birunae Nestorianorum, Phaina seu Phainolio, orario seu
epitrachelio pontificio ad instar omophorii seu pallii Graecorum, tiara
seu mitra, et baculo pastorali : and in the same page the Biruna is
denned as cidaris phrygio opere ornata instar amictus, and the
Maznaphtho as amictus phrygio opere ornatus. It is clear at least
that Denzinger has no argument to bring against Renaudot's state-
ment: and that when he charges Morinus with confounding,cidaris and amictus, he reserves the right of the same confusion as
his private privilege.1
Rit. Or., torn. i. p. 132.
214 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
'episcopi . . . ordinati birunis et baculis':'
induit
birunam et tradit virgam in manum eius dexteram':'
ornati birunis et baculis': 'episcopi suo ornatu et
birunis induti et baculos tenentes':*
patres vero
ornantur maaphris. birunis, baculis':'
princeps me-
tropolitarum . . . induit eum biruna, et tradit illi
baculum 1.' These passages cannot, of course, prove
the usage of what we call a mitre, but they do provethe usage of some closely corresponding ornament.
Among the Armenians the mitre is said to have
been first adopted in the eleventh century. How-ever that may be, at the present time their bishopswear both mitre and ring ~, and are singular in the
latter usage among all the oriental Churches. But
the infulae or strings, which once depended from the
mitre, have now become detached, and, curiously
enough, are represented by strips of brocade fastened
on to the shoulders of the cope3
. None of the
other Churches of the East ever had anything
corresponding to the western mitre-strings, their
head-dress being rather a crown than a mitre : and
the singularity of the Armenians in using this mitre
of western form, together with the episcopal ring,
seems to give point to the legend which makes this
mitre in the first instance a gift from Rome. TheArmenians however agree with the Copts in the use
of the priest's cap, which they term '
sagavard.'Both bishops and priests remove their head-dress
from the Cherubic Hymn to the end of the service.
1
Denzinger, Kit. Or, torn. ii. pp. 238, 244, 245, 249, 250, 255.2
Id., torn. i. p. 133.'
!
Fortescue, Armenian Church, p. 134. The reason of this
change may be conjectured from a perusal of Neale's remarks,
Gen. Introd.,vol. i. p. 313.
CH. v.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 215
As regards the Greek Church proper, Neale states
that the mitre is unknown, but bishops wear ' a kind
of bonnet,' which he illustrates by a woodcut, but
does not further describe, nor even name. Except for
the absence of the cross on the top, it bears consider-
able likeness to the crown of the orthodox Alexan-
drians, but presumably it is of some soft material
and not of metal. This seems borne out by Rock 1,
who calls the Greek head-dress a round hat or cap,
and states that it is known by the name '
tiara'
Turning our eyes now to the West, we shall find
the closest analogy with Coptic practice in the
earliest times and in the remotest countries.' The
Celtic bishops wore crowns instead of mitres VWhat a change of world is wrought by the changeof two letters, from Coptic to Celtic ! In the sixth-
century life of St. Sampson that saint is representedas having seen in a dream '
three eminent bishopsadorned with golden crowns/ Mr. Warren mentions
the figure of 'an Irish bishop thus crowned on a
sculptured bas-relief of great antiquity, part of a
ruined chapel in the valley of Glendalough,' and
is of opinion that the crown was used in the Anglo-Saxon Church up to the tenth century. Thus in the
Benedictional of St. Ethelwold an ecclesiastic is
depicted wearing a golden and jewelled diadem.
Rock 3 too says that the early bishops wore crowns
of gold set with jewels ;but adds that a kerchief
or head-linen was also borne by the Anglo-Saxon
1 Church of our Fathers, vol. ii. p. 62.2 See Mr. Warren's Liturgy and Ritual of the Celtic Church,
p. 119, and the interesting notes on that and the following page,from which I have freely quoted.
3 Church of our Fathers, vol. ii. p. 9 1 .
216 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
prelates : it was tied with a fillet, the ends of which
hung behind. The figure of St. Dunstan in the
Cottonian MS. l
, painted in the eleventh century,is shown wearing a round cap with two latchets
hanging behind. In an eleventh-century fresco at
S. Clemente in Rome the papal mitre is representedas a high conical cap
a. There is a twelfth-century
enamel in the Louvre in which Melchisedech, stand-
ing at the altar and administering the cup and wafer
to Abraham, wears dalmatic, alb, chasuble, and a
crown upon his head : but the crown here is doubt-
less rather a symbol of kingly than of priestly
dignity. A sculptured figure over the portal of
St. Denys of the same epoch shows a low but
decided mitre 3, having already indications of the
horns, which started about that time;and in a
contemporary mosaic at St. Mark in Venice a pre-
cisely similar mitre is depicted. From the twelfth
century onward the mitre is of frequent occurrence
in pictures, brasses 4,and monuments of all kinds,
and the gradual evolution of the form now most
familiar is very distinctly traceable. Ever since the
mitre has been formally recognised as an ecclesias-
tical vestment in the West, the custom has been for
the bishop to wear it at the mass, removing it onlyat the moment of office. Its usage nevertheless was
1Westwood, Facsimiles, pi. 50.
2 La Messe, vol. i. pi. xii.s
Id. ib.,-pl. xiii, xiv.
4 The earliest known brass is that of Archbishop Ysowilpe, in
the church of St. Andrew, at Verden, near Bremen, who died 1231.
He wears a low flat mitre, yet with two decided peaks. Next in
date comes the brass of Bishop Otto, of Hildesheim (1271), in
which the mitre is slightly higher, but the peaks still are wide
apart. About a century later we find the peaks sloping inwards
and nearly meeting, as at present.
CH. v.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 217
not confined by the church walls, but it was wornout of doors on festival occasions.
THE CROZIER OR STAFF OF AUTHORITY.
(Coptic ni cy&urr1
: Arabic jlXx) I.)
The Coptic patriarch and all his bishops carry the
pastoral staff; but the same rule which controls the
wearing of the mitre by bishops, limits also the usageof the staff. For it is only in his own diocese, andwhen that diocese is not overshadowed by the
visible presence of the patriarch within it, that a
bishop may carry the staff, which the Copts call
emphatically 'the staff of authority.' In the Westthe symbolism of the staff has always been a matter
of some controversy : among the Copts both the
term by which the staff is known, and the limitation
placed upon its usage, agree in determining the
emblem as that of jurisdiction. There seems no
idea of pastoral care associated with the staff : and
in fact the rod carried by the Coptic bishop denotes
a royal sceptre, just as his head-dress denotes a
kingly crown.
Accordingly the episcopal staff never under anycircumstances has the crook-like form familiar in all
western monuments. Its shape will be understood
at once from the statement that it resembles the
Greek and not the Latin type of crozier 2,
i. e. that
the upper end terminates as a tau-cross with two
1 This again is a foreign word, but curiously enough nearer
Hebrew than Greek: it corresponds to B3K>.
2 The use of this word is sometimes, but wrongly, limited to
the archiepiscopal cross as opposed to the episcopal staff in the
218 'Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
short symmetrical branches, instead of rounding off
to a crook or spiral volute. But in the Copticcrozier these two branches are nearly always in the
form of serpents' necks with heads retorted, and in
the centre between the two heads is a small round
boss surmounted by a cross. By a curious coinci-
dence with western usage a flag or veil the Latin
pannicellus is fastened on to the staff near the topat the natural place for grasping it. The veil is
made of silk, and often of a green colour.
Enough has been now said to indicate the points of
difference between the Greek and Egyptian crozier,
and the peculiarities of the latter. First, if Neale
is to be trusted l, the Greek pastoral staff
'
in walk-
ing is used to lean upon, and is not much higherthan the hand.' Curzon 2
, though not very clear
upon the point, seems also to speak of a short patri-
archal staff. Both authors give cuts showing the
'pateressa' or 'patritza,' as they variously call it,
but unfortunately without any scale of measure-
ment. Neale's woodcut, however, is obviously taken
from Goar's 3figure of the patriarch Bekkos in walk-
ing costume, and there the staff can only be about
3 ft. 6 inches in height. Goar's words, too, in another
place4
, point to the same conclusion :
'
pastorali autem
virgae Pontifex innititur progrediens : eius summa
pars juxta manum transverse ligno sive eboreis ser-
pentibus in sese capitibus mutuo retortis, ayxvpnv
est ornata.' Again, he remarks 5 that the
West. I shall not scruple to employ the term in its broader sense.
For etymology, see Smith's Diet. Christ. Antiq. s. v. Pastoral Staff.
1 Eastern Church : Gen. Introd., vol. i. p. 314.- Monasteries of the Levant, p. 299.3
Euchol., p. 115.4
Ib.. p. 314."'
Ib., p. 313.
CH. v.j Ecclesiastical Vestments. 219
'pateressa' (appropriately so called 'a paterna sol-
licitudine'), or'
dikanikion,' i.e. emblem of jurisdic-
tion, is carried by bishops and abbots;
it is, moreover,
shorter than the Latin crozier, and not so richly
adorned with precious metal or gems, and conse-
quently is used in walking. All this is different
from the Coptic staff, which is usually about 5 ft. 6 in.
long, and is not used except as an ornament of
church ceremonial. The patriarch, when he drives
abroad, for to walk is beneath his oriental dignity,
has with him a servant who carries a tall, plain,
silver-headed staff or mace, but does not take his
crozier. Another difference is this, that while the
Coptic form agrees with the Greek in the character-
istic design of the serpents' heads, the little cross
between the heads seems an Egyptian peculiarity.
A third point of contrast is the veil, of which I can
find no mention in accounts of the Greek pateressa.
It is, however, interesting to find that in the other
branch of the Church of Egypt, the orthodox Greek
or Melkite, the form of the episcopal staff exactly
corresponds with that of the Coptic bishop's : for it
has the cross and the veil, and is from 5 ft. to 6 ft.
in height. Examples of the Jacobite crozier are so
rare that I have never seen a single ancient speci-
men;but the Melkites, by better fortune or more
careful reverence, have preserved from past times
several beautiful staves, which are now in the trea-
sury of the church of St. Nicholas at Cairo. In
every case these staves have the lower end pointed,
while the rod is divided into five portions by four
knops or bosses at about equal intervals. These
knops, and the serpents' heads, are generally en-
riched with jewels. I saw one staff of ancient ivory
22O Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
with silver bosses finely jewelled ;another of ivory
stained green with jewelled silver bosses;two or
three of ebony with silver bosses
and silver serpents ;and another
of solid ivory most superbly carved,
the bosses also of ivory, the cross
above standing on a little crown
of delicate pierced work. As a
rule the stem between the bosses
is hexagonal, not round.
Though I have called these ex-
amples ancient, it is not likely
that any of them go back morethan three or four centuries, for
they are distinctly mediaeval in
character and correspond closelywith croziers pourtrayed in mediae-
val Coptic paintings1
. There is,
for instance, in the church of St.
Stephen by the cathedral in Cairo,
a painting of St. Mark, robed as
patriarch of Alexandria, and hold-
ing in his left hand a crozier of
this kind. But although no very
antique example of the crozier
now remains, I have no doubt
that the design dates from the
early days of Christianity. It
has already been sup-crested2 that
Fig. 30. Coptic Crozier. J
1
Occasionally, however, the Coptic staff is depicted merely with
a double volute, i. e. without the snakes, as at Mari Mina. On the
patriarchal seal the staff has a single snake-headed volute : but this
design is unknown elsewhere.* Diet. Christ. Antiq. s.v. Pastoral Staff.
CH. v.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 221
the western pastoral staff should be referred for its
prototype not to the shepherd's crook, or the royal
sceptre, but rather to the lituus or augur's wandof classical times. Similarly, I think the eastern
crozier may be referred to the herald's wand, the
o-KfjTTTpov or pd(38o$ of Hermes, the caduceus of
the Latin Mercury, and referred with a certainty
greater in proportion as the resemblance is closer
and more striking. For in early as well as late
classical works of art the rod of Hermes is repre-
sented as entwined with two serpents whose uplifted
heads face each other 1. This coincidence of design
1 See Adam's Roman Antiquities (loth edit., London, 1839),
p. 220, pi. ii; and Smith's Classical Dictionary, pi. opposite p. 336.
Dr. Smith is wrong in his statement about limiting the occurrence
of the snakes to late works of art. His words are,' In late works
of art the white ribbons which surrounded the herald's staff were
changed into two serpents' (p. 313). Now in the very earliest
works of art the wand appears with a head in the form of the figure $,
which may or may not be intended for the pair of snakes, but can-
not possibly be meant for ribbons. This form, for example, is
frequent on coins of the sixth century B.C. : it occurs also on a
vase in the so-called Chalcidian style about 550 B.C. Perhaps the
earliest certain instance of the serpent-wand is on the Francois
vase, which cannot be later than 500 B. c. (see Monumenti Inediti,
iv. liv.) : here it is carried by Iris, while Hermes carries a staff of
the same design, but not apparently finished off with serpents'
heads. There is now in the British Museum a KijpvKfiov of bronze,
about 2 ft. long, on which the snakes are distinctly figured : from
the lettering of the Greek inscription upon it, it must be as early
as 450 B.C. For the foregoing information I am indebted to Mr.
Cecil Smith, of the British Museum.
It is quite clear, then, that the snake-headed wand was familiar
long before even the foundation of Alexandria : and I have no
doubt that its adoption in the mystic cults of the Great City
accounts for its presence at this day in the ritual of the Coptic
Christians.
222 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
is obviously much stronger than in the case of the
lituus, where the comparison depends merely on
the vague fact that the lituus was curved. More-
over, the comparison in the one case is weakened
by the fact that the augur was obliged to carry his
wand in the right hand; it is strengthened in the
other case by the fact that Hermes is always de-
picted carrying his staff in the left hand. Whatwas the exact symbolism of the two serpentsattached to the herald's wand among the Greeksis not very certain ; but this much is clear, that the
wand was carried by heralds and ambassadors in
virtue of their office, and as an emblem of peace1.
1 See Smith, Diet, of Greek and Roman Antiquities, p. 218, and
the cut there given from Millin's Peintures des Vases Antiques,where the KrjpvKnov is about 4 ft. long on the scale given by the
figure. This length contrasted with the shortness of the lituus is
another point in which my comparison has the advantage of the
other. Hyginus says the- serpents were regarded as an emblem of
peace, because Mercury once found two serpents fighting and
separated them with his staff. Macrobius derives the symbolismfrom Egypt : (Saturn. I. xix.)
' In Mercuric solem coli etiam ex
caduceo claret, quod Aegyptii in specie draconum mart's ei Jeminae
figuraverunl'
: alluding apparently to the winged disk of the sun
with the Uraeus serpent on either side. In a note Preller cites
Schol. On Thuc. i 53 n^ntaaat <OTI v\ov opQbv (^ov fKarfpudev 8vo
o<ptis Trfpiircrr\(yfi(vovs KOI avTiirpoframovs Trpos d\\fj\ni's Kfipfvovs; onfp
(latdafft <pfi>fiv ol KTjpvKts pfT avruiv. This wand was not used byRoman heralds. Thus Pliny remarks, 'Hie complexus anguium et
efferalorum concordia causa videtur esse quare exlerae gentes caduceum
in pads arguments circumdata fffigie anguium fecerini. Neque enim
cristatos esse in caduceo mos es/.' (Nat. Hist. xxix. 12 fin.) Ofcourse it is possible that the Greek KrjpvKnov may, after all, have
derived its form from Egypt, and be a relic of some early ophidian
worship : or the tau-cross, which seems to have been used from a
very high antiquity in Egypt, may have become associated with
CH. v.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 223
Its official character alone may have caused it to
be adopted by the Church of Alexandria as their
bishops''
staff of authority ;' and as an emblem of
peace, it is at least not unsuitable to the heralds
of the gospel message.Another interpretation associates the eastern
crozier with the idea of the brazen serpent raised
aloft by Moses. This seems to me both less
probable and less appropriate. Yet it is only fair
to remember that in the West at least the symbolof the brazen serpent had an ancient place of honourin church ceremonial
;it is found, for instance, in
an Anglo-Saxon ritual, and was retained, even in
England, up to the sixteenth century1
. For on
Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Eve,after the singing of nones, a procession went to the
church door carrying a staff which ended upwardsin a serpent ;
in the serpent's mouth was set a taper,
which was solemnly kindled, and from this all other
candles were lighted1
. A similar ceremony seems
clearly implied by a rubric in the Mozarabic liturgy,
and the serpent-rod was used at Rouen as late as the
eighteenth century. It is worth enquiring whether
the curious serpent candlestick at Mari Mina, of
which I have given an illustration elsewhere 2, may
the serpent in the symbolism of some sect of early Egyptian
mystics. The tau-cross in its Egyptian form was undoubtedly
adopted as a religious symbol by the primitive Christians of
Egypt.1
Lit. and Rit. of the Celtic Church, p. 53. The expression in the
note ' hasiam cum imagine serpentisj seems to suggest a reference to
the brazen serpent. I have quoted largely from this page of Mr.
Warren's work.2
Vol. i. p. 59.
224 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
not originally have been intended for the same
ceremonial usage on Easter Eve; but there is no
decisive evidence on the point forthcoming. Nodoubt the express comparison made by our Lord
of his own uplifting on the cross to the uplifting of
the brazen serpent sufficed to coin the emblem, and
to coin it with a very clear impression. Thus St.
Ambrose distinctly says,' The brazen serpent is a
figure of the cross, and a fitting symbol of the bodyof Christ;' and even Tertullian admits its appro-
priateness. But, granting both the existence and
the fitness of the emblem in itself, what one does
not see is its suitability as applied to the episcopal
office. It would seem something very like arrogancefor a bishop to appropriate so obviously sacred a
symbol.Yet a third interpretation remains in the case of
the Coptic crozier as faintly possible but extremely
improbable. It is just conceivable that the idea
might be that of the triumph of the cross over the
dragon, the victory of Christ over the power of the
Evil One. This, however, would imply that the
second serpent was merely added for the sake of
symmetry, and it would imply also an entire differ-
ence of symbolism in the Coptic and Greek crozier,
there being no cross upon the latter, and any such
difference is in the last degree unlikely. On the
whole, then, it seems fairest to suppose that the
eastern episcopal staff has come down in unbroken
succession from the herald's wand of pagan Hellas.
There is thus not the slightest necessity for tracingits development back to the ordinary crutch or walk-
ing stick. Such a supposition would quite fail to
account for the serpents, and is decidedly weakened
CH. v.j Ecclesiastical Vestments. 225
by the fact that the crutch in the form of a tau-cross
remains side by side with the crozier to this daya familiar appurtenance of worship in every Copticchurch. Nor is its use confined, as was originallythe case in England, to
'
aged and sickly ecclesi-
astics,' as Rock declares a
; but the length of the
Coptic services, and the general absence of seats,
make it welcome even to the young and hale.
Had it once been consecrated to the bishop's office,
it would scarcely have continued in the hand of
every layman.It is curious that the rubrics in the known Coptic
pontificals are silent on the subject of the crozier.
The reason of this no doubt is that when the ordina-
tion is accomplished, and the bishop or patriarch is
seated on his throne, he is required to hold, not the
staff, but the book of the gospel ;and similarly this
book is a more common ornament than the staff in
Coptic paintings. But that the staff really formed partof the bishop's investiture, we learn from Vansleb
;
who relates that after the ordination service the
bishop proceeds to the patriarch's abode, and is there
presented with a '
small bronze cross and with a staff
in the form of the letter T.' The same author tells us
that when the patriarch is fully arrayed at his inves-
titure, he takes from the altar'
a large iron cross
which serves among the Copts in place of the
pastoral staff.' It may be true that such a cross
figures in the ordination ceremony, but it is not true
that the patriarchal staff differs from the episcopal in
the manner alleged. St. Michael is sometimes painted
1 Church of Our Fathers, vol. ii. p. 184, note 22. Rock says
that the use of the crutch lasted till the middle of the twelfth cen-
tury : but notice that his authorities are all French.
VOL. ir. Q
226 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
carrying the Jerusalem patriarchal cross with three
transoms : and in the eighth-century carved panelsat Abu Sargah each of the three horsemen, probablySt. George, St. Mercurius, and St. Demetrius, carries
a long staff ending upwards in a cross, and almost
exactly resembling that borne by St. Gregory, as
figured in the Hierolexicon 1: but the staff here is
probably only a spear with a fanciful embellishment.
Evidence such as this is not sufficient to refute the
express testimony of present custom, and of the most
ancient paintings, in favour of the serpentine designof the patriarchal staff. Moreover, Vansleb's words,
if true, would prove too much, denying the familiar
form of crozier altogether.
As regards the other eastern Churches, the inves-
titure with the pastoral staff is a matter of some cere-
mony among the Syrian Jacobites : it is delivered
to the bishop during the service, with the words,' The Lord hath sent thee a rod of strength out of
Sion.' When the patriarch is being ordained, every
bishop present grasps the staff with his right hand,
and all hold it together : then the senior bishopraises the patriarch's hand above all the others, and
rests it on the top of the staff, and the rite is thus
accomplished2
.
Among the Maronites the staff is allowed to'
peri-
odeutae 3,' as well as to bishops and patriarch
4.
The words and the ceremonies used at the delivery
of the staff, in the case of the two latter orders, are
the same as those used among the Syrians. The
1 See Smith's Diet. Christ. Antiq., p. 1566.2
Denzinger, Rit. Or., torn. ii. pp. 75-77.Id. ib., p. 176,
4Id. ib., pp. 203, 208, 223,
CH. v.] Ecclesiastical Vestments, 227
crozier is mentioned along with ring and pall in the
eleventh century1
.
For the Nestorian staff I have already cited suffi-
cient evidence. The Armenian Church grants the
staff to vartapeds at their ordination, first with words
which make it symbolical of the power of rescuingsinners from the snares of the Evil One, and turningthem to repentance : again with words which em-
phasise the duty of preaching : and thirdly, with
words which recall the pastor's office of comfortingthe mournful and afflicted. In the same service it is
called the'
priestly staff,' with a direct allusion to the
good shepherd, and the'
royal sceptre2.' At a fur-
ther stage of the vartaped's ordination it is made
suggestive of preparing the way of the Lord : againof climbing the hill of Sion : and lastly, of strengthand courage. There is therefore a very ornate
symbolism and ritual connected with the delivery of
the staff to the vartaped at the various stages of his
ordination. In the case of a bishop, the crozier is once
delivered with the words,' Receive this bishop's staff,
that you may chastise and punish the froward, and
govern and feed those that obey in the law and teach-
ing of God always3.'
The rubrics, of course, say nothing about the form
of these eastern croziers : but fortunately there is some
independent evidence. The Jacobite Syrian Church
seems to employ both the crook and the tau-cross
staff : thus at the church belonging to that communityat Urfa there is 'a double-headed bishop's staff, the
volutes being of serpents, and like our Anglo-Saxon
1Gerhard, De Eccl. Maronitarum, Jena, 1668 (not paged).
2
Denzinger, Rit. Or., torn. ii. p. 324.3
Id. ib., p. 337.
Q 2
228 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. \.
style of design1
'
(sic), and also 'a single-headedcrook of more modern type.' The same authoritymentions a long
'
ivory crutch, looking like a patri-
archal staff,' in the Nestorian church at Kochanes 2.
This, presumably, is a tau-cross without serpents, but
is not by any means determined as the normal form
of crozier by evidence so ambiguous. Among the
Armenians the crooked pastoral staff of Romanform is used by patriarch and bishops, while the
ancient serpentine crozier is still retained by the
lower order of vartapeds3
.
In the West the first mention of the pastoral staff
is in the acts of the Fourth Council of Toledo,
633 A.D.;but it is there mentioned with the ring in
an incidental manner, which must rather than maypoint to already long established usage. And there
is no doubt that in the Celtic and British Churches
the staff goes back to the very beginning of cere-
monial worship. The Latinised Saxon or Celtic
name for the staff was cambutta, or sometimes cambo:
it is found for example in the Gregorian Sacramen-
tary, now in the library of the college at Autun, andin the Ecgbert Pontifical. Tradition tells of a goldenstaff adorned with gems as borne by St. Patrick :
and two of his followers, St. Dagaeus and St. Asic,
as well as St. Columba, are said to have been veryskilful makers of the staff in precious metals 4
. Thestaff covered with plates of gold and enriched with
1Christians under the Crescent in Asia, p. 84.
2Id. ib., p. 218.
3
Fortescue, Armenian Church, p. 134. Yet Denzinger says,1
Episcopi baculum pastoralem adhibent similem Graecorum,' vol. i.
P- 133-4Warren, Lit. and Kit. of the Celtic Church, pp. 115-116.
CH. v.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 229
glorious designs in pearls, which St. Columba re-
ceived from St. Kentigern, was still found at Ripon in
the fifteenth century. The shape of the Anglo-Saxonand Irish crozier was peculiar. Originally it seems
to have been quite short, rather like a sceptre than a
crook. The volute at the top was less stronglymarked than in the later and more familiar type : in
fact the form may be roughly compared to that of a
note of interrogation1
. ProfessorWestwood, however,mentions a very curious and unique example, now in
the museum of the Kilkenny Archaeological Society :
it is in the form of a tau-cross,'
having a boat-shapedhead with the ends recurved and terminating in a
dragon's head.' This surely is a very striking coin-
cidence with eastern usage, and adds another link to
the evidence connecting the early Irish and oriental
Churches. Even in later examples of the staff, Irish,
English, and continental, the dragon or serpent in
some form or other is a very common ornament of
the whorl. Thus the top of a staff found in the
ruins of Aghadoc cathedral ends in a dragon's head,
which is seizing the leg of a man, and is itself seized
by another dragon. An extremely fine crozier sold
in the Castellani collection 2 was of gilt bronze enam-
elled, and had in the whorl a figure of St. Michael
and the Devil, the knop being of open work with
lacertine monsters.
It is easy to trace the development of the staff
from the simple crook, which is illustrated, for
instance, in an illuminated eleventh-century MS. in
the library of Troyes3
,in a fresco of the same period
in the church of S. Clemente at Rome, in the mosaics
1 See Westwood's Minfatures, p. 152, pi. 53.2 See Academy, March 15, 1884.
z La Messe, vol. i. pi. 10.
230 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
of St. Mark's at Venice, or in our own country in the
twelfth-century effigy of Bishop Joceline in Salisburycathedral. The next stage was to fill the whorl with
a vine-leaf or some simple foliated ornament, such as
appears in the crozier on another stone monument in
Salisbury cathedral, that of Bishop Egidius in the
thirteenth centuryl
. Finally, figures and grotesqueswere worked in with elaborate skill
;and it is possible
that the frequent use of the serpent was due to con-
siderations of artistic fitness rather than of religious
imagery. The veil or pannicellus on the stem of the
crozier does not seem to be figured in very early
monuments, though the mere fact of its use on the
Coptic episcopal staff is some argument for its an-
tiquity. The veil is represented on a brass of Arch-
bishop Grenfeld in York minster, dated 1315 A.D., on
that of Abbot Eastney at Westminster, 1498, and
that of Bishop Goodrich at Ely cathedral, I5542
.
Oxford has two good examples of the veiled crozier
on painted glass one in the east window of the Bod-
leian Library, the other in the north aisle of Christ
Church cathedral, where is a window containing an
interesting figure of the last Abbot of Osney.A cross, generally of Greek or nearly Greek form,
is characteristic of an archbishop as opposed to a
bishop in the West. An early instance is furnished
by the fresco at S. Clemente referred to above,
where both the crook-headed and the cross-headed
forms of the crozier may be seen together ;and for
an English illustration one may mention the late
fourteenth-century brass of Robert Waldeby, arch-
bishop of York, in Westminster Abbey. Except for
,
1 See Bloxam's Ecclesiastical Vestments, pp. 22, 28.
2Waller, Monumental Brasses.
CH. v.j Ecclesiastical Vestments. 231
the doubtful evidence of Vansleb, there is no ana-
logy in Coptic usage for the cruciform staff of the
archbishop or patriarch.
MINOR ECCLESIASTICAL ORNAMENTS.
Of the other ornaments worn by the Coptic clergyit is not necessary to speak at any length. Priests,
bishops, and patriarch alike, in both branches of the
Church of Alexandria, wear the pectoral cross even
in their ordinary attire, but concealed according to
ancient custom in the folds of their raiment. Thesecrosses are usually of silver
;and though I have not
actually seen any enclosing relics, I have no doubt
that originally in Egypt, as in all other parts of the
Christian world, they were often used as reliquaries.
In fact there are three or four reliquary crosses,
which may have been worn on the breast, thoughsomewhat large for the purpose, among the treasures
at the orthodox Alexandrian church of St. Nicholas
in Cairo. They are beautiful specimens of Byzantine
goldsmith's work, and richly covered with jewels.
The Greek name for the pectoral cross is tyKoXiriov.
Nikephorus, patriarch of Constantinople, mentions
an elaborate golden enkolpion in the ninth century ;
and the patriarch Symeon, more than five centuries
later, records it as among the bishop's insignia.
In the West we read of a silver cross worn bySt. Gregory
J
,and in England by St. Elphege of
Canterbury ;while in bishop Lacy's Pontifical its
use is enjoined as obligatory. St. Aidan's cross
was among the relics at Durham in the fourteenth
1
Rock, Church of Our Fathers, vol. ii. p. 176.
232 ^indent Coptic Churches.[CH. v.
centuryl
. No doubt in many cases, and more
especially in the very early days of Christianity,
the pectoral cross was worn largely by laymen as
well as by clergy, and served both as a token of
Fig. 31. Benedict ional Cross and small Amulet Crosses.
the faith, and among the more superstitious as a
talisman or amulet. The cut shows five small Copticamulet crosses, three at least ofwhich are of extreme
1
Warren, Lit. and Kit. of the Celtic Church, p. 1 1 5.
CH. v.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 233
antiquity. Three are of bronze, one of stone, and one
of horn or bone. The designs are of a rude archaic
simplicity, and the bronze specimens are patinated.The most ancient example perhaps is a small cross
of solid bronze with four nearly equal branches,
rounded, but slightly tapering inwards. The second
bronze cross is rather of Latin form, but made from
a tiny oblong plate with the angles cut out so as
to leave four broad short branches. Two other
examples have diagonal lines cut on the surface and
deepened at the angles. All the crosses have small
projections pierced to form a ring for suspension.
They may date from the second or third centuryof our era.
Processional crosses are found in all the churches;
the designs are very varied, and often beautiful.
Sandals cannot be reckoned among the Copticecclesiastical ornaments. It is a rule that all whoenter the haikal put off their shoes at the door, and
this applies even to the celebrant. Renaudot *
ques-tions the statement of Severus, bishop of Ashmunain,
supported as it is by one independent manuscript,that sandals were worn by the Syrian clergy. TheNestorian celebrant however does not approach the
altar barefoot, but retains his shoes 2: while the
Armenian priests3 wear special sandals or slippers.
The Armenians also use the ring, which they mayhave borrowed from the West, as it does not seemto be recognised in the other oriental Churches. It
is not surprising that the episcopal gloves, which do
not appear in the West till the twelfth century,
should be unknown among eastern ecclesiastical
1Lit. Or., vol. ii. p. 54. *
2 Christians under the Crescent, p. 220."
Fortescue, Armenian Church, p. 134.
234 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
vestments. But the Coptic clergy possess one
ornament not found in western Christendom which
,
%K,I
Fig. 32. Head of Processional Cross of Silver.
may fitly be mentioned here, the hand-cross.
Patriarch, bishops, and priests 'alike employ it to
CH. v.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 235
give the benediction ;it is also used in the baptismal
ceremony, and in other solemn acts of worship.The patriarch when seated on his throne in the
church, and not actually celebrating, holds in his
right hand a golden cross, and in his left the crozier :
and it will be noticed that the small cross figured on
the seal of the patriarch has two keys attached as
symbols of his supreme office. The ordinary bene-
dictional cross is of silver : sometimes of base metal
or bronze. It is generally engraved with a dedi-
catory inscription, and is nearly always of the form
given in the woodcut above. The Melkite patriarch
also uses a cross of gold, or of silver-gilt enamelled,
to give the benediction.
Lastly, some mention must be made of the epi-
gonation, if only to deny its existence as a Copticvestment. It is frequently found depicted in late
Coptic paintings. Any one entering the cathedral
at Cairo, and finding that all the ecclesiastical figures
on the panels of the iconostasis wear the epigonation,
might reasonably number it among Coptic vestments :
and if further he found the same ornament not merelyin new pictures, like those at the cathedral, but in
others a hundred years old, and not merely in Cairo
but in a remote and unfrequented Delta village like
Tris, and even at the monastery of St. Macarius in
the desert, his conclusion would seem certain. YetI venture to say that it would be quite erroneous.
In the desert, in the Delta, and in Cairo I have
closely questioned priests and laymen, and never
found a single Copt who knew even the name of the
epigonation in any language, much less its meaning.When I pointed it out, it was always noticed with a
sort of surprised curiosity : no one could give the
236 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
smallest reason for its presence, but all agreed in
denying that it was an ecclesiastical vestment.
Similarly the rubrics are entirely silent on the sub-
ject ;nor is there one particle of literary evidence
to show that the Copts ever acknowledged the
epigonation. The pictures, as I have said, are verylate painted, in fact, at a period when the Cop s
were entirely dependent for their sacred pictures on
the Greeks. A glance at the cathedral iconostasis
will show that it, like the whole building, is the
work of Greek and not of Coptic artists. The
Copts of to-day and the Copts of a hundred years
ago alike have been too inartistic to paint their own
pictures, and too ignorant or too careless to check
the painters whom they hired. The Greek artists
have naturally followed Greek tradition, and have
flooded the Coptic churches with pictures pourlray-
ing peculiarly Greek vestments. Thus it is that all
recent pictures in the sacred buildings of the Coptsare absolutely worthless as evidence for ritual.
Moreover, it is specially easy to understand howthis particular vestment was familiar to the Greeks
in Egypt : for they had not to go to Constantinopleto discover it, but saw it and still see it continuallyin their own Melkite Egyptian churches. The
epigonation, of course, in its present stiff lozenge-like form, dates only from mediaeval times : and
it would therefore be an unheard-of thing, if the
Jacobites adopted it from the Melkites so long after
the Churches had been sundered. We have alreadyseen that both communities retained such vestments
as were in use at the time of the separation, but did
not borrow from each other subsequently. But it
was natural that the Melkites should fall rather
CH. v.] Ecclesiastical Vestments. 237
under the influence of Constantinople, while the
Copts never bowed their stubborn independence.Thus the Melkites readily received the epigonation,and the Copts firmly rejected it
;until by the negli-
gence of these latter times it has seemed, and seemed
falsely, to creep in unawares. For, though all the
pictures in Egypt were to bear witness in its favour,
the custom of the Coptic Church and her canons
alike disown it altogether.
