r^
MODERN BDNB DF T
iMBtes^liM.nfii'lrVWmitirtM^Wi ■ miitrini, ini i
\
Presented to the
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
LIBRARY
by the
ONTARIO LEGISLATIVE
LIBRARY
1980
a^VM't
MODERN SONS
OF THE PHARAOHS
A STUDY OF THE MANNERS AND
CUSTOMS OF THE COPTS OF EGYPT
I »-**««
T>.
'(if^^*'M
BY
S. H. LEEDER
AUTHOR OF "VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT'
"THE DESERT GATEWAY" ETC.
ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR,
ALPHONSE EFFENDI GRIESS, JAMES SCOTT, M.A.,
P. DITTRICH, CAIRO, AND LEKEGIAN, CAIRO
" 'Tis time new hopes should animate the world,
New light should dawn from new revealings
To a race, weighed down so long, forgotten so long.
Browning.
HODDER AND STOUGHTON
LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO
L^
/5
2>T
^Dedication
TO
CANON HAWKINS
WHO, IN SPITE OF TOTAL LOSS OF EYESIGHT,
CONTINUED FOR NEARLY A QUARTER OF A
CENTURY, WITH UNDIMINISHED EFFICIENCY
AND CHEERFULNESS, TO SERVE HIS CHURCH,
AS VICAR OF LYTHAM IN LANCASHIRE
IN ADMIRATION
AND GRATITUDE FOR A
NOBLE EXAMPLE
r
The author acknowledges his great indebtedness to
the following Coptic gentlemen : —
MARCUS H. SIMAIKA BEY (who has since
become a Pasha), whose influential and authori-
tative help was unstinted.
KYRIAKOS EFFENDI MIKHAIL, who spent
valuable weeks in making possible the many
journeys in out-of-the-way Egypt.
AMIN PASHA GHALI.
ZAKI BEY WISSA (of Assiout).
AZIZ BEY HANNA SALEH (of Fayoum).
Dr. GEORGY SOBHY, of Cairo, who put all his
special knowledge at his disposal.
Dr. Nageeb Mahrous (of
Fayoum).
Ibrahim Effendi Zaky.
Abadeer Effendi Hakim
(of Assiout).
Habib Effendi Basta,
A.R.I.B.A., A.Inst.C.E.
Nashed Effendi Hanna.
Louis Effendi Fanous.
Marcos Effendi Sidarous.
Foad Effendi Naguib.
Preface
IT was the intention of the publishers that this book
should appear in the autumn of the year 19 14,
and the author completed the MS. by the very last
day of July, the day that seems to us now to have been
fated to mark the close of a world epoch. In the un-
certainty of the upheaval a postponement of publication
was agreed upon ; "till the end of the war," was at that
time a phrase fresh and hopeful. Three years have
more than passed ; the war goes on, and after what
perhaps has been a surfeit, readers are seeking for books
unconnected with translations of the doctrines of Hunnish
savagery and German philosophy, or even of the allied
politics and the history of the war itself. Moreover,
Egypt and its native people (although the exigencies of
war have sealed the country to the mere tourist) have
become the centre of new interest through a realisation of
its vital importance to the very existence of our Empire,
and by reason of the great armies which have assembled
there from every part of the Empire to assert and
protect our rights. And so the publication of this study
of the Coptic people of Egypt has been decided on for
the early days of 1918.
The writer has not been in Egypt during the period
viii Preface
of the war, though the pleasure of correspondence with
many native friends there — Moslem and Coptic — has
happily not been interrupted. When he left the valley
of the Nile, after the last of several prolonged visits,
the "Coptic question," to which he refers in the last
chapter, was in an acute stage provoking much con-
troversy. The advent of war put an end, of course, to
all agitation of that nature. As the days of strain and
trial to our Empire multiplied, the disposition increased
on the part of the Coptic people to assist the Govern-
ment in every possible way — in the realm of politics as
well as philanthropy.
The author has thouo;ht it would best serve the
Coptic people and the responsible Government of Egypt
to leave his work exactly as the beginning of the war
found it. After the long truce, which will end with the
war, it may be useful to be able to turn to a clear and
unbiased record of the things these ancient dwellers in
the land of Pharaoh have regarded as necessary for
reform, and to have the original statement of their
reasons and arguments for a different treatment, side
by side with the official answer to their claims. It is not
unlikely that in the light of the revelation which may
come from the tremendous experiences of the world
war the mistakes of both sides may stand out plain
and clear — the suppliant may see that he has asked too
much, and the governing power that it has been willing
to accede too little.
Preface ix
There is promise of a new era for Egypt when the
days of normal government are resumed. A corrupt
Court has been scattered, and the firm authority of
Britain has been established in the place of counsels
feebly divided with Turkey. The thousand social and
administrative scandals arising from the Capitulations
have been removed. Mosque and Church alike have
been freed from the chance of internal corruption and
bribery through the exercise of national control over
their considerable revenues. In view of all the hopes
which will herald the new day, is it too much to trust
that a way will be found to satisfy the Coptic aspirations,
which I would ask those in authority in Egypt to believe
— whatever may be said of their political value — are as
honest and sincere as they are heartfelt ?
Contents
BOOK I
THE PEOPLE AND THEIR CUSTOMS
CHAPTER I
PAGE
A Visit to the Village of a Coptic Squire . . 3
CHAPTER n
The Home-Life of the Squire . . . -27
CHAPTER HI
Country Rambles and Chats with Bedouins and Fellaheen 45
CHAPTER IV
Amongst the Country-Folk. Their Beliefs and Supersti-
tions. The Interest and Humour of their Talk . 63
CHAPTER V
Birth and its Attendant Celebrations . . .82
CHAPTER VI
Baptism and Circumcision . . . . -95
xii Conteitts
CHAPTER VII
PAGE
How A Wife is Chosen, with an Account of the Ceremonies
OF Betrothal . . . . , .104
CHAPTER VIII
The Coptic Wedding . . . . . .112
CHAPTER IX
The Oriental in Grief; and the Coptic Burial Customs 122
CHAPTER X
The Marvels of the Saints' Tombs, and their Birthday
Fairs ....... 136
CHAPTER XI
Oriental Shopkeepers and Handicraftsmen . .146
BOOK II
THE PEOPLE AND THEIR ORIENTAL CHURCH.
THEIR GREAT DIGNITARIES. THEIR SOCIAL
AND POLITICAL POSITION
CHAPTER I
The Oriental Christian in his Church. The Church
itself . . . . . . '169
CHAPTER II
The People at Worship . . . . .183
CHAPTER III
Of the Bread and the Wine, of Holy Water, and the
Extraordinary Coptic Fasts .... 209
Contents xiii
CHAPTER IV
PAGE
The Beliefs of the Copts . . . . .228
CHAPTER V
A Sketch of the Aged Coptic Patriarch, Cyril V. . 245
CHAPTER VI
A Visit to the Venerated Bishop of the Fayoum . 265
CHAPTER VII
Does the Ancient Race of the Pharaohs still survive
in Egypt? ...... 305
CHAPTER VIII
The Egyptian Christians and British Rule . . 327
ADDENDA—
The Burying of the Picture in the Altar . . 345
The Breaking of the Bread .... 346
BIBLIOGRAPHY 347
INDEX ........ 349
Illustrations
One of the most Gorgeous Coptic Weddings of Recent
Years ...... Frontispiece
A Monastery in the Remote Desert
The Head of a Desert Monastery (leaning
and his Youngest Acolyte
The Chief Nazir of the Pasha
The Monastery of Jeremias at Assouan
Butter Churning in the Village
The Old Bedouin, aged 112 Years, and his Wife
In the Hot Days of Summer
A Village Scene in Egypt
A Holy Tree of Great Age .
The Scene at the Farm in the Delta
The Distant Village in Upper Egypt from which it is
said the Magicians came who pitted their Arts
against those of Moses and Aaron
In the Bazaar of the Cauldron Sellers .
The Harness-Maker and the Worker in Palm-Fibre
A Fruit Shop in the Water-Melon Season
The Screen Divisions in the Coptic Church of Abu
Sergeh, Old Cairo .....
on his
FACING PAGE
32
Staff)
32
32
32
48
48
64
64
80
112
1 12
144
160
160
176
xvi Illustrations
FACING PAGE
The Pulpit and Middle-Screen of the Church of Abu
Sergeh ....... 176
The Portico and the Interior of a Coptic Church . 192
The Egyptian Village of Keneh, largely Coptic . 240
Where the Drinking Vessels are Made . . . 240
The Beautiful Banks of the Nile , . . . 240
The Domes which are Characteristic of all Coptic
Churches ....... 272
On the Roof of a Coptic Monastery . . .272
The Sainted Bishop of the Fayoum with his Wonderful
Hand-Cross ...... 3^4
A Coptic Woman of the Poorer Class . . . 320
A Coptic Priest ...... 320
The Great Coptic Centre in Egypt — Assiout . . 336
•• . • I i
f ■'«
M
\ 41
\
m^fiff
km^
^
vn
^j^^^r^ ^^HHpB^
t^g^
» i^ - V|
l»
m^.m
ONE OF THE MOST GORGEOUS COP
Which united the prominent famLlies of Wissa and Fanous. The photograph shows thi
The wedding took
■*&:■".
m
M s
0.
•je^>.
%
\u- -
\*m
m\
ii^
>«*iA *
scor
jffs the
^^^^^R^^^^^^^^l
Hnj^^BB^A^
^^^^bm^
^^^^^B tJ^^ ^^^^I
pi^^^^^^^C ^MwJ^^^^^^^^^m
W^^
3
r ^^v
j^^^^^^^^^^^B ^H^v Wk't-ii^'S^'^'.' 2^^^^^^^1
: WEDDINGS OF RECENT YEARS.
agnificent Egyptian pavilion used on ceremonial occasions, with its myriad lights,
ce at Assiout.
'^
■
■V" ^
/•-
■•^ ■ ^
VS. !
K-
'?■'■
t''*^
J*.-
i.*r>>..
,■(''«
c)- ^- ^^JUL^dJ^-r^
Book I
CHAPTER I
A Visit to the Village of a Coptic Squire
TO me the village life of Egypt has an irresistible
fascination. I have had the privilege of staying
in several of the out-of-the-wav hamlets, and
the more I have seen of the fellaheen, the more I have
appreciated the charm of their simple courtesies, their
unaffected hospitality, and a certain native grace, even
in the common people, which shines through all the ways
of a life so primitive as to belong to the days little
removed from those when man was driven out of the
Garden to eat bread by the sweat of his brow all the
days of his life.
In recent years this primitive life has been tempered
in some villages by the increase of wealth on the part
of the landed classes, and by the return of much of the
land into the hands of the people from whom it was
confiscated by a succession of tyrant rulers, ending with
the earlier Khedives, who had declared themselves the
owners of the whole country. Much of this wealth is in
the hands of the Copts, who have prospered exceedingly
under the security of British rule.
There is on the part of some few of the wealthy
Copts a genuine desire in increasing and improving
their estates, to rule their domains in such a way as to
gain the esteem and affection of their many dependants.
A Visit to the Village
Nothing could make for the lasting good of Egypt
so surely as the enthusiasm for skilled farming these
men are showing. They are encouraging the study of
scientific agriculture, by which means the productivity of
their country is being enormously increased ; and at the
same time, by the introduction of every sort of modern
appliance, they are rapidly bringing into fuller cultiva-
tion vast areas which have until now been dependent on
the annual flooding of the Nile for a single crop, but
which is now made by artificial irrigation to yield a
succession of crops throughout the year.
In the Delta — especially by great systems of level-
ling of the soil — these landowners are rescuing immense
tracts of pure desert and brine-logged earth, and making
it to smile under the waving corn which, as by magic,
springs up where once the sea reigned or the hot dry
sand refused to yield a single green blade.
Lower Egypt, in a very true sense, is the gift of the
Nile. There was a time when the Delta was a bay of
the Mediterranean Sea, and before the Nile deposits
filled it up, the limestone ridge of the famous Mokattam
Hills, behind Cairo, was washed by the sea.
In addition to the wide tracts that have been re-
covered, there are still in the Delta a million and a half
acres of land lying waste, waiting to be freed from the
salt which has impregnated it and rendered it sterile for
ages. Experience shows that it can be brought into
cultivation, and will then grow not only rice but cotton.
Speaking broadly, from the deductions of the
geologist, it may be said that the mighty river, since
modern time began, made itself the generous servant of
mankind by its never-ceasing task of pushing back with
its rich deposits the Mediterranean Sea ; in early times
the gift grew in magnitude as the population increased
of a Coptic Squire 5
to receive it ; and at the present day history is repeating
itself.
The part that man has played in supplementing the
work of the river has always been an important one. It
may be doubted if the skill used to-day far exceeds that
of the early Egyptians, who applied themselves to
develop this rich gift of the sacred river. There is
ample evidence that they understood the science of
irrigation, as well as that of construction in wood, brick,
and stone.
It only needs a glance at the figures of the fabulous
increase in the population of Egypt, under its present
conditions of justice and security, to show how necessary
for the support of human life the work of men, such as
I have spoken of, is, even in supplementing the activities
of the Government, in the way of reclamation by immense
systems of irrigation and drainage.
It is scarcely realisable that while the population
of Egypt about seventy years since was roughly two
millions, it is now nearly ten, and that the greater part
of this increase has come under British rule, which only
dates from the year 1882.
Forced labour no longer condemns tens of thousands
of men to a slavery which often proved a quick road
to death. It is a strange reflection, that an august lady
is still living for whose pleasure a Khedive made a road
— from Cairo to the Pyramids — in such brutal hurry that
many thousands of lives were sacrificed in two or three
weeks.
There are many works in Egypt gained at a like
cost in human agony and blood. In the days of the
corvee, so comparatively recent, the villages used to echo
with the piercing cries of demented mothers whose sons
were snatched away from them, either for forced labour
A Visit to the Village
or for the army. Well those poor mothers knew that
from either service the chances of seeing their loved ones
again were less than faint.
Under Lord Cromer the corvSe came to an end, and
to-day the army service causes no wailing ; the mother,
and the youthful wife, look forward to seeing the lad
again, strong and straight, a travelled man with many
things to tell, and even with a little money in his
pocket.
Having an invitation from a Coptic squire to visit
his domain, we are, as the Eastern custom ordains, taken
in charge by our host, from the time we leave our own
dwelling in Cairo to the moment when he will bring
us back to the same threshold. I know that I must
not insult an Egyptian host by offering even to pay
my own railway fare, and can only console myself
in submitting to such an un-English custom by the
promise he has made me to visit me at my home in
England, when it will be polite for me to show him
equal consideration.
Arrived at the country station, we are met by several
servants, with an odd collection of camels, mules, and
donkeys, on which our party are to ride across the
country to the out-of-the-way village. The salaams and
greetings between the folk assembled to meet us are
instinct with genial courtesy on all sides, and we all call
down the blessings of peace, with wishes for a bright and
happy day, upon each other.
It is a glorious morning in January, the sun having
dispelled the coldness of the night (it has only just
escaped actual frost) and the white mists of early dawn.
After many delays, all so characteristic of Egypt to
those who know its casual habits, our cavalcade starts,
and leaving the little town we are soon travelling single
of a Coptic Squire 7
file along the raised bank of the canal, almost the only
sort of road known in the country.
How exhilarating" it all is — the dry, sun- warmed air,
the blue sky, the vivid colouring all touched with a pale
golden glow so peculiar to the land of the Nile. The
fields are green now with the bui^see^n, a sort of in-
digenous clover, and the beans, filling the air with that
delicious scent which speaks so subtly to an Englishman
of the first warm days of summer at home. The scents
here are not the elusive whiffs of the English country-
side, but take us in full and warm embrace — the earth
is transformed into a very paradise of delicate perfumes.
We draw deep breath ; the air is not only delicious, but
full of exhilarating and health-giving powers, with
suggestions of an eternal youthfulness in which care
falls away and the spirit of man becomes free and
untrammelled.
The bird life by the waterside is enchanting. Here
the kingfisher, whose glory of colour and sheen have
never been known to those who have not seen him
boldly flitting about in such sunlight as this, shows
little trace of any fear of man. I have seen twenty of
these birds together at one moment, darting about
over a canal. In Egypt it has never occurred to the
boys, small or large, to disturb the pleasures of the
birds.
Small owls, too, fly in and out of the banks, having
apparently forgotten the night habits of their species ;
or, if they choose to sleep, we pass them on the bare
boughs of the few small trees, nestling together in
couples.
The lark is here, with a little song of its own, where
nearly all the birds are silent ; and the busy wagtail.
The beautiful hoopoe is as tame as the pigeons of
8 A Visit to the Village
St. Mark's, while other tiny specks of vivid Hving colour
flit to and fro like animated flowers.
One of the features in the landscape of Egypt is the
procession of natives along by the waterways, the men
in their blue cotton robes, and the women swathed in
dusty black, a procession which, from the rising till the
setting of the sun, seems never ending.
Because we are riding, we give, by immemorial
custom, the salaam to those who walk, and in return
receive the greetings and the smiles of the passers-by.
Soon we leave the canal, and take one of the paths
cutting across the fields, worn hard by the countless feet
that have passed over it.
There is a market to be held to-day, at the nearest
town ; and as we come within its range we are met by
great numbers of men, women, and children, all leading
animals — camels, oxen, asses, goats, and sheep, the
young lambs being sometimes carried across the
shoulders, or literally in the bosom of the shepherd.
By the wayside, a number of youths, on the way to
market, have stopped to play at the word-games in
which they delight, and which provoke them to subdued
bursts of merriment.
Here again a group of schoolboys, released from
their morning studies, are playing a very ancient game,
something like rounders. One of the smaller ones has
shed all his clothes, and is chaff"ed by his companions
because a Frangee has seen him naked. "Oh," he
replies in a flash, " he will think that I am the ginn of
the noonday" — a familiar afi'eet of the Nile valley.
In one field a young fellah is guiding one of the
primitive ploughs, drawn by a great ox, the while he
sings in a pleasant monotone a very ancient song of the
soil, the words of which I afterwards secured from
of a Coptic Squi?^e
another labourer in the fields. This is a very free
translation :
Warm is the sun,
The flood waters run ;
Safe is the seed I have sown.
Soon I shall reap,
The young lambs will leap ;
Glad will be harvest home !
In wet sand will the cool melons grow,
And green cucumbers hang from the bough,
And the grape, and the peach, and the red pomegranate.
Will gladden the days when the waters run low.
The sounds that rise from the sunlit fields in Egypt
create an impression of natural gladness unlike that of
any other country. Whether it is the lowing of the
contented cattle at this time of the year when the
bu7'seem is in crop, or the laughter and shouts of the
dancinor children who attend them, or the twitteringf of
the birds, that gives to the great anthem its special note,
I do not know, but here one seems to be listening to
the primeval song of seething young life in the first
Garden before the sunshine had ever been overcast.
In Egypt every animal is considered to have the
right to a course of burseem, which has a name signify-
ing "taste of the spring." By this name it is called
by the man who sells it in the streets of Cairo, for the
benefit of the horses and donkeys on hire there. The
drivers feed their beasts with it at every opportunity,
and the orreen litter of b2irsee7?i is a characteristic of the
Oriental city which all visitors will remember. Our host
tells us that his city horses are all sent by train into
the country every year for their "taste of the spring" ;
we are, indeed, briuCTinor with us two or three of the
animals at this time.
lo A Visit to the Village
You cannot of course turn a number of animals loose
into a clover field to feed. Each beast, whether it is
a goat or a buffalo, is tethered at the edge of the crop,
the stake being placed with nice discrimination as to the
amount of clover to be allowed in a sfiven time.
Our cavalcade passed through two or three villages,
having to take the narrow passage-ways in single file.
The huts are built of unbaked bricks of mud from the
Nile banks, and have flat roofs, generally stacked with
the yellow sticks of Indian corn which is used as
fuel.
The huts are windowless ; but as all things that love
the sun are out of doors, one sees all the life of the
village going on in the small open spaces.
Here some women are churning for butter, the milk
being simply thrown from side to side in a goat's skin,
suspended from a bamboo tripod — a group of women
and girls sitting round, of course, to discuss the
operation.
Here a mother sits in the sun, with her back to the
wall of her hut, nursing her babe. Other women are
coming up from the river with the water-pots on their
heads. The women are all swathed in the black robe
of Egypt, so unsuitable where every pathway is a track
of dust ; as we appear, their faces are covered until the
men of our party have passed.
It would be most improper for men to address the
women, but my wife generally rides behind so that she may
have the pleasure of greeting them. For her, they drop
the covering from their faces completely, and smile as they
offer all sorts of compliments and good wishes. Will
she not stop and drink of their milk ? Can they bring
her food ? Having been in Algeria, she recognises a
form of greeting which is in general use by the Arabs
of a Coptic Squire 1 1
there, but which in Egypt is used only by the women —
sabah el khayr.
The ordinary sight-seer who visits Egypt will learn
with surprise that off the tourist tract the word
backsheesh is never heard, however poor the people may
be. Indeed, on every side they are anxious not to take,
but to give of their humble best to the visitor, who by
ancient tradition is the oruest of all.
As it is noonday there is generally a group of men,
returned from the fields, who are resting on the village
"green." The fact that it is not green, but dust-grey,
seems to have no effect on the activities of the great
flock of fine-looking geese who forage upon it to good
result.
The fellah, like all classes of men in the East, delights
in conversation, and it is allowable by the strictest rules
of politeness for all men to forgather where talk is
CToino; on.
The news of the day naturally goes by word of
mouth, and no man who has the advantage of being
able to read would be so churlish as to deprive the
great majority of his neighbours, who cannot read,
of the benefit of his enviable gift. The passer-by
will always stop and quiedy take a seat near a group
of men who are talking, his presence never being
resented.
The Eastern laws of politeness, almost as old as
time, are so well understood that there is rarely any-
thing unseemly in these casual gatherings. The good
breeding which prevents a man from addressing directly
another man with a recognised claim to higher respect,
also dictates to the man of better position a gentle con-
sideration of his lowly companion. It is not good to
presume on superiority of education or wealth ; and
12 A Visit to the Village
boisterousness of voice or manner is universally depre-
cated for all men. For this reason no one ever
whistles with his mouth in the East.
The politeness of Egypt is far deeper than any sort
of ceremonial observance. I have read of an old Coptic
monk whose rules for eating were very strict, but with
visitors he would eat against these rules when he
thought that it would put them at their ease. It is such
courtesy as this that gives a foreign visitor at the
present day the perfect repose in strange society which
makes for social enjoyment. A faux pas is impossible,
in this way, that whatever a visitor does (no matter
how contrary to the custom of the country) it is excused
without a sign. If any apology is made, it is met with
a gentle smile and the words, "We knew that what you
did was polite in your own country." The only time
I have ever known an English visitor to give deep
offence was when a lady, after attending one of the
Coptic church services, insisted on buying as a souvenir
the cymbals that had been used. Fortunately the
politeness which allowed the lady to have her way
was rewarded by the intervention of a man who under-
stood the nature of the wound so thoughtlessly inflicted,
and the church's property was restored.
The fellah is a being full of curiosity, as a lover of
gossip will always be. Quietly, but tersely, our servants
are questioned again and again all along the journey,
as to who the strangers are ! Why they are visiting
a part of the country where tourists never go ; how long
are they going to stay ; above all, has the gentleman
any connection with the Government ?
And the news travels forward in all directions, by
those magic means only known in the East. As in
scriptural days, the watchman on the housetop, and the
of a Coptic Squire 1 3
guardian of the fields on his mound, send out their
signals/
At last we see in the distance, across the emerald
fields, the village in which we are to stay. It is, as
all the hamlets are, a picturesque huddle of mud huts,
built all over a slight eminence so as to be lifted out of
the flood at high Nile. It is dominated by the graceful
minaret of the mosque, and by the one great white
house, or gasr, to which we are going, and by the small
domes which distinguish the Coptic church. In any
other country the dirt surrounding the villages would
be insufferable. It is one of the wonders of Egypt how
the sunshine redeems everything.
In the hieroglyphic annals of ancient Egypt, mention
is frequently made of houses which were distinguished
from the ordinary dwellings by the title of "white
ones." The treasury of Pharaoh was called "the double
white house." It is just the same to-day. The greater
number of buildings of the Egyptian Government are
whitened by lime, and may be recognised afar off by
the traveller. The dwelling of every Egyptian of
standing in the country has its walls whitened. Now
that there is no need to hide the Christian churches,
they too are whitened as of old. Even the chapels
attended by those many Copts who have been won
to Presbyterianism by the American Mission, stand out
from the dull yellow mud colour of the dwellings of the
people in gleaming whiteness.
Arrived at the house, we are bidden welcome with
delightful courtesy by our host, who introduces us
to his chief nazir, or factor ; and to other im-
^ "The watchman went up to the roof over the gate unto the wall, and
lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold a man running alone" (2 Sam.
xviii. 24),
14 A Visit to the Village
portant servants, who all from that moment devote
themselves to our comfort and entertainment.
It is interesting to find that this house, though it
dates only from the early days of the British occupa-
tion which brought the security and much of the wealth
on which the fortunes of its owner are founded, yet
follows a plan closely corresponding to that of the
ancient Egyptian dwellings of like importance.
The unbaked bricks of the Exodus are its material,
and the inner courtyard surrounded by chambers used
for the reception of visitors, for court-room or mandara,
and for household and general stores, are much the
same as in those days.
This large courtyard has leading from it the work-
shops, the estate offices, the servants' sleeping-rooms,
the kitchens, the lumber-rooms, and even the stables
of those animals in immediate use by the family. It
is in the courtyard that visitors dismount. Most
courteous are the servants who hurry to his assistance,
and offer him the eloquent greetings which custom
requires.
The folding doors of the courtyard, with wooden
lock, are very like those of ancient days, and so are
the tall conical pigeon-houses which flank the entrance.
The doors have been strengthened with metal plates,
which may well remind us of how the doors of the
Pharaoh's temples were plated with gold or bronze —
to be stolen by foreign foes without any respect to
the deity.
The pigeon towers are of great interest. The
pigeon is a very important item of food in all country
places. The origin of the towers, ages ago, was doubt-
less the discovery that the pigeon in this hot climate
likes to hide itself for sleep during part of the day
of a Coptic Squire 1 5
in any cool pot or pitcher it can find. These conical
towers are built up simply of mud with old pots stuck
into it. No one thinks of buying pigeons in Egypt ;
to supply these cool retreats is always enough to
attract as many birds as you can provide for in this
way. The towers are seldom disturbed even to be
cleaned out, except to remove the guano, which is of
great value. It is, however, characteristic of the dove
to show no trace of the dust and dirt of its surround-
ings. When, towards sunset, the pigeons come out
in circling flights, and catch the golden light of the sun,
it seems that the poetic line of the Psalmist must have
been inspired by just such a sight — "Though ye have
lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of
a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with
yellow gold."
In the interior decoration of his house the ancient
Egyptian showed great taste : applied ornament was
greatly used, the walls were all painted, and the
furniture was decorative. The modern country house
in Egypt, like this one we are visiting, is usually with-
out mural decoration of any sort, the walls being left
roughly plastered. The furniture is scanty and hideous,
but for the divan coverings, which are sometimes of
good material, and the rugs and carpets — generally of
great value. It is an interesting point, however, to
those who believe that the Copt is direcdy descended
from the people of the Pharaohs, to see how, with a
return of prosperity, an extraordinary love of elaborate
decoration of the home is growing up. I know several
Coptic houses on which a great amount of wealth has
been spent in the ornamentation of all the principal
rooms. Nothing, indeed, but the ancient skill and
taste is lacking in these cosdy attempts to adorn the
1 6 A Visit to the Village
home. It is hoped that, as a result of the care that
is being given by the Government in the teaching of
handicrafts, in the excellent technical schools, the old
talents may be found to be only dormant and not
utterly lost.
On the part of the peasantry, the only attempts at
any sort of decoration are the crude drawings, made
round the doorway of the huts to show when one of
the inhabitants has been on a pilgrimage. If the man
is a Moslem, his journey to Mecca gives him the title
of hadj, and his friends prepare for his honoured
return by painting hideous representations of the
camels, trains, and ships, by which he is supposed
to have travelled, on his house wall round the
doorway.
But it should be remembered that sacred pilgrimages
in the East are not confined to the Moslems. The
Copt should strive equally to visit Jerusalem, and to
bathe in the Jordan. In Egypt they are both uncon-
sciously carrying on a custom of the ancients, for the
pilgrimage to a temple was an earnest obligation
and a sacred adventure ; also to be painted on the
houses.
When guests arrived in ancient days they were
offered a small cup of wine and a nosegay of flowers.
Now there is the inevitable cup of coffee and the
cigarette. It is the very modern and travelled Copt
who departs from this custom, universal to Moslem
and Christian alike, and orders the whisky bottle
and the syphon.
The Copt should be jealous of preserving the coffee-
drinking custom, for it was to a Coptic monk, so says
a tradition, that its discovery is due ; his experiments
to find something that would enable him to keep
of a Coptic Squire 1 7
awake for his long devotions in the night, led him to
decide that the coffee berry was the very thing he
sought.
It is impolite to offer a full cup of coffee, and I
have only rarely seen a second cup offered ; I have
been told that to offer a third cup would be taken as
a studied insult — "the third for the sword," as the
saying has it.
Our host is of the old-fashioned order, so that we
sip our coffee on the sunny side of the courtyard, where
seats have been placed and rugs spread for us, while
all the uninterrupted life of a feudal stronghold goes
on around us.
In the middle of the great courtyard is a beautiful
spreading sycamore tree, in the branches of which
numbers of birds are chattering. One or two groups
of the children of servants are sitting under its shade,
eazinof at the visitors and exchanq-ina- amusing com-
ments about us. Their highly coloured garments make
a gay note in the scene. A few of them are negroes,
born of the bowabs, the gatekeepers who sit silently
on guard by the entrance, having their home in the
small single rooms on each side of the doorway. Service
in Egypt never means celibacy ; the significance of
the fateful word "encumbrances" is unknown either to
master or man. It is this sort of life that we read of
in early pages of the Bible, where there are so many
references to the children of the servants — "the son
of thine handmaid."
The primitive Eastern people hold celibacy in
the utmost detestation, as childlessness is a terrible
infliction. Religious monasticism, although it was the
early growth of the Coptic Church, has made
no impression on the views of the people on this
2
1 8 A Visit to the Village
matter. The Oriental also hates a hairless masculine
face.
The position of our host is like that of a feudal lord,
and the people look to him for countenance and pro-
tection, and give him reverence, as did the serfs of old.
The negro bowab, who keeps the gate, has little to do,
for entry to the courtyard is practically free, not only
for those who have even a pretence of business, but for
any one who desires to feast his eyes on the grandeur
of his overlord, or merely wishes to enjoy a drink of
water from the great guiak, or zij^, under the shade
of the tree, and to rest, in a squatting position, on one
of the mats on the ground ; or, if he chooses to sit
on one of the wooden seats provided, the slippers are
dropped off and the legs are almost always drawn up
on to the seat with the arms clasped round them. It
was so that the ancient Egyptian sat, as the monu-
ments illustrate.
There is one form of resting, which Christianity
and Mohammedanism have alike made impossible.
On the ancient monuments men are seen resting on
one knee, especially in the presence of superiors ; but
since the Prophet's day it has been universally held
that it is wrong for any man to prostrate himself except
to God alone.
I have seen a poor man who in distress was humbly
suino- for favour from a Pasha, take dust from the
ground of the courtyard and press it to his lips as a
form of deep obeisance ; ' ut the same man would not
prostrate himself, even to the Khedive.
All day the courtyard is the meeting-place of all in
the neighbourhood who have any leisure — the men, the
women, and the children. Old men who are past work
spend many hours here every day, enjoying a sight of
of a Coptic Squire 19
the activities of the place, teUing their beads if they
are Moslems;^ muttering their prayers, "Our Fathers,"
and " Kyrie Eleisons," if they are Copts, also with a
rosary ; exchanging reminiscences of days long past,
when life was a sterner thing than now, and every back
of men of their order was scarred with the tyrant's
whip.
The night watchmen, with their long staves, are here
to make report ; the fun-loving donkey-boys, with their
whips, await orders.
Generally there is a group of young men and okl
lying on the ground playing those simple games with
stones, which the ancients played. If we think them
childish games, we may conclude that these simple folk
are all children.
And always there reigns, however many people are
assembled, a stillness and gravity peculiar to the Oriental.
It must not be thought, because these people are not
boisterous, that they are melancholy. There is a bright-
ness about them which is no less joyous because it is
subdued. Their appreciation of drollery and mirth is
unquenchable. They show the greatest court to any
man who can "give a good answer," or who excels in
mimicry, or has any touch of wit or humour.
Perhaps it is because his mirth never depends on
any degree of intoxication that the Egyptian fellah" is
not boisterous : one hears the cheerful laugh, although
it is seldom very loud ; but the guffaws and the shouting
of the common people who assemble in the beery resorts
^ The Moslem does not use his rosary for prayer, but to mark his
recitation of the ninety-nine excellent names of God, with which the very
pious would always " keep their tongues moist."
2 I use the word here in the sense accepted by Europeans, of the country
labourer ; fellah is, however, the name given to all engaged in agriculture
in Egyptj rich or poor.
20 A Visit to the Village
of Western lands are never heard. The Oriental is
taught from early youth that every form of self-demon-
stration is impoliteness to be discountenanced.
The Egyptian of any wealth, never, under any
circumstances, lives on the ground floor of any house or
hotel, whether in town or in country ; to sleep there,
especially, he thinks highly injurious to health. It is
therefore on the first floor that the reception-rooms are
found, to which we are now taken.
Here are the broad and brightly covered divans of
the East, running round the room, and the floor cover-
ings of costly and beautiful rugs. There are many
windows, often in a state of ill-repair ; some will not
shut, or odd panes are cracked or broken. This is an
instance of how the Egyptian can make an excellent
garment, but will not sew on the last button. Fortunately
he likes fresh air in his apartments, and wrapping himself
up in the evening when he sits indoors he inhales "the
life-giving breath of the north," with the same pleasure
as did his early ancestors, who used this exact expres-
sion in the hieroglyphics to describe the north wind. In
the Book of Job it speaks of " fair weather cometh out
of the north."
The Arab's hatred of wind, which the Prophet
himself shared, is solely confined in Egypt to the
khamseen, that hot and sand-laden breath of the desert,
which is indeed a thing to dread, when its season
approaches.
There are two great suites of rooms, traversing the
whole length of the buildings ; each room leading out of
the other, so that to reach the apartment at the end one
must go through the whole suite — an arrangement which
to remotest times has been customary in Egypt. One
suite is open to visitors, the other is hareem, or
of a Coptic Squire 2 1
"reserved," to use the word which has been so mis-
chievously distorted in the West, The hareem, in this
instance, is merely the wing of the house in which the
family lives ; it is reserved for the wife and children, and
no one of the male sex outside a certain decree of
relationship may visit it.
It is often asked if the Copts follow the same customs
in the seclusion and veiling of women as do the Moslems.
The question needs a careful answer, because a certain
number of educated and enlightened Egyptian Christians
have broken away, since the British occupation, from the
old customs which till then were universally followed by
Copt and Moslem alike.
The rich Coptic ladies of Assiout, for instance, have
entirely discarded the veil, and move about as freely as
if they were in England, except for such slight com-
promise as is made necessary by the fact that it is still
a matter of comment for them to be seen in public in a
country where seclusion is the rule.
In Fayoum, again, a few ladies of the upper and
middle class are banded topfether to advance their
position on Western lines. In Cairo and Alexandria
there are families where the home-life knows nothing of
seclusion or reserved apartments : friends of both sexes
are invited to the lunch and dinner table, and perfect
freedom of intercourse has become the rule.
I have met in this way a number of very intelligent
Coptic ladies. They are often beautiful, with a gentle
charm born of the hidden life from which they have just
emerged, enhanced by a pretty self-possession which
their excellent education by foreign governesses from
France and England has cultivated. They speak our
language perfectly, and turn with easy fluency to the
speech they use when on their yearly shopping excursions
2 2 A Visit to the Village
in Paris, where they buy all their clothes— indeed, their
native Arabic does not go so far towards classical per-
fection as do these acquired languages,
A very accomplished and charming Coptic girl friend
of my wife's writes not only English prose which would
do credit to a graduate of Girton, but English verse, in
which her Oriental imagination finds rich expression.
But interesting as it is to find this advance, it has
to be admitted that it is confined to a very small class.
Strict seclusion, and the closely drawn veil, must still
be described as the Coptic rule ; and that not alone
amongst the rustic and the ignorant. There are young
men who, in spite of education in the learned centres of
Europe (perhaps because of it), have determined that the
Oriental customs, so far as they are concerned, shall
be conserved. I know more than one young Copt,
graduates of English Universities, who have returned
to Egypt, determined to keep their young wives strictly
veiled and secluded.
With the great bulk of the people, rich and poor,
the matter has scarcely been questioned. In the heart
of Cairo I have visited Copts of all classes, from my
wealthy country host in his town house to the govern-
ment official, and from young professional men to the
priests and singers of the church, without ever seeing a
sign of the wives and daughters of the family. Just as
in the Moslem households, my wife has been taken off
alone to the Coptic hareem, and it has been through her
that I have heard of all the interesting life that is going
on behind those guarded doors.
It must not be supposed that the women, in their
seclusion, are caged birds beating their wings against
gilded prison bars. There has been more nonsense
written about the hareem than about any other of the
of a Coptic Squire 23
details of Oriental life, concerning which Western
writers are so fruitful in the false (and often salacious)
deductions with which they cover their want of exact
knowledge.
It has always been one of the libels most readily
accepted in Western lands, that the wearing of the veil
and the seclusion of the hareem were the invention of
the Prophet Mohammed, maintained by his debased
followers, and that the Christians in Egypt had perforce
to adopt the pernicious customs from their Arab
conquerors.
It is rather to ancient Egypt, and to Old Testament
times, that such a position of women as these things
imply, must be traced. The Syrian women depicted by
Renan, just as did the women of old Egypt, held them-
selves aloof from the general activities and social interests
of their lords, content to look after his well-being at a
distance, to receive him with gentleness when he visited
them, and to find their pleasure in a thousand feminine
ways, surrounded by their beloved children ; to receive
their friends, and return their visits, to discuss, as all
women do, the clothes they will wear, and all the family
news, in great detail.
The ladies of the hareem in such a house as this we
are visiting are not idle, as is generally supposed. The
care of their households occupies them a great deal ; and
their skill in certain details of cooking is a thing they
delight in. They are worthy of their ancient ancestry
in the perfection of the innumerable pasties they make
for the great feasts in which their lords and their friends
have pleasure.
In the matter of dress, there is prolonged and
serious consideration of the rich stuffs, and of the costly
jewels sent by the city merchants for inspection. The
24 A Visit to the Village
silks and satins chosen will be bright in colour, sheeny
or iridescent, with tissues of silver and gold. As for
jewellery, in no country is the artificer in precious metals
and stones so important a personage ; if you know where
to look for them you will find rarer jewels and more
beautiful settings in Cairo than in Paris. The favourite
jeweller is kept continually at work for ladies with even
moderate wealth ; for if they are not adding to their
possessions, they are having the costly tiara, or the
heavy necklace, or bracelets, remodelled, so that they
may renew their delight in their diamonds, and pearls,
rubies, and emeralds — the favourite stones.
And when the lady of this class is not so engaged,
the embroidery frame is in her hands, with skilful and
beautiful results. The selection of the many Eastern
perfumes which she and her daughters use is one of her
minor occupations ; she is a good judge, and as her
husband also uses a favourite scent — probably it will be
jasmine — she will select this for him. She uses henna
to stain the nails of her feet and hands to add to their
beauty (apart from its more lavish ceremonial use), and
antimony to make the eyes look long.
If she retains her husband's affection, the Egyptian
lady asks nothing more for perfect happiness ; indeed,
if he were to suggest a removal of the boundaries which
are supposed to make a prisoner of her, she would think
his care and love were deserting her, and all the world
would seem for her to be falling in ruin.
Very many of the marriages are perfectly happy ;
and if the old suo-o-estion is made that the women are
mere toys of the men, I can say that I know of numbers
of clever women whose intelligence and character are
greatly respected by their husbands ; of many a hareem
which is the favourite resort at all times of the husband
of a Coptic Squire 2 5
and sons, who never take a single important step in life
without seeking the wise counsel of the gracious lady
who reigns there — the lady who, when the closing days
of a long life are in sight, still retains the veneration and
respect of all the men who have the right of entry
to her domain.
When we had arrived in the courtyard, we were
quite sure that behind the lattices of the women's
apartments many curious eyes had observed us, and
chattering tongues had acutely discussed every detail of
our appearance, and our travelling possessions.
I was sure the ladies were delighted at the pleasure
we showed in our greetings of the children, who had
come down to join their father in our welcome, for we
have long- since learned enough of Oriental lore to
know how to use discretion in conveying to proud
parents our admiration of their beautiful offspring, so as
not to scare them with all the awful fears of the envious
eye, which have abated no whit with time's advance.
The belief in " the evil eye " is both primeval and
universal, and in many countries is as current to-day as
it was in prehistoric times.^ " Ma'shallah ! " we say, as
the children greet us ; " Praised be God ! " " May God
^ What in English is called "the evil eye" has its equivalent in every
written language. Shakspere calls it "overlooking." The mistake is
often made of thinking this is an Eastern belief, and possibly Moslem. In
Italy one cannot live an hour amongst the people without being confronted
with the superstition. Modern science and education have done nothing
to weaken the belief. Certain people have the power of casting a malignant
spell through the glance of the eye, especially when they are displeased.
At the root of the idea it will always be found that envy is the destroying
spirit. Our English word envy means a malignant or hostile feeling arising
from jealousy. When Saul envied David he "eyed" him from that day
(i Sam. xviii. 9), the same idea running all through the Old Testament
envy being an evil to pray against. It is significant that a whole
Commandment deals with covetousness. In the mercy of God, "His eye
is upon man for good."
2 6 A Visit to the Village of a Coptic Squire
keep them for you!" " Ma'shallah ! May God let
them orrow and bless them ! " And we do not let the
parents know but that we too have a quiverful of
children, almost as beautiful as these, for only by such
means will they have any delight in our admiration,
I have myself seen children of the rich, especially
the boys, allowed to run about shabby and dirty, so as
to escape the eye of envy — though this habit is dying
out, especially in the cities, where the children are often
nowadays beautifully dressed, and are cared for by
French and English nurses and governesses.
I
CHAPTER II
The Home-Life of the Sqiiii^e
LATER, as we rest in one of the suite of rooms,
which are, we know, used as reception-rooms,
or bedrooms, according to the needs of the
moment (it only wants the spreading of mattresses and
sleeping rugs to change them from one to the other),
our host discreetly questions us as to our preferences
in the matter of food, while he tries to find out what
are our usual times for meals. A gentle battle of polite
evasions arises between us, my desire being to follow
the customs of the house, while courtesy demands of
him to adapt his whole establishment to the predilec-
tions, however foreign, of his guests.
He claps his hands, and the servant whose chief
care is the commissariat quietly appears, holds himself
erect and with dignity, while he receives from his lord
the softly muttered orders, making no response but the
Arabic word which may be translated " Perfectly."
He then disappears, to translate the necessary details
to Marcus the cook, a valued servant, of whom we later
hear that he is a native genius, having gone, from a
village near by, as an utterly illiterate youth, to Cairo,
where his talent in cooking was developed in the
kitchen of a great hotel. The powers of memory and
of observation in Eastern people have always been
?7
2 8 The Home-Life of the Squire
wonderful : this man seems never to have forgotten
anything he ever learned ; he cooks equally well in the
native or the Parisian way. If he is asked to provide
a French meal, he will insist on a menu being written
out, dictating correctly the French name of each item.
To-day, by our special desire, Marcus is to cook a
purely Egyptian meal.
While the food is preparing, our host invites us to
stroll with him through his garden, to enjoy the cooler
air now that the sun is setting. An Egyptian garden
is at the same time an exquisite delight and an inde-
finable disappointment. There are at all times flowers
in abundance, and the warm rich fragrance in which one
is steeped at every turn is a revelation to the senses.
The Egyptian counts everything that grows, however
beautiful, a mere nameless weed, and no flower, unless
it gives forth a pleasing scent.
Here are roses in rich abundance in January,
brinofing- a wealth of colour to the scene ; here is a
great hedge of jasmine, white with its large blooms,
breathing a delicate ecstasy ; and orange trees in
blossom, inviting us to delights embarrassing in their
profusion.
When we reach the prosaic corner devoted to
vegetable production, we find the fragrant bean de-
liberately cultivated for its scent, for our host has scores
of acres of beans growing on his home farm.
But what is it about these gardens which, for all
their varied delights, disappoints ? For one thing, the
sober repose of the well-tilled soil of England is im-
possible where a daily flooding and splashing of water,
brought from the river, is the only way to keep anything
alive — the splashing which turns the flower-beds into
untidy muddy spaces. Then, the paths of an Oriental
The Home- Life of the Squire 29
garden are, in the absence of anything Hke pavement
or gravel, never pleasing to the eye which delights in
contour and neatness.
And above all, there is nothing comparable to our
English lawns to be found in this land, where in the hot
days of summer all grass must perish, so that a new
crop has to be cultivated every winter ; and consequently
it never makes anything but a green pretence of a lawn
to those who know the richness of the English sward,
sometimes centuries old.
Having thrown off the cares of the day, our host is
now in a humorous and genial mood. As we wander
about the garden, he invites us to gather and eat of the
many fruits ; knowledge of the length of Egyptian
banquets, however, makes us discreet, and we leave
such delicacies as ripe green figs, oranges, strawberries,
and other rare fruits, untasted.
There is often occasion to remark on the fact that
the Oriental always does everything in an exactly
opposite way from the Western people. This applies
equally to the things he eats. The same taste which
leads him to prefer the green end of a radish, accounts
for my host gathering the young flowers and the shoots
of the green pea, which he commends to me as far more
delicious than the peas which I persist in taking from
the pod.
Laughingly he tells me one of those stories which
are current in the East. The most sacred duty of
any man, and of those of nomadic descent especially —
and there are many pure Arabs wandering the deserts
of Egypt, some of them of great wealth — is that of
unstinting hospitality. It is as important as to be brave.
There was once a bedouin who, although he was not
poor, had so far forgotten the traditions of his ancient
3© The Home- Life of the Squire
race, that he meanly begrudged the refreshment of
travellers, who in that remote region so confidently
crossed the threshold of his tents. To say them nay
was unthinkable to bedouin pride, but this man, in his
meanness, cunningly sought to be rid of the hungry
wayfarers at the least possible expense.
While the meal they expected was preparing, he
would take them for a long-drawn-out visit to his garden,
and as he talked with them he repeatedly gathered
handfuls of beans ^ — the cheapest food in Egypt — for
them to eat. Long delay, of which no man would
complain in the dilatory East, made them hungry, and
all unsuspectingly they became replenished before the
more costly goods were ready ; at which the man,
whose meanness disgraced the noble race of those whose
pride it is to dwell in tents, as their forefather Abraham
did, was gratified.
With laughter in his eyes, my host declared that this
was his reason for bringing us to the beans, while his
feast was cooking !
We now return to the house, where in the great
reception-room preparations are almost complete for the
banquet.
It is easy to forget, at times, in such entertainments,
that there is any distinction between Copts and Moslems ;
there is one thing, however, that will almost always come
up to remind us. The whisky bottle and the liqueur
decanter, even in the most temperate households, make
their appearance in the last period of waiting for dinner,
and some of the men drink, as an aperitif, nibbling the
while at tiny dishes of Eastern hors-d' (suvre ; for it is
a belief of the Copts that it is injurious to drink spirits
^ All Egyptians eat the young beans in a raw state, often in great
quantities — they are tender, and delicious in taste.
The Ho me- Life of the Squire 3 i
without some sort of food. The choice is offered to the
visitor of every sort of Scotch and Irish liquor, of all the
famous brands.
Several large round trays have been placed on low
portable stands ; properly, we should seat ourselves on
the floor, but a concession has been made to our different
habits by the provision of chairs.
The first act of ceremony at a banquet is to go to the
table and secure one's serviette, as large as a towel, and
then withdraw again to the outer hall, where two or
more servants are waiting with the water-jugs (the
ibreek) so that we may wash our hands over the basin
(called tisht) in running water. It is a never- failing
source of surprise to the Oriental that any one can bring
himself to wash, even his hands, in standing or " dead "
water — to him the habit is too dirty to contemplate. We
make a great lather with the soap, for it is polite to show
particularity in washing the hands before food. We dry
our hands on our serviettes, and at once return to the
table, the host being the last to wash.
The company is now in merriest mood ; we all beam
with gaiety, and a charm steals over us which it is
difficult to suggest to those who have never experienced
it. One element of the sorcery which the Oriental
wields in his hospitality, is a soothing feeling that one
is amongst friends or brothers ; the atmosphere is that
of a form of good breeding which puts no check on good
humour. It is subdy conveyed to you, that, as a guest,
you are the object of every attention, while no sign
obtrudes itself even of the solicitude of which you
are the object, which might ruffle your peaceful enjoy-
ment.
The Oriental is incapable of suffering sombre
thoughts of the future ; he indeed realises that sufficient
32 The Home-Life of the Squire
unto the day is the evil thereof; that the morrow is in
the hands of God, whose concern it remains.
The gravest of the Egyptians — and some Orientals
of middle life can be very grave — are still by nature the
children of a joyous sociability, able to surround their
friends with such an atmosphere of good humour and a
forgetfulness of the sterner claims of life, that even an
Englishman finds it easy in such society to turn awhile
from the displeasures of memory, and the irksomeness of
duty, and even the claims of time itself, in the blissful
content of the moment.
It has been told of the present Sultan of Morocco, that
lately he gave a banquet at Fez, to the French Resident-
General. The guest noticed that the clocks in the palace
were all stopped, and hinted that he would like to present
His Majesty with a timepiece that would keep time.
The Sultan's answer was characteristic of the manners of
the Orient. " The clocks were stopped by my orders," he
said. " During your Excellency's too brief stay with us,
why be reminded of the flight of the hours ? " God made
eternity ; man invented the despotism of the timepiece.
With Moslems, the Eastern graciousness of manner
is perhaps more marked than with my Coptic friends,
and I can only think that something is sacrificed to the
artificial stimulus imported from the stills of Northern
Britain. The Koran prohibits all intoxicating drink.
A erea-t deal of the charm which distinguishes
the Oriental as a conversationalist comes from the
picturesque language in which he instinctively clothes
anything he has to say ; and from the inherited wisdom
that finds expression in the wealth of proverb always to
hand. At such gatherings as this, I always note the
proverbs that flow so easily into the conversation. I
take these from my notes of this occasion :
A MONASTERY L\ THE REMOTE DESERT.
"Deir Siriain" or the Syrian Jlonastery.
1 III; HEAD (U- A J )].-:,:; i mon-
astery (LEANING ON tllS
STAEE) AND HIS Y^OUNGEST
ACOLYTE.
Tlie Monastery of Anba Bishai.
THE CHIEF NAZIR OF THE PASHA.
\Yith some of the clerks, awaiting us at one of
the farms. They have decorated tlie gateway in
our honour.
II
THE MuNASJERY OF JERilMEVS .\T ASSOUAN.
The Home-Life of the Squire 3 3
" A man who is bitten by a serpent will be frightened
by the sight of a rope."
"A man who has no brother is like a person who
has a left arm, but no right."
" Stretch your legs according to the coverlet."
" He is your brother who shares your disaster,"
" Be as friends in social life, but be as strangers in
business."
" The devil is no match for an old woman."
" Without human companions Paradise itself would
be an undesirable place." (This is the more remark-
able because it is also a Moslem proverb.)
" The truest man on earth is he who remembers his
friend when he is absent, when he is in distress, and
when he is dying."
"An unmarried daughter has a broken winaf."
" The central gate of heaven is open to the man who
has been dutiful to his parents."
" Paradise is opened at the command of mothers."
(This is a variant of the Moslem proverb, " Paradise
is at the feet of the mother.")
It was interesting to find here a proverbial saying to
denote a profitless character — You can do nothing with
such a man, "his mind is salt." I remembered that it
is recorded of one of the monks of Lower Egypt, as long
since as the fourth century, that certain brethren entreated
Abba Epiphanius on one occasion, saying, " Father, speak
unto us some word of life, even though when thou
speakest we may not grasp the seed of thy word, because
the soil is salt."
A rich man of a neighbouring village was mentioned,
with a guarded expression of disapproval, put in the
form of an ancient proverb, " Grass grows on his fire-
place." This was a familiar saying in Egypt fifteen
3
34 ^^^ Home- Life of the Squire
centuries ago, applied to a man lacking in the virtue of
hospitality.
Another saying was used, which I have heard before
in Egypt. " He only loosed the tent-peg " was amusingly
applied to a man present, who had, a few years since,
created a great deal of strife in the Church, on the occasion
of the visit of the Patriarch, when the ill-feeling between
those Copts who had joined the American Presbyterians
and those who remained orthodox, had led to a riot.
The man protested that what he had said and done was
so trifling that he should not be blamed. Our host
quietly agreed that the man "had only loosed the tent-
peg a little," the comment provoking such general
merriment that I begged for the origin of the saying.
It is this.
A young afreet, a very fiend for mischief, travelling
with an older being, in passing through a peaceful
encampment one night, set the whole place in a terrible
uproar. When the old man accused him, he denied that
he had done anything to account for the hubbub.
" What then has caused it?" "I can't imagine unless
the sheikh's stallion has broken loose. He was tethered
to a tent-peg, and I thought I would just see if he was
properly fastened. I may have loosed the peg a little."
Personal gossip, however, especially of a spiteful
nature, is cautiously avoided, in conversation of this
sort, lest any kind of offence, however indirect, should
be given ; though this does not say that the Egyptian
is not a shrewd judge of character. The Government,
on the contrary, in all conversation is criticised with
astonishing freedom of speech ; and weird alternative
political schemes, from those before the country, are
suggested in such terms as make one think of debates
in Bedlam.
The Home-Life of the Squire 35
Comical stories and adventures are related, great
feats are recalled, and blood-curdling ghost stories are
told. To-night many incredible tales are related of
the miracles of the venerable and sainted Bishop of
Fayoum, to be capped by a Moslem present who relates
legends of the magic powers of a sheikh who lives
beyond Assiout. The conversation is at the same time
polite and courtly, fanciful and eloquent, and always
illuminated by simile and apt comparison ; the accom-
panying gestures helping the speaker's meaning. I
do not think I go too far when I assert that such con-
versation is brilliant, with a vein of native intelligence
runninof throug-h it which redeems it from the narrow-
ness of information and from the reproach of the super-
stitiousness which characterise every remark.
On the table in place of cutlery we have only one
wooden spoon ; the only crockery consists of plates,
and these are of modern introduction — they are unneces-
sary to the men of old-fashioned habits. We have
great pieces of the thin flat cakes of the country, which
we break into pieces small enough to dip into the round
dishes (put on the centre of the tables) to secure the
morsels we desire. In the case of soup, we use our
wooden spoons, all dipping into the one tureen. When
fowls and turkeys appear, the strong fingers of our host,
assisted by his guests, tear them apart, and we are
invited to appropriate the tenderest pieces.
The feature of all such banquets as this is a sheep
roasted whole ; it will have been killed that morning
according to the rites which have been the custom in
Egypt ever since, and even long before, the days of
Moses. I cannot say I enjoy the sight of this whole
sheep, but knowing that it is a tribute of honour to a
guest, I join in its disintegration with what Dickens
36 The Ho me- Life of the Squire
calls "impartial eyebrows." Fortunately none of the
dishes stay long ; it is the chief guest's privilege to
waive them aside to the servants, though it is only an
Egyptian who ever exercises the right. The European
guest can never bring himself to accept the position of
lord in another man's house, which the native knows
is the ria^ht of a oruest of honour. After a lonof succes-
sion of courses the welcome sweets at last arrive, signal
that fruit will follow.
At last the end of the banquet is reached, and in
the promiscuous way that is here polite we leave the
table one by one, the moment we have finished, going
straight to the same servants who are waiting without,
to lave our hands again ; our host being the last to leave
the feast.
While we wash, other servants remove all sign of
our repast, even to the tables, and when we return, we
sit upon the broad divans, drawing our feet up under
us, after slipping off our shoes. And then we sip a
special coffee of Arabia — so delicious and scarce that
the connoisseurs of the East take care that it is not
wasted on the coarse palates of Europe — while we
smoke the cigarettes for which Egypt is famed.
A native concert has been arranged for our enter-
tainment, and soon we adjourn to the balcony leading
from our apartments and overlooking the great court-
yard, which is illuminated with modern lamps, and
where great numbers of dependants of the house and
fellaheen from the villages have already assembled,
and are sitting on the ground in picturesque groups,
every sound and gesture expressing pleased expectancy.
The intense soul-stirring pleasure which the fella-
heen— indeed, the Egyptian of every class — derive from
the native singing, is an experience outside that of the
The Home-Life of the Squire 37
folk of more northern climes. It has been so from the
time when history began.
The performers on this occasion are two men from
different villages, between which an endless feud goes
on as to the rival talents of their respective favourites,
in whom the whole countryside delights. The per-
formers trust to memory for an endless repertoire of
native songs, and are entirely self-taught in the mar-
vellous skill with which they play the instrument called
the kemengeh.
The sounding body of this primitive viol is nothing
but part of a cocoa-nut, but playing with his bow upon
its two strings the performer will stir the whole gamut
of primeval emotion in his audience, as he accompanies
the Eastern songs, of love and passion, of mirth and
pride, of the deep delights of the tent and the caravan,
of running water and green oasis, of the thrill of
battle, and the contest of wit and repartee.
In choosing such singers, no thought would ever
be given by their employers as to whether they were
Moslem or Copt ; and in giving their entertainment,
it would never occur to the singers that it was neces-
sary to consider the religion of their host. This I dis-
covered when one of them burst forth into that passionate
pilgrim song in which the Moslems express the intensity
of their longing for Mecca and the other holy places of
their religion. My host and all his Coptic friends saw
nothinor at all incongrruous in this. And once or twice
when the minstrel sang those impassioned songs in
praise of the Prophet, which one hears in all Islamic
lands, the only answer to my remark on it was, " You
see, he is a Moslem."
The men take it in turn to sing, and it is amusing
to see the partisanship between the different groups
3 8 The Home-Life of the Squire
favouring each performer. The people do not wait for
the end of a song to show their approval ; after almost
every line they express their pleasure by intense and
long-drawn ejaculations — " PsX-lah ! K\-iak ! "
The faithfulness of the Egyptians to a singer who
has pleased them is lifelong ; the star performer in
Cairo whose sweet monotones have commended him
to the city audience is sure of an enthusiastic following
so long as he has strength to face them, just as the
village idol is secure in the affections of his countryside.
I could not resist the desire to leave the lordly
company of the balcony, during an interval in the sing-
ing, to provoke the clans in defence of their favourites,
by mischievously praising each in turn to the opposite
camp. The hubbub was delightful ; the partisanship
was so childlike in its earnestness, and so picturesque
in its expression. The singing of one was "less than
the creaking of a broken water-wheel " ; the other was
"like the bellowing of the kine, or the baying of the
dogs to the moon." Was I not pleased with this man ;
he should sing to me his song of the love of Yussef the
potter, and then I should know purest bliss, and acknow-
ledge that earth could not have a rival to such an artist.
And when I got back to the balcony the rivalry
seemed to have stirred the singers to a greater intensity
of expression ; and I own to being deeply affected by
the passionate recitatives, and the obbligato, which with
weird emphasis supplemented the emotional appeal of
the performer's voice. There were times when the
tapping of the little drum, or darabukek, alone accom-
panied the telling of a story, conveying a thrill which
gives even a European a glimpse of that excitement which
in the Oriental often leads to an unearthly ecstasy.
There is no doubt that the modern Egyptians of
I
The Home-Life of the Squire 39
the landed class are conscious of the dignity they gain
from appearing to their dependants on these balconies, i
which every important house possesses, generally enclosed
with the intricate lattice woodwork, in arabesque design,
so wrongly called mushrabiek in such a case, for that
Arabic word merely means "a place for drink," and
applies only to that part of a hareem window-screen
where the water-bottle is placed to keep it cool.
It is interesting to reflect that the "arabesque"
designs are so little Arab in origin that in tombs dating
more than three thousand years before our era, Egyptian
art used these ornamentations for decorative purposes.
The ceilinors of some of the tombs show us finished
examples of designs of the most delicate and graceful
order, in which a rich fancy, given full play, has pro-
duced effects that charm the eye.
I think one may see, in this as in so many other
details of Egyptian life, some support for the claim of
the Copts to descend from the Pharaohs. They seem
to have some right to assert that they have brought
from the ancient civilisation some of the arts which,
under their conquerors, have so greatly enriched the
world, in Constantinople and even in remoter Spain,
as well as in Egypt.
The Moslems have always admired this sort of
decoration, which they probably saw first in the glorious
examples in Coptic churches of Old Cairo. I have
heard a friend say, in contemplating the rich effects
wrought by it in one of the mosques, that the beauty of
these designs could only have been imagined in heaven ;
and that it is a belief of the unlettered that man was
first taught the art of inlaying of mother-of-pearl in ebony
in such designs by the beneficent ginn who learned it in
Paradise itself.
1
40 The Home-Life of the Squire
As for the balcony : there is in a tomb dated the
XVIth century before Christ, a representation of one
of these balconies, where the mysterious King Amen-
ophis IV., in the company of his wife and daughter, is
throwing jewels and decorations to one of his officers,
as a reward for faithful service in a town recently
founded in honour of the deity he worshipped. Our
balcony to-night is decorated by costly rugs thrown over
the sides, just as was that of the far-off king, who is
shown resting his hands on the beautiful tapestry.
We eventually retire to rest in a chamber elaborately
furnished in the style of a first-class Parisian hotel : our
host regards all its costly elaboration of modern comfort
with pride, as one who has understood and provided for
the needs of European guests ; though I know the
bedsteads and other furnishings are to his habits totally
unnecessary. In one detail, especially, the Oriental can
never get over the astonishment which I have already
mentioned, and which the provision of our European
water-jugs and basins remind him of: we are pressed
to say if we would not prefer a man-servant to come to
us with the spouted brass ewer, so that our ablutions
may be decently made with running water ! We have
to decline, of course.
As a final courtesy, it is pointed out that two servants
will sleep on their mattresses within reach of our door,
ready to serve us if any sort of necessity should arise
during the night.
In the morning, after a simple breakfast, of which
the tiny eggs of the country are the chief item — they
are so small that it did not seem remarkable for a young
countryman present to eat eight of them — we sat for
a while in the courtyard while our host got through the
ordinary business with the nazirs, who govern under
The Home-Life of the Squire 41
him his orreat estates. It is astonishino^ the number and
variety of servants employed in administrative work on
such estates in Egypt. And most of the staff, with
many of the handicraftsmen, gather for service within
the precincts of the castle.
The katibs, or clerks, are the largest class, as they
are, in their own estimation, by far the most important.
From the earliest historic empire of Egypt this class of
men has taken a large part in the nation's work ; for
it has always been the habit in Egypt to write in-
numerable letters, the governing power seeming to find
its chief expression in this way, and to this day the
clerks in Egypt are nearly all Copts, whether the master
be Moslem or Christian.
The head of the clerks is the overlord's confidential
secretary, who takes part in all important deliberations.
This too is a post which has been most often reserved
for Copts, even in the counsels of the Khedive, where
Copts have sometimes risen to be the virtual rulers
of the country.
The work of the office is subdivided amongst the
clerks, so that not only is each fellah employed on the
estate known there by name, with a complete dossier
of his history, but the animals are all recorded, even to
the latest additions ; it must have been in Egypt that
"red tape" originated in the dawn of history, and its
hold has never loosened.
The clerk is a being lowly towards his superiors,
though filled with pride as he contemplates the untutored
fellah beneath him ; his mind for ever dwells ambitiously
on the advancement which may come to him if he is
faithful — he may rise to a place of confidence or (and
this is the seventh heaven) he may be promoted to his
master's estate office in Cairo.
42 The Home- Life of the Squire
How little do things change in the land of Egypt !
It is recorded of a certain clerk in the XVIIIth dynasty,
1600 years before the Christian era, that in his ambitious
dreams he saw himself " sailing up the Nile for Memphis,"
the Cairo of his day.
On one side of the courtyard the harness-makers are
always busy, for the beasts of burden, the asses, the
mules, the camels, are innumerable ; it must be re-
membered that the distant railway counts for little on
an estate like this, and the absence of roads means that
almost everything that must be moved is put upon the
animals' backs ; and, where no one walks who has any
right even to an ass, the wear of the saddles is great.
The chief man in charge of the animals must be ready
at all times to provide means of progression for his
master, and all the family, and guests ; to fetch parties
of officials from the station, to send out pleasure ex-
cursions, and to equip men for all the innumerable
business journeys to all parts of the estate.
In another workshop close by are the wheelwrights,
whose work has changed no whit since the days of the
Pharaohs ; they are fashioning the sakieh (water-wheel),
and the shadoof y the simple appliance by which the water
is raised from the Nile level on to the higher land by the
mere process of balancing the water vessel with a ball
of mud of equal weight at the other end of a pole, which
is worked on a swivel. They are making a chariot, too,
for carrying heavy weights, chiefly sugar cane, and some-
times heavy stones for the making of canal banks — such
a chariot as Egypt has known from its earliest civilisa-
tion. The wheels are rough solid discs, so that, drawn by
the two slow and sure-footed gamooses (very like bulls),
they can stand the jolting over the ill-formed tracts, or
up and down across the channels of the dried-up canals.
The Home- Life of the Squire 43
I have often to repeat how the early life of the Bible
is seen in every phase of Egyptian life as soon as one
leaves the haunts of the tourist, or the effendi, those city
gentlemen who love to mimic Europe in all their ways.
From the time that " Jacob sent messengers before him
to Esau" (Gen. xxxii. 3), and Joseph's brethren "sent
a messenger" unto him (Gen. 1. 16), this particular
servant figures in most of the scenes of Egyptian life,
as well as in many pictures of the Iliad and the Odyssey.
And here to-day the man himself, true to every detail
of those pictures, which so delighted our youthful
imagination, stands before us. On every estate of any
size the messenger is a trusted servant, waiting to bear
for his master every word which it is necessary to send
to men at a distance, and to loyally execute the com-
missions of those members of the household whose
position entitles them to give them.
To have such a man in one's service makes life very
easy ; so that even the rich man living in retirement
will never part with a faithful messenger. Who of us,
having acquaintance with the East, does not know this
quiet, alert, prudent, courteous, and dignified servant,
a sort of second self, who takes the softly murmured
orders of the Pasha, and carries them out as though
but one will actuated himself and his master.
In a country where the hunger for backsheesh is
declared to be universal, such a messenger, if one were
so indiscreet as to offer it, would, with simple pride,
look away from the offered coin, saying gently, " I have
no need of it," in a tone which was final. If a meal at
your expense (should you meet him in Cairo) is sug-
gested, he says "No" with Oriental politeness — your
words are all the nourishment he requires.
What he always claims is to receive audience of the
44 ^^ Home-Life of the Squire
man to whom he is accredited, no matter what his
position, or the business on which he is sent ; he will
brook no intermediary either then or on his return to
his master. He always has the special gift of remember-
ing the exact words, as well as the details, of the business
on which he is sent, adding nothino^ and takino- nothing
away. These are the qualities which have given the
messenger such an important place in the Orient, as
in all the ancient civilisations.
CHAPTER III
Cou?itry Rambles and Chats with Bedouins
and Fellaheefi
AT last our host is free from the many claims upon
him, and we are ready to start on a little tour
of the domain. It is a delightful experience,
on a orlorious mornin^ like this, to wander about such an
estate, to be greeted, as I know we shall be everywhere,
with signs of pleasure by the simple fellaheen.
To keep the whole estate in touch with the centre, a
system of light railway has been built, which is lengthened
as the level land is increased. At present it is about
eight miles long, and we travel from point to point on
the little open cars built for passengers. We are accom-
panied by the chief 7iazir, for I am particularly interested
in seeing the reclamation of the sandy desert and of the
salt land of the Delta, which has been going on.
The process of reclamation, briefly, is this — the
desert sandhills, which were too high for irrigation,
have been laboriously and slowly carried to the sour and
water-logged swamp, over which the sea not very long
since sluggishly found its way. By careful and scientific
calculation as to levels, and the possibility of bringing
the fresh water of the river to the new elevation, and by
enrichinor the sand with chemical food, the country has
seen miracles of fertility performed. The succession of
45
46 Coimtry Rambles and Chats
three valuable crops are already gathered here in the
year, including cotton and corn, in the place of one crop,
and that a matter of uncertainty depending on the Nile
floods.
Where such work has been skilfully and judiciously
done it has brought wealth to the man who had the
faith a few years since to give money for the apparently
almost worthless swamp. This very land which was
bought for a few pounds, is now worth from ;^I50 to
;i^2 50 an acre.
The process of reclamation is not, however, a matter so
free from obstacles and difficulties as might be supposed
from this description, and some men have, by miscalcula-
tion and bad management, poured fortunes into the
desert sand, without winning the rosy smiles which they
had anticipated.
But if this particular land is once properly reclaimed
it is, as Pharaoh described it to Joseph, "the best of the
land " of Egypt ; for we are in the veritable land of
Goshen, where Israel came to dwell, and had possessions
therein, and grew and multiplied (Gen. xlvii. 27).
Papyri of that epoch, written by Egyptian officials,
contain frequent mention, in enthusiastic terms, of the
charms of the country — life here was "luscious" from
the beauty and fertility of the land. In the days of the
Exodus, as recent surveys have shown, it owed its
fertility and beauty to a branch of the Nile which ran
through it and discharged its waters into the Red Sea.
In these days Goshen depends on the fresh water
canal running from the river to Suez. It is still one of
the most beautiful parts of Egypt, with wide stretches of
rich land, great herds of cattle, and luxuriant groves of
palm, bearing the best dates in Egypt. Such fruit as
this is never seen in England, unless one has a friend,
with Bedouins and Fellaheen 47
like the Pasha, who is kind enough to favour one every
autumn with a private supply by post — for they are
never exported. Even the land in the palm gardens
yields a rich harvest of corn. We are reminded of the
time — up to the sixth century — when Egyptian corn
ships sailed every year for England to trade for tin, and
"corn in Egypt" was a Western proverb. The people
in Goshen are again multiplying exceedingly, to occupy
the new land brought into cultivation.
To any one even vaguely familiar with the story told
in the early books of the Bible, the life which hourly
unfolds itself before us, as well as every detail of its geo-
graphical setting, takes on a familiarity, and an intimate
faithfulness, that almost suggest to one a reincarnation,
so closely does everything accord with the traits of
scriptural history, which has been so wonderfully corro-
borated by the history which can now be read in the
hieroglyphics of the ancient monuments. Here is
abundant evidence of the contemporary character of the
narrative of Exodus and Numbers. It is easy to see
that this valley was the only convenient entrance into
Egypt for Jacob with his flocks and herds. Its separa-
tion from the rest of Egypt made it a most desirable
spot for the settlement of a people devoted to a pastoral
existence, and differing from the mode of life of the
native Egyptians. It is only by realising the galling
nature of the oppression, that one can understand how
they were willing eventually to leave such a land, though
for the desert.
During our walk we came upon two men making the
mud bricks of which all the buildings are erected, as
they have been for all time. The methods of brick-
making used are exactly as of old, as the pictures on the
monuments testify. It could not fail to recall the
48 Country Rambles and Chats
particular oppression — " There shall no straw be given
you, yet shall ye deliver the tale of bricks" (Ex, v. 18).
I have often examined the bricks, both ancient and
modern, used in different parts of Egypt, to be puzzled
by the fact that straw is so very rarely found in their
composition.
Professor Flinders Petrie ^ has suggested the explana-
tion from watching the work of such men as these.
They constantly use finely chopped straw in which to
dip their hands to prevent the mud sticking to them,
also to dust over the place where the brick is to rest,
and to coat each lump of mud before dropping it into the
mould. It is obvious that the work would be infinitely
prolonged and vexatious without a supply of this fine
straw ; so that the children of Israel might well consider
themselves "in evil case," in having to minish nothing
of their daily tale — the " bricks without straw " of the
universal proverb.
Our host was very desirous that we should pay a call
upon an ancient bedouin, who for countless years had
been settled on his land, and who would soon reach his
hundredth birthday.
It was a long walk for an Egyptian Pasha to the old
man's tents, but I gathered he had an affection for him,
and often paid him a visit.
Till this day I had never myself thought that to be a
centenarian could have any attraction, but when we met
this tall, upright, old man, his face beaming with happi-
ness, and heard what he had to say of life, old age took
on a new aspect.
We found him sitting in the sun on a rug in front of
the tent he and his wife used in the daytime.
When he caught sight of the Pasha he got up with
^ Egypt and Israel, p. 33.
^
EUTTl.R CIIURXIXG IX THE VILLAGE.
"Here some women are churning for butter, the milk being simply thrown from
side to side in a goat's skin, suspended from a bamboo tripod."
THE ULD BEDOUIN, AGED OVER 100 YEARS, AND HIS WIFE.
The coSee beans were put into an iron ladle and roasted. They are sitting in the
eaclosurt in front of their tent. The woman is wearing the string-woven veil of
the Delta.
with Bedoui7is mid Fellaheen 49
an ease possible only to such a spare figure, and gave us
greeting with a grace which might have honoured a
royal court.
With his own hands he spread more rugs for us,
bidding us welcome as though to a palace. For the
Prankish lady he took off his own outer burnous and
spread it upon the ground, smiling the while and show-
ing a set of regular white teeth untouched by age.
His wife was summoned, the only wife he had ever
had, he told us. It was no part of her duty to share in
the greetings and the entertainment, except to make the
coffee, which signifies a ceremonial politeness no less in
the tents of the desert than in the great houses of the
plain.
The old woman, however, set about her task with
greater pleasure because of the Pasha's polite recognition
of her. She was closely veiled in the manner peculiar to
the bedouin of the Delta, as shown in my photographs
(in some parts of Africa the bedouins discard the veil),
but her age (she thought she was about eighty-five)
allowed more liberty than would be considered proper in
a younger woman.
The two bedouin tents of the old man were merely
square roofs of camels' hair stretched low over poles,
open to the East, the three sides being of the same
material as the roof. The second tent was for sleeping,
and we could see the rolled-up rugs and blankets which
made up its sole furnishing.
In front of the tent, where we sat, was an enclosure
of about the same size, the three walls of which were
made of the tall stalks of maize, giving a protection
from the wind. Here the cooking was done, and here
those ofuests who could not g-et into the small tent were
quite cosily entertained. The fire for the coffee-making
4
50 Coimtry Rambles and Chats
was made of bits of stalk and the husks of Indian corn
laid upon the ground, and, owing to the peculiar gipsy
skill of the old woman, was soon burning brightly.
The coffee beans were put into an iron ladle and
roasted, for the bedouin would under no circumstances
offer coffee to a guest which had not been made in every
stage in his presence.
Quickly the beans are ground, under the pounding
of a long stick, the while a jug of water, sitting on the
now red-hot ashes, is brought to the boil.
The coffee is put into the jug, when a second boiling
completes the process. Tiny cups are produced, and
unshapely lumps of sugar are broken into pieces, of
which we are offered a choice, as the half-filled cups are
handed to us.
While we have had one eye upon this interesting
process, we have had the other on the old man, engaged
in animated talk with the Pasha. It has been upon the
subject of his age ; of reckoning by years he himself
knows little. For one thing he is a Moslem, so that his
year would be a lunar one, while the Coptic Pasha has a
solar reckoning, and they calculate of course in widely
differing eras. But the Pasha astutely leads him to
speak of the chief doings of his youth, eventful from the
fact that he served in the army of Mohammed Ali, and,
here, from the safe ground of the historical dates of
certain wars, the Pasha is able to estimate that the
old man has possibly already passed the century of
years.
Of course one always asks for the secret of unusual
age, and, of course, it differs with every living soul.
This cheery old man says it is the life of the tents,
simple living, avoidance of wickedness, above all, his
daily prayers and strict observance of the fast of
witli Bedoums and Fellaheen 5 1
Ramadan, and those extra fasts which the old Moslem
men like to observe.
" Are you tired of life ? " I asked.
'* No ! no ! " with a laugh that rings with truth. " I
would like to live for five hundred years. The great
God has been good to me all my days, and will always
care for me. Why," — with an air suggesting that of
gratitude and pride he can say nothing beyond this, —
" I have been to Mecca twice ! "
The old nomad, I find, like all Egyptians who know
the deserts, is an accomplished astronomer, with names
for the constellations and ways of grouping the figures
unlike those known to Englishmen.
Then we turned to less serious topics, and the Pasha
chaffed the old man about a " nest ^g<g " he must have
saved — for he is a clever herdsman, his sole livelihood
being derived from the flocks of sheep which he pastures
by some easy arrangement with our host.
He laughingly evades the point, and replies that the
Pasha has come from Cairo, and, for the first time for
years, has brought him no present.
It is true, and he is asked if there is anything he
particularly needs ; replying that his fez is worn out.
He is promised a new fez if he will let me examine
the one he is wearing.
I may here pause to remark on the difference in the
clothing of the bedouins from that of the fellaheen.
Many of the men still wear the raiment of camels' hair
"with a girdle of skin about his loins" which John the
Baptist doubtless copied from them when he sought the
desert. No garment -could be more suitable to that way
of life.
In the heyday of life those nomads who are prosper-
ous love to array themselves, for festivals and visits to
52 Country Ra7nbles and Chats
the towns, in gay-coloured robes, winding round their
heads brig-ht-coloured turbans with tasselled ends hanor-
ing over their necl^s behind. An old man like our
centenarian friend will dress in the white burnous ; on
his head he will wear a fez (over a white skull-cap), round
which he will bind a white turban. The red tarbush, so
familiar to the city Egyptian, is never seen in the desert.
It is apparent that a great joke lies behind this re-
quest for a new fez, and while the old man is chuckling,
with feigned reluctance, the Pasha dexterously removes
his outer head covering, and gleefully discovers a collec-
tion of treasures hidden in it which would have done credit
to the pocket of an acquisitive schoolboy. There were
several needles, with threads and wools of different sorts ;
a packet of cigarette papers, a number of neatly folded
papers which represented all the business side of the old
man's life — outside those things which with the bedouins
are trusted solely to memory and to honour ; the dis-
charge of his indebtedness, and the proof of his comfort-
able savings. And then a long knitted purse, which
was handed to the owner, who turned out its contents to
prove that it held only a little silver ; though the Pasha
was not to be deceived, for, taking the purse again, he
reversed it, when from a secret opening came tumbling
three or four gold pieces. Never did two schoolboys
enjoy a series of little jokes with greater gusto.
The old man, I noticed, had a good head of hair ;
not an encouraging fact to those who fondly imagine
that by going bareheaded they will increase their locks,
for the head of the Eastern man is never uncovered —
day or night.
Soon we began to show signs of leaving, when the
old man for the first time looked very serious, as he
pressed us to stay for a meal. Did we see this fine
»
with Bedouins and Fellaheen
S3
turkey — it should be killed for us ; or he would slay a
lamb ; he had rice and bread ; and of course he had
lentils — since Esau's day the favourite food of the bedouin.
We should dishonour him to refuse.
We were warned, however, to be adamant, and
when, after long parleying, we started forth, the graceful
old man walked with us, protesting, literally with tears
in his eyes, that our going in this way made him sad ;
and it was only a promise to repeat the visit that restored
the smiles which made the old face look almost young
agam.
It is when one gets away from the talk and agitations,
and the intriguing Press of the town, that one always
finds how little division there is between the Copt and
the Moslem. On this particular visit I never saw a sign
of any sort of restraint or reserve in the intercourse ; the
Pasha indeed shows in many ways a deep interest in the
religion of those of his people who are Moslems, and he
discusses the details with them with a frankness only
equalled by the way in which they respond. If it is
suggested that this comes from his exalted position, I
can say that I have stayed with a Moslem Pasha in
exactly similar circumstances, and have found the same
good feeling to exist between him and the men of
different faith. My present host has built at his own
expense a mosque ; just as there are Moslem Pashas
who have built Christian churches on their domains.
We next visited the two houses of prayer. This is
not the place for a description of a Coptic church, which
I will deal with under another heading. But I may
remark, that in the church there are partitions, of mush-
rabieh work, behind which only men of the higher class
are admitted for worship. In this part the floor is
carpeted. In the division of the church just inside the
54 Country Rambles and Chats
door the lower classes assemble, the floor being bare.
The women enter the church by a separate door, being
closely veiled, and hide themselves behind the screens of
the galleries.
In the mosque (and there is no exception to this plan
from the time when the Prophet built the first House of
Prayer) everything is arranged to put all men, from
Pasha to serf, on terms of equality : the praying floor is
open, free and undivided, and the passing beggar may,
at the hour of prayer, take his place by the side of the
Imam (or leader) in front of the Kiblah (the niche
indicating the direction of Mecca, towards which all
worshippers turn) without exciting one word of comment,
much less rebuff.
On the way home we visited the powerful steam
pump of which the estate is so proud, bought from a
great firm in England, to supplement the canal irrigation
by tapping an exhaustless well.
We called, too, at a humble dwelling by the side of a
sakieh, where the whole family came out to greet us.
One of them was a very pretty girl of fourteen, who looked
demure when the Pasha asked her father if her marriage
had been arranged yet; though she answered "Yes,"
without hesitation, to his question, " Did she want to
be married?" He knew of a suitable youth who was
seeking a bride, and he would see if the matter could be
arranged.
We now turned to scenes of great activity in the
fields ; on the one side of us a large party of men were
planting the cotton, for the most important crop of
autumn, under the eye of an assistant nazir. Our party
took a turn at dropping seeds into the holes made in the
well-prepared earth, which only a year or two since had
been yellow desert.
with Bedouins and Fellaheen 55
On the outskirts of the vast field a laro-e granor
of men were at work adding to the cultivatable area.
They were steadily moving the little sandhills to
the swamp level, to render desert and swamp alike
fertile.
A fine, strong, handsome race are these patient
toilers of the Delta, as little changed from the primitive
people of Egypt as are the bedouins, the restless
Semites of antiquity, who in considerable numbers have
always wandered by the edge of the cultivated tracts, or
on the shores of sea and lake where fish and fowl have
offered good provision.
In speaking with my host about the hours of labour
(which are very long) and the wages (which are very
short) I caught a word which had obtruded itself with
me since I had read of an early Egyptian monk who, in
recounting his pious services, said, " I perform work
with my hands each day to the value of two carats." I
confess I did not know that in the East everything is
measured by a standard of twenty-four carats (or kirdts).
People will even ask their doctor to tell them in carats
how he regards the hope of recovery of a patient. The
carat as a measure found its way to England, and
survives in the use the jeweller makes of it in indicating
the quality of gold.
As the men were at work in the fields in the glorious
sunlight, I caught snatches of the songs which they sang ;
here and there a lad would so far forget Oriental custom
as to raise his young voice to the very heavens in the joy
of living. I give one or two of these songs of the fields,
asking the reader to remember that they must lose a
great deal of their primitive poetry in being turned from
the Arabic, which is rich in the qualities needed for such
songs.
56 Country Rarnbles and Chats
The ploughman sings, first exclaiming a " good
morning " for his lovers, in a sort of recitative :
O God, let their morning be good and princely, as that is of good men
on horses' backs.
The cattle trader deserves an Indian cloak for the two oxen he has
brought me.
With my head covered I follow the two, and fret the evil eye.
And with these eyes and tears of mine, I weep for loved ones who are
absent, but alas ! from whence can I bring them ?
It is because the ploughman is so fond of his oxen
that he fears the evil eye. The man who works the
shadoof sings in a monotone :
Alas ! they have taken my sweetheart, and left me an empty home.
How lovely are the maids of Lower Egypt when cutting the mallow.
O maid, I pray you unfold your hair
And let the wind set it awave.
Seven long years have I spent in vain, searching for long flowing tresses,
and the glossy neck, and the sparkling eye.
When winnowinof the wheat, the fellah relieves the
monotony of the old-fashioned method of beating the
straw and waiting for the wind to separate the chaff from
the orrain with this one curious line, which he chants
again and again :
My heart is longing for something delightful and new.
It longs for the red mare, that has ghttering stirrups.
The man who threshes the corn with the heavy
ancient implement, on which he sits to drive the oxen
who drag it, has quite another song :
Tell me, uncle, who are the haughty ones behind us ?
Oh, these are the beautiful girls who take captive hearts.
How has Alia wept for Abou Zeid, and changed the garb of rejoicing
for that of woe.
An Egyptian friend explains that Abou Zeid is a
legendary character in Arabic poetry, something like
with Bedouins and Fellaheen 57
King Arthur. His story is like that of Troy. Alia was
his wife.
Very beautiful was the palm grove, with its green
corn beneath, into which we turned to rest awhile in the
shade, before returning to the house. With great con-
tentment we sat on the canal bank, one of our native
friends remarking that it is an old saying that "to be
happy, an Egyptian needs only the sight of water, of
green crops, or a handsome face."
Our party was soon joined by passers-by, men and
boys, who quietly sat near us, no doubt hoping to hear
something interesting and amusing from people known to
have come from the far-off city.
In the mysterious Eastern way, news of our presence
spread at once in all directions, so that in a few minutes
a bedouin woman, among many other folk, her veil
heavily hung with coins, appeared from an invisible
encampment, bringing with her all the necessary supplies
and appliances for making coffee ! She was known to
the Pasha, "the good friend of all," and as, being a
widow, she was in charge of the tents in the daytime
while the men were away. She had come as the repre-
sentative of the absent sheikh of the camp to offer this
poor sign of hospitality. She had with her her only child,
a sweet little girl of five years, who carried the fuel.
The little fire was lighted, the beans roasted, and all
the ritual gone through exactly as before. A more
charming Oriental tableau could not be imagined.
The Pasha is evidently a great matchmaker. I
heard him quiedy questioning this woman as to her
circumstances. Well, it had been hard for her since her
husband died ; but, thank God, she had her darling child.
Did she think of marrying again ? She had till now
always said " No" to the offers she had had. In every
58 Country Rambles and Chats
case she had thought of the happiness of her child ;
perhaps a stepfather would not understand.
By this time the coffee-making was ended, and the
little one had nestled to her mother's bosom, covered by
her black robe, to be crooned over with simple affection.
The Pasha mentioned the name of a worthy man
engaged at his corn mill, a widower, of equal age with
the woman, as a possible partner.
The pride of the answer lost nothing from the quiet
tones of it : "I am a bedouin, and the bedouins never
marry the fellaheen ! " " We have Abraham to our
father ! " The Pasha had forgotten this universal rule ; the
bedouin, with his long descent, the story of which he learns
from his fathers, and never forgets, regards himself as a
prince compared with the people of the fellah class, who
have little more concern with pedigree than have the
animals which serve them.
I have mentioned the Pasha's corn mill. On visit-
ing it, we found a well-equipped steam mill, with the
most modern of machinery bearing the names of well-
known British firms ; the whole place humming with
activity, under a native overseer.
We often say that the East never changes, and in
nearly every aspect of life there seems to be no sign
of deviation from the manners and customs recorded
in earliest history. It is because of this that one is
astonished at the one or two things in which change has
been accepted with almost common consent by the
Oriental.
I, for one, never see an Arab man of the remote
oasis, for instance, working a sewing-machine of the
latest model, without a shock of surprise. And yet a
common load for the camel caravans, traversing the
lonely tracts of the remoter deserts, are cases that bear
with Bedouins a7id Fellaheen 59
the stamp of the firm of Singer, who possibly sell more
expensive machines from their great Oriental agencies
than in Western centres.
And here, in an out-of-the-way part of Egypt, we
find that the women no longer sit in pairs "grinding at
the mill," crushing the daily portion of corn between the
grindstones. They come — from within a radius of
several miles — to the modern mill, and in the hareem
department provided for them (a convenient peep-hole
gave me a sight of it) they sit and gossip, while the
steam enorine does their work.
It is a pretty sight to see the women set off for home,
with their corn sacks upon their heads, and the merry
children who accompany them everywhere, dancing by
their sides. They carry the water in this way too, and a
very upright carriage results. The women of the villages
are as a rule very strong and healthy.
The woman's work in the Egyptian villages is never
done — nor is the man's. They rise with the sun, only to
rest when darkness overtakes them. The first call to
prayer from the minaret, "before the sun has risen," is
the signal for men and women, Moslem or Copt, to
begin the day. The belief is universal that to allow the
sun to rise above one's slumbering head is in a very
positive way prejudicial to health.
The men go to the fields ; for the women there is
food to be cooked, water to be brought, fuel to be found
(in a woodless and a coalless country this is no mean
task), doui-a, or maize, to be picked from the husk, wheat
to be sifted, the winding of thread, the churning of butter,
indeed, a hundred tasks to keep her eternally occupied.
Unlike her English sister, however, she has no beds to
make, no plates and dishes to wash.
Her great day is that of bread-making. All the
6o Country Rambles and Chats
women of a family are called to this task, for what with
sifting the flour, mixing the leaven, and laboriously
kneadinor the dou^h for the two to three hours which
she thinks necessary, and then baking the many small
loaves in her mud-oven, there is great activity. Such
belief have the people in the medicinal virtues of helba,
of which I shall speak elsewhere, that she adds to her
labour by pounding the seeds of this plant to mix in the
bread. I have in other parts of the country eaten cakes
with the whole seeds of sesame sprinkled thickly on the
top.
Delightful were these days that we spent in this
village of the Delta. I think no one can claim to know
anything of the people of Egypt who is not acquainted
with the fellaheen. To visit with them familiarly in the
remote villages is an experience of unfailing charm and
interest.
The graceful courtesy of Egyptian manners is always
a delight to the Western visitor, though I admit it may
be because we are not engaged in any pressing business
that the pleasant Oriental ways do not lose their charm.
It is told of a missionary, that he wished to urge upon
a native, who was a hearer of his message, that he
should become also "a doer of the Word." He read
the parable of the two sons in Matthew xxi., and then
said, "Which son is to be commended?" The instant
reply was, " The one who replied politely to his father,
even though he did not gro " !
If one is fortunate enough to gain the confidence of
the country-folk so that they will accept trifling kind-
nesses and attentions, one is constantly finding how far
astray are certain universally accepted formulae by which
the Western world has dismissed them, after a cursory
consideration.
with Bedouins a7td Fellaheen 6i
We are told, for instance, that gratitude is unknown
to the poorer classes of the East ; on no more just
ground than that it is not customary to say the " Thank
you " which in England formulates the first duty urged
upon the lisping infant. The fact is that no people are
quicker to appreciate love and kindness, or to give in
return an unreasoning devotion. Their thanks they
show by all sorts of little gifts and a touching solicitude
about the health and affairs of their benefactor.
A certain English lady, who lived with these people
for years, tells how the women came to her when they
heard she was sick, and said, " May we not kiss thine
hand to-day, because thou hast pain ? " offering her a
share of everything they possessed.
The truth is, that a widespread custom of the East
would make of our formal words of thanks a discourtesy,
suggesting that the giver was the sort of mean person
who would not do a kind act as a matter of course.
But, nevertheless, you may be sure of the grateful
glance ; and sometimes the thing given is kissed as a
seal of deep appreciation. Is it not sufficient thanks to
hear the murmured blessing, " The Lord preserve thee ! " }
We speak so readily of religious fanaticism ; how
often have I heard the remark, " Every man who loves
the poor will go to Paradise ; Allah will ask of him
nothing more." Everywhere in Egypt you will find the
poorest people cheerfully offering a share of anything
they may be eating and drinking to a friend ; and
possibly in no country is there so little actual personal
want, notwithstanding the poverty of the fellah class.
In this sharing of food there is a common under-
standing that the recipient will, on another occasion, do
the same thing. These hospitable customs induce a
certain brotherliness, which is a marked feature of
62 Cou7itry Rambles and Chats
Egyptian country life ; and especially is this so amongst
the men who live on the innumerable boats of the Nile.
To have eaten salt or bread together is sufficient ground
for avoiding or ending quarrels. No doubt the parasite
is encouraged by this easy generosity, but if he meets
with a certain amount of good-natured tolerance, the
fellah is not deficient in the quiet wit which can often
rout the shameless vagrant.
The mistake is so often made of comparing the poor
fellaheen with the labouring classes of Europe — which,
until education has advanced, and a higher standard of
morality is carried to them, can never be just. With
scarcely any means of self-cultivation, or any of the
enlightenment of what we call social service from a class
more advanced, there must still remain many traces
of barbarism.
The poor folk of Egypt are still so deeply penetrated
by superstition that they cannot be understood apart from
it. In spite of this, however, there are virtues in which
they excel that are only practised by Europeans of quite
a diff"erent class, and then only after teaching and example.
They live lives of constant industry, of great patience,
most regular and orderly ; they turn to the great God,
with devotion, in unfailing daily worship ; and they are
certainly the most courteous people in the world, with a
mannerliness in their dealings with each other, and with
strangers, which is looked for in Europe only in the
people who claim to be " well-bred."
CHAPTER IV
Amongst the Country-Folk. Their Beliefs
and Superstitions, The hiterest and
Humour of their Talk
THE men of the Delta are of fine build with
well-developed heads — strong of limb, light of
gait, cheerful of countenance, with intelligence
and aptitude — altogether an admirable type. The family
affections are strong, and the buoyancy of spirit of the
fellah is almost invincible. He is easily made very
happy. If by chance his temper is disturbed, it flares up
with tremendous heat ; and as suddenly subsides, when,
with a shamefaced smile, he looks up, saying, "Our
refuge is in Allah ! "
There is a propensity to dispute for the love of it,
with a half-humorous detachment from the matter dis-
cussed, that often reminds one of the Irish people ; as
their love of conversation does, their mirthfulness, and a
whimsicality they show in the stories they tell, and the
way they relate their ordinary doings. When the fellah
is parting from any one he knows, he quite simply (apart
from any sort of dispute) begs for forgiveness, lest in-
advertendy at any time he may have given his friend
offence.
The Egyptians are very sensitive to the beauties of
63
64 Amo7igst the Country-Folk
nature ; and they all revel in the delights of a garden,
especially if it has in it the shade of trees and the sound
of running water. They find such ecstasy in these
things that one easily understands the old monk who
wept with grief when taken to a garden, explaining that
here was a thing- that restored to him a love of life
which he thought he had conquered. " Such joys are for
Paradise alone."
When I meet a man in the village who invites me in
gentle tones to "come and see my dates ripening," and
I find him sensitive to the delicate colours of the fruit-
laden palm tree against the blue sky, I wonder where
one must look for the origin of such appreciation of
natural things. His extreme satisfaction in the possession
of a well of sweet water (most of the wells in Egypt are
brackish and only fit for irrigation), and the poetic way
in which he speaks of the salvation it is to the land,
recalls all the poetic Bible expressions about " wells of
water." It is only in the East that the disputes of Isaac
and the Philistines for the possession of the wells are
understandable.
In the hot days of summer the men and boys of the
village gather round the sakiek, or primitive water-
wheel, with a deep delight in the splash, splash, of the
water from the pitchers, as they come up from the stream
below, to empty themselves into the stone trough on the
level of the thirsty land. Many a popular song tells of
the refrain these imaginative folk hear in the creakinsf
revolutions, and the steady tramp of the buffalo which
works it — urged thereto by a small boy who sits, possibly
quite naked, on the shaft.
They are deeply conscious of the exhilarating delights
of the country air ; and the common expression both in
town or country on going out, either for a walk or a drive,
Photo: Dittricli. Cairo.
IX THE HUT DAYS OF SUMMER.
The men and boys of the village gather round the primitive water-wheel.
photo Lekc^iau, Luiru.
A \TLL.\GE SCENE IX EGYPT.
Threshing the corn as in the days of the Pharaohs.
^m
Their Beliefs^ Super stttio7ts^ and Humour 65
IS
' I wish to breathe the air." The realistic representa-
tion of country scenes on the monuments of ancient
Egypt, where every occupation of the fellaheen is shown,
with all the domestic animals, and all the wild birds,
suggest a primitive delight in nature which must have
been handed down.
As an opening to conversation, the weather is a
disappointment to the Englishman in Egypt, for weather
varies so little as to make comment absurd. Where we
speak of climatic changes, however, the Egyptian speaks
of the state of the Nile ; and if his orreetinofs are settled
for him by polite forms, in which weather has no word,
this one unfailing topic of the river is sure to be reached
sooner or later.
It might be thought that the river would be of deeper
sentimental interest to the Copts than to the Moslems,
if one did not know that all life in the Great Valley
entirely depends upon it. The religious veneration the
Christians have for the river comes to them from the
Pharaonic race.
The mariner of the Nile of to-day has scarcely
changed since his early forbears were represented on
the monuments, although the boats used to-day are
strangely unlike those of ancient Egypt. We may even
recall, with a smile, that the contests of rich abuse which
we often hear going on between the different crews of
the boats, especially when they are in competition for an
advantage of some sort, are very similar to those related
of the ancient Egyptians, on the pilgrimage to Bubastis.
The sports, with which to-day the yearly rising of
the Nile is celebrated, succeed the feasts of Hermes, or
Thoth, in the days when the river was adored as a god.
That the idea of sacredness lingers on in the Coptic
mind is shown by the way the people rushed to the river
5
\i^y^-
66 Amongst the Country-Folk
to purify themselves in its waters, when a Christian
visionary, in the year 1734, created a panic in the country
by foretelling the immediate end of the world. As was
to be expected, the Moslems were as ready to take alarm
and to plunge into the river as the Christians. To this
day the Abyssinians, who profess a crude form of
Christianity, have wild scenes by the river bank at the
season of the Epiphany ; it is reported that they believe
its waters will wash away their past sins. In Egypt
still, at the same festival, a little water from the church
is poured into the river at different spots, and the people
plunge in.
The Coptic calendar is based upon the course of the
Nile's mighty flood, and these dates still decide all the
agricultural activities of the year, the shifting Moslem
calendar, which is lunar, having never affected the
arrangement. The day when the Nile is expected to
be at its highest is the first day of the year — the ist of
the month Tut, falling on our nth September. The
days leading up to this date palpitate with the excite-
ment of the great crisis. The people eagerly stop each
other, asking, " How much has the Nile risen to-day?"
Even the animals and the birds show signs of agitation.^
If the gods of the flood have been generous, then a
joyous carnival reigns. Cairo has its own river festival,
but there are still a few of the villages which keep revels
entirely of their own for three days. The people first
choose a ruler from their midst, whom they call Abu
Nerus. He is clothed in a robe of brilliant colour, a
towering fool's cap is set upon his head, with a long
^ The world is becoming so unified that even the unlearned folk of
England hear now of the Nile flood. This year (1914) I heard a poor
woman lamenting the high price of onions. "They tell me," she said,
"that it's because there was a low Nile last year" ; which was quite true.
Their Beliefs^ Superstitions^ and Hutnour 67
caricature of a beard of flax, and a sceptre in his hand ;
and, followed by a crowd of quaintly dressed attendants,
some of them hangmen and scribes, he sets off direct
to the hall of the chief magistrate. Here every one
humorously bows to his rule ; he takes the chair of
authority, and proceeds to hold a stern assize, arraigning
more particularly the magistrate himself and all his
functionaries. The hangman is to be hanged, the jailor
to be thrust into the lowest dungeon (in the old days the
jailor whose duty was to whip the prisoners had an awful
verdict of lashes given against him) ; on the rich,
fabulous taxes are assessed. Everything is done with
mock pomposity ; and every judgment is punctiliously
written out. The procession again sets out, to enforce
its will ; the only chance of pardon is to offer a few small
coins in backsheesh. When the jest is exhausted, a
bonfire is lighted, and a pretence is made of burning
the tyrant himself. In these days it is only possible to
meet Abu Nevus by travelling to the distant villages.
Many marriages take place at this time, as the fellah
has more leisure at the period of high Nile than at any
other part of the year, especially in those places where he
must wait for the subsiding of the flood before he can
till his soil ; and, if there is now enough water in the
river, he need scarcely anticipate a moment's misgiving
or anxiety in the agricultural year, being spared the
harassing trials of a variable climate.
The Nile gauge was always thought sacred, and
when it was first moved from the Temple of Serapis into
a Christian church, the pagans thought the god would
avenge himself by averting the annual inundation.
That year — 390 a.d. — the flood was delayed, and the
people — Christian as well as pagan — saw in this a
fulfilment of the pagan prophecy ; and the growing
68 Amongst the Country-Folk
danger of riots was only turned aside by the late arrival
of the truant waters. From this date the rising of the
river was celebrated, with full approval of the people, by
Christian clergy instead of the priests of the ancient
temples.
Many indeed are the miracles of prayer, of which the
common people still speak, that have been wrought in
accelerating the floods of the river — when, terror-
struck at the delay of the water, they thought of the
famine, with all its suffering and ruin, before them and
cried aloud to God. The memory of the starvation of
many thousands which always attended the failure of the
flood, in the days before the great irrigation schemes so
successfully husbanded the country's chief resource, has
still an hereditary keenness in the minds of the common
people.
I have heard garbled stories given by quite illiterate
folk of one of the oreat miracles of the Nile — an instance
of the way history is handed down from father to son.
In the year 751 the water was very low. On the 17th
of Tut a great congregation of clergy and laity walked
in procession, before sunrise, carrying the Gospels, and
censers with incense, to the Church of St. Peter, which
had its foundations in the river at Old Cairo. Here the
Patriarch raised the cross, the Bishop of Memphis stood
by him with the holy Gospel, and they went out, bearing
other crosses and Gospels, and stood on the banks of
the river. As the Patriarch and the Bishop prayed, the
people kept up a continuous cry of " Kyrie Eleison ! "
until the third hour of the day ; when the river rose one
cubit, and every man gave thanks.
Then the Emir, not liking the credit to go to the
Christians, ordered the Moslems to go in great pomp the
next morning, and by their prayers ask for another cubit
Their Beliefs^ Super stitiofis^ and Micmour 69
of water. But, says the story (as the Copts tell it), the
waters fell so that the gain of the Coptic prayer was lost.
This filled the Emir with such despair that he begged
the Copts to hold another service of intercession ; and
then the river rose three cubits, and the fear of famine
was past. Whatever we may think of the miracle,
secular history does actually record at this date a short
period of freedom of the Copts from oppression.
Hundreds of years later, a custom sprang up of
taking a sacred relic from one of the Cairo churches, in
the month Rejeb, when the Nile flood should begin to
appear. This relic consisted of the fingers of a virgin
martyr ; and these were lowered into the river, in the
belief that they would affect the rising. This was called
the Festival of the Martyr. It is an instance of how
Western writers have often founded misrepresentations
of Egyptian life on nothing more than the turn of a
word, that until quite recently they have believed that a
living virgin has been sacrificed every year, by drowning
in the Nile, at this festival.
As always happens in Egypt, a great common
calamity never failed to unite the prayers of all the
people. A low Nile oft-times led to great liturgical
processions, made up of Christians and Moslems, who
raised their mingled voices to heaven for the water
without which the people must perish, the " Kyrie
Eleison ! " of the Copt being chanted in unison with the
Moslem cry of " Allah ! Allah ! la illah il'allah ! "
It is interesting to recall that almost the last time the
Nile was as low as it was last year (19 13), the same
overmastering passion for prayer over a national need
drew all men together. In the year 1808, the great
mosque of Amr in Cairo witnessed a truly remarkable
scene. All the chief Moslem sheikhs, the Coptic clergy,
/O Amo?tgst the Country-Folk
with those of other Eastern churches, and the Jewish
rabbis, with one accord assembled in the magnificent
courtyard of the mosque, to unite in suppHcation for the
rise of the water.
Many country visitors go to the Church of St.
Michael, in Old Cairo, where there is a large painting of
the angel Michael, before which it is specially good to
make intercession, more particularly for the rising of the
Nile ; and great numbers of worshippers have tied to the
grating of the shrine pieces of their clothing, and their
silk bands and kerchiefs. Those who come to pray
will sometimes bring oil for the church, or a gift of
incense. When their prayers are answered they will
return with other gifts.
Of nothing is the Egyptian so absolutely convinced,
as that the waters of the Nile are heaven-sent for all
human needs, not only in their health-giving qualities,
but in the delicious refreshment they impart. After
much experience I can say that I agree with the native
estimate. It will take a orreat deal of modern science to
affect a universal belief as deep rooted as this. Indeed,
the scientist is obliged to confess that this instinct of the
people is superior even to his diagnosis. Dr. Klunzinger,
who was an official sanitary physician for some time
in Egypt, when he first looked at the water, was sick
with apprehension at the deleterious contributions it had
gathered on its immense journey through Africa. He
asked himself if he could venture to drink such a mixture.
" We venture " ; he adds, " the Son of the Sun has done
so before us, and all his sons continue to do so, and are
quite healthy. And, indeed, it is pure nectar ; we quite
agree with the natives of the country, especially those
from the desert, who consider a draught of Nile water
one of the greatest blessings the world can give."
Their Beliefs^ Superstitions^ and Humour 7 1
There is no wonder that in the old days Christian
physicians, like the famous ^^tius, recommended (as far
back as the days of Athanasius) the Nile water for what,
in these days of the revival in Europe of the medicinal
spa, we should call a " treatment." He believed there
was a touch of magic in it ; but then he also thought
that a green jasper set in a ring had qualities as a
curative charm.
It is when chatting in the evening, in the sale7nlik
(the great hall) of a country host, or returning visits with
his neighbours, that all these subjects connected with
the Nile inevitably crop up ; the way in which the
history of the river, and its fables, are interwoven in the
conversation being quite fascinating.
The village folk, who always have the entree to the
great houses in Egypt, slip quietly in to these evening
gatherings, and take the greatest interest in everything
that is said. Through the host many questions are
asked of the English visitor, as to his opinion of matters
as modern as that of the doings of the suffragettes. I
often turned the tables by returning question for question ;
sometimes being fortunate enough to surprise Oriental
reserve out of some of the things it guards so well.
On one occasion, 1 set up a most amusing babel by
asking if in Egypt the married men loved their mothers-
in-law. It is a subject that makes the whole world kin ;
the funny stories of this lady, coming down to us mostly
from primeval days, are almost the sole frail link which
binds men of every race together. These Egyptian
fellahs promptly told a story, which I had heard, in
almost the same words, in Ireland. The house of an
Egyptian being on fire, he went upstairs and tenderly
brought down his mattress (in Ireland it was a feather
bed), having in his excitement made the mistake of first
72 Amongst the Country-Folk
throwing his mother-in-law out of the window. One
man declared — and with eloquent approval — that when
the women of the Ababdeh tribe, in Upper Egypt,
marry, they must never see their mothers again. The
bridegroom, immediately after marriage, always leaves
the neighbourhood, for a place as far away as possible,
chiefly in order to avoid his mother-in-law. An Arabic
term gives her the same description as the German tiger
niuttei" ; while an Egyptian proverb declares that the
devil is no match for her.
There is always a great deal of talk amongst the
fellaheen on the subject of animals and birds ; they tell
many quaint stories of them, and one is always coming
across fresh superstitions in which animals figure. I
have spoken of the absence of any fear of mankind
that the birds show in Egypt. From a good deal of
questioning, in all parts of the country, I think this may
be accounted for, first by a genuine belief that any
senseless slaughter is a sin towards the Creator ; even
when the creature is repugnant, as the pig is to the
Moslem, or the monkey and the dog to every Oriental.
The story of Macarius the monk has, I think, some
bearing on this belief As he sat in his cell he killed a
mosquito that was stinging him ; and straightway, being
troubled that he had so avenged himself, he condemned
himself to go to the inner desert, where there were
many great mosquitoes, and there sit naked for six
months. When he returned to his cell he was un-
recognisable but for his voice. Certainly the aversion
of the Egyptian to take life applies to the most insig-
nificant creatures, to the tiny insects, and particularly to
beetles. I have seen an hotel servant turn sorrowfully
away from proffered backsheesh rather than kill a beetle
that had been attracted into a room by the lights.
Their Beliefs^ Superstitions^ and Humour 73
There is also a universal fear that a demon may
dwell in certain animals or birds, or that the ginn may
disguise themselves in their forms. As for the ginyi, so
particular is this belief, that I know quite well that not
one of these village folk with whom I am talking will
ever call any animal without beckoning very carefully to
the one animal he is calling ; a ginn might be in the
neighbourhood, and mistake the sign, if the gesture did
not make it clear, and in revenge do harm to the per-
son beckoning him. The Oriental beckons in a way
exactly opposite to the English way — by waving the
hand just as we do when we wish a person to go away.
The serpent is a representative of the Evil One
himself, as it was in ancient Egyptian mythology ; to
this day it is the most accursed of all created things in
the East — to Christian and Moslem alike the agent of
all evil.
Seeing how the West cherishes the stories of St.
Francis and the animals and birds over which he had
such power, it is interesting to find the opinion very
generally held in the East, that any man of a pure life
will find every living thing subject unto him. The
Copts tell marvellous tales of the power of their sainted
Fathers over even the dangerous beasts. Lions became
tame and friendly before them ; the beasts have been
known to leave their own caves for the use of a home-
less monk. Of one recluse the story goes that he went
forth every nieht into the desert to mingle with the wild
animals, without hurt. The gentle voice of a monk
once sent away an angry hippopotamus — of course in
the sacred name ; another holy man was ferried across
the Nile on the back of a friendly crocodile. i\bba
Macarius was visited one day in his cave by a panther,
which took hold of the corner of his garment, and led
74 Amongst the Coimtry-Folk
him gently to its cave, where the animal went in and
fetched her young, dropping them at the monk's feet.
He found that they were blind, so he prayed and spat
on their eyes, and they were opened straightway. On
the day following the panther came again to the monk,
bringing to him a sheepskin ; and this skin the saint
used to sleep on, till it was quite worn out.
Not one of these men with whom I chatted but
believed that their domestic animals were especially
susceptible to " the evil eye " ; hence all the charms which
the animals are made to wear. It is thought that the
ornaments which Gideon took, that were on the camels'
necks (Judg. viii. 21), were protective charms — crescent-
shaped brasses, blue glass beads, or discs — exactly like
those worn by the camels inside the courtyard of the
house in which we are speaking. To the same pagan
origin 1 suppose may be traced the brass ornaments which
are attached to the harness of cart horses in England.
It is in Egypt that we should expect to find the
most deeply rooted superstitions relating to animals,
for their use as oracles is truly Egyptian, and goes back
to very ancient times. When the bull Apis was con-
sulted, the omen was good or bad according as the bull
accepted or refused the food offered by the worshippers ;
or as Apis chose to go into one or other of two stalls.
It is probable that this use of the sacred animals kept in
the temples was solely the outcome of the superstitions
of the people, and was not encouraged by the priests
until after the classic period had passed. What
happened in the case of Apis, recurred in the Temples
of Ombos, where sacred crocodiles were kept ; and in
the case of the rams of Elephantine or of Mendes.
The reason for the general detestation of monkeys
by Egyptians (nothing would ever induce certain of my
Their Beliefs^ Superstitions^ and Hufnour 7 5
friends to go near their cages in the Cairo Zoological
Gardens) is that the ape is a metamorphosed man.
The baboon represents that terrible scoundrel of a man
who stole the Prophet's red shoes, and hid them under
his coat. This the Prophet noticed, when he said,
" Thief, may your form become a caricature of that of
man, and may your body, at the place where my shoes
are hanging, be coloured red like them for all time, in
memory of your evil deed ! " No one of the fellaheen is
the less convinced of the truth of this story by the fact
that the baboon is often represented on the ancient
monuments. Not that they are ignorant of the
sculptured records, for it is often mentioned in their
conversation that many of them have wondered — as the
Western scholars have — at the strange fact that neither
the camel nor the buffalo is found on any of the monu-
ments.