Some very beautiful epigonatia belonging to the
Melkite Church may be seen at the treasury of
St. Nicholas in Cairo ; and as they are finer than
anything of the kind yet described in English, I
may be pardoned for giving some details about
them \ The best are from two to three hundred
years old;and all are lozenge-shaped. One has a
ground of crimson velvet, and is delicately wroughtover in gold embroidery. A border runs round the
edges : within the lozenge a circle is described cut-
ting off the four corners or spandrels, which are filled
with the four evangelistic symbols. The circle
itself or rather circular zone, about two inches broad,
is decked with fourteen medallions, of which the
topmost contains the Trinity, the lowermost a
prophet, and the others each an apostle. Within
this zone the Resurrection is depicted forming the
main design. Every medallion and every outline is
marked out with tiny pearls. Another examplebears date 1673 A.D., and, like the last, has a circle
described within the lozenge. The spandrels are
1 Neale gives a diagram of an epigonation, Gen. Introd., p. 311.
It is also figured by Goar, Euchol., pp. 114 and 115. None of
these engravings convey any idea of splendour. The descriptions
are very meagre.
238 Ancient Coptic Churches.
filled with scroll-work : the circle is set round with
fine large pearls : within the circle is a most splendid
design of the Magi bringing gifts to the Holy Child.
The whole is embroidered in gold with extreme fine-
ness. Angels above in the air descending head
foremost are represented with really wonderful fore-
shortening. All the drawing is true and graceful,and all the figures wrought as delicately as with a
brush. The drapery is natural and flowing: the
pose admirable : the general effect that of a soft yet
sumptuous picture. Altogether, it is one of the most
beautiful pieces of needlework in any country.
Laymen, as well as monks and ecclesiastics, carrya rosary, which properly consists of forty-one beads,or sometimes of eighty-one. But the Copts are not
so careful about the number as their Muslim fellow-
countrymen. For the Muslim rosary consists very
strictly of ninety-nine beads, divided by marks into
three sets of thirty-three : each set as it is told is
accompanied with the words '
Praise be to God '
or
some like prayer ;whereas the Coptic formulary is
'
Kyrie Eleeson,' repeated as in the service forty-onetimes. The priest's rosary should be distinguished byhaving a little cross attached : but laymen sometimes
usurp the symbol. In the West the rosary does not
seem to date earlier than mediaeval times : but in
the East and in Egypt it goes back to the furthest
antiquity. Palladius mentions a hermit who carried
pebbles and cast one away for every prayer: and
St. Antony is sometimes depicted as wearing a
rosary at his girdle in Coptic paintings. Thereis even some reason to suppose that the rosarywas worn in the East before the Christian era.
CHAPTER VI.
Books, Language, and Literature of
the Copts.
BOOKS.
F the priceless literary treasures which
Ml) be l nged to tne churches of Egypt somevJJJ few have been rescued, many have been
destroyed, and some few possibly remain
to reward research. Every monastery, and probably
every church, once had its own library of MSS.;
and to this day there is no such thing as a printedbook used in sacred service. Curzon's discoveryof most precious MSS. at the monasteries of the
Natrun desert, as recorded in his thrilling narrative,
is too well known to need repetition here 1. The
same writer mentions books of less value in the
rock-cut church of the Convent of the Pulley in
Upper Egypt including one book with a rude
illumination, which Curzon may be pardoned for
deriding, as it is the only one he ever saw 2. He
mentions also books found at Madtnat Habu 3,
and at the White Monastery near Suhag4
. At the
latter the priest spoke of above one hundred parch-ments destroyed in 1812, when the place was
1 Monasteries of the Levant, pp. 97-110.2Id, p. 116.
3Id, p. 123.
*Id., p. 132.
240 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. M.
pillaged by the Mamelukes. So, too, among the
lonely mountains in the far eastern desert by the
Red Sea, the monasteries of Antonios and Bolos 1
once contained libraries, so rich in ancient treasures
that their loss is little less deplorable than the more
distant destruction of the great library at Alex-
andria by 'Amr. For it is only four hundred years
ago since the slaves employed by the degeneratemonks at these two monasteries rose one night
against their masters and slew them ; and after
awhile, tiring of a dull life so far out of the world,
abandoned the place altogether. For eighty yearsthe buildings remained deserted, or visited only by
wandering Beduins, who plundered all that was worth
plundering in the churches, burnt all that was worth
burning and the books, by a fatal ignorance, were
placed in the latter category and destroyed all that
was capable of destruction. But in course of time
other monks slowly drew back to the ruins, repairedthe churches, and rebuilt the walls. Since then the
monasteries have passed three tranquil centuries, in
which the daily sound of chaunt and cymbal has
never ceased, and the inmates' life has never varied,
except when some phenomenal traveller has soughta night's shelter, or some tribe of wild horsemen have
dashed in vain against the fortress walls. Thereare still some books in the tower or keep of Dair
Antonios;and though apparently they do not date
further back than the reoccupation, yet they deserve
a more careful scrutiny than they have received.
For the monks in returning may very well have
1 Arch. Journ., vol. xxix. p. 129. Vansleb too mentions books
here.
CH. vr.] Language and Literature. 241
brought old books with them. Dair Bolos, which
lies two days' journey awayt from Dair Antonios, is
also said not to contain a single ancient MS., since
all perished at the time of the slaves' insurrection or
the abandonment ; and the prevalence of this report
has deterred travellers from the tedious and danger-ous pilgrimage. There are, however, reasons for
doubting the accuracy of this rumour.
Very few of the remaining MSS. are on vellum,
or go back beyond the sixteenth century. The paper
employed is cotton paper or carta bombycina, as it
is technically called, a beautiful vellum-like material
of great antiquity. A sixth-century MS. on this
paper exists in the museum of the Collegio Romanoat Rome 1
,and Curzon speaks of a Coptic MS. in
his possession on the same material dated 1018. The
fact, therefore, of being written on paper instead
of vellum is by no means decisive against the ageof a manuscript, although doubtless the majority of
ancient writings are on vellum.
The MSS. are all written with a reed pen, such
as the Arabs use to-day, and such probably as has
been in use in Egypt ever since writing began. Thecharacters are bold uncials, there being no cursive
in Coptic. Black and red ink are both employed
freely, for the red is by no means confined to the
rubrics. Most of the missals and lectionaries have
large ornamental capitals and an illuminated cross
at the beginning : and some have a considerable
amount of other ornament. Both Professor West-wood 2 and Messrs. Silvestre and Champollion
3 have
given facsimiles of Coptic illumination, and their
1Curzon, Monasteries of the Levant, p. 123.
2Palaeographia Sacra Pictoria.
3Universal Palaeography.
VOL. II. R
242 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vi.
remarks are well worth reading. It may be ad-
mitted at once that for, the most part these illumi-
nations are, though well designed, rather rude in
execution, and will not bear comparison with the
finest miniatures of the West. Still they deserve
more notice than they have received, being often
extremely curious and original. The followingaccount of a MS. perhaps of the fourteenth cen-
tury brought by the writer from Egypt, and nowin the Bodleian Library, may serve to give someidea of Coptic miniature painting in general, though
unfortunately the book is not in good condition, and
the illuminations have in many places been blurred
and spoiled by the English binder, who pasted tissue
paper over them to strengthen the pages. It differs
from earlier MSS. in containing not a single human
figure, a result which one would be inclined to attri-
bute rather to unconscious Muslim influence than to
want of skill in this branch of art, were it not for the
continuous practice of painting pictures and icons for
the churches. Birds, however, are depicted in the
most extraordinary varieties of grotesque attitudes.
Sometimes it is a creature with large red head and
stiff, wingless, mummy-like body, reaching down the
whole side of the page. It has tiny legs or none at
all;the body is divided by vertical bands and covered
with black and yellow scrollwork ;in its mouth it
carries something which may be a fruit or a jewel.
Sometimes, again, it has a long thin serpentine form
winding about the margin of the page, and makingin several convolutions pouches which contain un-
fledged nestlings ;while other strange little birds
are pecking at various parts of their remarkable
mother. The little ones in the pouches are often
CM. vi.] Language and Literature. 243
so roughly indicated as to look like nothing but
the relics of a spider's den a mere heap of random
legs and wings. Some of these birds are plainly
plucking at their own breast, and there can be little
doubt that they are meant for pelicans, and repre-sent the familiar Christian emblem
;but it is by a very
singular confusion that the serpent and the bird
the antitheses of the symbol are here blent together.Smaller birds with retorted drooping heads, which
are common, may be meant for doves, but look morelike ducks; other birds are seen tumbling about,
standing on their heads, and very rarely flying. In
the fine genealogy of our Lord in this volume there
is a sort of broad pillar down the left side of the
page, and every name is written between a bird's
head on the one side and a golden rose on the other.
Gilt is sparingly used in these illuminations, the chief
colours being red, pale yellow, olive green, and black;
azure blue and cobalt are rarer.
No other animals are drawn in this volume, and
there is scarcely a sign of flower-painting beyonda doubtful sort of tulip design in black, and one or
two clusters of blossoms, or grapes, or some other
fruit at which birds are pecking.
While, however, the birds unenclosed in borders
are scattered at random up and down the pages, far
the greater part of Coptic ornamentation is purely
conventional and systematic. These conventional
designs may be divided into two classes the geo-
metrical, which consist of narrow ribbons interlacing
in endless variety, and the foliated, which comprise
many forms of the acanthus. Interlacing work is
employed chiefly for elaborate borders at the begin-
ning of a prayer or lection, and for large crosses at
R 2
244 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vi.
the end. The borders are usually made up of concen-
tric squares or oblongs in order round the page1,or
of ribbons in long parallels with plaited knots at
intervals-', or of small crosses in twisted bands 3.
The large crosses which generally fill a page are
not more often of the Greek than of the Latin
form 4. There is one example of a cross in a
quatrefoil5
.
The best specimen of the acanthus pattern is at the
beginning of our Lord's genealogy6. At the right
side medallions filled with acanthus are enclosed bybands of interlaced ribbons. The ribbon-work on
the left side is in gold ;the medallions on the right
have a blue ground with gold designs. The oblong
space across the top is surrounded with a blue and
gold band of acanthus work; the ground within
being part red and part blue, worked over with like
foliage in gold. This illumination is really of high
merit, approaching to the fineness and splendour of
the best work in the early mediaeval copies of the
koran in the public library at Cairo. The acanthus
has always been a favourite subject with eastern
artists of all kinds. It is found in luxuriant pro-
fusion in the stucco-work, carved woodwork, and
marble of the ancient mosques ;in the splendid early
ivories of the Coptic churches; and in the trays,
lamps, and inkstands which the Cairo workers in
brass may be seen every day chasing in the Khanal Khalili. Nor is it at all uncommon in the minia-
ture painting of the West. Thus it occurs in an
early form in the Latin Gospels at Trinity College,
1 Bodleian MS., p. 29.2
Id., p. 42.3
Id., p. 107.4
E.g. id., p. 145.5
Id., p. 41.6
Id., p. 164.
CH. vi.] Language and Literature. 245
Cambridge, dated the end of the tenth century1
;
and it is frequent in a more conventionalised form
in the eleventh century, for example in the Arundel
Psalter 2.
It would be very interesting, if it were possible,
to trace in the ornamentation of their books one
more link of connexion between the Churches of
Egypt and Ireland. One is met at once, however,
by a serious stumbling-block in the fact that the
acanthus, which, as I have shown, is very frequentin Egyptian design, is never found in Irish orna-
mentation 3. Again, for the slender spiral lines in
complex coils, for the squares filled with cross-
lines in Chinese-like patterns, and for the red dotted
outlines, which are three of the main characteristics
of Irish work, there is no counterpart in Copticillumination. Nor can the uncouth bird designsdescribed above be considered a fair analogue for
the great variety in Irish MSS. of lacertine animals
and birds with bodies '
hideously attenuated * '
and
necks, legs, tails, and tongues drawn out into long
interlacing ribbons. There remains, then, by this
method of exhaustion, only one prominent character-
istic common to the two schools, namely a love of
borders designed in very ingenious and intricate
plaitwork ; though even here it should be noticed
that the Irish are more fond of rounded angles than
the Copts. The western MS., with ornamentation
1Westwood) Facsimiles of Anglo-Saxon and Irish Ornaments,
pi. 42.2
Id., pi. 49-3Westwood, Palaeographia Sacra Pictoria, chapter on Book
of Kells, p. 2.
4 Id.ib.
246 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vi.
nearest the Coptic style, is perhaps the Psalter of
St. John at Cambridge, belonging to the ninth cen-
tury1
;but on the whole, the resemblance between
Egyptian and western art is too slight to bear the
weight of any serious theory.The matter, however, is somewhat changed, if we
pass from the inside to the outside of these service-
books. The likeness between the metal cases in
which the Coptic gospels are enclosed and the Irish
cumhdachs has been already brought out ; more-
over the Irish practice of enclosing missals and other
books for carrying about in leathern cases, called
polaires2
,is exactly paralleled by the Abyssinian, if
not the Coptic, custom, as described and illustrated byCurzon in the narrative of his visit to the monasteries
of the Natrun lakes 3. As a rule, however, at the pre-
sent time Coptic MSS. are merely bound in brownor red calfskin, with arabesque devices stamped uponthe covers and on the flap which protects the front
edges. Sometimes, in the absence of a flap, the
book is kept closed by leather strings fastened in
the place of clasps and serving the same purpose.These service-books belong only to the churches
;
or, if the people have them for private devotion in
their own houses, they never bring prayer-books or
missals to public worship, where they follow the
words as they fall from the priest's lips with rever-
ence and intelligence, and keep their eyes fixed uponthe sanctuary.
*: 1Westwood, Facsimiles, pi. 30.
2Warren, Lit. and Rit. of Celtic Church, p. 22.
8 Monasteries of the Levant, pp. 105-6.
CH. vi.] Language and Literature. 247
THE COPTIC LANGUAGE.
The Copts can boast of no great poets, historians,
philosophers, or men of science. Their only litera-
ture is religious : and the fact that they have neither
witchery of speech nor treasures of knowledge to
offer has caused their language to be treated with a
strangely undeserved indifference. For there is no
language with a higher antiquity, a more abnormal
structure, or a more curious history. The records
of five thousand years ago chiselled on the monu-ments of Egypt still remain sculptured, though
standing in. everlasting silence;
the very words
uttered by the great men of Hellas are still heard
sounding, though no longer written in the ancient
manner of writing : yet these two, the lost utterance
of the old Egyptian speech and the lost character of
the old Greek writing, are united and preserved in
the Coptic of to-day. The romance of languagecould go no further than to join the speech of
Pharaoh and the writing of Homer in the service-
book of an Egyptian Christian. Now, however,
the study of Coptic is likely to be rescued from the
neglect which it has long suffered by the kindred
study of hieroglyphics, as philologers are shamed
and forced out of their indolence by the zeal of
historians and antiquarians.
A subject of this nature requires, of course, a
large treatise to itself a treatise for which the
materials are as yet hardly ripe, and which would
besides be somewhat out of place in these volumes.
The present notice therefore will be as brief as the
248 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vi.
state of the materials at hand and the scope of the
writer's purpose demand.
The Coptic language to-day is no doubt virtually
the same tongue that was spoken by the builders of
the pyramids : and it still retains many words
scarcely changed from that epoch. The vocabularyhowever is neither purely Aryan nor purely Semitic,
but a mixture of both. In the same way the gram-matical structure of Coptic is half Semitic, half akin
to the African languages. It was probably in very
early Christian times that Coptic became fixed in
the form that survives, although it was not until the
sixth century that Christianity became definitely the
established religion. Up to that date the worshipof Osiris had lingered on, particularly in remote
country places, where the gospel was unheard or
awoke but faint echoes. Then however the bishops
began to wield secular power, and amongst other
signs of government they took the important office
of distributing corn to the people out of the hands
of the city prefectsx
. It was at this period, accord-
ing to Messrs. Silvestre and Champollion, that Coptic
writing began : but it is difficult to understand for
what reasons they assign the beginning of letters to
so late a period. In the third and fourth centuries
the monasteries of the desert were thronged with
monks, many of whom could talk no language but
their native Coptic. Thus St. Antony, who knewno Greek, was first set thinking on monastic life by
hearing the gospel read in Coptic ;and Palladius
speaks of regular service and celebrations 2,which he
1 Universal Palaeography, by Silvestre and Champollion, trans-
lated by Sir F. Madden, p. 122.2Rosweyde, Vitae Patrum, lib. viii. p. 712.
GH. vi.] Language and Literature. 249
witnessed, and which must imply set forms written in
the vernacular. We know moreover that the Psalms
were translated into Coptic about the year 300 A.D.
by Pachomius : and although this is perhaps the
earliest date assignable with certainty, it is extremelydifficult to conceive that the need for setting down
liturgical forms in writing did not assert itself irre-
sistibly some time before that. It is of course
possible that the most ancient forms of prayer in
the Coptic vulgar tongue may have been written
not in Greek but in demotic characters : but, interest-
ing as the fact would be, there is not sufficient
evidence to establish it, though there is reason to
think that in some way or other demotic writingwas preserved in use among the Copts for full a
thousand years into the Christian era. There seems
no decided point of contact between Coptic and
hieroglyphic writing. Long before the Persian con-
quest the knowledge of hieroglyphics was limited to
the priests : even as early as the fourteenth century
B.C., the scribes who visited Bani Hassan could not
understand the inscriptions, and those of the twenty-first dynasty blundered hopelessly in their copies of
the Book of the Dead. So that it is matter of
surprise rather than otherwise to find that hierogly-
phics were not entirely disused in the time of Clement
of Alexandria, and were even partially understood a
century later. But their pagan character doubtless
excluded them from recognition by the Christians.
There is a contemporary story that at the time of
Chosroes' invasion of Egypt, about 600 A. D., a saint
who took refuge in a tomb was able to read the
ancient inscriptions on the walls : but the probability
is that the writing was demotic not hieroglyphic.
250 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vr.
The White Monastery in Upper Egypt, which wasbuilt by the empress Helena with massive ex-
terior in the style of ancient Egyptian architecture,
contains many hieroglyphic stones, with inscriptions
mostly upside-down, and therefore probably unintel-
ligible to the builders. Vansleb mentions an inscrip-
tion on the altar-stone of a little chapel dedicated to
St. Michael in the convent of St. Matthew near
Asnah '
characters which were not hieroglyphics,and in a language that we know nothing about 1
.'
There can, I think, be little doubt that the inscription
was demotic though there is nothing to fix the date
and, if so, the fact is extremely interesting as tend-
ing to show the existence of a demotic Christian
ritual.
Concerning the collision and interaction of Copticwith Greek and with Arabic more evidence is obtain-
able evidence which goes to prove that Greek
did not exercise nearly so powerful an influence
as Arabic over the indigenous Egyptian. Origenfor instance remarks that if a Greek wanted to
teach the Egyptians, he would have to learn their
language, or his labour would be vain 2. The
emperor Severus collected vast numbers of books
on magic and shut them up in Alexander's tomb :
and Diocletian, enraged at a revolt and fearing lest
the people should grow rich again, gathered together
1 The convent is dedicated to Matthew the Poor, not to the
evangelist as Vansleb implies. The former is a Coptic saint,
commemorated on the 3rd December.2 The material of this and the following paragraphs is borrowed
mainly from the learned work of tienne Quatremere, Recherches
Critiques et Historiques sur la Langue et la LitteYature de 1'figypte.
Paris, 1808.
CH. vi.] Language and Literature. 25 1
with great care all books on alchemy written by the
old Egyptians* and burned them in public. These
writings were presumably in the demotic character.
In early Christian times Greek was spoken by a few
of the well educated natives. Thus, while St. Paul
the hermit spoke Greek 1,St. Antony knew only
Egyptian, and letters of his in that language, written
to the monasteries, were extant in the time of Abu'1 Birkat. We read too of St. Athanasius' letters
being translated into the vernacular. In the Syriaclife of St. Ephrem it is related that when the holyman visited Egypt to see the famous Anba Bishoi,
the two worthies were unable to converse, each
knowing only his mother tongue : but each there-
upon received a miraculous gift of speech. Theauthor of an Arabic note upon a Coptic MS. states
that before the Arab conquest the lessons were
read in Greek, but explained in Coptic. Abu 1
Muhassan relates that one 'Abdullah, son of 'Abdal Malik, governor of Egypt, ordered the registersof the divans or public offices to be kept in Arabic
instead of Coptic in the year A.H. 96 : but to this
day the system of book-keeping in Egypt is a tradi-
tional mystery in the hands of the Copts. Severus,
bishop of Ashmunain, who compiled a history of the
patriarchs of Alexandria from Coptic and GreekMSS. in the monastery of St. Macarius, says in his
preface that he made the translation into Arabic,
because Arabic was everywhere spoken, and most
of the people were ignorant of Greek and Copticalike. This seems to have been in the ninth
century. Yet in the ninth century Coptic was byno means unknown : for Joseph, the LII patriarch,
1
Rosweyde, Vitae Patrum, p. 18.
252 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vi.
at his trial about 850 A. D., addressed the assembly in
Coptic, and was understood even by Muslims whowere present.
By the eleventh century doubtless Coptic hadbecome less generally intelligible
x, though it lin-
gered on for centuries afterwards. The constitu-
tions of the patriarch Gabriel n., c. 1140 A.D.,
ordered bishops to explain the creed and the
Lord's prayer in the vulgar tongue, i.e. in Arabic.
The Vatican MSS. are covered with marginal notes
in Coptic : and Al Makrizi, writing in the earlyfifteenth century, constantly implies that Coptic is
a living language. In speaking, for example, of the
monasteries near Siut, he avers that the monksthere use the Sahidic dialect, and that the womenand children of Upper Egypt talk scarcely anythingbut Sahidic. So of Darankah he remarks that ' the
inhabitants are Christians : all, great and little, speak
Coptic and interpret it in Arabic.' Another Arab
author, Abu Salah, in his history of the monasteries
of Egypt tells of a custom at Asnah still existing,
by which Christians assist at Muslim weddings, and
head the procession of the bridegroom through the
streets, reciting Sahidic texts and maxims. Vansleb,
visiting Egypt in 1672, conversed, as he alleges, with
the last man who spoke Coptic as his mother tongue.Such briefly are the facts, which bear witness to a
slow process of extinction. Yet in face of such
evidence, it is curious to find what wild mistakes
about the Coptic language are made by graveauthorities upon Church matters. Thus Denzingerdeclares that
' uno aut altero seculo post Arabum
tyrannidem vernaculus linguae Aegyptiacae usus
1Renaudot, Hist. Pat. Alex., p. 467.
CH. vi.] Language and Literature. 253
prorsus interiit 1 '
a swiftness of decay, or rather
destruction, unparalleled in the history of language.Neale errs no less in the opposite direction in gravely
recording a diocese in the south of Egypt 'where the
Copts are better educated than in any other portionof the patriarchate, and the Coptic language is
generally spoken, whereas not above two personsunderstand it in Cairo V Coptic is, of course, still
the language of ritual. The mass and most of the
prayers are recited in Coptic : the gospel is first
read in Coptic and then rendered in the vernacular
Arabic : some parts of the service are in Greek :
while the rubrics where they are found, as well as
some of the prayers and the psalms, are in Arabic.
Generally, however, one may say that the text of the
service-books now used is Coptic : and the earlier
among them have no other language. But as the
ritual language decayed from common use, we find
rubrics, marginal notes and headings, and finally
parallel translations in Arabic. It is worth remark-
ing that there seems to be no example of a Copticand Cufic MS. : which would seem to show that the
need of a vernacular translation was not felt until
after the Cufic had given way to the present cursive
form of Arabic writing. Indeed the only instance
of Cufic employed in any sacred building of the
Copts, as far as I am aware, is the inscription on
the ancient cedar screen at Al Mu'allakah. Yet
curiously enough some traces of Cufic survive in
encyclical or other ceremonial letters of the Church
even at the present day. Thus in a letter from the
patriarch of Alexandria to the archbishop of Canter-
1Rit. Or., torn. i. p. i.
2 Eastern Church: Gen. Introd., vol. i. p. 118.
254 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vi.
bury, written forty years ago, while the title and
address are in ordinary Arabic of a very ornamental
style, the formal greeting is in Cufic, and there are
some words of Cufic at the end.
Coptic MSS., then, fall naturally into three classes
each with its own historical significance. First,
anterior to the Arab conquest, come bilingual MSS.in which the literary Greek and the vernacular
Coptic stand side by side together. These are
generally written on papyrus, and go back to the
sixth century or possibly earlier. Sometimes more-
over the two languages are found together inscribed
on tiles or stone : and apparently there was a time
when such inscriptions were common.
Next, the Greek text was omitted, and the Copticstood alone. This change began with the settle-
ment of the Arabs in Egypt, when the Jacobite
faction among the natives sided with their conquerors
against the Melkites, and strove with equal vigourfor the destruction of Melkite churches and the
suppression of the Melkite language. Still it is not
till the tenth century that Graeco-Coptic MSS.
disappear entirely. At that period Greek cursive
writing became general, but the Copts never adopted
any form of cursive : probably because Coptic was
already assuming a hieratic character, and was there-
fore not to be degraded to the uses of common life;
while the Arabic was passing from the beautiful but
stately Cufic to its present fluent and graceful form,
and thus became adapted to the needs of business
or friendly intercourse.
The third class of MSS. is that in which
Arabic has been formally acknowledged as the
vulgar tongue, and is received into the text side
CH. vi.] Language and Literature. 255
by side with the dead or dying Coptic. These MSS.date from the thirteenth century, or even earlier, andcontinue up to the present time, although the lan-
guage of the mass has been unspoken for twohundred years ;
and even among the priests who haveto read it, there are but few who read with under-
standing.To this day, however, there remain sundry phrases
and fragments of Greek, like fossils embedded in the
Coptic ritual language. Thus the KYpie eXeHConis a familiar word in the mouth of the present wor-
shippers at various parts of the service : most of the
proclamations uttered by the deacon to the peopleare still in Greek, ^.cn^ecee A-XXiiXoifc en$iXHJUL/ri <LYICU, eic <Lit^.ToX
other sentences in the canon, as o K*rpiocn<LrtTUm TJULUm, K<LI JULGTA. TOTCOT, 2^0<L IT<LTpI K<LI TIIO K<LI A.VI
and particular words, as n<i,p<L2acoc,
n.peenoc, KOCJULOC, ^.it^cT^-cic, o
n.rrroKp<LTCUp. The eucharistic bread is still
stamped with the trisagion in Greek <LYIOC
JCXTPOC ^-Vioc <Le<Lrt.&.Troc ^.vioc o eeoc,
although the Coptic word for God is of ancient
Egyptian origin.
A word concerning the dialects of the Egyptian
language will not be out of place here 1, (i) The
Memphitic or Coptic proper was the language of
Lower Egypt, and derives its name from Memphis,the ancient capital, which stood a little south of the
modern Cairo. Nearly the whole Bible exists in this
dialect, and the Pentateuch, Book of Job, the Psalms,
1 See Dr. Tattam's Compendious Grammar of the Egyptian
Language, and edit., 1863.
256 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vr.
the Prophets, and the New Testament have all been
published. (2) The Sahidic is so called from the
Arabic j^AjuJ!1 the name given to Upper Egypt, or
the district of which Thebes was capital, whence the
dialect is also termed Thebaic. It is curious to remark
that the Sahidic, though more remote from the
centre of Greek life, yet adopted more Greek words
than the nearer Coptic ; and both in Coptic andSahidic writing Greek words are very often found
where the native language had a perfectly good equi-valent. In Sahidic it is much more usual than in
Coptic to express the vowels by lines above the con-
sonants. In the Sahidic dialect almost an entire
version of the scriptures, including a complete NewTestament, exists, though it is only in MS.
; and,
owing to the dormant state of Coptic scholarship in
England, nothing has been done towards collation
since the close of the last century. (3) The Bash-
mtiric dialect, so called from Bashmur a provincein the Delta, has distinct analogies with Copticand with Sahidic, but is of a ruder character,
as was natural from the wild nomadic habits of
the people by whom it was spoken. Only a few
fragments exist in this dialect, and they have been
published.The study of the language in modern times dates
from Kircher's ' Prodromus Coptus/ which was pub-lished in 1636. Eighty years later Blumberg issued
a Coptic grammar; and in 1778 a Coptic bishop of
Arsinoe, named Tukl, published an Arabic and Latin
treatise called' Rudimenta Linguae Copticae.' But
1
Strictly it should rather be Saidic, as there is no h in the
Arabic; but the conventional form is the most convenient.
CH. vi.] Language and Literature. 257
the first scientific grammar of the three dialects wasthat written by Tattam, and published in I83O
1.
1It would ill become a writer on this subject, and most of all an
Oxonian, to pass over in silence the great and memorable services
rendered by Oxford to the study of Coptic. The zeal of the learned
was first awakened in the matter by the rich collection of oriental
MSS. presented by the traveller Huntington to the Bodleian Libraryin the seventeenth century. Dr. Marshall, rector of Lincoln College,who is described as a master of eastern languages, and who pub-lished a translation of Abu Dakn at Oxford in 1675, worked at
Coptic with such success that he was on the point of bringingout an edition of the New Testament in that language, with
Latin translation and notes. But when only a single sheet was
through the press, the rector's task was ended by an untimelydeath. Thereupon Dr. Fell, bishop of Oxford, who had already
paid for a fount of Coptic type for the work, summoned from
Cambridge a learned scholar named Thomas Edward; who, after
sundry discouragements, at last brought out, not the New Testa*
ment, but a Coptic lexicon. About the same time Witsen, the
burgomaster of Amsterdam, sent a fount of Coptic type as a gift
to the University Press at Oxford: and in the year 1716, D. Wil-
kins, a German by birth despite his Anglicised name, published a
Coptic and Latin New Testament at the expense of the University.
Jablonski worked for some time at Oxford copying MSS. : and
after his death the well-known Dr. RadclifTe purchased many of
his treasures from his son.
Dr. Cumberland, bishop of Peterborough, began the study of
Coptic with rare enthusiasm at the age of eighty : and GeorgeWhiston copied and translated into Latin the Pentateuch ;
two
Englishmen, though not Oxonians, whose names may be recorded.
In 1765 M. Woide, having obtained from Scholtz at Berlin
extracts from a lexicon, grammar, and essays on the Coptic lan-
guage, showed them to Dr. Durell, then vice-chancellor of Oxford :
and Drs. Durell and Wheeler together finally secured the publica-
tion of all three works at the charges of the University. Woide
was next entrusted with the publication of the Sahidic version, and
far advanced the work, but never lived to see it finished. It was,
however, promptly taken up by Professor Ford, the professor of
Arabic at Oxford, who revised and corrected the whole with the
VOL. II.' S
258 Ancient Coptic Chtirches. [CH. vr.
Coptic literature has been already described as
essentially religious. There is, however, I believe,
no example of a complete Coptic Bible, nor are all
the books of the Old Testament found quite entire,
even in a detached condition. But besides the ver-
sions of scripture before mentioned, there exist also
several apocryphal gospels and gnostic works of
various descriptions ;while lives and acts of the saints,
sermons, homilies, and martyrologies abound 1. But
while all the churches in or near Cairo have their
own collections of books, the only library properly so
called, and housed in a separate apartment, is that
belonging to the patriarch. It has, I believe, recently
been examined and catalogued by a French savant,
who does not seem however to have discovered any
pearl of great price2
. The books in the churches
are all service-books of one sort or another. A goodidea of their nature may be formed from the follow-
ing list of MSS. found in a church at Asnah, near
Luxor :
i. Canons of the Coptic Church, i2th century.
help of the original documents;and the text was issued from the
Oxford Press in 1799.Since that date very little has been done for the study of Coptic
in England, and not much in Oxford : but the University Press
published in 1835 Tattam's Coptic Lexicon, in 1836 his Minor
Prophets, and his Major Prophets in 1852. Yet few know what
Oxford scholars have done for the language in the past : so lost
are the achievements of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
in the oblivion of the nineteenth.1 For a list of such works, see Catalogus Codd. Copt. MSS. in
Museo Borgiano : 410. Romae, 1810.2 The patriarch of the orthodox Church of Alexandria has also a
library of Greek MSS. at the church of St. Nicholas, in Cairo : it
contains one ninth-century MS., several of the thirteenth, but
nothing remarkable.
CH. vi.] Language and Literature. 259
2. Book of the gospels, i3th century.
3. Lectionary, I4th century.The above are on vellum : the rest on paper.
4. Consecration of monks, 1358.
5. Consecration of the various orders in the church;
to wit, psalmodos, anagnostes, subdeacon, deacon,
archdeacon, priest, hegumenos, chorepiscopos, and
lastly, bishop, metropolitan, and patriarch which
three have the same service 1,
i6th century.6. Psalter for the canonical hours, i6th century.
7. Euchologion or benedictional, i6th century.8. Minor prophets, i6th century.
9. Funeral service, i6th century.10. Mystagogia or confessio, i6th century.11. Consecration of chrism and oil of the lamp,
1 6th century.
12. Order of baptism and consecration of altar-
vessels, 1 7th century.
13. Consecration of altars and fonts, i8th century.
14. Many copies of gospels, epistles, the three
liturgies, and the various consecration services 2.
Every church has specially attached to its service
a book called in Coptic'
s^naxar,' i.e. <rwagdpiov, or
lives of the saints, from which a portion is often read
at matins, in accordance with a very ancient custom
sanctioned, for instance, at the third Council of
Carthage in 397 A.D. This book corresponds
closely to the passional of our English churches,
from which the lessons at matins were sometimes
1 This is not the case in Renaudot's MS. The Syrian Jacobites
and the Maronites have the same service for bishop and metro-
politan, but that for patriarch is different: so generally in the
Church of Alexandria.2 See Academy, Dec. 28, 1882, article by J. H. Middleton.
S 2
260 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH.VI.
taken, or to the martyrology, which was read at the
end of prime-song1
. The synaxar is confined within
the sacred walls, and there is no copy of it in any
private person's possession. It has, of course, been
rendered into Arabic for .use at service : and the
legends printed at the end of this work, which are
from the Arabic version, will serve to give an idea of
the miraculous traditions to which the faithful still
listen with unquestioning reverence.
The liturgy or book of the mass is called in Arabic*
khulagi,' which is a corrupted form of'
euchologion.'The lectionary for the year, or
'
kotmarus,' is a term
of less certain origin. One may mention also the4
agblah'
or psalms for the canonical hours and for
festivals, there being a distinct arrangement for
regulars and seculars, and also a separate psalmodyfor the feast of our Lord and of the Virgin. Twoother books, namely,
' kitab al paskah,' or the office
of Holy Week, and the'
disnari,' or hymns of saints
and martyrs, are said to have been compiled byGabriel, LXX patriarch, about the year H35 2
. The
synaxar is ascribed to one Anba Butros, bishop of
Mallg.In addition to the foregoing books every church
possesses a careful inventory of all its sacred ves-
sels and other belongings, which are verified once a
year by the wakll or overseer. In this too all gifts to
the church are entered, sometimes, though not always,with the donor's name added. It is called the Offering
Book, and resembles in some ways the book of bene-
factors which belonged to some of our great English
1Rock, vol. iii. pt. ii. p. 212.