A funny, rambling story was told one evening of a
rich owner of camels, who, when his time of departure
from this life drew near, could not get the release he
desired. Many friends tried to guess what the reason
might be, but in vain, until at last one said he must have
offended some animal, possibly a camel. So they sent
for the chief camel, who, however, would not come until
he had had a meeting of all the herd, to whom the
master's plight was explained. The " resolution " of
the meeting of camels, sent by their chief, was some-
thing like this : " Master, you may now be at rest ;
the camels now forgive you. But before you go, they
would like you to know why they were so deeply
offended. We could bear the heavy loads, as well as
the lash of the drivers' whip. These were from Allah,
and are in the day's work. What we found to be an
insufferable insult was, that, when you had strung us
76 Amongst the Country-Folk
together for the caravans, you put a puny ass at the
head to lead us ! "
A vile enchanter of olden times is represented to-day
in the hyena ; he was transformed by the anger of God.
But by one of those almost savage contradictions, so
often found in their superstitions, the people, instead of
shrinking from such an accursed being, chose to put a
high magic value on the hyena, and the teeth, hair, skin,
and flesh of this animal are all much sought after as
charms. If a Moslem is assured that a hyena has been
slaughtered according to the orders of the Koran (this
only rarely happens), he will readily eat its flesh, the
sheikhs especially being fond of it ; for they believe it
will give masculine strength. If a man has pains in his
back, the best cure is to lie on the skin of a hyena. If
he is so lucky as to possess a skin, he has to keep it
hidden, for every visitor who gets the chance will pluck
from its mane a hair, in the belief that it will secure love
and faithfulness, as well as the favour of those in high
places. The teeth are highly esteemed as amulets.
Innumerable are the stories told of the cunning of
the fox — though they all belong to the order of the
humorous fable. The great joke in all of these tales is
to represent Reynard as the village kadi, or judge. The
story I heard most often was of the fox which met a
man going to market with a basket of fowls. The fox V
naturally coveted the birds, and proceeded to play a
trick upon the owner to get them. He crept on ahead
and lay down in the road, pretending to be dead. The
man glanced at him, but went his way ; until he passed,
farther on, two more foxes, also lying dead. He now
began to think that three fox-skins would have a good
value ; so he put down his basket by the last fox, and
went back to pick up the others. But he could find
Their Beliefs^ Superstitions^ and Humour 77
nothing ; and when he went back for his basket it was
empty.
I found everywhere in the country a very profound
belief in the magic of stones — of quite ordinary sorts —
which have been brought from holy places, such as
Jerusalem, Mecca, Damascus, Medina, and other sacred
spots. One of the men with whom I talked had a
collection of such stones, which were regarded as a great
treasure by the whole countryside ; he was always being
asked to lend them in cases of severe illness, A bowl
of Nile water must be brought, and in this the stones are
rubbed together, the water then being drunk by the
patient. As the stones may come from both Christian
and Moslem places, so the people of each faith are
equally ready to use the same charm. For the infliction
of gall-stones this cure is thought to be infallible.
A cure for jaundice was mentioned to me, our host
sending for his "magic dish " as he called it. It was a
round brass dish, rather deep, with an inscription in
Arabic on it — in this case a Scripture text ; those used
by the Moslems have a verse from the Koran. This
dish must be taken, in the evening, and filled with Nile
water, into which must be dropped several filbert nuts.
It is then placed out of doors, so that the dew of night
may fall into it. In the morning the sick person must
take the dish, and, standing with his back to the rising
sun, eat the nuts, throwing the shells over his shoulders ;
when all the nuts are consumed he must drink all the
water.
One morning we went to see a sacred tree, one of the
few there are in Egypt. This tree was a very large nubk,
and it was literally covered with shreds of the clothing
of the people who had visited it. The custom of regard-
ing certain trees as sacred is another of those brought
78 Amongst the Country-Folk
into Christendom from the ancient practices of Egypt.
I believe that holy trees are to be found in Ireland.
The Moslems have a great belief in certain trees
being the abode of departed saints ; they think that
Paradise is surrounded by a hedge of the nubk, which is
so sacred a tree that it always becomes the dwelling-place
of a saint when it has reached the age of forty years.
On special days, all the village folk think their
sacred tree is bright with the most delicate illumination,
and soft voices are heard in its boughs ; the Copts and
the Moslems alike thinking that the saint is about the
tree at that time — saints of the trees are called " the
people of the blessing."
In Egypt there used to be a variety of tree called
the persea, sacred to Our Lord, because this was the
tree that Jesus and His parents rested under when they
passed through Matarieh. Some time before the Arab
invasion a law had been passed to preserve this kind of
tree, a heavy fine being inflicted on any one cutting one
down. Even this did not save the tree from extinction ;
for now no one knows what tree is meant by the name
persea. The sacred tree now at Matarieh is a sycamore
fig, which it is curious to find is not venerated by the
Copts, but by the Latin Christians.
I have questioned the people who resort to these
trees, not only in Egypt, but in different parts of North
Africa, especially as to why they tie on to them pieces
of their clothing, and so far as I can put their somewhat
vague replies into the words of another language, I have
found that it is always their hope that by so doing the
saint, by a sort of clairvoyance, will be kept in touch
with them, and will remember their needs before God ;
and God will hear their humble prayers because of the
superior merits of the saint.
Theh^ Beliefs^ Supe?^stitions^ a?id Ht^mour 79
Very amusing are the children of the village, whom
we see playing together in groups in the fields. At the
age of adolescence the country children of Egypt are
beautiful ; both the girls and the boys are well formed,
and though spare, they are strong, and full of a graceful
activity. The features are good, and the soft brown
eyes and the white teeth (so carefully cleaned after each
meal), with the warm brown skin, make the most pleas-
ing pictures of youthful beauty.
The little processions of girls going every morning
and evening between the village and the canal, carrying
the water-pitchers on their heads, form one of the most
charming sights in the Nile valley. The girls' feet are
naked, and if her body is too much sw^athed in her
draggling black robe, one still sees a beautifully moulded
arm stretched out to hold the pitcher ; and, as she does
not aspire to the full veil of "the forbidden ones," as she
calls the ladies of the cities, and only pulls her robe over
part of her face (if there are no Egyptian men about
she will not even do this) one often sees a face of
delicate beauty. The small blue tattoo marks would spoil
a face of paler complexion, but they seem to accord with
the gilt ear-rings, the necklet of gold coins, and the
cherry-red beads, which she so proudly wears.
The games played by the children are of the
simplest order. A noisy group of boys are playing a
game which seems to consist of two sides, who, hopping
on one foot, try merely to bring each other to the dust.
Further on we pass a quieter group, seated on the
ground, on which they have drawn, in the dust, a sort of
enlarged draught-board ; the game they are playing with
small stones has certain rapid moves which lead to a
quick conclusion. It is strange to hear the "men"
used by the two sides in this game called Moslem and
8o Amoftgst the Cotpi try- Folk
Christian ; Moslem begins, and the names are called
aloud at each move, I have seen boys in a desert oasis,
thousands of miles from this spot, playing exactly the
same game. A common game of the boys of Egypt is
something like "rounders," a ball being driven by a club
exactly as the pictures of ancient Egypt show it to have
been ; sometimes the boys play it mounted on each
other's backs — so did their far-off forefathers.
Rural Egypt has few toys, but there is a primitive
humming top that is often found. What I thought more
remarkable was to find that the boys of the fellaheen
sometimes were in possession of those annoying little
crackers which are exploded in most English villages on
the night of Guy Fawkes.
I have often come across a number of small children,
in all parts of Egypt, solemnly engaged in a game of
mimicry of the most weird description. The babes,
generally from about four to seven years old, stand round
in a circle, and, following the actions of the mock sheikh
sitting in the centre, in sober unison sway from side to
side, making agonised grimaces, as they chant over and
over aofain in their sweet infant tones the " La illah
il'allah, Mohammed rasul Allah ! " After a time one of
them will feign exhaustion, and fall to the ground, to be ,
followed, one by one, by the others, until all have fallen, I
when the game is at an end. They have been playing
at having a sikr, one of those religious exercises of the
East in which the Moslem seeks to attain to spiritual
ecstasy ; and it is clear that no detail of the rite has
escaped the childish observation. One thinks of the
white tablecloth surplice, and the solemn preaching from
behind the back of a high chair, in an English nursery ;
and the groups of children of a similar age in every
English village, who often leave the real school only to
Their Beliefs^ Superstitions^ a7id Humour 8 1
engage in a very earnest imitation of "teacher," with no
abatement of hard questions, and a sterner use of the
cane than in reaHty would be allowed.
Sometimes we look in upon the poor in their huts
while they are at meals. They all eat with their fingers,
but I must say that generally their table manners will
compare for daintiness and unselfish restraint with the
peoples who use the knife and fork. They eat moderately
and of the simplest diet, of which bread is the chief item.
The native bread is a flat round cake, of a dusky
colour, very like a large stone : reminding us of
Scripture again — " If a son shall ask bread . . . will ye
give him a stone ? " A piece of bread, with pickled turnip A?
and a taste of salted curd, often makes a meal. I have
sometimes seen the children eating this bread merely
dipped in syrup, though vegetables are so cheap that it
is rare not to be able to afford the relish of raw carrots,
radishes, tomatoes, onions, and the tiny cucumber which
is grown so abundantly in Egypt. In the hot weather
every one eats the cucumber ; indeed, without a dish of
these cool and refreshing vegetables the people would
often not eat at all. ^
The water melon, too, is so plentiful that all may
enjoy it — it is food and drink in the sultry days of mid-
summer. We know that the men who built the Pyramids
ate the same food as the fellaheen eat to-day, and they
ate it in the same simple manner.
It is not good manners to watch the people at their
food, so we turn aside again, after accepting a morsel in
response to their eager offers. "The envious eye" is
very active over food, and so we never betray any desire,
even for the fruits which are so tempting.
CHAPTER V
Birth and its Attenda7it Celebrations
In writing these chapters dealing with Egyptia?t customs the author has
been able to supplernent his own personal observatiofts by the invalu-
able notes of tivo Coptic gentlemen belonging to old conservative and
orthodox families — Dr. Sobhy, and Marcus Simaika Pasha, of Cairo.
THE essential type of the Coptic Egyptian bears
out the assertion that as a race the Nile
dwellers are amongst the most conservative of
mankind. In their physiognomy, and their peculiarity
of manners and customs, there is a great deal of
evidence on the ancient monuments, and in the literature
of the Pharaonic period, to show that in many ways the
people of to-day differ very little from their pre-Christian
ancestors.
If there is any tendency to change, it is amongst
the comparatively small class of the rich and highly
educated, who have travelled largely in Europe, and are
eager to adopt everything from the Western civilisation.
The desire to live in the manner of the English and the
French carries the people of this class so far away from
the habits of even their last generation, that the casual
observer might be led to imagine that a social revolution
was rapidly changing an entire race. It only needs,
however, a slight acquaintance to show that habits
acquired in this way do not really displace the Oriental
89
Birth a7id its Attendaiit Celebrations 83
temperament, which, as the writer thinks, must still
express itself in its own way in spite of any artificial
restraints whatever.
In the great mass of the people there is no change
at all. The spread of education may, perhaps, very
slowly modify the barbaric excesses, especially of the
women in times of grief, but it can never bring to an
Eastern people the sustained restraint of the people of
a different race, living in a colder clime.
The skill and science of the physician may gradually
win the people from their belief in charms and incanta-
tions, though it is unlikely that the cherished super-
stitions of eighty centuries can be easily dispossessed
from the wonder-world of the Orient, alive as it is with
all the romantic possibilities of magic — a world in which
every man has his guardian angel, and is familiar with
the ways of the whole race of fairy and ginn. All these
things have flourished for so long because they found
root in the needs and the longings of the human soul.
It is for the same reasons that the ancient Church of
these people has preserved its Oriental characteristics.
Nothing illustrates this more clearly than the work
which the Americans have done in Egypt in trying
to convert the Copts from their orthodox faith. In
many ways the American Mission has rendered a most
excellent service to the Egyptian Christians ; in their
splendid schools and colleges, and in their hospitals,
they, with wonderful ability and a lavish generosity,
have benefited the whole of Egypt.
They have established numbers of mission halls,
with all the Presbyterian bareness, and from their
platforms they appeal to the people, not only to live the
life of personal holiness, but to shun the errors of their
ancient Church. Their adherents are numbered by tens
84 Birth and its Attendant Celebrations
of thousands ; and I can speak of the zeal and the
earnestness of these converts, including as they do many
of the richest and most influential Copts in the country.
While I can go so far as to believe that the eventual
outcome of this Mission may be nothing short of the
reform of the Coptic Church, bringing back to it the
spirituality it has lost, from what I have seen I cannot
think the Oriental people can ever find any lasting
satisfaction in a Presbyterian form of worship.
The converts are constantly longing for the glowing
ritual of their old Church. How many of them even
now, when they feel the need of the ancient sacraments,
forget for the time their chapel missioner, and go to the
priest and the sanctuary. If ever the Church is reformed,
and becomes a living Church, I believe these converts
will not be able to resist the natural instincts which
all the time are calling them back to its fold. It is
touching to hear the tones of intense affection with
which they speak of the Mother Church, even when to
all outward seeming they are in complete dissent.
The customs which surround the birth of a child
have perhaps more than any others been handed down
unchanged from the earliest days of Egypt's history. It
is not possible in every case to trace the origin of each
particular custom, and explain the meaning of many
practices and observances of to-day, yet there is warrant
for attributing their very obscurity and apparently
meaningless character to the fact that they were a part
of the primitive religion of the ancient Egyptians, and
have only become inexplicable since the religion itself
became obsolete.
In those houses in which the hareem system is
preserved, and with the poor, the male physician is
never consulted by the expectant mother, even though
Birth and its Attendant Celebrations 85
her peaceful course should be interrupted. If her life is
very seriously threatened, the doctor may be called in,
but this is a recent concession to those who like to take
refuge in medical science as an extra precaution to the
native antidotes. Otherwise, the entire responsibility is
undertaken by the quabilah, or midwife, more colloquially
called the daiah ; if this woman is certificated she is
called hakeemah.
It is interesting, in view of recent discussions on
various subjects connected with eugenics in England, to
find that the Egyptians have always held that very
special care should be taken to influence the mother
before the infant is born, as every effect made upon her
nervous system will have its impression on the unborn
child.
Readers may remember that in the life of the late
Charles Kingsley it is especially commented on as a
modern idea that his mother went away to Devonshire
believing that all the impressions made on her mind
then would be transmitted to her child. Years after-
wards the Kingsley family were specially mentioned by
Galton in his book on Hereditary Talent.
It has always been one of those deep beliefs in
Egypt, which are too familiar to need comment, that
not only the character and even health, but the appear-
ance, of the coming offspring depend upon the objects
with which the woman is brought into contact, especially
in the first three months of the e7iceinte period.
The sight of a beautiful face, habitually looked at,
goes far to ensure a comely child ; any object for which
the mother has shown a fondness may be reproduced in
shape or form upon the child's body.
The story is commonly told of a woman who had a
great longing for apples — a rare fruit in Egypt — which
86 Birth and its Attendant Celebrations
could not be gratified ; and she gave birth to a child
with a growth upon its body not unlike a red apple in
colour and shape. In another case, a young woman
who tamed an ape is believed to have had a child of an
ape-like appearance,
I have heard a Copt, well versed in the Scriptures,
declare that this principle was known, even as it applies
to the animal world, from the days of Jacob's experiment
with the flocks, by which he became rich/
It certainly was the rule amongst the ancient
Egyptians that in every case the woman who was to
become a mother "should live comfortably and should
have what she longs for,"^a rule carefully observed to
this day.
Dr. Sobhy has known women who during the whole
of their period have carried about with them the picture
of a beautiful child, at which they constantly gazed, in
the firm belief that this would ensure similar features to
their own offspring.
• On the other hand, it is highly injurious, in such a
condition, to smell any pungent substance, such as lime
in the process of slaking, carbolic acid, asafoetida, or
garlic roasted in butter.
Everywhere in the East childlessness is looked
upon as the worst misfortune that can belong to a
woman, but it is never regarded as a mere physical
defect. The doctor is never consulted, the remedy
being sought in many of the directions which super-
stition has suggested. Certain kinds of coins, if worn
on a visit to a friend in confinement, are considered to
bring about this curse ; and if the visitors should chance
to see a funeral, or a dead body, on the way, this will
^ Genesis xxx. (from verse 31 onwards).
^ Manners and Cnslotns of the Ancient Egyptians^ Wilkinson.
^SSssmmmmtmm^
Birth a72d its Attendant Celebrations 87
have the dreaded effect : such a condition is not, of
course, to be treated by any human methods, but it must
be assailed by remedies of the same order. Coins,
similar to those that caused the mischief, must be soaked
in water, and the infusion must be drunk by the patient,
or used as a douche.
If the cause is the sight of a funeral, or a dead body,
then a visit must be paid to a cemetery, or permission
must be privately gained to step across a dead body ;
the proceeding being called 7nesharah.
There are wise old women, of great experience, who
prescribe charms and amulets, which are accepted in
earnest faith by those who consult them. These women
also occasionally number amongst their patients those
who, because of poverty, are satisfied with the number
of their already large families.
The attentions of the midwife mostly consist of
invocations of all the saints of which she knows, her
chief cry being, " Ya sitti Kahla, enta'iana min di el
wahla ! " that is to say, " O Lady Kahla, deliver us from
this our trouble ! " ; while she administers, if necessary,
hot stimulant drugs, generally decoctions of either
cinnamon or crocus.
On the morning of the second day of the child's life
the midwife performs the operation of "benefiting the
eyes," which consists of raising the infant's eyelids, and
painting round the eyes with a solution of coal tar, and
then sprinkling with kokl. This substance is made by
burning incense and almonds, and collecting the soot
thus formed. This soot, being very soft, is everywhere
used by the women as an eye-paint, the constant use of
which is supposed to colour the eye black. This also is
a custom from ancient Egypt.
The mother is thought to need no attention yet ; the
88 Birth a7td its Attenda7tt Celebrations
complete rest enjoined for the Western mother is not
thought to be necessary — indeed, she now moves about
at will. For a week, however, she is not allowed to do
any work ; if she is poor her relatives and her neighbours
quite willingly come to her assistance in household matters,
even till the fortieth day after the birth.
The only treatment is on the third day, when a
douche is used, made of the leaves of bitter oranges, dried
leaves of sJiih ^ (valuable for its alkaloid), myrrh, and
the dried fruit of quarad,^ which have all been boiled
together.
It is in the matter of diet that the skill of the mid-
wife is mostly exercised, as this is regarded of the utmost
importance. However poor the woman may be, she has
to be provided with one chicken at least for each of the
first three days of her confinement ; if means are plentiful,
she is kept almost exclusively to a chicken diet during
the first ten or twelve days.
It is deplorable that wine is given in nearly every
case to Coptic women, in such excessive quantities that
sometimes it leads to a certain haemorrhage, which the
doctors have traced to this cause. Another very im-
portant item of diet is a sort of pudding, made with
bread and thoroughly soaked in treacle, with a great
number of the seeds of the native helba.^ The plant is
held in the highest repute in Egypt as a general family
medicine ; it is universally considered an excellent nerve
tonic, and being bitter it acts as a stomachic.
In country houses, especially, the last act of con-
sideration of my host, at the end of the day, has often
been to send to my bedroom a jugful of hot liquid
made from helba, in the firm belief that it would
^ Artemisia maritima. ^ Acacia nilotica.
• Trigonella fcenum Grcecum.
Bh^tk and its Attenaant Celebrations 89
ensure sleep at night and good health in the morning.
The natives believe that the seeds of this plant, together
with the bile of an ox, made into pills, are a sure remedy
for diabetes.
Another most important drug, used by the midwife,
is made from the powdered root of the plant known
as el mitghat (known to the French as "grenadier
sauvage ") ; it is usually mixed with the powdered seeds
of nigella sativa (called by the natives habbet-el-baraka),
and sometimes with the dried and powdered fruit of the
ctraiojtia siliqiia, or kharoub. The mixture is called
mughat, and is everywhere used by the people, who
have the greatest faith in its efficacy.
Sometimes the midwife, being a woman of more than
usual energy and skill, makes a still more elaborate
decoction, called mztghat i7iikawik, meaning literally
woven mughat, having an addition of the familiar
aromatic drugs, such as cinnamon, cloves, cardamoms,
nutmeg, and many others, all pounded into a very fine
powder.
The preparation is made in this way : a quantity of
butter is first melted, and some crushed nuts and drues
cooked in it ; ordinary mughat is then mixed with it,
and the whole cooked again ; lastly, water is added,
sweetened with sugar, and the mixture is well stirred,
and served in teacups. Sometimes it is made without
butter, and then has the consistency of jelly, of a
brownish yellow colour, with a delicious aromatic odour ;
it has decided tonic and stomachic properties. Not only
are these decoctions taken by the patient, but they are
offered to all her visitors. As a drink a hot preparation
of caraway is taken.
y A very special delicacy, made only for these
occasions, is called halawa- el-mefataqah, or the
go Birth and its Atte7tdant Celebrations
composite sweets. It consists of the powdered extracts
of forty kinds of odoriferous plants, mostly of the species
of bitter stomachics. These are roasted in sesame oil,
called sirig, and treacle or honey is liberally poured over
the whole. Women of experience have to be called in
to prepare this dish, as great skill is required to get
the flavour which makes it so delicious. Of the forty
substances used in its composition, the following are
the most important : nuts of various kinds ; of drugs,
galbanum, powdered root of the camphor tree, cinnamon,
nutmeg, extract of nigella saiiva, rhubarb, cardamoms,
cloves, cascarilla, sandal-wood, cubebs, piper longum,
ginger salep, orange and lemon peel, quassia bark,
tragacanth, liquorice, tamarind, fig, fennel, cinchona,
camomile, taraxacum, with a suggestion of asafoetida.
I have sipped it, but found it too rich and complicated
for my taste.
This halawa is usually eaten with a specially made
pastry called kumaga, which is made into little flat round
loaves, ornamented at the edge, and having a layer of
sesame and honey. The dough is kneaded with butter
— or oil if the patient be a Copt and the season is one
of the fasts. Chickens specially prepared with milk and
flour are distributed with these delicacies to important
visitors. The Egyptian chicken is always a small bird.
We now come to the momentous seventh day, the
lelet-el-suba. Among the rich, especially those who have
few children, this night is kept as a great festival — a
splendid banquet is served, musicians are hired, and in
every way the occasion resembles a wedding feast.
This seventh night is the first occasion on which the
child is given a bath. The water in which the child is
washed may not be thrown away, but is kept in a glazed
earthenware pot, called the magur akhdar. In the
Birth and its Attendant Celebrations 91
centre of the pot is placed, if the infant is a boy, an
ibreek, the big copper jug used for washing the hands,
or a gulah, the ordinary small clay water-pot, if it is
a girl.
In either case the vessel is decorated with the
insignia of the respective sexes — the ibreek is adorned
with a red tarbush, or head-dress, and a watch and
chain ; and the gulah with a handkerchief, ear-rings, and
other feminine jewellery, according to the wealth of the
parents.
Round the rim of the pot are stuck three candles
(originally there were seven), which are lighted simulta-
neously. The parents and friends choose three names,
applying one to each candle ; the name of the candle
that burns longest being the one chosen for the child.
This is a custom that almost certainly had its origin
in the mythology of the ancient Egyptians, who believed
in the presence of seven Hathors at the birth of every
child, in whose hands his destiny lay. Lots were cast
among them, and the one on whom the lot fell decided
the name and fate of the child. To the same source
may be traced the belief, which still survives all over
Egypt, that every child is connected with the star under
which it is born.
The names used by the Copts furnish traces of all
the nations which have successively dominated Egypt,
while a good number linger from the ancient race, such
as Hur from Horus, Serapamoun from Serapis and
Amon ; there are Greek names, such as Theodorus
(pronounced Tadrus), Philotheos (pronounced Faltaus) ;
Roman names, such as Claudius (pronounced Ekladius) ;
Persian names, such as Narouz ; many French names,
such as Louis and Alphonse ; and now, English names.
Many girls have been called Victoria and Alexandra,
92 Birth and its Attenda7tt Celebrations
and Bible names in their English form are very popular ;
numbers of boys are called Cromer and Kitchener ;
Henry and Jeffrey are often met with. The old-
fashioned Copt, who is in an overwhelming majority,
scorns such importations, almost equally with the
Moslem, and, with him, never uses anything but
Arabic names.
The midwife is an important personage at this
festival. She has provided herself with small quantities
of cereals of every kind, — wheat, maize, peas, beans,
lentils, and others, — and she places a portion of each,
together with some nuts, in the pot. Taking another
portion of the cereals, she stuffs a small pillow with them,
and on this pillow the child must sleep until it has grown
old enough to distinguish its own name. A third portion
is tied up in a piece of cloth, and must be placed under
the pillow on which the mother sleeps.
Towards morning the child is taken from his bed and
placed in a large sieve {q.2}\q.A ghu7'bal), and is shaken just
as though wheat were being sifted. The midwife then
takes a large brass pestle and mortar, and, going close to
the child, she pounds as loudly as possible, saying in the
ear of the child the while, " Hear thy father's speech,"
and with another vigorous pounding, " Follow thy
mother's advice." Then the mother is directed to step
three times over her child as it lies in the sieve.
The ibreek (or the gttlah) is now taken out of the
pot, and the water found in the latter is sprinkled over
the threshold of the room. Each of the guests tries to
snatch some of the nuts from the pot, putting money in
their place as a gift for the midwife ; the captured nuts
the women guests place in their purses as charms against
financial failure.
A very interesting procession is now formed. All
Birth and its Attendant Celebrations 93
the children in the house are gathered together, and are
given long, lighted candles. As they start from the room
where the birth took place they chant the nursery
songs of the East. In most cases, the mother, dressed
all in white, holding the child to her bosom, goes first ;
sometimes the midwife leads, holding the child ; and in
any case the latter always carries a quantity of the
cereals and common salt held in a cloth, which she
scatters on the way.
From time to time this rhyme is addressed to the
infant, chanted by all the company: "With thy hands
and thy feet, a golden ring in thine ears, mayest thou
live and rear thine own offspring." When the procession
has visited every room in the house, its mother and the
child are escorted back to their chamber, where they are
left to rest.
For this occasion the grandparents of the infant (on
the mother's side) have also had made at their own home
the sweets and cakes called kumaga, and they send a
portion, with a quantity of nuts, such as almonds, walnuts,
and cocoa-nuts, to each family connected with them.
The mother is not allowed to go out of doors until
forty days have elapsed from the birth. She then visits
the hanimam, or bath, and after its elaborate and frolic-
some ablutions, she is free from any further restrictions.
The love of children, shared equally between the
father and the mother, shown by all Eastern people, can
scarcely be exaggerated ; it is one of the most charming
features of Egyptian life. In this the Copt does not
differ from the Moslem. A beautiful sign of this love for
the little ones is shown by the fact that in the ordinary
way no orphan children are to be found. There is
always some family ready to take the poor mites whose
parents die, and the adoption is a very real one. No
94 Birth and its Attendant Celebrations
such child is ever made conscious of being a " poor
relation." Is not this another instance of the similarity,
which strikes one at every turn, between the tempera-
ment of the Oriental and that of the generous-hearted
Irish folk, who take unfortunate children into their homes
in the same way ?
This is what Job meant, literally, when he said,
" Have I eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless hath
not eaten thereof? from my youth he was brought up
with me" (xxxi. 17, 18).
As for the resemblance of Eastern folk to the Irish,
it may be an interesting digression to mention the story
of the cook in the desert monastery of Pachomius. He
neglected his duly appointed work of cooking vegetables
for the brethren, and devoted his time to plaiting mats.
All he would say, in excuse, was that the brethren did
not eat all the food he cooked ; he worried himself about
the forty flasks of oil which were mixed daily with the
peas and vegetables. It is not related that a mat-making
brother insisted on doing the cooking ; but I expect it
was so. Let any lady who has kept house in southern
Ireland say if this does not remind her of her chief
domestic trials. To " duly appoint " work to one of
those lovable but vexatious creatures who serve in an
Irish home, is to be sure that every device will be
thought of to avoid it for other tasks not appointed.
And who could be found to sadden those gay hearts
with a punishment like that of the Abbot. Pachomius
had the five hundred mats, made by the cook, brought
to him, and he threw them into the fire !
CHAPTER VI
Baptism
IT is the rule of the Church that a male child should
be baptized on the fortieth day, and a female on
the eightieth day, and the baptism must always
take place in a church, unless the child be dying, when
it may be performed at home. In the case of sickness
the need for baptism becomes very urgent, as the popular
belief is that a child who dies unbaptized will be blind
in Paradise — no mention is ever made of the soul of an
infant being- lost from heaven.
The rule of the fortieth or the eightieth day is not
now strictly adhered to ; indeed, two days of the year
have come to be very largely chosen as most favourable
to the rite — the last Sunday but one of Lent, and the
day of the Feast of the Cross, in the second half of
September, are called Days of Baptism. The season of
Epiphany has from the earliest days of the Church been
thought suitable ; for special graces for all men are
showered down at Epiphany. Before the rite both the
priest and also the infant (or convert) must fast. In the
case of a convert the vigil must be kept with reading and
prayer.
The service of baptism is most curious evidence of
the strict and unreasoning conservatism of the Eastern
Church in the preservation of its ancient ritual.
95
96 Bapt
ism
The first part of the baptismal service must have
been composed in the earliest days of missionary
Christianity, for it is solely applicable to the case of
adult converts from heathenism, who are to be admitted
to a course of instruction in Christian doctrine, with a
view to their subsequent baptism.
There is no doubt that originally the service for
converts took place long before baptism, a course of
instruction coming in between ; for they were only
allowed to attend part of the ordinary service of the
church, a prayer still used marking their dismissal. And
yet this service is to this day solemnly read over young
infants, the children of Christian parents.
In this rite, as in all others, practices are preserved
of the highest antiquity — the renunciation of Satan, for
instance, by the catechumen, who turns to the west and
raises his right hand ; the wearing of a white robe and
crown by the neophyte, the bestowal of the ring at
betrothal, and the coronation at marriage.
The very language of the services shows this con-
servatism. At a very early period the Greek rites of
Alexandria must have been translated into Coptic. But
still whole phrases were preserved in Greek, and are so
used to-day ; later on, Coptic died out of use — as early
as the beginning of the fifteenth century it must have
been unintelligible in Lower Egypt — but the religious
services are still recited in this dead language, only
rendered partially intelligible by a faulty Arabic version
written by the side of the Coptic in the Church books.
The baptistery is placed on the left side of the church,
and is decorated with a picture of St. John baptizing the
Lord Jesus Christ.
Every child must have a godfather or a godmother,
who are so closely considered as parents that their
Baptism
97
children, beine reofarded as brothers and sisters of the
godchildren, are not allowed to marry.
After the service of purification has been said over
the mother, her forehead being anointed with oil, the first
prayer asks that " all remains of the worship of idols
may be cast out of their hearts."
The oil of thanksgiving is then blessed, " for the
casting out of demons, and witchcraft, and magic, and
all service of idols," and the priest anoints the breast,
and hands, and back, of the infant, saying, " May this oil
destroy all the enmity of the enemy,"
The child is now unclothed, and is turned to the
west ; his right hand is raised and he renounces Satan
and all his works and his evil angels ; in the case of an
infant the parent or sponsor orally renounces for him.
Then turning to the east, the babe's arms raised to form
a cross, a submission to Christ and all His saving laws
and all His life-g-ivingr service and works is made.
After many prayers, the priest takes the second oil
which he has blessed, the chrism, and anoints him that
is to be baptized on the breast and arms, and from the
front of the breast to the back, and on the middle of the
hands, with the sign of the cross, " in defence against all
the works of the enemy."
In the prayers it is asked that angels of light will
guard the life of the baptized, defend them from all the
darts of the enemy, and from evil assaults, and from the
demon of noontide, from the arrow that flieth by day,
and from the thing that walketh in the darkness, and
from the imaginations of the nigrht ; casting out from
their hearts all disturbing spirits.
The priest lays his hands on the infants in blessing ;
and then, prostrate before the font, prays for himself a
very beautiful petition for power that he may not give
7
9 8 Baptism
absolution to others and himself be a castaway. Such
a prayer, repeated in other services, must be remembered
when an attempt is made to gauge the extent of priestly
claims in the Coptic Church.
He then takes the first oil, and pours it into the font
three times in the form of a cross, signing the water
again four times with the sign of the cross with his
finger, from east to west and from north to south.
He then consecrates the water, which must be
"living," and cold, Ho the burning of incense, praying
that God will give the infant power that by this water
all hostile forces may be destroyed ; all evil spirits may
be driven away; all witchcraft, magic, and the services
of idols may be destroyed.
The priest then breathes upon the water three times
in the form of a cross, with fresh invocations, that it
may be a holy water, a water which washes away sin,
a water of the laver of regeneration. " Grant to this
water that no evil spirit may be within it, or descend
into it with him that is to be baptized ; neither a spirit
of the day, nor a spirit of noontide, nor a spirit of
evening, nor a spirit of night, nor a spirit of the air,
nor a spirit of drowning — let them be crushed before
the sign of Thy Cross, and before Thy Holy Name."
Then the priest takes the holy chrism and pours
it into the font three times in the form of a cross.
Disturbing the waters with his hand, he recites passages
from the Psalms.
The priest, taking the naked child from the deacon,
and raising him up, first breathes on his face in the form
of the cross, and then baptizes him. Triple immersion is
the only form recognised- in the Coptic Church ; asper-
sion is condemned, except in cases of extreme weakness.
^ In extreme cases of weakness a little warmth is allowed.
Baptism 99
The priest lays his right hand upon the head of the
child, and with the left performs the trinomial lifting and
dipping. The first time the child, in the name of the
Father, is dipped to the waist ; the second time, in the
name of the Son, to the neck ; the third time, in the
name of the Holy Ghost, over the head.
Immediately after the baptism the water must be
absolved, or deconsecrated ; the priest pouring some
of the water upon his hands, upon the font and its sur-
roundings, prays that it may be changed to its former
nature, and may so return to the earth.
Taking the holy chrism, and praying over it on
the altar, he now confirms the child. He anoints, with
special invocations, the forehead and eyes, the nostrils
and mouth, the ears and the hands on both sides, and
the breast, the knees, and the instep of the feet, and
the back and arms, saying, " Receive the Holy Ghost,
and be a pure vessel, through Jesus Christ, our Lord."
This is an act peculiar to the Coptic Church, and seems
to indicate that the unction, to be effective, needs the
insufflation of the priest ; or, as one authority states it,
the proper matter of confirmation in the Coptic Church
is the breath of the priest, and its form the words,
" Receive the Holy Ghost."
After the laying on of hands in blessing, the priest
takes off the child's wrap, and clothes him in a white
robe, tied with a holy girdle, or zennan, which is tri-
coloured ; the girdle being unique to the Coptic Church.
He blesses a crown, and places it on the infant's head.
These acts are symbolical of the putting off the old
man and putting on the new, the loins girded to run
the Christian race, and the crown promised to those
who prove victorious.
The child is now brought to the altar, and the Mass
J
loo Baptism
is celebrated and administered to the child, a drop of
the wine, in which the bread has been soaked, alone
being given in the case of infants ; the priest dipping
his finger in the chalice, and putting it on the tongue
of the babe.
During all this long time, the sealed copy of the
Gospel is resting on the Gospel-stand in the baptistery,
with lighted tapers about it. As I often saw this in
Cairo, a note may be permitted on the idea of the
material notion of the sanctity of the Bible, which pos-
sibly had its birth in this very place. The Genizah,
at Cairo, yielded a rich harvest of extremely valuable
ancient copies of the Bible. Copies had been preserved
in sacred burying-places through being sealed in their
metal cases.
At first this notion of material sacredness was un-
known to Christianity. But very early the people
adopted it, and the Bible became tabu. This was
especially the case with the Gospels, which, with the
Host, and the likeness of Christ, came to be valued as
the sign and assurance of the sacred presence and His
miraculous power.
Here we see the place still assigned to it in the
Coptic Church, keeping alive the decision of the early
Councils that the Gospels, as representative of Christ,
must have the place of honour. In the consecration of
a bishop, the Gospels are laid upon his head as a means
of communicating the Spirit and Christ's indwelling.
Now the child is carried in procession three times
round the church by the clergy, dressed in their full
canonicals, the acolytes following bearing candles, the
cantors beating bells and triangles and clashing cymbals.
Children receive a second name at baptism, usually
that of the saint of the day, unless the parents prefer
Baptis7n I o I
the name of a favourite saint. For boys Girgis (George),
and for girls Maria (Mary), or Miriam, are very
common baptismal names.
On the eighth day after baptism the rite of loosing
the girdle is observed in the baptistery of the church.
A vessel of pure water is placed on the Gospel stand,
with a cross lying on the rim, and lighted tapers around
it. Incense is offered and the following portions of
Scripture are repeated :
Epistle of St. Paul (i Cor. x. 1-4).
The Trisagion.
The prayer before the Gospel.
Psalm cxiv. 3 and 5.
Gospel (St. Matt. iii. 13-17).
The Three Great Petitions and the Creed.
After a special prayer 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.
There is a Coptic story of the fourth century (which
might have come from a village to-day) illustrating
not only the importance attached to baptism, but also
the infinite hope these Eastern people have in the
mercy of God. A certain man living remote from the
world had a little daughter, who died before she could
be baptized. Her father distributed among the poor
the portion that came to her ; and he never ceased to
make entreaty to God on behalf of his daughter because
she had departed without being baptized. As he
prayed one day, he heard a voice, which said, " Have
no sorrow; I have baptized thy daughter " ; but he lacked
faith. And the voice spake again, saying, " Uncover
her grave, and thou wilt find she is no longer there."
And he did so, and he found her not, for she had de-
parted, and had been laid with the believers.
I02 Bapt
ism
The union of confirmation and baptism is peculiar
to the Coptic Church, and so is the use of the holy
chrism for confirmation, and also the fact that the priest
has authority for confirmation as well as the bishop.
It is maintained that here the Copts have retained the
early teaching of the Catholic Church which has been
abandoned by the Western branch.
Circumcision is generally practised in the country,
but rarely in Cairo. The Church, for some strange
reason, clearly prohibits its performance after baptism,
even declaring the sacrament to be annulled by the
operation ; but the country people pay little heed to the
rule, mostly conforming to the custom of the Moslem
majority, which is to wait till the child is five or six
years old, and then to have it done by the official village
barber (who, however, slightly varies the nature of the
operation in the case of the Copts), making a festival
of it like their neighbours. September is the month
usually chosen for these fetes, for the fruit harvest has
then brought wealth to the people after their labours.
Islam adopted this custom, for circumcision was an
Egyptian rite as far back as two thousand years before
Abraham. It is shown on the early monuments, and
the mummies have shown clear evidence of the same
fact. It is mentioned in the Book of Exodus, and it
is interesting to recall that it was Ishmael, the son of
the Egyptian Hagar, who was first circumcised by
Abraham, long before Isaac was born.
The Copts firmly believe in it on health grounds ;
for one thing they believe it to be a preventive of cancer,
or a cure if done later in life. The wound is treated
with powdered pomegranate bark. With the Moslems
a boy is made eligible only by this rite to pray in the
mosque.
g^
Baptism 103
It is the occasion of a great feast, beginning on
the night before, when henna leaves are kneaded into
a paste, which, especially in country places, is rolled
into pieces, set on a tray, with a taper set on every piece.
The boy who is the occasion of the festival walks behind
the henna tray through the house, with all the women
folk singing and zagreeting (a curious shrill bubbling cry)
to show their joy. Before retiring to rest the boy has
one of the lumps of henna paste bound into the palm of
his hand, and the women do the same for themselves,
the result being that the next morning they are stained
a reddish brown.
On the day of circumcision, the boy is dressed in the
finest clothes possible, taken from the treasures of the
hareem, as a sign that up to this time he has belonged
to the women. A gold embroidered cap such as the
women wear is put on his head, and he proudly rides on
horseback in a grand procession through the town or
village, with music, and the firing of guns without which
wo fantasia is complete.
There is, of course, a bountiful feast, provided by
the father ; and the guests contribute to the fees of the
barber, who is a properly appointed person in every
community. It is a striking comment on the statements
of those who seem to delight in fostering animosity
between Moslem and Copt, that the same barber, ir-
respective of his religion, performs this ceremony for the
whole community.
CHAPTER VII
How a Wife is Chose?!
THE old traditional Coptic custom, that it is the
duty of the parents to marry their children
exactly as they think fit, without any reference
to the children themselves, prevails to the present day,
except in the cities, or In the highly educated families.
In the country, where the old patriarchal customs remain
unchanged, the young people still have no voice in the
matter ; In fact, marriages are sometimes arranged long
before the children are of an age to contract matrimony.
In one thing there is a tendency towards a universal
chano-e : It Is no lonorer thoucrht suitable, as It was less
than half a century ago, to marry boys of fifteen to girls
of twelve years of age. The Church now insists that
the man shall be twenty and the girl sixteen ; and no
priest may celebrate a wedding ceremony without a
licence from the Patriarch or the bishop of the diocese.
Another advance has also been made by the Church,
throuo-h the decree of the Patriarch. The sexes had
been kept rigorously apart, so that no man ever saw any
woman outside a close degree of relationship.
Many Copts profess to believe that this seclusion
dates only from the Arab Invasion {the scapegoat
event especially of all those plausible men who strive
to commend the Coptic race to the dominant English),
104
How a Wife is Chosen 105
but they are clearly mistaken, as the Scriptures alone
might show them. It was one of their own early fathers,
Abba Arsenius, who rebuked a certain noble lady who
travelled from Rome to see him at Alexandria, " Didst
thou not know that thou wast a woman, and that it was
incumbent on thee not to go forth anywhere ? " Like
the veil, seclusion has always in the East been a matter
of custom, and not of creed.
With the spread of education, and by contact in the
cities with French and English civilisation, a relaxation
of this rule gradually crept into certain restricted circles,
with the result that young people met, and in some cases
they declined to go on with an engagement already made
for them. Or it was after marriage that they found a
more congenial person than their mate. In the one case
this led to great friction in families, for the insult of a
broken engagement has always fomented the deadliest of
feuds ; in the other, immorality was the result.
Acting under wise advice, the Patriarch — and this
should be remembered by those who declare that he is
entirely reactionary — issued an instruction to all the
clergy to the effect that, it not being contrary to the
canons of the Church, young people engaged to marry
should not only see each other, but should be brought
together under proper conditions so as to know each
other well. He further ordered that the priests were
to undertake the duty of ascertaining that this rule was
made effective, and that they were not to celebrate a
marriage until they had an assurance from both parties
that they freely consented to it.
A young man seeking marriage still acts through
intermediaries, and does not propose directly to the girl ;
and it is almost, if not entirely unknown, for a girl to
have married without the consent of her parents.
io6 How a Wife is Chosen
I can testify to the fact that there are many happy
marriages amongst the Copts, though I cannot say they
are confined to the younger generation ; the evidence
shows that generally the unions made under parental
advice were successful.
It is not, I know, considered possible by Western
people that a Darby and Joan romance can be looked
for amongst Orientals, In this we have been entirely
wrong. I know very many old couples in Egypt,
Moslem as well as Copt, who were married as children,
and have travelled happily side by side into a ripe old
age, with an ever-increasing affection and respect — the
old lady the sole ruler of the hareem, which the husband
delights to enrich with costly and pleasing gifts, so that
it is by far the most sumptuous part of the home. Here
the one wife reigns supreme, and the hareem has become
more and more, as years have gone by, the husband's
favourite resort, as well as that of his grown-up sons,
who treat their mother with every sign of loving venera-
tion and respect.
In calling upon a certain aged Pasha in Cairo, a man
of vast wealth, it became a sort of joke between myself
and the confidential servant, that the master was always
in the hareem ; and as my wife had the entry to the
reserved quarters of the palace, I heard much of the
fine old wife, and the charming family life of which
she was the one mistress. And this is only one case
of many, contradicting the salacious notions about
the hareem which I fear the West prefers to the sober
truth.
I wish I could think that these changes in the Coptic
marriage customs had made for an increase of morality.
Unfortunately, the same Western civilisation which
suggested them has brought in its wake social evils
I
How a Wife is Chosen 107
which were almost unknown before. Lord Cromer used
to declare that a certain depraved quarter of Cairo was
" the grave of Egypt's best treasure " ; it is a grave dug
almost entirely by Europeans, chiefly of the Levant.
As far as the Copts are affected, a great many
misleading statements have been made. It is equally
untrue to say, as Lane did in those cruel libels on the
Copts which are the sole defect of a book which has so
deservedly become a great classic,^ that the Copts are
"abandoned to indulgence in sensual pleasure " ; as it is
to make a statement so absurd as that of a recent writer,
who, quoting it as something she had heard, says :
" It should not be forgotten that there is not a Coptic
woman of public bad character in all Egypt. . . .
A fallen woman hides her shame by becoming a
Moslem." "
This absurdly untruthful statement has been quoted
by every subsequent writer, especially those with a
Christian bias, regardless of the fact that for years the
most scandalous of the public singing women in Cairo
bears a name which she has made so famous that I have
never met an intelligent person anywhere in Lower
Egypt who was not most familiar with it — Shafika el
Coptieh, or Shafika the Copt. And one remembers in
this connection the story of Thais the Harlot, and the
Coptic life of her times. What a terrible indictment
that was, of a recent critic, that large sums of the revenue
of the Coptic Church are derived from property in the
immoral quarter of Cairo.^
My own observation has shown me the truth of the
mature judgment of Lord Cromer, as applied to this
^ The Modern Egyptians, E. W. Lane (written in 1833-35).
^ Things seen in Egypt, E. L. Butcher.
^ Egyptian Gazette, Dec. 2, 191 3.
io8 How a Wife is Chose?i
particular matter, that the Copts are on about the same
level as the rest of the Egyptians.
I believe, however, that if the hopes of reviving the
spiritual life of the Church are in any degree realised, a
very great change will take place in the moral life of
these people. No one who has seen the zeal and piety
of some of the young men who have come under the
reforming movement, can doubt that they are the true
descendants of the men and women whose passion for
godliness in the early days of Christianity led to one of
the most remarkable spiritual movements the world
has ever seen, the development of monasticism. If a
prophet should arise in the Church itself — and in the
East there is always an atmosphere of the expectancy of
this — there would be a rich moral and spiritual harvest.
The Oriental, of whatever religion, does not temporise
if a clear call to the aesthetic life makes itself heard in his
very soul ; he will leave all to follow.
As for the uplifting of women, in which we look to
the Copts to lead the way, let me tell the beautiful story,
as a parable, of a Coptic woman saint, of the nunnery
founded by the blessed Pachomius in Egypt.
In the nunnery w^as a certain sister who was a virgin,
and she made herself an object of contempt ; the other
sisters used to treat her so slightingly that they would
not even allow her to eat with them. And the woman
was so well content with this treatment, that she would
wait upon every one in the refectory. So she became
" the broom of the whole nunnery."
Over her head this sister used to throw a rough piece
of cloth, whilst the other nuns wore the veils of their
rule, well cut and well made. She ate apart, and none
of them looked at her, and she never touched a whole
loaf of bread, but ate the broken bits and crusts that
How a Wife is Chosen 109
fell from the table, and she drank the dregs from the
basins of the other nuns.
And although the other women constantly reviled
her, and struck her, and threw rinsings of the vessels
over her, and thrust her away with harsh and insulting
words, she neither reviled any one of them, nor murmured,
nor uttered any superfluous words.
Now at this time there was a great saint, "a man of
wonder," named Piterius, in Egypt, and an angel ap-
peared to him, and said, "If thou wouldst see a saint
who is more excellent than thou, go to the nunnery in
Tabenna, and behold thou shalt find one who is far
superior to thee." And he went quickly, and besought
the Superior to let him see the nuns. Knowing that
Piterius was a blessed man, these came asking for his
blessing ; but she who made herself a mere broom did
not show herself.
And Piterius said, "There is one missing"; but
they replied that there was only one other, and
she was of no account. So they sought her in the
refectory, but she declined to go, so that, with their usual
treatment of her, they dragged her.
And when Mar Piterius saw her, he bowed down
before her, and said, " Bless me, mother! " But she fell
at his feet, crying, " Bless thou me, master ! " And the
nuns were struck with wonder, and begged him not to
demean himself — this was a creature below contempt.
Then Piterius said, " Ye yourselves are creatures of con-
tempt ; but this woman is your Mother, and mine, and I
entreat God that He will give unto me a portion with
her in the day of judgment."
I commend this story to the Coptic people, to whose
early Church such a lovely saint belonged. The sug-
gestion of it in connection with the woman question is
no How a Wife is Chosen
too clear — to Oriental minds especially — to need a word
of comment.
As soon as the consent of two families has been
obtained for an engagement, the young man sends to
the maiden, by a priest, a gold ring, possibly set with
diamonds, which is called el-shabka, the engagement
ring, and an early day is fixed for the formal betrothal.
This ceremony is c^Wtd J epeniot, which is the Coptic for
the "Oh, our Father" of the Lord's Prayer. In the
evening of the day fixed, the groom, accompanied by a
number of his relatives and friends, go with a priest to
the bride's house, where her relatives are assembled to
receive them.
The priest opens the proceedings with the Lord's
Prayer, which is still used on all occasions somewhat as
the talisma of the early Christians, all present joining.
The priest then makes a little formal speech, referring
to the antiquity of the ceremony, and alluding to the
betrothal of Rebecca to Isaac.
The marriage contract is drawn up ; the dowry
mentioned in it must now be paid, and the date of the
wedding is made part of the contract. The priest, and
other important people present, sign the document,
which is afterwards registered at the bishop's office, and
placed in the archives of the diocese, a marriage licence
beinof issued in exchange.
The dowry ranges from ^lo to ^200 (it must not
exceed the latter sum), according to the wealth of the
bridegroom. The bride's father generally contributes
the same sum — sometimes he will double it — and the
whole amount is spent on buying the beautiful jewels
which most Egyptian women possess, or on the more
personal trousseau. It is only in Upper Egypt that the
bride supplies all the furniture,
How a JVife is Chosen \\i
Refreshments, supplied by the groom, are now
served, and the company becomes very joyous ; con-
gratulations and compliments are offered, in the poetic
language of the East.
In the interval before the marriage, which is not
often prolonged beyond a week or two, the young man
is expected to send to his bride-elect daily gifts of
flowers and fruit. If festivals such as Christmas or
Easter intervene, he generally sends her a robe, and
some of the cakes and sweets which are eaten only at
such times.
CHAPTER VIII
The Coptic JVedding
WEDDINGS are, as a rule, celebrated on the
night of Saturday and Sunday. They are
never celebrated during Lent or any of the
fasts kept by the Coptic Church, except under very ex-
ceptional circumstances. Although very few people now
keep the long fasts, these still preclude marriage for more
than one-third of the year.
It is through the weekly fasts, too, that Sunday has
been chosen for marriage, Wednesdays and Fridays
being regular fast-days ; and as three days are necessary
for the proper solemnisation, Saturday, Sunday, and
Monday alone are possible. As marriage is one of the
seven Holy Sacraments, it is thought doubly fitting to
choose the Holy Day. Tuesday is made impossible for
any wedding ceremony by universal superstition as to
ill luck.
The first night is called the bride's night, and is cele-
brated at her parents' house ; it is sometimes spoken of
as the night of henna, because before she goes to bed the
bride applies henna to the palms of her hands and the
soles of her feet, so that the red stain it leaves may be
fresh the next day. In some way this is regarded as a
sign of her virginity.
In the course of that day the bride, with her girl
THE SCENE AT THE FARM IN THE DELTA.
The girl whose marriage the Pasha ofiered to arrange with her father. The young
brother was leading the buflalo which worked the primitive water-wheel.
THE DISTAxX'l MLLAGE IX UPPER EGYPT FROM WHICH IT IS SAID
TtlE MAGICIANS CAME WHO PITTED THEIR ARTS AGAINST THOSE
OF MOSES AND AARON.
The autho' happened to be passing this village when on a country journey and natire
friends with him spoke of the tradition as though it belonged to almost recent times.
The Coptic Weddi7ig 113
friends and her female relatives, have been to one of the
public baths, which has been specially reserved for the
party ; here a great frolic is held, and the prettiest com-
pliments are paid the girl by the older women, to the
special gratification of the bride's mother.
At night she is adorned with all the splendour pos-
sible— cfirls of even moderate wealth will wear a valuable
diamond tiara on such an occasion — and she holds a
reception, to which all relatives and friends are bidden.
All the guests stay to dinner, and spend a great part of
the night listening to music and singing.
The house is gorgeously decorated with flowers and
bunting, and at night the illuminations are brilliant,
many sparkling lustre chandeliers being hired for the
occasion. The women occupy the upper stories, the
ground floor being reserved for the men. In most cases
one of the beautiful pavilions, elaborately decorated in
applique designs of many colours, and hung with count-
less lustre chandeliers for the candles, is erected in the
courtyard or garden, or even in the street, for the use of
the men, the whole house then being left for the women.
The food is prepared by special cooks engaged for
the occasion. I have already described an Eastern feast,
as it is served on the round metal trays placed on stools,
when the guests eat with their fingers. Such Oriental
feasts are often made on great ceremonial occasions, even
when the hosts ordinarily eat in the French way. When
a priest is present, as on this occasion, he takes preced-
ence over all other people, whatever may be their rank.
He begins by saying grace, then, taking a loaf, he blesses,
then breaks it, and gives a small piece to each person
present.
The groom does not put in an appearance at the
bride's house on this night, but he sends a small deputa-
8
114 The Coptic Wedding
tion of his nearest relatives, and along with them a
bouquet, and a wax candle that must be as long as
the bride is tall. This candle remains lighted in her
chamber during the whole night, and is also regarded
as a symbol of the bride's virginity.
On the morning of Sunday, the bride and the bride-
groom should, after confession, have attended the Mass,
afterwards spending the time in quiet reflection, but this
is only done by the pious.
In the afternoon — called the bridegroom's nig-ht — the
shebeen, or best man, accompanied by two or three of the
nearest relatives of the groom, goes to fetch the bride.
The shebeen always pays for the carriages hired for this
procession, and he tips the servants. The bride's father
presents him with a gold or silver cigarette case ; which
accounts for the fact that every man of any position in
Egypt seems to possess a valuable article of this sort ;
sometimes this is put down by travellers to an inordinate
love of display.
The bride now leaves the home of her parents, and
,goes in state to the house prepared by the bridegroom,
preceded by a band of musicians. Some years since
these processions only moved at night, and they were
very effective. First came the bearers of the great
torches ; then the band, followed by men each carrying
a candle appearing out of the centre of a bouquet ; then
pages, walking backwards so as to face the bride, carry-
ing incense burners and perfume bottles, with which they
sprinkled the onlookers ; then the bride, leaning on the
arm of the best man, followed by the ladies, with family
servants in the rear.
Such wedding processions may still sometimes be
seen, but now they are generally Moslem ; and of course
the bride is then hidden, either in a closed carriage, or
The Coptic JVeddi?ig 115
in a palanquin, sometimes fixed, as I have often seen it
in the country, on the back of a camel.
It is usual with the Copts of to-day, in the cities, for
the bride and the ladies to be conveyed to the bride-
groom's house in closed carriages, escorted only by the
best man and their few male relations.
On arriving at the house, the old custom is, however,
still observed of killing a calf or a sheep at the bride's
feet in such a way that its blood shall flow on the thres-
hold over which she must step. The flesh is given to
the poor. The bride is carried or helped up to the
ladies' quarters by the best man.
As the procession leaves the bride's maiden home,
and as it enters the groom's house, it is sprinkled with
salt, and sometimes with rose leaves, to avert the effects
of " the envious eye."
Priests and acolytes and cantors, and the whole host
of ecclesiastics, now arrive at the house to prepare for
the religious ceremony.
After resting a little and partaking of slight refresh-
ment, the wedding or "crowning" ceremony is begun.
It is general for it to take place in the house ; though
there is no rule against its being celebrated in the
church.
A table has been placed in the middle of one of the
largest halls in the house, and on this a copy of the Holy
Gospel is placed, in its sealed silver case, surrounded by
six silver crosses, to each of which three wax candles
are fixed. This symbol of the Holy Trinity is used in
many of the Coptic services. A golden cross and the
golden wedding ring are also placed upon the table.