8 See Vansleb, Histoire de l'glise d'Alexandrie, p. 62.
CH. vi.] Language and Literature. 261
churches in olden times, though it is not kept in the
same place of honour, nor bound in the same costly
materials. For at Durham cathedral, for instance,
we read that the book of benefactors ' did lye on the
High Altar, an excellent fine Booke, very richly
covered with gold and silver, conteininge the namesof all the benefactors towards St. Cuthbert's Church
from the foundation thereof :
'
and again,'
there is
another famous Booke yett extant conteininge the
reliques, jewels, ornaments, and vestments, that were
given to the Church by all these founders 1.'
It is greatly to be hoped that these Coptic inven-
tories will some day be examined by an Arabic
scholar with sufficient tact, patience, and skill to getat them and to decipher them. None knows better
than the writer what it will cost in time, temper, and
money, before they are rendered accessible. But if,
as is certain, they correspond in some ways to our
own church inventories;and if, as seems highly
probable, some few at least among them can boast a
considerable antiquity, they ought to yield results of
the greatest interest to ecclesiology, and to repay in
the richest manner the largest expenditure of time
and trouble.
1 Durham Rites, ed. Surtees Society, pp. 14, 15.
CHAPTER VII.
The Seven Sacraments.
Baptism and Confirmation. Eucharist. Penance.
since the dawn of
Christianity the Copts seem to have
acknowledged seven canonical sacra-
ments, namely baptism, confirmation,
eucharist, penance, orders, matrimony, .and unction
of the sick. Of the particular nature of these
mysteries, as interpreted by the Church of Alexan-
dria, much has already been written, but rather in
times past than in our generation, and rather bycontinental 1 than by English authorities. Some-
thing therefore yet remains which may fitly find a
place in this work;inasmuch as no mere description
of sacred buildings can be complete without some
account of the ceremonial for which they were
designed. For architecture is, of course, ancillary
to ritual. Yet the present writer cannot pretendto do more than touch lightly on liturgical mat-
ters, recording the testimony of others, and addingfacts which have fallen under his own observation.
Baptism2 of infants is allowed no less by present
custom than by the ancient canons : which, founded
1 The Assemani, Vansleb, Renaudot, Denzinger, &c.2Baptism is called ju^U : confirmation, c*^*^Jl.
The Seven Sacraments. 263
on the Mosaic law of purification, make the ageof forty days necessary for male children, and
eighty days for females, before they can receive
the rite. For these are the periods in which the'
days of purification are accomplished'
: and it is
necessary for the mother to be present in the church l.
Where however there is peril of death, or other
extreme necessity, the child may be baptised at once
without regard to age. The Jewish practice of circum-
cision on the eighth day is general, but neither compul-
sory nor counted a religious ceremony : yet circum-
cision after baptism is very strongly prohibited. Thesame canon of age for infant baptism prevailed in the
Ethiopian, Syrian, and Nestorian Churches : but
the Armenians and modern Nestorians fix the cere-
mony for the eighth day after birth, and we read of
the same custom holding even in Cairo. But although
Coptic history records many violations of primitive
practice at various epochs, the canons are never
really changed or abrogated. Thus about 750 A.D.
the patriarch Khail i. reenforced the regulation
enjoining the baptism of infants. Christodulus three
centuries later forbade the two sexes to be baptisedin the same water
;and ordered that, according to
ancient custom, infants should receive the com-
munion fasting at their baptism. So Macarius n. and
Gabriel n., both in the twelfth century, denounced
circumcision after baptism. Indeed it is only from
1 Pococke is wrong in giving the age as twenty-four days for a
girl: see Description of the East, vol. i. p. 246. Barhebraeus
(Chronicon Ecclesiasticon, ed. Abbeloos et Lamy, Louvain, 1872)
says thirty days for a boy, and so apparently a Vatican MS., quoted
by Asseman, though agreeing about the age of eighty days for a
girl : but there is no real doubt on the subject.
264 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vn.
these stringent enactments, as a rule, that we dis-
cover from time to time the prevailing laxity of
practice.
Certain seasons of the year are appointed and
others forbidden for the exercise of the rite, but
exception is always made in cases of danger. Thewhole of Lent, Holy Week, and Eastertide are con-
sidered unsuitable times for baptism. Macarius,
bishop of Memphis in the eighth century, relates
that at Alexandria during the early ages of the
church, baptism was conferred only once a year on
Good Fridayl
: but the statement is mixed with legendand seems apocryphal. The canons of Christodulus
prohibit baptism on Easter eve and during the season
of Pentecost. From the remotest antiquity to the
present day the season most commended for baptismis the feast of Epiphany : but Abu Dakn 2
,an un-
trustworthy authority, but possibly right in this
instance, gives Easter day and Pentecost as the
times at which baptism was conferred in the seven-
teenth centurv./
We have already seen that scarcely a single
church in the whole of Egypt possesses a baptisteryexternal to the sacred building : and that while in
many of the fabrics the Epiphany tank is at the
western end near the principal doorway, yet now in
most cases the baptistery proper and the font are
found in various positions, which would necessitate
the entrance of the infant into the church before the
accomplishment of the ceremony. There is however
one monument remaining, which illustrates with
singular clearness the ancient custom of administering
1
Vansleb, Histoire de l'glise d'Alexandrie, p. 83.2 P. 16.
CH. viz.] The Seven Sacraments. 265
the rite without the church, yet in a building speci-
ally consecrated for the purpose. A glance at the
plan of the fourth-century church of the White
Monastery1 will show the earliest known arrange-
ment in strict accordance with the most primitiveritual. There the candidate was received first into
a small vestibule, then led into the baptistery ;and
when the rite was ended, he passed into the opposite
chapel, still without the church, and received the
eucharist;which completed his initiation, and gave
him the right henceforth to enter the place of worship.The next step was to remove the baptistery and the
chapel just within the western wall of the church, so
that they occupied the narthex, but were still prob-
ably walled off from nave and aisles, or at least from
the latter. Such an arrangement seems to haveexisted originally at Abu Sargah, as the western apsewith its frescoes still remaining testifies. Finally, as
the rigidity of early custom slackened, the partition
between the baptistery and the church was removed :
the need for a neophyte chapel disappeared : and the
position of the font became a matter of accident andindifference 2
. But in all cases the Copts disallow
the baptism of infants in private houses. It is a
matter of necessity that all should come to the con-
secrated building. The font is often called the
'Jordan'; but the ancient Coptic name 'fKoXTJUL-
is, of course, of Greek origin.
Bernard of Luxemburg, Jacques de Vitry, and
1 See vol. i. p. 352.2
Denzinger is wrong in saying that the Coptic baptistery oughtto be '
versus orientem ex parte sinistra ecclesiae.' Rit. Or., torn. i.
p. 25.
266 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vn.
others have spread a ridiculous story that the Copts
baptise their children with fire1
by branding a cross
on the forehead after baptism. The story is a pure
fiction, but may have arisen from the Ethiopiancustom of gashing and tattooing the face. All over
the world baptism is performed by natural water :
but the Copts, in common with the catholic custom,
require that the water be specially consecrated. Andthis consecration takes place each time that the cere-
mony has to be performed with fresh water : whereas
in the Latin Church the benediction of water is a
more solemn service, held but once or twice in the
year, and the water so consecrated is reserved to be
used as occasion arises. Abu Dakn agrees with all
the authorities in stating that after baptism the
water must be let off by a drain : and though Tukt
asserts that at one time the priests in Cairo reserved
a small quantity for use in case of emergency2
,the
canons rather show that no ceremonies were requiredwhere the life of a child would be in danger from
delay. Of the same tenour is a well-known legend,
which tells of a certain woman who, in crossing the
sea to Alexandria with two young children, was
caught in a furious storm : so being in great peril,
and fearing lest her children should perish unbaptised,she drew blood 3 from her breast and sprinkled them,
repeating the formula. Subsequently, when she took
1 Rit. Or., vol. i. p. 14. In treating of the Coptic rites and cere-
monies my obligations to Denzinger are so great that I once for all
acknowledge them to save the trouble of perpetual reference.
2 Neale affirms this absolutely of present practice (Gen. Introd.,
vol. ii. p. 977) : of course erroneously.3
Denzinger says sea-water was used : but the legend as given
at the end of this volume speaks of blood.
CH. vii.] The Seven Sacraments. 267
her children to the bishop in Alexandria to be regu-
larly baptised, the water in the font became frozen
or petrified, to prevent the repetition of a ceremonythus declared lawful. Lastly, any remaining doubt
concerning the reservation of the hallowed water is
removed by the words at the end of the service,
which pray that the water may be changed again to
its former nature, and return to earth deconsecrated ;
and the rubric orders the priest to pour in a little
fresh water;to let off the water of baptism ;
and to
take care that none use it thereafter.
Immersion is the only form of baptism recognised
by the Christians of Alexandria, who thus differ from
the Greeks. For in the Greek rite, though immer-
sion is used, aspersion is regarded as of equal, if
not superior, importance. There is some ques-tion regarding the manner of the Coptic immersion,
whether each of the three immersions or only the
last is total;for about the trine immersion there is
no controversy. Originally it is probable, from the
silence of the canons, that the child was plunged
wholly under water thrice;but for the last three or
more centuries the custom has been for the priest to
dip the body first up to the middle, the second time
up to the neck, and the third time over the head.
Vansleb declares that in order to make the form of
a cross the priest takes the child's right wrist and
left foot in one hand, and left wrist and right foot in
the other l;which may have been 'true, but sounds
like a species of torture. Among the Nestorians
the candidate stands in water up to the neck, and
the priest thrice dips the head under;but the
1Histoire, p.8i.
268 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vn.
Armenians and other eastern communities mingleaspersion with the rite of immersion. All, how-
ever, seem to agree, and the Coptic canons on this
point are very explicit, that in case of a weak or
sickly child immersion shall not be judged neces-
sary, but the sacrament may be duly administered
by trine aspersion.The same doctrine is laid down clearly in what
seems to be the earliest extant account of Christian
baptism, the'
Teaching of the Apostles/ which maybelong to the second century
1. There it is com-
manded to'
baptise in living or fresh water in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the HolyGhost. If living water fails, use other water ;
anduse warm water, if cold would be hurtful. If neither
warm nor cold be obtainable, then pour water thrice
upon the head in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Before baptism let
both him who baptises and him who is to be baptised
fast, and all others who may ; you shall commandhim who is to be baptised a day or two before.'
While the essentials are the same, considerable
advance is made on the foregoing ritual, or at least
in explanation of it, in the earliest authentic account
of the sacrament as administered in the Church of
Alexandria. This account is found in the Apostolical
Constitutions, which date probably from the fourth
or fifth century2
. Here it is enjoined that the candi-
dates for baptism are to fast on the preparation of
1 See AtSa'xq roav 'ATTooroAaw by bishop Bryennios, Constanti-
nople, 1883, pp. 27-29.2 See Tattam's Apostolical Constitutions, London, 1848, p. 52
seq. for Coptic and English version: and Bunsen's Christianity
and Mankind, London, 185*4, vol. vi. p. 465, for Greek version.
CH. vir.] The 'Seven Sacraments. 269
the sabbath;and on that day are to assemble before
the bishop and kneel down. Then, laying on his
hands, the bishop is to exorcise from them everyevil spirit ;
to breathe upon them;and to seal them
upon the forehead, the ears, and the nose. Theykeep the vigil in reading and exhortation.
Early next morning, at cockcrow, comes the bene-
diction of the water, which must be drawn or flowinginto the font
; or, if water be scarce, they may use
any water available. The meaning of this obscure
passage doubtless is that the water should, if pos-
sible, be drawn from the sacred well, such as wehave seen is found in Abu Sargah and most of the
Egyptian churches. Sponsors are required for those
too young to answer for themselves, and the sponsorsare to be parents or kinsmen. The bishop is to givethanks over the oil, which he is to place in a vessel
or crewet, and to call it the 'oil of thanksgiving'the name 'myron' not being used here; and a
second oil he is to exorcise, and call it the 'oil of
exorcism.'
A deacon, holding the oil of thanksgiving, is to
stand on the right hand of the priest ;and another
deacon with the oil of exorcism on his left. Thenfollows the renunciation ;
after which the candidates
are to be anointed with the oil of exorcism, and to
pass unclothed and to stand in the water. Each
now repeats the confession of faith, during which
he is dipped three times; he is then taken up out
of the water, and anointed with the oil of thanks-
giving or holy chrism;
is clothed, and enters the
church. There the bishop lays his hand upon them,
and with a prayer anoints each one upon the head,
and seals his forehead, saluting or kissing him;and
2jo Ancient Coptic Churches. [OH. vn.
all are to'
say peace with their mouths.' Thus the
rite of confirmation is ended.
The '
seal,' here and elsewhere, seems to meanthe sign of the cross : by
'
saying peace' the formula
of the pax is no doubt intended.
Immediately after baptism and confirmation fol-
lows the holy communion. The bishop is enjoinedto give thanks over the bread and over the cup ;
and to bless also milk and honey. When the bread
has been divided, the bishop gives each a portion,
saying,' This is the bread of heaven, the body of
Christ Jesus;' and with the cup he says, 'This is
the blood of Christ Jesus our Lord.' Likewise the
milk and honey are given to every one.
So much for the Apostolical Constitutions. Let
us turn now to another version of the ceremony,written two or three centuries later by Severus 1
,
patriarch of Alexandria in 646 A. D. The ceremony
begins with a'
mixing of the waters,' a phrase which
is not further explained here, but means that the
priest stirs or moves the water with his hand. Next
comes a burning of frankincense, with a prayer againstthe
'
princes of the power of the air ;' after which the
priest blows thrice with his breath on the water.
He then makes the sign of the cross, without oil,
thrice on the forehead of every child, and exorcises
him, making several more crosses upon the face.
The children turn to the west to make the renun-
ciation, and back to the east again ;and the priest
makes three crosses on each one's forehead with
olive oil, obviously the oil of exorcism, or oil of
the catechumens.
1 See Maxima Bibliotheca Veterum Patrum, Lyons, 1677, torn,
xii. p. 728.
CH. vii.] The Seven Sacraments. 271
Incense is now kindled, and then come the prayersfor the benediction of the water. The priest insuf-
flates upon the surface in the form of a cross, andwith several invocations makes four crosses on the
water with his finger, signing each cross from east
to west and from north to south. Then from a
phial or crewet he pours chrism, or oil of thanks-
giving, upon the water in three crosses. Next he
pours olive oil over the head of each child, placeshim in the font, lays his right hand upon the head,and with his left thrice lifts the child from the water,
saying,' N. is baptised in the name of the Father,
Amen;in the name of the Son, Amen ;
and in the
name of the Holy Ghost, Amen.' The wording of
the ritual here signifies that the child is dipped three
times under water, and nothing is said about anydifference in the manner of the three immersions.
After the formula the child is taken out of the
font, and anointed three times on the forehead and
on all his members with holy chrism;
is dressed in
his own clothes;and brought to the altar, where
he receives the eucharist. The whole ceremony is
brought to a conclusion by the priest crowning the
newly baptised children with garlands.Here confirmation is rather implied than stated,
and nothing is said about the giving of milk and
honey. Bishop Macarius, whom I have cited above,
and who lived a century later, mentions the custom
as belonging to the early Church. In olden times,
he says1
, baptism being administered only on Good
Friday at Alexandria, the patriarch and several
bishops met in the church of the Evangelists, un-
covered the font, and read the exhortation. Next
1
Vansleb, Histoire, p. 85.
272 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH.VH.
day they assembled in the same building, where the
patriarch consecrated both the chrism and the oil of
exorcism or galilaeon, i.e., t\aioi> ayaAAtao-eooy, as theycall what the Latins term the
' oleum catechumen-
orum.' This accomplished, they proceeded to the
baptistery, where the patriarch baptised three male
children;and when the bishops had baptised the
rest, the patriarch anointed them all with both
kinds of oil. Mass was now celebrated;and after
the newly baptised children had received the bread
and wine, they received also milk and honey mixedin the same chalice 1
.
At the present day the ceremonies do not differ
appreciably from those recorded by Severus. Atthe commencement of the service a prayer of purifi-
cation is said over the mother of the child, and she
is anointed with oil on the forehead : and thoughthis rite is not recorded in any ancient documents
before Vansleb, it is in the last degree unlikely that
it has arisen in modern or even mediaeval times.
Silence in questions of ritual is always a dangerous
argument : it is so very difficult for a writer, and
specially for an early writer, not to omit some detail,
as Severus quite wrongly omits all mention of milk
and honey. The exorcism, benediction of the water,
and anointing with oil, are still customary: but the
first oil used is pure olive oil, which is blessed by the
priest. The child is unclothed, raises his hands in
1 Neale strangely denies that there is any trace of the giving of
milk and honey in Coptic ritual (Gen. Introd., vol. ii. p. 971): but
states that it existed in the Church of Carthage, and is still retained
in that of Ethiopia. Rock (vol. iii. pt. 2. p. 102) says that milk
and honey were given in our own Church after the eucharist on
Maundy Thursday, and anciently to the newly baptised on Holy
Saturday.
CH. vii.] The Seven Sacraments. 273
the form of a cross to make the renunciation, turningto the west, and recites the creed turning to the
east l. All his limbs are again anointed with the
second oil or the galilaeon. The burning of incense,
the insufflation, the three crosses of chrism on the
water, the trine immersion, the laying-on of hands or
confirmation, the anointing with chrism, all havetheir place in the service of to-day. The chrism is
anointed on forehead, eyes, nose, mouth, ears,
hands, feet, knees, back, shoulder, arms and heart :
then the priest breathes crosswise on the face of the
child, who is dressed in a white robe, crowned with a
crown, and girt with a crossing girdle about his waist.
He receives the holy communion : or, if too young to
take it, the priest dips a finger in the chalice, and
moistens the infant's tongue : and after the eucharist
he receives milk and honey mingled.
During all this ceremony, which with many prayersand chaunts and lessons from the scriptures occupiesa long time, the sealed copy of the gospel is restingon the gospel-stand
2 in the baptistery : tapers are
set about it, and are kindled during the greater partof the service. After the celebration of the mass,
the clergy arrayed in their most gorgeous vestments
move in procession thrice round the church. Thechild is carried by the bishop or priest, before whomwalks an acolyte bearing the cross of benediction 3
,
upon which are fastened three lighted tapers : the
other clergy follow, and acolytes bearing candles and
beating bells and cymbals.
1 Vansleb (Histoire, p. 204) states that the priest writes the
child's name on a piece of paper and throws it into the water.2 See illustration, vol. ii. p. 60. 3
Ib. p. 232.
VOL. II. T
274 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vn.
On the eighth day after baptism, and not before *,
the girdle is loosened with a good deal of ceremonial :
for the act is regarded as the completion of the rite
of baptism. The ceremony is held in the baptistery
of the church, and not at private houses as Vansleb
alleges. A vessel of pure water is placed on the
gospel-stand, with a cross lying upon the rim and
tapers kindled around. Incense is burned, and
various prayers and portions of scripture recited.
The water is signed thrice in the form of a cross
by the priest, who then removes the girdle, and
washes the child and his clothes.
Though the use of lights at the baptismal service
is thus recognised by the Church of Egypt, the priest
does not hand a lighted taper to the candidate, as
was customary in western ritual.
It will be observed that the practice of the Copticdiffers from that of the western Church in the union
of confirmation with baptism, although they are
regarded essentially as two sacraments, not as one;
in the use of the holy chrism for confirmation;and
in allowing confirmation by the priest as well as bythe bishop. In all these particulars the Copts have
reta ned the early teaching of the catholic Church,which the westerns have abandoned 2
.
1 Abu Dakn makes the rite take place on the third day : and in
the same passage he affirms that salt is mingled with the chrism bythe Copts, a monstrous statement. Some Syrians in Cairo
adopted this heretical practice in the time of Christodulus, but not
the Copts The Malabar Christians mingled oil and salt with
their eucharistic bread, as recorded in Govea's account of the
Portuguese mission : see the French translation published, at
Brussels in 1609.2 The words of St. Basil regarding baptism should be remem-
bered. He says :
' Consecramus autem aquam baptismatis et
CH. vii.] The Seven Sacraments. 275
THE EUCHARIST l.
To discuss fully the ceremonies appertaining to
the Coptic celebration of the mass would require a
voluminous treatise in itself. But such discussion
being beyond the scope of this work, and in somesense beside its purpose, it must suffice here to
indicate the most prominent or peculiar points of
Coptic usage, avoiding altogether all questions con-
cerning authenticity of texts and order of prayers in
the various liturgies, questions which are too well
known to the world to require restating, and too
little studied by the writer to make his remarks
other than incompetent.No minister beneath the rank of priest is allowed
to celebrate the korban : but a simple priest cannot
communicate a bishop or any higher dignitary2.
When the patriarch celebrates, he administers the
oleum unctionis, praeterea ipsum qui baptismum accipit, ex quibus
scriptis ? Nonne a tacita secretaque traditione ? Ipsam porroolei unctionem quis sermo scripto proditus docuit ? lam ter im-
mergi hominem unde est traditum? .... Nonne ex privata et
arcana hac traditione?' See Divi Basilii Magni Opera, p. 3243.
Paris, 1566. So St. Augustine remarks : 'Unless this sign be used,
whether on the forehead of believers, or on the water whereby theyare regenerated, or on the chrism whereby they are anointed,
nothing is rightly accomplished.'1 Arabic ^b^lll or the offering, ^-IJ'llI the mass, ius.-^.DI the
sacrifice, oriu^-e^ j^si s-sr^.jJl the bloodless sacrifice : Coptic,
*f~npOCcJ>Op.. The first of these names,'
korban,' is identical
with the word used by our Lord, as given in the English version :
it answers to our '
oflete.'
2Vansleb, Histoire, pp. 202-3.
T 2
276 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. \-n.
oflete first to himself and then to the other clergy
according to their orders : but if, when a priest is
celebrating, the patriarch wishes to communicate,
he goes to the altar after the fraction, repeats the
prayer of absolution and the confession, and com-
municates to himself and to any others whom he
pleases. Every bishop has the same right in his
own diocese. A kummus in communicating takes
the spoon himself, but receives the wafer from the
priest, who places it in the spoon : a priest re-
ceiving from a priest does not touch with his hand
any part of the sacred elements, nor any vessel.
The celebrant must wear dalmatic and amice on
ordinary days, and all the seven vestments on highfestivals.
At the present day those who receive are allowed
within the haikal ;but originally entrance seems to
have been denied to all below the rank of deacon.
The deacon stands not beside the priest but fronting
him, i. e. on the eastern side of the altar, and facingthe people. This custom is said to have originatedin the times of feud between the Jacobite and Mel-
kite factions, when it was no uncommon thing for a
Melkite mob to rush into a Coptic church, slay the
priest at the altar, and scatter the sacred elements.
If ordered by the priest, the deacon may give the cupto communicants, as appears from the ApostolicalConstitutions and from later authorities.
We have already seen that infants are admitted
to the communion immediately after baptism and
confirmation : and at any ordinary celebration to-
day one may see children in arms receiving.Previous fasting is indispensable to a right com-
munion, and this canon applies even to children :
CH. vii.] The Seven Sacraments. 277
it is a rule beyond question and without exception.
The time of fasting dates from vespers of the daybefore the celebration. Bodily cleanliness is a
further necessity both on the part of the peopleand the priest : the latter is specially required to
wash his feet before entering the church. Com-munion is not to be administered to persons un-
known, i.e. to any strangers whom the priest has
not examined concerning their profession of faith,
for fear lest an infidel receive it unawares. ThePontifical of Gabriel specially cautions the priest
to be careful about women, as they come veiled to
mass. Confession also is rigidly enforced, and
penance inflicted in case of sin : and the severity
of the penance is doubtless the reason why so few
to-day partake of the holy mysteries.All receive the korban standing and not kneeling :
indeed kneeling is altogether against the Coptic
custom, except on the day of Pentecost, their attitude
of humility being prostration. A communicant is
not allowed during the rest of the day to eat or
drink with a Jew or Muslim;nor may he remove
from his mouth anything which has once entered
there;
nor may he smoke tobacco. Anciently,
according to Vansleb, it was also customary to eat
lupines directly after the celebration, as a measure
of defence against certain Sabaeans, who frequentedthe Coptic churches, but to whom any fruit grownon an angular stalk was an abomination.
The bread used for the korban is of the finest
wheaten flour specially purchased out of the church
moneys. It must be baked in the oven attached for
that purpose to most if not all of the sacred build-
ings : and the baking must be done by the door-
2j8 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vn.
keeper or sacristan \ who during the process mustchaunt fixed portions of the psalms in a solemn
manner 2. The bread must be leavened : it must be
baked on the morning on which it is required for the
mass, and must be made up into round cakes or
wafers, each about three inches in diameter and an
inch in greatest thickness;and it must be stamped
on the upper surface with a device of crosses, round
which runs a sacred legend in a band. Denzinger3
gives a cut in which the legend is A.VIOC
fr .noc >J ^xprpioc ^ C4L&eurr (it should, of course,
1Called, therefore, *-JQl. Women are specially forbidden to
prepare the wafer.
8Possibly for a similar reason the oflete was sometimes called
'
singing-bread'
in England.3
Kit. Or., torn. i. p. 81. The Diet. Christ. Antiq. has the
same cut.
CH. vii.] The Seven Sacraments. 279
be Kvpioc) : Neale l
reproduces the same illustra-
tion, which is taken from Sollerius, to whom all
statements concerning the form of the Coptic oflete
seem ultimately traceable. Vansleb 2 however givesthe same inscription omitting the c^JieooT ;
and
it is possible that the versions of the legend so
recorded were actually found : but undoubtedly the
inscription at present used differs, and is >%? <LVIOC
ic.X"*Poc * ^-Vioc .e.rt.Toc >fc A.VIOC o eeoc,as rendered in the accompanying woodcut, which is
from a photograph of a wafer made at the cathedral.
Nor have I seen any variation from this form at anyof the churches. The diagrams given by Neale
and Denzinger are further inaccurate : for within
the band of writing, which should not be quite on
the edge of the wafer, there are twelve equal crosses
each marked off in a square of its own, the whole
arrangement forming one large cross. Neale indeed
speaks of twelve crosses : but his figure gives eightin little detached squares, and eight more in a largercentral square. Denzinger's design is the same :
but he gives another rather different cut, which pro-
fesses to represent the back of the wafer. This, I
think, is a mistake : for the wafer is never stamped
upon the back.
The inmost square of the wafer, consisting of four
smaller squares, is called in Coptic icBiO^lKOit,
ic&<L2aKort, or ciioT^iKoit, a name rightly explained
by Renaudot as a corruption of the Greek SwrroTiKov,
sc. cr&fia, i.e.' the body of the Lord.' The isbodikon
is reserved for intinction in the chalice.
1 Patriarchate of Alexandria, vol. ii. p. 214. It is obvious here
how the mistake of^ f r K arose.2
Histoire, p. 100.
280 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vn.
Greek custom is not far removed from the Coptic,as regards the wafer. For the Greeks use a small
round cake stamped with a square, called the a/m>y,
which is divided into four smaller squares which
contain the letters Tc "XC Nl KA. The dfivfo stands
out above the wafer, and is cut off in the prothesis : at
consecration it is broken into four portions, of which
FC is put into the chalice, X~C is given among the
clergy, and the rest among the laity.
The Armenians also stamp the housel, but merelywith a figure of our Lord. The wafer is unleavened,
and is baked in an oven attached to the church on
the morning before celebration. All the four parts
into which the consecrated wafer is broken are putinto the chalice.
Among the Nestorians the wafer is made of fine
flour from wheat gleaned by young maidens, which
is ground in a handmill and mingled with leaven.
The leaven is prepared by the clergy, and the bread
made, within the precincts of the sacred building.
The Nestorian wafer also is stamped with a device :
it resembles the Coptic bread in size, but is muchthinner.
In our own country the wafer was sometimes
stamped. Rock J cites Eldefonso for the statement
that the inscription should be ^FT TTTc or US, the
only variation being XPC AH: but other varia-
tions are certainly found 2. A wooden mould for
1 Vol. i. p. 149, note 24.2 M. de Fleury has sent me a drawing of some breads from a
ninth-century missal in the Bibliotheque Nationale. Two of these
are covered with various inscriptions, one containing REX DSIBS XFS VERITAS LUX PAX GLORIA VIA, and the cyphersof the four evangelists disposed round a large central cross.
TH. vii.j The Seven Sacraments. 281
such breads is preserved in the museum at Dublin :
but sometimes the mould was of iron, and was called
a singing-iron for a reason analogous to that sug-
gested above. Thus in 1429 at York there were be-
queathed 'tria instrumenta ferri, vocata syngyngirons,
ijalia instrumenta ferri pro pane ad eucharistiam or-
dinando 1.' That the practice of stamping the housel
is very early seems proved by the continuous testi-
mony of artistic monuments. The wafers figured in
the sixth-century mosaics at Ravenna, in S. Vitale
and S. Apollinare in Classe, are designed with a
central cross : on the golden altar of Milan, datingfrom the ninth century, St. Ambrose is figured
standing behind an altar, on which are four crossed
wafers : a like wafer is shown in the eleventh-
century missal of St. Denys2
: and wherever the
wafer is painted in Coptic pictures, it is representedwith a single cross in the same manner. This fact
in no way militates against the antiquity of the
present Coptic design, being attributable merelyto the smallness of the scale on which the wafer
has to be rendered 3.
The eucharistic wine is unfermented, and is madefrom the juice of dried grapes or raisins, which are
left to soak for a considerable time in water, and
then crushed in a wine-press. A press of the kind
1
Raine, York Fabric Rolls, Glossary, p. 353.2 La Messe, vol. i. pis. viii, xiii.
3 In the Coptic MS. of the fourth century, to which allusion has
been already made, the prayer of consecration varies from all other
known MSS. in having between the words '
didst give thanks'
and
'didst break' the expression ^.KCcbp^Ti^e, i.e. 'didst seal':
and though the term is commonly used in Coptic to denote the
making of the sign of the cross, yet in this connexion it seems to
suggest that the wafer in use at that period was stamped.
282 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. v.
at Abu-'s-Sifain has already been described : but
the wine is usually made at Cairo in the satellite
church called by the same name in the Harat-az-
Zuailah. There it is distributed to the churches in
large wicker-covered jars, holding three or four
gallons apiece, some of which I saw stored in a
deep aumbry. The wine is made of sufficient
strength and in sufficient quantity to last the -whole
year round. Raisin-wine is prohibited rather than
enjoined by the canons : but the use of it doubtless
arose partly under pressure in times of persecution,
and partly from the cultivation of the vine becomingobsolete in Egypt. In case of necessity even date-
wine is allowed. But whatever wine is used must
be pure, untrampled by the foot, and free from all
acid flavour. Offerings of wine * for the mass were
common in ancient times : and there is a special
canon forbidding the priest to receive it in the vessel
brought by the layman. Most of the churches nowhave a small crewet or phial of unconsecrated wine
kept on a little bracket attached to the haikal-screen.
Wine of the same kind and made in the same manner
was found in use by the Christians at Malabar about
the year 1600: but that sect mingled oil and salt
with their eucharistic bread, a practice strongly
denounced by all Coptic authorities.
Three liturgies seem to have been used from very
early times by the Church of Alexandria, the
liturgy of St. Basil, of St. Gregory of Nazianzen,
and of St. Cyril : the last is also called by the name
1 When a new cask was broached, the first of the wine was
often given to the church. In the Coptic liturgies, for this reason,
the wine is often called "f'A.nA.pH, or the first-fruits.
CH. vii.] The Seven Sacraments. 283
of St. Mark. On ordinary occasions the liturgy of
St. Basil is recited : that of St. Gregory is reserved
for three solemn festivals, the midnight masses of
Epiphany, Easter, and Christmas : and that of St.
Cyril is used during the seasons of the Great and
the Little Fast, i.e. Lent and Advent 1. The hour
for ordinary mass on Sunday is always tierce: no
second celebration is allowed on the same altar
during the day, and no vestment or vessel which
has served once at the mass may be used again till
the day following.
At the commencement of the service all whoenter the church salute towards the altar, and kiss
the hem of the veil which hangs before the door of
the sanctuary, or else prostrate themselves before
the threshold. This custom of course does not
apply to women, who worship apart in the galleries
or other place appointed. It is usual now for the
choir to chaunt the'
Hymns of Moses'
while the
altar is being prepared by the deacons. Besides
the ordinary covering, which is generally coloured,
the altar must have a second vestment, which
shrouds the whole fabric. All the vessels, such as
the chalice, paten, dome, ark, and spoon, must be in
readiness upon the altar, upon which also are two
candlesticks with tapers.
Before the prayer of preparation the priest must
examine all these vessels, and see that the altar-
board is firm in its place beneath the coverlets ;and
he must set the ark or coffer upon it, and the chalice
within the coffer. After the prayers of preparation
and thanksgiving he goes to the door of the haikal
1 Lord Bute states that this liturgy is only used once a year, viz.
on the Friday before Palm Sunday (Coptic Morning Service, p. ii).
284 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vn.
to take the oflete from the hand of the deacon.
Three wafers are brought upon a tray: the priest
touches them to see if they are freshly made, wipes
them, and waves his hand over them : then he
selects one of the three, which is carried to the altar
together with the crewet or phial of wine. This
ceremony seems to correspond with the greaterentrance of the Greek liturgy : but it is not
now attended with the same pomp in the Copticas in either the Constantinopolitan or the Melkite
Egyptian ritual. Tapers are next kindled, and held
by the deacons beside the altar : one also holds the
crewet, and another a vessel of water. Thus a pro-
cession moves round the altar with tapers and thuri-
bles, the priest carrying the wafer in a small silken
corporal, or, as is more usual, upon one of the tinymats described above. Having made the circuit of
the altar the priest stands in his own place before
the altar, facing eastward, and turning his back to
the congregation. A little cold water is now mixed
with the wine in the chalice, not warm water as in
the Greek celebration. During the prayer of obla-
tion, which follows, the priest signs both the elements
with the sign of the cross : and when the prayer is
ended, he places upon the chalice the little mat or
tabak, which serves as its cover, and which answers
to the lesser veil of the rubrics. Similarly he places
immediately over the wafer a small round veil markedwith three crosses : above it he sets the dome or
star : and then, placing the paten upon the ark, so
that it rests also on the chalice l,he covers the whole
elements with the larger veil, which is of silk, and
1 The ark is just high enough to hold the chalice : the rim of
the chalice is flush with the top of the ark.
CH. vii.] The Seven Sacraments. 285
has a large cross embroidered upon it. This accom-
plished, the priest kneels and kisses the altar.
At the prayer of absolution to the Son, the
celebrant and his attendants kneel outside the
haikal in a circle before the door, bowing from
time to time. Then taking the censer, he stands
holding it before the altar during the prayer of
incense : he waves it over the elements : and walks
round the altar swinging the thurible, while the
choir sing the three anthems of the incense. Hethen descends, and stands before the door facing
eastward, and scatters the fumes about the doorway :
after which he turns about and swings the censer
towards the people in every part of the church,
while chaunt and song continue;and as the priest
moves censing them, the people rise and bend their
heads.
The epistle is now read in Coptic from the lectern,
which stands a few feet from the haikal door in the
choir, and the reader faces eastward, having his back
to the people. During the reading clouds of incense
are still arising in the haikal ; and when it is finished,
and the choir have sung a brief chaunt, the samelesson is read in Arabic
;but the reader now stands
on the steps before the haikal and faces the congre-
gation. A lection from the Acts is read in the samemanner
; or sometimes in lieu a chapter is recited
from the history of the Church, or the life of a saint.
And when the reading is ended, the reader kneels
and bows his head to the ground before the door of
the sanctuary. The first gospel is read by the priest,
who stands before the people holding the book in his
left hand, and in his right a lighted taper.
From this point processions round the altar con-
286 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vn.
tinue with burning of incense up to the trisagion,
which is chaunted by the choir. Then comes the
prayer of the holy gospel, said by the priest facingeastward
;and after it the deacon, coming out at the
door of the haikal, shouts aloud,' Stand ye people
for the holy gospel.' Hereupon the celebrant
censes the sealed silver book of the gospel, and de-
livers it to another priest, who, after kissing it and
laying it upon the lectern, sings the gospel in Coptic,
facing eastward. As he sings, the celebrant stands
facing westward before him, and censes the textus
continually ;a deacon on each side of him holds a
lighted taper, and a candle is burning upon the tall
standard candlestick, which is always set up for this
purpose beside the lectern 1. An Arabic version of
the same passage is then given from the doorway,the deacons still holding their tapers by the reader,
who now faces the people ;and the celebrant still
waves the thurible. Deacons and acolytes, who
generally wear the tarbush, as do all the people duringthe service, remove it at the reading of the gospel.When the gospel is thus finished, the priest and
all the clergy kiss the silver book;and in olden
times the gospel was wrapped in a silken veil, beingcarried in procession about the church, and even
given to kiss to the people2
. The lights are ex-
1 See illustration on p. 66 supra.2
It is possible that this custom may account for the practice of
enclosing the textus in a complete shell of metal. This procession
and return to the haikal correspond to the lesser entrance of the
Greek ritual. In the West the custom of lighting a candle at the
reading of the gospel was general as well as 'per tolas orientis
ecclesias.' (Hieron. adv. Vigilant, iii. 13.) Rock mentions that in
our own country after the lection the subdeacon took the book for
the bishop to kiss, then to priests and people : and that the tapers
OH. vii.] The Seven Sacraments. 287
tinguished and the gospel borne back to the sanc-
tuary. All the ministers stand round the door while
the prayer after the gospel is recited inaudibly.Notices of services and other matters are here given ;
and if there be no homily, at this point occurs the
dismissal of the catechumens.
The choir now sing an anthem, after which the
priest falls down and kisses the threshold of the
sanctuary, while reciting in a low voice the prayerof the veil or the curtain. Then, ascending to the
altar, the priest kisses it, while the choir stand with-
out the door, singing in antiphons. Next, after the
prayer for the catholic Church of Christ, and for
the congregation, the creed is repeated by all together;
whereupon the priest washes his hands thrice, and
turning round wrings them dry before the people.
Then, after bowing to the other clergy and makingthe sign of the cross over the congregation, he utters
the words ' Peace be unto all,' and recites the prayer
were then extinguished (vol. iii. pt. 2. p. 32). The Ordo Romanus
says that the deacon received the gospel from the subdeacon, and
held it to be kissed by clergy and laity. Pope Honorius III in
the thirteenth century forbade the gospel to be kissed by any lay-
man except an anointed prince, quite forgetting the meaning of
the ceremony. In Russian and Greek churches the kiss is allowed
generally to laymen, as with the Copts. In Egypt, however, the
book seems originally to have been kissed while open by priests, and
to have been closed for the people. This kissing the gospel is, of
course, quite distinct from the pax or kiss of peace, which seems
to have been first used in England in the thirteenth century. The
pax is mentioned as an instrument first in the constitutions of arch-
bishop Gray, of York. It was abandoned gradually after the refor-
mation, owing chiefly to disputes about precedence. Yet the gospelwas sometimes kissed in England instead of the pax, and the cross
in Germany. (See Lay Folks' Mass Book, ed. Canon Simmons,
pp. 221, 296.)
288 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH.VH.
of the kiss of peace. Meanwhile he removes the
greater veil or corporal from the oflete, and the
paten from the chalice;and on the top of the chalice
one may see now the lesser veil l
resting, while the
priest holds high over his head a like veil or tabak
of green colour with a golden cross for all the peopleto see. At the words ' Greet one another with a
holy kiss/ the priest turns westward, and bows slowly
to all the people ;and the people salute each other,
each turning to his neighbour and touching his hand.
The triumphal hymn follows, and the people shout'
agus, agus, agus,' retaining to this day the ancient
words. Now the lesser veil, or red tabak, is removed
from the chalice;and the priest taking it in his right
hand, holds also the green tabak in his left, and raises
his arms. And in like manner he takes many more
little mats, which are upon the altar, and holds them
with outspread arms 2, during the commemoration of
the Redemption. It may be that the mats are so
consecrated for subsequent usage at the communion.
At the institution, the celebrant first holds his
hands over the smoke of the thurible, which is pre-
sented by the deacon ;then signs the oflete thrice,
and breaks it into three portions, which, however,
1 The lesser veil, shown in this manner, is usually a small
round red mat, embroidered with a cross in gold.2
I cannot find any explanation of this custom in the rubrics,
but merely record what I have witnessed. In Lord Bute's'
Coptic
Morning Service,' p. 80, the rubric directs the priest to remove the
chalice-veil;
to sign himself, the deacon, and the people with it;
and so replace it. The work cited is not however quite an accurate
guide to the Monophysite ritual;but there is a very general agree-
ment, because the converts to the Church of Rome among the
Copts are prohibited from becoming Latins, and bidden to retain
their national liturgy.
CH. vn.] The Seven Sacraments, 289
remain contiguous. The chalice is signed in the
same manner, and moved in the form of a cross
before the priest. During this ceremony a lighted
taper is held by deacons on either side of the cele-
brant, and all the deacons, acolytes, and choristers
remove their tarbushes. Just before the invocation
all the congregation bend low their heads, murmur-
ing words of adoration, and rise and bend again.
After a sentence or two from the priest all the
people cry'
Kyrie eleeson.' It is at this pointthat the offertory is made. Two acolytes moveabout the church, each bearing an alms-dish, and
a taper which is specially lighted for the purpose,doubtless in emblematic remembrance of the familiar
text. Chaunts continue to be sung by the choir duringthe prayer of intercession, and the commemoration
of the living, and the diptychs of the dead 1;and
during the same period the celebrant from time to
time holds aloft in either hand one of the little mats,
which lie in great numbers upon the altar. Thecover of the elements is also changed ;
and for the
saffron-coloured veil which rested before over them,
another of deep crimson with a white border is
1It is customary among the Copts once every year, in the season
of Lent, to write on a piece of paper the names of living and dead
relatives, whom they wish commemorated at the mass. I have
known laymen go round all the churches of Cairo in one day,
leaving at each a paper in which is wrapped a fee varying accord-
ing to the means of the supplicant. The usual form of com-
memoration is,'
Remember, O Lord, thy servants, whose names
are here written, in the kingdom of heaven;the living, M. or N. :
the dead, M. or N.' Special prayers for special cases are some-
times added: thus for a son dismissed from his employment a
father will ask intercession in the words, 'Loosen, O Lord, the
perplexities of Yusuf.'
VOL. II. U
290 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vn.
substituted, and the people are signed with the sign of
the cross. Now comes the preface to the fraction ;
and when the priest says' The holy body,' he takes
the housel, and, placing it in his left hand, lays his
finger on the spot where it is broken. And at the
words 'The precious blood' he removes his finger
from the bread, and dipping it lightly in the wine,
makes the sign of the cross upon it. With the same
finger he now signs the isbodikon and another part of
the housel, so that three crosses in all are made uponthe sacred element. After the pax commences the
prayer of the fraction, during which the priest breaks
the housel into five portions, which he arranges on
the paten in the form of a cross, leaving the isbodikon
unbroken in the centre;and the smaller portions are
again broken up into little pieces, which are called'
pearls,' as in the Greek ceremonial.
Next all the people say the Lord's prayer, not, of
course, kneeling, but standing and stretching out
both hands and looking upwards, according to
ancient custom. At the ' sancta sanctis'
the priest
elevates the isbodikon over his head, lowers it into
the chalice, and with it makes the sign of the cross
upon the wine. Taking it out he signs the remainder
of the housel with it, and so accomplishes three
crosses of the bread upon the wine, and of the wine
upon the bread : whereupon the isbodikon is placedin the chalice. When the confession of faith has
been recited, the veil is placed upon the housel, and
the priest kisses the altar, reciting a sentence of
adoration. On the removal of the veil which
follows, the star or dome is seen resting on the
paten, and under it a small green veil embroidered
with crosses, which covers the wafer. Suddenly the
CH. vii.] The Seven Sacraments. 291
priest takes the paten in his hand, and raising it
over his head, turns towards the people, and stands
in the doorway of the sanctuary thus holding it aloft,
while all the people shout '
Blessed is he that comethin the name of the Lord.' During the consecration
a deacon stands on either side of the priest holding a
burning taper.
The celebrant himself communicates, and ad-
ministers to the other clergy, and to the laity in
order. Each one as he receives holds in his handone of the little mats
;and when he has partaken,
he wipes his lips with the mat carefully, lest anyparticle fall upon the ground. The communion is
administered by means of intinction with the spoon,but the isbodikon is specially reserved for the
ministers of the altar. If a bishop be present, he
communicates himself, dipping the spoon into the
chalice. Even little children receive, and are
admitted into the haikal. Women however are not
so admitted l
;but the priest comes down from the
sanctuary and administers to them in their own
place, whether in the gallery or at the west end of
the church. Communicants now are very few, andfor the most part children. They walk round andround the altar, and continue receiving until all the
wafer is consumed. Then the priest drinks to the
dregs what remains in the chalice : wipes the inside
1 In the Celtic rite, women were not allowed to receive unless
they were veiled, an eastern custom ordered to be observed in the
Apostolical Constitutions, and still remaining with the Copts. Mr.
Warren mentions also an Irish church in North Munster, where
women were forbidden to enter, as was the custom at AnbaShanudah : and another church, where they were not allowed to
approach the altar. See Lit. and Rit. of Celtic Church, pp. 136-
138-
U 2
292 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vn.
with his finger and licks his finger : washes out the
chalice with water, and drinks the rinsings. In like
manner the paten is washed, and the rinsings are
drunk by the deacon. I have seen a deacon after
the celebration place the spoon repeatedly upon his
lips and eyes and forehead, a custom which carries
one back, very curiously, through fifteen hundred
years to the time of Cyril of Jerusalem, who, in the
middle of the fourth century, wrote in his directions
for communicants as follows :
'
Further, touchingwith thy hands the moisture remaining on thy lips,
sanctify both thine eyes and thy forehead and the
other organs of sense 1.' What other Church pre-
serves in so startling a manner the minutiae of
primitive tradition ?
Finally, when the vessels are washed and the
blessing given, water is sprinkled by the bishop, if
he be present, over the altar and in the air about the
sanctuary and over the ministers. Then the bishopcomes out from the haikal preceded by a deacon,
who carries a silver basin and ewer : the deacon
pours water over the hand of the bishop : and the
bishop scatters it in all directions over the people,who throng round holding up their faces. Eulogiae,or unconsecrated wafers, are now distributed, and
the congregation disperses. These wafers are of
the same size and form as that used for consecration,
and neither smaller nor mingled with salt, as Vanslebz
1 My note of this custom was written in the very words more
than three years before I knew of the passage from Cyril. (Catech.
Mystag. 22.)2
Histoire, p. 100. The statement, however, is open to question.
The term employed in the Greek rite for this wafer is dvridcapov :
in Latin '
panis benedictus.' In our own Church the blessed bread
CH. vii.] The Seven Sacraments. 293
with doubtful truth alleges to have been customarytwo centuries ago. The Copts do not use salt in
any part of their ritual whatever.
So far I have not mentioned the use of the fan
or flabellum : partly because it is not mentioned in
the rubrics, and partly for another reason. For in the
elaborate ceremonial of the mass to-day, inasmuch
as generally little more than the celebrant is visible
through the narrow opening of the haikal-door, and
the celebrant's movements are rendered obscure byhis eastward position, and sometimes also by clouds
of incense, it is very difficult to follow intelligently
the action of the ritual, and to ascertain what happensat any particular moment 1
. Moreover, as the fan
now in use is merely a corporal or veil, and the
number and usage of the veils are somewhat per-
plexing, it is the more troublesome to decide at what
point a veil is waved in place of the flabellum. I
believe however that the elements are fanned just
before and just after consecration2
: but repeat that
conclusive observation of all the details in the
eucharistic service is next to impossible.Reservation of the consecrated housel is not
practised in the Church of Egypt, which therein
differs from the Church of Constantinople. For the
Greeks enclose the reserved host in a casket of silver
and kiss of peace were forbidden to notorious sinners. See Rock,vol. iii. part 2. p. 185.
1 Rubrics tallying more or less with parts of the foregoing
description of the mass, may be found in Hammond's Liturgies,
pp. 195-233; and Renaudot, Lit. Or. torn. i. pp. 153-302, where
much valuable information is collected.2 The canons of Athanasius partly imply this: see Vansleb,
Histoire, p. 288 fin. It agrees too with the rubrics in the liturgy
of St. Chrysostom.
294 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vn.
or wood, which is wrapped in a silken veil, and hungup against the eastern wall of the sanctuary, with a
lamp burning before it. Among the Copts it was
ordered that if a crumb of the wafer were found after
the priest had drunk the rinsings, it should be givento a deacon, or even to a layman who had not drunk
water : but if not even a layman were forthcoming,the particle was to be wrapped in a veil, and placedbetween two burning tapers with the eastern lamp in
the niche also burning. The priest was then to
watch beside the host till the mass on the following
day, to receive the crumb fasting, and to undergo a
severe penance for his negligence. In the eleventh
century the monks of Dair Abu Makdr in the
western desert were in the habit of reserving the
host from Palm Sunday to Maundy Thursday.When the patriarch Christodulus l discovered this
practice he forbade it, as against the rule of the
Church, under pain of excommunication. The
monks, however, persisted, and insolently asked
whether he were better than his predecessors, whohad allowed the custom : whereupon Christodulus
withdrew into the library in the tower of the
monastery, and composed there a treatise, which was
read publicly by a bishop, and proved so convincingas to silence opposition. Henceforth the custom
was abandoned. Renaudot, in relating this anecdote,
remarks that the reservation here spoken of does
not mean the reservation for the communion of the
sick, which was always customary, the isbodikon
being reserved after its immersion in the chalice
at consecration. It cannot however be questionedthat this distinction is quite erroneous : neither the
1Renaudot, Hist. Pat. Alex., p. 429.
CH. vii.] The Seven Sacraments. 295
isbodikon nor any other part of the housel was or is
reserved for the communion of sick persons1
,nor for
mingling in the chalice at a subsequent celebration,
as was customary in both Greek and Roman ritual.
The legend of the devouring of the eucharist by a
serpent and the consequent discontinuance of reser-
vation has already been mentioned.
Consecration must always take place in a sacred
building, except in cases of extreme necessity in
regions where there are no churches. As regardsthe communion of sick persons, no doubt there have
been times in Coptic history when the korban was
kept over the day of celebration for their advantage ;
or rather for the advantage of the priests, who were
thus saved the trouble of consecration at unforeseen
moments. Nevertheless, where this practice pre-
vailed, it was distinctly an abuse : for the canons
strictly order that, in case of need, when the sick
person is unable to come to the church, the conse-
cration must notwithstanding be accomplished within
the sacred walls and there alone;then the priest is
to go in procession, bearing the korban and accom-
panied by deacons and acolytes, who carry thuribles
and tapers. And although now the ceremony is
shorn of all its pomp, still both rule and custom are
that the priest takes a portion of the consecrated
wafer, which has been signed with the wine, to the
house of the sick person. There if, as sometimes
happens, he finds that the invalid from causes either
physical or moral is unfitted to receive the eucharist,
he does not carry it back to the church, but consumes
1 So Vansleb, Histoire, p. 130. So also Pococke, vol. i. p. 248,
states that none of the Copts, not even those who have joined the
Church of Rome, reserve the host. I can vouch for present custom.
296 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vn.
it forthwith himself. In order that he may be readyfor this contingency, he is obliged to go to the house
fasting. The housel is only given to the sick after
confession, and in no case where sense or conscious-
ness is failing.
Great reverence and care are required of those
who handle the sacred elements. In the Pontifical of
Gabriel a young and unpractised deacon is forbidden
to hold the cup or to administer with the spoon,for fear lest he might spill a drop of the wine, or let
fall an atom of the wafer. If the spoon slips into
the chalice, the deacon must so leave it, and use
another. Similar cautions abound in the canons
from the earliest times. Negligence on the part of a
priest who lets fall an atom of the housel is punished
by forty days' inhibition from the service of the altar
and from communion, fasting to be enforced duringthat period, and fifty prostrations to be made nightly.
The doctrine of the real presence, of the change of
the bread and wine into the very body and blood of
our Lord, is held by the Copts in its most physical
literalness. When Gabriel, the LXX patriarch, went
to the Natrun monasteries to be proclaimed there,
he had a dispute with the monks regarding the
confession of faith preceding the eucharist. It ran
thus :
'
I believe and confess that this is the bodyof our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, which he
received from the mother of God, the holy Virgin
Mary, and made one with his Godhead' Some of
the monks refused the last clause, on the groundthat it was a later addition : but finally agreed to
receive it when further qualified by the words '
with-
out sundering, mingling, or confounding.' This is
the form which remains in use at present : and it is
CH. viz.] The Seven Sacraments. 297
preceded by the words ' The holy body, the precious,
pure and true blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of our
God. The body and blood of Emmanuel, our God,this is in unity of substance.' The invocation too
prays that the Holy Spirit may come and ' makethis bread the body of Christ and this wine his blood.'
And the reality of the belief is shown by a legend of
the eleventh century. It is related that a certain
anchorite named Peter had his forefinger bound upfor fifteen years ;
and when he came to die, two priests
attending him with great importunity prevailed uponhim to show the finger. When he took off the wrap-
ping, his finger was seen to be red, as if coloured
with fresh blood. Peter then told them that once
when saying mass in church (apparently at the Red
Monastery), when he came to the consecration of
the chalice and touched the surface of the wine with
his finger, he said within himself,' Will this indeed
become the blood of Christ?' Thereupon the wine
rose in the chalice so as to cover his finger, and
stained it with a stain of blood, which remained
indelible. From that day forward he never con-
secrated again.
Masses for the repose of the souls of the dead in
the Romish sense are entirely unknown in the Church
of Egypt, for the simple reason that the Copts have
no belief whatever in purgatory. Apparently theyhold that the soul after death continues in an inter-
mediate state, awaiting judgment, during a periodof forty days : and during this period, or indeed after
it, prayer for the dead and mention at the mass is
not discouraged. But there is no expiation of sin
after death by suffering, and no traffic in the terrors
of eternity.
298 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH.
PENANCE OR CONFESSION '.
The sacrament of confession was held in the early
Church of Egypt, and is held unwaveringly as a
point of doctrine at the present day. But, needless
to say, doctrine and practice have conflicted at
various points of Coptic history. In the middle of
the twelfth century John, the LXXII patriarch, is
even said to have abolished the sacrament altogether :
and about 1174 Markus ibn Al Kunbiri made a
great stir throughout Egypt by preaching that there
could be no forgiveness of sin without confession.
More than two centuries earlier Sanutius, the LV
patriarch, spoke very clearly upon the point : for in
sending letters of absolution to a certain deacon he
wrote,'
the bonds of this deacon are loosed by myword, nor is there cause why any of the faithful
should hinder him from the eucharist': and subse-
quently he gave his opinion, that whosoever receives
the holy communion without confession of sin onlymakes his sin the greater.
Confession can only be made to a priest : and in
these days it is only the kummus or archpriest whocan give absolution. After hearing the confession
the kummus enjoins such penance as he deems fit :
and this must be accomplished before absolution is
granted. A general confession of sin is not regardedas sufficient
;nor could the priest mete out the due
measure of penance for sin veiled in general expres-sions. Silent confession over the smoke of burning
1 Arabic
CH. vii.] The Seven Sacraments. 299
incense is said to have been substituted for open ad-
mission of guilt, when John abolished the sacrament :
and the same custom spread to the Ethiopians. But
that departure from canon law was only temporary,
though the neglect of right confession lasted for a
long period. The form of absolution seems to be
the same that is contained in the prayer of absolu-
tion to the Son, and is deprecatory.The penitent stands before the priest with bended
knees and bowed head. Both say the Lord's prayer
together; and after some other prayers the priest
gives the absolution and his blessing. During the
orisons the penitent makes three prostrations before
the altar, and one before his father confessor, whosefeet he kisses beseeching his prayers. Penance fol-
lows, and must be strictly carried out, the penitent
rendering account of all his thoughts and actions to
the priest. When the penitent has accomplished all
that was enjoined, the priest says over him a second
prayer of absolution, ere he can be admitted to par-
take of the holy mysteries. In the Church of
Abyssinia it is said to be customary to touch the
penitent with a spray of olive : and the same prac-
tice, once common in western Christendom, still
prevails in some of the larger churches at Rome.When an apostate or notorious evil-liver is re-
ceived again into the communion of the Church, the
priest pronounces the benediction in the name of the
Trinity over a vessel full of water, and pours in chrism
thrice in the form of a cross. Lections are then read
from the scriptures : the priest pronounces the prayerof absolution over the penitent, blesses the water
again, and makes over it the sign of the cross. The
penitent is now unclothed, and sprinkled thrice by
300 Ancient Coptic Churches. CH. vn.
the priest with the words '
I wash thee, in the nameof the Father, and of the Son, and of the HolyGhost.' When the penitent has resumed his clothes,
the priest recites other prayers and the form of abso-
lution, dismissing him with the words ' Thou art
healed : go thy way, and sin no more 1.'
Confession and absolution are specially necessaryat the point of death.
1 See Vansleb, Histoire, p. 190. The account seems to contain
some needless repetition.
CHAPTER VIII.
The Seven Sacraments (continued).
Orders. Matrimony. Anointing ofthe Sick.
ORDERS l.
^COGNITION is given at present to the
following orders in the hierarchy of the
Coptic Church : patriarch, metropolitan,
bishop, chief priest or kummus, priest,
archdeacon, deacon, reader 2. The sub-
deacon also is a distinct order, and his position is
clearly defined as inferior to the deacon;but his
rank is not distinguished by a special name in
common parlance. To these orders that of monk 3
is to be added : and the rubrics mention also singer,
and doorkeeper or sacristan, as officials of the
church, though these do not receive ordination at
the hands of the bishop4.
1 Arabic2 Arabic
dy^i-Jlor
tsJ^kJI, ^lall, i_ia-ill,
-iJI<_po,, u-U-iJl, and
3 Arabic t^LJl.4 In a fourth-century MS. the orders given are patriarch, bishop,
priest, deacon, subdeacon, reader, monk;which occur in the com-
memoration at the mass : see Fragmentum Evangelii S. Johannis
by A. Georgius, pp. 308-9 (Rome, 1789, 4to.). Precisely the same
list is mentioned by Joseph, deacon of Abu Makar, early in the
eleventh century : see Quatremere, Recherches Critiques et His-
toriques sur la Langue et la Litte"rature de 1'Egypte, p. 248.
302 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vm.
The Patriarch.
The full style and title of the patriarch is' The
most holy Pope and Patriarch of the Great City of
Alexandria and of all the Land of Egypt, of
Jerusalem the Holy City, of Nubia, Abyssinia,
Pentapolis, and all the Preaching of St. Mark.'
Renaudot gives the title differently, adding'
et
Fostati Babylonis,' which obviously can only date
from Mohammedan times. The name '
pope'
or* baba or papa
'
has given rise to much controversy,but may probably be derived from the Coptic ni
<Ln<L or ni .&&.. Renaudot of course assumes
that the title came from Rome to Alexandria l:
but Al Makrlzi says that the bishop being called
al ab, or father, the patriarch was called by pre-eminence '
father of fathers'
or al baba 2,and that
the title was borrowed by Rome, having been in
use at Alexandria since the time of the first
patriarch : and the account given by Eutychiusis substantially the same. The Copts however
acknowledge three other ecumenical patriarchs,
those of Rome, of Ephesus, whose seat is now
changed to Constantinople, and of Antioch. The
pope of Rome would preside in an ecumenical
council : the patriarch of Alexandria bears the title
of '
J udge of the World,' and has authority to deter-
mine the date of Easter;the patriarch of Antioch
is'
Judge between the Patriarchs,' and would have
the privilege of consecrating the holy chrism, if all
the patriarchs happened to meet together for the
1Lit. Or., vol. i. p. 349.
8 See Malan's History of the Copts, pp. 27 n. and 28 n.
CH. viii.] The Seven Sacraments. 303
Maundy Thursday service. Besides the foregoing,the Copts recognise three honorary patriarchs, those
of Jerusalem, Bagdad, and Abyssinia. In an as-
sembly of patriarchs he of Jerusalem would carrythe cross : Bagdad preserves the faith, and is judgein any difference between the religions of the East 1
.
Formerly, of course, the seat of the patriarchate
was at Alexandria : but after the Mohammedan
sovereigns had fixed their capital at Cairo, the
chair was transferred thither for reasons of practical
convenience. Al Mu'allakah is, strictly speaking, the
cathedral church of the two Cairos : and the resi-
dence of the patriarch was established there first
after the removal. But as Abu Sargah and even
Abu-'s-Sifain seem to have contended at various
times for the cathedral supremacy, so also the
residence of the patriarch seems to have varied.
In the last century it was fixed in the Harat-ar-
Rum : but after the French invasion the then
patriarch built the present cathedral in the Azbikiah
quarter of Cairo, and the adjoining dwelling which
still serves as the *
palace/
Concerning the election of the patriarch in the
earliest days of the Church, the twelve presbytersordained by St. Mark, and the thorny statement of
Eutychius, there has been enough of controversy2
.
Suffice it here to remark that all historical evidence
establishes the election by means of a council com-
prising the chief among the clergy and the chief
among the laity. The patriarch was chosen by a
synod of bishops, and their choice was ratified by1Vansleb, Histoire, pp. 9-10.
2 See Renaudot, Lit. Or., torn. i. p. 360 seq. : Neale, Alexandria,
vol. i. p. 9 seq.
304 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vm.
the people : or the people might put forward a can-
didate, and the bishops confirm the election. Before
the year 700 A. D. the election always took place at
Alexandria : then, when the seat of the patriarchatewas removed to Cairo, the election was generallyheld at Cairo until about 1000: next came a period
during which the honour was taken in turn by the
rival cities : and finally Cairo made good an absolute
claim to preeminence. Yet even when Cairo was
recognised as the place of election, the ceremony of
enthronement was always held at Alexandria, and
was followed by a formal proclamation at Dair
Macarius in the desert. Indeed on rare occasions
the patriarch was elected at that monastery.
Immediately after the death of the pontiff, letters
notifying his decease are sent from Alexandria to
all bishops, monasteries, and chief laymen, summon-
ing an assembly to meet together. The first care
of the council is to appoint the senior bishop as
president, to obtain leave from the temporal sovereignfor the election, and to prepare themselves by solemn
prayers and fasts and vigils. When the assemblywas held at Alexandria, the chief priest of the church
of St. Mark had the right of nomination : and thoughin Cairo the right of proposal is said to have rested
with the Cairenes, some more or less phantasmal
prerogative seems always to have accompanied the
representatives of Alexandria. Often the nomineewas received with acclamation by all parties, more
particularly if he had been designated by the will or
word of the late patriarch. But in case of disagree-ment decision was sometimes very difficult
; until,
as the story goes, the Mohammedan vizier in the
eleventh century recommended the Copts to follow
CH. viii.] The Seven Sacraments. 305
the Nestorian custom 1. From the year 884 A. D.
the Nestorians in electing a new patriarch chose
first of all one hundred candidates, who were reduced
through a process of elimination by voting to fifty,
twenty-five, ten, and three. The three names were
written on separate slips of paper, and placed togetherwith the name of Christ on the altar : and after cele-
bration an innocent child drew one from among them.
If the name of Christ was drawn, all three candidates
were rejected as unworthy ;and the whole process
was repeated, until the matter was settled. This
method, first adopted in Egypt for the election of
Sanutius, the LXV patriarch, was afterwards used
occasionally in doubtful cases. A similar methodwas even used for the election of a bishop, whenMacarius LXIX refused to nominate to the vacant see
of Masr. In the Coptic practice, however, the nameswere placed under the altar, not upon it. When the
candidate was thus chosen, whether by acclamation
or lot, the senior bishop solemnly proclaimed his
name in the church, and the assembly shouted aioy,
agios.
It was required of a patriarch that he should be
of free birth, the son of a 'crowned' mother, i.e. bya first husband : for a widow is not crowned if she
remarries. He must moreover be sound in body,
unmarried, not less than fifty years of age, and
never stained by bloodshed : he must be a learned
person, of blameless life and pure doctrine, a dweller
in the desert, and no bishop. The last limitation
was enforced with such unvarying rigour, that from
the time of St. Mark to the days of Cyril LXXV in
1 This story is perhaps open to question, as John XLVIII is said
to have been chosen in the same manner.
306 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vm.
1235 A.D. no single instance occurs of a pontiff
raised from the episcopate. But the requirement of
monastic life is not justified by the most ancient
canons or traditions of the Church. In 609 A.D.
Andronicus was elected, being a deacon of Alexan-
dria : and amongst others who were not monks
may be mentioned Agathon about 663 A. D., and his
successors John and Isaac : John XLVITI in 775 ;
Ephraim LXII in 977; Zacharias in 1002; Gabriel in
1131, deacon of Abu-'s-Sifain;and Markus in 1163.
Now however the requirement is essential, though
obviously prejudicial to the welfare of the people.
For how can a mere recluse, who has lived far
apart from the thought and movements of his time,
who has had no practice in dealing with men, and is
often as ignorant of letters as of life, how can such
a man hope to know and rule the spirit of the Church,
or with helpless hand to guide the vessel in these
times of storm and peril ?
If the new pontiff was present at the assembly, he
was placed in the midst and his election confirmed :
but if, as more often happened, he was in the desert,
a deputation of bishops and laymen was sent to bringhim from the monastery, whence, according to a
curious custom, he was brought in chains. This
custom is said to date from the latter part of the
second century. For the story is that when Julianxi was dying, he had a vision of a man bringing
grapes to him : and in the morning there came an
ignorant rustic, saying that he had found a very fine
bunch of early grapes in his vineyard1
,and had
brought them as an offering to the patriarch. When1 The legend is interesting as bearing witness to the cultivation
of the vine in Egypt at that epoch.
CH. viii.] The Seven Sacraments. 307
Julian saw him, he exclaimed,' This is the man whom
the angel of the Lord hath shewn unto me.' Sothe countryman was seized, and protesting violentlyhis unfitness for the office, he was placed in fetters,
and so ordained. In the ninth century we read
that Joseph LII on his election refused to quit the
monastery, and was dragged away in chains. Sanu-
tius LV, being chosen against his will, was taken in
chains to Alexandria for his enthronement;and the
same thing is recorded of Ephraim LXII. Indeed it
is stated that the practice of fleeing into the wilder-
ness and being brought back in irons formed a
regular part of the ceremony of installation. Vansleb
puts the matter differentlyl
: he remarks that the
office was so disliked, that when the day of election
drew near, any one who thought himself likely to be
chosen forthwith went into hiding ;and the council
got janissaries from the Muslim ruler to hunt downthe fugitives, and to bring them in fetters to Cairo !
No doubt there were times when the burdens and
dangers of the office were enough to alarm the
strongest spirits ; though at other times, in the
eleventh century for instance, the primacy was the
object of a violent competition, in which no methodwas too unscrupulous. No doubt too the fear of
election sprang in many cases from a real sense of
unworthiness, or from that counterfeit form of the
same virtue which is characteristic of the Egyptians,the dread of responsibility.
After the decision had been made, and the new
patriarch elected, an inquisition was often held into
his life and character, to ascertain that he fulfilled
the requirements of the canons. Sometimes also he
1Histoire, pp. 12, 13.
X 2
308 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vm.
was compelled to sign a solemn bond and covenant
engaging to perform certain acts on his accession.
Thus Michael LXVIII promised, among other things,
to pay the annual tribute to Alexandria;to eschew
and to anathematise the practice of simony; and to
restore the churches of Al Mu'allakah and Al AdraHarat-ar Rum to their bishops ;
for these churches
had been usurped by Christodulus. But no sooner
was Michael seated on the throne than he tore upthe deed, laughing in the face of Sanutius, bishop of
Masr, who demanded his church, flatly denying his
covenant, and threatening to excommunicate anywitness who dared come forward against him : and,
finally, he excommunicated Sanutius for celebratingon the same day at Abu Sargah and Al Mu'allakah.
If the chosen candidate had attained no higherorder than monkhood, he passed through all the
other necessary orders on successive days before
the day of consecration, which must be a Sunday.He was made deacon on the Thursday, priest on
Friday, and kummus or chief priest on Saturday:but he was never made subdeacon, and never con-
secrated bishop. If, on the other hand, before election
he were deacon or priest, but had never become a
monk, it was essential for him to be ordained monkbefore receiving the higher orders. For this purposehe was invested with the whole angelic raiment,
the robe, the hood, the leathern girdle, and the
hermit's cloak. As perpetual celibacy and a life of
special holiness were required of the patriarch, so
doubtless the requirement of monk's orders, signify-
ing death to the world, was in accordance with the
most primitive tradition. But it is one thing to dress
the new pontiff in the angelic habit as a symbolical
CH. viii.]The Seven Sacraments. 309
act of ritual, and quite another thing to make anterior
monkhood an essential of election. The latter is a
vulgar act of realism, and a perversion of ancient
custom.