Two arm-chairs are placed in front of the table for
the use of the couple to be married.
In another room the groom is robed in a richly
;-■>-■
■^■^•j
1 1 6 ^/^^ Coptic Wedding
embroidered cope, and then conducted in a procession,
preceded by the choir, to the hall. He takes the left-
hand chair — as one would expect, seeing that in the
West he would take the right-hand — for East and West
are always opposite.
The clergy and choir then go to bring the bride, who
is dressed in white, adorned with orange blossoms, her
face beinor covered with a thin veil. She wears diamond
and gold ornaments. The deacons carry candles and
bells, and the cantors clash the cymbals, all singing,
" Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord,"
and, "O King of Peace, give us Thy peace."
In the old days the robing of both the man and the
woman was part of the service, the priest blessing the
garments and vesting the bride and the bridegroom at
the table.
The priest begins the service by saying three times,
" We are assembled to solemnise the union of A^. and
M.',' repeating after each announcement the Lord's
Prayer, in which all present should join inaudibly.
The priest then says the Thanksgiving, and offers
incense. Then several chapters from the Old and New
Testament are read, referring to marriage. There are
three beautiful Prayers of Betrothal, and a Thanks-
giving for the Betrothal.
There is a prayer over the oil with which the
couple are anointed, and then comes the Rite of Corona-
tion. Two crowns of gold are placed upon the fore-
heads of the pair, and they are made to exchange rings
and to join hands. Their heads are drawn close
together and are both covered with a single em-
broidered sash. The couple are also bound together
with a ribbon, as a symbol of the indissoluble character
of marriage, and that they are no longer two, but one.
The Coptic JVedding
117
At the close of the service the priest lays the cross upon
their heads as he pronounces the benediction. The
crowns, as well as the wedding robes and the sash, are
the property of the church.
In the exhortation at the end of the service (which
takes three hours for its proper celebration), the priest,
first addressing the groom, says, " I deliver to you your
bride A^., who is now your wife. You have now more
authority over her than her parents. You must always
treat her with love and kindness, and never neglect any
of her wants," and so on.
Turning to the bride he says to her, " You have
heard, according to the Scriptures, that your husband is
your head, as Christ is the head of the Church. That
means that you must obey and respect him, as Sarah
obeyed Abraham and always addressed him as ' my
master.' You must keep his house well, and make his
home always cheerful," and so on.
Finally, speaking to both, he says, " If you obey
what you have heard, God will bless you as He blessed
Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca."
The service is concluded by the singing of hymns in
Coptic and Arabic, and the women, who are never able
to contain themselves, accompany the hymns by their
peculiar zagreet, the sort of yodelling cry they use to
express either joy or sorrow as the occasion may demand.
After the ceremony the bride goes to the hareem,
and the bridegroom to the men's apartments, to take
dinner and to receive the congratulations of friends,
amidst great rejoicing. About an hour before midnight
the bride and bridegroom retire, but the music goes on
during the greater part of the night.
On Monday the nearest relatives of both sides spend
the day at the grooni's house. The bride waits on
ii8 The Coptic Wedding
them herself, and every guest presents her with a gift
according to means. These gifts may be a diamond or
a gold ornament, or a sum of money, £\ to £\o \
every one receiving in return a handkerchief em-
broidered by the bride.
On the occasion of a weddinor it is the custom of
all intimate friends to help by contributing something
towards the coming fete — one will send a sheep, another
fowls, others rice, sugar, coffee, candles, and so on.
The recipient generally makes a list of all the things
received, and on a similar occasion returns something of
the same value if he be of the same means, or of more
or less value, as he is a richer or poorer man.
In spite of this custom, however, the temptation to
the Egyptian seems irresistible to spend far too much
on display, and it is no uncommon thing for families
to cripple their resources in this way. I have been
to many weddings, on the festivities of which sums
ranging from ^looo to ^10,000 have been spent, and
in nearly every case it was out of proportion to the
means of the families concerned.
Divorce is not very common amongst the Copts.
Remarriage is not greatly favoured, and it may only take
place by the innocent party applying to the Patriarch
for permission. No person can be crowned in marriage
a second time.
One of the most gorgeous weddings of recent years,
unequalled in Oriental magnificence, it is said, since
the spacious days of Ismail, took place at Assiout,
between two of my acquaintances, shordy after I had
left Egypt after my last visit, in 19 13. Miss Esther
Fanous, the bride, had read to me some of her charm-
ing poems, written in English, and I had often had the
pleasure of hearing her speak of her deep joy in the
The Coptic Wedding 119
beauties of her beloved country, and of its magnificent,
time-old history ; and I had also seen her, type of the
new Egyptian womanhood, using her gifts to uplift the
poor fellaheen by her eloquent pleading in the name of
the Cross. I had also met Mr. Wissa, the bridegroom,
a graduate of Cambridge, and a member of one of the
great Coptic families of Upper Egypt.
I give a short account of this wedding, for which I
am indebted to a Coptic friend who was present, because
it illustrates several things to which reference has been
made, and especially shows how the native customs
assert themselves on such occasions, in spite of the use
that is made of some of the Western modes of life.
" Nothing had been spared to make the ceremony
the complete success it proved to be. Eastern beauty
and Western science blended harmoniously in the
gorgeous marquee (suvan) with the myriads of ancient oil
lamxps and the gorgeous modern electric chandeliers. In
this pavilion no fewer than 8000 guests were entertained
on one night. Khedivial banners and a magnificent
triumphal arch adorned the streets leading to the bride-
groom's house. The preparations are said to have cost
^20,000.
" The entertainment lasted for three days continu-
ously, and the guests, who came from all over the
country, included native Pashas, Beys, Omdehs, sheikhs,
and other notables, besides European Government
officials and a host of minor folk.
" On the first day eight hundred village notables were
entertained to lunch and dinner, a la Turque, by the
parents of the bride ; and in the evening, Abdulhalim
Effendi Nahas, the renowned singer, and Sami Effendi
Shawas, the violinist, displayed their talents to the
delight of a select audience, being accompanied on the
I20 The Coptic Wedding
mandolin (kanoun) by Mohammed Effendi Omar, most
of the pieces being rapturously and repeatedly encored.
" On another day the guests from Cairo and Alex-
andria, and many from Assiout, including native and
foreign officials, distinguished residents and their
families, were entertained to lunch at the Wissa mansion,
and in the evening they attended a special reception
given by the bride's mother, Mme. Akhnoukh Fanous,
whose house was beautifully decorated with flowers and
coloured lights. At 8 p.m. the guests began to arrive,
being greeted by the band of the Wissa school with
Arabic and European airs ; and at nine o'clock Fethy
Pasha, the Mudir of Assiout, led the way to supper.
After this, the toasts and speech-making ended, the male
guests proceeded to the Wissa mansion to hear Arabic
songs by Mohammed Effendi el Saba, accompanied by
Mohammed Effendi Omar's orchestra.
" Another day was devoted to the entertainment of
the native ladies, who lunched with the bride's family,
and took part in the procession to the bridegroom's
house, the Wissas meantime entertaining hundreds of
native villagers, Moslem and Christian, to a Turkish
luncheon.
" On the afternoon of each of the three days, splendid
displays of horsemanship were given in front of the
bride's house by members of leading local families on
richly caparisoned steeds, each performance ending with
a procession round the house, the horsemen beating drums
and shouting such phrases as, ' Amar ya bib Fanous ! ' —
' May the house of Fanous flourish for ever ! '
" An interesting incident took place when the leading
horseman, noting Dr. Fanous (who is an invalid) on the
balcony, rode his horse up the great flight of steps to
salute him, the doctor rising to his feet to grasp the
The Coptic Wedding 121
hand of the cavaHer, who then rode down again, amid
the frenzied shouts and cheers of the vast crowd below.
"At 8 p.m. on the evening of the wedding itself, the
procession, preceded by the band and torch-bearers, and
a contingent of mounted police, and composed of over
a hundred carriages, proceeded to the large marquee.
Here it was met by Coptic choristers, chanting a hymn
of welcome, who accompanied the bride and her party to
the dais, where the wedding ceremony was performed
by the Coptic bishops and clergy. The officiating
clergy included Orthodox and Protestant representatives,
the Patriarch having delegated two bishops to represent
him, writing at the same time his great regret that
age and infirmity prevented his personal attendance.
There were also present the Bishops of Assiout,
Khartoum, and Kena, the latter being accompanied by
the full choir of his church.
" The five prelates, and the Reverend Mouawad
Hanna, united the bridal pair with full Orthodox and
Protestant rites, according to the desire of the Patriarch,
the Coptic Orthodox and Protestant choirs chanting
sacred verses and selected psalms. Both bride and
bridegroom belong- to the Protestant Church, Dr.
Akhnoukh Fanous being President of the Church
Council, the Megliss el Milli.
" After the ceremony, which lasted an hour, Khalil
Moutran, the native poet, and others, recited beautiful
epithalamia in prose and verse.
"At II p.m. a sumptuous supper was first served to
three hundred guests, and afterwards to several thousands
of the poorer people, the feasting going on until 2 a.m.
The Moslem and Christian ladies were privately enter-
tained meantime in the house. The festivities were not
over until 5 a.m., when they ended in singing and dancing."
CHAPTER IX
The Oriental in Grief ; and the Coptic
Burial C us 1 07ns
OF all the customs consecrated by long usage,
none are more sacred or more passionately
cherished by the Copts, especially the women,
than the many observances connected with death. Time
has done less to eradicate some of the ancient supersti-
tions in this matter than in any other, and customs
survive from the old religion which the lapse of centuries,
and the hopes inspired by Christianity, seem to have
been almost powerless to supplant.
When a person is thought to be dying, the relatives
and friends crowd into the house, and even throng the
sick chamber.
The administration of the Holy Eucharist is per-
formed, if the patient is able to swallow. As the
sacrament must not be reserved, the priest must conse-
crate the elements afresh in the church, and then go in
procession to the house ; and the sick person must make
a confession.
The early Oriental Christians placed the Host in the
mouth of the dead ; and it became the custom to enclose
some of the elements in the coffin. At a Synod held
at Hippo, in 393, at which St. Augustine was present,
this custom was strongly condemned.
13?
The Orie7ital i7i Grief 123
As soon as the end has come, there is a terrible out-
burst of abandoned grief, the wails and exclamations
and shrieks of the women stopping short of nothing that
can make the scene harrowing to an inconceivable
degree.
As the women dance frantically about the bedside, in
a way suggestive of utter despair, they strike their faces,
calling upon the dead to arise to see the grief his
departure has caused.
A wife cries, " Oh, my husband ; oh, my sorrow, my
death ; oh, despair ! " appealing to her husband as her
"lion and protector," as the "camel who bore all her
burdens " (the camel being the symbol of strength and
support), as the " beloved father of her children." A
daughter bewails her mother as her "darling protector
and the sharer of her secrets." In the case of a young
friend of ours who died just after her marriage had been
arranged, I heard the constant cry from the hareem,
" The bride is dead ! the bride is dead ! " Indeed, nothing
that the Oriental imagination can suggest, that can
harrow the feelings, is left unsaid.
Even the men, at other times apparently so undemon-
strative, weep loudly, and give themselves up to grief,
the while they say to consoling friends the word so often
used by the Oriental, " Ma'leesh " — "Do not mind."
"Life is so; thank God you are still alive to us" is
a usual orreetinor to the chief mourner.
As Marcus Simaika Pasha, himself a Copt, has
remarked : " When one thinks of the resignation and
fortitude, amounting almost to apathy, which the Copts,
in common with most Orientals, show when any other
calamity befalls them, such as the loss of their eyesight,
or a limb, or their fortune, one wonders that they give
way to such despair on the loss of a near relative."
124 ^^ Oriental in Grief
This wonder increases when you happen to know
that during his Hfetime the deceased was not the object
of any special affection on the part of the disconsolate
mourners ; sometimes quite the reverse.
My own belief is that the panic that seizes the
Oriental in the presence of death is something apart
altogether from the qualities of the deceased. The
horror of death comes with great force to a people who
do not ordinarily allow their happy moments to be
clouded by reflection or apprehension. They are
creatures of the day, never anticipating or morbidly
dwelling upon life's ills.
In the minor trials of life the first instinct of the
Oriental is to turn aside from any consideration that
would rob him of the happiness still possible to him ;
and this instinct, combined with a genuine faith in God,
leads him to a peaceful submission to what he believes
to be His will.
It is easy to call this fatalism, either in the Moslem
or the Copt ; for they are both equally Oriental. In the
history of the one race, as much as the other, kis^net
has had its influence. It was a Coptic monk — Abba
Sisoes — who, long before the Moslem Arabs rose to
power, said, "In the road in which a man advanceth he
goeth, whether it be to life or death."
It is only in the presence of that supreme calamity
and terror of Death, the consideration of which cannot
be easily put aside, that these surprising manifestations
occur.
After the first outburst of grief, the body is washed,
always by a person of the same sex ; while, in pious
families, the priests come to chant the Psalms. Then
the body is dressed, in new underclothes, if possible of
pure flax that has been steeped in the river Jordan ; over
and the Coptic Burial Customs 125
this is placed the richest costume the man possessed.
The hands are laid across the breast, and over the body
is thrown a sheet of cloth, silk or cashmere ; or, by the
poor, a red shawl.
By this time the men have withdrawn to the down-
stairs apartments, and the whole of the upper part of the
house is given over to the women, to become again the
scene of indescribable excitement. They have put on,
in the most careless manner, the dirtiest dark blue cover-
ings they can find ; have loosened their hair ; and some-
times they smear themselves with indigo, and pluck out
their hair, and injure their flesh, in the frenzy that is
generated.
Like all bad news, that concerning a death spreads
with rapidity, and soon all the friends and acquaintances
of the family, women especially, flock from all parts of
Egypt. The telegraph, the telephone, and the express
train nowadays add even more largely to these
gatherings.
The men, as they arrive, just touch the hands of the
chief men mourners, and then quietly occupy the rows of
seats provided in the salemlik, or great hall, or, failing
that, the great tent which has immediately been erected ;
here they sit all through that first "night of loneliness,"
hardly speaking a word, smoking the unfailing cigarette,
and occasionally sipping the coffee (now without sugar)
which is brought to them in the special black cups only
used on such occasions.
Very different are the women when they arrive. On
reaching the door of the house they raise their voices in
the piercing zagi'eet of lamentation, and are answered
by renewed outbursts from the women above.
The whole interior of the house is now covered in
black ; all bedsteads or sofas are removed ; the carpets
126 The Oriental in Grief
are reversed, and the mirrors and pictures turned with
their faces to the walls, when they are not smashed to
atoms. Any ornamental furniture, such as cabinets and
sideboards, is turned out of the house. Not so long-
ago, all the china and glass, often of great value, would
be broken and swept into heaps in the corners of the
room.
A friend in Cairo has shown me one or two pieces of
valuable china from his late father's collection, which he
rescued from the debris made of it by the women of the
family on his parents' death.
Many enlightened families, however, especially in the
cities to-day, moderate such excesses, and the use of
drums and funerary dances has ceased with them. In
several towns there are branches of a Coptic Women's
Society for the enlightening of their sex. I have
attended their meetings, and in answer to my inquiries
I have found that one of their first duties they consider
to be to attempt to overcome extravagant expressions of
mourning, although they admit it seems to be the last
thing the ordinary Egyptian woman will give up.
The professional wailing women never fail to come,
uninvited, to add another wild note to the scene which
is being enacted around the corpse, now laid on a
mattress on the floor. They bring with them the little
drums on which they beat an exciting tattoo, while by
word and gesture they further provoke the unhappy
women until they are quite beside themselves.
These hired women have a great and varied store of
phrases about the qualities of the dead, which, as they
sit on the floor, in the midst of the gathering, they chant
to weird tunes — telling of his qualities, real or imaginary ;
of prowess, and kindness, and gentleness, and courtesy,
in exaggerated terms. Any lady who may be parti-
and the Coptic Burial Customs 127
cularly touched by any sort of personal application she
may see in one of these sentences, again bursts out into
shrieks.
A curious thing is that any guest present seems to
have the right to ask the hired mourners to chant special
verses referring to her own private griefs, in return for a
small fee, without reference to the lady of the house.
In the case of the death of a young person an addi-
tional type of professional mourner presents herself.
These women bring large tambourines which they strike
to a still weirder chanting. They do not sit, as the
others do, but stand, the ladies standing closely round
them ; and they start every now and then a funerary
dance of a wild order. It is hoped, however, that at
least this feature will soon die out.
Like mad creatures, these women beat their faces
and breasts again and again, tear their hair, and do not
cease dancing and shrieking until they fall from sheer
exhaustion ; to begin again as soon as they recover.
From time to time all the women join in a tremendous
cry.
This is kept up until the corpse is removed, the law
fortunately only allowing twenty-four hours for this to be
done ; until then, no one thinks of taking any food, the
only respite between early morning and sunset being a
short interval now and then, when the women smoke
cigarettes.
In all this, the customs of ancient Egypt, and also of
the Jews, are being followed — the loud lamentations, the
smearing, the professional mourning women. When our
Lord was called to the house of mourning at the death
of Jairus' daughter, He suppressed "the minstrels and
the people making a noise" (Matt. ix. 23). It is not
according to the teaching of Christianity, and Mohammed
12 8 The Oriental in Grief
strictly forbade it, but the women of neither creed will
take heed.
The Church, and even the Government, have Inter-
fered to stop the professional wailing, and the shrieking
of women mourners in public ; but almost in vain.
After many efforts, all that has been accomplished is that
the women no longer blacken their faces and hands to
accompany the funeral to the cemetery, so that the
terrible scenes they created there have been stopped.
When the body, now placed in a coffin strewn with
flowers, — rose water and other perfumes having been
sprinkled over it,^ — is removed for burial, the climax of
the storm of the women's grief is reached.
The priests accompany the body downstairs, and the
long procession starts at once for the church. The order
of those who take part is as follows — In the case of
families who are not too poor to conform to it. First
there walk a number of the hired shaushtya (or police-
men), then priests with black stoles, chanting the Three
Holies, and the " Remember me, O Lord, when Thou
hast come to Thy Kingdom," followed by deacons and
acolytes in white, carrying banners. Then comes the
"carpet of mercy," a large black cloth, with white
crosses appliqued on it, held at the corners by four of
the most dlstlng-ulshed friends of the deceased. Then
follows the bier. Of recent years funeral carriages have
come Into use ; previously the coffin was carried In turn
by the nearest friends.
It has always been considered a meritorious act In
the East to assist in burying the dead ; although the
Coptic Tewfic Society was started to initiate reform, one
^ In Lower Egypt a few favourite jewels only are placed in the
coffin ; in Upper Egypt, always more conservative, it is still the custom to
bury with the dead all their ornaments and clothes.
and the Coptic Burial Customs 129
of the first duties it imposed upon itself was to help the
people in this matter of burial.
Then follow all the relatives and friends, who must
walk to the church ; a string of empty carriages follow-
inof, to take the relatives and intimate friends on to the
cemetery.
In the church the coffin is placed on a bier in front
of the door of the sanctuary, and the Service for the Dead
is recited. It consists of the thanksgiving prayer and
the prayer for the dead, chanted in Coptic, readings in
Arabic from the Gospels and the Epistles, and especially
prepared readings called " Tark."
At the end of the service the lid of the coffin, which
has attached to it a large cross, is removed (it is never
sealed until the ceremonies are concluded), and the chief
priest scatters dust upon the body, saying, " From dust,
and unto dust shalt thou return."
Then the coffin is carried three times round the
church, the choir chanting the Three Holies. The
funeral services of the Copts are according to the liturgy
of St. Mark — a special service being used during Easter.
Every member of the congregation now touches the
hands of the chief mourners, and those who are not
going to the cemetery depart. At the cemetery, if the
family is of any wealth at all, there is a family vault, and
in this the coffin is deposited. The vault will have a
courtyard, and a small house with two or three rooms,
fitted with bedding and cooking apparatus, for the use
of the family when they go " to visit the dead."
Returning to the house the mourners partake of food
for the first time since the death took place, and for two
days this food is supplied to them by relatives. One
reason for this is that household servants expect to
indulge their grief equally with their masters, and all
9
130 The Oriental in Grief
work in the house, not connected with the mourning
ceremonies, is thus at a standstill.
Till the third day the women continue the scenes
described, receiving all their friends who join them in
their frantic abandonment. Downstairs the men still
sit silent, as friends come in to sit with them a while to
show their quiet sympathy.
It is on the afternoon of the third day that relief
comes, and the soothing consolations of religion, by the
arrival of the priests to perform the service of "sending
the soul away." This is based on an interesting and
persistent belief from Pharaonic times, that the soul of
the departed haunts his earthly home until certain offer-
ings are made to it which give repose. The Church has
adapted the belief, and given it a Christian meaning.
The fact that part of the service of the priests is to
bless the table from which the inmates of the house will
afterwards eat, points to an origin connected with the
offerings of food.
The priests now bless certain food which is to be
given as funeral alms to the poor, and all the rooms are
sprinkled with holy water, while many comforting and
beautiful prayers are recited. The effect of this service
is always to heal to some extent the torn nerves, and to
calm the minds of the sufferers, after the awful ordeal
through which they have passed.
In the evening of this day all visitors to the house
depart ; the Mass is read in the church, but it is not a
Mass for the dead, as that is unknown to the Coptic
Church.
Now, for the first time, the mourners may look for-
ward to a night of peace. Many of my Coptic friends in
middle life remember the time when the excitement was
kept up for forty days, and in extreme cases the mourn-
and the Coptic Burial Customs 131
ing customs were sustained almost without cessation for
a whole year.
On the seventh day the peace is broken again by a
day of mourning, and at intervals of a few days the
women meet again to express sorrow, that is now more
restrained — through forty days, during which they may
not leave the house. Often one hears, in passing along
the native streets, in town and village, echoing from the
house of mourning, the sounds of the slow, sorrowful,
monotonous songs of lament for the dead, uttered in low
tones by the women gathered within, and mingled with
weeping and sobbing. I know of nothing more pain-
fully thrilling than this. Where the sorrow is a very
real one, a mother or a wife will for years seek relief for
her wounded heart in this way. Among the ancient
Egyptians similar mourning hymns were sung during the
period of the seventy days when the body was being
embalmed.
The custom of commemorating the dead after forty
days is a very old one, and is common to Moslems as
well as Copts, although it was a long-established practice
before the Arab conquest. In the case of a man of any
note who has died, his acquaintances nowadays will meet
together to listen to an oration in his honour, while the
women gather in private, and harass themselves again
with grief.
The time of mourning with the Copts is a year, and
on every great festival during that time the women meet
to wail and cry. They are not supposed to leave the
house at all on feast-days, for a year, except to go to the
cemetery, and they may not even go to church on those
days. They must dress in black, and lay aside all their
jewellery.
These customs are very hard on the women ; and
132 The Oriental in Grief
the men, who may go about their usual avocations after
the first three days of seclusion, should remember this
when they are disposed to judge them harshly. One
particularly trying custom insists that when the woman
first goes out of the house of mourning, after the forty
days, her first visit must be to another house where a
death has taken place.
On feast-days, and at Pentecost, the family meet
together in the cemetery, and spend the night there, the
women in the upper rooms of the tomb-houses, and the
men below ; and there they distribute alms and food,
this being another ancient custom. An ox or a sheep is
killed for the poor, a custom lingering from the pre-
Christian times, when the relatives of the dead made
periodical visits to the tombs, taking food offerings for
the Ka of the deceased, to refresh him in the underworld.
The Copts believe that the soul is weighed by the
archangel Michael, who takes the place of the pre-
Christian Thoth. All but those of modern education
believe that the souls are let loose during the forty days
succeeding Easter, from the place where they are
confined, awaiting the day of general judgment.
On Whit-Sunday prayers are offered for the dead
in all the churches, and it is considered specially
meritorious to feed the poor on that day. In the week
preceding Whitsuntide the members of every family
meet at a funeral meal called Sagda.
When the ancient beliefs and customs concerning
death are considered, it is not surprising that so many of
them have survived in the Coptic Church. To the
Egyptian, Christianity must have presented itself in a
different light from that to which it appeared to other
people. From the dawn of history the Egyptians had
believed in a continuation of life after death. It is more
and the Coptic Burial Customs 133
than five thousand years since, in the valley of the Nile,
the hymn began to the unity of God and the immortality
of the soul. Their God of the dead was a God who had
once lived an earthly life, who had been slain by the
power of evil, and who had come to life again to rule as
King of the underworld. It was in Osiris that their
hope of living again rested.
It must have sounded strangely familiar to them
when the Christian missionaries came with the message
of a resurrection, and that the dead in Christ should live
in Christ. It is not surprising, then, that when they
accepted Christianity the people continued to practise
the ancient funeral rites in ways only slightly modified
to adapt them to the demands of the new religion.
The mummification of the dead, even, was practised
till the beginning of the fifth century, when St. Anthony,
whose preaching was that only by a supreme scorn of
the body could the way to the great reward be found,
vehemently opposed any sort of preservation of the body
after death.
From his day the open desert became the burying-
place of the monks, whither they were taken wrapped
only in a winding-sheet, all trace of them to be soon
lost. Only those of peculiar sanctity were buried in the
churches, and holy relics were thus preserved.
But still the other funeral customs lingered on,
especially those connected with the offerings of food.
In the Christian cemetery of the oasis of el-Khargeh,
the tombs follow the ancient design, the body being laid
at the end of a long shaft, at the opening of which is
a chamber containing the usual niches for offerings.
Wine jars and baskets for food have been found buried
with the Christian dead.
A great variety of food remains were found in the
134 T^^^ Oriental in Grief
Roman tomb-chapels at Hawara, seeming to show that
the feasts at the tombs of the ancient Egyptians were
kept up there. Festivals were held in honour of saints
and martyrs at their graves, the Egyptian custom
seeming to have been adopted by the Church.
As an instance of the way in which ancient charms
were adapted to Christian uses, and the pagan uses were
forgotten, it may be mentioned that ornaments such as a
scarabseus, or a Medusa's head, are often found in old
Christian graves.
Before the monks taught that the dead should be left
to oblivion, the custom of the ancients of recording the
life of the defunct on the stele, or tombstone, was
continued by the early Christians. They gradually gave
less detail, however, and then ceased altogether to sing
the praises of the dead, giving at last only the name and
the date at which the deceased " fell asleep "or " entered
into rest," with a short prayer for the repose of the soul,
with sometimes a Scripture text.
The pagan spirit breaks out sometimes on these
tombstones- in that Eastern expression (which I have
seen on modern Moslem tombstones in North Africa),
"Grieve not, no one is immortal." In the British
Museum is a Coptic tombstone which reads like the wail
of a hired mourner : " Oh, how dreadful is this separa-
tion ! O departure to the strange land which removes
one for all time! O condition of Hades, how do we
come to thy gate .? O death, name bitter in the mouth !
. . . Let all who love to weep for their dead come to
this place and mourn greatly."
Very rarely indeed are the Copts buried in their
churches, though an exception has often been made in
the case of the Patriarch and the bishops. The present
Bishop of Assiout has shown me the tomb he has
and the Coptic Burial Customs 135
prepared for himself in the foundations under the chief
altar of the new cathedral he is slowly building there.
Very trifling clues are left as to who the men are who
are so buried : in the case of some of the Patriarchs,
tradition alone tells of their interment in certain
churches.
CHAPTER X
The Marvels of the Saints' Tombs ^ and
their Birthday Fairs-
THE Copts love to worship at the tombs of
saints, and, like the Moslems, they hold great
moolids, or fairs, about the tombs of the men
and women who are specially venerated. The feeling
they have about this worship is the same to-day as that
expressed by one of the early fathers, speaking of the
tomb of the blessed Ammonius : " Many helpful acts
took place at his grave on behalf of those who were
worthy of help." They do not worship the saints, but
pray near their resting-places, as they think, with the
Moslems, that the spirit may sometimes hover there.
They believe that God, because of the merit of the
Saint, who is nearer to the Throne of Grace than they
are, may be willing to bless them.
One of the most curious things about the devotion to
the saints in Egypt is that it is shared equally by Copt
and Moslem, for they each venerate the saints of the other
religion as deeply as their own. Lady Duff Gordon, on
her first visit to Egypt, on passing through the village of
Bibeh, went to the Coptic church there, and found a
mason at work on repairs. He told her with pride that
he was a faithful Moslem, of Cairo, where for three
nights running he had been visited by the saint buried
136
The Marvels of the Saints Tombs 137
in the Bibeh church, who ordered him to leave his work
and go to the far-off village to restore his church. The
mason told how he obeyed, offering to do the work
without pay if the Copts would find the materials. He
spoke with evident pride as one who had received a
divine command, and the Copts all confirmed the story,
being deeply gratified with the miracle. It throws a
flood of light on the fanatic character so usually attri-
buted to both Moslem and Copt that no one thought
it at all incredible that this mason, known to be full of
work, should receive and obey in all simplicity this
command — while for years the priest had tried, without
success, to get a builder even amongst the Copts.
There is, near Helowan, a church in the Monastery
of Barsoum the Nude, to which great crowds resort
every year on the day of the nioolid. The saint who
is buried there was one of the first of the Christian
hermits : most of his life he passed in the underground
cell which visitors to this day can see in the Church of
Abu Sifain, in Old Cairo. There is a high dome over
the nave of the church where he is buried, and here the
crowds gather on the first Sunday of the second half of
Lent, the people shouting the names of the saint, in the
hope of seeing his shadow pass across the wall of the
dome.
A very earnest young Copt of my acquaintance in
Cairo, the son of a cleric, and himself of considerable
education, as will be seen, and a keen advocate of
reform, wrote for me an account of his own belief in the
matter of such manifestations. I give this account word
for word, as of psychical interest to English readers ;
after reading it, it will easily be understood how fervently
the Coptic pilgrims to Jerusalem believe in the Holy
Fire which appears on Easter Eve.
138 The Marvels of the Saints' Tombs
" I am o^oine to mention all that I know, and have
personally seen, about the church of Erian, near Helowan.
" To go to this church from Cairo, one must take
the Helowan Railway as far as Maasara Station. The
church is situated half-way between that station and the
river Nile. It is about twenty minutes' walk from the
station. The church itself is very beautiful, and sur-
rounded from all directions by gardens, palm trees,
farms, etc,
" I quote the following passage from the book At
Maivalz wa et-etebar, by Makrizi, who is a celebrated
author on Egyptian antiquity. This author is a
Mohammedan, and the book is written in Arabic.
'"The Convent of Shaaran (Shaaran is the village
in which the church lies) is on the boundaries of Toura.
It is built of stones and bricks. There are palm trees
in it, and a large number of monks. Shaaran was a
Christian philosopher, and it has been related that his
was the name of a king. In ancient times this convent
was called after the name of Marcorius, who was an
officer and was killed by Diocletian. When Barsoum
ibn el-Tabban setded in this convent it was called after
his name till the present day.' "
My young friend continues :
"In the same passage it is mentioned that Shaaran
is the place where Moses was born, and it was from
this same place that his mother put him into the water.
"The Christian name of 'el-Erian' is Barsoum
ibn el-Tabban, and he was a monk and hermit. He
was called ' Erian ' (or nude), as he chose to live naked ;
he was persecuted, and died in the name of Jesus Christ.
There are no more monks in this convent at present,
as they were all killed by the Arabs after they con-
quered Egypt. The church only remains untouched.
and their Birthday Fairs 139
" An annual celebration is held in this church on the
fifth Sunday of Lent. A very large number of Copts
go there, and the day is considered as a general feast.
They go on Saturday evening, and remain there till
late on Sunday.
" They go out in the gardens, round the farms and
palm groves, — men, women, boys, girls, — filled with joy
and pleasure to roam about the place, without any con-
versation besides the sacredness of the place, and the
vision which appears in the dome of the church during
the Mass service or a little before it.
" I think I must be allowed to say, with confidence
and assurance, that this vision appears actually in the
dome of the church.
" I thought at first that this tale of the vision was
a mere superstition, and that there was no truth at all
about it. On this belief I went to the church on the
Erian day, together with seven friends of mine, who had
the same opinion as myself.
** We did not care about taking walks there, as we
went for one purpose only — the vision.
" On Sunday, early in the morning, we all went
upstairs and arranged with the servants to leave us
alone and not to allow anybody else to go upstairs.
We blocked the window of the dome, then four of us,
including myself, went downstairs into the church, and
the four others remained upstairs to watch the dome.
" I suggested to my friends that it would be as well
if one of us go to each corner of the church and watch
a certain part, as somebody may have a magic-lantern
or some such apparatus which reflects the portrait up
to the dome. But there was no such thing at all in
the church.
"The Patriarch was present on that day, and he
140 The Marvels of the S amis' Tombs
was to perform the Mass service. Exactly at the begin-
ning of the part of the Mass concerning the saints, the
vision appeared right through the middle of the dome.
" Perhaps I was the first one who saw the vision.
It is very much like the portrait of St. George on the
English sovereign. The Patriarch stopped for a few
moments, and all the people who were in the church
bowed humbly to the vision, raising their hands and
uttering solemnly their wishes and prayers.
" The Patriarch was praying with deep earnestness,
and I was thrilled by his words.
" I sent for my friends, who were upstairs, and they
came down immediately and saw the vision, which was
as clear as the sun.
" I am obliged to say that their belief that the vision
was a mere superstition has been shaken since then.
" My mother did the same thing twenty years ago.
She did not believe that the vision was a true and
a miraculous thing.
" She therefore took a sleeping garment of mine
and put it up over the dome window, so as to prevent
any light going through the dome, and she remained
upstairs the whole time. But just at the beginning of
the Mass service, which was also performed by the
Patriarch himself on that day, the garment was seen
burning immediately after the vision had appeared.
"There was a confusion in the church, and my
mother immediately put out the fire in the garment.
She was then taken to the Patriarch, when she told all
her story,
" Some of the distinguished people who were present
took pieces from the garment, and they are kept with
them till the present day. The remainder of the garment
is, I think, kept in the Patriarchate till now.
and their Birthday Fairs 141
" After all, I do not know how to believe in this
vision, and I cannot find an explanation to it. But
I saw the thing, and I was convinced that it was not
represented by a human hand.
" So, sir, take it whatever you will, and judge for
yourself.
" Now let me tell you something else about another
church, to which people possessed of evil spirits go every
now and then to procure recovery from their illness.
This church is called after the name of St. Georg-e.
It is in the village of Mit Damsis, which belongs to the
Mit Samanud District, of the Dakahlia Province, Lower
Egypt.
" The St. George Day in this church is celebrated
in the month of August every year, and on that par-
ticular day persons, of all religions, who are possessed
of evil spirits go there dressed in white robes. After
the service, they lie prostrated at the temple, and then
the priests come and pray for an hour or two, when
very loud cries are heard, from all the sick people, who
gradually rise up one by one.
" You can then see at the bottom of each white robe
of the prostrate ones a red stain of blood, having the
shape of a cross — sometimes the cross is quite clear and
distinct.
" This I saw myself, and I have no doubt that there
is something holy about it."
The most important of all the saints' moolids
celebrated by the Copts, is that of Sitt Dimiana, for
it draws many thousands of people, who make a huge
encampment round the church in the desert. Here
again I think it best to let an educated Copt, of the
orthodox faith, describe this wonderful festival. Mr.
Farid Kamel, who wrote the following account for me.
142 The Marvels of the Saints' Tombs
is a relative of the priest in charge of the church of
Dimiana, and is himself very intimate with the moolid
celebrations there.
" Reliable histories agree that St. Dimiana (or Sitt
Dimiana) was a martyr of the terrible persecution raised
by the Emperor Diocletian against the Christians, at
the end of the third century and the beginning of the
fourth century, when it is calculated that about 840,000
Copts perished.
" The father of Sitt Dimiana, whose name was
Marcus, was a Government official — an administrator
of a province called Berrelluo, in the north of the
Delta. When she was fifteen years old, Dimiana ex-
pressed to her father a desire to give herself entirely
to the worship of God, in solitude. Perhaps she meant
by this to follow the new principle of the hermit life.
" Her father granted her desire and ordered a lonely
house to be built for her in a place called Zafarana —
about twelve kilometres from the north of Belkas.
" As she was the daughter of a governor of a
province, the news of her action soon became known,
and she was followed by about forty young ladies of
the neighbourhood, whom she accepted to live with her
the life of prayer In the same house.
" It happened that the Emperor now issued orders
compelling his subjects to worship idols. The Govern-
ment officials obeyed him, Marcus included.
"As soon as the news reached his daugrhter, she
was very grieved, and wrote to her father. It is also
stated that she went to him, and rebuked him for the
weakness of his faith, and encouraged him to disobey
the imperial orders. He listened to her and declared his
intention to disobey the Emperor ; and he suffered death.
" Having heard that his daughter was the cause of
a7id their Birthday Fairs 143
Marcus' firmness, the Emperor sent some of his courtiers,
bidding her to subscribe to the worship of the gods.
She refused, so he ordered her to be subjected to every
kind of torture then used in the persecution of Christians,
But Dimiana never denied her Christian beHef, and at
last her head was cut off, and the heads of all her
followers.
" When the Egyptian Church had rested after these
terrible persecutions, it began to collect the accounts
of its martyrs, and to treasure their histories as a
witness to the value of the bloodshed to preserve
Christianity in Egypt. Some of those recognised as
Christian martyrs at that time are, St. George, St.
Barsoum the Nude, St. Mena, St. Dimiana, and many
others.
" The Church thought good, in memory of Sitt
Dimiana, to build a church in her name on the spot
where she suffered. When this church was consecrated,
in the year 350 a.d., it was decided that the date should
be an annual feast, to fall on the 20th May.
" This church has been destroyed and rebuilt several
times. It was restored as it now stands by Amba
Basileus, Coptic Metropolitan of Jerusalem, who died
26th March 1899. The buildings now consist of a
monastery, including four churches, one of which is
supposed to be over the tomb of Sitt Dimiana, a house
for the Metropolitan to stay in, and several rooms for
visitors.
" The moolid is still attended every year, between
5th and 20th May, by some 4000 to 6000 pilgrims
coming from all parts of Egypt. They usually pitch
tents round the monastery, and live there for a period
of not less than eight, and not more than fifteen days,
ending with the actual day of the festival.
144 ^^^ Marvels of the Saints' Tombs
" Numbers of merchants usually go and hold a
bazaar, in which they sell food, drink, sometimes clothing,
ornaments, perfumes, rings, handkerchiefs, sticks, etc.,
and especially wooden and brass crosses imported from
Jerusalem to be sold there. Visitors buy these things
and take them to their native villages, believing that
they convey a ' blessing from Sitt Dimiana.'
" The Copts believe that as the saints allowed their
blood to be shed for the love of Jesus Christ, they have
a merit before Him, and that He will accept their inter-
cession. And so if a man worship God, and prays to
Him in the name of one of the saints, his prayer will be
acceptable.
" They refer to St. George, for example, for the power
to cast out evil spirits ; they refer to Sitt Dimiana for
the ability to give fruitfulness to women, or long life to
the children of a woman who has lost many in infancy.
Therefore, many gifts of money, jewels, and church plate
in silver and gold are presented to her church.
" The people mention many wonders and miracles of
Sitt Dimiana. Some say they were eye-witnesses of
these miracles, while others claim to have heard them
from authoritative sources. One of these received
miracles is that Sitt Dimiana can prevent thieves from
stealing, or from escaping with what they have stolen.
So she is always referred to as the means of discover-
ing stolen property, and of restoring it to its rightful
owner.
" This belief is so strong that there is hardly any
crime during the anniversary festival, a force of the
police always stationed there having little to do.
" Another belief is, that if a man here looks upon a
woman with evil intent, he will receive an injury to his
eyes, or to some part of his body ; and owing to this
Photo: Dittrich, Cairo.
Where the ceremonial candles may be bought which play such an important part in the
social functions of native life, as well as in the services of the church.
Photo: Dittrich, Cairo.
IN THE BAZAAR OF THE CAULDRON SELLERS.
Here all the utensils for the kitchen may be purchased.
and their Birthday Fairs 145
belief, women can mix freely among the men on this
occasion, and there will be no painful incident.
" Some visitors go on to state that Sitt Dimiana used
to appear in years past in a small window in an old dome
which still remains, and is believed to be the dome of
the first church consecrated in the name of Sitt Dimiana.
It is said that she appeared after prayer and praise had
been offered for several hours. But those who have
inquired into this matter say that this might be only the
reflection of some people passing along the roof, beside
the dome.
" In short, Moslems, as well as Copts, living in that
part, respect this saint considerably, and believe that she
is the means of granting them most important benefits,
when they address themselves to her. Moslems are
usually heard singing to her name, calling her Ya Sitt
ya bint el wali — ' You the lady of the Viceroy.'
" The first object of keeping these anniversaries in
the memory of saints was to urge the people to follow
their example and their strong faith. The days of
the festival used to be spent in worship, prayer, and
religious conversations, and in some innocent amuse-
ments. But, since the clouds of ignorance darkened the
sky of the Coptic Church, these beautiful ceremonies
were turned to a considerable extent into play and
mere enjoyment. In these days there is an increase of
singing, games, drinking, and in the use of words some-
times not very polite. The numbers who attend the
services in the churches are not so great, though there
are usually a great many people attending the last day's
prayer. In my opinion, some of those who attend the
festival offer an insult rather than an honour to the
saint. The heads of the church are to be blamed, to a
great extent, for this state of affairs."
10
CHAPTER XI
Orie7ital Shopkeepers and Handicraftsmen
WHEN Napoleon said that the Egyptians are
capable of making a pair of pantaloons but
never of sewing on the last button, he was
expressing a truth which applies only to the larger con-
cerns of life. They are capable of great conceptions,
but they weary before their ideas are completely realised,
whether it is to build a barrage, to dig a great canal, or
to make for themselves an extensive mansion, or a
country garden. They will finish the house, perhaps,
but never clear from the courtyard the builders' rubble ;
they will build a church, and leave it isolated for the
want of a few yards of passable roadway leading to its
main entrance.
This was not quite the case in the days of slavery ;
ihimense works of ancient Egypt were carried out with
forced labour ; and even down to the days when Lord
Cromer abolished the whip, the rulers of the country
were quite capable of ordering such undertakings as
appealed to their imagination, and of using, with a total
disregard of human life, all the power that reposed in
them to get them carried out. It was in this way that
Ismail caused the road to the Pyramids, and an hotel at
the end of it, and the great Opera- House of Cairo, to be
completed in three or four weeks from the start of them.
146
Oriental Shopkeepers 147
I have no doubt that if Napoleon had succeeded in
getting the despotic power of which he dreamed, the
pressure he would have exerted would have ensured the
completion, even by Orientals, of all his schemes.
As to the actual making of pantaloons, no one will
excel the Egyptian in the small task which can be under-
taken and finished right away ; or in such elaborate
work as the engraving of brass, the making of the
mushrabieh, or lacelike wooden screens (through which
the ladies of the hareem peep, themselves unseen, upon
the life of the streets), or in the exquisite inlaid work
which adorns the mosques and churches. The Eastern
mind is not overtaxed by such work as this. The
enthusiasm which starts the Oriental on biof schemes
is exhausted by the strain of completing the irksome
details, which need sustained alertness and the faculty
to meet new difficulties as they arise.
But when the task is clear before him, the Oriental
brings to his work an unexampled patience. He is as
industrious as any man, if he may work according to his
own will ; he will work as long hours as any, if he may
choose them ; he is artistic and skilful beyond other men,
in certain fields of industry ; and he is painstaking and
exact in the things he understands. But he will not be
punctual, or care for promises or contracts. Indeed, it is
only a European who would ever dream of pressing such
considerations upon the Eastern craftsman ; for to do so
is to vex his temper to no useful purpose, and to put
oneself outside the range of such interest and sympathy
as might serve to get from him the best work of which
he is capable.
A great deal of the finest craftsmanship of Egypt
was developed by the descendants of the ancient race
whose beautiful work is the admiration of the modern
148 Oriental Shopkeepers
world, which has despoiled the tombs of their frescoes
and their sculpture, and robbed the mummies of their
coffins, and their jewels, and the very wrappings of
the dead.
All the world knows of the skill of the ancient
Egyptians in making all kinds of jewellery, and in
working- o-ems and stones. In the Bible there is con-
stant mention of these handicrafts, which must have been
learned from Egypt. There is a picture in Isaiah which
might have been drawn to-day. " The carpenter en-
couraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the
hammer him that smote the anvil, saying. It is ready for
the sodering " (xli. 7). There is little question that these
arts had attained great development in Egypt before
the time of Abraham, who is the first recorded Hebrew
visitor to Egypt, and who must have taken back with
him to Canaan some specimens of the country's artistic
skill, amongst the valuables in gold and silver which it is
recorded he acquired there.
This particular form of artistic skill still survives in
the workers in the Egyptian bazaars, who show wonder-
ful dexterity in the making, with primitive tools,
beautiful objects in the precious metals. It is probable
that for thousands of years men have worked in just
such bazaars, in the same sort of tiny shops, clothed in
the same way, and earning the same mean pittance pro-
viding them with the same varieties of food which we see
them eating to-day.
As early as the second century, a letter, said to have
been written by Hadrian, speaks of the Copts as "a
body, wealthy and prosperous, of whom nobody lives in
idleness. Some blow glass, some make paper, and others
linen ; there is work even for the lame and the blind."
And in another paragraph he remarks that all the leading
and Handicraftsmen 149
men, whether Jews, Samaritans, or Christians, are mathe-
maticians, augurs, and soothsayers.
When the Arabs conquered Egypt they used the
skill which they admired in the Coptic industries to
enrich the mosques and palaces and tombs which they
built ; and it was only when the Turks gained the lord-
ship over Egypt, and shipped off all the most finished
workmen to beautify Constantinople, that Egypt lost her
splendid pre-eminence in architecture and the decora-
tive arts.
The skill of the Egyptian in inlay work and mosaic
will be found exemplified first in many of the ancient
churches, and then in the mosques. The use of varie-
gated marble for wall decoration and paving can be seen in
the churches at Al'Adra in Cairo, and in the mosques of
Kait Bey and Al Ashraf, and in the tombs of the Caliphs.
In many churches and monasteries examples of
another form of Coptic art will be found — the beautiful
mosaics, made of minute pieces of coloured marble and
porphyries, with an admixture of mother-of-pearl. This
exquisite work is lavished on the places of honour, chiefly
in the niches in the eastern wall, found without exception
in all Coptic chapels, and in the tribune, with its throne
for the Patriarch or bishop, and seats for the twelve
presbyters or elders of the church. The tiny baptistery
of the little church at Al Mu'allakah is thought to show
the best early example. At Abu Sifain the ambo7i
(or pulpit) contains a most intricate mosaic design. As
for the way in which the Arabs adapted this work, the
mosques of Al Ghuri and Al Hakim in Cairo are
gorgeous with it, as are some of the tomb mosques.
It has been said that the beauty of the screen of the
Church of Abu Sifain, in Old Cairo, of ivory inlaid on
ebony, makes it alone worth a journey to Egypt to see.
ijo Oriental Shopkeepers
In the new Coptic Cathedral in Cairo the only thing
worthy of the attention of those who seek for art and
beauty is the ivory inlaid lectern, which was brought to
that undistinoruished building from one of the ancient
churches.
The Coptic Church is at last becoming alive to its
treasures, and the work of Marcus Simaika Pasha, in
forminof the interesting Museum at Old Cairo, should do
much to educate both the priests and the laity in the true
value of many of their possessions, which they have so
carelessly regarded in the past. It should soon become
impossible, for instance, for a most precious illuminated
book to be left in the care of an ignorant attendant, who
knows so little of its worth that he showed it to me with
a candle dropping grease upon its pages, and this in
Cairo itself ; or for a guide to take a knife to detach a
piece of mother-of-pearl from a priceless church screen,
thinking to please the English tourist by giving him a
memento of his visit.
The origin of many of the handicrafts which are
practised in Egypt to-day is clearly described 'n the
pictures and hieroglyphics of the ancient Egyptians ; the
articles there shown in general use are still so dear to
the Egyptian that he cannot be persuaded to set them
aside. When the digging of the Suez Canal was
started, a great number of wheelbarrows were brought
from France for the work ; not a single Egyptian
labourer would use one of them for their proper purpose.
They made shelters and huts of them, but all the
thousands of tons of earth were carried in their familiar
baskets made of soft palm leaf, on the head or shoulders,
exactly as may be seen pictured on the walls of the
ancient tombs and monuments.
The making of these baskets of palm leaves is
and Ha7icitcraftsmen i 5
perhaps the oldest, as it is the most universal of occupa-
tions in Egypt. When the early Christians thought
their only chance of salvation was to retire to the desert,
and live a life of bodily hardship, founded on the literal
interpretation of the teaching of the New Testament,
men denuded themselves of all earthly possessions, and
worked with their hands, for the bare subsistence which
sufficed them. It was in making- baskets and mats
that the majority of the monks and recluses found a way
of getting bread, and at the same time of punishing
themselves for the soft life they had led in the world, by
having to lacerate their hands in the work.
The story is told of a third-century monk in Egypt,
"a brother of blessed memory." He had a cell apart
from the brethren, he lived upon bread and salt only, and
he used to make one mat of plaited palm leaves each
day ; and it would happen often, when he was plaiting
the ropes of which the mats were made, that his hands
would become covered with blood, and they were so full
of wounds caused by the rough strands that the very
mats as he made them were wetted with blood. But he
never spared himself, or rested in the daytime, or missed
a service in the church, either by day or at midnight.
On one occasion a brother went to him, and seeing his
bleeding hands, pleaded with him to let the brethren
minister to his wants, as their duty was to care for the
strangers and the poor. But he only replied that he
must go on with his work. Then, " If it pleaseth thee to
act thus, at least anoint thine hands with oil at eventide."
He did this ; but because his hands were tender, and
possibly softened by the oil, they were still grievously
chafed and cut and torn by the sharp palm leaves. Then
the Abbot himself paid him a visit, and with that per-
version of moral instruction so continually found in these
152 Oriental Shopkeepers
Egyptian monasteries, he reproved the poor monk in
this fashion : " Thinkest thou, O Theodore, that the oil
had any beneficial effect upon thee ? Who forced thee
to work ? Didst thou not place thy hope of being healed
rather upon the operation of the oil than upon God ?
Peradventure was not thy God able to heal thee ? Yet
when He saw that thou wast ordering for thyself, He left
thee to this pain." The way the poor monk bore this
stern reproof — to our minds as cruel as it was unjust —
gives a true picture of the chastened spirits of most of
these early Christians who took to the desert. " O
father, I have sinned against God, and I acknowledge
my sin, and I beseech that God may forgive me." And
he passed a full year in mourning for this act of folly in
oiling his poor hands, eating only once every two days.
The monks and nuns carried on all the ancient
trades and occupations from pre - Christian Egypt.
There were those who worked in isolated cells, and in
the monasteries ; and there were secular brothers who
travelled the country as pedlars to sell the products of
this labour. Not only did they make baskets and mats,
but ropes, sieves, nets, sandals, shoes, and the work of
their looms. A Patriarch of the Church had himself
once worked as a needle-maker.
The monks sold cakes, and wine, and the flax which
they had woven. They were public scribes, and workers
in orchard gardens ; in blacksmiths', fullers', bakers', and
carpenters' shops. If they had no trade they gave
service in attending the sick. Their industry was
amazing, and one can only imagine that the consequent
flooding of the market must have lowered the price of
all the commodities of life, and fallen very hard on the
laymen.
A story of a monk who sold the shoes made at his
and Handicraftsmen 153
monastery illustrates the economic principles which
euided the Abbots. This brother, who travelled to sell
shoes, was a clever man of business and anxious for the
prosperity of his community. But his i\bbot's ideas of
integrity hindered him in the exercise of his gifts. In
the time of famine which visited Egypt in the days of
Pachomius, this man first exercised his commercial gifts
by finding a man "exceedingly reverent and a fearer of
God," who as governor of a city had a great store of
wheat, part of which he was willing to sell at a low price
to the monasterv. " If thou wilt take the wheat thou
wilt do me an act of grace, only pray for me." The
traveller set off with his boatload of wheat. But news
of his wonderful bargain had, of course, gone on before,
and the boat was met by a messenger from the Abbot,
with a terrible reproof. Not a grain of the wheat should
enter the monastery, nor should the traveller enter the
Abbot's presence until he had returned it. His sin was
that he had become inflamed by a love of gain !
In the matter of selling the shoes, the brother was
sent out with instructions as to the price he was to ask
for his wares, evidently a contemptible one. " If these
things had been stolen they would be worth a far higher
price," said certain buyers. And the man, feeling
ashamed, said they had not been stolen, and would they
give him the price they wished to give. He never
counted the money, but took it to the Abbot. But
business was not business in those days, and smartness
had no reward. " Thou hast sinned greatly in loving
excess, O my son," was the Abbot's comment. " Run
quickly and give back the excess, and come and repent.
Sit in the monastery, henceforth, and work with thy
hands, for it is not good that thou shouldst do again
work of this kind."
I 54 Oriental Shopkeepers
It is told of the gardener to one of the monasteries
that he passed eighty-five strenuous years in that one
employment. He planted all the fruit trees that were in
the monastery garden, and until the day of his death he
never tasted any of the fruit whatsoever. What rest of
body was, he knew not, because of the press of his
labours, for with a ready mind he toiled always ; he
never ate any cooked food, but lived all the years of his
life on plantains only, which he ate with vinegar. He
never lay upon his back, even when at last he could not
stand, nor ever had a cushion, nor anything soft to ease
him. When it was dark he still worked, plaiting ropes
without any light, while he recited Scripture. He had
only one garment of linen, which he put on when he
went to church to partake of the holy mysteries ; he
then took it off, and by this care it lasted him for eighty-
five years !
And the nuns were equally strenuous. The virgin
Taor, who would wear nothing but rags, declining even
to wear a veil, sat at her work at all hours. By these
means, relates Palladius, she acquired such a sagacious,
wise, and ready appearance, that every man who was
wont to abhor the sight of women would have been
nigh to being snared and falling at the sight of her, had
it not been that shamefacedness, which is the guardian
of chastity, was ever with her, and that she ordered
her gaze in a chaste manner by means of shame and
fear.
To this day there has been no change in the in-
numerable articles of daily use made of the leaves of the
palm. In all the industries of the East the artisan per-
forms marvels of skill with very primitive tools. The
palm, or cafas, worker needs only a billhook and a
mallet for tools, and he will turn out a multitude of cheap
and Handicraftsmen 155
articles in basket work, such as chairs, bedsteads, benches,
brooms, cages, coops, and crates.
The carpenter, who is seen at work in the bazaars,
has no bench, vice, or drill. In place of a rule, he will
use a cord or palm twig ; but he has the advantage over
the Western worker, with a whole bagful of costly tools,
in being able to work with his toes as well as his fingers,
as the ancient Egyptian did, frequently using his teeth
as well.
His principal tool is a small axe, and for boring he
uses an iron spike fixed in a circular piece of wood,
which he turns with a sort of fiddle-bow ; which also
dates from ancient Egyptian times. The manipulation
of it looks to the European a very easy matter, though a
trial of it is well suited to diminish self-confidence.
One of the most primitive implements used in the
bazaars is the bellows of the silversmith, the lockmaker,
and the worker in tin. A small mound of clay is made
on the workshop floor, which has running through it a
metal tube, generally an old gun-barrel. Attached to
one end of the tube is a goatskin, which the apprentice
opens at one end to admit air, and then depresses to
send the air through the pipe, into the middle of the fire
burning at the other end ; the little heap of coals being
kept together by loose stones,
Amonorst the livino- artisans and dealers of the
o o
bazaars, then, many interesting survivals of the life and
habits of pre-Christian Egypt are to be found, and
certainly it is here that the vivid pictures drawn for us
in the stories of the Thousand and One Nights live
again with scarcely any change. As the Egypt of the
Pharaoh merged naturally into that of the Christian
ruler, so later on it passed, with little outer change, into
that of Caliph or Sultan ; the people themselves differ
156 Oriental Shopkeepers
no more in dress than in the ways of life from their
ancestors.
The modern ethnologist, visiting one of the shops in
the bazaars of any Egyptian town (with the exception
perhaps of the cosmopolitan ports), is convinced that if
you pick at random a man belonging to the common
people, and divest him of his more modern outer dress
of loose shirt and turban, take from him his pipe and his
coffee, shave his beard, make some little allowance on
account of his Christian or his Moslem faith, you will
have standing before you a genuine native of Kemi.
He will be sure to exhibit the same slim, yet strong
limbs, the broad chest, the same type of face, with its
broad cheeks, projecting lips, wide nostrils, and almond
eyes ; also the same solid shaven head, and, in spite of
all the buffets of fate, at bottom the same inherited
nature.
It is largely the same with the natural products of
the country here offered for sale. Most of the fruits and
vegetables are exactly the same as those found on the
ancient monuments. The lotus, being no longer a
sacred plant, has lost its proud place in the esteem of
the people, although it is a mistake to say that it is quite
extinct in Egypt ; as for the ancient papyrus, the use for
it has passed away ; the sugar-cane, which every one in
the bazaar is munching, is an introduction of modern
times — the Caliphs brought it ; and rice, indigo, and
maize, forming so large a part of the stock of the
chandler of to-day, are a later importation.
In one thing modern Egypt differs entirely from that
of the Pharaohs. With the ancients different trades were
rigidly confined to members of their own guilds ; heavy
punishment awaited those who left their own calling to
encroach on that of other men ; the son always followed
J
and Handicraftsmen 157
that of his father. To-day every man is free to work as
he pleases.
The street cries of the itinerant merchants of the
bazaars deserve a note to themselves. Here is a man,
with his goods thrown across his shoulder, proclaiming
that he has " India muslin, and fine English muslin, O
girls ! " in a sonorous chant. He is rich in the eloquence
of puffing advertisement when the women stop him with
inquiries.
A comical old negro comes along with a tray on his
head, singing with a sort of rhythm, '' Mulabeseeyek !
Homaseeyeht" He finds a ready sale for the sugar-
plums, and sweetmeats made of parched peas and sugar.
Cries another, " Figs, the food of Sultans ! " and a
man with a great bottle attracts attention by clapping
together his cups as he sings, "Oh, here is the refresher
of the body, O men ! " All these cries have a charm
which cannot be retained in translation.
Often the terms in which a man vaunts his goods
are so vaguely poetical that it is impossible to guess
what he is selling-. It seems with some street merchants
to be the right thing to name something quite different,
and much more attractive, than the wares he is actually
offering. " Honey and sugar ! Oh, honey ! " repeats
one old man, when he is carrying nothing but carrots !
In the prettiest way a girl is calling, "White honey!
pure honey and grapes ! " when she is offering the
gemazy, a very cheap fruit with little flavour, " Scents
of Paradise ! " calls another girl who is selling flowers.
A proverb, often heard in Cairo, says, " Not every one
who carries a tray has sweets to sell."
" The gift of God ! " chants the water-carrier ; some-
times, " May God recompense me ! " and sugar-canes are
offered "in the name of the Prophet." A lupine seller
158 Oriental Shopkeepers
passes, with perhaps the most poetic of all the cries,
"Help! O Embabeh, help ! The lupines of Embabeh
are better than almonds ; oh, how sweet is this little son
of the river ! "
An Egyptian is always reminded of the various
festivals of the year by the wares which are being cried
by the sweetmeat vendors. Certain choice confections
only appear at the festival with which they are always
associated, and nothing will induce the vendors to
produce them at any other time.
We pass now an archway, through which we can see
the picturesque corn dealer's store, with a small crowd
of countrymen doing their business. Not so long ago
a traveller saw at the entrance to one of these stores, in
one of the bazaars, two chairs of handsomely carved
woodwork, evidently of considerable antiquity, and
exactly similar in form to those seen with Egyptian
antiquities in the museums. It was remarked that
probably Joseph sat on such a chair when superintending
the selling of corn, while the sons of Jacob stood beside
their asses waiting for their sacks to be filled, as these
men wait to-day.
A peasant whom we see passing through the bazaar
carrying a pair of geese by the wings, in the fashion
peculiar to Egypt, might have stepped straight down
from a painting in one of the old tombs, for the picture
he makes is photographically exact in every detail.
This old sheikh hobbling past us is supporting
himself with a stick peculiar to the dervishes — it is
always cut from an almond tree, with a peculiar crotch ;
exactly such a stave often appears in the hands of the
deities represented by the ancient Egyptians.
The blacksmith, who is here at work, is an exact
picture of a primeval artisan, and he is making
and Handicraftsmen \ 5 9
implements, which, like the man who will use them,
belong to the period of the Book of Genesis. He is
bare to the thighs, and as he wields his hammer — a
knotty branch of wood, just as it grew — and compresses
his crude bellows, he might well stand for a picture of
the first craftsman. The plough which he is making
will find its way to the country, to be worked by a fellah,
who at his labour in the fields will most possibly discard
almost all his clothes, making a companion picture,
which might be that of the first labourer in agriculture.
The plough is certainly exactly the same as that used
by the ancient Egyptians, and so are the pick and
the hoe.
At the end of one of the many streets of the bazaar
you will come across some very busy workshops, where,
from the rough timber which lies at the entrance,
brawny men are fashioning the great poles of the
shadoof, the implement by which, at a thousand points
on the Nile, the water is being continually raised to the
level of the land which it is to fertilise.
The shadoof is, perforce, familiar to all travellers on
the great river, and the principle of it is as simple as it
is labour-saving. The raising of a bucket of water by
an equal weight of clay at the other end of the balanced
pole is one of the earliest inventions of man to save
exertion by mechanical means.
In the same workshops men are also making the
water-wheel, for raising water by the labour of the
patient gamoose, or ox — a later invention, though not
unknown in the days of the last of the Pharaohs.
The further back one's knowledge of the social
history of Egypt goes, the more one is convinced that
what changes have taken place in the people are more
those of character than of custom and habit. .
i6o Oriental Shopkeepers
There were days when the people of Egypt were
strenuous, in science and Hterature, and in the arts of
progressive and defensive war, and in the support of the
causes they held dear. Times, later, when they were so
deeply stirred by their religion, that they were capable of
enduring^ the most merciless self-inflicted suffering and
denial, sustained through long lives, for the sake of
Christ, in whose name they literally left all that they
possessed.
Later, when the followers of the Prophet took
possession of the land, there were many fresh examples
of nobility of character, amongst Copts and Moslems
alike ; and when the persecutions set in, the Christian
character was found to be ripe for a glorious era of
martyrdom.
The supineness of modern days, the love of ease,
the evasion of responsibility, the deliberate choice, by
men with ability, to rise by means of cunning and
flattery, and to intrigue themselves with any rulers who
can advance them ; having little or no concern for the
good of their country, and a cynical disregard of the
claims of truth and decency : these are changes of
character that are deplorable. It is, however, the very
indolence, outcome of their degeneration, that has
preserved the social customs of the people of Egypt
from those changes of habit which progression must
always bring.
It is curious to read in an old document of the
monkish days, long before the Arab invasion of Egypt,
a description by one of the religious recluses, of the
" Street of Cafes," possibly in Cairo, which he uses as an
illustration to his teaching to those who visit him in his
cave in the desert. " Against the thought of fornication
be thou like unto a man who passeth through a street of
THE HARXESS-MAKER AND THE WORKER IX PALM-FIBRE.
Photo: Dittrich, Cairo
A FRUIT SHOP IX THL; WATER-MELOX SEASON.
-'.»•
M
«1
irit
and Ha7idicraftsmen i6l
tavern-keepers, and who smelleth the odour of boiling
meats, or the scent of something that is being roasted ;
he who wisheth, entereth one of them and eateth,
another smelleth the meats as he passeth by, and goeth
on. Drive away from thee then the alluring smell of
evil thoughts, and stand up and pray, saying, ' O Son
of God, help me ! ' The same is also to be said about
other thoughts, for we are not the roots of the thoughts,
but are those who strive against them."
One sees here at once the native cafe of to-day,
where, so utterly unlike the eating-places of the West,
the cooking is done by the entrance, so that all the
odours of it are wafted into the street ; the excellent
purpose of this custom being that the customer may see
not only every single item of food he chooses to eat
before it is cooked, but may judge, before entering the
place, of the skill of the cook and of the state of his
utensils.
One of the most interesting shops in the bazaars
is that of the candle-maker. The use of candles in
religious services goes back to remote times. It seems
to be established that for the first three centuries after
the introduction of Christianity the candle was not used
in the Christian services in Egypt, but after that the
mention of its use is continuous.
Throughout the East, Jerome says, candles were lit
at the reading of the Gospel, not on account of the
darkness, but as a token of joy. Light is always a sign
of joy in the East ; no sort of festivity is possible in
Egypt without the most brilliant of illumination. At
a religious ceremony, whether Jewish, Christian, or
Moslem, the church, or the richly decorated pavilion,
will be dazzlingly lighted, and although electricity is
now available in the cities, the splendid candelabra of
II
1 62 Oriental Shopkeepers
days only just passing are too valuable to be discarded,
and so they are still set ablaze with myriads of candles.
It is the same at all secular festivities, especially at
weddings ; and in the tents of mourning religious works
are read to the light of innumerable candles, the while
friends gather to show sympathy with the bereaved.
If the Oriental has no place in which to forgather after
sunset where there are bright lights, he will always take
refuge in sleep from the genii of the night.
But it is only the very poor who will even sleep
without a light ; and scarcely any one will be left alone
at night. If the husband is away from home the wife
will go to relatives or neighbours. At the candle-maker's
shop will be found the wax lights for burning in the
bedrooms during the night, when small oil lamps are
not used.
I have never heard of any trouble, of those which fall
to the lot of man, spoken of with such commiseration as
that of a fellah who was obliged, at a certain season, to
be out all night alone to protect his crops. Moving
about in the dark, the Egyptian continually murmurs,
"With your permission, ye blessed ones," as a warning
to the ginn to stand out of his path, so fearful is he
that he might strike and injure one of them, and thus
bring revenge upon himself. The Oriental seldom or
never whistles ; for one thing, it is a breach of good
manners to create such a noise ; but more than
that, the ginn are attracted by whistling, especially
at night.
No woman will sit on a doorstep, or stand by a
threshold, at night ; in the village especially one sees
groups of them gossiping in the twilight, always well
away from the entrance to any building ; they would
be more likely to be in the way of the gin7t there. On
aud Han die 7^ of is men 163
Fridays, especially, such places are particularly danger-
ous at such an hour.
Darkness is horrible to Oriental men and to the
women a torture. To do any work in the house by
candlelight, especially such as to sweep a floor, would
be to run the risk of injuring the ginn ; even to move
about then is dangerous ; it is not surprising that the
poor go to bed almost invariably at sunset.
For religious use, it was enjoined that candles should
be of wax alone, and not of tallow and other substances
— " the fragrant wax, the labour of the bee, which dies
when its labour is accomplished," has mystic significance.
It is drawn from the nectar of the flowers, and has
always been thought to have the highest natural worth
as a material for offerings.
In one of the old Coptic stories it is related, as a
superlative deceit of the devil, that in tempting one
Valens, a monk, he " went and made himself into a
form in which he resembled our Redeemer, and he came
to Valens by night, together with phantoms of angels,
in great numbers, who marched along bearing lamps
and wax candles."
In the records of funerals of the monks and nuns of
the fourth century candles are always mentioned. At a
nunnery in the Thebaid, on the banks of the Nile, under
the rule of Pachomius, when one of the sisters died, the
other women would bring her and lay her at the river-
side, and go away. Then certain brethren would cross
over in a boat, and row her back, with the singing of
psalms and with lighted candles, to lay her in their
cemetery with great ceremony and honour.
Another quaint story tells of a certain rich and wicked
man who was buried with lights and great honour. At
the same time a monk was found dead, mutilated by
164 Oriental Shopkeepers
panthers. A poor man who saw this craved an explana-
tion of the Lord, and an angel came to him and said,
" That wicked man did one good work, and he was
rewarded here with lights and ceremony ; but this holy-
man, because he was a man who was adorned with
divine virtues, will receive these things in the world to
come."
At weddings and other celebrations candles are used
for purposes other than to give light, especially by the
women. The Coptic bridegroom, as I have related,
sends to his bride, on the night before she leaves her
father's home, a present of a bouquet and a wax candle,
which must be as long as the height of the bride, to burn
in the bride's chamber during the whole night. These
huge candles, here on sale, are for this purpose.
At Moslem bridal ceremonies the same candles are
used in a fearsome manner, being carried in the proces-
sions in the hareem by the girl attendants on the bride,
with an apparent disregard of the danger of their veils
and robes catching fire, which makes the Western on-
looker shudder. A lighted candle is given to every one
of the guests on entering the bride's room.
Shopping in the East is known to be an occupation
requiring great patience and endless leisure. It is need-
less to remark on the Oriental bargaining system, except
to remind those who are most vexed by it, that it is not
so very long ago — as time goes — that it was the general
mode of trading in England and throughout Europe.
It was to the Society of Friends that the introduction of
the fixed price was due ; their example quickly spread
throughout England, and thence to many parts of the
Continent.
And if the vexed traveller should think the trader in
Egypt is entirely avaricious, I would recall the many
and Handicraftsmen 165
occasions when I have found that a man had closed his
shop so that he might join a friend for a chat, or go to
pay his condolences in a mourning tent, or to perform
his many prayers in church or in the mosque. The
Oriental, whatever casual observers may be led to think
of his character, is really the last man to sacrifice every-
thing in life to gain.
The Arabic signs over the little shops are mostly
texts. "O God! Thou who openest the source of
profit"; '• O Allah! who art our help." As he takes
down his shutters, the shopkeeper will mutter these and
similar verses. Such signs will turn aside " the evil
eye " ; that stuffed crocodile, that dried bone of a camel,
or the aloe plant, fixed above the entrance, serving the
same purpose.
The ancient Egyptians used inscriptions and symbols
of good omen in the same way. Here in a street just off
one of the bazaars is a doorway, with crude paintings all
round it representing a camel, a locomotive, a ship, the
means of progression by which the man living there has
visited Mecca. I think it very probable that the Copt
represented his pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the same way
in the days before persecution made it advisable for him
to obliterate all traces of his habitation. Among the
Egyptians of the Pharaohs it was customary to paint a
record of religious pilgrimages on the houses just in the
way the modern Moslem does it.
Book II
167
CHAPTER I
The Oriental Christian in his Church
nr
The Church Itself
HE traveller who finds himself on a Sunday
. morning in the Cathedral of St. Mary at Cairo,
-*- while the Holy Eucharist is being celebrated,
will, if he knows anything at all of the history of Egypt
and of the origin of the Coptic people, witness one of
the most illuminating historical sights in a country so
teeming with historical interest that it can draw both
the learned and the curious from all parts of the
world.
He will find a great crowd of men and boys, with
earnest faces turned towards the great sanctuary screen,
within which the Liturgy of St. Basil is being said by the
Abunah. Many of these faces he will find are such as
might have been copied by the sculptors who decorated
the ancient tombs.
At a certain point in the service the choir will pass
from the almost hidden sanctuary into the church, where
they will make the responses ; their appearance in their
high scarlet helmets, recalling the head-dress of pre-
Christian Egypt, and their white robes with the cross
bands, also of scarlet (embroidered with crosses), seems
to bring to hfe again some of the statues of the Pharaohs,
169
lyo The Oriental Christian in his Church
This helmet-like cap is not unlike the high round crown
worn by the early kings ; and worn by these lads, as the
king's crown was, slightly tilted back, it accentuates the
regular features and the rather prominent straight nose,
with full and finely moulded nostrils, the full lips, and
especially the Eastern setting of the eyes. I have seen
young men in these birettas who might have been the
sons of Rameses ii., the king whose features are adver-
tised to posterity as no others have ever been.
As the men of the conoreeation first enter the church,
most of them make a deep sign of reverence towards the
sanctuary — or haikal — and they then go and kiss the
curtain hanging over the sanctuary door, or prostrate
themselves so as to kiss the haikal threshold. In the old
days every man took off his shoes on entering the church,
and the Oriental custom still obtains in country places.
No one ever in any church enters the haikal with shod
feet.
Of this large congregation the spoken language is
Arabic, but the liturgy is still spoken in Coptic, the
language which grew naturally out of the speech of the
Pharaohs and the hieroglyphics of their records.
And as the service goes on, and one notes the
significance of many of its observances, and the use of
its sacred vessels and appliances, it seems that Coptic
Christianity itself might almost be a relic of ancient
Egypt. That it still represents the life of the early days,
when Egypt had become entirely Christian, there is no
doubt at all. The only thing lacking is the spiritual
fervour and the living inspiration which marked the days
of the first converts to the faith of Christ. For it is
certain that nowhere did that faith take root so quickly or
so deeply as in what proved to be the congenial soil of
Egypt. In this marvellous country, as in no other, the
The Oriental Christia?! in his Church 171
book of history is continuous, and page follows page, in
almost perfect order.
We shall understand this service the more easily if
we study for a moment the plan on which most of the
Coptic churches are built. Roughly they may be termed
half Basilican and half Byzantine. The entrance is
always in the western end, the altars being in the
eastern. Where exceptions existed to this rule they
have of recent years been corrected.
On entering the church we first find ourselves in a
o
compartment screened off from the nave ; this is of
interest, for the narthex, as it is called, was originally
used by the heathen converts or catechumens, who might
not approach nearer to the altar until they had been
taught the rudiments of religion and had been confirmed.
At a certain part of the service they had to depart, and
the prayer for their withdrawal is still retained. In some
churches the women now occupy the narthex, but it is
considered too public a place for them ; they are gener-
ally hidden in the galleries behind mushrabieh screens.
As for the children, there is nothing so curious in the
Coptic church as the way the infants run about where
they please during the service, as though they were at
home in a nursery. Churchgoing has no fears for them,
in spite of the length of the services, for they have
privileges denied to their parents. They mostly gather
about the sanctuary screen, where they sit on the floor,
or climb the choir railings, as they please. They even
invade the sanctuary itself, and it is a very pretty sight
to see the toddling mites tiptoeing at the altar, looking
on with wide-open eyes at all the mysterious doings of
the priests. I have seen two babes, whose curiosity had
tired them out, sitting blissfully asleep in the sanctuary
while the Holy Eucharist was going on, no one thinking
172 The Orie7ital Christian in his Church
to disturb them. Our Lord said: "Suffer the Httle
children to come unto Me!" This is how the Copts
obey the command.
There will be two aisles and a nave. The men and
boys of the congregation gather in the nave. The
aisles are generally separated from the nave by pillars,
many of them taken from the older temples. Every
stage in the history of architecture speaks of new
religions adapting the pillars of the older churches : in
Egypt too much has been said by English writers in
their bias against Islam of the use made by the Moslems,
when their time came, of Coptic church pillars, in the
building of their mosques.
I have seen an ancient church in the country divided
into triforia in the style of the vaulted halls of the temple
of Seti I. of Abydos, and with the two colonnaded halls
just as the temple is. These halls were separated from
each other by a wooden screen of the open mushrabieh
work with doors in it, just as the colonnaded halls of the
temple of Abydos were separated by a wall having as
many doors as there were vaulted rooms in the sanctuary.
Only the most distinguished members of this particular
country congregation were admitted to the second hall,
the floor being covered with mats. In the outer hall,
where the floor was bare, the worshippers of the lower
orders were assembled. One could but reflect on the
fact that the builders of the mosques had as their aim
from the very first, that every man who desired to
worship should do so with absolute equality — the Sultan
and the serf should stand side by side in prayer.
The sanctuary of the Coptic church is always entirely
screened from the congregation in the nave, even the
entrance being hung with a curtain, which at certain times
in the service of the Holy Eucharist is closely drawn,
1
The Orie?ttaI Christian in his Church 173
so that the "mysteries" are completely veiled from the
people. The haikal screen is always the most splendid
feature of the church ; sometimes its inlay of ivory is of
the most exquisite and beautiful workmanship ; even in
the poorer churches the aim of those who built the
church was to make this screen a masterpiece. It is
always made of solid woodwork, of ebony or cedar, very
richly inlaid with intricate geometrical patterns in ivory
and mother-of-pearl, with the design of the cross in ivory
generally dominating the whole pattern.
There are two lecterns, if we may so call the Eastern
reading-desks, one on the north side of the nave and the
other on the south. The reader, in using these, faces
to the east, with his back to the congregation. Mar-
vellous again is the ivory inlay work which has been
lavished on these lecterns ; one of the most beautiful
is to be found in the Cairo Cathedral, and some excel-
lent specimens are being placed in the new Coptic
Museum.
It is a sad reflection on the condition of the country
clergy that they part with such treasures very easily ;
one of them I heard of was only concerned — in letting
a fine specimen leave his church — that the cheap modern
desk promised to take its place should have a cupboard,
as the old one had, in which he could keep the church
books. There is little wonder that tourists in the recent
past have, by comparatively trivial bribes, been able to
take away with them even parts of the church screens.
I wish I could say that the Patriarch himself had
anything like a proper appreciation of the treasures still
left to his sadly depleted church.
In the richer churches tall candelabra stand near the
lecterns, sometimes of great artistic merit. Candles
must always burn during the reading of the Scriptures ;
174 ^^^ Oriental Christian in his Church
sometimes they are placed in simple holders fixed to the
sides of the lectern.
The pulpit, which is called the ambon, always stands
on the north-east side of the nave ; the modern pulpits
are generally of wood, but the early specimens are of
stone, often lavishly decorated, sometimes being a credit
to Coptic art, as exhibited in mosaic and marquetry and
inlaid panels of mother-of-pearl, some of the supporting
pillars also being particularly good.
Of course the pulpit will follow the rule of being
exactly opposite from that known to us in the West.
For one thing, it will invariably extend lengthwise from
east to west and not across the church ; this being the
more marked because it has a long balcony as well as
the preaching end. Occasionally the pulpit is reached
by a flight of steps ; often it is mounted by means of a
portable wooden ladder. I wonder that the preacher
always considers himself secure from any temptation on
the part of the congregation to leave him stranded in the
pulpit, by taking away the ladder, when he has over-
strained their patience.
Before the sanctuary there always hangs a series of
lamps, which should be of silver, and whose flame should
never be allowed to die. In almost every church, ostrich
eggs will be found suspended with the lamps ; it is an
ornament common also to the Greeks and the Moslems.
The ancient Egyptians hung ostrich eggs in their
temples and sanctuaries. It is difficult to discover the
explanation of the custom ; even a young Coptic friend,
who had himself brought, with great pains, ostrich eggs
all the way from Abyssinia to decorate his parish church
in Cairo, could not explain to me exactly why he did it.
I believe, however, that there is a vague idea that the
ostrich eg'g is a symbol of the unceasing care of God for
The Oriental Christian in his Church 175
His children. This bird is thought to be vigilant above
all other creatures ; it is generally believed that the eggs
may not be left for a single instant, if the process by
which the young are brought to life is not to be stopped.
Behind the great screen there are three chapels, each
with an altar, the middle one being the haikal, or
sanctuary, and containing the high altar. It is a curious
requirement of the Coptic Church that the very altar
itself must only be used in the celebration of the Holy
Eucharist "fasting"; on no one altar may the holy
mysteries be celebrated twice in one day, and this
applies to all vessels and vestments. Bishops even have
been excommunicated for violating this rule.
Fasting for the Holy Eucharist begins from vespers
of the preceding day. The great monks said: "You
shall not give food to your body until you have given
spiritual sustenance to your soul." Apart from this rule
it is forbidden to eat anything before reciting the Psalms
appointed for the morning services. The chapels are
dedicated to saints, and on the saint's day the Holy
Eucharist is always celebrated at their altars.
The haikal is always in the form of an apse, and
in the middle wall there is always a decorated niche ;
beautiful mosaics are used in the adornment of some of
the niches, others are painted with the image of our
Lord in benediction, or with that of the Virgin and Child.
The evidence is clear that the Arabs adapted the
Coptic niche to their use, for there are examples in
Cairo mosques of the 77zikrad, the niche showing the
direction of Mecca, which, but for the symbol of the Holy
Spirit in the form of the dove, are exactly like many of
the niches in the Coptic churches.
Round the end of the haikal wall steps are built
leading to seats and to a throne in the centre. This is
176 The Oriental Christian in his Church
the ancient tribune, which is such a feature in Coptic
churches. The throne is for the Patriarch, or arch-
bishop, who sits surrounded by the twelve presbyters,
with their backs to the eastern wall, watching the
celebration of the Holy Eucharist. In the niche above
the tribune, a lamp, often of beautiful design, is always
kept burning. In the best days of Coptic art much
exquisite work was done to adorn the chapels, both in
mosaics and inlay.
The high altar always stands in the centre of the
sanctuary. It must be built of stone, and is not raised
on any platform, but stands on the floor. It always has
a wooden dome, or baldaquin, supported by four wooden
pillars. The under surface of this canopy is always
painted with the image of our Lord in benediction, and
the four apocryphal beasts at the four corners of it. At
one time a still deeper air of mystery attended the cele-
bration of Holy Eucharist, for the baldaquin had curtains
which were drawn to entirely hide the priest himself
at certain parts of the service. The altar should be
covered with rich silk, embroidered in silver and gold.
Every altar has on the left side, level with the floor,
a small open doorway showing a large interior cavity.
There is little doubt that this cavity has symbolical
reference to the Revelation of St. John : " I saw under
the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of
God." In the early ages it was usual to bury the bodies
of great dignitaries and especially of martyrs beneath
the floor of the sanctuary, or even in the altar itself.
The body of St. Mark was laid under the altar of
the ancient church at Alexandria ; the sacred remains
were forcibly removed by the Venetians, and the high
altar at St. Mark's in Venice now encloses the remains.
The chief use made of the altar cavity by the Copts
THE SCREEN DIVISIONS IN THE COPTIC CHURCH OF ABU SERGEH,
OLD CAIRO.
in thii church, according to tradition, the Virgin and Child took refuge on their
(light into Egypt.
Pholos: Ditlrich, Cairo.
THE PULPIT AND MIDDLE SCREEN OF THE CHURCH OF ABU SERGKH.
Showing many of the otiier interesting details referred to in the text.
The Oriental Christian in his Church 177
to-day is on Good Friday, when a picture of the cross
is buried within it in rose leaves, being recovered on
Easter morning. (I describe this ceremony in some
notes at the end of the volume.)
The altar furnishings are of deep interest and signi-
ficance. In the centre stands the tabernacle or ark of
the chalice. It consists of a box made of wood about
a foot high, having a circular opening in which the
chalice fits so that it is completely hidden. The four
sides of the ark are painted with different sacred
scenes.
The chalice itself is generally made of massive silver,
but there are specimens of gold and also of glass. It
has a somewhat conical bowl, long stem, and always a
circular foot.
In front of the tabernacle, lying on the altar, is the
paten, a flat circular dish with a raised lip all round, of
gold or silver, or enamelled glass. Its dome consists
of two half-loops of silver crossed at right angles. At
the celebration of the Holy Eucharist the dome is placed
over the consecrated bread which lies on the paten ; and
over the dome is spread the small square of silk with
a cross in the centre, called the corporal, so that it does
not touch the bread. There are two other veils, one
for the chalice, and one, called the prospharin, to cover
both paten and chalice.
Here is the spoon, having a deep bowl, with which
the sacred elements are administered to the communi-
cants. Behind the ark is laid the case in which the
four Gospels in Coptic are enclosed and sealed. These
textus cases are generally of silver or silver-gilt, though
some are of iron ; they are sometimes decorated with
precious stones. They are exclusively Coptic, not being
found even in the churches of the other Melkite
12
lyS The Oriental Christian in his Church
Egyptians. There are some very beautiful examples
in the new Coptic Museum at Cairo. Many are
enriched with interlacing work, with crosses and in-
scriptions in Coptic and Arabic in relief.
The significance of these textus cases, most of which
have never been opened since they were first fused,
some of them as long ago as between four and five
hundred years, might of itself lead to a most interesting
chapter in Coptic history, as it is intimately connected
with the wide subject of Biblical formulae, which in the
early centuries affected the whole Christian Church.
The last sign of it in Britain is the taking of the oath
on the New Testament, and the lingering belief amongst
Christian people in " dipping " into the Scriptures which
was once universal.
In my own experience I have come across many
instances in England — not confined to country-folk —
where it was sought to find out what the Lord's will
was in certain emergencies by "dipping" or putting
the thumb into the Bible. I know a woman, of a
leading position in society, and of great possessions, who
regularly resorts to "dipping."
The late Dr. Parker relates in Tyne Child, his book
of reminiscences, how his mother always practised this.
In Egypt these beliefs have not yet been disturbed,
among the great mass of the people ; the Christian
Church itself fosters them. In the Coptic Church service
"dipping" is regularly resorted to.
The belief underlying the monastic legend, that a
monk who was sorely beset with fleshly lust was enabled
to resist temptation by having the Gospels hung upon
his neck by a cord, is never doubted. The Bible is still
a marvellous talisman against pain and disaster. Thi
Lord's Prayer is used on all occasions, secular as well
The Oriental Christian in his Church 179
as religious, by the priests and dignitaries of the Church
in a way that I thought suggested the old idea of the
magic spell.
And here in the textus case we see the most highly
venerated token of these beliefs ; these Gospels are the
very representative of Christ, sign of His presence,
symbol of His miraculous power. In all the important
services the textus case is carried in procession round
the church, with censers, tapers, and crosses.
On the Thursday in Holy Week the textus case
is covered with a high mound of rose leaves on the altar.
On every altar is laid the little flat hand-cross, also
characteristic solely of the Coptic Church, and speaking
so eloquently of the way in which it has conserved the
very early practices of Christendom. The Copts are
ignorant of the crucifix, for the simple reason that this
form of the cross was unknown until the seventh century,
by which time the Western Church was developing many
inventions of which the Coptic Christians knew nothing,
and did not want to know — for of all ha*:feds that of
the Pope of Rome and all his ways was the bitterest,
and is to this day.
The hand-cross has always been laid flat upon the
altar since the year a.d. 855, when the Moslem Governor
forbade the Copts to show a cross in their public services.
These crosses, which are about nine inches in length,
generally bear an inscription.
The Coptic cross is always equilateral ; it would
be quite enough when Rome adopted the cross with
unequal limbs for the Coptic Church to use only the
present form ; for at first both churches used the two
forms indiscriminately. The hand-cross is not known
at all to Western Christendom.
It is always used to give the benediction, and in all
i8o The Oriental Christian in his Church
ceremonies it has a place. To the common people this
cross has magic powers, used in exorcism, and at the
anointing and blessing of the sick it is looked upon as
an essential part of the cure. I know that the sainted
bishop of the Fayoum, whom I visited, himself thought
that power passed through the particular cross he had
always used. He told how on one occasion when he
sought to exorcise an evil spirit which showed great
obstinacy, he found that by a mistake he was holding
the cross of one of his clergy ; when his own cross was
restored to him the exorcism was complete. Every
church has its processional crosses, generally of silver.
A belief in "the Symbol of Merit," as the Sign of
the Cross is called, has always been very deep rooted
in the mind of the Eastern Christian, especially so in
Egypt, as the cross very naturally took the place of the
magic a7tkh of the ancient religion. "Where the seal
of the cross is, the wickedness of Satan hath no power
to do harm," said one of the early fathers. When
Anthony made the sign, it was said the devil trembled.
One of the monks of that day always made the sign
over his food in the place of oil ; another opened the
door of a cell, by the sign, without a key.
It is still the sure protection for the Christian against
the phantoms and the genii, of whom all Eastern people
go in terror ; where the Moslem names the name of God,
the Christian makes the sign of the cross. It is effective
over polluted water, and used three times it is powerful
to heal disease ; nothing else can so surely counteract
the mischief of " the envious eye."
It is in this significance that one must look for the
explanation of the cross which Coptic parents are so
careful to have tattooed on the wrist of every child ;
although the credit should be given them that in the
The Oriental Christian in his Church i8i
days of persecution they were brave enough to desire
also by this means to make it impossible both for them-
selves and their children to deny the Cross of Christ.
Every monk and every priest wears next his skin an
arrangement of fourteen crosses, woven in leather cords,
in such a way that a cross protects him at every vital
part of his body. This girdle is put on secretly at his
ordination, and is never removed. I have never seen
any mention of this fact by a Western writer ; I only
discovered it by an accident on an unexpected visit
to the nunnery where this leather brachium is made.
Before I realised its sacred meaning, I had, with the
Western importunity which always overbears Oriental
courtesy, possessed myself of one of them, and had
exposed the secret of its use ; and by the time reflec-
tion had shamed me, it was too late to withdraw from
my prying, or to restore the sacred symbol.
At the four corners of the altar, standing upon the
floor, are four great candlesticks, sometimes of silver,
as in the cathedral, but often of wood, which must bear
lights during the service. Two candles, and no more,
are allowed upon the altar itself, though any number of
candles or lamps may be lighted round it. The acolytes
stand close round the altar with lighted tapers in their
hands at different parts of the Holy Eucharist ; they move
round the altar again and again with the lights, and
often hold them over the altar.
There are three small round straw mats woven with
silk on the altar, called the kasirak, or eucharistic mats,
unique to the Coptic ritual. Early in the celebration
these mats are held on high by a priest, apparently in
consecration for their subsequent use in the service.
The priest during the commemoration of "the Re-
demption " takes a red mat in his right hand and a green
1 82 The Oriental Christian in his Church
one in his left, and holds them with outspread arms.
He signs the congregation with the cross with one of
the eucharistic mats in his hand.
On these mats the cross is laid and the three small
loaves which are used. As the Host is never reserved
in the Coptic Church, no provision is made for it in the
form of any sort of pyx.
Always on the altar there is a fan, ox flabellum, the
use of which dates from remotest antiquity. Some of
these fans are made of repouss^ silver, a disc attached
to a handle ; others are of peacock's feathers, vellum, or
linen, and doubtless the original use, made necessary in
the sultry East, was, as the Liturgy of St. Clement
directs, "to drive away flies or gnats, lest they fall into
the chalice." The holy elements are still ceremonially
fanned at certain moments in the service, but the fan is
generally regarded now as an ornament. When the
textus case is taken into the choir the fan is in some
cases taken too, and when the handle is of wood it is
pushed into one of the candle prickets, and a taper is
rudely stuck with its own wax upon it.
Every altar must have its incense box, of silver ;
and the censer, of silver repouss^ and open work, swing-
ing by chains, often with little bells attached.
At the north side of the altar is a low wooden stand
on which rests a basin, for the priest to wash his hands.
If the basin and ewer were once made of precious
metals, the early examples have been lost. Very
common tin bowls are in use now, and the ordinary clay
gulah suffices for a ewer. It is said there is a silver
ewer at the Cairo Cathedral, but I saw only a common
gulah.
CHAPTER II
The People at Worship
WITH these explanations we may now return
to the cathedral congregation, with a possi-
bility of understanding in some measure the
service in which it is taking part. One thing we may
notice is that they have no printed book of any sort with
them ; ^ the whole service is recited from inscribed books.
Another remarkable feature is, that notwithstanding
the great length of service (which on Sunday morning
includes the long service of the offering of the Morning
Incense, previous to the Holy Eucharist), lasting about
four hours, there is no provision for the men to sit
down. Though perhaps not one of these men intend
to partake of the sacrament they will all have to come
fasting, arriving at the church between seven and eight
o'clock in the morning, and knowing that the service
will not finish until between eleven and twelve. More-
over, most of the long prayers will be in Coptic, a
language in no way understood of the people ; indeed,
it is doubtful if many of the priests understand more
than the rote of the Coptic parts of the service, which
they are obliged to learn.
' The Church is now giving some attention to the printing of books of
the service, but they are as yet little used. A copy of the Bible in Coptic
still costs as much as £a,o.
««3
184 ^'^^ People at Worship
It is extraordinary how persistent all through the
history of the Coptic Church has been a belief in the
merit of standing before God. Standing up, said one of
the old monks, is a sign of the humility of the primitive
man. So great a merit did standing become in the
days when the body was utterly contemned, that com-
petition in spiritual excellence went so far as to lead
certain brethren to stand for whole nights in prayer,
only to be eclipsed by others who continued praying for
forty nights without bending the knees. Then others
went further still, and took covenants with God never at
any time to sit or lie down, thus seeking to win approval
of Him, and renown for their own monastery. For
forty years certain brethren in one monastery neither
leaned upon anything nor lay down.
In this way standing at prayer became a holy way
of life, which the Council of Nicaea (a.d. 325) made into
a rule of the Church, by decreeing that "everywhere
prayers be offered to God in a standing posture."
Of late years a few benches have been introduced,
but they are not favoured byjthe old-fashioned men of
pious habits. Only the very aged or the ailing are sup-
posed to take advantage of them, though I have seen a
tendency on the part of the men of Western education
to sit down during some of the many Scripture readings
in the services.
The crutch which is so often seen in Coptic churches
may be said to punctuate another page of the Church's
history. When the pains of the body were no longer
compensated by the deep religious fervour which had
courted them, and men grew slack towards God, they
thought they might by subterfuge escape suffering and
yet retain their credit with Him. They had not the
courage to decline the fatigues of the church by sitting
The People at Worship 185
down; if they only rested upon a crutch "how should
God know " that they were not still standing ?
The office generally used for the Holy Eucharist is
the Liturgy of St. Basil of Caesarea in Cappadocia,
though it has suffered severely as time has gone on at
the hands of translators and compilers. The Coptic
copies differ from each other, and from the Liturgy of
St. Basil used by the Greeks. The Liturgy of St.
Gregory is used on the feasts of the Saviour and other
solemn festivals ; while during Lent (and in the month
Kikak) the Liturgy of St, Mark is used.
The liturgy is full of beauty, the prayers being
marked by grandeur of expression and a spiritual
earnestness of tone. Dean Stanley considered that
" a high theological view of the Trinity was shown,"
going on to point out an absence of any precision of
statement in regard to mediation or redemption. On
this opinion of the Dean's, stated in terms less fluid than
the facts may demand, judgments of growing exaggera-
tion have been based by Western writers. It is true
that the ancient Egyptian seems never to have expressed
anything of the sense of the guiltiness of sin, and the
deep contrition, which are the characteristic of the
Hebrew or of the Christian religion. But if they did
not confess sin, they always fully repudiated it. On the
monuments they repudiate on behalf of the deceased
every sin of which they were conscious — " No little
child have I injured ; no widow have I oppressed," are
words found on a tomb of the XHth dynasty at Beni
Hassan, and they are characteristic. Especially heinous
to the ancient Egyptian were such sins as the dishonest
appropriation of irrigation water, and the inscriptions
very often repudiate this offence on behalf of the
deceased. So frequent and so widespread are these
1 86 The People at JVorship
repudiations that it is impossible to believe that the
subjects could have been so guiltless as they or their
relatives wished posterity to think.
It is astonishing how often this trait, which seems to
be deep in the Oriental mind, appears in the Egyptian
— whether Copt or Moslem — of the present day.
Speaking generally, one may be quite sure the modern
Egyptian will under all circumstances rely on justifying
himself that he has not done wrong, no matter what the
evidence may be.
As for the sort of childish conceit of the people of
the East, it Is not confined to any one of the Oriental
nations, just as religion has nothing to do with it.
" Ye are the best people," says the Koran, and the
Moslem believes it. " I possess all the virtues,"
declares a monk of pre-Moslem days when, as an
authority has said, the Christian brethren "loved to
make a record in austerities, and they would freely
boast of their achievements and were filled with a spirit
of rivalry in asceticism."
The desire for approbation is found in the tiniest
children. Miss Whately, when teaching one day, tried
to check it, with amusing results. Taking the parable
of the Pharisee and Publican, she set out to show the
little ones the sin of pride and boasting, saying that
God did not like people who praised themselves, but
that the Publican was rieht because he was humble.
Next morning- two or three children began as usual to
vaunt themselves for their supposed merits, when a
little Copt girl, in many respects a very good child, but
particularly addicted to this habit, said to her, " Sitti !
I am very bad\ " (in a tone of triumph and exultation).
" I am good for nothing! I am a pig\" At which
climax the teacher's dignity gave way, and she burst out
The People at Worship 187
laughing. With the " pride that apes humility " the
child went on to declare : " I am not a Pharisee ; I am
good for nothing ; I am a pig ! "
There certainly is no word in the hieroglyphic texts
standing for " repentance," and, when the Coptic version
of the New Testament was made, the translators were
obliged to take a Greek word for it. But at the same
time there is plenty of evidence to show that early
Christianity really did to a large extent gradually over-
come this inherited habit of mind.
The most pious of the monks constantly wept for
their sins and prayed for forgiveness ; some spent many
suffering years in atonement and sorrow, though the
counsel to stop short of despair was never absent. But
as spirituality died in the Church the old natural instincts
reasserted themselves. In the monks the one idea that
early possessed them all was to save their own souls ;
which had been the one desire of their pre-Christian
forefathers.
But still I think the idea of repentance, and of
redemption, is more deeply rooted in the ritual than
Stanley suggests. All through the history of this Church
it will be found that when a truly spiritual call has
penetrated the degraded life of the people, sunk in
a utilitarian conception of morality and a reliance on
external rites, men have come to true repentance, and
cried for grace ; and the teaching of Christianity has
again been proved to have the power to change not only
the heart, but the mind, so easily warped with long
inherited instinct, through the teaching of their Church.
And I am confident the same thing will happen again,
when the Prophet of the New Day shall appear.
The chief priest opens the service of the Morning
Incense by standing bareheaded opposite the door of the
1 88 The People at Worship
sanctuary with his back to the congregation, and saying,
" We worship Thee, O Christ, with Thy good Father,
and the Holy Ghost. Thou hast come, Thou hast saved
us. Amen. Alleluia. Kyrie Eleison ! Lord have
mercy ! Lord have mercy ! " — signing himself with the
cross in the name of the Father and the Son and the
Holy Ghost ; then signing the people with his right
hand in the same way.
The vestments of this officiating priest are of interest,
and like nearly everything else in the Coptic Church
carry us back to ancient Egypt. This is particularly
the case with the staff on which the bishop, who is
present, is leaning. The Arabic term in which it is
referred to calls it " the staff of authority " ; it has no
crook, and no idea of pastoral care is attached to it. At
the end it has two short branches in the form of the
head and neck of serpents, with a small round boss in
the middle surmounted by a cross. There is evidence
that this staff is the immediate successor of the snake-
headed wand used in remote Pharaonic times, in the
mystic cults, the serpent having a place in the symbolism
of some of the ancient sects.
The surplice as worn by all the Catholic Church is the
white linen garment of the priests of I sis ; and it was from
the old Egyptian priesthood that the tonsure was taken.
This priest of to-day, wearing the vestments ad-
ditional to the original surplice, is really a well-dressed
Oriental of two thousand years ago, whose garments
have been enriched by embroidery for the special service
of the Church. As Dr. Butler has remarked, the Eastern
dress has been very little changed, and an Arab of the
better class from the bazaars of Cairo is a truer illustra-
tion of the origin of Christian vestments than all the
sculptures of Athens and Rome.
The People at Worship 189
The white embroidered tunic, with sleeves, worn by
the Coptic priests, is exactly the same garment which
Rome gave up fifteen centuries ago.
Those priests who enter the sanctuary must wear a
loose silk covering to the head, now called the amice ;
in which they look still more like the well-to-do Arab,
who protects his head and neck by such a garment — the
difference being that the priests' head-dress is richly
embroidered with crosses. In the same way the outer
robe which the priest wears is the burnous, or volumin-
ous cloak of the Arab, not of Egypt alone, but especially
of North Africa, The priests wear a stole, varying both
in shape and the mode of wearing it, with the different
orders. If the Patriarch is present at this service and
takes part, he must wear vestments of green.
A word of reference may be allowed to the famous
Coptic girdle, although it is not worn in the celebration
of the Holy Eucharist. It comes from remotest antiquity,
and to the Christians of Egypt must always have a
special meaning. When the early Moslem Caliphs
sought to humiliate the Copts, they ordered that every
man of them should wear a girdle to distinguish him from
his conquerors. Later the Western people, led by the
marauding Venetians, always referred to the Copts as
"the Christians of the Girdle." I may mention here
perhaps that the ordinary out-of-door dress of the Coptic
priest is the black robe and black turban of the days
of the persecution, when all Christians in Egypt were
forbidden to wear bright colours. Before the Arab
conquest, judging from the icons and pictures, the priests
seem to have dressed for out of doors in white robes,
much like the priests of the ancient temples, though
colours were not excluded.
In the course of the service of the Morning Incense
I go The People at Worship
there is a hymn to the Virgin, " the fair dove, who hath
borne for us God the Word," and to " the ecstatic
Apostle Mark," and the apostles, saints, and martyrs,
and the holy fathers.
At this point the priest, after kissing the threshold,
and putting off his shoes,^ enters the sanctuary, and
going up to the altar kisses it. He then, with signs of
the cross, and prayers and blessings, consecrates the
incense. He then censes the altar again and again
at each point, going round it three times, kissing it
at each corner.
Descending from the sanctuary (he walks away from
the altar with his face towards it) he censes the people
three times, and then turns to the picture of the Blessed
Virgin three times, giving her salutation with the angel
Gabriel, the other pictures being censed only once.
Accompanied by the people, who show such anxiety to
be censed as might almost suggest that the belief in the
magic use of incense is still alive, the priests and
deacons — the deacons being little boys dressed in
white ungirded albs — make a procession through the
church, returning to the sanctuary doors.
Here is offered a beautiful litany, of which I give
some of the passages, omitting the continual cry of the
people — " Kyrie Eleison ! "
We pray and entreat Thy goodness, O Thou lover of man.
Take away from those who are afflicted all sickness and all disease ;
drive away the spirit of sickness —
Them that have long lain in sickness do Thou raise up and
strengthen.
Them that are in prisons or in dungeons or in exile or in slavery.
The Hope of the hopeless.
^ This is based on the instruction to Moses when God appeared to him
in the burning bush.
The People at Worship 191
The Help of the helpless.
The Comforter of the weak-hearted.
The Harbour of the storm-tossed.
Every afflicted soul, and them that are bound,
Grant them mercy, grant them rest, grant them refreshment, grant
them help.
And as for us, even for us only, O Lord, who are sick in our
souls, do Thou heal them ; and cure our bodies.
O Thou true Physician of our souls and of our bodies, the
Shepherd (or Bishop) of all fiesh, visit us with Thy salvation.
Going now to the altar, the incense is replenished
and offered, and prayer is said for those " who provided
the sacrifices, the oblations, the wine, the oil, the frank-
incense, the vessels of the altar, that Christ our God may
repay them in the Heavenly Jerusalem," with many
other supplications and hymns, leading to the recital of
the Nicene Creed.
While the Creed is being recited the priest stands
at the door and holds a cross in his hands, on which
are fixed three lighted candles, and with this he
crosses the people. Still with the cross of lighted
candles in his right hand the priest turns to the east,
and with both hands extended offers a prayer, chanted
to a very slow measure, to God the Father, the cantor
responding with the cymbals. After further prayers, and
much censing of the altar, and signing of the cross over
the people, the bishop takes the Gospel and leaves the
sanctuary. The open book is censed, he then kisses
it, saying, " Kiss the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of
the living God ; the glory be unto Him for ever" ; offer-
ing it to all the priests to kiss in the same manner. As
the priests leave the sanctuary with the Gospel the
deacon shouts in a loud voice, " Stand ye with the fear of
God, for the hearing of the Holy Gospel."
The bishop reads the Gospel, as this is always the
192 The People at Worship
duty of the chief person officiating. As the reading is in
Arabic (after a first reading in Coptic), the congregation
show every sign of deep attention ; all the people of the
East love to hear reading, and, like children, never tire
of the repetition of the things they appreciate.
No one who has not heard the Scriptures well read
in this wonderful language can have any idea of the
power they have to impress and deeply move a congrega-
tion. Very often the reader, almost unconsciously I
should imagine, is himself stirred, and the feeling is con-
veyed through the language so capable of exciting every
human emotion.
I have spoken to young Copts who were showing
by their lives that they had realised a call to a spiritual
life, and they have told me that it was the reading of the
Holy Gospels that had roused them from a state of
indifference to a sacred enthusiasm, while the sermon
had never touched them, and the sacraments had been to
them mere formalism.
And so in Egyptian Christian history one finds that
most of the great conversions have come from this read-
ing of the Scriptures in the language of the people, which
is such a great feature in the Coptic services.
The great and noble Origen, first of the splendid
saints of Christian Egypt, when the temptations of
youth urged themselves upon him, strove to adopt in
their literal meaning the precepts of the Gospel. He
refused himself two garments, went always barefoot, ate
only bread and the uncooked green food of the fellaheen.
Then one day he heard certain words in the nineteenth
chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel which he thought gave
him hope of conquest over the body ; and he straightway
put them into execution. In him denial was first carried
to such lengths that he withdrew himself from literary
Photograptied specially for this work.
The Portico and the Interior of a Coptic Church, showing the magnLficently inlaid
sanctuary screen, and the beautiful ancient pulpit. This church El Moallaka is built
in one of the towers of the Roman gateway in Babylon, Old Cairo. The name of
the Church means "The Suspended."
The People at Worship 193
studies, because it was in this he found delight ; as other
holy men a little later ceased to wash themselves because
of the pleasure there is, especially in such a hot climate,
in the use of water.
St. Anthony, the first of the desert monks of Egypt,
received his call to his great work, the influence of which
is vital to this day, through his reading of the Scriptures.
He was in church, meditating on certain things, when
his attention was arrested by the words of the Gospel :
" If thou wouldst be perfect, go and sell everything
which thou hast and give to the poor, and take thy cross
and come after Me, and there shall be unto thee treasure
in heaven," It came like a direct messag-e from the
Lord to himself; and when Anthony hesitated in fear,
for he had great possessions, again the clear call came
to him from the Gospel reading in church: "Take no
thought for the morrow." And in that hour Monasticism,
with all its teaching of the utter abandonment of the
world, and its bodily suffering and privation, was born.
And many are the stories of worldly-minded monks
being roused from their errors by these same readings ;
even the heart of the harlot was opened when she heard
Abba Serapion repeating "verses from the books of the
Apostles."
It is not surprising that when monkish inspiration
began to decline, Scripture reading became a fetish, and
men came to think that there was merit in mere repeti-
tion. It was then the monks engaged in competitions in
reciting, as feats of endurance. " I can repeat fourteen
books of the Bible," boasted one, "but if I hear one little
word outside it will make useless my service to me."
To return to the cathedral service. The Gospel is
again censed and given to all the priests to kiss, when
the bishop kisses it himself. When the bishop is not
13
1
194 T^^^ People at Worship
present the priest sometimes delegates a distinguished
layman to read the Gospel, and I can testify that nothing
is lost in the dramatic power with which the Arabic
periods are then delivered.
Another deeply impressive feature of the Coptic
services is the reading of the lives of the saints in Arabic,
according to a very ancient custom sanctioned in the
fourth century. This I know is most interesting to
some of the young men, especially arresting their
attention at the hour when the service must begin to be
monotonous. The stories are recorded in a book which
is only found in the churches ; as one would expect in
such early records, they keep alive the miraculous
traditions which the Coptic people still cherish with
undoubted reverence.
In the prayers that follow, it is very Eastern to plead
for deliverance from oppression by savages, and from
the sword of the stranger, and from the uprising of
heretics, that the worship of idols may be uprooted out
of the world, and for the atmospheric changes of the air,
and the fruits of the earth. From June to October the
prayers include one for the inundation of the Nile.
Another prayer is that the people may be blessed a
thousand-thousand-fold and ten-thousand-ten-thousand-
fold. The Oriental always loves the effect on the
imagination of piling up words and calculations in this
way.
One of the prayers in this same service (translated
for me direct from the Coptic) shows this characteristic in
another form :
" O Master and Lord, God Almighty, Father of our Lord and God
and Saviour Jesus Christ : we thank Thee, upon all conditions, and for
all conditions, and in all conditions, for that Thou hast protected us
. . . and brought us to this hour."
The People at Worship 195
Another prayer has these words :
*' Also, the Lord, the Lord, who hath given unto us power to tread
upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy,
break Thou his heads under our feet speedily, and scatter for us all the
difficulties of the evil power of the enemy."
The Prayer of Absolution by the bishop, said
inaudibly, with the sign of the cross, on himself, over
the priests, and over the people, brings to a close the
prayer of the Morning Incense, leading to the Holy
Eucharist. There is a prayer of Evening Incense,
which differs very little from the morning prayer.
The first prayer of the Holy Eucharist is that of the
Preparation of the Altar, during which the chalice is
uncovered, and the paten and the spoon, the veils and
mats, are arranged. Then the Psalms are recited.
The very position now taken up by the deacon at
the altar is a reminder of past history. He stands, not
as one would suppose he ought, by the side of the
officiating priest (who, at the west end of the altar,
stands with his back to the congregation), but on the
eastern side so that he can see down the whole length of
o
the church to the western door. The early doctrinal
feuds between the two sections of the Coptic Church
became so deadly that it was no uncommon thing for the
Melkite mob to rush into the church where the Jacobites
were at worship, slay the priest at the altar, and scatter
the sacred elements. The deacon was therefore placed
so that he could see to the door and orive warninof to the
priest ; and his position remains the same, though it is
twelve hundred years since the necessity for it passed
away.
The deacon brings to the priest on one of the
altar mats three of the small loaves, which I shall
ig6 The People at Worship
describe later, as they make a curious appearance
amongst the congregation itself towards the close of the
service. He chooses one of these loaves and holds it in
his hand, kisses it, and lays it upon the altar. Then he
examines the wine, smells it, or even causes it to be
tasted, in order to be sure of its fitness.
Now the basin and ewer are brought, and he washes
his hands three times, saying, with other sentences, "I will
wash my hands in innocency, and will go round about
Thy altar, O Lord." Having recited the 25th Psalm,
he dries his hands slightly, and then rubs the bread
above and below, referring to the baptism of our
Lord.
Taking the bread in a silken veil, he walks round
the altar with it held on his head, preceded by one of
the deacons carrying the vessel of wine, also held on the
head, and another with alighted candle, the choir singing.
There is something weird, if not almost barbaric, in
the performances of the Coptic choir. The lads seem to
be chosen for nothing but a faculty for learning the
hymns and responses, mostly in a language they do not
understand, and not for any vocal qualities or attain-
ments. Some of them are children with unbroken
voices, others are in the intermediate stage when the
voice is neither soprano nor bass, others growl with the
deep ungoverned notes of the late teens. The only
point on which they are agreed is that their duty is to
make a loud noise ; their grimaces show their enjoyment
of their part in the service. The responses of the
congregation are always led by the cantor, who is almost
always a blind man.
Of course if the music were anything more than the
Eastern monotone, or the accompaniment anything more
refined than the clashing of cymbals, and the beating of
The People at Worship 197
triangles and bells/ it might be painful, but the general
effect, which is truly Oriental, seems suitable to the
setting ; and there is something wildly impressive and
exciting in the great shout of praise and supplication
which goes up.
The cymbal seems to be another relic of pagan
tradition ; it is of Eastern origin, and suggests the orgies
accompanying the ancient rites of the temples. The
Copts claim scriptural warrant to "praise God with the
loud cymbal " ; and one of their fables tells that it was
Noah who made the first bell, or gong, such as they use.
The priest, having finished the circuit, stops at the
front of the altar, with his back to the people, and holds
the bread in one hand close to the vessel of wine, still
held by the deacon. Bowing to the other priests, he says,
" Do ye bless ? " and they answering " Do thou bless ? "
he signs the bread and wine with the cross three
times.
The bread being put upon the paten, and the wine
in the chalice, with a little water added, there follow
various prayers and responses, the people, and the altar,
being signed with the cross, in every direction.
After the choir have cried " Saved indeed ! and with
Thy Spirit," the Prayer of Oblation is reached, from
which I quote, as it is evidence of the Coptic belief in
the Real Presence in its most physical literalness.
'* We pray and beseech Thy goodness, O Thou lover of men ! [he
points to the bread] cause Thy face to shine upon this bread [he
points to the chahce] and upon this cup, which we have set upon this
Thine holy table ; [he signs the cross over both three times, saying]
bless them, sanctify them, hallow and change them, that this bread
may become indeed Thine own holy Body, and the mingled wine and
^ The bells are always tongueless, and are beaten on the outside by a
short rod of iron.