On the day of consecration the patriarch elect is
brought in chains to the church, properly to the
church of St. Mark in Alexandria, having passedthe preceding night in vigil by the tomb of the evan-
gelist. But in later times, when the body of St.
Mark had been stolen and the church destroyed, the
patriarch seems to have kept the vigil by the side of
his predecessor, from whose neck he took the patri-
archal pall. The ordinary matins service is sung,and is followed by a solemn mass, in which the
senior bishop pontificates. After the reading of the
lessons the chains are loosed;and when the passage
from the Acts is finished, a procession is formed to
the altar. First come deacons bearing uplifted
crosses, burning tapers, and flabella : then a priest
swinging a thurible, and behind him another priest
bearing the silver or golden gospel : next the arch-
deacon : the senior bishop followed by the other
prelates walking two and two : the patriarch elect,
vested in dalmatic and amice, and moving with
bowed head between two priests : and lastly all the
other priests in due order. Thus they advance with
music and chaunts to the haikal, where all salute the
altar. After the first gospel the senior bishop sits
on the throne, and all the bishops sit on the bench
of the tribune beside him, facing westward : but the
patriarch stands below between the altar and the
throne, and faces eastward, a priest holding him on
either side : and all the priests and deacons sit on
the lower steps below the prelates. Then the senior
3io Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vm.
bishop gives the decree or instrument of election to
a deacon, who takes it to the ambon, and reads it
aloud. All the bishops subscribe their consent : after
which three priests and three deacons of Alexandria,and either the abbot of Dair Macarius, or the ruler
of Alexandria or Babylon, i.e. Cairo, sign the docu-
ment.
Now the bishops come down and stand by the
altar. After various hymns and prayers with incense
the senior bishop lays his right hand in silence on
the head of the patriarch, while the archdeacon
makes a proclamation : again he lays on his hands,
and recites the invocation, while all the bishopsstretch forth both hands, and lift their eyes above.
Then the bishop signs the patriarch with a cross 1
upon his head, proclaims him 'archbishop in the
holy Church of God of the great city of Alexandria,'
and vests him with the patrashil and chasuble. All
return to their places in the tribune, while the sys-tatical letter or instrument of ordination is read bya deacon from the ambon. Very long prayers fol-
low, until the bishop proclaims the patriarch, whenall the people shout ato?, <&-toy. Then the gospelis placed four times successively on the patriarch's
head : the chief bishop and all the bishops lay ontheir hands : and when the patriarch has received
the pall and cope, crown and staff, he is led up to
the throne, and thrice made to sit upon it. The
bishop next proclaims in Greek his name and title,
while all the bishops doff their crowns. The patriarch
1 The language of the rubric here rather suggests the use of
chrism, but is not clear upon the point : indeed there is no plain
evidence for the practice of anointing at ordination in the Church
of Egypt.
CH. viii.]The Seven Sacraments. 3 1 1
sits on the throne, holding the book of the gospel,and bishops, clergy, and laymen all salute him. Thenthe patriarch proceeds to celebrate the korban. Hereads the gospel himself, and at the words '
I am the
good shepherd' all the people cry again a^oy, atoy :
at the end of the service he gives the peace, and
retires in procession to the sacristy, where his litur-
gical vestments are put off, and he is apparelled in
a dark cope. So returning to the throne he givesthe benediction, and passes from the church to the
patriarchal palace, or'
cell,' as it is called in signi-
ficant contrast1
. He rides on his own mule in a
great procession, all the clergy going before him,and the lay folk following after. At the head of
the procession three crosses are carried, and the
picture of St. Mark and his banner. In olden times
at Alexandria the procession made a station in the
midst of the city, where prayers were recited;and
thence with renewed chaunting they moved on to
the patriarch's dwelling. There all the clergy and
notables of the people came to pay homage ;and
a three days' festival was celebrated, first in the
church of the Gospel, next in that of St. Michael,
and finally in that of St. Mark. At the last service,
when mass was ended, it was customary for the
patriarch, sitting on the throne, to hold the head of
St. Mark instead of the gospel, and to place a newveil or covering upon it.
That venerable relic has long since disappeared.
1 The ceremonies of installation are given rather differently byVansleb (Histoire, pp. 162-9), wno mentions a large cross of iron
as laid on the altar under the paten, and taken by the patriarch
instead of the crozier, when he assumes his pontifical robes. But
interesting as the fact would be, I can find no other evidence for it.
312 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vm.
The story is that early in the seventh century an
Arab crew broke into the church and carried off the
coffer in which it was preserved, thinking it held some
great treasure. But the vessel was unable to leave
the port ;and 'Amr, sending to know the reason,
discovered that they had taken the head. When it
was brought again to land, the ship glided out of
harbour. Then 'Amr wrote to Benjamin the patriarch,
who had fled to Upper Egypt, recounting what had
happened, recalled him, and gave him 10,000 dinars
to build a church in honour of the event;and that
church is called Al Mu'allakah l.
At the present day the patriarch lives in a simple
manner, having the income of an average country
living in England. A lay council has been created
to assist him in the management of the church
revenues; indeed there is some likelihood of all the
endowments, ecclesiastical and monastic, being placedin commission. Great reverence is shown to the office
of the patriarch, however unworthy the person of him
who occupies the chair. It is still customary to 'wor-
ship' before him, i.e. to fall prostrate on the ground,
laying the forehead in the dust, and then to kiss the
pontiff's hand.
Metropolitan and Bishop.
There are four metropolitans, or archbishops,under the jurisdiction of the Coptic patriarch,
1 So Vansleb, Histoire, p. 169: but there is obviously some mis-
take in the name.
A great part of the materials used above is taken from
Renaudot's treatise De Patriarcha Alexandrino.
CH. viii.]The Seven Sacraments, 313
those of Alexandria, Manufiah or Memphis, Jeru-
salem, and Abyssinia1
. All these receive their
consecration at the hands of the patriarch ;but the
ritual differs in no way from that used at the con-
secration of a bishop, except that the service in
the case of a metropolitan ends with a special invo-
cation on his behalf.
A bishop may be recommended or elected bya council of clergy and laity, but his ordination must
be at the hands of the patriarch. It is considered
better, perhaps, that he should never have been mar-
ried;but the only requirement essential is that he
should not have been married a second time. Whena candidate is presented to the patriarch, the latter
makes enquiry of six or seven witnesses, who answer
for the piety and learning of the bishop designate.Sometimes a deacon is chosen, and the interveningorders of priest and archpriest are conferred on con-
secutive days ; moreover, as in the case of the patri-
arch, if the bishop designate is a secular, he must
receive the angelic raiment and the order of monk-hood. Vespers must be kept on Saturday precedingthe Sunday of ordination, and the night passed in
vigil, during which the new bishop repeats the whole
of the psalms and the gospel of St. John. The neigh-
bouring bishops, clergy, and laity are summoned to
attend the ordination ceremony.When the office of matins is over, the patriarch
and bishops enter the church in solemn procession,and moving to the choir, wait there while the mass
1 Vansleb mentions only three, Damietta, Jerusalem, and Ethi-
opia. No doubt the see of Damietta was once metropolitan : but
it is not so at present owing to the diminished importance of that
city. The cathedral too was seized by the Muslims about 1670.
Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vm.
commences ;then all enter the haikal, and take their
seats upon the tribune. Meanwhile the candidate
stands at the south side of the choir with a burning
taper before him; and on the altar lie the episcopal
vestments, including a silk epitrachelion, embroidered
with the figures of the twelve apostles. After the
lection from the Acts, the patriarch comes downfrom his throne and stands in the doorway of the
sanctuary with the bishops around him;and when
he has given them the cross to kiss, he sends
three of their number to the bishop designate, whomakes a prostration before them. Then a pro-
cession is formed, the three bishops holding the
stole of the candidate, and passes round the church
and into the choir again. The instrument of
election is formally delivered to the patriarch,
who hands it over to a deacon to read from the
ambon.
Turning now eastward to the altar, the pontiff
takes from it the dark-coloured ballin, and placesthis on the new bishop instead of the shamlah 1
,
having thrice signed it with the sign of the cross.
In like manner the epitrachelion is given, and the
wearer signed thrice on the forehead. Another pro-
cession now moves down the church ;and at the
western end the new bishop sits or kneels upon the
ground during the singing of a hymn. Then, singing
still, they pass to the door of the haikal ; and the
bishop falls down before the altar, and kisses the
1 This seems to be the meaning of the rubric in Renaudot : but
it is quite impossible to be certain about it. It will be remembered
that the ' black hood'
in the painting of Anba Shanudah has three
white crosses upon it.
CH. vin.] The Seven Sacraments. 315
cross at the hand of the patriarch, who signs his
forehead thrice crosswise. The kyrie is sung here,
and the bells are rung.After prayers and the pax, the senior deacon
cries,'
Lift up your hands, O bishops ;' whereuponthe prelates all raise their hands, and lay them onthe shoulders of their new brother, while the patri-
arch lays hands upon his head. In the subsequent
prayers the patriarch turns eastward;but faces west-
ward again to sign the cross thrice on the forehead
of the new bishop, and to vest him in full episcopal
apparel. When the bishop is fully arrayed, the patri-
arch delivers to him the small cross wherewith to givethe benediction : and after a prayer lifts his handover the bishop, crying a'ioy, to which all assembled
answer &io$.
The next part of the ceremony takes place in the
choir, all the clergy standing there, while the admo-nition is read to the new bishop ; who, after hearingit, kisses the threshold of the sanctuary. Thence he
is taken back to the haikal, where he kisses the altar;
and so he is led up the steps of the tribune, and takes
his seat on the right hand of the patriarch, holdingthe book of the gospel. Mass forthwith commences,and proceeds in the accustomed manner, except that
some special versicles are used at the kiss of peace.The patriarch communicates himself, confesses the
new bishop, and administers, giving the wafer and
the cup separately into the bishop's hand. Thenthe corporal is placed over the sacred elements
;the
bishop retires to the doorway, and the patriarch,
turning westward, places the book of the gospel on
his head, saying the pax. Then the deacon pro-
claims the reading of the gospel from the ambon,
316 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vm.
and the patriarch reads a passage from St. John1
.
After the words '
Jesus stood in the midst and said
unto them," Peace be unto you,"
'
the patriarch holds
out the gospel over the head of the bishop ; again,at the words ' As my Father hath sent me, even so
send I you/ he does the same thing, crying out
ioy. Then he resumes, and at the words ' Receive
ye the Holy Ghost/ he breathes in the form of a
cross upon the face of the bishop, crying again <toy,
and the cry is taken up by the clergy and the people,
the choir singing and the bells ringing ;and lastly,
at the words '
They are retained/ all the people shout,' A hundred years.' The patriarch and bishop return
to the altar, remove the veil, and administer the
communion to the rest of the clergy and laymen ;
while the choir sing the benediction. At the end
of the service, when the benediction is to be givenfor the dismissal of the congregation, the patriarch
robes the bishop in a dark-coloured processional
cope, and invites him to give a separate benison.
All then proceed to the patriarch's dwelling,and a three days' festival is kept. Here, too, the
patriarch often presents the new bishop with a small .
hand-cross and with a crozier ; but that is not a
necessary part of the ceremony of ordination. It
is, however, necessary for the bishop to fast duringthe week which follows his consecration 2
,and during
that time to study diligently the duties of his office;
and meanwhile the pontiff sends letters commendatoryto his diocese.
The installation of the bishop at his own church
1 C. xx.2Vansleb, Histoire, p. 172. Yet the same writer gives three
weeks as the period of fasting in another passage. See p. 33.
CH. viii.]The Seven Sacraments. 317
must take place on a week-day, and three other
bishops at least must be present to accompany him.
When he arrives at the village or dair nearest his
own town, the people come to meet him in proces-
sion, and prostrate themselves before him. Thenthe clergy read a chapter from St. Matthew 1
,and
conduct him with chaunts and music through the
town to the church. The senior bishop says set
prayers before the door, recites Psalm cxvii. and partof another chapter of St. Matthew 2
; other prayersand forty kyries follow, and they enter. Just within
the door the senior bishop reads the prayer of abso-
lution over the new prelate ;then come more lessons,
and the procession moves to the haikal, where all
fall down before the altar, and the new bishop takes
the lowest seat on the tribune. After matins, the
bishops put on their liturgical vestments and beginthe mass, the new bishop reading some of the prayersand censing the altar. They invoke upon him the
gifts of the Holy Spirit, and lead him in processionround the church. On returning to the haikal they
lay their hands on his shoulders, and then take him
up to the throne, where the senior bishop makeshim sit, thrice replacing him as he tries to rise, andthe choir all cry d'toy. Thus sitting on the throne
the bishop holds the book of the gospel in his hand,the prelates and priests kiss him in order, while the
deacons chaunt to music. He descends and reads
the gospel, during which the chief bishop places the
silver book upon his head three times;then return-
ing to the altar he accomplishes the celebration. Theinstallation, like the consecration, is followed by three
1 C. xxi. 1-7.2 C. xvi. 13-19.
318 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vm.
days of festival, but the bishop's fasting is now turned
to feasting.
The number of episcopal sees under the jurisdic-
tion of the patriarch of Alexandria is at present four-
teen;but in ancient times was far greater. Vansleb
in 1673 transcribed a catalogue of the sees from an
old MS. shown to him by the then bishop of Siut ;
in this there are nearly one hundred given, and that
number falls far short of the total which can be
found recorded in church documents. In his owntime Vansleb mentions fifteen as still existing :
i. Nakadah, 2. Girgah, 3. Abu Tig, 4. Siut, 5. Man-
falut, 6. Koskam, 7. Malafah and Miniah, 8. Bahna-
sah, 9. Atfiah, 10. Tahta and Ashmunain, 1 1. Faium,12. Bilbais, 13. Mansurah, 14. Damietta, 15. Manuf,
Bahairah, and the port of Alexandria, which are
united. At present there remain the following:i. Gizah, 2. Faium and Bahnasah, 3. Miniah and
Ashmunain, 4. Sanabu and Koskam, 5. Manfalut,
6. Siut, 7. Girgah and Akhmim, 8. Abu Tig, 9. Kai-
nah, Kuss, and Nakadah, 10. Asnah, 1 1. Al Khartum,
12-14. three dioceses in Abyssinia under the metro-
politan.
Kummus.
There are two senses in which the term kummusis used, or its Coptic equivalent /*vojuienoc, which
is a slightly corrupted form of the Greek 1770^61/09.
The secular kummus, or archpriest, has a position
somewhat corresponding to that of an English rector ;
he is the chief priest in charge of a church, to which
there may be other priests as well as deacons attached.
The name applies even to the superior of the cathe-
dral. In its other meaning it signifies the head or
CH. vm.] The Seven Sacraments. 319
abbot of a monastery. It is very difficult to decide
whether any particular church was originally secular
or religious : and therefore it is not surprising to find
that the superior in both cases is called by the same
name; though in all probability the term hegumenos
was once distinctly monastic.
When a priest is to be ordained kummus, he is
brought to the church, and set in the choir arrayedin his sacerdotal vestments. Two archpriests lead
him between them in procession round the church,
and bring him to the door of the sanctuary, where
the bishop is standing. All bow before the altar,
and the bishop says the prayer of incense;then
after other prayers lays his hand upon the priest's
head. Moreover, the bishop signs his head thrice
with the sign of the cross;the priest kisses the
altar;and the korban is celebrated. After commu-
nion a form of exhortation is read, admonishing the
new kummus of his spiritual duties.
Priest.
For the ordination of a priest the canonical ageis thirty-three years. Testimony is required from
the clergy that he be of good character and under-
standing, lawfully married, and a deacon in holyorders. If not already a deacon, he must be madereader and deacon on successive days previous to
the day of ordination. When the day has come,he must be vested as deacon, wearing a dalmatic,
and the orarion over his left shoulder, and be
brought to the choir, the bishop being within the
haikal accompanied by a priest. The candidate is
led in procession round the church;then bows low
320 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vm.
before the altar, while the bishop, facing eastward,
proceeds with the prayer of morning incense. Atthe prescribed moment the bishop turns to the west,
and lays his hand on the candidate's head, repeat-
ing an orison. Resuming the eastward position he
continues praying ;then turns westward again to
sign the candidate's forehead with a cross. The
proclamation of the candidate as priest follows,
whereupon the bishop makes three more crosses
on his forehead, and vests him in sacerdotal apparel.
After the thanksgiving a priest delivers the exhor-
tation;there is also a special admonition concerning
the duty of confessing the people and of exercising
great discretion in dealing with penitents. The new
priest kisses the book containing the exhortation,
and the threshold of the haikal, and the hand of
the bishop. Then he receives the communion, and
the bishop's hands are thrice laid upon his head,
and all the people shout agios with the name of the
priest and his cure. According to Vansleb the
bishop also breathes upon his face, saying,' Receive
thou the Holy Ghost;' but the rubrics do not seem
to mention insufflation.
Ordination is followed by a fast of forty days, the
fast lasting from sunset till three o'clock in the fol-
lowing afternoon.
Deacon.
For the ordination of the deacon the ceremonial
is almost the same as that appointed for ordination
of the priest : except that the deacon wears no stole
when he is presented to the bishop, and that the
process of investiture with the insignia of the order
CH. viii.] The Seven Sacraments. 32 1
consists in the placing of the orarion upon the left
shoulder. Vansleb records that the eucharistic spoonis likewise delivered to the deacon as a symbol of
his office, and held all through the mass;and that
at the end of the service the bishop breathes uponhis face. The a^oy is called thrice by the clergy.
When an archdeacon is ordained, there is a special
additional form of prayer, and a particular arrange-ment of the orarion, as described in the account givenabove of the ecclesiastical vestments
;but otherwise
the service and ritual do not differ from those of the
inferior order.
The subdeacon stands at the door of the haikal
without dalmatic or other ornament. The bishopdoes not ordain him by imposition of hands : but
after the prayer of morning incense places one handon each temple, so that the thumbs meet on the
forehead, and so recites an orison. The sign of
the cross is also made on the subdeacon's forehead
once, and subsequently thrice, as in the case of the
higher orders;and the orarion is placed over his
left shoulder. He kisses the altar, and receives the
eucharist;but the bishop at no time lays hand upon
his head.
As the deacon holds the spoon, so the subdeacon
holds a lighted candle in his hand all through the
celebration of the korban.
Reader.
The candidate for the office of reader in the
Church stands before the haikal without .dalmatic,
with head uncovered and bowed low. He is brought,as usual, in procession, and presented to the bishop,
who stands in the doorway. The bishop asks,' Do
322 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vm.
ye bear witness that this person is in very truth
worthy of the order?' and the answer is, 'Of a
truth, our father, he is worthy.' Then the bishop,
with a pair of scissors, cuts a large cross throughthe hair of the candidate, and a smaller cross in
the angles between the branches. After a prayer
westward, and another towards the altar, the bishop,
again facing to the west, holds the temples of the
candidate during another orison;then he delivers
the book of the gospel, and administers the eucha-
rist;but the ordination is accomplished without the
imposition of hands.
There is no other form of tonsure than that just
mentioned recognised by the Coptic canons or prac-tised by any order. Something of the same kind is
done at the ordination of the subdeacon in Abys-sinia 1
, according to Alvarez; and the subdeacon is
made to touch the keys of the church, a veil is
placed upon his head, and a cruse of water is de-
livered as his symbol of office.
No reader, nor subdeacon, nor singer may enter
the sanctuary, though they receive the eucharist
before the laymen.The singer is signed with the sign of the cross,
and receives a benediction from the bishop, of course
without imposition of hands.
Monk.
Three years of noviciate are required before the
order of monkhood is conferred. Then the abbot,
standing at the door of the haikal, bids the novice
lie prostrate on the ground, and reads over him
1
Denzinger, Rit. Or., torn. ii. p. 6 note.
CH. viii.] The Seven Sacraments. 323
the burial service in token of his death to the
world. The crosswise tonsure is made upon the
monk's head, and the abbot vests him with tunic,
hood, and girdle, accompanying each investiture
with the appointed orisons. Then, unless the monkdemand the asklm or angelic habit, the abbot pro-
nounces absolution and gives his benediction. Forthe angelic habit a separate service is appointed,and the monk receives a kind of cloak resemblinga cope ;
the cross is laid upon his head, and a
"special exhortation is read explaining the ardu'ous
duties involved in the assumption of this garb of
asceticism.
MATRIMONY 1.
Marriage is not allowed to be celebrated duringthe season of Lent
;but the most common time now
is just before the fast commences. The sacrament
of matrimony in the Coptic Church is surrounded
with much solemnity, and retains some traces of
ancient and even pre-Christian custom which have
disappeared from western ritual.
It is the duty of the priest to ascertain that both
parties to the marriage are acting of free will and
not of compulsion. On the appointed day the bride-
groom and the bride are separately escorted in pro-cession with music through the streets to the church.
When the bridegroom reaches the door, the deacons
bearing tapers and bells and the priests meet him
there, singing' Blessed is he that cometh in the
1 Arabic s-
Y 2
324 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vm.
name of the Lord.' Other chaunts follow, and the
bridegroom is then conducted to the choir. Similarlythe bride is welcomed with the
'
Ave, Maria' at the
door, and led to her place in the division or galleryfor women. All the clergy are dressed in white :
and if the patriarch perform the office of benediction,
the clergy escort him to the church in procession.The raiment destined for the bridal, a golden cross,
a golden ring, a girdle, and incense, are placed on a
tray in the choir : and sometimes also a new silken
cope, which it is customary for the bridegroom to
present to the patriarch, who puts on the gift for the
service. The service comes just after matins.
The penitential psalms are first recited, and incense
is burned : then the patriarch or celebrant is solemnlycensed by the other clergy. Kyries, alleluias, and
psalms are next sung and followed by the epistle :
then the choir is censed, and the gospel read in
Coptic and Arabic with the customary ceremonies.
Several orisons from the liturgy are now said endingwith the prayer of absolution to the Son : after which
the tray of vestments is unveiled, and the patriarch
blesses each one singly. In these the bridegroomis arrayed, being clothed first in a white silken tunic
reaching to the feet, then with the girdle about his
waist, and with a white covering on his head : more-
over the patriarch places the ring on the ring-finger
of the bridegroom's right hand, and pronounces over
him his benediction.
The celebrant now moves down from the choir
leading the man to the place where the woman is
waiting, and bids him give to her the ring, to which
also a crown is fastened. And when the woman putsforth her hand to take them, she thereby signifies
CH. viii.] The Seven Sacraments. 325
her willingness to become his wife, and the cele-
brant inclines their heads together. Thence the
man and woman go to the doorway of the choir, and
the bride stands at the bridegroom's right hand.
Thus standing they are covered by the priest with
a single veil of white silk or fine linen, symbolical of
pure and holy union. Appropriate prayers are re-
cited, and hymns are sung, accompanied by the
burning of incense, and divided by a lection from the
gospel. When they are finished, the priest or
patriarch begins the benediction of the bride and
bridegroom ;and whenever -he mentions their names,
he signs them with the sign of the cross1
. Litur-
gical prayers continue with music;and after the pax
the priest blesses a vessel of oil, and anoints both
bride and bridegroom on the forehead and on the
wrist : he blesses also the crowns, and after an
orison places them on their heads, and cries in a
loud voice,' With glory and honour the Father has
crowned them, the Son blesses them, the HolyGhost crowns them, comes down upon them, and
perfects them'
: and other forms of blessing follow,
varying with, the customs of the several churches.
Then the man and woman stand with their arms
crossed before them, and the golden cross is laid
upon their heads, while the priest pronounces over
them the absolution. This is followed by an exhor-
tation, at the end of which the priest delivers the
bride to the bridegroom, joining their hands, and givesanother benediction. During some versicles which
1 In the previous benediction of the bridegroom, according to
Vansleb, the priest stands behind him facing eastward, and touches
the back of his head with the silver or golden cross. See, however,
Denzinger, Rit. Or., torn. ii. p. 364 seq.
326 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vm.
follow, a procession is formed, and moves round the
church with lights burning and music playing.
When they have returned, the canon of the mass
begins. Man and wife partake of the holy eucharist,
and are then escorted in procession to the doors of
the church, and so through the streets homewards.
On the eighth day after marriage a solemn service
is held for the removal of the crown. Certain
prayers and lections are recited in due order;and
when they are finished, the priest takes off the
crown from the head of the bride and bridegroom,and dismisses them with his benediction.
It will be seen, then, that the Coptic marriageservice corresponds in its main features, particularly
in the coronation and removal of the crown, with
the same service in the Greek, as given by Goar l.
It corresponds also with the Latin rite, as recorded
in the ninth century by pope Nicholas, who brings out
four points as essential the offerings to the church,
the benediction, the veiling, and the crowning2.
ANOINTING OF THE SICK.
In the Arabic names for this sacrament, which
signify'
oil of the lamp'
or '
oil of the sick V there is
1Euchol., pp. 396, 400.
2 For other ceremonies connected with the Coptic marriage, see
Lane's Modern Egyptians, vol. ii. p. 290 seq. Lane's account of
the Copts is fairly accurate on the whole, though warped by that
morbid prejudice which disfigures most English writings about
them. See, for example, the thoroughly unjust article on the
Copts in the new Encyclopaedia Britannica.3
JjJuiiJ oo, or
CH. viii.] The Seven Sacraments. 327
nothing to denote that it is to be administered solely
as the last rite of the Church to those who are
departing. So far therefore the Coptic differs from
the Romish practice.
In the Pontifical of Gabriel the rites of the sacra-
ment of unction are described as follows. A lampwith seven branches 1
is filled with purest olive oil
of Palestine, and placed on a stand before a picture
of the blessed Virgin : near it also are set a cross
and the silver book of the gospel. Seven priests,
or any other convenient number, assemble in the
church. The service commences with a thanks-
giving, followed by burning of incense, a portion of
an epistle, and some appropriate orisons. Then the
chief priest lights one of the wicks, making the signof the cross over the oil, while his brethren sing
psalms. Other prayers follow;and at a time
appointed the second priest likewise makes the
sign of the cross over the oil, and kindles the second
wick : and so on with intervals of prayer and chaunt
until the whole seven wicks are kindled in order.
When all the prayers and lessons belonging to the
lighting of the lamp are thus accomplished, the sick
person, if he be in such a condition that he is able to
take part in the service, advances to the door of the
haikal, facing to the east. There the chief priest
holds the silver gospel and the cross high above his
head, and then lays his hands upon the sick man's
temples : but while the chief priest alone recites the
orisons, all the priests severally give their benedic-
tion, recite the Lord's prayer, and open the gospel,
reading the passage on which they chance to open.
1 See the illustration of such a lamp on p. 76 supra:
328 Ancient Coptic Chiirches. [CH. vm.
Moreover the creed and other prayers are uttered :
the cross is again uplifted over the sick man : and a
procession is formed and passes round the church,
bearing the seven-wicked lamp and lighted tapers,
while they sing, praying to God that the sick man
may be healed through the intercession of saints
and martyrs. At the end of the procession the sick
man returns to the choir, and standing at the door
of the haikal, as before, is anointed with the oil. In
case the sick person is too ill to endure the long and
fatiguing ceremony of the service in the church, a
substitute is put in his place, but the service is not
performed outside the consecrated building, and is
intended as an intercession for the recovery of the
sick, and not as the Church's final benediction of a
soul passing to eternity.
The Armenian rite for the anointing of the sick
closely resembles the Coptic in its use of a seven-
wicked lamp : but differs in allowing the service to
be held at the bedside, in cases where the sick
person is unable to go to the-church.
This practice of anointing the sick with oil from a
church lamp is extremely ancient. St. Chrysostom
clearly speaks of persons who had been anointed in
faith with oil from such a lamp, and had been cured
of divers diseases. Oil of the lamp is also mentioned
as used for unction of the sick in the life of Nilus
the younger1
: and monks and others are said to
have been healed of evil spirits in this manner, the
anointing being given at the hands of a priest. Thesame custom and the same expression are also found
in Greek ritual, which contains a prayer for the
1Vita, viii. 58, 59: Boll. Sept. 26, quoted in Diet. Christ.
Antiq. q. v.
CH. viii.] The Seven Sacraments. 329
anointing of the sick with oil of the lampl. Seven
priests also are required, as in the Coptic ritual;
and the oil is kept burning in a seven-wicked lampbefore the principal icon of our Lord in the church :
but wine is used in this lamp in lieu of water 2.
1Euchol., p. 842.
2Id., p. 436.
CHAPTER IX.
Various Rites and Ceremonies of the
Church.
The Holy Oils. Consecration ofa Church and Altar. Consecration
of a Baptistery. Festival of Epiphany. Palm Sunday and HolyWeek. Seasons ofFasting.
THE HOLY OILS.
ORMAL usage and canon law in the Westalike recognise three distinct kinds of oil
as employed in the service of the Church,
called chrism, oil of the catechumens, oil
of the sick. There are many vestiges in Copticrubrics showing that three kinds of oil have been
used from time immemorial in the ritual of Egypt :
and there still exists at the church of Anba Shanudahin Old Cairo a chrismatory containing three crewets,
one for each of the several sorts. But the cor-
respondence is rather in practice than in theory :
for it is doubtful whether the Church of Alexandria
ever formally recognised more than two kinds of oil,
each having a specific and separate ritual name and
purpose. In the early fourth-century fragment of a
Coptic MS., published by Georgius, two kinds are
mentioned, and called ^.VJon JULTpon and ^.viort
eX<s,ioit;and so perpetually we find chrism and
Various Ceremonies. 331
olive oil distinguished. The latter was also called
in Greek ayaAAiao-eoo? eXaioj/, whence, by a curious
corruption, the term galilaeon1 was formed in Coptic,
and constantly stands in the rubrics and prayersfor the secondary oil. There is no difficulty what-
ever in understanding the use of three oils in
practice and the recognition of two in theory by the
Egyptians : for while the galilaeon answers generallyto the ' oleum catechumenorum
'
of the Latins, and
the oil of the lamp answers to the' oleum infir-
morum,' yet the material of these two oils, namelythe galilaeon and the oil of the lamp, is precisely the
same in both cases, pure olive oil of Palestine.
They are therefore virtually one and the same oil,
and stand together in contrast to the myron2 or
chrism, which is an elaborate compound.The most essential ingredient in the composition
of the holy chrism is balsam grown in the garden
by the Virgin's well at Matariah, the ancient Helio-
polis. It was here, according to the legend, that the
Holy Family rested on their flight into Egypt: and
it is related that they hid in the hollow of a tree,
across which a spider wove his web, and so deceived
the pursuers. A mediaeval Arab writer thus cites
a mention of the balsam of Matariah :
'
in vicinia
Fostatae sunt ab austro vicus Menf et a septentrioneurbs nominata Ainschemes . . . dicunturque ambaehorti fuisse Pharaonis, cui Deus maledicat. In
Ainschemes provenit balsami arbor, quod nullibi
terrarum nisi hie nascitur V As a matter of fact the
1 An intermediate form is also found, A.V^.XXieX^.Iort.2 The term is in use at present in the Arabic form
^j^-Jil.3 See Descriptio ^Egypti, translated from the Arabic by J. D.
Michaelis, Gottingen, 1776, p. 127.
332 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. ix.
balsam-tree is found also in Arabia, and though the
last tree in Egypt is said to have perished in the
great inundation of 1615, it may very well have
been restored. Tradition, however, insists that the
balsam grew only in the garden at Matariah, and
required to be watered from the well in which the
infant Christ was washed. There is a story that in
the twelfth century a certain Jew, who had becomevizier to the sultan 'Aziz, son of Saladin, flatly denied
this truth; and, to prove his contention, had another
well dug close to the Virgin's fountain. For a yearthe balsam trees were watered only from the newwell
;and the result was that they yielded not one
drop of balsam. Next year the vizier caused them
to be watered in equal quantities from both wells :
and they produced then half the usual amount of
balm. The third year, when the water of the
Virgin's well alone was used, the yield of balm
recovered, and attained its full measure 1.
Several boilings are required for the myron, and
each is a process precisely ordered. The amount of
every drug used is defined by rigid prescription, and
portioned by weight and measure. At the first
boiling the various herbs and spices, which include
lilies and cassia, are put in a pot, and covered with
fresh water, and so left to steep for a day. Next
morning eight pounds of pure oil, which has never
been contained in any vessel of leather, is poured
upon the spices, and made to boil all day over a
moderate fire, the fuel for which is olive wood or
decayed church pictures2
. While the mixture is
1 See also Evangelia Apocrypha, ed.Tischendorff, 2nd edit. p. 193.
(Evang. Infant. Arab. c. xxiv.)2 This custom recorded by Vansleb (Histoire, p. 91), still con-
CH. ix.] Various Ceremonies. 333
boiling the whole of the Psalms are recited. Fromtime to time the spices are stirred with a wand of
olive ;and as the water fails, it is replenished. In
the evening the pot is taken off the fire, and the oil
left to cool all night till the following morning, whenit is strained through linen.
Then red roses of Persia, white sandal-wood, and
other aromatics are placed in a cauldron of fresh
water and left for six hours;when the oil of yester-
day is placed with them, and the whole is boiled for
four hours over a slow fire, and strained again.For the third boiling other spices are chosen,
steeped, boiled with the oil resulting from the day
preceding, and strained as before. Next day white
storax, saffron, aloe-wood, and more red roses are
used with other things, and boiled as before until all
the water has evaporated ;when the remaining
mixture is clarified by straining. This on the fifth
day is added to a decoction of yellow amber and
storax or balsam, and boiled over a slow fire madeof oak charcoal, until the amber and the storax are
dissolved. Then the chrism is passed through a
linen strainer into a clean vessel, and is stirred
daily for seven days, when it is ready for conse-
cration *.
According to ancient custom the hallowing of the
myron should always, if possible, take place at the
church of St. Macarius in the western desert.
Originally it was done in the church of St. Mark
tinues : it accounts for the disappearance of all really early paint-
ings from the churches.1 The manner of making chrism as described by a Coptic prelate,
in answer to a demand from the Maphrian of Mosul, is given in a
MS. in the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris. (XIV. No. 100.)
334 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH.IX.
at Alexandria, and when the change took place it
is impossible to say, but probably not later than the
seventh century. There seems too some ambiguity
concerning the day proper for the consecration,
whether it should be Maundy Thursday, as in the
western rite, or Good Friday. But the Coptic legendis that the day was changed to Good Friday, and
the place to Dair Macarius, c. 390, by the patriarch
Theophilus, in obedience to the command of an
angel seen in a vision. The same angel taught
Theophilus the right spices to use for the chrism,
and the right manner of its preparation. Theo-
phanius LX is said to have restored the custom of
consecrating on Good Friday, which had been
abolished by his predecessor c. 950 A.D. Duringthe thirty years which followed, the practice varied
between Thursday and Friday, until Ephraim LXII
by an ordinance settled Thursday as the right dayfor ever. Thursday, of course, is the day recognised
by the Church all over the world for the consecration
of the chrism;and if the Copts ever changed it, they
were doubtless conscious of error. Hence the sup-
posed sanction of the change by an angel's voice, as
in the legend. As regards the change of place, it
may very well have followed close upon the Arab
conquest ;for the ceremony required great pomp
and great preparation, and it is no wonder that the
scene was changed from the alarms and persecutionsof the city to the unbroken quiet of the desert
monastery.When the day has come, the patriarch and a great
number of bishops and clergy and laity assemble at
the church of St. Macarius. The two oils which
await consecration, the myron and the galilaeon, are
CH. ix.] Various Ceremonies. 335
placed in separate vessels on the high altar l. Service
begins with a thanksgiving accompanied by incense,
and a prayer is recited by the patriarch. Thenfollow several lessons, during which the pontiff is
seated on his throne, and when they are ended a
procession is formed, which passes round the church.
At the head a processional cross is carried : then
come twelve subdeacons each bearing a lighted
lamp : twelve deacons with silver flabella : twelve
priests with censers of burning incense : the patri-
arch walking under a white silken canopy, upheld
by four deacons, and carrying the vessel of holy oil
covered by a white veil : and on either side of the
patriarch and behind him are other ecclesiastics
bearing flabella and crosses. As they move, all
sing,' Behold the ointment of the Lord
' 2: and
when they return to the haikal, the patriarch placesthe myron again upon the altar 3
, and proceeds with
the long but beautiful consecration service. After
the benediction of the oils the korban is immediatelycelebrated : and when it is over, the myron and the
1
According to Vansleb the'
mystagogia/ which he defines as
the creed of the apostles, is placed between them. The same
writer mentions two '
altars'
of wood specially made, one on each
side of the high altar : but the term is obviously inaccurate, mere
pedestals being required if anything, and no mention being madeeven of these in the rubrics. The statement doubtless arises from
a misapprehension : I think it possible that altar-boards may have
been used as stands for the vessels but placed upon the high altar.
See Histoire, p. 231 seq.3 The Copts say that the chrism represents the balm used at the
entombment.3
According to Vansleb the myron is placed on one of the wooden
pedestals, and the galilaeon on the other : but see the rubric in
Denzinger, Rit. Or., torn. i. p. 251, where nothing of the kind is
mentioned.
336 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. ix.
galilaeon are both placed in the cavity under the
high altar, where they remain until Tuesday in
Easter week. On that day after mass the patriarchdistributes to the bishops sufficient quantities to last'
them for the coming year. It should be noticed
that in the prayers of benediction, where the uses of
the chrism are specified, the anointing of regenera-tion is mentioned, and the anointing of bishops and
priests, and the consecration of altars : but in the
benediction of the galilaeon it is stated that'
priests
and martyrs' have been anointed with it. Fromthe tenour of the prayers in the latter case, it is
clear that the galilaeon is regarded as possessing a
mystic virtue against idolatry and witchcraft, a
power of defence against the assaults of the devil,
and a power of healing for soul and body. It is
therefore needful in some way to all the faithful :
and accordingly we find that to this day all folk,
whether cleric or lay, are anointed once a year in
the season of Lent with the galilaeon.
But present practice has departed somewhat from
the primitive tradition. For while the galilaeonseems almost to have disappeared through a con-
fusion with the oil of the sick, which is hallowed
from time to time as required ;the consecration of
chrism has become an extremely rare occurrence.
Not that its worth has been in any way depreciated :
on the contrary it is regarded still as no less neces-
sary than sovereignly precious : but for the last two
or three hundred years at least it seems to have
been made in larger quantities, and consequently at
longer intervals. For the ceremony, which should
be annual, now takes place once in every thirty
or forty years. According to Pococke a definite
CH. ix.] Various Ceremonies. 337
interval of thirty years is prescribed ;but this is not
the case. A list of dates, for instance, at which the
consecration was held in the thirteenth century shows
irregular intervals varying from six to fifteen yearsl
.
The myron is now used only at confirmation, and at
the dedication of a new church, altar, picture or
vessel, according to the testimony of the present
patriarch.
There is a close resemblance between Coptic and
Greek usage as regards the myron : for the sameterm is used in both languages. The preparation is
as elaborate : for the Greeks use oil, wine, balsam,
myrrh, storax, cassia, cinnamon, marjory, and in all
some thirty-six aromatics 2. Moreover the consecra-
tion is attended with much the same ceremonial.
The oil is carried in procession in an alabaster box,
which is covered with a veil;before it move deacons
with lighted tapers, and on each side of it are seven
deacons carrying fans, which they hold above the
vessel. But the pontiff instead of carrying the holyoil receives it from the chief priest or bishop at the
door of the sanctuary, and places it on the altar.
In the West the chrism was made merely of oil
and balsam. The three oils were consecrated
together, the chrism being borne in a vessel of gold,while the oleum sanctum and oleum infirmorum
were held in silver vessels : and the procession
through the church resembled that of the oriental
ritual. Chrism was used for the latter unction at
baptism and for confirmation;for the consecration
of a church, altar, and bells;for the consecration of
1 The MS. in the Bibliotheque Nationale gives the years 1299,
1305, 132, i330> J 340, and 1346 A.D.
2Goar, Euchol., p. 637.
VOL. II. Z
338 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. ix.
bishops, priests, and kings ;and it was placed on the
hands of the deacon, and on crucifixes at their bene-
diction. But in the Latin rite the chrism and balsam
were set on the altar separately : during the service
the bishop mingled a portion of the oil with the
balsam on the paten, and then replaced it in the
golden vessel. Curiously enough exactly the samemethod of mingling the chrism is found in the
Jacobite Syrian ritual, which otherwise tallies rather
with the Coptic, particularly in the details of the
great procession, and in the prominence given to
the use of flabella. The Syrians recognise only two
oils, and call the second the'
oil of anointing'
: it is
used for the first unction at baptism, and for the
healing of the sick.
THE CONSECRATION OF A CHURCH AND ALTAR.
The Coptic order for the consecration of a church
having never been published, it is impossible to give
anything like a complete description of the ceremonies
customary. In giving therefore such points of usageas can be ascertained, others no less essential will
have to be passed in silence owing to want of in-
formation.
The service commences with vespers on the even-
ing before a Sunday, and lasts through most of the
night, the act of consecration being reserved for
Sunday morning. A great number of clergy and
bishops assemble with the patriarch in the building ;
but it does not appear whether there is any ceremonyat the western door, such as was usual in our own
country. Seven earthen vessels of water are ranged
CH. ix.] Various Ceremonies. 339
in front of the haikal, and the neck of every vessel is
wreathed with leaves of a plant called 'silk' 1. Seven
lamps also are burning before the haikal, and seven
censers of incense between the vessels of water and
the screen. A large portion of the psalter is then
sung, and followed by a long series of lessons;and
after every lesson a hymn is chaunted. Next the
patriarch censes the building, while the clergy singanother hymn. Prayer after prayer continues, varied
only with kyries from the people and portions from
all the four gospels. When the moment comes for
the benediction of the water, all kneel down until the
orison is finished.
Then all rising, the clergy form a long processionheaded by the patriarch : the vessels of water are
borne along in this procession, and the clergy, whoall wear their most splendid vestments, carry tapers,
thuribles, flabella, and a magnificent book of the
gospel. They go first into the haikal, where the
patriarch or bishop sprinkles the walls and top of
the altar with water, which he takes from the earthen
vessel in a gourd : then he sprinkles in like mannerthe walls of the haikal, particularly the eastern niche,
and also the pillars and dome of the altar-canopy.
From the haikal the procession passes round the
whole church ;and the pontiff sprinkles in the same
way the walls, angles, columns, and, where possible,
the roof, saying at each place,' The holy consecration
of the house of God.'
After the first procession a second is made, in
which the places sprinkled are signed with the silk
1
Apparently white beet. See Vansleb, Histoire, p. 215. It is
questionable whether the plant is not rather used as the instru-
ment of aspersion.
Z 2
340 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. ix.
leaves in the form of a cross. Finally, there comes
a third procession, in which a vessel of holy chrism
is borne before the pontiff, who signs the myronwith the sign of the cross upon the altar, walls,
columns, and all the places that were touched with
the leaves, and sprinkled with the hallowed water.
The consecration of the church is now accomplished,and the marks of consecration are sometimes recorded
by the incision of crosses. Thus all the pillars at
Abu Sargah have dedication crosses cut into the
marble : others are seen in Al Muallakah, Al Adra
Harat-az-Zuailah, and elsewhere : and the crosses
often cut on the architrave joining the columns of the
nave may have the same origin. It seems, however,
an invariable rule that no record was preserved of
chrismal crosses signed upon plastered surfaces.
In the foregoing account no mention is made of a
procession round the outside of the church : and I
have no doubt that such a procession never formed
part of the ceremonial, for the simple reason that
there is scarcely a single church in Egypt which is
so far detached on the outside as to render an ex-
terior circuit possible. In our old English ritual the
procession passed round the church outside, as well
as inside, and the bishop made twelve crosses with
chrism upon the walls externally, and twelve in-
ternally. On the outside, the places where the
chrism was signed were often marked by an incised
cross in a roundel : and inside, where the chrism
was placed upon a plastered surface, the spot was
marked by a similar design painted. In the British
Museum there is a French miniature l
representing a
bishop on a ladder making a cross upon the wall of
1 Add. MSS. 18,143.
CH. ix.] Various Ceremonies. 341
a church. The Ordo Romanus prescribes twelve
as the. total;but twenty-four was the more usual
number;and the full number was marked upon any
chapel added to an earlier building. Nine of the
inside crosses remain in Henry VII/s chapel at
Westminster : outside crosses are tolerably common.In England the size and shape varies : thus largeand fanciful devices may be seen outside Salisbury
cathedral, and on the church of Ottery St. Mary the
crosses are held by angels. The Coptic form is
generally that given in the woodcut 1 a Greekcross having the upper and lower limbs slightly
elongated and having all the branches hollowed
with sloping sides. The nearest approach to this
form in England is found at Chichester cathedral.
In the Anglo-Saxon ritual as recorded in the
Ecgbert Pontifical, the bishop, pausing at the western
door on his arrival, strikes it with his staff and is then
admitted. A hymn was sung outside, and a litany
within the nave : then the bishop wrote the alphabeton the floor, and passing to the altar exorcised and
blessed salt and water, blessed also some ashes, and
mixing salt and ashes, made a cross with the mixture
on the water. Wine also was mingled with the
water ; and the bishop, dipping his finger in the
water, first signed the cross on all the corners of the
altar, and then walked seven times round the altar
sprinkling water upon it with a branch of hyssop.In the same way he walked all round the church,
inside and outside, sprinkling the walls;and he
sprinkled also one large cross the length and breadth
of the building. Then the hallowed water was
poured away, and the altar dried with a cloth :
1P. 2 1 supra, figs, i and 2.
342 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. ix.
incense was offered, and a cross with oil was made
in the centre and at each corner of the slab;and the
same five places were subsequently anointed with
chrism. Crosses of chrism were made also on the
walls. Special prayers and rites for the consecration
of the altar and all the sacred vessels followed :
relics were enclosed in the altar or in the slab : the
bishop placed two small crossed tapers and a little
heap of incense and kindled them together over the
five spots marked by the crosses of chrism : and the
service was brought to an end by the celebration of
mass l.
Ceremonies not very different in kind, thoughdifferent in order, are prescribed in the Greek office
for the dedication of a church ; but there is no men-
tion of writing the alphabet on the floor. Moreover,
when the bishop after knocking has been admitted
to the church, he proceeds at once to set up the
altar-slab on the pillars which form the usual sub-
structure. Then the slab is washed with lustral
warm water, which is poured on crosswise, and in
the same way with wine : after which three crosses of
chrism are poured on the slab, and from these the
whole slab is anointed. Three crosses are likewise
marked with chrism, on each pillar. The anti-
mensia are consecrated at the same time;and when
they are removed, the altar is vested in its three
normal coverings. Not till this is accomplisheddoes the bishop go round the church, marking all
1 The Roman ritual for the dedication of a church continues, for
the most part, unchanged to the present day. A full account, with
illustrations, may be seen in the Pontificale Romanum dementis
viii ac Urbani vni jussu editum, inde vero a Benedicto xiv recog-nitum. Mechlin, 1873.
CH. ix.] Various Ceremonies. 343
the walls and columns. The relics are depositedafter a separate entrance in grand procession to the
church. They are placed in a hole in the foundation
of the altar between the two easternmost pillars : or,
if the altar happen to have a solid substructure, theyare placed in a cavity in the middle of the eastern
face of the altar. Chrism is poured upon the relics,
and the hole is fastened up with lead or with the
cement which is used for the slab, and which consists
of mastich, wax, and marble dust. This done, the
mass proceeded.The Greeks also, like the Copts, use chrism to
anoint the eucharistic vessels and church pictures at
their dedication.
The consecration of the altar follows that of the
church in the Coptic ritual, which therefore so far
agrees rather with western than with Greek custom.
For in Egypt when the pontiff has consecrated the
church, he returns, and standing before the altar
censes it, while psalms and orisons are chaunted.
Then he makes upon it three crosses of chrism,
saying,' We anoint with myron this altar, which is
built in honour of St. -,in the name of the Fa-
ther >%*, and of the Son <%*, and of the Holy Ghost <%*.'
After many more prayers he prostrates himself
before the altar, and all the clergy do the same :
then the altar is vested with its covering, and the
cross and the book of the gospel are laid upon it,
while the clergy and the people sing. A processionis formed and passes with sounds of music three
times round the altar;
and mass is celebrated.
Afterwards the patriarch breaks the gourd and the
water-vessels, and the fragments are taken away andcherished by the people.
344 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. ix.
THE CONSECRATION OF A BAPTISTERY.
Such rubrics relating to the position of the bap-
tistery as survive prescribe that it should be at the
south-east corner of the church. These rubrics,
however, which are of mediaeval date, not onlyshow a departure from the original custom, which
placed the baptistery at the south-west corner in the
narthex;but are in themselves of no great authority.
For I have already shown that, once the baptisterywas removed within the body of the church, no
inflexible rule for its position was known or followed.
It is, however, essential that the picture of our
Lord's baptism should be placed against the wall, or
in a niche near the font.
The consecration must take place on Sunday, if
possible, and at the preceding vespers the font must
be well washed. Eastward of the font three lamps,filled with pure oil of Palestine, must be kindled at
the rising of the sun. Three water-pots filled with
fresh water must be provided ; also an instrument of
aspersion made of palm twined with leaves of silk ;
some basil;a new sponge ;
and candles burning on
candelabra. The service commences in the church,
where, after various psalms and lessons with prayers,
the pontiff censes the altar saying the prayer of
incense. Then the pontiff sits upon his throne,
while the catholic epistles are read ;after which a
procession with incense passes round the church
into the new baptistery, where the bishop signs the
font and each of the three water-vessels with the
sign of the cross, and blesses the water. At the
CH. rx.] Various Ceremonies. 345
prayer of absolution to the Son the bishop putson his crown or ballin ; and when it is ended, casts
the hallowed water into the font, and breaks the
vessels. Then he takes the aspersory of palm, and
dipping it in the water sprinkles the whole font in
crosses, saying,'
Alleluia,' to which the clergy answer,
'Alleluia.' In the same way he sprinkles all the
walls of the baptistery ;and then, while psalms and
other chaunts are sung, he washes the inner part of
the font with the basil. Next the water is let off
from the font, which is sponged out and dried.
This done, the bishop, receiving a vessel of chrism
covered with a veil, opens it, and signs with the
holy oil five crosses on the interior of the font, one
at each side and one in the middle. At the east he
exclaims,'
I consecrate ^ this font for the baptismof the Holy Spirit': at the west, 'I consecrate >
this font in the name of the Holy Trinity, of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost': at
the north,'
I consecrate +k this font after the manner
of the fonts of our holy fathers the apostles'
: at the
south,'
I consecrate ^ this font after the manner
of the font of St. John the Baptist': and lastly,
when he signs the cross upon the middle, he says,' Blessed +k be the Lord God, now and for ever 1
.'
According to one rubric, when the bishop has
made the five crosses, he also makes two circles
with the chrism, one round the lower and one round
the upper part of the interior. The service ends
with the benediction.
1
Denzinger, Rit. Or. torn. ii. pp. 236-248.
346 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. i.\.
THE FESTIVAL OF THE EPIPHANY '.
Volumes would be required to give an account in
detail of all the religious customs of a people so
much given as the Copts to ceremonial. Here it
must suffice to sketch lightly some of their moresolemn observances.
Of all the festivals of our Lord, one of the most
characteristic in its mode of celebration is that of
the Epiphany, which the Copts call the Theophany,or more familiarly the Festival of the Tank. This
happens about the i6th January at night. The
midnight office is recited in the narthex beside the
greater tank, which has been filled with water.
After the office the patriarch or bishop retires to
the sacristy, and is vested in full pontifical apparel.
He returns in procession with the other clergy, and
a cross of iron is carried before him by a deacon.
Special psalms and special hymns are then sung,and beside the tank is placed a candelabrum with
three tapers which are lighted2
. Then comes the
benediction of the water, various prayers and lessons
being recited over it : moreover the pontiff censes it
and stirs it crosswise with his pastoral staff, as do
also all other bishops present in due order. This
benediction lasts about two hours; but when it is
over, the patriarch blesses also all the clergy and the
congregation, sprinkling them with the holy water.
Originally the custom was for the people to rush
tumultuously into the water, each striving to be one
or2 An illustration is given above, p. 70, of the very candlestick
seen by Vansleb at this ceremony. See his Voyage, p. 342.
CH. ix.] Various Ceremonies. 347
of the three whom the patriarch dipped thrice, and
who were thus supposed to receive a special blessing.
Those who failed of that distinction dipped them-
selves : and when the men had finished, they retired
to the choir, while the women came and disported
themselves, according to Vansleb, quite drapeless.
It is not surprising that such a custom led to scenes
of unseemliness, which caused its abolition.
After the aspersion follows the ordinary office of
matins, and a festival celebration of the korban.
The gospels and epistles which are read during the
service relate to the baptism of our Lord in the
river Jordan ; as, of course, for every festival special
epistles and gospels are appointed.The origin of this curious Epiphany custom goes
back to the remotest Christian antiquity. The
early Christians near the Jordan are said to have
commemorated the festival by bathing in the river ;
and the place where our Lord is supposed to have
been baptized was specially frequentedl
. St. Chry-sostom remarks on the practice of consecratingwater at night on the feast of Epiphany ;
and other
early evidences might be cited. It is probablethat at first in Egypt some spot on the bank of the
river N ile was chosen for the ceremony ;and in
remote places any stream or well of water served
the purpose. Later, and more particularly after the
Arab conquest, when the open performance of the
rite was rendered dangerous or impossible, the bene-
diction of the water took place within a sacred
building, and it became customary to build the largetank generally found in the narthex. Quite in
1It is one of the duties of the Copt, on his pilgrimage to Jeru-
salem, to bathe in the Jordan.
348 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. i.\.
accordance with this theory, we may notice that the
earliest churches of all those distinctly anterior to
the Muslim invasion have no such tank. Such, for
instance, are the church of the White Monasteryand most of the churches of the desert ; while, on
the other hand, buildings decidedly later than the
Mohammedan era, such as Abu Sargah and Abu-'s-
Sifain, have a tank which is plainly part of the
original structure. That anciently in Egypt the
festival of the Epiphany was associated specially
with the sacrament of baptism admits of no question ;
but what was the exact nature of the association, howfar the Epiphany tank was used as a font for bap-tismal immersion, and for what period such usage
lasted, are problems which seem beyond solution.
But the presence of the lighted candles at the
ceremony of consecration looks like a baptismal
reminiscence, as was also the unclothing of those
who plunged in the water.
The Melkites retain the Epiphany consecration of
water in a somewhat different form. A small cross
decked with sprays of olive or some leafy shrub is
blessed, and thrown into a river or any convenient
water, after a service of prayer held by the bishopover the water. The bishop and his clergy are
arrayed in full processional vestments, and so march
down to the riverside, followed by the multitude of
the people. When the cross is thrown into the water,
a number of men plunge in, and struggle for its
possession ;for it is supposed to bring to the owner
a blessing for the coming year. There is a Melkite
church and community at Port Said, where I have
seen the ceremony performed, for want of fresh
water, on the quay of the harbour.
CH. ix.] Various Ceremonies. 349
The like ceremony lingers to this day also in
Armenia. There, after the liturgy on the feast of
Epiphany, a large metal vessel of water is set up in
the choir, and a procession passes round the church.
In this procession the priests carry a taper and a
gospel, deacons carry a taper and a thurible, the
subdeacons a taper only. Last comes the celebrant,
who carries a large cross. When they return to the
choir, the celebrant hallows the water, dividing it
crosswise with the cross, and pouring upon it chrism
in like manner. After the service the people carry
away the water to sprinkle their houses, wells, and
streams;but the same form of benediction is re-
peated on that day in the open air over all rivers
and fountains in the vicinity.
PALM SUNDAY AND HOLY WEEK.
Osanna Sunday is the name given by the Coptsto the feast of palms, which, doubtless, was celebrated
by them long before a similar celebration found its
way into western ritual. There is a solemn mid-
night1 service held in the church, at which the
bishop blesses branches of palm. A grand proces-sion then forms, the clergy bearing crosses and
tapers and palm branches : they sing as they move,and make a station singing before every altar and
all the principal pictures and reliquaries. Passing
1 The Coptic hours are (i) Midnight or Matins. (2) Dawn or
Lauds, at 6 a.m. (3) Tierce, at 9 a.m. (4) Sext, at noon. (5)
Nones, at 3 p.m. (6) Vespers, at 6 p.m. or sunset. (7) Compline,at 7.30 p.m.
350 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. ix.
thus round the church they return to the haikal,
where the mass is accomplished. The lessons read
are those appointed for the dead, because all
obsequies are, if possible, avoided during HolyWeek. In olden times, before the days of persecu-
tion, and sometimes even after the Arab conquest,a great procession passed from the principal church
at Alexandria through the town bearing the blessed
branches. To this day the people carry them home,and weave from them baskets and other like things,
which they send to their friends. In the Nestorian
and Armenian rituals Palm Sunday is celebrated
with the same benediction of branches.
At one o'clock in the night following Palm Sundayin Egypt the prayers of Eastertide begin, and oughtto be continued without ceasing until Easter morn-
ing. The mass is not celebrated on the Monday,
Tuesday, or Wednesday ;and all the prayers are
recited in the choir, while the door of the haikal is
closed.
On Maundy Thursdayl
tierce, sext, and nones
are duly recited;after which, if there be no conse-
cration of the holy oils to come first, a procession is
formed to the small tank in the nave, where the
patriarch blesses the water with ceremonies similar
to those ordained for Epiphany : but the gospels and
hymns on this occasion dwell upon the subject of
our Lord's washing the feet of his disciples. At the
end of the prayers the patriarch gives his benison
to the assembled priests and people, sprinkling them
with water from the tank : then also he washes
the feet of sundry persons, both cleric and lay, and
1 Called juioJI u-f+ or Thursday of the Covenant.
CH. ix.] Various Ceremonies. 351
dries them with a towel. On this day, immediatelyafter the washing of feet, the door of the haikal is
opened for the celebration of the holy communion,after which it is closed again : but in this mass the
kiss of peace and the commemoration of the dead
are omitted.
In the Armenian rite for Maundy Thursday a
vessel of water is placed in the choir, and chrism is
poured crosswise upon it at the benediction. Whenthe bishop has washed the feet of clergy and people,he also anoints them. Then, resuming the cope,which was laid aside for the feet-washing, he is lifted
up on high, and dispenses the people from fasting
during Eastertide.
The churches continue open all night with cease-
less services, in which the hymns, orisons, and lec-
tions relate to the Passion. On Good Fridayl
morning at tierce a small cross is set up in the nave;
but at the eleventh hour the cross is replaced by a
picture of the crucifixion. The nave meanwhile is'
illuminated with a great number of tapers and lamps.Then the priests put on their vestments, and offer
incense before the picture, singing the praises of the
Crucified. All the hymns and chaunts on this dayare very slow and mournful in tone : the gospels all
commemorate the crucifixion. Prayers for all the
faithful are recited at the end of the sixth, ninth,
eleventh and twelfth hours : and a certain numberof genuflexions are made by the congregation at
various places, where the name of Christ is named.
When the twelfth hour is over, the bishop or kummus
uplifts the cross, on which three tapers are burning,
or Great Friday.
352 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. ix.
while the people cry one hundred kyries towards
each of the cardinal points. Then a processionforms and passes three times round the church,
carrying the picture of the crucifixion, which theytake to the altar. Upon the altar a silken veil is
lying ;and the cross, which was set up in the nave,
and the picture, being placed on the veil, are covered
with rose-leaves and myrrh and basil ; then the veil
is folded over them, and thus they are removed and
buried underneath the altar. This ceremony of
course typifies the entombment of our Lord, and
corresponds to the burial of the rood in the Easter
sepulchre, as practised in our ancient English Church.
While it is enacting, the congregation pray; and whenit is finished, they go to their homes and break their
fast.
Here again a comparison of Armenian custom is
interesting. A representation of the tomb of our
Lord is set up in the midst of the choir on Good
Friday : on it is a cross engraved or painted with
a figure of Christ, which the people kiss. It remains
in this position until the commencement of the mass
on Easter eve.
On the night of Holy Saturdayl the whole psalter
is recited. There is also a procession through the
church, in which stations are made, while the choir
sing the song of the Three Children : the story of
Nebuchadnezzar is also read. Mass is celebrated as
on Good Friday, except the lessons, half of which
or Saturday of Light. The name points to the
custom of kindling Easter fire as practised in the Greek Church :
but I cannot ascertain positively that the Copts agree with the
Greeks in this particular.
CH. ix.j Various Ceremonies. 353
are read in a mournful tone, half in a tone of joy.
After mass all the gospel of St. John is read, and
the silver book of the gospel is carried in processionround the church : a great number of hymns follow,
and the service lasts all through the hours of
darkness.
On Easter l
morning the psalms and hymns of
the resurrection are sung, and after them come the
censing of the altar and the office of matins. Im-
mediately following matins the celebration of the
korban commences : but on this occasion it is neces-
sary for the priest to wear all the liturgical vest-
ments at matins as well as at mass. As soon as the
epistles are ended, and before the gospel of the mass
is begun, the doors of the haikal are closed : then,
the priests standing within the sanctuary, and the
deacons without in the choir, all together sing the
hymn of the resurrection. It is apparently at this
point that the cross and the picture of the crucifixion
are disentombed from the cavity under the altar.
When the hymn is finished, the doors of the haikal
are thrown open again, and priests and deacons passthree times round the church in solemn procession.
They chaunt appropriate music as they move, and
they carry with them the picture of the resurrec-
tion. On their return to the choir the picture is
put in its accustomed place, and the remainder of
the service is performed in the manner usual on
Sundays.
i. e. the Festival of the Resurrection, or
i. e. the Great Festival.
VOL. ii. A a
354 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. ix.
THE SEASONS OF FASTING.
The Copts have been at all times noted for the
number and severity of their seasons of abstinence :
nor even at the present day has the general recogni-
tion of such seasons in any way diminished, thoughnow, as before, there are many individual examplesof laxity. Lent is, of course, the most important time
of fasting, and so is called the Great Fast l in con-
tradistinction to Advent or the Little Fast 2. In
ancient times Lent began on the day after the feast
of Epiphany, and lasted for forty days. Holy Weekwas then a separate season, some six weeks later
than the end of Lent, and coinciding with the JewishPassover. But tradition relates that the Coptic
patriarch Demetrius at the end of the second centuryfixed the time for Lent as at present, and joined on
to it the season of Holy Week.The Coptic Lent begins on Monday, and lasts up
to Palm Sunday. During this time the people are
forbidden to eat meat or eggs or fish, or to drink
wine. Coffee also is forbidden. Moreover no food
or drink whatever may be taken between the hours
of sunrise and sunset : but in cases of special weak-
ness a dispensation is granted of such a kind as maybe needful. The Mohammedan fast of Ramadansomewhat resembles the Christian Lent in its regu-
lations, and was probably borrowed from it. DuringLent mass is celebrated at nones except on Saturdayand Sunday.The greater part of Holy Week is also observed
i>t^XJl ftwt^i . . .a.!' .l + <o.^ "r
" * ~\
"
CH. ix.j Various Ceremonies. 355
as a fast by the Copts, and every Friday up to the
hour of nones.
It was, and still is to some extent, customary
during Lent for the Copts to undertake a great
pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The journey on camels
occupied about fifteen days, and great numbers went
together *. They reached J erusalem for Palm Sunday,
spent the week in visiting the holy places, and on
Easter morning attended mass in the church of the
Holy Sepulchre. A pilgrimage to Jerusalem formed
also one of the canonical penances.Advent lasts for forty days preceding the feast of
the Nativity2
,and is rather less severe in its regu-
lations than Lent, fish for instance not being pro-
hibited. But on Christmas eve, as well as on the
eve of Epiphany, a fast is appointed until sunset.
Another fast is that called the Fast of Heraclius.
The legend is that on his passage through Palestine
that emperor all along his route promised safety to
the Jews : but when he arrived at Jerusalem, he
was entreated by the Christians there to massacre
the Jews, in revenge for cruelties practised by them,and particularly for the pillage of the Holy City, in
which the Jews had leagued with the Persians.
Heraclius, hesitating to break his promise and to
cancel the bond given even in writing, was over-
persuaded by the Christians, who all engaged for
themselves and their posterity to fast a week for
him to the end of the world. So the massacre was
ordered, and the fast continues. It preceded Lent,
but now has been incorporated with it, the first
1
According to Abu Dakn as many as 60,000 Copts sometimes
started from Cairo : but the estimate is obviously exaggerated.
A a 2
356 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. ix.
week of the great fast being called the Fast of
Heraclius.
The third great fast of the Coptic Church, called
the Fast of the Apostles, begins with Pentecost and
lasts for about forty days : but the time of its dura-
tion varies. Another period of abstinence for three
days, which is called the Fast of Niniveh, comes
about a fortnight before Lent : and a fifteen days'
fast in honour of the Assumption of the Virgin is
observed, beginning on the first day of August.
CHAPTER X.
Legends of the Saints^.
LEGEND OF ABU-'S-SIFAIN OR ST. MERCURIUS.
N this day died St. Mercurius, who was of
the city of Rome. His grandfather andfather were hunters of wild beasts : who
going out upon a certain day, as was their
wont, were met by two men with faces of dogs2
,who
slew the grandfather. And when they were fain to
slay the father also, the angel of the Lord preventedthem, and said,
' Touch him not, for from him shall
come forth good fruit.' Thereon the angel sur-
rounded the men with a fence of fire;and they being
straitened besought the father of Mercurius, and did
worship before him : and God changed their hearts
into meekness, so that they became as lambs, andentered with him into the city. After that Mer-
curius was bestowed on him of God, but his father
called him Philopater. As for the dog-faces, theyabode in that house a long time and were converted,
abiding until Philopater grew to man's estate and
became a soldier. They were wont to go with himinto the wars, and none could withstand them,because their faces remained as aforetime. After-
ward they died.
1 See pp. 259, 260, supra.2 Sic : it seems to be an expression denoting the heathen.
358 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. x.
As for the saint, he became one of those to whomGod gave power and courage : and the people of the
city called his name Mercurius. At this time there
was at Rome the king Dacius, who was a worshipperof idols ;
and a flock of barbarians coming upon his
city, he gathered together his army, and went out to
meet them. But, seeing their multitude, he becameamazed and affrighted. Howbeit Mercurius went
forward unto him and said,' Fear not : God will
destroy our enemies, and will deliver them into our
hand/ When he left the king, a man of light robed
in long white raiment appeared unto him : in his
hand was a sword which he gave unto Mercurius
saying,'
If thou dost vanquish thy enemies, rememberthe Lord thy God.' Wherefore when Mercurius
prevailed over them, and went back as a van-
quisher, the angel appeared unto him, and broughtto his mind to remember the name of the Lord.
So when the war was ended, and the king wished to
worship his idols, together with his soldiers, Mer-
curius went not to worship. King Dacius hearingthereof made htm come, and was astonished when he
saw that the love of Mercurius to him was changed.But Mercurius cast in the king's face his garment and
his girdle, saying,'
I will not deny my Lord Jesus.'
Whereupon the king was exceeding wroth, and
commanded to beat him with palm rods and with
scourges : but fearing that the people would rise
against him for Mercurius' sake, he led him bound
with iron chains to Caesarea, and ordered that his
head be taken there.
So was his holy war accomplished, and he wonthe crown of life in the kingdom of heaven.
.
May his intercession be with us.
CH. x.j Legends of the Saints. 359
After his martyrdom, in the days of Julianus the
heathen king, who persecuted the believers, St. Basil
asked Mercurius with great beseeching to avengehim on the heathen king : wherefore the Lord sent
St. Mercurius, who pierced the king with his spear,
and slew him. Before the departing of his soul, he
filled the palm of his hand with blood, and sprinkledit towards heaven, saying,
' O Lord, receive the soul
which thou gavest me/And his image is under him *.
May his prayers be with us and preserve us.
Amen.
LEGEND OF ABU-'S-SIFAIN 2.
On this day we feast for the consecration of the
church of the great martyr, lover of his parents,
Mercurius Abu-'s-Sifain, hero of Jesus Christ.
His father was of Rome, a hunter of wild beasts,
and this martyr was bestowed upon him by the wordof the angel of the Lord. His name was at the first
Abadir, and he was brought up among the faces of
dogs.When he grew up, he became a soldier
;and in
the reign of the king Dacius, a heathen king and
worshipper of idols, Abu-'s-Sifain went to him andthrew down his girdle before his face; and then girded
himself, and said,'I do not deny my Lord and my
God Jesus Christ.' The king ordered him to be
1I. e. the figure of Julian is under St. Mercurius in the pictures.
Abu- s-Sifain is so called because of his many battles : he is
generally depicted brandishing two swords.2 Another version of the same story.
360 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. x.
beaten with palm rods and scourges ; then sent him
to Caesarea, where he was beheaded : and his war
was completed, and he obtained the crown of life.
After his martyrdom they built churches in his
name.
In the time of St. Basilius there was a king, a
hypocrite, whose name was Julianus. This king im-
prisoned Basilius and went to war abroad. Basilius
saw in his prison some other Christian prisoners,
for whom he went to pray ;and while he prayed he
looked on the wall, and saw a painting of Mercurius
riding on a horse and carrying in his hand a
spear. St. Basilius besought him to kill the king,and to deliver the people of Christ from the royal
tyranny. Then the picture vanished from the wall,
and at once returned, and in it Mercurius showed
his spear dripping with blood. Thereupon Basilius
asked,* Hast thou slain him?' He bowed his head.