198 The People at Worship
water which is in this cup may become indeed Thine own honourable
Blood ; that they may be unto us all, help, and healing, and health for
our souls, and our bodies, and our spirits."
After the Prayer of Thanksgiving, the people sing a
short hymn in Greek. The priest now covers the bread
and wine, separately, and then together ; after kneeling
he kisses the altar, and then goes round it, giving thanks
for his call to that office, the deacon doing likewise.
At this point the priests and deacons come out of
the sanctuary, where it must be understood the con-
gregation only catch a glimpse of what is going on
through the narrow doorway in the screen. I myself
have only been able to follow the ritual by several times
being placed in a very advantageous position right in
front of the doorway.
At their appearing, the congregation, which is very
promiscuously disposed about the church, all sit upon the
floor with bowed heads, turned towards the east, while
the Absolution is said, inaudibly, by one of the assistant
priests, who then specially absolves those who are
assisting him in the celebration. This Absolution is
called that of the Son.
One curious point insisted on by the rubric is that in
leaving the sanctuary the right foot must always be the
last to be removed, as, in returning, it must be the first
to enter. The right hand and foot throughout the East,
more even by the Moslems than by the Christians, are
considered honourable, and the left dishonourable. The
single guardian angel of the Copts is always on the right
hand : the Moslems have two guardian angels, one on
each hand ; on the right to record the good, and on the
left, the evil deeds. The left hand is never used in
eating, or in handing anything to another person ; to
offer it in greeting would be an insult. Nothing so
The People at Worship 199
immediately betrays the Western man, who would pass
as an Oriental, as the use of the hands.
When the people have risen, the priest kisses the
threshold of the sanctuary, enters, and censes the altar,
the choir singing, " This is the censer of pure gold, hold-
ing sweet spices, in the hands of Aaron the Priest, offering
up incense upon the altar. The censer of gold is the
Virgin ; her sweet cloud is our Saviour ; she hath borne
Him ; He hath saved us ; may He forgive us our sins."
After various censings, the priest again leaves the
sanctuary, censing the pictures and the priests. A lesson
from St. Paul is read in Coptic by a deacon or a layman,
the priest meanwhile censing the choir. He then goes
throughout the church censing the congregation, repeat-
ing again and again, " Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,
to-day, and for ever, in one Person — Him let us worship.
Him let us glorify."
He then returns to the altar, to offer inaudible prayer,
while the lesson is being repeated in Arabic.
A lesson is now read from the Catholic Epistles, first
in Coptic, then in Arabic. After responses by the choir,
a lesson from the Acts of the Apostles is read, in the
two languages. The cons^reoration now divides itself
into quartets, and they sing the Three Holies, each
group singing a verse in turn. The text is preserved
in the original Greek form.
In the sanctuary there are again traversings of the
altar, which is kissed at each corner ; and again the
pictures are censed, and the choir and the congregation,
while the reading is going on. A Psalm is sung, and
the Gospel is censed, the bishop handing it to the priests
to be kissed, and then kissing it himself. The celebrant
must read the Gospel for the Eucharist in Coptic, the
deacon then reading it in Arabic.
200 The People at Worship
At this point the sermon is preached. Until a few
years since only the old homilies were droned, but there
is an increasing desire for fresh sermons, and some of
the more educated of the Coptic priests are doing a great
work for the uplifting of their Church by the use of their
powers in the pulpit ; even in the country I have heard
men with considerable preaching gifts, to whom the
people flocked to hear their message. The language of
the sermon fortunately is Arabic, and when I recall the
signs of the deep impression created by some of the
sermons I have heard in Egypt (in mosque as well as in
church), I feel again that, if a great modern prophet were
to arise in that land of prophets, we might see a spiritual
reformation sweep through the whole of the Church,
indeed through the whole country ; for the Moslem
equally with the Copt is susceptible to the appeal of the
spoken word, and is ready to show veneration to any
man whom he considers saindy. The sheikh, as well as
the priest, who has eloquence and is revered for a holy
life, will never lack a conCTreeation.
There are certain mosques in Cairo which are
crowded for the Friday sermon long before the time of
worship, because of the fame of the sheikh, just as there
are churches filled to the doors when it is known that a
certain priest is to preach.
After the sermon there are many prayers and
responses, and much censing, with a repetition of the
Athanasian Creed ; at the end of which the priest again
washes his hands three times at the south corner of the
altar ; he then turns westwards, and wrings his dripping
hands before the people, as if to warn any unworthy
member who dares commune without being pure, then
dries them.
After more prayers, we reach the Prayer of the Kiss
The People at Worship 20 1
of St. Basil (sometimes called the Prayer of the Recon-
ciliation to the Father), at the end of which the deacon
says, "Greet one another with an holy kiss," when the
priest and the congregation all give the kiss of peace, by
touching each other's hands, and then kissing their own ;
crying " Kyrie Eleison ! " and chanting the hymn called
Aspasmos, or greeting. This is a very moving scene.
At this solemn moment the priest pushes back the
cover from his head, and removes the great veil from
the bread and wine, saying "Offer, offer, offer in order —
stand ye — with trembling — look eastward — let us attend ;
it is a mercy of peace, a sacrifice of praise." With the
palms of his hands raised upwards and covered with a
cloth, he begins the Liturgy proper of St. Basil of Csesarea,
to God the Father.
The congregation must now all stand up and not
kneel. There is much prayer and response, and singing,
when the priest takes the veil off the chalice, signs him-
self, the other priests, the deacons, and the people with it.
After dedication the deacon holds the censer, which
the priest replenishes, and then holds his hands for some
moments in the smoke, when he extends his hands over
the bread and wine.
He then takes the bread in his left hand and covers
it with his right, saying, "He took bread into His holy,
spotless, and pure, and blessed, and life-giving hands,"
then holding the bread in his left hand, he signs the
cross over it with his right, three times ; he slightly
breaks the bread at one side, using the same words as
the Western Church uses. He must not, however, break
the central piece of the bread, which is called the
Ispadikon.
He now places the Sacred Host on the paten, and
makes a profound bow in adoration. From this point
202 The People at Worship
he holds his thumb and forefingers joined, except when
he has to touch the Sacred Host, until after the ablutions.
He now uncovers the chalice, and touches the lip of
it with the joined thumb and forefinger of the right hand ;
then he siens the cross over the wine three times, with
the same formula as that of the Western Church, until the
people, prostrating themselves, cry, "Amen, amen, amen.
Again we believe, and we confess, and we glorify Him ! "
The priest again touches the lip of the chalice in the
same way, and then tilts it slightly crosswise. Covering
the chalice, he bows again in adoration of the precious
blood, the people saying, " Amen. Thus we believe it
indeed to be. Amen."
After prayer and response, the deacon says to the
people, "Worship God in fear and trembling," and they
all again prostrate themselves. An inaudible invocation
by the priest at this point prays "that Thine Holy Spirit
may come upon us, and upon these gifts here present,
and may purify them to us." I believe the translation
should rather be "Thine Holy Angel," although I could
not take the responsibility for this reading. To the one
or two Western observers who have been interested in
the Coptic ritual the matter has been in doubt, and some
of the Copts have themselves suggested that it should be
understood in the sense of the Roman Mass, " that these
prayers may be borne up by the hands of Thy Holy
Angel unto Thine altar on high, before the face of Thy
Divine Majesty . . . that we may be filled with all
heavenly blessing and grace." A distinct invocation to
the Angel, which comes later in the service, seems to
confirm this.
Then follow many petitions and responses, and Kyrie
Eleisons, with prayers (the priest having both his hands
covered with the veil) for the Church, for our Pontiff the
The People at Worship 203
Pope Abba Cyril, Pope and Patriarch Lord Archbishop
of the great city of Alexandria, for bishops, priests,
deacons, and all the seven orders in the Church of God,
for all temporal blessings of water and crops, for the
poor, the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and the
wanderer.
The saints are held in remembrance, that through
their prayers God will have mercy. The names of past
Patriarchs are now read, and, with much censing, several
prayers for the dead are recited, in a very mournful
chant and with upraised hands by the priest, that they
may be fed "in a green pasture, beside the still waters,
in the garden of delight, the place whence sore-hearted-
ness and sorrow and sighing have fled away, in the light
of Thy saints."
The priest takes the veil in his right hand, and with
the left hand on the altar, half turns to the people, and
after certain invocations, silently makes the sign of
the cross towards the people. After more invocations,
responses, and Kyrie Eleisons, the priest kneels and
adores the blessed Sacrament ; rising, he takes the Sacred
Host, breaks off a third part, and from that the small
particle [Ispadikon), replacing the whole on the paten.
There is a very elaborate ritual for the correct breaking
of the bread, which I give in an appendix.
All the people now say " Our Father," and there are
inaudible prayers at the altar, with invocation, to which
the people respond until the Prayer of Absolution to the
Father is reached.
At this moment all the people are prostrate on the
floor, while the priest, with head uncovered, holding the
Ispadikon between his thumb and forefinger, raises it
as high as possible, saying in a loud voice, " Holiness
unto the Holy ! "
204 The People at Worship
After this he again takes the Httle veil in his right
hand, and stands, again half turned to the people, with the
veil held extended towards them. He commemorates
living men (at his own discretion), and then inaudibly
prays for all men, for rest for those who have fallen on
sleep, and for those who are alive, that they may be kept
by an angel of peace ; he prays for himself, " Let not
my sins, and the abominations of my heart, deprive Thy
people of the grace of Thine Holy Spirit."
He uncovers the chalice, the people crying " Kyrie
Eleison ! " ; with the particle of the Sacred Host he makes
the sign of the cross over the chalice ; then he dips his
finger in the chalice and makes the sign of the cross over
the particle, and afterwards touches the rest of the Sacred
Host with the particle, saying, and repeating, the words
over the chalice, "The Holy Body and the Precious
very Blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of our God.
Amen."
Then the priest drops the particle into the chalice,
covers it, and elevating the Host says, " This is in truth
the Body and the Blood of Emmanuel our God," the
people saying " Amen. I believe," to which the priest adds
and repeats again, " Amen. Amen. Amen, I believe,
I believe, I believe, and confess till the last breath, that
this is the life-giving Flesh which Thine only begotten
Son, our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ took
from our Mistress and Universal Queen, the Holy
Mother of God, the Blessed Mary, and made it one with
His Godhead without confusion or mixture or corruption,
and witnessed a good confession before Pontius Pilate,"
and so on.
Then the paten is moved crosswise and replaced, and
the priest kisses the altar three times. The choir now
sings a Te Deum Laudamus in which in word and deed
The People at Worship 205
they "praise Him with loud-sounding cymbals — with
cymbals of joy."
After inaudible prayers, the priest communicates
himself with a third part of the Sacred Host, resting
then awhile, with his thoughts fixed upon the holy
Sacrament. Then he uncovers the chalice, raises it,
moves it crosswise before him, and then with the spoon
drinks a part, with the particle, two deacons stand-
ing on either side of him with lighted candles. He
again rests awhile in contemplation, before taking the
paten and turning full towards the people. All the
congregation uncover their heads and kneel down,
crying, " Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the
Lord ! "
It is at this point, it always seems to me, that the
spiritual poorness of the Coptic Church is most sadly
revealed. The priest stands there, inviting the great
congregation to communicate, and he stands almost in
vain, for while men will crowd to see the performance of
the holy mysteries, they will not prepare themselves by
fasting and confession to partake of them. Even the
pious Copts communicate only about once a year, and
that, strangely enough, in Lent ; although confession is
ordered at least twice a year. In the great cathedral
at Cairo here, thronged to the doors as it is, the deacon
has to make up for the absence of genuine communicants
by pressing those members of the choir, who are children,
and some of the infants even who have been playing in
the sanctuary, to partake.
Possibly it is confession that is the obstacle, for I do
not think that any Egyptian would regard the necessary
fast from the vesper hour of Saturday as objectionable.
I fancy that to the Oriental, who intensely dislikes
"overlooking," either physical or mental, confession
2o6 The People at Worship
must always have been a sore trial. It is certain that,
as spirituality declined, confession was one of the first
duties to be neglected.
During minority, baptismal innocence is presumed,
and confession is not required, and so it comes about
that it is the children who are brought to the altar.
Often I have seen a mother bring her babe in her arms,
the priest administering to the infant a single drop of
the wine from the spoon.
The children who are to partake are marshalled by
the deacon, and each is given a napkin, which he holds
closely under his chin, until he has partaken, when he
puts it close over his mouth, lest any of the holy
elements should fall.
They walk past the officiating priest, and receive
from him, standing, particles of the bread, placed in the
mouth, the mixed chalice being given in the spoon,
which is placed well into the mouth ; and they go round
the altar again and again, receiving each time they pass
the priest, until the elements are exhausted.
The priest then moves the paten crosswise towards
the people, turns and replaces it on the altar. He
consumes what remains of the Host at each point of the
cleansings, saying, "This is in very truth the Body of
Emmanuel our God," and then, after cleansing the paten
and the spoon into the chalice, he consumes what
remains. Holding out the chalice, the deacon pours
into it some wine, which the priest drinks. Then wine
and water are poured over his fingers into the chalice,
and he drinks it, wiping the chalice. Pouring some
water into his hands he throws it upwards, saying, " O
angel of this oblation, who flieth upwards with this
hymn, remember us in the presence of our Lord to
forgive usour sins."
The People at Worship 207
It is a very old Coptic custom to hand the spoon to
any person present who asks for it at the end of the
Holy Eucharist ; he lightly touches his eyes with it,
kisses it, and hands it back to the priest, with a sense
of healing and comfort.
After an inaudible prayer the priest goes to the door
of the sanctuary, and a scene of extraordinary excite-
ment suddenly takes place in the chancel. Men and
boys rush so w^ildly towards the door of the sanctuary
that it is no uncommon thing for them to slightly injure
each other ; being caught in the melee I have wondered
myself how I escaped unhurt. At the door the priest
finally washes his hands, and will throw the water poured
over his hands by the deacon from a clay gttlah, over
the people. The excitement is caused by an intense
desire to receive some of this water. It is a strange
sight to see a great crowd of Eastern men with their
heads uncovered, for they snatch off their red tarbushes
lest a drop of the magic water should be intercepted from
reachinor their bodies.
The priest now stands to make the sign of the cross
on the foreheads of those who approach him, while he
recites the benediction. He then distributes small
morsels of corban, bread cut for this purpose.
After all have inaudibly said the Lord's Prayer, the
priest makes the general sign of the cross over them
all, and returns, taking the chalice and the paten, to
the sacristy.
There is no further service on the Sabbath day. It
is puzzling to English people, however, to hear the
Copts speak of their evening prayer, until it is realised
that Sunday begins at sunset on Saturday, and the
service then held is the evensong of the Sabbath.
It will have been seen how the Lord's Prayer is used
2o8 The People at Worship
again and again in every service of the Coptic Church,
and by the people whenever they pray ; in each hour of
Passion Week the following prayer, constantly said by
the devout, reveals the importance attached to the
Lord's Prayer: "Thine is the power and the glory
and the blessing and the majesty, for ever. Amen.
Emmanuel, our Lord and our King. Thine is the
power and the glory and the blessing and the majesty,
for ever. Amen. My Lord Jesus Christ, make us
worthy to say, ' Our Father which art in heaven,' " etc.
CHAPTER III
Of the Bread and the JVine^ of Holy
Water ^ and the Extraordinary Fasts
IN the ordinary sense the Coptic Church does not
use Holy Water, although there is not a page of
its history which does not show that it has, in
common with all primitive religions, a great reverence
for water. The Epiphany tank is still a feature of
every church in Egypt, and how many holy wells
with magic power the churches contain, I do not
know.
In the very early days the monks took water and
blessed it for healing purposes. As a vehicle for magic
it had special regard.
At a certain monastery the brethren washed in water
in church, and the application of that water cured a sick
monk. Wherever the great Anthony prayed, there
water was said to spring up. If the Moslem goes to the
holy well at Mecca for water to charm away evil, and
to make blessed his shroud, the Copt goes to the Jordan
for exactly the same purpose. The pilgrimage to Jeru-
salem, and the bathing in the sacred river, are so highly
regarded that Coptic fellow-pilgrims who bathe together
in the Jordan become brothers in such reality that their
children may not marry.
In Christian districts the Nile itself is blessed, and
14
2 1 o Of the Bread and Wine^ of Holy Water
great benefits are expected at the season of Epiphany
from immersion in the river.
It is interesting to recall that it was only in the year
1890 that Rome itself was induced to abolish the pagan
expressions in the service of the Blessing of the Waters
on the eve of Epiphany ; the incantations, then set
aside, to bring magic powers into the water belonged
almost entirely to pre-Christian times in ancient Rome,
with its augurs and birds and entrails, and spirits
everywhere.
In Egypt we can still trace the cult of Isis in the
Epiphany service, which is used to set forth the meaning
and glory of our Lord's baptism, though it is not as
pagan in its conjuring as the discarded service of Rome
was. I give a few of the Coptic incantations still said
over the water of the tank :
Thou didst sanctify the floods of the Jordan, having drawn down
upon them from heaven Thy Holy Spirit, and Thou didst break in
pieces the heads of the dragons that were hidden therein. O our Lord,
Thou man-loving God, Jesus Christ, come now again by the descent of
Thy Holy Spirit,
Sanctify this water, and give unto it the grace of the Jordan.
Let it be a fountain of blessing,
A gift of purification,
A remission of sins,
A driver away of sickness.
Let it be a terrifier of demons,
And let not all the powers of the foe draw nigh unto it.
Let it be full of all angelic powers.
That unto all those who draw therefrom, or who partake of it, it
may be a purification of soul, and body, and spirit.
For a healing of pains,
For a sanctification of houses.
May it produce benefits of every kind.
So terribly excited did the Copts present at the
service of the Epiphany become, and so desperate not
and the Extraordinary Fasts 211
to forgo any of the promised blessing, that they threw
off all their clothes in church and dashed, a seething mob,
into the tank. There is little doubt, I think, that the
ignorant thought by this means to wash away their guilt.
It is only a very few years since that the scandal of the
scenes created led to their suppression, at least in the
cities of Egypt. The people must now be content
with a sprinkling of the holy water by the bishop or
priest.
Palm Sunday is still, however, the occasion of one of
those many curious services in which magic water has a
part. After the Holy Eucharist several basins of water are
placed before the haikal screen, and a priest takes his place
in front of them while the Gospel is read. The priest then
consecrates the water by praying over it. The instant
this consecration is completed, the congregation rush
wildly towards the basins with the object of dipping their
palm wreaths into them. What a curious turn for a church
service to take, when, to restore order, the priest is some-
times obliged to beat the people with a stick he carries
in case of need. Pieces of the dipped wreaths are worn
by these Copts under their tarbushes during the whole
year, being especially valued as charms against " the evil
eye " and the sting of venomous beasts.
The Epiphany tank is in the narthex of the
churches, near the west entrance, and there is generally
a smaller tank in the nave, which is used in the
same way on Maundy Thursday, followed by the
sprinkling.
Nothing is wanting to invest these ceremonies with
importance, and to suggest a magic rite. The clergy
must be fully vested, and the bishop or Patriarch before
the actual benediction must be vested in full canonical
attire.
212 Of the Bread and Wine^ of Holy Water
The water is censed, and stirred crosswise with the
bishop's pastoral staff, and crossed with a special iron
cross.
Travellers in Abyssinia speak still of wild nocturnal
scenes in the Coptic churches there at this ceremony.
Christians everywhere in the East believe that special
graces are showered down at the Epiphany; dough will
then rise without being leavened.
And when I am inclined to think that the East is
too benighted, I recall the superstition of highly educated
women at a vicarage near London itself, who stoutly
averred to me again and again that the eggs laid by
their fowls on Good Friday were proof against decay
until the same day the following year.
" Concerning^ the collection " — a threefold offering is
taken at the Sunday service, according to a rule which
is very ancient. Three men, following each other, each
carrying an alms dish, go round the church, during the
service, and every worshipper is expected to put a con-
tribution in each dish. One dish is for the clergy, one
for church expenses, and one for the poor.
As it is nearly noon before the Holy Eucharist is
finished, it may be imagined that the people .in the church
are famished. It is a strange sight to see them take
from their pockets, the moment the benediction is pro-
nounced, little cakes of bread exactly like the one used
on the altar, and begin to eat them. Some of the small
boys indeed have not waited for the end of the service
to begin nibbling their cakes.
When the service was about two-thirds through, a
verger appeared in the congregation with a large bag
full of these eucharistic cakes, distributing them right
and left, to any one who desired them, and receiving here
and there a piastre or two in return. The reforming
and the Extraordmary Fasts 213
Copts object to this custom as distracting at a solemn
moment in the service.
As a European stranger is always offered one of
these cakes in any Coptic church, I have received a
number in different parts of the country ; and although I
know now that they are never consecrated, I have not
cared to eat them.
Every church has its own oven for baking the
eucharistic cakes, which must be made of the finest
wheaten flour, specially purchased out of the church
funds.
The sacristan who distributes the cakes is specially
appointed to make them, and he must chant, while doing
so, fixed portions of the Psalms in a solemn manner.
The dough must be leavened, and baked on the morning
of the Holy Eucharist. The cakes must be round, and
stamped only on the upper surface, with a device of
crosses with a sacred legend round them. Women are
specially forbidden to prepare the eucharistic bread.
My friend, Marcus Simaika Pasha, has taken great
pains to preserve the proper design for the stamping, for
he found that there had for a long time been an utter
carelessness in the matter, especially in the country
places. As the moulds had become worn and broken
ignorant men had been left to repair them, and the
priests had not troubled themselves in the matter. In
many churches the design had degenerated into a mere
meaningless travesty of the original.
Some of the loaves which I possess show great devia-
tions, but at last the Patriarch has seen the wisdom of
allowing Marcus Simaika Pasha to supervise the sending
out from Cairo of new moulds for all the churches, the
old ones being destroyed by the official decree of His
Holiness.
214 Of the Bread a7id Wine^ of Holy Water
The wine used is also made in church, some churches
having their own winepress, others getting their supply
from a church in Cairo in the Harat-az-Zuailah, where it
is regularly made and distributed through the country in
large wicker-covered jars, holding three to four gallons
each.
Since the Moslem conquest there has always been a
difficulty about the wine, as the idea of its use was
genuinely repugnant (let us allow this much in all fair-
ness) to all religious followers of the Prophet.
The use of wine was always a first point of attack
when Moslem suppression of the Christians was afoot.
About the tenth century all the vineyards of Egypt were
destroyed, and the making or importing of wine abso-
lutely forbidden, with the intention of stopping the use
of wine by the Copts.
In their sore necessity Coptic dignitaries imported
raisins and made wine secretly in the churches, and
although raisin wine is prohibited in the early canons,
the use has never been changed. It must be unfer-
mented, and so distinctly sweet as to have no trace of
acid flavour.
The use of the consecrated oil, or chrism, is regarded
as of great importance. It is strange, however, to find,
where such tenacity has been shown in preserving the
ancient ritual, that the office of the Consecration of the
Chrism was left in abeyance for two hundred years. It
was the Patriarch John, who succeeded to the throne in
the year 1676, who reintroduced it.
It was a very elaborate preparation, the most essential
ingredient being the balsam grown in the garden by the
Virgin's Well at Matarieh, near Cairo, where, according
to legend, the Holy Family rested on their flight into
Egypt.
and the Extraordmary Fasts 215
There are several boilings of the rare spices, flowers,
and aromatics, all precisely ordered, the oil being the
pure olive oil of Palestine. The hallowing of the chrism
is a ceremony of great pomp, the Patriarch and as many
bishops and clergy as possible taking part in the pres-
ence of a large congregation. At one time it was an
annual ceremony, but the intervals have grown longer
and longer, until now it takes place only once in thirty or
forty years, a large quantity being then hallowed. From
the prayers used it is clear that the chrism is regarded
as possessing a magic virtue against idolatry and witch-
craft, a power of defence against the devil and his
servants, and a power of healing both for soul and body.
The present Patriarch asserts that the chrism is only
used at confirmation, at the dedication of a new church,
altar, picture, or vessel. I think there is no doubt that
the sanctity with which the chrism was regarded of old
has been somewhat diminished.
The ordinary oil of healing (not to be confused with
the chrism) is taken from one of the sacred lamps.
The pictures, or icons as they are called, which adorn
the haikal screen in all Coptic churches, are of great
interest, a few of them being masterpieces of early sacred
art. All the pictures of any worth are painted on
panels ; canvas was first used two hundred years ago,
and not a single painter of merit has appeared since
then.
There are no pictures older than the thirteenth
century. To that period belongs a very beautiful taber-
nacle or altar casket, at Abu Sifain, dated a.d. 1280.
Dr. Butler's comment is that this solitary work of art is
enough by its sole evidence to establish the existence in
Egypt of a school of painters far superior to contempor-
ary artists in Italy.
2i6 Of the Bread and Wine ^ of Holy Water
It is interesting to note that from earliest times all
gifts to the Church have remained anonymous. There is
a distinct feeling in the East, equally shared by the
Moslems, that it is not fitting for man to obtrude his
name under any pretence in the house of prayer. In
the Coptic Church the name was suppressed even in
the case of the burial of a patriarch or bishop, and
althoueh the custom has led to doubt and confusion
vexing to the historian, we may still commend the
principle of it.
There are no statues in the Coptic churches, — they
are forbidden, — for as early as the fourth century Theo-
philus was so successful in his great campaign in every
town in Egypt against the worship of idols, that there
was no one left to adore the works of sculpture in the
churches.
But it was not possible to root out the longing for
the miraculous which lay behind the veneration of the
statues of ancient Egypt, and very quickly comforting
fables arose as to the magic power of the pictures of the
saints.
Guimet describes the sacred picture found at Deir el
Bahri, which shows how the old ideas would obtrude
themselves. In the hands of the saint " are portrayed
a chalice of wine and heads of wheat, under which Jesus
appears, and on His sacerdotal robe, which is quite
white, at the place of the heart is painted a brown square
with four indentations which make of it a swastika,
designed to draw the presence of the gods. Beneath
the portrait are represented the boat of I sis, and the two
black jackals, which for more than six thousand years
have guarded Egyptian tombs,"
Vasheh, the son of the Moslem Caliph, was in the
tenth century converted by the miracle of St. Mercurius,
and the Extraordinary Fasts 217
making his solemn vow before the picture of the saint in
the church of Abu Sifain, to which he had been provi-
dentially drawn by that saint. It is not surprising that a
great and undue reverence is shown to the pictures of the
church by the mass of the people to this day.
I have been taken to see many pictures, some of
them in Cairo, to which wonderful powers are attributed,
not always by the untaught and ignorant.
In the church of Harat-az-Zuailah in Cairo I have
often seen the highly venerated picture of the Virgin
Mary, in the midst of its little shrine, surrounded by
people praying for help in sickness. One cannot repress
a smile to hear such folk, when questioned, declare that
" the Roman Church is the servant of idols."
On certain days a solemn service for the sick is held
here, when candles are liofhted at this shrine. The con-
gregation, with its physical defects and failings, reminds
one of the waiting-place of a great hospital ; till the
chanting of the priests begins, to the wild music of
cymbals, bells, and triangles, and the people eagerly press
forward for the laying on of hands.
Of all sections of the Christian Church, the Copts are
the only one which, in its pictures, never represents
terrors or tortures of any sort. They have no belief in
purgatory, or the expiation of sin by suffering, and they
never deal in the terrors of eternity.
Said the old Abba Sisoes, when certain men came to
him to ask how they could escape the river of fire, and
the gnashing of teeth, and the outer darkness, " I never
think on these things ; I believe that God is merciful."
" Did not a thief through one word inherit the Kingdom } "
answered another of the early fathers.
This is the general sentiment of the Oriental, and the
settled belief of the Coptic Church especially. And so
2 1 8 Of the Bread and JVine^ of Holy Water
it comes about that there is not a single picture to com-
pare with those still found in ancient English churches,
with skulls and skeletons, fires and grinning devils, and
ingenious torments. The Last Judgment was frequently
depicted over the chancel arch in England, and examples
are still in existence which preserve the revolting details
of such scenes.
All travellers know the painted carts of Sicily : the
most common of the pictures represent a crowded hell,
with Satan burning in a cauldron ; and another favoured
subject is that of a martyr being flayed alive at the
stake.
In the Coptic churches these things have no counter-
part : the devil is largely ignored, with all his works ; the
martyrs are pictured untroubled and serene. When
St. George attacks the dragon, it is in fair fight, and the
coup de g^'dce is sharp and merciful. In this the Copts
alone have remained true to what Dr. Butler speaks of
as the more refined and tender feeling of the Early
Church, which, while it delighted to paint our Lord in
glory surrounded by triumphant saints, yet left the doom
of the wicked to the silence of imagination.
It is one of the benefits of its complete detachment
from the Western Church at the time of the Council of
Nicaea, in the fourth century, that the Coptic Church
escaped the vulgar craving for artistic realism which
afterwards found expression through depraved taste
and a diseased imagination, working in an age of
superstition.
Modern Coptic reformers, however, are opposed to
the use of pictures, thinking they still give some excuse
for idolatry. The reforming Patriarch Cyrillus in 1851
gave an order that church paintings were to be brought
from all quarters to Cairo, where, adding every picture
and the Extraordinary Fasts 219
from the old cathedral, he made a great bonfire of them,
many good pictures perishing in this way. In his
address at the burning he used the ominous term
o
"wooden pictures," saying, "These you used to honour
and even worship. They can neither avail nor harm
you."
The remedy was drastic but not effective, for under
the present Patriarch modern canvases have been placed
in the new cathedral — appalling daubs which cry aloud
of the folly of the iconoclasts.
I have been told, in Assiout, of the zeal of one of the
early converts to the teaching of the American Presby-
terian Mission there, who, unable to bear the thought of
the veneration paid to the pictures in the church, forced
an entrance at night, took away the pictures, and de-
stroyed them ; and the same thing was done in other
places, where reforming ardour was fanned by the
American missionaries.
In some of the Coptic houses there are pictures of
saints, before which tapers are lighted and prayers are
said. Though to pray to saints is forbidden, it is known
that many women pray and worship in their own homes
before the pictures of the Virgin Mary, St. Michael,
St. George, and St. Mercurius.
The practice of private prayer is strictly observed by
the pious Copt. Like the Jews, he prays seven times
a day — another instance of the way the Copts adopted
the literal words of Scripture ; it is enough that the
Psalmist said, "Seven times a day do I praise Thee"
(Ps. cxix. 164). Unlike the five daily acts of
Moslem worship which require stated acts of obeisance,
the Coptic prayers are often repeated while walking,
riding, or transacting business. The more devout and
formal Copts wash their hands, face, and feet before
2 2 o Of the Bread and Wine^ of Holy Water
prayer, and some repeat the whole Book of Psalms during
the " seven times " ; others use the rosary to keep count
of the frequent repetitions of the Lord's Prayer and the
Kyrie Eleison which they rely upon exclusively.
The Coptic Hours of Prayer are :
Midnight, or Matins.
Dawn, or Lauds — at 6 a.m.
Third Hour, or Tierce — at 9 a.m.
Sixth Hour, or Sext — at noon.
Ninth Hour, or Nones — at 3 p.m.
Eleventh Hour, or Vespers — at 6 p.m.
Sunset, or Compline — at 7.30 p.m.
Services are held in the church every Friday and
Saturday evening. There is a morning service on
Wednesdays, generally lasting about four hours. During
Lent there is a service every day ; as there is on all
saints' days and feast-days.
On three occasions in the year there are special
midnight services, which are very long — beginning at
sunset and endin^ about one o'clock in the morning:.
During Advent there are services which occupy the
whole night, consisting largely of hymns to Mary and
her Son.
The relics of the Coptic Church, mostly consisting
of bones of saints, are kept in the churches in long
cylindrical boxes covered with rich silk or other stuff,
looking like bolsters. Generally the bolsters may be
found in a locker in the wall of the church under the
chief pictures, where it is open to any one to take them
out.
It is a touching sight to see the women, closely
veiled, sitting reverently nursing these relic cases in
earnest faith that the prayers they utter, mostly about
and the Extraordinary Fasts 221
personal ailments, will be answered. Every now and
then they will stop to gossip, as they hand the cases to
each other, the saints' bones inside rattling gruesomely.
It is generally believed that every church has a relic
of its patron saint, and although the worship of them is
forbidden, there is universal belief in their sovereign
virtues.
As with their pictures, it is the early faith common
to the Christian Church in the efficacy of relics which
the Copts retain : the idolatrous honour and lavish
setting of the shrines which grew up in the Roman
Church they have in no way followed.
In the very early days of Christianity a belief
obtained that every saint possessed protective and heal-
ing power, and a great veneration was felt for the tombs
of saints and martyrs, Coptic history being especially
rich in stories of miracles and wonders taking place
there. Most of the monasteries rose on the sites
hallowed by the devotion of saints. To the veneration
of relics, of parts of the body or even the garments, or
anything that had been touched by the saint, was a short
step. One of the first stories related by Palladius, about
the year a.d. 386, was of his companion monk, who
possessed a blessed relic of St. John the Baptist, by
means of which he cast out devils.
The Coptic Church is distinguished for the number
and the length of its fasts. In this, as in so many
other things, it carried on the practice of the ancient
Egyptians. In the East the spiritual and material
benefit of fasting has always been highly regarded.
The yearly Fast of Ramadan has often been written
about in the West, generally to be condemned as a
pretence of any real self-denial, by observers whose
knowledge of Islam has been too superficial to suggest to
2 22 Of the Bread a7td JVine^ of Holy Water
them even a suspicion of the extent to which fasts, even
supplementary to that of Ramadan, are observed by
pious Moslems everywhere. I know many men of
this faith, some of them of great age, who fast regularly
one day a week, and whose month of Ramadan is
very rigorously observed from nothing but truly religious
motives.
With the Copts, fasting should be one of the most
important of all religious duties. It is a ground of
pardon, and a way to salvation. A bishop fasts for a
week after his consecration, while the ordination of a
priest is followed by a month's fast ; these being
amongst a number of the special seasons of abstinence.
Of general fasts. Lent is the longest, and of course
the most important. It lasts fifty-five days, during
which time the people are forbidden to eat butter, meat
or eggs, or fish, or to drink milk or coffee or wine ; no
food being taken between the hours of sunrise and
sunset.
To truly observe the Fast of Holy Week the Copt
should perpetually fast for the first three days with con-
tinual prayer ; and then should fast from the Thursday
afternoon till Friday evening, breaking the fast by drink-
ing an infusion of myrrh in vinegar.
It is the custom in some districts to bake all the
necessary bread at the beginning of the fast ; the fiat
cakes become so hard that very long soaking is
necessary before they can possibly be masticated.
The great length of the Lenten fast is accounted for
by the joining on to it of the fast which is founded on
the legend of Heraclius. The Emperor on his way
through Palestine promised protection to the Jews ; but
at Jerusalem gave way to the entreaties of the Christians
for revenge on the Jews for their cruelties, and for the
and the Extraordinary Fasts 223
pillage of the Holy City. They promised the Emperor
that if he would break his bond they would institute a
fast of one week each year. The massacre was ordered,
and the Fast of Heraclius has continued until now.
The Fast of Advent lasts for forty days preceding the
feast of the Nativity, and is less severe than Lent, fish
being allowed.
The third great fast of the Coptic Church, called the
Fast of the Apostles, begins with Pentecost, and lasts
for about forty days ; the length varying a little.
About a fortnight before Lent the Fast of Nineveh
occurs, lasting for three days.
At the beginning of August the Assumption of the
Virgin is honoured by a fifteen days' fast. On Christ-
mas Eve, and the eve of Epiphany, a fast is appointed
until sunset.
The obligation of these fasts is still generally
recognised, though there is a growing laxity in the
matter, under the more strenuous Western ideas of fixed
hours of work, which increasingly obtain. Many of my
friends discriminate as to the fasts they consider the
most binding and those they must of necessity forgo.
Many of those of the orthodox faith, however, keep the
fast of Friday up to the hour of noon ; and all fast on
Sunday until the service of the Eucharist ends, whether
they partake or not.
I do not agree at all with the suggestion I have
sometimes heard in Coptic circles that the degeneracy of
the clergy can be explained or excused on the ground
of the severity of these fasts. The spiritual giants of the
Early Church were the men who were most hard upon
themselves in the matter of food, and there is rarely
a suggestion that their powers were thus diminished.
Over and over acfain one comes across the record of the
2 24 Of the Bread and IVine^ of Holy Water
hermit and the monk who had, in deliberate scorn of the
body, subsisted from youth on incredibly small and poor
rations, with terribly restricted sleep, preserving his
physical and mental powers to an almost incredible age.
Occasional lassitude of course asserted itself; but not
more, I fancy, than can be attributed in ordinary com-
munities to overeating.
The present Patriarch, and also the Bishop of
Fayoum, may be mentioned as showing that in the
present day this theory can be borne out. Indeed, my
own belief is that it is through self-restriction that the
Oriental always finds the way to a realisation of his best
powers. Two of the most charming old men I have met
in the East had both reached the age of a hundred and
ten years. Their joyous alertness was delightful as they
insisted to me that they owed all to the mercy of God,
and to the keeping of fasts made more numerous and
severe as their years increased.
There are seven feasts of the first importance.
Christmas, falling invariably on the 7th of January ;
Epiphany ; Easter ; Ascension ; Pentecost, when all
women go to the church in the afternoon and distribute
food to the poor, the priest dispensing incense in
remembrance of the departed ; Palm Sunday ; and the
feast commemorating the entrance of Our Lord into
Egypt.
No church bells call the Egyptian Christians to
worship ; the ringing of bells, which from the time of
Mohammed has always been distasteful to Moslems,
was prohibited in Egypt in the ninth century, many of
the old bells being carried off to the monasteries, where
they still remain. In the records of the early monastic
life which are left to us, there is constant mention of the
calling of the brethren to pray by "beating the board."
and the Extraordinary Fasts 225
The dislike of bells on the part of Moslems is so far
connected with religious prejudice as to be based on a
tradition that the Prophet disliked them. I know that
to this day when visiting Europe Moslems find the
ringing of the church bells a great physical trial, apart
altogether from distaste for Christian customs. No old-
fashioned Moslem will have a bell in his house ; he
summons his servants by the clapping of hands. To
offer his children in ignorance a modern toy with bells
attached would be a faitx pas ; knowingly to offer such
a thing would be an insult.
The churches are neglected, and, especially in the
country, little attempt is made even to keep them clean.
If the ill-educated and ill-paid priests are ignorant of
their history, and careless of their possessions, what can
one say of the church attendants ? As for the monks
at the monasteries, their minds seem blank when they
are questioned about the many points which interest the
visitor ; and that this ignorance is not an Oriental guise,
is proved by the way in which they have given away,
or sold for a pittance, the priceless treasures which the
centuries had gathered in their far-off retreats. They
have in some cases allowed even their uniquely exquisite
screens of cedar and ivory inlay to be taken away. A
pair of beautiful doors were bought by a Frenchman to
decorate his home, from the Church of Al Mu'allakah,
within the Roman fortress of Babylon, outside Cairo ;
but fortunately they have been secured by the British
Museum. It would be a gracious as well as a judicious
thing to return them to the church now that the author-
ities are alive to their value. The priest who sold
these doors was never averse to a tourist hacking away
a piece of the sanctuary screen with a penknife if he
first offered a little backsheesh. Well miofht the in-
IS
2 26 Of the Bread and JVine^ of Holy Water
telligent Coptic laymen, while regretting the loss to
their church of almost all its treasures, declare to me a
few years since that while they had so little hope of any
intelligent care of them as existed at that time, they
felt that our National Museum was the safest harbour
they could find. Even now, however, one occasionally
stumbles across such things as beautiful screens, and
even altar fittings, an ancient ark or an historic reliquary,
in the lumber-rooms of the church houses.
Marcus Simaika Pasha has accomplished a great deal
in showing to his compatriots the value the Western
world puts upon such forgotten treasures, by recently
forming a most interesting Coptic Museum in Cairo, as
well as in many other ways.
A greater care is now taken of many of the historic
Cairo churches by well-advised repair and restoration,
and they are no longer the byword for dirt and want
of sanitation that they were only a few years since,
when I first knew them.
It is much to be hoped that the influence of this work
will spread to the country towns and villages. In most
of the country churches there seems to be no idea of
even caring for the altar itself, for the state in which it is
generally found is most painful.
Seeing that in the teaching of the Church the altar
is regarded as the tomb of Christ, and the throne of
God, it is amazing that the priests and deacons can see
its cover torn, and begrimed with grease from the
tapers and the ashes from the censer and the immemorial
dust of Egypt, where dust asserts itself everywhere ;
while in tumbled disarray are torn books, dirty vest-
ments, carelessly thrown on to it ; the tabernacle turned
over on its side : the whole giving the impression of a
church dead and deserted — an impression only partly
and the Extraordinary Fasts 2 2^
removed when the candles are lighted and the incense
is burning, and the vested priests and deacons appear in
the solemn service of the Holy Eucharist.
Reform, however, is impossible in any of these things
until the priesthood itself is reformed, in its methods of
selection as well as of training.
L
CHAPTER IV
The Beliefs of the Copts
How THEY SEPARATED THEM FROM WESTERN CHRISTEN-
DOM, AND HOW THEY HAVE AFFECTED THEIR CHARACTER
THE Copts belong to the unchanged primitive
Church which was defined by the Council of
Nicaea in the year a.d. 325. She has rejected
all later creeds, and she claims that not only has she
refused to acknowledge any Pope but her own, but that
she has remained fixed in her doctrine and organisation.
Through the stupendous movements of history, repre-
sented by two hundred years of Byzantine rule, through
the invasion of the Arab Moslems in the seventh century,
and all the sufferings and disqualifications of that domina-
tion, lasting for over twelve hundred years, the essential
character of the Coptic Church has not changed.
To understand the position of this Oriental Church,
therefore, it is necessary to do little more than briefly
trace her history from the coming of St. Mark, about
the year 45, to the rise of Athanasius the Great, who
attended Alexander to the Nicene Council.
Universal tradition, both East and West, has con-
nected St. Mark the Evangelist with the foundation of
the Church of Alexandria. The Egyptian traditions
say that St. Mark was a native of Pentapolis ; he was
228
The Beliefs of the Copts 2 2()
one of the Seventy ; it is firmly believed by the Copts
that he was a servant at the feast when Christ turned
the water into wine ; he was the man whom the apostles
met, before the Last Supper, carrying a pitcher of water ;
in his house the Passover was celebrated by Jesus ; and
it was there again, after the resurrection, that the
apostles met secretly in fear of the Jews, when the
Saviour appeared unto them.
It is curious that until quite recently the existence of
Babylon in Egypt had been entirely forgotten in the
West, so that we were always confused by thinking that
it was to the Asiatic Babylon that the early Christian
writers referred.
It is possible that St. Mark was accompanied on his
journey to Egypt as far as Babylon (now wrongly called
Old Cairo) by St. Peter, whose First Epistle is dated
from that city. "The church that is at Babylon,"
of which he speaks (i Pet. v. 13), was clearly in-
tended to refer to the Egyptian disciples of his friend
and amanuensis, St. Mark. It is not unlikely that a
good deal of the Gospel of St. Mark was written during
the stay at Babylon with St. Peter ; the apostle's in-
tention being to use it in the evangelisation of Egypt.
Mark's first convert in Alexandria was one Annianus,
a shoemaker by trade ; this man he afterwards con-
secrated as first bishop of the new Church, with three
priests and seven deacons as assistants.
All the earlier writers speak of Mark as living in
Egypt from this time until his death. It was probably
in the year 62 that he gave his life as a martyr, being
killed by the pagans whom he had enraged by protest-
ing against their feast to Serapis. He was buried in
the first Christian church, which he had built at Bancalia,
near the seashore by Alexandria. For centuries after,
230 The Beliefs of the Copts
the election of the Alexandrian Patriarchs took place at
his tomb. If it is objected that tradition is stated as
though it were history, I must say that all experience
goes to show the probability of such traditional lore of
the East having its origin in historic fact.
Within a century, a great Christian school had taken
its place amongst the educational institutions which had
made Alexandria the first city of the world — a school
which has an imperishable honour from its connection
with that early translation of the Bible into Greek which
did so much to make it familiar to European nations.
Alexandria gave to the primitive Church its most
eloquent preacher, Apollos.
Through such men as Pantaenus, and his more
famous pupil, Clement of Alexandria, the Church of
Egypt came into a wide prominence. It was Pantaenus
who carried the Gospel to India, in response to a request
sent to the Patriarch.
In the philosophical and fairly tolerant atmosphere
of the Eastern metropolis, the Church developed in com-
parative peace until the beginning of the third century,
when it met the first of the great trials which were to
test it, the persecution of Severus. A noble spirit of
martyrdom was aroused ; among those who gave their
lives for the faith being Leonides, the father of that
truly great man Origen.
At this time the Church of Egypt was the leader of
Christendom, and the Novatian heresy — that to recant
is an unpardonable sin — was referred to the Patriarch
for settlement.
The divero-ence of the g-reat forces of Christian life
may be said to have begun in the Eastern direction
given by the teaching of Origen, speculating on the nature
of God ; while, later on, the Western stream was defined
The Beliefs of the Copts 231
by Augustine, who fixed the thought of the Church upon
the doctrine of sin and atonement ; after Rome had
wrestled for the supremacy at the famous council
between East and West at Sardica.
The fourth century ushered in what was, for Egypt
especially, a period of martyrdom. The story of the
persecution of the Coptic Church by the pagan emperors
finds its horrible climax in the cruel and vindictive
suppressions under Diocletian. All churches were to be
demolished, all sacred books burned, every Christian in
an official post was to be turned out of office, while
all were reduced to slavery. The sufferings to which,
through a series of years, the martyrs were subjected,
almost eclipse any tortures of which there is a record.
So deep was the impression made upon the mind of
the Church that the Copts have ever since reckoned
time from what they call the Era of Martyrdom, using
the first year of the hated Diocletian (a.d. 284) as the
actual starting-point; thus the year 19 14 is the year
1630 in their calendar.
It was the accession of Constantine to the throne,
in 324, that brought relief to the harassed Egyptian
Church. From this time onwards Christianity was the
dominant religion of the Nile valley. For another
century it continued to be a Church which united in one
body all Christians, until the Council of Chalcedon.
But even in Constantine's time the cloud of internal
strife and dissension — at first no bi^Sfer than a man's
hand — began to gather. Constantine made the mistake
of thinking the dispute was of little importance, which
was eventually to involve the whole Empire, and in
Professor Flinders Petrie's words "led to the overthrow
of that great Gothic dominion which might have steered
the world clear of the barbarism of the Middle Ages."
232 The Beliefs of the Copts
In a word, what developed into the greatest disputes
in the realm of dogma, was based on the question
whether "before time" means "from eternity." The
Emperor might well advise that such a warfare, seeming
at first to be little more than a battle of words, ought to
be dropped without further distraction to the Church.
Above all Orientals, the Copt to this day carries on
that love of disputing in which the ancient Egyptians
had delighted, and which in early Christian times
showed itself in the speculative writings of the early
fathers. St. Anthony himself protested against this
sore failing. The devils which possess man, he says,
come with tumult and wrang-ling. It is recorded of a
certain brother of that day that he asked a pious old
abba, " If it should happen that a man fell into tempta-
tion, by the permission of God, for the benefit of his
soul, what is it right for those to do who are made to
stumble by the same temptation ? "
It was a question characteristic of the East ; no one
who knows the Copt would be surprised to hear in
Cairo to-day, after fifteen centuries, exactly the same
query. When the great Moravian missionary, Danke,
went to Egypt in 1786 he could make no opening for his
message for a long time, while the Copts were interest-
ing themselves by putting theological posers to him,
which to us seem less than trivial. In 1840, Mr. Leider,
who went to Cairo for the Church Missionary Society,
had to plough the same stubborn furrow. The Copts
who came to his meetings struck despair to the heart of
that good man by insisting upon disputing, for seven
precious days, the proposition "whether angels have
wings in reality or not."
It was what is called the great Arian controversy in
the fourth century that began to disturb the whole of
The Beliefs of the Copts 233
Christendom, but especially that Church of Egypt, in
which it began. With apparent innocence, a young
presbyter of Alexandria, whose name was Arius, a man
of whose character it is recorded that he was austere
and upright, in his eagerness to defend his beliefs
against that heathen charge that the Christian doctrine
of the Trinity taught a plurality of Gods, got himself
entangled in definitions of the Trinity which were taken
to imply a denial of the deity of Christ.
The Patriarch, recognising that this teaching would
lead to what has since come to be called Unitarianism,
did his utmost to reclaim the young man, and when he
found this hopeless, excommunicated him. This act
only fanned the great controversy, in which the name
of Athanasius, who became Patriarch of Alexandria,
stands out most prominently in defence of the deity
of Christ.
The story of the many exiles suffered by this great
and sainted father of the Church during the forty-six
years he occupied the Alexandrian throne (ending in
the year a.d. ^ilZ) would alone serve to illustrate the
distractions by which the Church at this period
was torn.
The dispute became the centre of political intrigue
through the unfortunate fact of the Court party at
Constantinople favouring Arius. When the Emperor
called the Council of Nicsea (the first of the famous
Ecumenical Councils),^ and its decision went against his
wishes, he used his sovereign force to get what had
Mt is interesting to remember that the Creed of Nicsea was expanded
into the form which the Church of England (in common with the whole
CathoHc Church) uses in its Communion service at the Council of
Constantinople in A.D. 381. The Coptic Church differs only in omitting the
phrase " God of God," and in affirming the procession of the Holy Ghost
to be only from the Father.
2 34 ^^^ Beliefs of the Copts
been lost by argument. He would have Arlus restored
to the priesthood ; and when Athanasius resisted, he
appointed an Arian Patriarch.
The great body of the Church in Egypt would not
recognise the imperial appointment, fiercely supporting
Athanasius ; almost as much for reasons of national
patriotism, as for doctrinal significance.
At this point the rival Church (which survives to
this day) was established in Egypt, called the Greek
Orthodox Church.
The political conflicts with the Emperor insidiously
undermined the spiritual power of the Coptic Church,
and the degeneration was accelerated by the bitter
rivalry between the Church of Egypt and the Church at
Constantinople. It seems as if almost the only passion
left at the time to the Egyptian Church was to maintain
her ecclesiastical supremacy.
If the Council of Nicaea made the divergence
in doctrine which separated the two branches of
Christendom, it also struck the blow which deprived
Alexandria of the position, until then universally acknow-
ledged, of being the paramount See. Till then, Alex-
andria had always decided for the whole of Christendom
the date of Easter; at Nicaea, the Western date was
adopted. Apart from the authority of the Church, the
astronomical science of Egypt had always been acknow-
ledged in this matter. Egypt retains to this day the
ancient mode of reckoning for Easter, and the city of
Alexandria still maintains its prestige in the claim of its
Bishop to fix that date for the Coptic Church. Easter,
strangely enough, is a festival which is hailed with joy
both by Copt and Moslem alike. It decides for all men
in Egypt when winter is over, and the day on which
to hail the spring, when all the folk of Egypt shall
The Beliefs of the Copts 235
make festival together by going into the country " to
smell the zephyr."
Out of the first theological disputes others grew,
until the last of the Eastern controversies in which the
Western Church had any part arose ; when Rome, from
the paramount position she had gained by the middle of
the fifth century, cut off once and for all, by excommuni-
cation and disestablishment, the Egyptian Church.
This was called the heresy of "one nature"
(Monophysite), a dispute, so far as words go, having a
more trivial basis than any before — for practically it
turns on the use of the words "in" or "of."
Nestorius had previously asserted that the two
natures of Christ, the human and the divine, were so
separate and distinct as to prevent one nature from
qualifying the acts of the other nature. This was
condemned in Council, and the unity of the two natures
asserted.
The old Abbot Eutyches, in the enthusiasm of his
advocacy of what he conceived to be the orthodox
position, asserted that while Christ was God and Man
(on which all were agreed), yet the Egyptian Church
must say that both natures were united in Him, instead
of being co-existent in Him ; that therefore it is
irreverent to speak of two natures, as that implies
imperfect union, whereas in Him there was no imper-
fection, the two natures being absolutely one God-man.
The Greeks and the Romans insisted on excommuni-
cating Eutyches ; but the Coptic Patriarch, Dioscoros,
refused to submit to this decision of the famous Council
of Chalcedon. When one thinks of the unrestrained
rowdyism which characterised the proceedings of this
Council, it is not difficult to believe that the whole
business was used by Rome more as a weapon to finally
236 The Beliefs of the Copts
crush the claims of Alexandria than to purge Christian
doctrine of error. The decision was made the excuse
by Marcian (consort of the Empress), not only to
dethrone the Patriarch, but to confiscate the property of
his Church.
It was only a small minority, however, that entered
into possession of the stolen churches ; for the loyalty
of the Copts remained true to their Patriarch, and
ignored the authority of the Melkite, or imperial
Patriarch, who was consecrated by the Emperor's orders
by four Egyptian bishops who had deserted to him.
A still more passionate patriotism was roused in the
hearts of the members of the Egyptian National (or
Jacobite) Church, as it came to be called, by this action
of the alien Emperor.
It was this that led to the deadly feuds which dis-
grace the time, when men stained the very altar itself
with the blood of the officiating priest, who was made
the victim of strife which had little to do with religious
considerations.
I am convinced that it is to the double patriotism,
thus engendered, that we must look to find part of the
secret of that deep and abiding loyalty to this Church,
which, however long it may have smouldered, has always
kept the vital spark, ready to set ablaze any movement
that has ever had the power to stir the indefinable
instincts which this passion left in the minds of the
Coptic people.
When Heraclius attempted, in the seventh century,
to reconcile the two factions, the Coptic Church would
have none of it ; the old fire was stirred in their deter-
mination to preserve their Church as the embodiment
of their national instincts, for which they had fought
since the Council of Chalcedon.
The Beliefs of the Copts 237
The doctrine which had been made the excuse for
their persecution had now become to them the shib-
boleth of their most cherished aspirations. Their
Patriarch had become more to them than a religious
head — he was to them as the king of the land of their
birth. They had been forced to fight and suffer for
religious freedom in such a way as to involve the defence
of their national existence. This had become an ideal,
the defence of which setded the course of all their
history.
So horrible were the persecutions to which they
were again and again subjected by the Byzantine rulers,
that the untrammelled Arabs, when they burst in upon
them, found them disheartened, and even callous as to
any sort of political development. The invaders, under
the inspiration of the impassioned call of their Prophet
from idolatry to the worship of the One God, seemed,
in those early days of their faith, to have become
possessed of the secrets of a primeval vigour which
enabled them to sweep all before them.
As for the depopulation from the great number of
the Copts spoken of in the early Christian days, I fear
that here again Western prejudice is too apt to adopt
the view, which the Copt allows to stand uncontradicted,
that bloody persecution, and the worldly attractions
offered by Islam, altogether account for the decline.
European Christian writers have found it a con-
genial task, the results of which were sure of a welcome
by their Moslem-hating public at home, to dwell on
the devastation wrought to the Egyptian Church by
the tyranny and injustice and persecution of the Arabian
invaders. So deeply is all this ingrained in Western
prejudice, that it is almost useless to point to the
evidence of centuries of Moslem toleration, and to the
238 The Beliefs of the Copts
steady stream of Coptic defections that were based on
nothing more than the worldly advantages arising from
the profession of faith in the one God and in Mohammed
the last of the prophets.
Sufficient count has never been taken of the extent
to which the Coptic nation, in the fourth century,
started, by way of monasticism, on the road which, for
a very long time, seemed as if it must lead to nothing
short of a national extermination. In Sohag alone there
were at one time ten thousand monks and twenty
thousand nuns. In one place it was said the whole
population was under monastic vows. About Thebes,
the "sons of the monastery" of the blessed Pachomius
numbered over eight thousand. The holy man Abba
Thor, in his desert monastery, ruled over a thousand
monks ; but he was quite eclipsed by one of the great
cities in Thebais, for there the communities of religious
men and women, all pledged to celibacy, grew to such
an extent that it was computed there were no less than
ten thousand monks and twenty thousand virgins ; and
this while the movement was far from having reached
its zenith.