This is the reason that the painters always paintMercurius leaning down his head, and St. Basilius
before him.
May his prayers be with us, and save us from the
enemy till the last breath. Amen.
LEGEND OF ANBA SHAN<JDAH.
On this day died the holy father, the monk, the
worshipper Anba Shanudah, the archimandrite from
the city of the Cataracts in Akhmim. His father
was a tiller of the soil and kept a flock of sheep ;
these sheep he gave to his son to watch. Sha-
nudah's custom was to give his food to the other
CH. x.] Legends of the Saints, 361
shepherds, and then going down to a lake of water
in the winter, when it is very cold, in this lake he
stood and prayed. A holy old man said that he
saw the ten fingers of Shanudah shining like ten
lamps.His father took him, and went to his uncle Anba
Yagul, that he might bless him. Howbeit Yagultook the boy's hand, and put it upon his own head,
saying,'
Bless thou me;
for thou shalt be a greatsaint for a great multitude.' So his father left him
with his uncle. On a certain day a voice was heard
crying from heaven and saying,' Anba Shanudah is
hallowed archimandrite for all the world.' ThenShanudah began from this time to do many devout
things and many worshippings. At his uncle's death
he was put in his place ;and he became a light to all
the country, and made many discourses and rules for
monks, abbots, laymeri, and women. He went to the
Council of the Two Hundred at Ephesus with the
Father Cyrillus. His disciples did not wish to take
him in the ship ; so a cloud carried him, and he
passed before the patriarch, who was in the ship, and
greeted him. All were amazed.
Jesus Christ came many times to speak with him,and he washed Christ's feet and drank the water. TheLord revealed to him many hidden things, and he
prophesied many prophecies, and lived like Mosesone hundred and twenty years. At his death he
saw an assembly of saints who came behind him : hesaw also our Lord Jesus Christ, and said,
' Hold me,that I may worship the Lord.' They lifted him up,and he worshipped. Then said he unto them,
' Fare-
well in the Lord.' He left with the young manycommandments : and he died in peace.
362 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. x.
May the blessing of his prayers be with us.
Amen.
LEGEND OF MARI MINA.
On this day we feast for the holy father Mari
Mlna. He was born at Mareotis near Alexandria.
The finding of his body after burial was on this wise.
None knew where he was buried : but the Lord
wished to show where the holy body lay. It came
to pass that a certain shepherd, watching his flock
near a hill, saw a lamb with a soreness bathinghimself in the river, and then rolling in dust over
that place where the body of the saint was buried;
and at once the lamb was cured. The shepherdwas amazed, and took every lamb which had the
same sickness to that place, made them bathe, and
then roll in the dust. All were cured forthwith.
He did likewise with sick men; and all sick personswho put the dust upon them were made whole.
Howbeit none knew the reason of this thing.
Now the king heard of the shepherd; and havinga leprous daughter he sent her to the shepherd, who
wrought on her the same cure by the same means.
When she wished to know the reason of this thing,
Mari Mina appeared to her in a vision, and said unto
her,'
My body is in this place : the Lord bids thee
to dig, and to bring it forth.' Being awakened, she
did according to this word, and brought forth the
noble body, and built on the spot a church.
Then the king bade all chiefs and notables to
build houses near the place ;and the city was called
CH. x.j Legends of the Saints. 363
Mareotis. Many wonders were shown from this
body. The patriarch and bishops came and con-
secrated the church, and the fame of its wonder
spread on every side. All this was wrought by the
power of the martyr Mari Mina.
May his blessing and intercession be with us.
Amen.
.. LEGEND OF MART TADRUS.
His father was called Yuan, who came from the
village Shatb in Upper Egypt. He was taken
prisoner to Antioch ; where he dwelt, and married
a daughter of the place, who worshipped idols, and
knew not God's worship. She bore him this saint
called Tadrus. But when she wished to presenthim to the house of idols, and to teach him her
worship, the father was angry and suffered her not.
So she drove him away from the house, and keptthe boy with her. The father prayed without
ceasing that God would lead his son in the wayof salvation.
When the saint grew up, he learned science and
wisdom;and God enlightened the two eyes of his
heart, so that he went to a bishop, who baptised him.
His mother hearing thereofwaxed very wroth. The
boy asked if his father was dead or no, and a servant
of the house told him that his mother drove him
away for being a Christian. Tadrus became a soldier
of the king, and then a captain of an army. Whenthe king went to make war with the Persians, he
took this saint with him to accompany his son. In
the city of Ukhaitus (sic] there was a great dragon,
364 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. x.
which the people of the city worshipped ;and they
were wont to offer him year by year some one that
he might eat him. There was a Christian widow in
the city who had two children;and it came to pass
that the people took the children, and offered themto the dragon, at the time when Mari Tadrus wasthere. The woman stood before him and wept,
telling him her matter. When he knew that she
was a Christian, he thought' This widowed woman
is persecuted, and God will avenge her.' Then he
got down from his horse, and turned his face to the
east and prayed ;and he went towards the dragon,
all the people watching him from the walls. The
length of this dragon was twelve cubits : but the
Lord gave Tadrus power against the dragon, and he
pierced him with his spear and slew him. Thus he
delivered the widow's two children. Thence he
went to Upper Egypt to look for his father. There
he found him, and knew him by means of tokens
which his father showed him. He abode in that
place until his father died : then he went back to
Antioch, where he found the king had become a
heathen, and was persecuting the believers in Christ.
So he went to the king, and confessed before him
the Lord Jesus Christ. Ere this the priests of the
idols had slandered him to the king, and the peopleof Ukhaltus told the king
' This is the man that
killed the dragon, our god.' Thereupon the kingcommanded to torture him. He was punished byinstruments of torture, but the Lord strengthenedhim. Then the king commanded to burn him
;so
they threw him in the fire, and beheaded him. His
martyrdom was accomplished.A woman of the faithful took his body, which she
CH. x.j Legends of the Saints. 365
purchased for a great sum, and hid it in the house,
till the end of the persecution. Then she built
churches in his name. Howbeit some say that this
woman was his mother.
May his intercessions be with us. Amen.
LEGEND OF MARI GIRGIS, OR
ST. GEORGE.
This saint was born in the year 280 of the
Messiah. He was of noble parents and brought
up with a good education. When he was fourteen
years old, his brother died, and he became a
captain in the army at Dicaeopolis. Then he
fought and slew the great dragon, and delivered
the king's daughter, on whom the lot fell a certain
year to be given up to the dragon. Whereupon the
king for his good courage made him vizier, not
knowing that he was a believer in Christ. He is
called the first martyr under Diocletian. Now on a
certain day Mari Girgis saw a proclamation againstthe Christian religion, and tore it down publiclywith great anger. Henceforth he scorned office and
all worldly things, and prepared to defend the faith.
So he distributed his wealth, freed his slaves, and
went to the court : there he spoke to the king and
chiefs saying,'
How, O king and chiefs, durst yemake such proclamation against the religion of
Christ, the true religion ?'
The king was wroth,
but hid his anger, and signed to the consul Magnetius
(sic) to answer for him. The consul said,' Who
emboldened thee to do this thing ?'
Mdri Girgis
366 Ancient Coptic CJmrches. [CH. x.
answered and said,'
I am a Christian, and come to
witness to the truth.' Then the king told him
under threat of torture to worship his idols : whenMari Girgis refused, the king ordered him to be
driven out and pierced with spears. Howbeit the
spears nowise hurt him. Then he was cast into
prison, where they tied his feet, and put a paving-stone upon his breast. He continued till next day
thanking God ;and on the morrow, being brought
before the king, he persisted in his faith. Then the
king ordered him to be tied by thin ropes on a
board set with iron spikes, so that the cords cut his
flesh : also a cupboard with knives inside it was puton his breast. But Mari Girgis endured this torture,
thanking God.
So the king, fearing he would die, loosed him,
and told him again to believe in the heathen gods.But Girgis refused. And a dark cloud appearedwith thunder and lightning, and a voice came out of
the cloud saying,' Fear not, O Mari Girgis : I am
with thee : whereat astonishment fell on the by-standers. Next he was put in a tank full of hot
plaster, where he remained three days without
suffering any evil. Thus far, then, the torments of
the saint : now shall come his wonders.
A sorcerer once presented to him a magic cup.
Girgis made the sign of the cross on it, the life-
giving cross which belongs to our Lord Jesus Christ,
to whom be glory. When he drank of the cup, he
took no hurt. The sorcerer seeing this believed in
our Lord Jesus Christ.
By power of prayer accepted before our Lord the
thrones on which the heathen kings were sitting
blossomed into leaf and flowers.
CH. x.j Legends of the Saints: 367
By prayer also he once cured a widow's son.
May his .prayers and intercessions be with us.
Amen.
LEGEND OF ABU KIR AND YUHANNA, OR
SS. CYRUS AND JOHN.
Abu Kir was of the city of Damanhur, near to
Abu Sir west of the Nile. He had a brother called
Philipa : and both were very rich. They agreedwith two priests called Yuhanna and Abtulmaz, and
the four went to Kartassah, where was the governor.Before him they confessed the Lord Jesus Christ.
He commanded them to be shot upon with arrows;
but the arrows came not nigh them at all. Next he
commanded them to be cast into a burning fiery
furnace;but the Lord sent his angel, and delivered
them from the fire. Then the king commandedthem to be bound to the tails of horses, and to be
dragged from Kartassah to Damanhur. All this
was done to them, and they took no hurt. At last
the king commanded them to be beheaded by the
sword outside the city of Damanhur. Their mar-
tyrdom was accomplished, and they obtained its
crown. Some men came from Sa al Haggar, and
took the body of Abu Kir, and built thereover a
church. But the bodies of the other three saints
were taken by people of Damanhur, who wrappedthem in goodly apparel, and placed them in
Damanhur.
May the prayers of all be with us, and save us
from the evil enemy till the last breath. Amen.Afterwards an angel appeared to the patriarch
368 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. \.
Cyrillus of Alexandria, bidding him take away the
bodies of Abu Kir and Yuhanna. So the peoplewent and dug them out, and carried them with
honour to the church of St. Mark at Alexandria
by the river. There they built a church over
them.
Near this church was an underground labyrinthof the idols, where the heathen were wont to meet
every year to make a feast to the idols. Whenthey saw the wonders that were shown from the
bodies of these two saints, they left their idols and
their labyrinth, and became Christians.
LEGEND OF YAKUB AL MUKATT A, OR ST. JAMES
WHO WAS CUT TO PIECES.
On this day won martyrdom Mari Yakub al
Mukatt'a. He was of the soldiers of Sacratus, son
of Safur king of Persia. He was greatly beloved
by the king, who took his counsel in many things ;
and for that reason he inclined the heart of this
saint from the worship of Jesus Christ. His mother
and wife and sister hearing of this wrote unto him a
letter, saying,' Why hast thou forsaken the faith in
Jesus Christ, and followed the created elements, to
wit fire and sun ? Know that if thou dost persist
herein, we shall be as strangers unto thee hence-
forward.'
When he read this letter, he wept with bitter
weeping, and said,'
If my kinsfolk are estrangedfrom me, how can I be estranged from the Lord
Jesus ?' From this time forth he began to read in
CH. x.j Legends of the Saints. 369
Christian books ;and he wept, and forsook the
king's service. But when certain persons told the
king about him, he bade him come;and seeing that
what they reported was true, he commanded to
scourge him with grievous scourgings. Howbeit this
changed not his belief. Then the king commandedto cut him with knives. So they cut off the fingers
of his hands, then the toes of his feet, and his legs,
and his hands and his arms, and they cut him into
thirty-two pieces. Whenever they cut a limb from
him, he sang hymns, and said,' O God of the
Christians, receive unto thee a branch of the tree in
the greatness of thy mercy : for if the vine-dressers
dress the vine, it will blossom in the month of Ni-
sann 1
,and its branches will spread abroad.'
When nought remained save his breast, his head,
and his waist, and he knew that the time drew near
for the deliverance of his soul, he asked of the Lordto have mercy on them, and to pity them, saying,
'My hands are not left unto me, that I may lift them
up unto Thee, and here my limbs are thrown around
me : wherefore receive, O Lord, my soul.'
Forthwith Christ Jesus appeared unto him, and
comforted him, and strengthened him, and he was
glad. Ere he gave up the ghost, he made haste and
took his holy head (sic] and went to the places of
light to Christ who loved him. His body was taken
by God-fearing men, who wrapped it well, and put it
in a goodly place. His mother and wife and sister,
hearing of his martyrdom, rejoiced exceedingly; and
came to the place of his body, and wept thereon, and
put upon it costly apparel and spices.
1I. e. in the springtime. Nisann corresponds to April.
VOL. ii. B b
370 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. x.
In the reign of Arcadius and Honorius, two good
kings, a church and monastery were built upon it.
The king of Persia hearing of this monastery, and
of the martyrs and of their bodies, and the miracles
which were shown from them, commanded to burn
the bodies of the saints in every place throughouthis kingdom. Then some of the believers took the
body of St. James, and coming with it to Jerusalem,
placed it with St. Peter the bishop of Rahui. With
him it continued till Marcian became king. At that
time St. Peter took it and came into Egypt, unto a
city called Bahnasah. There he abode some days,
and with him certain monks. While they were
singing hymns at the sixth hour near the body,St. James appeared unto them with a multitude of
Persian martyrs, who were clad in Persian raiment.
And they sang hymns with them and blessed them.
Afterward the saint said unto them,' My body shall
lie here according to the Lord's commandment.'
Then Peter the bishop, wishing to return to his own
country, took with him the body and bare it to the
sea : thus he disobeyed the word of the saint. But
the body was caught away from their hands to the
place where it was before.
May his intercession preserve us for ever. Amen.It was said that his body in Persia, when there
was a feast and the people were gathered togetheraround it, was wont to move in its coffin till the end
of the feast. Where the body of the saint now is
none knoweth.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
CH. x.j Legends of the Saints. 371
LEGEND OF THE FIVE AND THEIR MOTHER.
This day we make the feast of Kosman and
Dimian and their brothers Antinous, Laudius and
Ibrabius, and their mother. These were from the
city of Daperma in the Arab country. Their mother
was called Theodora. She was a God-fearing woman,a widow, and kind of heart. She taught her children
medicine, and they visited all, and chiefly the poor,
without money or price. When the king Diocletian
became heathen, he heard that these heroes did
break upon the worship of the idols. He bade
them to come, and tortured them with all manner of
torture, such as beating, burning with fire, and
casting them into bath furnaces during three daysand three nights. From all this the Lord madethem arise without scathe. Their mother continually
comforted them, and strengthened them to bear the
torment.
Then she blasphemed the king to his face, and
all his wicked gods also. The king commanded to
behead her, and she won the crown of life. Her
body remained after her death cast away, and none
dare bury it ; but her son Kosman cried and said,' O people of the city, have ye no pity in your hearts
to carry the body of this old widowed woman to
burial ?'
Hearing this one called Buktor, son of Romanus,took the body, wrapped it in a shroud, and buried it.
Then the king ordered him to be banished to Egypt,where he died.
As for her children, the next day they also were
B b 2
372 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. x.
beheaded and obtained eternal life. When the perse-
cution was over, the people built to them churches,
which were consecrated on such a day as this;and
from them were shown many miracles.
May their prayers be with us. Amen.
LEGEND OF ABU NAFR.
On this day died the good father, the master of
fair report and of good old age, the saint Abu Nafr,
the wanderer in the wilderness of Upper Egypt.This is according to the word of St. Bifnutius, whodesired to see the wanderers, who are servants of
God. He saw some of them, and wrote their story;
among whom was this saint.
He saith, that when he entered the wilderness, he
saw a fountain and a palm-tree, and the saint AbuNafr coming towards him
;he was naked, and the
hair of his head and of his beard covered his body.Bifnutius seeing him was afraid, and thought that he
was a spirit. Abu Nafr crossed before him, and
prayed the prayer of the gospel, which is' Our
Father which art in heaven.' Then he said to him,'
Welcome, O Bifnutius.' When he heard himself
called by his name, and heard also the prayer, his
fear departed. Then the two began to pray together ;
after that they sat and communed together about
the marvels of God. Bifnutius asked Abu Nafr to
tell him what was the reason of his coming to this
place, and where he had been before that ?
He answered and said,'
I had been in a mon-
astery, in the which are pious and good monks.
One day I heard the monks speaking about the
CH. x.] Legends of the Saints. 373
dwellers in the wilderness, namely the wanderers,and praising them for every kind of excellence.
I asked them," Why are they better than you ?
"
They said," Because they dwell in the wilderness,
but we are near to the world : and if one day weare angry, we find some person to comfort us
; andif we are sick, we find those who visit us
;and if we
are naked, we find those who clothe us; anything
whatsoever we desire we can obtain;but all these
privileges are not for the dwellers in the wilderness."
When I heard them speak thus, my heart burned
within me;and in the night I took a little bread, and
went out from the monastery : then I prayed, andasked our Lord for a place to dwell in. So I walked
on. The Lord directed me to a place where I found
a holy man, and with him I abode till he taught methe way of wandering. Thus I came to this place,
wherein I found this palm-tree, which gives every
year twelve clusters of dates, and every cluster is
enough for one month. This is my food, and mydrink is from the water of this fountain. It is nowthree score years that I am here. All this time
I have not seen any face of man but thine only.'
While they were speaking the angel of the Lord
came before them, and ministered unto them the
body of our Lord and his blood. After that theyate very little food. Then the colour of the saint
Abu Nafr was changed, and became like fire, and
he bowed his knee and worshipped before God.
Then to Bifnutius he said,' Fare thee well,' and gave
up the ghost1
. The saint Bifnutius wrapped himin a piece of linen, and buried him in a cave. Hesore coveted to dwell in his place ;
but as soon as he
1 The Arabic idiom is the same exactly.
374 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. x.
buried him, the palm-tree fell and the fountain was
dried up. This came to pass by the device of God,
that he might enter again into the world, and preachthe knowledge of the holy wanderers whom he had
seen, but specially of the saint Abu Nafr. In truth
he came to the world, and told the story of this
saint, and the day whereon he died.
May their prayers be with us. Amen.
LEGEND OF ANBA BARSOM AL ARIAN.
On this day died the holy father and the great,
Anba Barsum al 'Arian, who is naked from all vice
and clad with virtue;who is perfect among the
saints and in the love of God. This saint was of
Egypt ;his father's name was Wagu, a scribe to
the Tree of Pearls 1. His mother was daughter to
Al Tab'aun. His parents were very rich;and when
they died, the uncle of the saint seized upon all their
possessions. Howbeit Barsum made no quarrel with
him, but left all the wealth of this world, and lived
the life of the good men and of the wanderers. Hepossessed nought of this world's goods, and alwayswent naked, abiding in the church of the great
martyr Mercurius at Old Cairo 2 in a grotto dark and
swampy, underground. He prisoned himself therein,
and abode there nearly twenty years, praying alway
day and night without ceasing. His food was beans
moistened with unsavoury brine;his drink also was
brine. He was a very devout man, and there was
1 The sister of the last khalif of the Fatimite dynasty was called' The Tree of Pearls,' A.D. 1000.
8 See the plan of the church of Abu-'s-Sifain in vol. i.
CH. x.] Legends of the Saints. 375
no manner of worship but he did it. God gave him
power over devils, and was with him in secret and
in public; because this saint showed himself at the end
of time, when men could not achieve virtue by reason
of their weakness and feeblemindedness. So Godshowed forth this father, who excelled many saints
in his devotion, his eating and his drinking, his
patience and his modesty, his charity for all men and
well-doing for all, his pity upon them and uponall creatures, and his making all men equal before
him in whatsoever they asked. He murmured not
at any, but was long-sufferingl and of good patience.
With him great and small were one, poor and rich,
bond and free : all were equal before him in charity.
All this that he might accomplish and make perfectall that was written about the saints that went before :
that men might know of a surety, by seeing and not
by hearing.So when he came out from the cave, he went on
the roof of the church;there he abode suffering
heat and cold during winter and summer. And he
always tormented himself, staying in the sun all the
days of the summer, so that his skin became black;
and this he did for devotion and for worship, and for
torture of nature, which he ever suffered. On the
roof he remained nigh fifteen years. At this time
arose in Egypt a great persecution, wherein all the
churches of the Copts were shut, and the Coptswere obliged to wear blue turbans of ten cubits in
length ;also their other raiment was changed.
They were dismissed from their offices, and were
compelled to ride the wrong way, and to put on a
kind of shoe which is called'
thasuma,' and when-
1 The Arabic is literally'
long-minded/
376 Ancient Coptic CJiurcJies. [CH. x.
ever they entered the bath they had to put little
bells round their necks. So that they were in sore
need in all things. They were persecuted and de-
spised by the vulgar, who erewhile honoured them;
and the khallf of this time was resolved to kill them
all, but God did not empower him. The reason of
all these things was their sins : for the apostle saith,' Sin being accomplished begetteth death.'
But this father Barsum was always praying and
beseeching God with a fervent heart for the brethren.
He fasted forty days continually, till God took awayagain his anger from them. Then the governorof Egypt took him out from the church, and per-
secuted him and imprisoned him ; but Barsumforeknew this one day before it happened. Whenhe was in prison, he neither ate nor drank, but
whatever the believers brought him he gave to his
fellow-prisoners. When some of them asked of him,' When shall we be delivered from prison ?
'
he
answered,' On this day': and so it was.
Then they took him out of prison, and led him
into exile to the monastery of Sharan. There he
stood on the roof, as he was wont in Egypt. Noman without God's help could excel him in devotion,
worship, austerity, and suffering the torture of nature.
For his food was of the things that are maggoty, and
was shown openly to venomous reptiles ; yet he ate
it very delicious and sweet by the grace of God.
And this is as the holy old man, full of innocence,
hath said in his book :
' God changed the bitterness
of their torment into sweetness:' and also as the
holy Mari Ishac Suriani and Mari Siman al 'Amudi
say, that' God clothes his saints with a garment of
light ; so that they feel neither heat nor cold.'
CH. x.j Legends of the Saints. 377
This saint all his life never lay on the ground but
with naked skin. He was comforter to every be-
liever or unbeliever who took refuge with him.
He changed not his turban to blue, but God kepthim from all his adversaries. Most of the governorsof this time, princes and judges to wit, were wont to
resort unto him;and they saw him wearing a white
turban;and God protected him from their enmity.
None dare force him to wear the blue turban. Heconverted many souls to salvation, and that out of
despair. He used alway to say that all sins are
forgiven after repentance. He always spake in holy
similitudes, which were not understood save by those
enlightened of God. He was a great comforter to
the people, because by his prayers God put awayhis anger. Churches were opened, men rode the
right way, and were employed in office, and their
raiment was made right, and all the aforesaid changeswere abolished save only the blue turbans.
The brethren were suffered to ride horses in
journeys; and God destroyed every one who wished
to kill them, so that men might glorify God the Al-
mighty; and God was pleased with his people, and had
compassion on them. These things were caused bythe prayers of this father, Barsum. God gave him the
grace of prophecy, healing of bodies and souls, and
knowledge of things to come;and he was accom-
plished in all holiness. His look drew all men to
gfood works, and whosoever saw him did not wish tooleave him. This was for the grace and kindness and
love which were in him. He hated the glory of this
world, and feigned madness. But God has shown to
all that he is the wisest of men, whose single aim
was the love of God and doing his commandments.
378 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. x.
BarsOm was alway comforted by the Holy Spirit,
which dwelt in him. Ever he looked to God, to the
innocent angels of light, to the prophets, apostles,
martyrs, and saints. He went in the spirit to their
dwelling of light, as he showed to those whom he
trusted well. This father dwelt in the monasteryfifteen years, and his age was sixty years. His old
age was good and pleasing to God ; and when he
accomplished his good works, he died unto the Lord
who loved him, and inherited the lofty dwellings of
light with the holy saints. His body was buried in
the monastery of Sharan, known also by the name of
Abu Markura. This was in the year 1033 of the
martyrsl
.
May his prayers be with us till the last breath.
Amen.
LEGEND OF THE VIRGIN'S ASCENSION.
On this day we feast the feast of the ascension of
the body of the immaculate Lady the Virgin Morto-
mariam 2, Mother of Christ the Son of God, the Word
made flesh from her. After her death our fathers
the apostles were sorely grieved for loss of her, and
the Lord promised them that he would show her to
them in the flesh. On a certain day they saw her
in the flesh sitting at the right hand of him who was
made flesh from her, and she was in great glory.
She stretched forth her hand, and blessed every one
of the disciples ;and she was girt round by a great
1 If this date is correct, the ' Tree of Pearls'
is wrongly identi-
fied at the beginning of the legend.2 The Arabic is
CH. x.] Legends of the Saints. 379
company of angels and saints. David the prophet
praised her, and said,' The queen stood at thy
right hand in raiment of gold.' Then the souls of
the disciples were glad, and they fell on their faces,
and returned full of joy.
This feast was appointed in the Church for the
everlasting remembrance of the Mother of God.
May her intercession be with us. Amen.
LEGEND OF SIMAN AL HABIS AL AM^JDI, i.e.
SIMEON THE PRISONER OF THE PILLAR,
OR SIMEON STYLITES.
On this day died Simeon the Prisoner of the Pillar.
He was of Syria. When he was a child, he kept
sheep for his father, and he went to church every day.After that the grace of the Lord moved him. So he
arose, and came to a monastery, wherein he continued
alway worshipping God with great devoutness and
diligence.
He was wont every day to carry dust and ashes
on his head, and he vexed himself with fastings and
great thirst. Then he bound his two sides againstthe flesh with a rugged rope, till it ate its place away,and an evil smell came forth. The monks could not
abide this evil smell, and would not suffer him to
come nigh them. Seeing the monks misliked him,
he came out from the monastery and went into a dry
pit, where he stood. The abbot of the monasterysaw a vision as it were of one saying unto him, 'Ask
of my servant Simeon' ;and in this vision he saw also
that he who appeared rebuked the monks for the
380 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. x.
departure of the saint from the monastery. Theabbot told his vision to the monks, who were sore
amazed, and soon came out searching after him.
Thereupon they found him in the pit, without food
or drink, and worshipped him, asking forgiveness of
him;and they brought him back with them to the
monastery. When he saw them giving him gloryin the monastery, he could not suffer it
;but went
out, and came to a rock where he stood sixty dayswithout sleeping. Thereafter the angel of the Lord
appeared unto him, and said unto him that the Lord
had received his prayers for the salvation of his ownsoul and of many others. Then he stood on a pillar
thirty cubits high for the space of fifteen years.
The Lord wrought at his hand many wonders;and
he was wont to exhort all who came unto him. His
father searched after him, but found him not, and
died without seeing him. As for his mother, she
knew where he was after many years, and came to
him while he was on the pillar. She wept greatly,
and then fell asleep under the pillar. The saint
asked of God to do good unto her, and she died
in her sleep. They buried her under the pillar.
Howbeit, Satan had malice against Simeon, and
smote him in the legs with grievous sores. Hecontinued most of his time standing on one foot for
many years, until his leg was full of worms, which
fell down under the pillar. Once there came unto
him the chief of the robbers, and passed the night
nigh him. Simeon asked of God to do him evil : so
the robber died not many days after. Then he asked
of God, and God brought forth a fountain of water
under the pillar. After this he went to another very
high pillar, where he stood nigh thirty years : and
CH. x.] Legends of the Saints, 381
when he accomplished forty-eight years in prayer,
the Lord wishing to give him rest from the weari-
ness of the flesh, he exhorted men and turned manyheathen to the Lord Jesus : then he died and went
unto the Lord.
The patriarch of Antioch, hearing of his death,
came and bore him to Antioch with great glory.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
LEGEND OF MAR!NA.
On this day died the chosen saint, bride of Jesus
Christ, Marina.
She was the daughter of a heathen father and
mother, and her father was a priest of idols in
Antioch. He loved her very much, and she was
very beautiful to look upon. When she came to
the age of fifteen years, her mother died; whereupon
her father brought her to a Christian woman, at
whose house she stayed till her father's death.
One day she heard her foster-mother telling of the
troubles of the saints and their martyrdoms, how
they shed their blood for the name of Christ. So,
desiring to become a martyr, she asked God to giveher power and help, that she might conquer the
heathen. At this time there came to the throne a
heathen king, known by the name of prince Valerius,
who came from Asia to Antioch to the end that he
might seize the Christians. It came to pass that
when St. Marina came out with her hired servants
and handmaids, the heathen prince saw her beauty,and his heart departed out of him. He commandedhis soldiers to lay hands on her, that he might take
382 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. \.
her unto him to wife. When the soldiers desired to
take her, she made the sign of the cross upon her
body, and said,' Have mercy on me, O Lord, and
forsake me not.' The soldiers returned to the
governor, and told him,' We were not able to take
the damsel, because she called on Jesus Christ.'
When he heard that, he commanded them to bring
her, and he questioned her of her faith. She answered
and said,'
I am a Christian, believing in Jesus of
Nazareth, who will deliver me from thine unbelief
and from the wickedness of thy heart.' Then the
prince, being wroth in his soul, straightway offered
a sacrifice to his abhorred gods ;and made her
stand before him, and told her,*
Know, Marina, that
I have pity upon thee : so follow thou my counsel,
and offer sacrifice to the gods, and thou shalt have
great honour.'
She answered and said,'
I do not waver from the
worship of God, my God, but I offer the sacrifice of
thanksgiving to my Saviour Jesus Christ.' He said
to her,* To this Galilean who was crucified of the
Jews ?' and threatened her with many punishments.She did not obey him, but said she was ready to be
tormented and to rest with the wise virgins. So he
became angry, and commanded to beat her with
rods, and her blood ran upon the ground. Then
they combed her flesh with sharp knives, and threw
her into a dungeon. The Lord always cured her from
all this suffering. While she was in the dungeon
praying, a great dragon came out upon her, openedwide his jaws, and swallowed her. Her soul was
ready to depart from her;
but she stretched out
her hands, and made the sign of the cross in the
dragon's belly. Forthwith the mouth of the dragon
CH. x.] Legends of the Saints. 383
gaped open, and she was delivered, and came out
in great safety. Then she turned and saw some-
what like unto a black man, putting his hands
on his knees, and saying unto her,' Cease to pray,
and obey the king's commandment.' When she
heard that, she caught him by the hair of the head,
and took a cudgel which she found in a corner of
the dungeon, and smote therewith the devil's head.
Thus was the devil tormented by her, and besoughther to lighten his suffering. She answered him' Shut thy mouth
'
: then she made the sign of the
cross upon him, and the earth opened and swallowed
him up.
The next day the king commanded her to be
brought before him, and bade her worship the idols.
She spake roughly unto him;whereon he com-
manded his soldiers to hang her up, and to kindle a
fire under her to burn her. After that they threw
her into the water to drown her : but she asked of
the Lord that this water might be a baptism unto
her. So a dove came down upon her carrying in
his mouth a crown of light. She plunged in the
water thrice. Many persons believed at that hour :
and their heads were taken by the sword. Howbeit
the prince grew weary of torturing her, and said,'
If
I leave her alive, all the people of Antioch will
believe.' So he commanded to take her head. Theexecutioner led her outside the city. There seeingthe Lord, to whom be glory, and angels of light, she
said unto the swordsman,' Wait that I may pray' :
and when her prayer was ended, she said,' Do
thy bidding.' Howbeit he would not;but she said,
' Unless thou accomplish it, thou hast no lot or part
with me.' He went up to her exceeding sorrowful,
384 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. x.
and made the sign of the cross upon the sword, and
took the head of the saint. Thus she won the crown
of martyrdom. The executioner went hastily to the
prince, and smote his own neck with the sword, con-
fessing the Lord God of this martyr, and won ever-
lasting happiness.
May their prayers be with us. Amen.
LEGEND OF TAKLA.
On this day died the apostolic and holy Takla.
This saint lived in the days of St. Paul: and it came to
pass that when St. Paul went out from Antioch into
Iconia, there was at Iconia a believer called Sifarus,
who took him to his house;and a great multitude
came together to hear his doctrine.
This virgin, Takla, when she heard the apostle
speaking, looked from a window that she mightlearn his doctrine, and continued in this estate
three days and three nights, neither eating nor
drinking. His words went down to the depthsof her heart and her soul. But her parents and
her servants became exceedingly sorrowful, and
desired her to change this way of thinking. It
came to pass that her father met Dimas and
Armukhanis, and he complained unto them of his
daughter. They made him ask help of the prince
against Paul, who bade Paul come, and examined
his doctrine and his estate. He found no cause
against him, but commanded to bind him.
As soon as the saint Takla heard thereof, she putoff her jewels, and went to the apostle in the dungeon,
CH. x.j Legends of the Saints. 385
and bowed herself before his feet. When her own
people found her not, they knew that she was at the
apostle's feet. So the prince ordered to burn her.
Her mother also cried out saying,' Burn her,' that
all women might take warning of her example ;
because many noble women believed the word of
Paul. Then the prince commanded also to burn
Paul with her. So they brought them forth out
of the dungeon. As for Takla, her mind and her
eyes were with St. Paul. She beheld St. Paul
praying : and he ascended with his body throughthe heaven. So, making the sign of the cross on
her body and her face, she cast herself into the fire.
Then the women who were standing by wept for
her;but the Lord sent forthwith much rain and
lightning, and the furnace became like cold dew;
and she was delivered from the fire, as one that
comes out of a garden. She went at once to the
place where St. Paul was hidden, and asked himto cut her hair, and suffer her to be his handmaid.
He did this thing for her sake. When she went to
Antioch, one of the Batarka saw her, and finding her
very beautiful, desired to marry her : howbeit she
spake roughly unto him. Wherefore he stirred upthe ruler of the city against her
;who commanded
them to throw her unto the lions. She stayed
among the lions two days, and the lions licked her
feet. Then they bound her between two oxen, who
dragged her through all the city: and when this
did no harm unto her, they let her go free. She
went unto St. Paul, who comforted her, and increased
her in the faith, and bade her go and preach of
Christ. So she went to Iconia, where she preachedChrist
;and then she went to her own country.
VOL. II. C C
386 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. x.
There she converted her father and her mother
to believe in Christ Jesus; and after that, inasmuch
as she had accomplished her apostolic strivings and
her accepted warfare, the Lord desired to give her
rest from the troubles of this world. So she died,
and won the crown of them that confess and preach.
It is said that her body is now in Singdr, as it is
written in the History of the Patriarchs.
May her prayers be with us. Amen.