We read without surprise that "Egypt was filled
with monks " ; and in that sentence was the death-knell
of everything that might have carried the Coptic people
to the position of one of the noblest nations in the sub-
sequent history of the world.
It was into a country thus weakened that the Arabs
forced their way ; and they saw at once the necessity
of turning that great stream of emigration from Arabia
into Egypt, which was kept up for many years, to save
the rich and fertile land, watered by the Nile, from
depletion.
No doubt, in the early days of the conquest, there
The Beliefs of the Copts 239
were a great many conversions to Islam, and it is this
mixture with the Arabs that has, when one considers
the matter on bi-oad Hnes, made of all the people of
Egypt one nation, as near together in ethnic appearance
as in manners and customs.
It was a Copt, Dr. Fanous, a man of culture and
possibly the greatest living orator in Egypt, who de-
clared to a great gathering of his fellow-Christians at
Assiout, that the Copts and the Moslems " have indeed
been divided, yet really they are one and united, and
the only difference is one of faith. From this point
of view they cannot justly be looked upon as distinct
elements. Whatever they may be called, the Moslems
and the Copts are the veritable descendants of the
People of Egypt of seven thousand years ago."
When Lane was writing, eighty years since, he
calculated that there were but one hundred and fifty
thousand Copts in the whole of Egypt ; at the present
time these have increased to between eight and nine
hundred thousand.
The only material advantage now left to draw the
native Christians to the side of the Moslem majority^
is the firm belief that the Moslems enjoy the favour
and preference of the English rulers ; and this may
be thought to have but little weight with the descendants
of those who through so many years stood fast against
all temptations to desert their faith in Christ.
The Coptic communities in the cities and towns
go on growing in proportion to the marvellous increase
of the whole population ; it is in the villages that the
thoughtful Copts to-day see a danger of a total extinc-
tion of their race by a gradual and almost unconscious
absorption into the Moslem faith.
^ The total population of Egypt is now about ten millions.
240 The Beliefs of the Copts
The very causes which encourage the Coptic in-
crease in the towns are leading to their disappearance
in the country. Many hundreds of villages have no
church, and no priest ever visits them. In the days
when opposition roused a man's pride in the profession
of the Cross he made efforts to preserve the faith in
which he gloried.
In these days the only religious function left in which
the remote country Copt exerts himself, is to carry
his children to a distant church for baptism, neglecting
all the other sacraments. In every way he lives the
same life as his Moslem neighbour, and between them
there is no sign remaining of religious contention. Is
it surprising, when the Church does nothing for him,
that his knowledge of Christianity becomes more and
more weak, until it takes very little persuasion, on the
part of a sheikh whom he respects, to draw him into
the ranks of those on whom he is dependent for society
and neighbourly offices — the men whom he sees daily
at their prayers, and going regularly with deep satis-
faction to worship God in the mosque.
This is a strange result of the Christian occupation
of Moslem Egypt. Some Coptic friends of mine have
turned with entreaty to unofficial England, hoping that
some help might come from a country taking such deep
interest in missionary work. It is difficult, however,
to see how any help is possible, unless the opportunity
arises to assist in the revival of the whole Coptic Church,
so that it may itself go forth to seek out and care for
the scattered members of its flock.
I like to recall that charming picture of Miss Whately
years ago, in the intervals of her school work in Cairo,
going to the villages to carry the light of the Scriptures
to the poor and ignorant. Sitting one day in an entirely
Photo: Dittrich,
THE EGYPTIAX VILLAGE OF KENEH, LARGELY COPTIC. WHERE THE
DRINKING VESSELS ARE MADE.
r1
-^ it
•t
—.J
1
lOto- Dittrich. Cairo.
THE BEAUTIFUL BANKS OF THE NILE.
The Beliefs of the Copts 241
Moslem village, two nomads of the adjoining desert,
to whom she had previously read the Bible, brought
to her a friend to "hear your book." The man was
a Copt, living alone with his family amongst Moslems
in a distant village, through which the nomads passed.
They had told him of Miss Whately's reading, and
wished him as a Christian to enjoy it, as they in their
turn delighted in hearing their Koran. The poor man
was enchanted to hear the Scriptures in a language
he could understand, and confessed himself ashamed
of his total ignorance of the Bible.
The native teachers trained by the American Mission
have reached a good number of villages, and many
chapels have been built, where small gatherings of
Christians are held. From Coptic centres like Assiout
a number of zealous itinerant teachers go out from the
chapels to the little hamlets to preach.
I have never been more impressed than when I
accompanied one of the daughters of a leading Coptic
family in Upper Egypt on such a mission one Sunday
afternoon. We crossed the Nile, gleaming under the
golden blue sky of an early spring day, in a little row-
boat, making for a village hid in the distant palm
groves.
Was this the Egypt of the veiled and secluded
woman, of the horrid infidel and fanatic, of the shrinking
Christian afraid to disclose himself? were questions I
asked myself. When our little band arrived at the
village we were received with pleasant salaams by
Moslem and Copt alike as we walked along the dusty
ways towards the insignificant meeting-place. The news
of our coming of course preceded us. A few people
joined us on the road, and as the girl preacher passed
the mud huts I saw here and there the face of a woman
16
242 The Beliefs of the Copts
peering out to catch a glimpse of and to attract her
winning smile, for she was veiled only for protection
from the sun, and in no way hidden.
One old Moslem woman caught the girl's robe as she
passed, and kissed it, murmuring, "The lady of Jesus,"
which I found was the beautiful name that had been
given her.
As soon as we had arrived at the dusty barn in which
the service was to be held, the poor people began to
gather.
Of course part of the barn had been screened off for
the women, but from where I sat I could see the little
group behind the screen, one or two of them mere girls,
with babies at their breasts, sitting on the dusty mud
floor, and wistfully drinking in the sweet words of that
wonder of wonders to them, a girl speaker of their own
country. Because I was an Englishman, no objection
was shown to my sitting there ; no native man would
have been allowed to catch a glimpse of such a hareem.
On the other side of the partition were about thirty
men and boys, whose every expression spoke of their
delight in the story told, in prayer and speech, with such
fervour and charm by the Egyptian girl — a delight
sufficient to make them forget the relimous differences
between the followers of Mohammed and Christ.
How strange it was to hear the girl's sweet voice
singing well-known English hymns in the Arabic tongue.
If there had ever existed any sort of fanaticism, which I
think doubtful, it had been driven out by the spell of a
simple girlish eloquence. For a full hour she spoke, and,
even then, a sigh of disappointment marked the end of
her speech.
I do not know if any Moslem converts are to be
made by such work ; the future only can tell if Egypt is
J
The Beliefs of the Copts 243
to be turned to the Christian faith by a newly awakened
fervour in its native adherents.
But of this there is no doubt, such calls as this to a
better life can never be altogether lost with a people who,
like the Egyptians, are naturally pietistic, and with whom
there is such a deep appreciation of that piety which
leads to a scorn of the pleasures of the world, that they
will everywhere venerate the ascetic, and listen to his
teaching, no matter what the nature of his faith may be.
This disposition is shown clearly in the experiences
of this girl missionary of Assiout. A certain learned
and elderly sheikh frequently discusses with her, in per-
fect courtesy and frankness, the claims of Him of whom
Copt and Moslem alike speak as "Our Lord Jesus, on
whom be blessings and peace," and the two patiently com-
pare together the Bible and the Koran stories of Christ.
The sheikh has never said one word which could
be thought to indicate a desire to desert the Arabian
Prophet ; but he has admitted that the story of the
Cross, told as this girl tells it, has a beauty and a signifi-
cance he never suspected from the Moslem version of it.
One day this girl arrived in a distant village where
there was not even a barn prepared for her. As she
looked for the shade of a palm tree under which to draw
her audience, she passed one of those large tents which
denote a wedding or a funeral. As it was at present
unoccupied, she entered and mounted the little platform
on which the singers or the Koran readers sit, according
as to whether the scene is one of rejoicing or woe, and a
crowd of poor village folk soon surrounded her.
In the midst of her oration a Moslem sheikh ap-
peared. "Did she know," he asked, "that this was a
funeral tent, in which later on the Holy Koran was to
be read to the mourners ? "
244 ^^^ Beliefs of the Copts
" Yes," she had thought it might be such a tent. But,
she asked, " Was it not a place where men were coming
to hear of the comfort and help which God has for His
suffering children ? "
" Yes," answered the sheikh.
She too had a message, also from God, for she held
His Book in her hand ; and she wanted to tell them also
of the comforting words of our Lord Jesus.
"Was this indeed the Book, written in Arabic?"
asked the sheikh, who knew no language but Arabic.
One of the greatest gifts to Egypt of the American
Mission is a cheap Arabic version of the Bible.
The sheikh, like the Prophet, "on whom be blessings
and peace," had reverence for the Book of the Christians.
He only wished he could read it himself.
The girl on her part spoke respectfully of the Koran,
which she had carefully studied, and of Mohammed,
whom she regards as a great teacher.
"Then," said the sheikh, "you shall read and ex-
plain your Book to my own people, after you have
finished preaching to these poor folk " — the village
people, who had by this time gathered in the tent.
And such was his influence with the Moslems who
gathered later on, that my young Christian friend was
allowed to read and explain the Story, which she first
prefaced with the English hymn, turned into Arabic, and
set to an Oriental monotone — "the old, old story of
Jesus and His love."
CHAPTER V
A Sketch of the Aged Coptic Patriarchy
Cyril V,
BEFORE I ever visited Egypt I had heard of the
wonderful old man, Cyril v., successor of a
hundred Popes, bearer of a title which was held
by the head of the Christian Church while Rome was
still a city of secondary account in its Councils. It can
only excite a smile nowadays to refer to the time when
the Pope of Alexandria excommunicated the Pope of
Rome. Lord Cromer had spoken to me in England of
the Patriarch as the greatest reactionary force in Egypt ;
remarking that "he was ruling there when I first went
to Egypt ; when I left he was in full power, and he still
rules." Lord Cromer was called to his wonderful work
in Egypt in the year 1877, and the present Patriarch
had then been on his throne for two years, and as no
man is eligible for the dignity who is under fifty years of
age, it was not at all unlikely that Cyril, as my Coptic
friends averred, was close upon his century of years,^
It was with deep interest that I availed myself of the
audience which had been arranged with this extraordi-
^ All Egyptians over middle life are vague as to their exact age ; it is
not known how old the Patriarch is — with a grim humour he diminishes the
number of his years as he advances. When I visited him he told my friend
who was with me he was eighty ; obviously a joke, for he had spoken of
being ninety years to the same person a year or two before this.
24s
246 A Sketch of the Aged
nary man, " providing that his health allows of his receiv-
ing visitors when the hour appointed arrives." It was on
a Sunday morning that I was taken to the house adjoin-
ing the cathedral in Cairo : noon was the time chosen, as
the celebration of Holy Eucharist would then be over,
and certain priests free to attend the reception, especi-
ally one of the few priests who speak any English, the
Patriarch's nephew. The Patriarch's own room is called
"the Cell," to recall to him his monastic life, the duties
and the high aims of which are set before him in the
prayer of ordination. He must maintain his monastic
rules, and is compelled to add to them certain regulations
calculated to preserve bodily purity.
The house, which is really the administrative head-
quarters of the Coptic Church, rather than a residence,
is spacious and cleanly, with a wide hall and staircase,
the chief rooms being on the first floor. The small
reception-room was sunny and bright, having very little
furniture, but with several coloured portraits on the
walls. Two of these were of our English Sovereigns,
King Edward and King George, both of them pointed
out to me with satisfaction by my Coptic friends. The
other was a lithographed portrait of the Patriarch himself
— recording a handsome, ascetic face ; he had been drawn
in full canonicals and wearing the enormous crown pre-
sented to him by Menelek, King of Abyssinia.
There was no provision in the room for the assump-
tion of any sort of state ; indeed, I was asked to give up
a small chair of ordinary pattern, in the window, which
I had taken, as it was said the Patriarch generally sat
there with his back to the light, owing to the weakness
of his eyes.
Presently the old man, who bears the great title of
" the most Holy Pope, Patriarch of Alexandria and
Coptic Patriarchy Cyril V. 247
all the land of Egypt, Nubia, Abyssinia, Pentapolis, and
all the preaching of St. Mark," came in, attended by
three or four priests. He was clothed in the plain black
Coptic robe and turban, faded and threadbare. A man
of tall, slim figure, more emaciated than in the portrait,
with a lingering of good looks scarcely touched by
senility, he moved without any of the physical drag
which extreme old age so often imposes ; it was by the
dimness of the eye alone that one would suspect the
weight of years which otherwise he seemed to bear
so lightly.
As the introduction was made I kissed the fleshless
hand, noticing that it was free of any sort of episcopal
ring. Before speaking more than the usual Eastern
greeting the old man raised his hands outspread to the
level of his breast and recited, as the Eastern Christian
custom is, the Lord's Prayer ; as the protecting selesma,
or consecration, I thought.
He then turned to me and asked after health, and
home, and friends, showing solicitude, and paying gentle
compliments, with that grace and charm of which only
the Oriental has the secret. Of England and all that
our country had done to bring security and religious
liberty to Egypt he spoke with enthusiasm ; and he
referred to Lord Cromer in terms of profound respect,
the profounder perhaps because, when these two strong
men had often wrestled strenuously for what each had
considered right, the Patriarch had generally gained the
victory — by way of a subtle Oriental strategy, and a
knowledge of the workinsf of the minds of Eastern men,
deep enough even to thwart the mighty power of which
the British Agent was the representative.
In answer to my inquiries, he complained of not
feeling very well : though he would not be persuaded
248 A Sketch of the Aged
to sit down, so that every one remained standing
throughout the whole interview.
As we were about to withdraw, he signed to a priest
to brinor him two of the little brass charms which he
always presents to visitors, according to the Eastern
custom that it is to those who honour one with a visit
that gifts are made. These he blessed, and handed
to us, with the expression of good wishes for our
spiritual welfare. Of little intrinsic worth, they are
treasured as a souvenir of an interview with an historic
personage.
I learnt much about the life and opinions of Cyril v.
from dignitaries of the Church and leading laymen, from
the young reforming party, as well as from those who
respect the ancient traditions for which the Patriarch
contends, and support his conservative action.
Of this every man is agreed, that the private life
of their Patriarch is one of purity and great simplicity
and self-denial. The man who has absolute control
over the revenue of the Patriarchate, reaching perhaps
to as large a sum as ;:^3 5,000 a year, the greater part
of which he might if he chose spend on the exalting
of his office, and with large power over the monastic
revenues of over ^80,000, chooses to live a frugal
existence within the limits of a personal expenditure of
not more than £60 a year. He builds schools, and
repairs churches and monasteries ; in Old Cairo he has
just built a nunnery — which I have visited — for a sister-
hood which has until now been very badly housed ;
he supports with the money all the causes, especially
those of the poor, which appeal to him. But for luxury,
or that display which so generally appeals to the
Oriental when he has the opportunity of asserting
his dignity, he shows a supreme indifference.
Coptic Patriarchy Cyril V, 249
But there can be no doubt that what is called reform
makes little or no appeal to His Holiness Cyril v.
The party which, under the influence of the English
rule, would like to hurry the Church into drastic changes,
has always found in him a rock of offence ; the skill of
his subterfuge, the genius for tactics which invariably
leads to success against every sort of opponent, often by
ways that are dark, has sometimes provoked a dislike
that in times of crisis has become frantic at its im-
potence against such uncanny power.
Those who support the Patriarch will say that he
is perfectly sincere in believing that his duty and
responsibility have always been to guard the Church
from schismatic change, leaving the Church to his
successor as he found it. He is truly suspicious of the
so-called reforms so often urged upon him, and he
doubts the pro-English party of the Copts who would
lead a Catholic Church into Protestant heresies ; as he
has always had doubts of the proffered sympathy of
English clerics, longing to reform his Church, suspecting
that what they are really seeking is to pervert his flock
from the true faith. He knows that these foreign re-
formers have, when speaking to English people at home
of the need of such work as theirs, often referred to
" the soul-destroying heresy of the Coptic Church"; to
which criticism he has never lacked effective retort, for
it must be admitted that he is in a safer position than
Church of England reformers, when suggestions of
heresy are in question. The Coptic Church has from
the day of its early separation from the Western Church
denied the title of "Orthodox," not only to all the
churches of the West, but of the East, except to mono-
physite bodies. This contention may excite the scornful
smile, but we should remember that the assumption was
250 A Sketch of the Aged
originally due not to arrogance, but to the protest of the
national Church of Egypt against the innovations of
Constantinople — not to presumption, but to the early
fidelity of the Copts to the belief and customs of their
forefathers.
As for the young Coptic reformer of to-day, he has
travelled a long way from the position of his fathers,
on a road made alluring by the increasing firmness and
security of the English occupation, and he is apt to
forget that such men as the Patriarch were reared in
an intense hatred of the English Reformation, and an
intolerance of the iconoclasm of the early Western
missionaries who attacked the Coptic Church in the
last century.
Lady Duff Gordon, writing fifty years ago, said that
the Copts would rather have a Moslem than a heretic
ruler, above all the hated Greek ; and they did not want
other Christians to get power. " The Englishman the
Copt looks on as a variety of Moslem — a man who
washes, has no pictures in his church, who has married
bishops, and above all who does not fast from all that
has life for half the year." Indeed, the Englishman's
heresy is so extreme that it is regarded as a thing not
even to be mentioned, unless he draws attention to it
by attempts to convert the Copts. The immediate pre-
decessor of the present Patriarch would not eat with
Lady Duff Gordon, and was otherwise rude to her ; he
hated the Protestants " who ate meat all the year round
like dogs." The Moslems, he declared, were at least
of an old religion ! At the period when such views were
held, the present Patriarch, Cyril v., was already a man
approaching middle life.
The opponents of Cyril think him obstinate through
ignorance, and unscrupulous in gaining his own way ;
Coptic Patriarchy Cyril V, 251
they deplore the Church's rule which sends to the distant
monastery to choose a Patriarch from amongst men
unlettered, untravelled, mostly of ignoble birth. But
when they have got at grips with the problem they
would like to solve, they have found that orthodoxy is
the last thing that can be dislodged, and that the power
of this Oriental potentate has deep roots in a universal
passion of attachment in the hearts of the people, who,
when put to the final test, support the ancient office, and
all it stands for, before every other consideration.
A young Coptic friend of mine, burning with zeal for
the reform of his Church, and in one aspect regarding
the old man with feelings little short of hatred, yet
speaks to me, with glowing eyes, of the thrill he has
(using an English colloquialism he says, " His hair stands
on end") when he hears the Patriarch recite the prayers
of the Holy Eucharist. It is very interesting to find in
the history of the Oriental Church how often the almost
hypnotic effects of the Patriarch's prayer has, on great
occasions, turned even the current of history.
The Patriarch is selected by a Council of the chief of
the clergy and the laity, from monks designated by the
Superior of the Convent of St. Anthony, near the Gulf
of Suez. The bishops, too, are always chosen from the
monasteries, so that there is no translation possible. To
be eligible the man chosen must be free born, of free
parents, and the child of a mother's first marriage, or "a
crowned mother," the crown not being permitted to
widows. He must never have slaughtered an animal
with his own hand, nor otherwise have shed blood. (I
think for the reason that David was not allowed by
Jehovah to build the Temple, because he had shed blood.)
His moral character must be such as was described by
St. Paul to Timothy and Titus ; and his orthodoxy must
252 A Sketch of the Aged
be unquestionable. Provided he can recite the sacred
offices in Coptic, and is famihar with the vernacular
language of the people, very little of learning has ever
been required of either Patriarch or Bishop. There
have been Patriarchs who could not read.
If there is no unanimously accepted candidate for the
Patriarchate, the names of all those who are eligible are
reduced to three by a process of voting, when a solemn
ceremonial of casting lots is resorted to, the intention
being to trust the matter finally to God Himself within
the sanctuary — as He elected St. Matthias. Pieces of
parchment are prepared, each bearing a name of one of
the three candidates, with an extra scroll bearing the name
of Jesus Christ. These are deposited in an urn which
is placed under the altar. The Holy Eucharist is then
celebrated, and for at least a day and night, sometimes
longer, prayers are continuously offered. A young child
is brought, and draws one of the scrolls from the urn.
If it bears the name of one of the candidates, election
falls on him at once ; if the name of Jesus is brought out,
it is taken as a sign that none of the three are approved
of God, and the whole process is gone through again.
It has to be admitted that the rule of sending to the
monasteries for all the men who are to govern the Church
is the greatest possible hindrance to advance, seeing that
these desert institutions have long since sunk to a low
level of spiritual life, and to an intellectual poverty which
is contemptible. The inspiration and fervour which
called them into being, and for a considerable period
made them the home of a truly saintly monasticism and
the centres of learning, languished long since, and no
attempt seems to have been made to check the flood of
formalism, ignorance, and indifference which has over-
whelmed them.
Coptic Patriarchy Cyril V, 253
One pitiful sign of this is the way in which the rich
literary treasures of the monasteries have been scattered
by their rulers, who were incapable of realising their
value. The British Museum now possesses more ancient
Coptic books and documents than all the monasteries of
Egypt ; and the travellers who bought or purloined
them found that sometimes a bottle of liquor was re-
garded as generous barter, or that the promise of straw-
stuffed hassocks, to take the place of unique tomes on
which generations of monks had stood in church to keep
their feet out of the draught, was thought to be a good
bargain for the monastery.
There is scarcely anything so disheartening to the
intelligent Copt of to-day, who desires to see the spiritual
life of his Church revived, as the contemplation of the life
of the monasteries, which still retain important functions
and great revenues. In his bitterness he declares that
these are nothing but the resort of ignorant men of low
origin, who seek only a lazy and untroubled existence.
It is admitted that there is scarcely a single dignitary in
the Coptic Church who can claim to be of good family.
Remembering the remoteness and the unbroken
monotony and rigour of the life of these desert
monasteries, with the long fasts ; and observing, as I
have myself done, the Patriarch and most of the bishops
living lives of monastic severity long after all but com-
pulsion of conscience has been removed, I think this is
too stern a judgment. There must still be some sort of
spiritual call drawing men to these quiet refuges from the
world.
The weakness of the system is, that proved character
and ability in the priesthood count for nothing, and men
of talent and long experience in the work of the Church
are often obliged to submit to the rule of the ignorant —
2 54 ^ Sketch of the Aged
or even illiterate — novice ; with the result that paralysis
overtakes all the best endeavour of cleric and layman
alike, and there is an ever-recurring set-back, as one
desert recluse succeeds another, as Patriarch and Bishop,
with no advantage from what his successors may have
learned in the practical school of responsible life.
Those who are interested in the future of the Church
hope that at the proper moment a strong and wise com-
bination of those Copts who are agreed on the need of
reform may be able to bring about a peaceful reforma-
tion, beginning first with the translation to the Patri-
archate of the Bishop who has proved himself the best
fitted for the high office.
The next great need, doubtless, is to prepare the way
for an educated priesthood, to be decently supported out
of the available funds. As to the Patriarchate, there is
no lack of precedent for overriding the rules which stand
in the way of the Church's advance. The monastic rule
has certainly been set aside once or twice in the past ; a
married man even has been chosen who was a merchant
and not a monk, with the best results — to recall this to
Oriental conservatism should be helpful in preparing the
way for reform.
There is something quite romantic about the troubled
story of Cyril v. after he was called to the Patriarchate.
Well may men have dreaded this office to such a degree
that to this day the Patriarch is always brought in chains
from the peaceful monastery to his restless abode in
Cairo — relics of the day when he had to be literally
dragged to his new post.
Centuries ago a dear old mother, when she saw the
son of her heart dragged from the retreat which she had
hoped was to shelter him from the storms of life until he
entered the desired haven, to assume this fearful dignity,
Coptic Patriarchy Cyril V, 255
exclaimed, in the bitterness of misgiving, *' I would rather
have seen you in your grave ! "
Monks before now have cut off their ears so that
they might be ineligible for the office of Patriarch. As
early as the days when Athanasius was Patriarch, there
was vulgar plotting against a man who had been raised
so high. The leader of a schism persuaded Arsenius,
Bishop of Hypsele, to go into hiding, so that Athanasius
might be charged before Constantine with his murder, a
mummied hand being produced as evidence of the crime.
Intrigue may in these days be a little less crude, but its
practice is still dear to the Oriental mind.
Cyril v., the hundred and twelfth successor of St.
Mark, was in his youth a monk of the monastery of
Baramous, in the Natron valley, where he was distin-
guished for the holiness of his life. His predecessor had
been an ignorant and bigoted man, whose resentments of
the proselytising of the American Mission read like a
story of Oriental despotism and revenge of the Middle
Ages.
When he died in 1873 a large number of Coptic lay-
men consulted together and drew up a scheme of reform,
based on a canon of their Church, too long ignored,
which declares that in all important matters the Patri-
arch must consult pious and learned men, both priests
and laymen. They determined to gain the assent of
any new Patriarch before he was finally elected to office.
Delaying the election, and acting with the sanction of
the Metropolitan of Alexandria, who stands next in
authority to the head of the Church, and who during a
vacancy acts as Vicar-General, they formed two Councils
— one of the clergy to deal with ecclesiastical affairs, and
the other of laymen, for civil matters ; and in each diocese
similar Councils were formed.
256 A Sketch of the Aged
The bishops accepted the scheme, and the Khedive
gave the necessary sanction. Time was given to test
the working of the plan, and when it was found to be
satisfactory the prelates took the necessary steps for
the choosing of the Patriarch.
In the early days of Cyril, a Theological College was
started in Cairo under able direction. It was in dealing
with this College that the new Patriarch first showed that
Oriental determination to have undisputed sway, which
almost always asserts itself in the East in men who dis-
cover that they are in the possession of great power, and
are naturally gifted with that subtle faculty to master the
forces that would contest their assumption.
Supreme power in the East, indeed, seems invariably
to find its way into the hands of men skilled in intrigue ;
it is this that has always offered such possibilities to men
of subde intelligence, no matter what their birth, of raising
themselves above every natural obstacle to advance. It
is this that gives the zest of a great game to life to certain
men who know how to play it. It is this too that keeps
the public life of Egypt from ever showing any attraction
to men of steady principle.
If those who win the shifting rewards of this game
could only realise it, they are all the time defeating their
own ends, for I think it may be said that so long as
Britain rules, the repugnance which mere intrigue will
always arouse, will lead to a constant curtailing of the
field in which the shameless game can be played. And
the steady, and less artful, part of the nation may one
day be willing to emerge from the obscurity which the
fear of the tricks of the superlative conjurer in high
places has forced upon him.
The Patriarch's first move, then, was ruthlessly to
abolish the College, which he could not absolutely
Coptic Patriarchy Cyril V, 257
control. To the protests of the Council of laymen he
turned a deaf ear ; their importunities did not wear him
out, but themselves.
Cyril made for himself, as the Patriarchs had often
done before, friends of the mammon of unrighteousness ;
he remembered a reforming predecessor, who not so
very long ago had sought to bring about a union
between the Greek and Anglican Churches,^ and had
in so doing aroused the suspicions of the Moslem
authorities, so that the traditional cup of coffee is said to
have ended a noble life.
Cyril v. quietly commended himself to the ruling
power, so that behind him there would be " the sword
of the infidel " if days of stress should come. Then he
settled down to his steady course of masterly inactivity ;
doubtless his policy was well considered, and in his
own way his desire was to serve his Church.
The Oriental never forgets ; and memory, especially
of wounded pride, can bridge the centuries. The
Patriarchs have never lost the suspicion of Western
Christians since the establishment in Egypt, in the
eighteenth century, of the Uniat Church, which consisted
of those who were permitted to follow the doctrines and
ceremonies of their own native Church on the condition
that they ackowledged the supremacy of the Pope of
Rome and rejected the jurisdiction of their own
Patriarch.
To such a state of paralysis had the reformers, who
had hoped so much from the assenting Cyril, been
reduced by his methods, that it was not until 1890 that
the leaven of rebellion asserted itself in the new
generation that had risen up. The Tewfic (meaning
"pioneer") Society was then formed with the objects
^ Cyril IV., 1854-61.
17
258 A Sketch of the Aged
of CTainine Church reform and of advancing^ various
causes for the good of the people. This movement
gained sufficiently in the interest of the people to rouse
the Patriarch, who promptly went to the Khedive —
Tewfik was reigning at that time — to persuade him that
the aims of the Society were treasonable. The Khedive
was not to be so moved, however ; he happened to be
the wisest, as he was the most highly principled, of his
line, and when he had made careful inquiries he advised
the Patriarch to yield.
Excommunication has always been the dreaded
weapon in the Catholic Church ; the Coptic Patriarch
has always known that to Oriental Christians it is the
climax of terror and despair. Athanasius, Bishop of
Sarabon, who had given his support to the new Society,
was made to taste the bitterness of excommunication.
The cruelty of this edict roused the whole reforming
party to fierce rebellion, and they, following the
example of the Patriarch, committed once again the
grave fault of appealing to the Moslem rulers — asking
them to break the papal will.
The reforming party arranged a great popular
demonstration in Cairo, delegates coming from the
chief Coptic communities of Egypt. A deputation was
appointed to wait upon the Patriarch to urge the
reassembly of the Council, and the need of reform.
They were met by the statement that Cyril did not
see any need for a Council. When the deputation
showed determination, the old man wept — one suspects
diplomatic tears — but withdrew, leaving them to them-
selves.
A public meeting in the courtyard of the Patriarchate
was suggested ; upon which Cyril sent to the Moslem
Governor of Cairo to beg for police protection.
Coptic Patriarchy Cyril V, 259
He then called a Synod of his own, which was
attended by all the bishops, the abbots of the
monasteries, and the chief priests. A paper was
presented to them for signature directed against the
reformers ; most of the prelates signed the document
without reading it, but to the honour of the Church
some of the most able and enlightened of the priests —
and the hope of the Church lies in the fact that such
men are to be found — declined to assent. An edict
was issued ordering that this document was to be read
in all the churches.
The Patriarch had evidently determined now to fight
again solely for unquestioning supremacy. The effect of
all this was to so vex the reforming party that they, too,
lost sight of every interest but that of gaining the upper
hand ; until the contest degenerated on both sides into
nothing but vulgar plots and counterplots.
The crisis happened to take place at the moment
when the youthful Abbas succeeded Tewfik as Khedive.
The authorities were obliged to take notice of the
quarrel, and the Prime Minister of the day, Mustapha
Pasha Fehmi, doubtless under Lord Cromer's advice,
favoured the views of the reformers, who now obtained
Khedivial decrees against their Christian Pope. Cyril,
however, defied them, and the strange spectacle was
seen of Moslem authorities demanding admission to the
cathedral to enforce the will of the Government — only
to find the doors barred against them.
An amazing coup was, however, effected, by which
the Patriarch was exiled to a desert monastery in Nitria ;
the Bishop of Alexandria being sent a prisoner to
another of the desert retreats.
What forced Lord Cromer to give a deciding word
of such import, when his settled principle was to stand
2 6o A Sketch of the Aged
aside from all religious disputes, was no doubt the spirit
of rebellion shown by the Patriarch against the Khedivial
decree ratifying the election of the Council.
His Holiness sent a telegram, in unmeasured and
discourteous terms, to the Khedive, declaring that he
would never recognise the Council ; he wrote to the
Sultan of Turkey, as the Khedive's overlord, complaining
of the action of His Highness ; he appealed to France
as the power most likely to be willing at that time to
make trouble for England ; and he cunningly sought
to persuade the Russian Agent that here was an
opportunity to drive in the diplomatic wedge for which
he might then be supposed to be searching.
The native political situation changed again. It is
always changing in Egypt, for the subtle combatants
here are generally well matched, and Oriental intrigue,
however clever, can never build on anything stronger
than shifting sand.
A conservative Moslem, Riaz Pasha, became Prime
Minister, representing a party never favourable to a
Coptic revival, and genuinely shocked at rebellion
against legitimate hierarchical authority. Riaz saw
that the vast majority of the Coptic people, whatever
the reformers might think, were desolated by the
removal of the man who was still their head. And
then, too, Cyril's parting thunders of excommunication
had brought the whole Church almost to a standstill,
drying up the comforting wells of absolution and
benediction, and depriving the people of all the seven
sacraments, including those of baptism and matrimony,
unless they were prepared to run the dreadful risk of
unsanctioned and illegitimate celebration.
An irresistible hunger made itself felt for the restora-
tion of the hierarchy ; and the only man who could have
Coptic Patriarchy Cyril V. 261
prevented the recall of the Patriarch, the British Agent,
now felt that he had gone far enough in a quarrel, as
he put it, "between the temporal and the spiritual
authorities of a creed which was not his own."
I think it is clear that the Patriarch, who had been
removed by the British Agent's word, had finally proved
himself master of the situation, and the worldly wisdom
of the political ruler of Egypt was forced to bow before
this subtle priestly influence.
Never within memory has Cairo been the scene of
such a thrilUing popular ovation as greeted the Patriarch
when he returned. The crowds held up the city, and
the great sea of enthusiasm swept aside every idea but
that of passionate rejoicing at the restoration, the
Moslem populace celebrating the great event equally
with the Copts ! The people wept for joy, and sang the
praises of the exile, as though a god had been brought
back to them, the traditional enemies of centuries falling
upon each others' necks in congratulatory emotion.
If evidence were needed that this passion of attach-
ment to the Patriarch is universal, the triumphal
journey of Cyril through the Nile valley, as far as the
Sudan, in 1909, is convincing. He called at many
towns, and everywhere scenes like those of Cairo were
re-enacted. Nothing was lacking that a people could
do to show veneration and devotion ; there was indeed
something almost barbaric in the abandon of the simple
folk, both Moslem and Copt, of the remoter towns. At
Assiout there was a significant incident. A petition was
presented to His Holiness begging for reform. At the
moment of its presentation the Bishop of Deir-el-Meharak
cried, "Tear it up, tear it up!" And the Patriarch
assented, and flung the pieces back to the deputation.
The victory of the Patriarch was complete and
262 A Sketch of the Aged
permanent. Never again would British Agent venture
to force his ideas upon him ; never again would Council,
or deputations, have the same assurance in confronting
him with objectionable demands. He came back to
power as a giant refreshed, and he used his power
as a giant.
He would neither recoo^nise the Council nor suffer it
to continue its work. He encouraged those clerics who
were orthodox in their support, and only with great
reluctance did he eventually tolerate the bishop and
priests who had refused to bind themselves to him.
He turned again, with cordial appreciation, to the
Moslem authorities ; who reciprocated by recommending
him to the Turkish Sultan for a decoration ; which he
accepted ! If he seemed to compromise, by choosing
four prominent laymen to form an Advisory Committee,
experience has shown that he never meant to do any-
thing but dictate to them — any promise of reform he
gave, under pressure, was left in abeyance ; and if he
consented to the reopening of the Theological College,
he insisted on men of the old unlettered school being in
charge, and even then it was with extreme reluctance
that he ordained any of its poor pupils.
As for the Tewfic Society, it goes on still, doing an
excellent work, especially for education, holding silently
and patiently to its propaganda of reform while the long
years total up for the marvellous old man who has curbed
its early enthusiasms.
Some of the bitterness has died out of the con-
troversy. On the one side, the life of the Patriarch,
when he is left to a peaceful and undisputed sway, soothes
antagonism ; for doubtless, in his own strange and
Oriental way, he follows the Master whom he is sworn
to serve.
Coptic Pat7^ia?x/iy Cyril V, 263
On the other hand, the excellent men who are most
concerned to see their Church advance have risen superior
to the first longing- to score mere diplomatic victories.
They show a desire for peace ; and exercise, with
chastened and saddened minds perhaps, a patience that
proves their Christian sincerity.
Occasionally the Patriarch can, by the gentle and
tactful persuasion of such a man as Marcus Simaika
Pasha, be wooed a little into the way of reform. In spite
of his great age, however, there is no opening for those
who might think to score at the expense of a failing
memory or a declining force of will. Such men quickly
discover that there is no memory in Egypt so tenacious,
of even trifling detail, as that of their Patriarch ; and that
his yea still means yea, and his nay, nay. His will was
still strong enough to receive, with seeming acquiescence,
even Lord Kitchener's suggestions for the formation of
a new Council, with modified powers, and then to do
little or nothing to carry out the suggestions.
The Patriarch alone has power of ordination of both
priests and deacons. Ordination is performed not by
imposition of hands, but by the act of breathing. He
has sole power over all the churches, and over all the
revenues ; if he thinks fit he can appoint his own
treasurer to any parish, who must collect all revenue and
send it to the Patriarch, who pays a pitifully small sum
to the priest in charge, applying the surplus to general
church purposes at his discretion.
This great power must remain the subject of constant
discussion ; and since the Khedive, as the head of the
Moslem Church in Egypt, has been deprived of the
control of the Wakfs — or pious revenues — (in 19 14),
serious proposals have again been made equally to
deprive the Patriarch, by appointing a Commission, or
264 A Sketch of the Aged Coptic Patriarch
creating a Government Department. It is too great a
responsibility to be left in the hands of one man. It
would be quite possible to form a Coptic Council, com-
petent in every way to deal with it ; for there are
enlightened men available, of considerable financial
ability, and of known integrity.
What such Coptic leaders chiefly ask is, in a sentence,
that the rich endowments shall be used for the education
and betterment of the condition of the clergy, the
institution of schools in monasteries, the good and wise
administration of the endowments in order to secure
larger revenues to be spent according to the wishes of
the pious donors, and the rendering of properly audited
accounts. They want to see the monasteries reformed,
the clergy uplifted, the poor benefited ; all this to lead,
as they trust, to social and moral reform, and a spiritual
awakening for the whole Church.
CHAPTER VI
A Visit to the Venerated Bishop of the
Fayoum^ A^nba Abraam
THERE is a man in Egypt whose name is un-
known to the ruling class, and who is yet the
most talked of and the most deeply venerated
man in all the valley of the Nile. Although he is a
Christian bishop he is just as much a saint of heaven to
the Moslem as to the Christian ; and the Christians who
join in the daily throng that seek his spiritual help and
blessing number Copts and Greeks and Romans — the
latter being by no means confined even to natives
of Egypt.
Before I even thought of seeking an audience of this
wonderful old man I had heard Catholic people as far
away as France speaking of the Bishop of the Fayoum
and Gizeh in Egypt as an ascetic in whose powers were
confirmed all the signs which our Lord had said should
follow them that believe — " In My name they shall cast
out devils . . . they shall lay hands on the sick and they
shall recover."
This old saint, whose power is known over all the
Eastern world, is in the direct and unbroken succession
of those early Christians who — again in the words of
our Lord — spoke with new tongues ; they took up
serpents ; and if they drank any deadly thing, it should
265
2 66 A Visit to the Venerated Bishop of
not hurt them. These words have been understood alone
in the East. When the Western Christians comment on
the manifestations of Oriental Christianity, it should be
kept in mind that these " signs" are all included in the
first promise of the risen Christ to them that believe
(Mark xvi. 17, 18).
No matter where I had gone in Egypt, I had heard
again and again of the Bishop of the Fayoum ; and incred-
ible stories were told to me of his self-denials, his fastings,
his mystical wisdom, his power of divination, his faculty
to exorcise evil spirits and to cure all manner of sickness ;
and of the comfort his words gave to the afflicted both in
soul and in body ; of his unstinted kindness to the poor,
whom he helped out of a coffer which was like unto the
widow's cruse ; and how, with flashes of insight, he
reproved the evil-doers who thought to deceive him, the
spiritual force that was in him seeming to overtake such
even when they had left his presence. And of course
the power was attributed to him, as it is to all Eastern
saints, of being able to confound all thieves by a sort of
spiritual detective gift.
Many stories are told of his detachment from every
sort of mundane claim, and of his contempt of the needs
of the body which was like that of the saints of old. As
he has now reached nearly a century of years, the vener-
ation always felt for him has gained in depth as he has
survived one generation after another of those who
have felt his influence.
It was one thing, however, to resolve to seek an
audience of the saint, and another to wear one's way
patiently through all the hindrances conjured up by the
suspicions of the Oriental Christians, who alone could
help me ; who, while they were charmingly courteous,
and to all seeming more than willing to do what I asked,
the Fayoum^ Amha Ahraam 267
were all the time questioning themselves in their own
minds if it was to the advantage of the Copts that an
Englishman should go behind the Oriental veil which
hides a life that they fear may not be really understood
or approved of in the light of a standard differing from
their own.
It is, as we know, a matter of self-conscious pride to
the Copt that he is a fellow-Christian with the English-
man ; but he is not content with that : he wants the
Western visitor to see only those phases of his Christi-
anity which approximate to that of England. And so
with the refined skill of the East he will, in most cases,
lead the inquirer aside from everything that the Oriental
in him has made indubitable, but which is, if he could
only realise it, the chief interest of the Western inquirer,
as well as being the last thing ever to be suppressed or
eliminated.
Nothing could have been kinder than the terms of an
invitation I received to visit the beautiful capital town
of the Fayoum province, and to stay with one of the
leading Coptic families there. I was, however, versed
enough in Eastern life to know that I might, so far as
the Bishop was concerned, travel hopefully, but never
arrive. And even when I was met by all the chief men
of the town of Fayoum, who overwhelmed me with
promises that nothing that I wished should be left
undone, and that they had no desire but my satisfaction,
I still knew that a contest of patience and wit was only
just at its beginning.
As to what really happened in the days when I was
waiting for a summons from the Bishop, I can now,
looking back, piece together from various sources a story
that was by no means clear at the time.
There were many private conferences on the part of
268 A Visit to the Venerated Bishop of
my friends, and many subtle suggestions as to what line
they should take with me. They were all proud of
their Bishop's fame, but those who had travelled in
Europe felt, for one thing, that an Englishman would be
disappointed to find a Prince of the Church living apart
from any semblance of state. One of these men, at
least, had visited the Bishop of London in his beautiful
palace at Lambeth, and several of them had seen the
spacious refinement which surrounds even a provincial
bishop of the Anglican Church.
Their first secret move was to call upon a rich
Coptic layman, whose house was the most palatial in the
town, to persuade him to allow the Bishop to take up
his quarters there, so as to provide a suitable back-
ground for my audience.
Consent being given, the next visit was to the
Bishop himself. But here the dream of a palatial setting
for the solemn play-acting was instantly vanquished ;
the old man had not left his private chamber for some
time, and, feeling the physical limitations of his hundred
years, had no intention whatever of ever leaving it again,
except to be occasionally assisted into the church to
which his dwelling was literally attached. When he
was pressed, he flared up, declaring that under no
circumstances would he leave his chamber for any sort
of other house, much less for one of the palaces of the
rich. The deputation came away with a feeling of that
hopelessness which leads the Oriental very easily to a
condition of lassitude in which he abandons his projects.
They then visited me, to assure me that they found,
with deep regret, that the Bishop's health precluded any
possibility of his receiving me. This suggestion, how-
ever, I resisted, as politely as possible, as I knew the
old man was being resorted to daily by scores of the
the Fayoum^ A?nba Abraam 269
native people. I had come a long way on purpose to
see him, I said ; would not some one tell him this ; I
was sure he would not send me away unsatisfied.
A mere hint of the truth was now, in despair,
revealed to me : the apartments of the Bishop were
mean ; he cared nothing for comfort ; the people who
served him, knowing that he made no demands upon
them, neglected to keep the house clean. There were
even odours to be encountered on the staircase leading
to his apartments,
I was not ignorant of the fact that the Coptic
churches, concealed in the days of the persecutions
from the outer world by the huddling together, barnacle-
like, against their walls, of all sorts of unsuitable build-
ings, had in many cases become noisome from the want
of sanitation. The description by Mr. Somers Clarke
of the entrance of a country Coptic church came to my
mind: "A little commonplace doorway down a narrow
lane, a small door, thick, and studded with heavy nails,
an evil stench, and we find ourselves in the reception
hall." Very earnestly I declared that I cared for none
of these things ; I only wanted to see and have speech
with the Bishop.
Another deputation returned to the church house.
A distinguished Englishman (I had no control over this
unblushing deception), they told the Bishop, was anxious
for an audience ; would the Bishop appoint a time when
he might be kept clear of the native throng ?
The old man apparently had no liking for the idea
of being sought out by travellers as a celebrity ; this was
not his Master's work. If the Englishman was poor,
or sad, or ill, or had need in any way of spiritual minis-
tration, or counsel, then he would see him, but not
otherwise.
270 A Visit to the Venerated Bishop of
Again I was told what was not the old man's answer,
but that a serious relapse in the Bishop's health that
day had made it impossible for him to fulfil his earnest
desire to see me.
Still the troublesome Briton would not be satisfied,
or say mcdaleesh (do not trouble), as the polite and easily
turned aside Oriental would. Fortunately ill-manners
are excused to the English by the Egyptian, on the
ground that it is our national habits that are peculiar,
and we are not altogether to be held accountable for
them. Oriental courtesy will often cover the rudeness
of a European guest, with this as a sufficient excuse ;
the host will still go on striving to create a feeling of
satisfaction and content in his visitor, so long as there is
a chance left of meeting his wishes. I ought to have
said maaleesk, but if I could not show this politeness —
well, I had left my friends in trouble which they must
still struggle as my hosts to overcome.
These men looked very gravely concerned when I
maintained my protests, with an assumed mulishness
that I knew well enough would intrigue them to try
agrain to remove that direst of trouble to them, the dis-
pleasure of a guest.
A Coptic friend, whom I have known in Cairo for
some time, now had a brilliant inspiration. Had I not
a weak throat ; had I not, two years before, made a
long stay in Egypt purely for health reasons ? That
was enough. The Bishop was quickly informed that
an Englishman out of health sought his blessing.
" Bring the poor man to me," he said at once, and
appointed the next afternoon at five o'clock for the visit.
When the deputation returned with this news (they
forgot now to be even plausible about the Bishop's ill-
health) we beamed upon each other with restored good
the Fayoum^ A?nba Abraam 271
feeling, like a party of children who, after prolonged
sulks, are overjoyed to " make it up."
I recalled what I had read of that early Coptic saint,
Anthony, who when persons of rank often sought, in
vain, to tempt him from his hermitage, had but one
reply, " As a fish dies out of water, so a monk dies out
of his cell." The only chance of gaining an interview
with St. Anthony of old was to claim his intervention for
some one in distress.
The last thing that hindered the happiness of a
great Coptic gathering of friends that evening were the
misgivings, which now cropped up again, of what I
might think of the state in which I should find the
Bishop living. By every kind of delicate suggestion
and apology they tried to prepare my mind for the visit,
so that I might put the most favourable interpretation
possible on things.
The next day we set off in the carriages of my host,
to be driven through the picturesque town (at that
dashing pace which is the Egyptian's delight) to the
out-of-the-way slum in which the church of Fayoum is
hidden.
Our hostess is one of the modern Coptic ladies who
have travelled much in Europe, speak English very
prettily, and have discarded not only the veil, but every
semblance of the black mantle designed to make the
Eastern woman inconspicuous out of doors.
As my wife was also to visit the Bishop, our hostess
accompanies us, although she has from the first never
ceased to murmur her gentle protests against the pro-
ceeding ; she is thinking of the horror of domestic dirt
which she herself has thoroughly learned in England ;
for no Egyptian lady who has once experienced what
our passion for cleanliness means ever fails to adopt it,
272 A Visit to the Venerated Bishop of
She carries back to her native country a divine discon-
tent, through which a little steady reform is at work
in a way which of all things will make most for
the true advance of Egypt — the fostering of a happy
efficient home-life.
The appearance of our cavalcade makes a stir in
the mean streets, so that a little crowd has gathered at
the entrance of the church, where two or three priests
are awaiting us, to give us formal welcome. There is
evidence that an attempt has been made to sweep the
little courtyard and the stairway, but centuries of dirt
easily defy such casual onslaught. As for the odour on
the staircase leading to the Bishop's apartments, I fancy
nothing short of demolition to the foundations of the
building could dispossess a thing so "old established."
My companions now became silent with depression
at the thought that their intrigues to keep a disagreeable
secret should have been overcome — a thing, however,
I could not help feeling, they were more disposed to
hide than to remedy. One of them, a graduate fresh
from Oxford University, having surreptitiously fortified
himself, offered me a lozenge of formamint.
We reached an outer apartment, dark and bare as a
garret in a ruined tenement, the floor black with grime,
the walls naked as the builder left them ages since,
except for the dust-laden festoons of spiders. The
windows were opaque with dirt, and much of the glass
was broken. In this apartment we waited, while the
chief priest passed once or twice in and out of an
adjoining room, whispering comments in Arabic to our
party which I could not hear.
Now the word is given, and we are ushered into a
chamber, proving to be rather larger than the anteroom ;
in much the same condition, and equally bare, but for a
THE DOMES WHICH ARE CHARACTERISTIC OF ALL COPTIC CHURCHES.
At the Desert Monastery of Anba Bishai.
1
ON THE ROOF OF A COPTIC MONASTERY.
With the illimitable desert stretching away in all directions. There have been times
when the monks have subsisted almost entirely on the dates grown as shown within
their own stronghold.
the Fayoum^ Amha Abraam 273
square bed, and two chairs obviously imported for the
occasion.
On the bed, sitting in the Eastern posture, and
wrapped in a threadbare robe of black, with a black
plaited turban on his head, sat the frail, emaciated form
of the Bishop.
Introductions were made, the old man being particular
to know correctly the names of those who were strange
to him. He took the hand of each visitor in turn, but
kept his own hands all the time partly concealed in the
wide sleeve of his robe. The instinct of every Oriental
is to kiss the hand of any man for whom he has deep
veneration, but Bishop Abraam, I found, will never allow
his hand to be kissed, if by covering it in this way he
can avoid it.
It was with deep emotion that I looked into the face
of this modern saint. To doubt his right to the title
was impossible, for the power of a pure and beautiful
soul made itself felt at once, with a force that was almost
overwhelming.
The eyes looked out of a calm, grave face, fringed
with a small white beard, which in no way obscured the
sensitive mouth. The turban was worn farther back
than is usual, leaving the broad unwrinkled forehead to
suggest that the ascetic, in this case, had been governed
by a fine intelligence.
That the Bishop was a centenarian seemed difficult
of belief; he might be as weak as the frailness of his
body suggested, but nothing about him even hinted that
the mind was touched with age ; and when one caught
the steady glance of his eye, and heard him speak, the
physical limitations were forgotten, which perforce made
of his bed the throne from which he ruled his diocese
and ministered to the larger world of suffering humanity.
18
2 74 ^ Visit to the Venerated Bishop of
The two chairs were placed close to the bed, so that
my wife and I might sit near to the Bishop. He then
questioned me earnestly about the Church in England,
and the Bishop of London, who was visiting Egypt at
that time, for he had heard of him, and that I was
acquainted with him, and that we had met in Khartoum.
Then he turned to more personal matters, and was
concerned for our general well-being.
To my request that the Bishop would give us his
blessing, he asked, in a very quiet voice, one of the
priests who were present to bring to him his hand-cross.
I had often heard of this particular cross, which had
been held in blessing over tens of thousands of
Egyptians, and was believed by most of them to have in
itself mystical powers. It is the cross the Bishop has
used all his clerical life, and I know that he himself is so
attached to it that he considers his powers would be
disturbed by its injury or loss.
It is usual, I believe, in every Christian Church to
kneel in receiving a bishop's blessing ; but on no account
would Amba Abraam consent to any person kneeling
before him — to God, he said, alone was such obeisance
due. He was distressed that I felt obliged to kneel, but
when I explained that my first reverence was to God,
and then to His good servant, he gently gave way.
Taking the cross in his right hand, and holding it
closely over our heads, the Bishop poured out, mostly
in the Coptic language, in tones of rapt devotion,
the wonderful prayers and blessings of his Church.
Of the mere words, I of course recognised little,
except the oft-repeated " Kyrie Eleison ! " (Lord have
mercy !). But I was thrilled nevertheless by the childlike
earnestness of the man who uttered them ; never had I
heard prayer which seemed to establish a link with the
the Fayoum^ Amba Ahraam 275
Throne of Grace with such instant security ; it seemed as
if earth fell away, to leave this man speaking in the clear
presence of God Himself.
The form of the blessing was so very Oriental that I
afterwards asked the one priest present who knew both
Coptic and English well, to transcribe it for me ; and I
give it here, omitting only the passages that were
personal to my wife and myself. If I should relate the
long-drawn-out endeavours by which I got this transla-
tion I should have to tell a story of many months'
ingenious persistency on the part of faithful Coptic
friends and myself, which any one who knows the bookra
(to-morrow) of the East would read with sympathy.
The Coptic form of the Lord's Prayer is of interest.
I give the whole form as the priest wrote it.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Amen.
Our Father, who art in heaven : hallowed be Thy Name : Thy
Kingdom come : Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven : Give
us this day the morrow's bread : and forgive us our debts as we forgive
our debtors : and lead us not into temptation : but deliver us from evil :
through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Thanksgiving.
Let us thank the Maker of all good, the merciful, the Father of our
Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ, because He has protected, kept,
accepted, and pitied us, and has brought us to this hour. Let us ask
Him to keep us for this day, and all the days of our life, in peace. O
God, our Lord and Master, the upholder of all, the Father of our Lord
God and Saviour Jesus Christ, we thank Thee in every case, for every-
thing, and at every time. Thou hast protected, assisted, kept,
accepted, pitied, supported, and brought us to this moment. For this
we beseech and ask from Thy holiness, O Lover of souls, that Thou
wouldst confer upon us to fulfil this holy day, and all the days of our
life, in peace and fear. Fiom every envy, trial, evil deed, the counsel
of the wicked, the rising up of the hidden enemies as well as of those
276 A Visit to the Venerated Bishop of
that are seen, preserve us and all Thy people, and Thy holy place.
What things are good and helpful grant us, as it is Thou that has given
us the power to crush serpents, scorpions, and all the power of the
Enemy.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, through the
mercy and kindness of Thine only Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ, whom we love, and to whom, as well as to the animat-
ing Holy Spirit, we offer glory and honour now, for ever and the
ages of ages.
Short Prayers from the Service of the Mass.
We ask, God the upholder of all, the Father of our Lord God the
Saviour Jesus Christ, we beseech and ask from Thy holiness, O Lover
of souls, remember, O Lord, the safety of Thy Church, the one holy,
universal, apostolic Church, extending from one end of the earth to the
other.
Remember, O Lord, our revered Patriarch, the head of the priests,
Amba Kyrollos, preserve him and us for many years and days of
safety.
Remember, O Lord, our meetings, and bless them, and grant that
we may not be hindered from complying with Thy holy will.
Grant us, O Lord, and those coming after us, houses of prayer,
houses of purity, houses of blessing. Rise up, O Lord, let Thine enemies
be scattered, and let all the enemies of Thy Holy Name flee be-
fore Thy face. May Thy people increase through Thy blessing to
thousands of thousands, and myriads of myriads, and accomplish Thy
Holy Will, through the grace and goodness of Thy Holy Son, our Lord
God and Saviour Jesus Christ, to whom, and to the Holy Spirit, we
offer glory and honour, now and for ever. Amen.
The Law of Faith (recited by the Bishop in Arabic).
We believe indeed in one God, the Father, the upholder of all, the
creator of heaven and earth, and what is seen and what is not seen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, who is
born from the Father before all ages, light out of light, a true God from
a true God, born and not created, equal to the Father in essence, by
whom everything existed, who, for our sake, we, the people, and for our
salvation, descended from the heaven, took a body from the Holy
Spirit, and from the Mary the Virgin, was born a man, and was crucified
on our behalf in the time of Pilate. He took pain, was entombed, and
the Fayoum^ Amba Abraam 277
rose up from among the dead in the third day, as it is recorded in the
books. He rose up to the heavens and sat on the right of His Father,
and will come in His glory to redeem the dead and the survivors ;
whose kingdom never ends.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the animating Lord, springing from
the Father, and to whom, as well as to the Father and the Son, we
prostrate ourselves. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the speaker
through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy, universal, and apostolic Church. We
confess one baptism for the forgiving of sins.
We expect the resurrection of the dead, and the revival of the next
age. Amen.