LEGEND OF ABU
On this day won martyrdom the noble saint AbuSikhirun, who was of Kalin in the Gharbieh, a soldier
of Ariana, ruler of Ansina. When the command-ment of the heathen king Diocletian came to worship
idols, this saint stopped in the midst of the assemblyand spake scorn of the king and his gods. Nonedare torment him by reason of his warlike strength :
but they imprisoned him in the ruler's prison. Whenit happened that the ruler of Ansina came to the
city of Siut, they brought Abu Sikhirun unto him
and five soldierswith him,whose names are Alphanus,
Armasius, Aikias, Petrus, and Kiranius;these agreed
with Abu Sikhirun to shed their blood for the nameof the Lord Jesus. When they came before the
ruler, he commanded to cut their girdles, and to
torture them. Some of these five were crucified,
and of some the heads were taken;but it was com-
manded that the saint Abu Sikhirun should be
beaten gloriously. Next, it was commanded to tear
off the scalp of his head even unto the neck : and
he was bound to the tail of a mule and dragged
CH. x.j Legends of the Saints. 387
through the city. Then he was cast into a tank full
of lead, and the tank was covered;next he was
crushed together and thrown into a bath furnace.
But in all of these punishments the angel of the
Lord came unto him, encouraged him and madehim whole, comforted him and gave him much
patience. When they were perplexed by his torture,
they called a great magician, named Iskandaru, who
feigned to bewitch sun and moon, to ascend up into
the sky, and to have dealings with the stars. Heordered the door of the bath to be shut : then he
took a snake, and as he uttered certain words the
snake was split asunder into two pieces : next, he
took its poison and its fat and its liver, and put them
into a brazen cauldron, and brought them unto the
saint. Then he made him enter into the bath, and
gave him to eat of this cooked poison. But the
saint cried aloud saying,' O chief of devils, do all
thy power upon this son of Christ';and he suffered
no harm. The sorcerer was greatly astonished, and
the saint said unto him,' The devil, whose help
thou dost implore, will torment thee by the powerof my Lord Jesus Christ.'
Forthwith the devil came, and began to buffet the
magician, until he believed in the Lord Jesus. Theruler hearing thereof, took the head of the sorcerer,
and his wrath was greatly multiplied against the
saint. He tormented him with many torments, the
saint always thanking the Lord Jesus. At last he
commanded that his head should be taken by the
edge of the sword. So he won the crown of ever-
lasting bliss.
May the intercession of this saint be with us, and
guard us, and save us. Amen.c c 2
388 Ancient Coptic Churches, [CH. x.
LEGEND OF ST. SOPHIA.
On this day died the saint Sophia.This saint went to church with some Christian
neighbours, and she believed in the Lord Jesus.
She went to the bishop of Manuf, who baptised her
in the name of the Father, the Son, and the HolyGhost, one God
;and she continued in going to the
church. But a certain man went and told unto
Claudius, the ruler, that she was baptised. Hetherefore made her come to him and questioned her
of the matter : and she confessed and denied it not.
He punished her with many punishments. First, he
beat her with thongs of cowhide : then he passed a
hot iron over all her joints, and hung her up. Duringall this she was ever crying aloud,
'
I am a Christian.'
So the ruler commanded to cut off her tongue, and
to lead her back to prison ;and he sent his wife unto
her, who began to speak softly and promised manypromises : but the saint heeded not. At last he
commanded to cut off her head. Then St. Sophia
prayed a long prayer, in the which she asked of Godto forgive the ruler and his soldiers for her sake.
Then she bowed her head to the swordsman, whocut off her head with the edge of the sword
;and she
won the crown of martyrdom and immortality in the
kingdom of heaven.
A Christian woman took her holy body, which she
purchased for a great price, and wrapped it in manyprecious wrappings, and put it in her house, and
here many wonders were shown from it. Peoplesaw on the day of her festival a great light uponher body, and much frankincense come forth there-
CH. x.] Legends of the Saints. 389
from. When Constantine became king of Constan-
tinople, and heard of the body, he sent and trans-
ported it to the city of Constantinople, and built to
her a great church in the which he placed her body.
Many miracles were shown from it.
May her prayers and blessings be with us, and
save us from the wicked enemy. Amen.
LEGEND OF ST. HELENA.
On this day we feast for the consecration of the
temple of the Holy Resurrection 1.
The holy queen Helena in the twentieth year of
the reign of her son Constantine, after the assemblyof the holy council at Nicaea, took great riches and
said to her son,'
I have made a vow to go to the
Holy Resurrection, and to seek for the body of the
cross which giveth life.' The king was very glad,
and sent with her soldiers, and gave unto her muchwealth. When she came there and had taken a
blessing from these holy places, she began to search
for the cross, and she found it after much weariness.
She glorified it with great glorifying, and worshippedit with great worship. Then she set to build the
temples of the Resurrection, and Golgotha, and
Bethlehem, and the Cavern and the Height, and
Gethsemane and all the temples, and to overlaythem all with jewels, and gold, and silver. At
Jerusalem was a holy bishop who counselled her
not to do this thing, and said unto her,' After a
little time the heathen will come and spoil the
1I. e. the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
390 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. \.
places, and throw them down, and take away all
thy doing. Thou oughtest to build rather with
such good building as is customary, and give what
remains of the money to the poor.' She hearkened
to this counsel, and gave him much money, and
charged him so to do. When she came to her son,
and told him what she had done, he was greatly
rejoiced and sent other money, and straitly urgedthem to build, and commanded wages to be givenin full tale to the workers at the end of every day,lest they should become weary and God be againsthim. When the building was accomplished, in the
thirtieth year of the reign of Constantine, he sent
many vessels and much precious apparel, and chargedthe patriarch of Constantinople to take with him
bishops, and sent to Athanasius, patriarch of Alex-
andria, to take with him also bishops, that they
might assemble with the patriarch of Antioch and
of Jerusalem, and consecrate the temples that were
built. All were assembled and bode until the six-
teenth day of the month Tot. Then they consecrated
the temples which were built : and on the seventy-
eighth day they passed all round these places carry-
ing the cross, and worshipped the Lord, offering
the mysteries and glorifying the cross. Then they
departed to their own homes.
May their intercession be with us till the last
breath. Amen.
THE FINDING OF THE CROSS.
On this day is the remembrance of the glorious
cross of our Lord Jesus. This was discovered by
CH. x.j Legends of the Saints. 391
the God-loving queen Helena, mother of Constan-
tine, when she cleared away the heap at Golgotha.Now the reason of this heap is, when the miracles
were shown from the holy sepulchre, such as raising
of the dead and curing of cripples, the Jews waxed
wroth, and cried out in all Judea and Jerusalem that
every one who sweeps his house or who has dust
must cast it upon the sepulchre of Jesus of Nazareth.
They continued in doing this above two hundred
years, so that the heap became a mountain;
till
St. Helena came and took the Jews, of whom she
imprisoned one Juda till he revealed unto her the
place. Then she discovered the holy cross, and
built for it a church, which was consecrated. Theyfeast unto the cross on the seventeenth day of the
month Tot;and all the Christians were wont to
make pilgrimage to this church at the feast of the
Resurrection.
It came to pass that Isaac of Samra, while he was
walking with some men in the way, waxed athirst
and found no water. They passed nigh unto a pit
wherein was bitter water of an evil savour. The
people were greatly straitened, and Isaac of Samra
began to mock them. The priest waxed zealous for
zeal of God and disputed with Isaac ;but Isaac said
unto him,'
If I behold power in the name of the
cross, I will believe in Christ.' Then the priest
prayed over the bitter water, and it became exceed-
ing sweet, so that all the people drank thereof and
their cattle also. Howbeit Isaac, when he wished to
drink, found the water which he had put in his bottle
full of worms. He wept, and bowed himself before
the priest Ogidos, and believed in Christ, and drankof the water, in the which was the virtue to be sweet
392 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. x.
unto believers and bitter to unbelievers. Moreoverin the water was seen a cross of light. They built
upon the pit a church : and when Isaac came to
Jerusalem, he went unto the bishop and was baptised
by him, he and all his family. The cross was found
in the tenth day of the month Barmahat;and as this
day falleth in time of fast, the feast was made on the
day of the consecration of the church, which is the
seventeenth day of Tot.
Glory and worship to our Lord Jesus Christ for
ever and ever. Amen.
LEGEND OF GIRGIS OF ALEXANDRIA.
On this day obtained martyrdom Mari Girgis of
Alexandria. His father was a merchant of Alexan-
dria : and having no son, he went to the church of
Mari Girgis on the day of his feast (which was on
the seventh day of Hator), and asked this saint to
intercede for him before the Lord, that he mightbestow on him a son. The Lord heard his prayer,and gave him a son whom he called Girgis. Themother of this saint was sister to Armenius, governorof Alexandria.
His parents died, and he remained at his uncle's
house. His age was then twenty-five years; and
he was loving to the poor, and merciful and kind.
Armenius had an only daughter, who went on a
certain day with her friends to walk. It happenedthat she saw outside the city a monastery, in which
were hidden monks who were praising God with
sweet voices. Their praise was rooted in her heart,
and she began to ask the young man Girgis, her
CH. x.] Legends of the Saints. 393
aunt's son, the meaning of these hymns. Hedeclared it unto her, and declared also the punish-ment of sinners, and the reward of the righteous.When she returned to the house, she avowed to her
father that she believed in Christ Jesus.At the first he spake smoothly unto her to return
from that way, but she hearkened not;
then he
commanded to take her head, and she won the
crown of martyrdom. Howbeit certain men told
the governor that Girgis was the cause of all these
things. So he took him and tormented him very
hardly, and then sent him to the village of Ansina,where he was tormented with all sorts of torments :
and at the last they took his head, and he won the
crown of martyrdom. A deacon called Samuel took
the holy body and went unto Memphis. When his
uncle's wife knew that, she sent and took his body,and put it with the body of her daughter.
May their prayers and intercessions be with us.
Amen.
LEGEND OF ABBA
On this day won martyrdom Abba Maharuah, whowas from Faium, a God-fearing man. When he
heard the news of the martyrs, he came to Alexan-
dria desiring to die in the name of Christ Jesus.
It was told him in a vision,'
It is destined for thee
to go to Antioch.' While he was thinking after this
vision how he could reach Antioch, and was seekinga ship, the Lord sent unto him his angel, who carried
him on wings from Alexandria to Antioch, and madehim stand before Diocletian the king, and confess
394 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. x.
before him Christ Jesus. The king asked him of
his name and his country, and was astonished at his
presence; and offered him many rewards and benefits,
the which he refused. Then the king threatened
him, but the saint feared not : so he commanded to
torment him. They tormented him once;once they
let loose upon him lions;once they burned him in
fire;once they put him in a large cauldron of copper.
Thereafter they took his head by the edge of the
sword, and he won the crown of martyrdom. Hewas made an exchange for all the martyrs of
Antioch who won martyrdom in Egypt.
May his intercession be with us. Amen.
LEGEND OF THE ANGEL MIKHAIL (MICHAEL).
On this day we feast for the angel Michael, chief
of the angels, the merciful angel who makes inter-
cession for all mankind.
This angel was seen of Joshua, the son of Nun,in great glory in the likeness of a soldier of a king.
He was afraid and bowed before him, saying,' O sir,
art thou with me or against me ?' The angel
answered and said,'
I am the chief of the powersof heaven, and on this day I will deliver the
Amalekites into thy hand, and give thee dominion
over Arlha.'
This is the angel who comforts and strengthensthe saints, and makes them longsuffering, until their
war is accomplished. Charities and feasts were
made unto the saints in his name on the twelfth
day of every month : because this angel asks of
CH. x.] Legends of the Saints. 395
the Lord the fruits of the earth and the rise of
the Nile, that the Lord may make them perfect.
Once a man called Dorotheos and his wife Theista
were wont to feast to the angel Michael, on the
twelfth day of every month;and for this cause God,
by the intercession of the angel, granted them riches
out of poverty : for these holy persons finding noughtwherewith to make the feast, took their clothes to
sell them in order to make the feast. The angel
appeared to Dorotheos, and commanded him to goto the seller of sheep and buy from him a lamb for
one-third of a dinar, and to a fisherman to buy from
him a fish for one-third of a dinar : and not to openthe fish. Then he must go to the seller of wheatand take from him all that he needs, and not sell his
clothes. When the man made the feast, as he was
bidden, and called the people as was his wont, he
went to search for a little wine in a cupboard, andwas astonished to find much wine, more than he hadneed of. When the guests went away, the angelcame in the likeness which he had when he appearedto Dorotheos, and bade him open the fish, in which
he found a parcel containing three hundred dinars
and some gold. The angel said to them,' This is
the price of the sheep, and the fish, and the meat,and the gold is thine : because the Lord rememberedthee and made mention of thy charities. So hath
he rewarded thee in this world, and he will reward
thee in the world to come.' While they were
astonished, he said unto them,'
I am Michael, one
of the angels, who have delivered thee from all thytroubles, and offered thy charities before the Lord/
They worshipped him, and he vanished out of their
sight, and rose up into heaven.
396 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. x.
This angel has wrought many wonders.
May his intercession be with us for ever. Amen.
STORY OF ANBA ZACHARIAS.
On this day died the father, the patriarch AnbaZacharias.
This saint was of Alexandria, wherein he was a
priest. He had a good repute, chaste in body, meekin behaviour, venerable in years. When the patri-
arch Anba Philotheos died, the bishops were gathered
together with the Holy Ghost to choose under God's
counsel one who should be convenient. While theywere at the church of St. Mark the Apostle, seekingfor the one convenient, they heard that a certain man,
having procured by power of station and money a
letter from the sultan, was coming and bringing with
him servants, thinking to be patriarch. Therefore
being sorely grieved against a man who would fain
become patriarch by power of money and place, theycontinued in prayer to God that he would choose for
them a patriarch. During that time Zacharias,
while he was coming down from the staircase of the
church, carrying in his hand a bottle of vinegar, let
slide his foot, and fell rolling down to the lowest
step ; howbeit the bottle of vinegar in his hand
remained whole and unbroken. The bishops and
priests were sore amazed hereat, and asked the
people of him, both great and small. Inasmuch as
all men ascribed unto him great virtue, the laityl
1 The laity (notables) always have a voice and meet with the
bishops in council for the election. The khedive has a veto.
CH. x.] Legends of the Saints. 397
agreed with the bishops to make him patriarch, and
he was chosen.
Many sorrows accompanied him; amongst the
which a monk sued him at law before the governor,who took him and bound him and threw him to
lions : but the lions wrought him no harm. The
governor took vengeance on the keeper of the lions.
Then he made the lions hungry and slew a beast in
sacrifice, and smearing the patriarch with its blood
threw him to the lions. Yet they wrought him no
evil. Then the governor bound him in prison bythe space of three months, and threatened him,
sometimes with killing, sometimes with casting to
lions, and with burning by fire, if he would not
forsake his faith. None of these three things madehim afraid. Then he promised great reward, vowingto make him judge of judges of the Muslims ; but
all these promises bent him not. And when the
governor brought him out from the dungeon, he
also vexed him in many things : among which manychurches were demolished. And the persecutionendured for nine years. Then the Lord God the
Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ, made all these
troubles to vanish away, and the governor com-
manded the saint to repair the churches, and to
restore unto them all things whatsoever were taken
away from them. The churches were built again,
and Zacharias also set to build other churches :
and it was ordered that cymbals be beaten in the
churches.
Thus the things appertaining to the churches and
to the faithful became straight, and this father lived
thereafter twelve years, and was chief during twenty-
eight years.
398 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. x.
Then he removed to the Lord.
May his prayers be with us and preserve us all.
Amen.
LEGEND OF PETER THE PATRIARCH, THE LAST OF
THE MARTYRS.
On this day won martyrdom Anba Butros,
patriarch of Alexandria, who is the last of all the
martyrs.
His father was an assistant to a priest in
Alexandria, and he was called Theodosius. His
mother's name was Sophia.Both feared God greatly; and they had no son.
On the fifth day of the month Abib, which is the
feast of the two saints Peter and Paul, the womansaw a company of Christians walking with their sons
before them, all dressed in goodly raiment. Shewaxed exceeding sorrowful, and wept, and asked
the Lord Jesus with tears before the holy altar to
bestow on her a son. That night Peter and Paul
appeared unto her, and told her that the Lord had
heard her prayers, and would give her a son whoshould be called Peter
;and they commanded her to
go to the patriarch that he might pray over her.
When she awakened she told her husband, who was
greatly rejoiced. Then she went unto the patriarch,
and asked of him to pray over her, telling him the
vision. He gave her his blessing, and after a little
while a son was given to her, this saint Peter.
When he was seven years old, they delivered him to
the patriarch, as Samuel the prophet was delivered.
He became as the patriarch's own son, and was
CH. x.] Legends of the Saints. 399
consecrated by him, first reader, then deacon, then
priest. He helped him greatly in the business of the
church ;and when the patriarch who is called Anba
T'auna was dying, he counselled that Peter should
be chosen in his place. So when he came to the
chair, the church was filled with light from him.
This came to pass in the days of Diocletianus.
Now there was at Antioch a patriarch whofollowed the king's counsel, and he had two sons.
Therefore their mother, being unable to baptisethem in their own country, took them with her to
Alexandria. But while she was yet at sea the
waves became furious;and fearing that her sons
might die in the water without being baptised, she
wounded her breast, and with her blood she madethe sign of the cross upon the face of her two sons,
and baptised them in the name of the Holy Trinity.
Howbeit, they were delivered from the waves, and
came to Alexandria;where they were brought to be
baptised with other children ;but whenever the
patriarch wished to baptise them, the water becamestone. This came to pass thrice. So the patriarch
asked her of the matter, and she told him all that
had happened in the way. He was astonished and
glorified God, saying,' Thus saith the Church, that
there is only one baptism.'In the days of this Peter, Arius, the disobedient,
was excommunicated of the patriarch, because he
hindered him and was stubborn. When Arius
heard that St. Peter was always teaching the peoplein every place not to worship heathen gods, he sent
messengers to take his head;who caught Peter and
bound him. When the citizens heard of this thing,
they took their swords and their armour, and came
4oo Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. x.
to the dungeon to fight with the king's messengers
(sic\ When Peter saw that many would be killed
for his sake, he wished to die for his people and to
be with Christ : so he sent to bid all the people
come, and comforted them, and counselled them to
abide in the true faith. Howbeit Arius, knowingthat Peter was going to the Lord leaving him ex-
communicate, besought the chief of the priests to
make intercession with the patriarch to loose him;
but Peter would not. Then he told unto them a
vision which he saw in the night ;wherein he beheld
Jesus, his raiment parted asunder, and his hand
covering his body with the robe. And Peter said,* O Lord, who hath parted thy raiment ?
' And he
answered, 'Arius ; because he hath parted me from
my Father. Wherefore beware thou of him.'
Thereafter the patriarch asked of the king's mes-
sengers in secret to break through the prison wall
from within and from without, and to take him to
accomplish the king's order. They did as he com-
manded; they took him out to the city to the place
where was buried St. Mark the Evangelist. There
he prayed ;and after greeting all the people he gave
himself up to the swordsman, and prayed, saying,' O Lord Christ, suffer my blood to extinguish the
worship of idols.' A voice from heaven came unto
him and was heard by a holy virgin, the voice as of
one saying,f
Amen, be it unto thee according to thywish.' The swordsman took his holy head, and his
body remained standing upright by the space of two
hours, till the people came ; who came in haste, being
nigh to the dungeon, yet not knowing what had
happened unto him, until one told them. So theytook St. Peter, and wrapped him, and made him sit
CH. x.] Legends of the Saints. 401
on his chair, on the which none ever saw him sit
before while he was in life. For while he was alive
he said,*I sit not thereon, because I see the power
of the Lord sitting upon it.' Then they buried himin the place of the bodies of the saints. He waseleven years on the throne.
May his prayers and intercessions be with us.
Amen.
STORY OF THE PATRIARCH ANBA MARKUS,
about 1800 A.D.
On this day died the patriarch Anba Markus, the
cviu of the patriarchs of Alexandria.
This father was of a village called Tammah, andfrom his youth loved ever to wander in solitude.
Since therefore, by exceeding love for loneliness, hedesired to become a monk, he went to the monasteryof St. Antonius, father of monks. There he became
monk, and waged much spiritual warfare. When the
patriarch Anba Yuanls 1 the cvn died, all the bishopsand priests assembled in Cairo, and made a drawingof lots to find the person meet for the office. Whenthey had prayed to God to guide them in choosingthe man most worthy, the lot fell upon Markus. So
they sent after him the abbot of the monastery, whowas accompanied by a troop of Beduin, and broughthim to Cairo, albeit against his will, bound with iron
chains. The fathers, the bishops, and the priests
came together, and made him patriarch of the chair
of St. Mark of Alexandria. His name before he
was made patriarch was John, and they gave him
1 A Coptic form of Yuhanna or John.
VOL. n. D d
402 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. x.
the name of Mark l. During his bishopric there
were many afflictions and many adversities, and this
chiefly, that two years after his coming to the chair
a multitude from the Frank countries, called the
French, came and took possession of Egypt. Theinhabitants of Cairo rose against them, and there
was war between them for three days. Then the
patriarch changed his house from the Harat-ar-Rum
to the Azbiklah. Then a vizier from Turkey came,
accompanied by certain English folk, and theydraveout the French from Egypt. The people suffered
very much at the hand of the French : many placeswere laid waste, and many of the churches madedesolate. The patriarch also suffered many adversi-
ties ; for which cause he left Harat-ar-Rum, and cameto the Azbiklah, where he built a large precinct and a
large church in the name of St. Mark the Evangelist.This is the first who inhabited the Azbiklah. Hewas always repairing churches and monasteries which
were in ruin;and was ever awake to preach to the
people, and to teach them night and day. Moreoverhe consecrated many bishops. And when the metro-
politan of Abyssinia died, and certain monks and
priests came with a letter from the king of Abys-sinia asking a metropolitan, Markus consecrated for
him one who went with the Abyssinian priests, and
also sent to them books of sermons and of doctrines,
because he had heard that certain of them had
become heretic. A wonder was also wrought bythis father on this wise. One year the river Nile
did not overflow its borders ; wherefore the viceroy
1 This was only because his predecessor was called John. Mark
is not an official title.
CH. x.] Legends of the Saints. 403
asked of the Coptic patriarch and the other patri-
archs to pray for the rise of the water of the Nile.
So Markus and all the priests and Christian peoplecame together and prayed to God, who hearkened to
their prayers, and made arise the water of the Nile
higher than its wont.
When he was sick with the sickness of death he
called unto him the chief of the bishops, and said
unto him,'
My time is come to leave this world : so
must thou and thy brethren meet together and
consecrate a patriarch : neglect it not.' After three
days his soul departed to the Lord, and he was
buried in the church of Azbikiah which he had
built;and great was the pomp of his burial. He
sat on the chair thirteen years and four months.
May his blessing be with us till the last breath.
And to our Lord be praise for ever. Amen.
D d 2
INDEX TO THE SECOND VOLUME.
ACANTHUS, pp. 243. 244. 245.
'Arjp 46.
Alb, see Vestments.
Alchemy 251.Alms-dish 289.Altar 1-36.- board 3. 7. 283.-
canopy 28 seq. 194.-
casket, see Ark.-
cavity 305. 352. 353.-
coverings 35-36. 283.-
lights 56.of wood 6-7.
-portable 25-28.slab 7 seq.
Ambon 64. 314.
Amice, see Vestments.
'AJAVOS 280.
Ampulla 56.Amula 56.
Angelic habit 308. 323.
Anointing the sick 326 seq.
Antimensia 27.
Apostolical Constitutions 268.
Apse 194.
Aquamanile 54.Arcosolia 8. 13.Ark 42 seq. 55. 283.Armenian altar 23. 33. 60.
usage 49. 50. 263. 280. 328.
349- 350- 35i- 352.vestments 122. 126. 142. 162.
169. 184. 214 bis. 227. 233.
Armlet, see Vestments.
Aspersion 268. 292. 339. 345.Aster or dome 39.
Aumbry 78.
Babylon 167.
Baldakyn, see Altar-canopy.
Ballin, see Vestments.
Balsam 331.Banner 311.
Baptism 262 seq. 388. 399.of fire 266.
Baptistery 264. etc.
Basin, see Ewer.
Beduin 240.Bell 45. 50. 79. 273. 316. 323.Benediction 292. 316. 327.
of oil 333 seq.- of palm 349.- of water 266. 271. 272. 339.
344- 346. 350- 39 1 -
Biruna 213.Books 239-246.
Bowing before altar 309. 319.Bread, eucharistic, 277.
Breastplate 102. 123.British usage 171. 198. 215.Burial of the rood 352.
Burnus, see Cope and Chasuble
(Vestments).
Cambutta 228.
Candelabrum 68. etc.
Cap of priesthood 209 seq.Casula 196.Chains put on patriarch 306. 309.
401.Chalice 37 seq.Charta bombycina 241.
Chasuble, see Vestments.
Chrism 19 seq. 269. 271. 299.
337- 340- 343- etc.
VOL. II. D
406 Index.
Churches built over martyrs'bodies 362. 367. 368. 369.
388.dedicated to martyrs 360. 365.
Cidaris 203 n.
Circumcision 263.Colobion no.Coloured vestments 112. 113. 195.
196. 200.
Confession 277. 296. 298. 315.
320.
Confessionary, see Crypt.Confirmation 262 seq.Consecration of altar 343. etc.
- of baptistery 344 seq.- of bishop, see Orders.- of church 338 seq. 363. 372.
39- 39 1 -
Cope, see Vestments.
Coptic language 247-257.dialects of 255.
Corona 75.
Corporal 17. 45. 48. 50. 315. 335.Crewet 55. 271.
Cross, amulet 233benedictional 57. 234-235.2 73- 3i5- 3 2 3- 325-
- of consecration 19. 21. 22.
340.-
pectoral 231.-
processional 233. 234. 309.
335-
Crown, baptismal 273.- bridal 63. 305. 325.-
episcopal, see Vestments.
Crucifix 57.Crutch or staff 83. 225.
Crypt 13 seq.Cucullus 198.Cufic writing 253.Cumhdach 246.Cursive writing 241.Curtain 30 seq. 39. 194.
Cymbal 82. 240. 273. 397.
Dalmatic, see Vestments.
Demotic writing 249. 250. 251.
Dikanikion 219.
Diptychs 49. 289.
8iarKOKa\vfifJ.a 46.
Dome, eucharistic, see Aster.
Dove 383.
231.
*yxf'
lplov 144 n. 163. 169.
Egyptian mythology 94.Elevation of host 82. 182. 183.
291.Emblems 92.
Enamelling on glass 70-71.
Ephod 98. 102. 123.
fTTifiaviKia 104. etc.: see Vestments.
Epiphany ceremonies 346 seq.- tank 349.
128 etc.: see Vest-
ments.
iis 102. 203. etc. : see Amice
(Vestments).Eras, Arabic terms for, 96 n.
Ethiopia 25. etc.
Eucharist 275 seq. 373. etc.
Eulogiae 292.Ewer 53.Excommunication 399, 400.Exorcism 269. 272.
Fan, see Flabellum.
Fanon 122.
Fasting 23. 276. 296. 316. 320.
354-Flabellum 46 seq. 292. 309. 335.
339--
processional 49.Font 271.
Fresco, see Mural painting.Frontal for lectern 68.
Gabathae 72.
Galilaeon 272. 273. 331.Gallican usage 161, 171.
Georgia 51.Girdle 359. 386 (see also Vest-
ments).- at baptism 273. 274.
Index. 407
Girdle at marriage 324.Glove 233.
Gong 8 1.
Good Friday 50. 351.
Gospel, book of, see Textus.- stand 59. 60. 273. 274.
Greater entrance 284.Greek altar 6. 20. 23. 25. 32-36.
language 255.
usage 44. 80. 169. 215. 280.
293. 328. 337. 342-43 etc.
vestments passim, see chapterson vestments.
Griffin's egg 78.
Handbell, see Bell.
Hasirah, see Mat.
Hieroglyphics 249.
History of the Patriarchs 386.Hood 183.Hours of prayer, Coptic 349n.
Iconostasis 32. 33. etc.
Illumination 241 seq.
Images 83-84.Immersion 267. 383.
Imposition of hands 310. 315.
320. 321. 322.Incense 270. 285. 286. 325. 335.
etc.
- box 62.
Infulae 214.Insufflation 271. 273. 320. 321.Irish usage 51. 60. 61. 81. 112.
171. 197. 215. 229. 245.Isbodikon 279. 290. 291.
Jewelled vestments 98. 168. 177.
Jordan 265.
2O2.
Kiss of peace, see Pax.
Kissing altar 287. 315. 321.
bishop 317.cross 314.curtain 283.
gospel 286.
Kissing threshold of sanctuary,
287. 315.
Kneeling 277. 290. 339.
Xfpvtfiov 54.
\IT(0I>IOV IOI.
Labyrinth 368.
Lafafah, see Corporal.
Lamps 69 seq. 194. 327.
Lance, eucharistic 44.
Language, Coptic 247-257.Lectern 65 seq.
Legend 89. 266. 297. 306. 312.
355- 357 seq.
Lenten veil, see Veil.
Lights, ceremonial use of, 39. 55.
96. 273. 274. 284. 285. 286.
289. 294. 321. 323. 326. 328.
335- 344- 346. 35i-
Liturgies 282.
Magician 387.Malabar Christians 134.Mandatum 350.Maronite altar 24.- usage 50. 80.- vestments 122. 127. 134. 136.
147. 162. 187. 213. 227.
Marriage crown 63.
Marriage of clergy 305. 313. 319.Mass for the dead 297.
Mat, eucharistic 44. etc.
Matrimony 323.Melkite community 48. 49. 61.
106. 133. 276. 348.- vestments 116. 132. 138. 160.
168. 191. 207. 219. 237.Mention at the mass 289 n.
Milk and honey, 270. 272. 273.Miracles 388.
Mitra, 207.
Mitre, see Crown (Vestments).Monuments 203.
Mosque 77.
Mount Athos, 80. 91. 93. 96.Mural paintings 83 seq. 360.
408 Index.
Myron 330 : see also Chrism andOils.
Napkin 164.Nestorian altar 6. 24. 33.
chalice 38.
usage 77. 263. 280. 305.- vestments 127. 142. 170. 187.
227.
Ne0eX?7 46.
Nile, rise of 395. 403.
Oils, holy 56. 269. 270. 272. 325.
327. 331 seq. : see also
Chrism and Galilaeon.
olvdvdt) 28.
Olive branch 299.Orders 301 seq.
archdeacon 321.
archpriest or kummus 318.- bishop 313.deacon 320.
-metropolitan 312.
- monk 308. 322.-
patriarch 302seq. 396. 401. etc.
priest 319.- reader 322.- sacristan 301.-
singer 301. 322.- subdeacon 321. 322.
Osiris, worship of 94. 248.
Ostrich-egg 77.
Oven 277.Oxford University and the study
of Coptic 257 n.
1 60 n.
Palm 344. 349.
Sunday 349.Paschal candle 68.
Paten 39. etc.
Patriarch, see Orders.
Pax 49. 60. 270. 286. 315.Pelican 243.Penance 277. 298.
irepi<rTf)6ioii 122.
Persecution 375.
Persian martyrs 369.
(j)aivu>\ioi> etc. IOI .
(j>iKu>\iw 1 49 n.
Phare 74.
Pictures 87 seq. 311. 349.
Pilgrimage 355. 391.Piscina 17.Planeta 196.
jroXuoravpioi' 196.
Pope, title of 302.
Prayer before altar 398.- to saints 96.
Procession 48. 49. 176. 191. 273.
309. 311. 313. 3*14- 3 X 9 bis -
321.326.328.335. 339.340.343- 349- 350. 352. 353- 39-
Prostration 296. 343.
Pulpit 65.
Purgatory 297.Purification 263.
55-
Real Presence, doctrine of 296-297.
Relics 12 seq. 68. 311. 342.
3 6 9-
Reservation of host 54. 293.- of hallowed water 267.
Ring 214. 233. 324.
ijuriSiw 49.
Rosary 238.
Sacraments, the Coptic 262-329.Sacred letters of Sanutius 3.
Sacring bell 82.
Sagavard 214.
Salt, use of 274 n. 282. 292.
34i-Sanctus bell 82.
Sandals 233.Screen 194. etc.
Sees, the Coptic 318.Semantron 80.
Sepulcrum 17.
Serpent 218. 219. 223. 224.Service books 258 seq.
Sick, communion of the 295.
Index. 409
Sign of the cross 270. 274. 287.288. 299. 315. 319. 320.
322.325.344.345. 366. 382bis. 383. 384. 399.
Singing-irons 281.
Spoon, eucharistic 40. 276. 291.
321.
Stamping the housel 279-280.(rri\apiov I o 1 . 115.
Stole, see Vestments.
Synaxar 259.
Syrian altar 24. 27.-
usage 48. 263. 338.vestments 122. 136. 140. 141.
142. 162. 166. 170. 185. 202.
212. 226. 227.
Tabak, see Mat.
Tailasan, see Vestments.
Tarbush 201.
Teaching of the Apostles 268.
Textus 57 seq. 273. 309. 310.
317. 322. 327. 339.Ba\acra-a I 7.
Throne 309. 317.Thurible 309. 339. etc.
Gwiaarripiov I.
Tiara 207. 215.Tonsure 322.Tower 81.
Tribune 309. 314.Turban 375. 377.
Urceolus 54.
Varkass 122.
Vartaped 227. 228.
Veil,.eucharistic, 45. 285. 286. etc.
- Lenten 35.- of crozier 219.
Vestments 17. 97-238.- Alb 99.
Vestments.
Amice 98-100. 117 seq. 276.Armlet or sleeve or epimani-kion 99. 100. 104. 114. 163
seq. 165.Ballin 118.
Chasuble 101. 105. 173 seq.
199.- Cope 99-100. 173 seq. 199.
Crozier or staff 217 seq. 346.- Dalmatic 98. 109 seq. 276.-
Epigonation 169. 235 seq.- Girdle 98-100. 103-104. 124
seq.
Maniple 98. 138. 144 n. 163.
164.- Mitre or crown 120. 156. 184.
200 seq.
Omophorion or pall 143 seq.162.
- Rational 101. 102. ii7n. 122.- Shamlah 118 seq. 314.
Stole 99. 127 seq.
epitrachelion or patrashil128. 129 seq.orarion 128. 134 seq. 321.
Superhumeral 101. 102.
Tailasan 120.
Vestments, eastern origin of 125.
Wafer 278 seq.
Wanderers of the desert 372. 374.
Washing the altar 9. 342.- of eucharistic vessels 292.
of hands at mass 287.- of feet 122. 145 n. 350. 361.
Water mixed with wine 284.
Wine, eucharistic, 281.- for lamp 329.- other use of 341.Women 277. 291.
Worshipping the patriarch 312.
THE END.
GETTY CENTER LIBRARY
3 3125 00775 8820