Kyrie Eleison I Kyrie Ekisont ! Kyrie Eleison 1 1 ! (Repeated
in threes, twelve times.)
The Lord's Prayer.
A Prayer called The Justification ^ (recited in Coptic).
O Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, the Word
of God the Father, who hath cut all the bonds of our sins by His
redeeming and life-giving pains, who hath breathed in the face of His
righteous Apostles and pious disciples, saying to them, " Accept the
Holy Spirit. Those whose sins you forgive, are to be accordingly
forgiven." Now also, our Master, Thou hast before Thy righteous
Apostles conferred upon those who work in the priesthood in Thy
Holy Church the power to forgive sins on earth, and to tie and to
untie all the bonds of oppression. Now, also, we beseech and ask from
Thee, O Lover of souls, on behalf of these Thy servants who bow their
heads before Thy glory, to endow them and us with Thy mercy, and
to cut, on our behalf, all bonds of oppression or injustice. If they have
sinned towards Thee in anything, either knowingly or unknowingly, by
doing or saying. Thou, O Lover of men, knowest their weakness. O
God, grant us the forgiving of our sins ! Let us fear Thee ! Lead us
according to Thy righteous and holy will, because it is Thou who art
our God, to whom, as well as to the life-giving Holy Ghost, we
prostrate, and offer glory and honour, now and for ever, and to the
ages of ages. Amen.
^ The priest's note says : "In Arabic the word would be Tahiti, which
would call the prayer ' the asking of pardon,' but according to the meaning
of the Coptic word it means 'justification.'"
278 A Visit to the Venerated Bishop of
The Blessing (recited in Coptic).
May God bless and pity us. He manifests His face and exercises
His mercy towards us. O Lord, save Thy people, Bless Thine
inheritance, Preserve and lift them up for ever. Dignify the era of the
Christians. By the power of Thy animating Crucifix, by the entreaties
made on our behalf by our Mistress and Queen, the Mother of God,
the holy and righteous Mary, and the righteous leaders Mikhail,
Ghabriel, Raphail, and Surial ; and the four animals having no bodies ;
and the twenty-four priests. The Cherubim and the Serifium, St.
John the Baptist, and the one-hundred-and-forty-four thousands, and
my masters the Fathers and the Apostles. Our Father, Peter, and our
Teacher, Paul, and the rest of the Apostles, and the three pious youths,
Sidrak, Misac, and Aptanach. The blessed Archdeacon Stephenus the
first martyr. My Master the King St. Gurgic, and St. Tadros el
Mishriky Viloptaire, Voriaus, St. Aba Mina, Aba Boxtor ibn Romanous,
and all the martyrs. The great St. Amba Antonius, and the righteous
Amba Paula. The three pious Makars, Amba Jhon, Amba Beshaway.
Our two spiritual fathers, Maximus and Dumadinyous ; Amba Moses,
and the forty-nine martyrs. All those who put on the cross, the
righteous, and all the wise virgins, and the angel of this day. Their
Holy Blessing, grace, power, love, and help will be with us for ever.
Amen.
O Christ, our God ! O King of Peace ! Give us Thy peace.
Forgive our sins, for Thou hast the power, the glory, and the honour,
for ever. Amen.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, one God.
Blessed be God, the Lord, the upholder of all. Amen.
Blessed be His only Son Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Blessed be the consoling Holy Spirit. Amen.
Glory and honour to Ithe Three, the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit, now and for ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.
The Lord's Prayer.
The blessing over, the gentle old man again in-
quired, in tones of tender solicitude, as to the welfare of
all, myself and family. In Oriental terms he spoke of
the pleasure such a visit had given him.
Turning to a priest, the Bishop asked him to bring to
him certain liule gifts, consisting of ^s many coloure4
the Fayoum^ Amba Abraa^n 279
mayiddil^ as there were members of our party. Taking
these separately in his left hand, he held his litde cross
over them and blessed them, in the name of each of us
in turn, handing them to us as a souvenir of the visit.
It is usual in the East, as I have already noted, always
to make presents to visitors ; this trifling gift was at the
same time a sign of politeness and a symbol of the
poverty in which the Bishop lived ; it is the form the
Bishop's presents always take, and because of the per-
sonal blessing going with it, the little red handkerchief,
distributed all over Egypt, is treasured in thousands of
homes, doubtless as a sort of holy talisman.
We now saluted the Bishop and withdrew. The
chief priest, Abd-el-Sayed, accompanied us to the outer
gate, where quite a crowd of natives of that quarter of
the town were awaiting our appearance — and before the
final leave-taking he formally addressed us, as we stood
in the open court, in these words :
" Your visit has brought us great honour this day.
The Bishop Amba Abraam, the speaker, and all the
people of El Fayoum, take a great delight in your visit.
Accept our deep thanks. May God preserve you for
ever. Amen."
So long as any Coptic record has been kept it has
been usual to address visitors to the churches and
monasteries in this way — generally at vastly greater
length.
I may here make one or two remarks on points
arising out of the Bishop's blessing — largely the outcome
of personal inquiries of the bishops and priests and other
living authorities.
The " Kyrie Eleison ! " is the one oft-repeated cry
* The Arabic word for handkerchief. These were red, stamped in black
of a coarse quality, possibly of the value of a penny.
28o A Visit to the Verier ated Bishop of
which, out of its dead language, can be recognised in
every service of the Eastern Church. From eadiest
times this cry has gone up to heaven, almost without
ceasing. As for the repetition, Western observers who,
like the late Bishop of Salisbury, think it mere weari-
some nonsense, will never understand the East until they
realise the deep need there is in the Oriental mind, quite
regardless of whether it is Christian or Moslem, Buddhist
or Hindoo, for a passionate expression of the soul only
to be gained by prolonged concentration on certain
words or short phrases. If the dervish travels towards
the eventual ecstasy by crying a thousand times " Allah !
Allah ! ! " the Oriental Christian who seeks communion
with God takes the same path, which to the Western
mind has always seemed meaningless and tiresome.
One of the early Coptic saints, the blessed woman Thais
the Harlot, dwelt in a solitary cell for three years, in-
cessandy crying " Kyrie Eleison ! " ; "and hers was a
great reward." ^
If the Copt uses a rosary, it is to keep count of his
" Kyrie Eleisons," so that he may say them in his daily
prayers the correct number of times, always divided into
threes. If he is alarmed, this is the first cry to come to
his lips; if he is in dire need, it is the same. In old
days all the nation prayed to God to replenish the Nile
when the flood had failed, crying as one man, " Kyrie
Eleison!" the Moslems giving up their "Allah Akbar"
in the intensity of their desire to compel the great God
by much asking — and more than once, history says, the
miracle of a second flood was the result. And if the
Moslem crowd at other times mocked the Christians by
mimicking the sacred formula, it should also be recorded
^ Anatole France has drawn a delicately beautiful picture of the life and
trials of Thais in his novel of that title.
the Fayoum^ Amba Ahraam 281
that many Copts have thought the Western Christian to
be outside the pale when they found that they never
prayed " Kyrie Eleison ! " two hundred and one times.
From earHest times the Coptic Church has made
suppHcation in the name of the angels mentioned in the
prayer used by the Bishop. The archangel Mikhail
(whom we call Michael) is of great honour in Egypt.
In the folk-lore of the fourth century onward, Amelineau
found frequent use of the interjection "by the interces-
sion of the angel Mikhail." He is known to have taken
the place of one of the most popular of the pagan gods.
It was in the fourth century that Pope Alexander publicly
destroyed the brazen image of this idol in Alexandria,
turning the temple into a church ; the people only con-
senting on the promise that the patronage of the arch-
angel would be found better than that of the idol, and
that the yearly feast should be continued unaltered. To
this day the heathen feast is continued in honour of
Mikhail.
The translation of the last prayer used by the Bishop,
being made for me by a Coptic priest, is of interest, as it
differs slightly from previous translations into English.
Angel names were mingled with the names of heathen
gods. The most prominent are those used in the
Bishop's prayer — Michael, the conqueror of the dragon
(Rev. xii. 7), who also exercised healing functions;
Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel ; Enoch, as the heavenly
clerk, took the place occupied in former times by Thoth.
Having seen the Bishop, whose fame will doubtless
keep his name alive for centuries in a land where saintli-
ness is still the chief claim to lasting memory, I became
deeply interested in the many stories about him which
the mention of his name in any part of the country, how-
ever remote, at once elicits.
__^i^Mf^±^
282 A Visit to the Venerated Bishop of
One of the strangest things to the Western observer
is to find that in the crowds which daily resort to this
Christian dignitary, many of them having made very
long pilgrimages, to gain his personal blessing, there are
as many Moslems as Christians. There is no difference
in the eager faith they all show in his power to help them
in all their sorrows and difficulties — -a fact which may well
give pause to those who have been taught to regard
fanaticism as the first characteristic of the followers of
Mohammed.
Questioned as to their reasons for thinking they can
get good from a Christian bishop, all these simple folk
can say is that he is a good man, and to Allah all good
men are acceptable ; the Bishop prays to God, as they do,
and he is a disciple of our Lord Jesus, "on whom be
blessings and peace."
As for the power which God has given the Bishop to
do good to poor men and women, have they not heard
of it for many years ? they have seen with their own eyes
the sick who have been healed, and those who have had
devils cast out of them. Did they not know that the
Bishop's insight could strip bare the craftiness of the
thief, and that it was impossible to escape if one deceived
him '^ A man once went to him — they told me — " to beg
money to bury his daughter." The Bishop suspected
that the man was a rogue, but he gave him the money
he asked, saying, "The punishment you deserve God
will give you." When the man got home he found that
at the moment the Bishop was speaking with him his
daughter had suddenly died.
It is related of many of the old monks of the
Egyptian desert that they read men's thoughts, under-
standing the things that were passing in their minds.
Abba Paule bad the gift, which had been given unto him
the Fayoupiy A7}iba Abj^aam 283
by God, of looking into the soul of every man, and of
knowing what his soul was like.
It was Diodorus who, in speaking in those days of
divination, said, "The soul foresees future events in the
phantoms she herself creates." When the blessed
Ammon was living in the country of Nitria, they brought
to him a lad who was suffering from hydrophobia. Look-
ing upon the boy's relatives he rebuked them, saying,
" Get ye gone ; it is in your hands to cure the lad.
Restore the value of the widow's bull which ye slew
secretly, and your son shall be restored to you healed."
This they did, and, after Ammon had prayed, the disease
left the boy.
It was another Ammon who, when travelling down
the Nile in a boat, knew in his own mind that the
brethren at a monastery he was passing had need of him.
At that very moment, indeed, they, being in trouble, had
set out to seek him. He met them on the bank of the
river and quieted their fears.
I have spoken of the poor robe in which the old
Bishop was wrapped. It was literally like to the robe of
an early Coptic recluse, one Abba Isaac, who maintained
that " the manner of the apparel which a monk ought to
wear should be such that if it were cast outside the cell
for three days no one would carry it away."
Bishop Abraam's rule of poverty is just as absolute
and as free from any double meaning as that of the
fathers of his Church ; and was in no way a poverty which
was waiting to manifest itself after ^10,000 a year has
perforce been spent in automatically maintaining what we
vaguely term " suitable position."
A rich layman just before my visit did not like to see
his Bishop in this threadbare cloak, and so went out and
bought a garment, soft and sable, Returning to that
284 ^ Visit to the Venerated Bishop of
upper room, he begged the Bishop to discard the old
robe ; here was a new one. With a wan smile the old
man took the robe, and tucked it under his pillow. Later
on in the day, in the crowd which thronged him, he saw
a poor ill-clad fellah, shivering with cold. " Ah ! " he said,
" the Lord hath been mindful of thee this day, for here
is a cloak waitingf for the first man who has need of it."
And when the poor man got out into the daylight,
he saw that such a cloak was unsuitable to a country
fellah ; he would sell it, and buy a coarse gallabieh, then
he would possess both a cloak and spare money to buy
food. The man he offered the cloak to was, by chance,
the donor, who recognised his gift ! Knowing the
Bishop, he felt that remonstrance of any sort was useless,
so he re-bought the garment, hoping that when the
Bishop found that he had done this, he would be per-
suaded to wear it.
Again, however, the cloak was tucked under the
pillow ; and again a poor man received it as of the
Lord. And now doubtless the threadbare cloak will
persist till the day when the Bishop exchanges it for a
glorious robe which time cannot corrupt.
There was once a Coptic brother called Paphnutius
who had two tunics in eighty years ; and even this
"spiritual excellence" was excelled by a holy gardener
at one of the monasteries in the time of Pachomius, for
he had only one garment of linen, which he used to put
on when he was about to partake of the holy mysteries
of Christ, and then he would take it off and lay it aside,
so that he might keep it clean, "and it lasted him for
eighty-five years."
His was the day when a monk sold even the few
dearly loved books which filled the hollow in the wall of
his cell, and from which he gained mental profit, and also
the Fayoum^ Amha Abraa7?i 285
the brethren who borrowed them ; but the claims of the
widow and the orphan must prevail if he would " have
life."
Here, in the twentieth century, the succession of those
earlier followers of Christ truly survives in the life of the
Bishop of Fayoum, to carry out in all their literal sim-
plicity the teachings of the Man of Galilee, who Himself
having nothing, sought as disciples only those who would
sell all to follow Him.
The Bishop was at one time possessed of private
means ; and this is how, long years since, he arranged
to use them. Calculation showed that his income was a
little over two pounds a day ; so a simple arrangement
was made by which a trusted servant appeared every
morning at the bank, from which to bring to the Bishop,
in a bag, the value of two pounds, in half-piastre pieces.^
This bag, too, was put under his pillow, when the Bishop
could no longer leave his bed, and during the day he
distributed the whole of the contents to those of his
visitors who were in monetary need, and in the end
he gave away all his capital.
The Bishop's personal expenses are almost nothing,
for he never has been known to eat anything but a few
boiled beans and bread ; the men who attend to his
simple wants being the "servants of the Church."
But it must not be supposed that all the people who
seek the Bishop are poor ; the sorrows of the rich are as
sure of spiritual consolation from him as are those which
poverty fosters. And the rich visitors never despair in
their grateful attempts to enrich the old man. Innumer-
able are the gifts of gold ; but he never looks at them,
and never once has he even counted the contents of the
purses pressed upon him. "This is from the Lord" is
^ A piastre is worth about 2 id.
2 86 A Visit to the Venerated Bishop of I
all he says ; and following his own instinct and faith, he
always waits until the Lord sends to him the poor man
or woman ordained for that particular offering.
One of his clergy, the Rev. Abd-el-Sayed, in speak-
ing of the Bishop, said : "His love for his people is above
all other love. How often is his hand raised to ask God
to bless his people and to assist them. All his days he
spends for the glory of God. No one ever saw him
caring about anything else in this world. I believe as a
boy he ran away from home to enter the monastery.
When he became head of that monastery the only com-
plaint made against him was that he spent everything on
the poor, and even got into debt for this reason. He
was always extravagant in this cause ; indeed, before he
came to Fayoum the Patriarch had brought him from his
monastery to keep him by his side, not only because of
his goodness, but because he made some trouble by
giving away too largely of the monastery's revenue.
The people of Fayoum are for ever proud that they
went at that time to Cairo to beg the Patriarch to send
them this noble man as their Bishop. He has given a
very great name to this province, and has brought honour
to all the Christian people of Egypt by his pure name."
The Bishop's power in exorcism of evil spirits
has perhaps brought him more visitors from distant
parts than any of the other gifts by which he is famous.
Knowing a highly intelligent young Copt in Cairo,
the son of a blind singer at the Cathedral there, who had
witnessed a cure of a near relative, effected by the
Bishop, I thought it would be interesting to get the story
in his own words.
This young man belongs to the class, unfortunately
becoming rare, of the exceptionally well-educated Copt,
well-read in French and English, as well as in his
the Fayoum^ Amba Abraam 287
native Arabic, and holding a responsible post in the
Government Service, who nevertheless preserves a
passionate attachment to the Christian religion, and to
the services and teaching of the Orthodox Church.
The modern young Egyptian of Cairo, whether Copt or
Moslem, is too much prone to an easy-going materialism.
This is the young man's story of the exorcism, which
I will leave exactly as he wrote it :
*' The Bishop Abraam has a never-failing power
against evil spirits, relieving large numbers both of
Christians and Moslems every year, who are possessed
by them. My young aunt had an evil spirit, and she
became a source of great trouble to all our family. Many
doctors tried to cure her, but failed. When she was
under the influence of the fit, she used to yawn much,
and to stretch her arms forwards and backwards, crying
incessantly. Unconsciously, of course, she talked much
nonsense, cursing everybody ; then she would ask to
have her feet washed with soap and cold water. This
was always done ; but in a short time she would tear off
all her clothes and roll on the ground, the scene being
terribly painful to ker family.
" Bishop Abraam was not then confined to his house,
and because my father was a servant of the Church, we
begged the Bishop to visit us if he ever came to Cairo.
" At last he sent a message that he was to pay a visit
to the Patriarch, and on a certain day he would come to
our house. Wishing- to honour a distinguished guest in
our Eastern custom, we prepared a banquet ; but when
the Bishop entered the room, and saw this, he sternly
rebuked us, and would not eat at all, declaring his first
business was to see the sick woman.
" My father being blind, I had to take the Bishop to
my aunt's room, he carrying his hand-cross.
2 88 A Visit to the Venerated Bishop of
"Whether from excitement I do not know, but the
moment we appeared, my aunt fell in a fit ; crying in an
awful voice, ' Take away this fire. Oh ! I am going to
burn ! '
** The Bishop was praying earnestly, and moved slowly
to where my aunt lay. He then laid the cross on her
head and said in firm tones, ' In the name of Jesus
Christ I command you to go out and leave her ! '
'* I shall never forget the agony of this moment, for
my aunt distorted her mouth, and uttered a fierce cry.
"The Bishop did not move the cross from her head,
and simply repeated his command. Then the spirit,
apparently wrestling against the superior power, said,
through my aunt, first, ' I will go out through the eye ' ;
then • through the ear ' ; then ' through the mouth ' ; but
the Bishop each time sternly rebuked it, saying, ' Go
out through the foot.'^
" Then my aunt began to rub her eyes, stretch her
arms, and move her hair away from her forehead as if
she were awaking from sleep. She then half raised her-
self, and gazed at the Bishop, who was now smiling. He
asked her to get up and show him her foot. Others of
the family now came into the room, and we all looked
at the foot ; there was a red cross of blood on the big
toe, which I distinctly observed.
" My aunt was frightened at seeing the blood, but
when she was told what had happened, she got up and
took the hand of the Bishop and kissed it. The Bishop
blessed us all, and then said we might prepare for him a
small dish of beans, which he ate with a piece of bread.
Thanks to the righteousness of Bishop Abraam, my
^ In many cases of exorcism I have heard it declared that the spirit
sought to leave its victim by these organs, which it is believed would thus
suffer injury — the formula of driving it out by the toe is always followed.
the Fayoum^ A7nba Abraam 289
aunt has ever since had the best of health ; she is now
married and has three fine children."
Many stories are told of the uprightness of the
Bishop, and of his absolute fearlessness of dignitaries.
He was once summoned by the Patriarch to attend as
a member of a Council for the excommunication of a
priest. This priest was charged with having allowed a
bishop, who was under the ban of the Church, to enter
his church, and with giving him food to eat, and a place
to sleep in ; all this being prohibited by the Church
Law. The weapon of excommunication has never been
laid aside for long by the Coptic Church, and its
operation has always been drastic and final.
The Council assembled, under the presidency of
the Patriarch, and the charge was read. The Patriarch
then immediately announced that the priest must be
excommunicated, writing the judgment, and handing
it to Kallini Pasha, one of the Council, to add his signa-
ture and then pass the document to the others.
Bishop Abraam was sitting next to the Pasha.
He took the paper and read it, and then said, " I
cannot see why this priest should be turned out of the
Church. Did not Jesus Christ command us to be kind
to the poor, and to be considerate to strangers ? "
Handing the paper back, he said he would not sign
it, and when the startled Pasha remonstrated, saying,
" The Patriarch has decided, and the verdict Is according
to Church Law," he replied somewhat brusquely, "Why
was I called to this Council, if I am not to express what
I think ? "
Any one who knows the Oriental dread of the con-
sequences of blunt speaking, especially when it runs
counter to those in authority, will realise the alarm that
seized the other members of the Council. One of them
19
290 A Visit to the Venerated Bishop of
whispered, " Do you know that the man you are speaking
to is KalHni Pasha?" "Who is KalHni Pasha?"
asked the old man. " Did not Moses speak to God
Himself? Leave me in peace." He then left the
Council room and went downstairs. A member went
after him to say that the Patriarch wanted him, but the
Bishop replied, "Blessed is the name of God! I will
not go up the stairs of this house ^ again in my life,
unless that judgment is brought to me, and torn up,
while I stand here."
The Patriarch yielded to this man, who is the
Church's " true master " ; the priest was acquitted, and
is still in full charge of his country church and parish.
The Bishop follows the early ascetics, not only in
the matter of food, but in denying to himself much
of the sleep which nature demands. Of the great
Anthony it was said that most of his days dawned on
him without his having had any sleep. In cultivating
that complete scorn of the body to which they attained,
many of the early recluses arranged their caves so that
they could neither sit nor lie down, so that sleep should
be impossible. During the night season, one of them
declared, a man might see many things that appertain
to the spiritual life ; to refrain from sleep, as from food,
conquered temptation ; and, moreover, a man might thus
emulate the angels in heaven. It was Abba Sisoes,
of the Cairo of his day (Babylon), who, to vanquish sleep,
stood all night on a dangerous crag in the hills, being
rescued by an angel, who then forbade such an expedient.
The Bishop of Fayoum often spends whole nights
^ In the Patriarch's house in Cairo, like all other houses in the East,
all the rooms of any importance are on the first floor. The ground floor is
used for storage, for lumber, for stables, anything but human habitation,
for which it is cposi4ered positively injurious,
the Fayoum^ Amba Abraam 291
in prayer, sitting in the one position. It was the desire
of the ascetic to reach a condition of impassibiHty, and
amongst Coptic saints there have been those who have
so neglected the body that in their emaciation they were
unable to stand up. One poor old body — the monas-
tery gardener I have spoken of — who would never
allow himself a comfortable position, became so bent and
stiff, that when he died it was impossible to strip off
the skin garment wherewith he was clothed, and, as his
simple brethren recorded, "We were obliged to roll him
up in cloth like a bundle, and bury him in that state."
This is that " haven of impassibility " of which they
spoke ; and to this haven the Bishop of Fayoum has
attained.
Around such a figure, especially in the mystic land
of Egypt, and with the descendants of a people who
sought wisdom and guidance from oracle or seer, it is
not surprising to find the mists of fable already gathering,
arising out of a profound belief in certain powers, many
of which I feel sure the Bishop would not claim for
himself. It is possible that any man leading such a
life would develop powers which to ordinary men would
seem to be abnormal. Such a man might be expected
to see visions, and in this land of divination the gift
of premonition would naturally follow. " Any pure
heart can foretell things to come," said the blessed Mar
Anthony, the first hermit of the Egyptian desert,
expressing an ancient belief which never grows old.
It is not difficult to see in the crowd of eager
suppliants who throng the courtyard and the outer rooms
of Bishop Abraam a picture of the crowds who sought
divine guidance in the ancient temples of Egypt, where
God was supposed to speak by signs and oracles through
the priests, Whether we believe, with Garnault, that
292 A Visit to the Venerated Bishop of
these people were the victims of the charlatan, or, with
Maspero, that the priest did indeed speak by divine
inspiration in the name of God, the inscriptions remain
to show us in what a noble tone men spoke of their
experiences in the temple. " I came to seek divine
wisdom ; I stated my petition before my ancestor, asking
his advice. And when the audience was over I turned
away from these mysteries with my face aglow from
the joy that filled my heart, because I had heard my
God speak to me as a father to his son." Such is
the account which the hieroglyphics give again and
again.
Or we may see the descendants of the crowds of
sufferers, like those who sought the sanctuary at Ptah
Sotmu in Memphis, where for long ages the gods had
been sending dreams to reveal remedies to the patients
who came to sleep in the courts of their temples ; the
same people came to the temple to ask for the detection
of thieves who had injured them. And when the Chris-
tian religion came they resorted to the monk for like
help. Shenouda, the Christian recluse of Akhmin, was
constantly appealed to by those who had been robbed,
and, by some power he exercised, was successful in
naming the thief and compelling restitution.
And to-day the people, differing very little in feature
or dress from these early crowds, and whose mental
outlook is much the same, insist on treating such a man
as this saintly Bishop as their oracle as well as their
physician.
Like St. Anthony, the Bishop, always declaring
that "It is God alone who can grant relief," does every-
thing possible to turn men from that personal adulation
which the Oriental is too prone to lay at the feet of
any man with spiritual power.
the Fayoum^ Amba Abraam 293
The teaching of the Coptic Church in the matter
of priestly heahng, as in most other things, is founded
very Hterally on the precepts and example of our Lord
and His Apostles. And to its credit, it should not be
forgotten that, along with the use of holy oil in anoint-
ing, in the laying on of hands, and the casting out
of evil spirits, the bishops and priests, and even the
Patriarch himself, have often seriously studied medicine
and attained great skill in it ; so that many of the cures
effected have been the result of science as well as of
faith — surely a perfect combination in the ministrations
of the true physician, whether cleric or layman.
In the ancient church of Abu Sifain, near Mari
Mina, there is a picture of one Saint Kultah, who is
shown holding in his right hand a wand pointing to a
casket in his left hand ; the lid of the casket is raised,
and shows six little compartments for drugs. In mid-
air is shown a cross, on one side of the picture ; on
the other, a crosier.
It was in the eighth century that the Patriarch
Politian was summoned to Bagdad, by the famous
Caliph Haroun-al-Raschid, to cure a favourite slave-girl,
being promised certain Church privileges in Alexandria
as a reward.
Even the early monks would not let the people
depend for their cures, as they were only too ready to
do, entirely on prayer and the magic of the holy oil.
The monk of Ancyra was only one of many who
laboured for the sick that their ordinary bodily needs
might be supplied, and " he brought them the binding
up which helped their healing"; and of the anchorite,
Apollonius, it is told that he carried about pomegranates
and dried cakes, and raisins, and eggs, as the things
which are necessary to the sick.
294 ^ Visit to the Venerated Bishop of
I have no doubt, however, that these ancient fathers,
when they gathered the herbs which they knew to
be medicinal, used the incantations which, if properly
used, are still generally believed to add to their efficacy.
The greatest effort ever made by the Coptic Church
to stem the tide of the lax and superstitious ideas which
grew so alarmingly in Egyptian soil was made by Mark
ben el-Konbar, in the twelfth century. His teaching
was for a time successful, but the deep-rooted customs
of the country have always clogged the advance of those
who wish for such reform.
There is a solemn service in the Coptic Church for the
laying of hands on the sick, after the celebration of the
Holy Eucharist on Sunday morning. Candles are lighted
before the picture of the Virgin, and the priests stand at
the doorway of the sanctuary chanting the Scriptures to
the weird clanging of the handbells and the cymbals.
The unction, or anointing, of the sick, based on the
teaching of St. James, is one of the seven sacraments of
the Eastern Church, and it is in no way used as a last
rite for the dying as in the Roman Church. The Coptic
Church understands sickness in a very wide sense ; there
is a sickness of the body, a sickness of the soul which is
of sin, and a sickness of the spirit, or affections. Anoint-
ing is practised in every case, not only on the bodily
sick, but on penitents, and even on the dead.
When performed strictly according to the old rites,
the first act of the anointing is to fill the lamp with seven
branches with the purest olive oil of Palestine, placing it
on a stand before the picture of the Virgin. Incense is
burnt while the Scripture is read and prayers recited.
Then while the priests continue the service the chief
priest lights, one by one, at stated intervals, the wicks,
making the sign of the cross over the oil.
the I'ayotim^ A7nba Abraam 295
The sick person is now brought to the door of the
sanctuary, and the chief priest holds the Gospel in its
silver case, and the hand-cross, over the sick man's head ;
he then lays his hands upon the sick man's temples, re-
citing the orisons, while the other priests severally give
their benedictions. One of them takes the Gospel and
reads whatever passage on which he chances to open.
The cross is again uplifted, and a procession is formed
and passes round the church, bearing the lamp and
lighted tapers, while prayers are chanted for healing
through the intercession of saints and martyrs. Coming
back to the sanctuary, the sick man is anointed with oil,
in the form of a cross on his forehead, and on either
wrist.
If the person for whom the service is held is too
weak to attend, a substitute is put in his place, for this
service is never performed outside the church. Seven
priests are required for the full ritual.
By one of those curious practical turns of the Oriental
mind, which surprise the superficial observer, it is a posi-
tive though unwritten law that in every case of recovery
from sickness the first public act shall be a visit to the
public bath.
In speaking with the people who resort to the Bishop
of the Fayoum, one finds at once how largely they are
ruled by superstitions little differing from those of their
early Christian forefathers, when the very symbols of the
Christian religion were used to replace those of the fallen
gods of the Pharaohs. Belief in the magic of the cross
is universal ; it has a double power, for the mystic force
behind the ankh, or " sign of life," of the Pharaohs was
transferred to the Christian symbol. Dr. Budge says
that "Those who are familiar with the magic of the
dynastic Egyptians find few miraculous occurrences in
296 A Visit to the Venerated Bishop of
the histories of the monks, of which parallels do not
exist in the pagan literature of Egypt."
In Egypt, Spiritualism had its birth. Even in the
vulgar development of the stance, with its table-rappings,
Egypt was accomplished in the fourth century — the table
(history relates) rapped out the name of a successor to
Theodosius the Roman Governor.
The first magicians lived in Egypt, and possibly it
will be in Egypt that the last of the race will survive.
Every village knows of the gipsies, with their wonderful
book of sorcery and magic. This is the land of the afreet
and the ginn — the Coptic fellah believes in the race as
fervently as his Moslem neighbour, and is especially
scared of calling up a ginn of an alien faith to his own,
even as the early Christians were dreadfully afraid of the
god Serapis at Alexandria.
You may read of a monastery ghost in the fourth-
century records. Is there not a suggestion of hypnotism
in the story of the same date, of the rich young monk
who, vexed by the passion of lust, wandered in the
desert praying that he might be delivered from this
temptation, and so be able to return to the nunnery
which he had built, and which needed his oversight ?
Angels came to him, and they laid hold of him by his
hands and feet, and one of them took a weapon and
mutilated him, " not indeed in very truth, but only appar-
ently and in a phantom-like manner," or, as we should
say, by suggestion. The cure was complete and per-
manent, and Abba Elijah lived to conduct the great
nunnery at Thebes with every credit.
No edicts of the Christian Church have been able to
suppress the belief in magic, but, if we are inclined to
condemn these poor folk, who will have it that there is
magic power in the holy oil, the wine, in the blood of
\
\
the Fayoum^ Amba Abraam 297
the martyrs, and in the reHcs of the saints, and in the
various forms of holy waters of which the Coptic Church
has an especially varied and lavish supply ; and who will
believe all sorts of fables, and embellish all the sacred
stories with a miraculous folk-lore, the very suggestion
of which the West has almost forgotten ; we may still
remember that Coptic edicts have been issued against
these things, and good men like Bishop Abraam of the
Fayoum sincerely wish the people to adopt a more
simple faith.
The poor woman who comes to the Bishop with an
unbearable headache will, however, insist, in spite of
anything he may say, that the pain will depart by the
mere touch of the Gospel case, or the cross, which he
holds over her in blessing. An English lady was visit-
ing some poor women in Cairo, and seeing that she had
a Bible in her hand, one of them said, " Let me lay the
book on my poor aching forehead ; that will cure me."
In the same way this group of poor souls sitting on the
floor before the altar of a side chapel, nursing the curious
bolsters in which the relics of saints are wrapped, as they
croon their prayers, firmly believe that magic powers will
come from mere contact with the precious bones ; and I
have found the Moslem woman sitting- in the Christian
chapel nursing the relics and looking as intensely ex-
pectant of blessing as the Copt.
Men will ^o on desiringf to kiss the hands of the
Bishop, in spite of his objections, believing that by kiss-
ing the hands of a priest they will purify themselves ; in
the same way that in church they will rush to the door
of the sanctuary at the end of the Holy Eucharist,
hoping to catch if but one drop of the water sprinkled
by the officiating priest, in which he has just laved his
hands, because they think that the touch of the man
298 A Visit to the Venerated Bishop of
who has handled the sacred elements must have magic
power to bless them, especially in sickness or physical
disability.
As for the general teaching of the Coptic Church on
this particular subject, I think we must admit that it is
only a little removed from the practice of the early
Western Church. Confronted with the mass of pagan
superstition which, by adapting itself to the Christian
religion, had taken a firm hold on the masses of the
people, our own Church, from time to time, made those
protests which, through the decision of the Synods and
the great leaders of theology, have come down to us.
These very protests, however, took for granted the
marvels of magic, but denounced them as ungodly and
devilish, while allowing that there was a higher form of
ma^ic that was divine.
It is to be expected that out of this teaching the
sacramentalia was regarded as having magic attributes,
and that, again in spite of papal prohibition, the belief
still lingers in the Coptic Church, even amongst the
priests. It is related of an old monk that he frequently
ate the ashes of the incense as a blessed food ; many are
the remedial and magic uses of the holy oil, the holy
water, the incense, the consecrated salt, and even the
wax from the altar candles.
These poor people clamouring at the Bishop's door
have inherited, too, without any change or misgivings,
all the fables which gathered round the Gospel story in
the first days, beginning with that wealth of anecdote
about the Child Jesus, and the miracles, even of the
Holy Infant's touch ; and they will relate these to you
with a childlike faith, which is shocked at any sign
that you, a Christian, can have any doubt of their
authenticity.
1
V
the Fayoum^ A^nha Abraa^n 299 \
— .^
These poor fellaheen have never had an ancestor
who could read or write, but in the East it is always
enough that they have heard with their ears, and their
fathers have told them these things.
They have, for instance, all drunk at some time at the
spring at Matarieh, just outside Cairo, that sacred spot
at which the Holy Family rested when they fled from
Herod ; did I not believe, they asked me earnestly, that
that unfailing spring of fresh water was the miraculous
gift of Jesus? There is no doubt it has been so re-
garded from earliest times ; and when the journey to
Egypt was more difficult, many pious Europeans made
the pilgrimage specially to drink of this water.
There is another holy well in Cairo, the existence of
which is never suspected by the visitor, for it is deliber-
ately preserved as a secret. Once a year the Church of
St. Mary's, in the Harat-az-Zuailah, is the scene of a re-
markable gathering of people representing every nation-
ality and religion in Egypt, who crowd there to possess
themselves of some of the sacred water of its well. I
owe it to a friendly native Christian that I saw this well,
and that I can give an account in the words of an ortho-
dox Copt, showing how the people themselves regard
the story of the sanctity of this water.
A few years after the Mohammedan conquest of
Egypt, a Moslem person killed another Moslem, and
threw him just at the door of the Harat-az-Zuailah church.
The matter was reported to the Mohammedan Governor
of Cairo, who, having learned that the body was found
in front of the door of the church, grave an order that
unless the Copts in Harat-az-Zuailah gave a satisfactory
explanation as to how the man was killed, they would
all be prosecuted.
The news was alarming. The man was dead.
300 A Visit to the Venerated Bishop of
nobody knew anything about him, the Copts were quite
innocent of the crime, but still they must explain. They
had to give their explanation in one week's time.
Three days passed, and they were entirely un-
successful in finding the facts. The priest of the church
resolved to die of hunger under the old picture of the
Virgin Mary, which you (my friend is referring to the
author) saw in the Harat-az-Zuailah church, and which
has a door of wire-netting with small pieces of cloth tied
to it. He tied up his neck with a fine rope, which he
attached to the wire door of the picture. He fell fast
asleep, and lo ! the Virgin Mary appeared to him in a
dream, and told him, " Get up from your sleep, take
some water from this well, and pour it over the dead
man. He shall return to life and tell his story."
The priest awoke from his sleep, startled and
amazed, and did as he was told. The dead man moved,
returned to life once more, and related all his story to
the Governor. The Mohammedan criminal was arrested
and confronted with his victim. The priest explained
how the dead man returned to life, after which explana-
tion the murdered man fell back lifeless as he had been
before.
The news of the well then spread over all the
country, and the Christians had afterwards to suffer very
much, "as the Mohammedans thought that they were
able to bring life back to the dead, and they always
asked them to do so for their dead, but it was impossible
to do such thinofs asfain."
After I had written the above sketch, I heard of the
death of the sainted Bishop of Fayoum. From friends
in Fayoum and in Cairo I have received particulars of
his passing. A representative was at once sent from
the Fayoum^ Ajnba Abraain 301
the Patriarch to report on the personal property of the
Bishop, and the only things he found were the hand-
cross and a walking-stick. He had given to the poor all
the money he had, so that the chief Copts of the town
had to contribute the money to pay the funeral expenses.
Over twenty thousand people attended the funeral, all
mourning as for a personal friend. The poor people of
that countryside are desolate and quite inconsolable.
He has been buried in the cemetery of one of the desert
monasteries.
I am able to give a purely Coptic version of the
Bishop's life, translated from a little book published in
Arabic, since his death, by a Coptic priest who knew
him — the Rev. M. A. El-Baramousi El-Saghir :
Amba Abraam was born in a village called Galada, in the Assiout
province. His parents were true Christians, and they brought him up
on sound Christian principles, which he always followed.
He was sent to a kuttab (or village school). When he left this
kuttab he was deeply interested in reading the Bible, Church songs, etc.
At the age of nineteen he entered the Monastery of the Virgin Mary,
known as Deir El-Moharrac, which is near to Assiout, and of which
some speak as the place where Jesus stopped when He fled from
Herod the King. He was very popular in the monastery. The
monks got very fond of him, especially the Head, the Rev.
Abd-El-Malik. The duty of Amba Abraam was, at that time, to
receive the visitors and to attend to the sick.
It was necessary to take the opinion of the monks present in the
monastery about any one who was going to be nominated as a monk ;
so the Chief held a meeting of all the monks, and asked their opinion
about the character of Amba Abraam, and whether he deserved to be
their companion and brother. They all spoke favourably of him, and
consequently he was nominated a monk, and was then called Bulos
Gahabrial El-Moharrakawi. He has been always a good example in
the monastery. He used even at that time to give all he possessed to
the poor. He had a strong will, and was able always to rule himself.
There was a Bishop at Minieh at that time called Amba Yakovous.
He was very fond of spending his time with the monks. He chose
302 A Visit to the Venerated Bishop of
Bulos Gahabrial El-Moharrakawi to be his companion, and wanted
him to stay at Minieh. The Chief of the Monastery did not Hke the
monk to live away, but he had to fulfil the duty of obeying the Bishop
of Minieh, who was higher in Church rank ; and so Bulos Gahabrial
El-Moharrakawi went to Minieh, and was authorised to take charge of the
Visitors' Department, and keep an eye on the Bishop's house in general.
The Bishop of Minieh used to admire him very much, and some
time later, when he wanted to go back to his monastery, the Bishop
before he left promoted him to the rank of Reverend, and asked
him to pray for him. He encouraged him, and showed him great
admiration.
So he lived quietly in his monastery for some time with his
brethren, who had great reputation at that time for their piety and
purity. Being all admirers of him, they now joined in asking the
Patriarch to appoint him Head of the Monastery, and he was officially
appointed to this influential position, which enabled him to exercise
his generosity.
He continued five years as the Head of the Monastery, during
which the institution was known as a shelter for thousands of the poor.
During his tenure of this office he cultivated a four-acre garden,
increased the buildings, and raised the morality of the monks, from
whom there are now Bishops. The present Bishop of Abyssinia, as
well as Amba Locas, Bishop of Keneh, Amba Marcos, Bishop of Esneh,
and others, were monks at the monastery under his presidency.
After five years as Chief of the Monastery he resigned, and went
to another monastery called Deir-El-Baramous. He was followed by
a great number of monks, who could not live without him.
Deir-El-Baramous is one of the oldest monasteries in Egypt. At
this last monastery he did not take an active part in managing affairs,
but he took apartments for himself and his followers, and engaged
himself in prayers and religious study, always showing great sympathy
with the poor ; he used to share his clothing with the bedouins and
fellaheen in the neighbourhood.
In the year 1597 (Coptic) he was chosen Bishop of Fayoum and
Gizeh. When he got this important position, he showed great
attention to the poor and the widows and orphans, and he lived
exactly like one of God's men. He never cared about wealth. His
food was always very simple. He used to spend his nights in a narrow
room on a rough bed — he never used a bedstead until the end of his
life, when he was strongly advised to do so, on account of his age.
When his name got widely known as the friend of the poor, his
nn<»ivirti»
the Fayoum^ Amha Abraam 303
house was crowded with needy people, come from every part of the
country. Consequently, he brought a nun, who was at one time Head
of one of the nunnerys in Cairo, and asked her to take charge of the
poor. This woman once thought to give to the Bishop food of a
better quality than that given to the poor. This fact was unknown to
the Bishop, but one day he decided to go and have his dinner with
these poor people. It was a surprise to him to see that the food
offered them was different from his own. He therefore approached
the nun, and asked the reason why this was done. She did not utter
a word in reply. He took the keys from her. She was greatly
shocked, and has been lying ill ever since.
I should not be exaggerating if I called him our father Abraham,
for his faith and love to strangers ; he might be called Moses for his
patience ; or David for the purity of his heart ; or Elijah for the
eloquence of his tongue ; or Paul for the strength of his proofs.
I once stayed a week with the Bishop of Fayoum. These are the
things I saw during my stay. A woman of Balout, a village near
Manfalout, in Assiout province, was ill for a very long period of time.
She had spent all she possessed on doctors, with no good result. At
last she heard the people talking about the Bishop of Fayoum. This
woman was doubtful whether the Bishop's blessing was given only
to Christians, as she was not a Christian herself. However, she was
taken by four men of her relatives to Fayoum. In addition to all
her other ailments, she was dumb.
When they arrived at the Bishop's house, they laid the woman
before him, requesting him to pray for her. So he continued praying
for her for three days. After these three days, the woman was able
to walk in the streets, and went back to her village, telling the people
about the result of the Bishop's prayers.
Another man who had changed his Christian religion, and left his
wife, was brought to him. The Bishop tried in vain to influence him
to go back and live with his wife, and follow his original religion. The
man did not listen. The Bishop said, " God knows what to do with
you." So the man went, but died shortly afterwards.
I saw great numbers of women coming from all parts, with different
diseases, and all were cured through his prayers.
His annual visits to the people of his diocese were unique of their
kind. The first thing he used to do when he entered a village, was to
ask about its poor people. During his stay in villages he used to think
a great deal about the peaceful relations between the community, and
dp his best to make them live on friendly terms.
304 ^ Visit to the Bishop of the Fayoum
He used to examine carefully any candidate for the ministry. He
used to consider greatly the people's will, and unless the candidate was
very popular, he would not appoint him. He used to follow the saying
of Paul to Timothy, " Do not be hasty in putting your hand on one."
Very often he preferred poor candidates to rich ones. In any case,
the approval of all the people was very essential.
In the year 1618 (Coptic) the chief Bishop of Abyssinia visited
Egypt. He was one of those nominated monks by the Bishop of
Fayoum. After being received in Cairo by the Patriarch and the
Khedive, he went through some of the capitals of the provinces.
Then he intended to visit his old monastery. He asked his old
Bishop to accompany him on this visit. He granted his request.
They were joined by the Bishops of Alexandria and Esneh, and others,
and they stopped at several places in response to invitations from
Coptic notables.
In Abu Kerkasa they were the guests of Adib Bey Wahba, who
was until that time without a son. All the Bishops joined in asking
the Bishop of Fayoum to pray for him, that God might give him a son.
So the Bishop prayed that God would, after a year's time, give him a
son. The Bey believed strongly in the Bishop's prayer, and after ten
months God granted the prayer of the Bishop, and Adib Bey Wahba
was granted a son, who is now about twelve years old.
In remembrance of the Bishop's visit, Adib Bey Wahba used to
visit the Bishop every year, and he used to kill a number of beasts for
the poor, and give meat and other things to the poor and needful.
During recent years, owing to his age, the Bishop was unable to make
his tour in the villages.
He was a self-denying man. Once the Patriarch wanted to promote
him to the rank of Metropolitan, but he courteously refused it.
What makes the generosity of this Bishop more appreciated, is the
fact that he never made a distinction between different religions and
creeds. He was always ready to give when asked, and he never
delayed a prayer when needed and when requested to make it. Most
of his time was spent in praying, especially for the poor.
\
THE SAINTED BISHOP OF THE FAYOUM WITH HIS WONDERFUL
HAND-CROSS.
This photograph, which was taken of the Bishop on one of his last public appearances,
without his knowledge, is the only one in existence. The author owes its possession
to Coptic friends in the Fayoum.
CHAPTER VII
Does the Ancient Race of the Pharaohs
still survive in Egypt?
IT would form a curious study to show how success-
fully the Copts for many centuries managed to
hide themselves from the observation and even
the very knowledge of travellers and sojourners in their
own country, who profess to have made a complete
study of the dwellers by the Nile. There can be little
doubt that the Copts have all the Oriental secretiveness,
added to a very natural suspiciousness, bred of the
oppression of certain of their Moslem rulers ; but for
the possession of which qualities they might have been
almost entirely crushed out of existence. If the Copts
hid in fear from their infidel compatriots, they had
scarcely less cause to conceal themselves from the
Christians of other lands, who hated what they regarded
as the Coptic heresy as much as they detested the
infidelity of the Moslems.
When the First Crusade captured Jerusalem, in 1099,
they forbade any members of the Coptic Church to
enter the holy city, so little could they discriminate
between the Egyptian Moslems, who defeated them at
Askelon, and the Eastern Christians who were in
sympathy with them.
When the Crusaders invaded Egypt, in 1204, they
20
3o6 Does the Ancient Race of the
massacred indiscriminately the Christian and Moslem
inhabitants ; possibly because, like that Bishop of
Salisbury who had led a Crusade eleven years
previously, they considered such Christians as heretics
worse than infidels.
St. Francis of Assisi, when he joined the Sixth
Crusade in Egypt, in the year 1218, was unaware of
the very existence of the Egyptian Church. Centuries
later that great English traveller, Bruce, who travelled
through Egypt and Abyssinia, and received the greatest
help from a State official who was a Copt, never even
suspected that there was such an institution as a
Christian Church. Lane's ignorance of the Copts, and
the injustice of his characterisation, based on very slight
evidence, may be put down to the secretive cunning of
those Copts with whom he had dealings.
While the Moslems gave Lane some confidence
(although I feel perfectly sure they were never in doubt
that it was an Englishman in native disguise who was
taking such an abnormal interest in them), he only suc-
ceeded in gaining anything like familiar speech with one
Copt — a mean soul, whose abuse of his fellow-Christians
carries the bitterness of its injustice to this day.
A great deal of the morbid prejudice against the
Copts which marks the attitude of many Englishmen
in Egypt of to-day takes its rise from Lane's work,
to which all inquirers about the Egyptian people are
referred. This attitude again induces the old Oriental
evasiveness, and so the abysmal English ignorance of
these people gets little chance of remedy.
I must say that even in these days of British rule
and protection, reliable information is only got from the
Copts with the utmost patience and difficulty, however
sympathetic the inquirer may be.
Pharaohs still survive in Egypt f 307
If an English visitor gains the interest of the rich
and travelled Copts, it is necessary that he should be on
his guard against the impression they are fain to create
that there is little or no difference in manners and
customs, as in religion, between the English and French,
whom they imitate, and their own race.
A recent writer, Mr. John Ward, judging the Copts
by the Hfe of one or two very rich families with whom he
stayed, declared, " The Christian virtues are all practised.
The man a husband of one wife. The lady of the house
sits beside her husband at the family meals," and so on ;
and goes on to express the views, so carefully suggested
to visitors in such households in Egypt, that the Copts
are far removed in all their ways from their Moslem
compatriots.
The facts are that these few rich houses, whose
generous hospitality I have enjoyed, do not represent
Coptic life at all ; and the freedom of their ladies, of
whose charm and modesty I can speak, is not, un-
fortunately, a thing of which the average Copt shows
at present any sort of approval.
As for the upper-class Moslems, they are too proud
to play any sort of part in representing themselves as
anything but Oriental in habit and thought, and it will
never be fully known how bitterly they resent the pro-
English leadings of the wealthy Copts.
If one applies for information to the Coptic clergy,
one is met either by economy of fact, which is more
misleading than silence, or by genuine ignorance ; if to
an intelligent Government servant — of whom there are
many in Egypt — one gets a picture drawn of Coptic life
which has little relation to the truth, as one slowly finds,
if pertinacity gives no rest until the true life of the people
has been discovered.
3o8 Does the Ancient Race of the
No Copt with any education will speak to a stranger
of the primitive folk-lore ; of the crude superstitions
from the early centuries which everywhere obtain,
colouring all life and especially the religious beliefs of
the people ; of the Oriental customs, which are so
common to the life of Egypt that there is very little, if
any, difference between Moslem or Copt. All have the
mistaken notion that something has been gained for the
Coptic cause if a writer, especially an Englishman, has
been sent away with a picture, no matter how far from
the truth it may be, which an astute and secretive mind
has imagined meets the preferences and prejudices of
the visitor, and leads him to flatter its subject.
The Copts complain of the scorn with which the
English official classes treat them, and the impatience of
their Moslem fellow-countrymen, and seem utterly in-
capable of realising that they are largely responsible for
the mistrust that has brought this result upon them.
The English writers whom the Copts regard as their
best friends, because they have uncritically recorded
what they have been told, have indeed been those who
have done them the most serious disservice. When
Professor Butler declared that " before the law and
before the government there should be, in strict justice,
neither Copts nor Moslems, but one community of
Egyptians," he was saying a wise thing which the Copts
would do well to take to heart.
It is writers who are always telling them that (after
fourteen hundred years) the Arab is an intruder in Egypt,
and the country really belongs to the Copts ; that because
"the genuine Egyptians are the Christian Copts" they
ought to have special treatment at English hands ; that
their faults are largely the faults that come from oppres-
sion ; who would indeed keep alive for ever a hatred of
Pharaohs still survive in Egypt? 309
the Moslems by dwelling on the past, while flattering
the Copts by attributing to them virtues they do not
possess ; — it is such writers who, with the most friendly
intentions towards them, have not only failed to help the
Coptic cause but have hindered it.
The cleavage between Copt and Moslem, thus
fostered, dates only from the British occupation ; the
two have no innate antagonism, as history has again and
again proved. From the English the Copt has gained
nothing by the cleavage, but rather the claims he has
made to special favour have resulted to some degree in
a denial of bare justice. The English ruler disliked the
self-assertion ; when it was based on any reference to
"fellow-Christians," it became positively distasteful;
and in his endeavour to show he was free from bias, the
English official has proudly drawn himself too far from
the central point of impartiality.
Such ill-informed views as those of Dean Stanley,
that the Coptic Christians of Egypt are "the most
civilised of the natives," views which have been re-echoed
again and again by those who know little or nothing of
the Egyptian people, their wish as Christian writers
alone being father to the thought, is resented by the
Moslem section of the community, not merely as a libel
upon themselves, but as a misstatement of facts which
they suspect has been cunningly fostered.
Mrs. Butcher, who in her very able Story of the
Church of Egypt never has any hesitation in blaming
Moslem persecution for all apostasy, when she comes
to the details on which her sustained attacks on the
Moslems are based, can even speak of backsheesh as a
purely Moslem vice !
As an Englishman and a Christian I wish (as others
who have seen a good deal of the country have done) we
3 1 o Does the Ancient Race of the
could take such flattering unction to our souls, that
the Copts of to-day, because of their faith, are generally
ahead in morality, as well as in culture, of their com-
patriots. Years ago Miss Whately, the sister of the
Primate of Ireland, worked patiently amongst the poor
of Cairo, for their moral good. Her conclusion was : " I
cannot say I ever saw much difference between them ;
there is no superiority on the part of the Copts, either in
manners or conduct."
And what was Lord Cromer's verdict, when he had
finished his long course as the greatest ruler Egypt has
ever had.-* In his Modern Egypt he said that, for
all purposes of broad generalisation, the only difference
between the Copt and the Moslem is that the former is
an Egyptian who worships in a Christian church, whilst
the latter is an Egyptian who worships in a Mohammedan
mosque.
This is distasteful reading, but if it is to be made
obsolete let us admit that the ostrich artifice towards the
true condition of these ours fellow-Christians can only
delay those who desire to help towards a better and more
consoling state of things.
How little there is in common between the orthodox
Christianity of Egypt and the teaching, say, of the Church
of England, is seen when they are brought to the test
by the responsible authorities of both Churches.
An English Association, seeking in the name of the
Anglican Church to further Christianity in Egypt, began
its work by " refusing all tolerance to the soul-destroying
heresy of the Copts," thus bringing down to our own
times that hereditary Christian dislike between East and
West, of which I have spoken.
Those Churchmen must have been strangely lacking
in historical memory who were astonished that the
\
Pharaohs still survive in Egypt f 311
present Patriarch, coming from a desert monastery, one
of those places where men brood over insult and injury
in the undisturbed silence of centuries, was so suspicious
of the advances of Dr. Blyth, the Bishop of the Church
of England in the East, that for a long time he declined
to receive him.
I have no doubt the Patriarch thinks it presumption,
coming from the Church of the Reformation, to speak of
a reunion of Christendom, especially when he recalls the
way his flock has been drawn from the fold of his ancient
Church by the Christian missionaries of America. The
Patriarch has never been one of those Copts who have
sought favour with the English of any class ; indeed, he
has always preferred to commend himself to the Egyptian
Moslem authorities rather than to those of the British
Agency.
It is not surprising, in view of the ignorance about
the Coptic people which prevails, that little attention has
been given by historical scholars to their ethnology ; or
that what consideration the Egyptian Christians have
received has often been trivial and misleading.
The very name of the Copts has been the subject
of random guessing by men professing to be writing with
authority. The name Copt ought to be written and
pronounced Kypt or Gypt, as it is pronounced by the
community themselves. It is undoubtedly derived from
the ancient Greek name of Egypt, Aiguptos. Whether
this Greek name was in turn derived from the ancient
Egyptian name of Memphis, Hakaptah, or not, does not
especially concern us, but the common error of tracing
the word "Copt" to the name of the town of Coptos,
now called Keft, in the Keneh province, is absurd.
In the first place, there was no reason for changing
the designation of a whole nation when the Egyptians
312 Does the Ancient Race of the
changed their religion, and certainly a more important
town would have been chosen to supply a name. A
common nickname for the Copts by the Moslems is
"gins Pharoony," from genus Pharaonicus — used by men
to their fellow-countrymen, who themselves boast of
being- Arabs and sons of Arabs.
But whether the name of Copt takes us back to
Pharaonic Egypt or not, many of the secular customs, as
I have shown elsewhere, link them to the ancient people.
It is to the Coptic language, however, that I think the
student of the future will have to look for what is the
" most reliable evidence of the people's origin."
Dr. Sobhy, of Cairo, and Claudius Bey Labib, a
distinguished Coptic scholar, have made a painstaking
search in modern colloquial Arabic, of which they have
given me the advantage, which has resulted in the find-
ing of more than twelve hundred Coptic words used side
by side with Arabic words. Sometimes they discovered
whole sentences, and popular sayings, in pure Coptic,
used by the Egyptians of to-day, with no knowledge
of their origin. Some of these have come to be re-
garded as mere gibberish or jargon.
There is a common expression often used in the
place of the words "something or other"; it is pro-
nounced kani niani. When Dr. Sobhy first came across
the expression he thought it merely an example of
meaningless alliteration. He found, however, that a
complimentary Arabic phrase was often added as a
rhyme — dukkan el zalabany, meaning a pastrycook's
shop ; reminding him that kani mani were the Coptic
words for honey and butter.
It is in the expressions used between mothers
and their babes, and by the workers in the fields,
that many such instances are found ; and especially
Pharaohs still survive in Egypt f 313
in the speech of the boatmen on the Nile — where one
would expect to find the least change in the colloquial
expressions.
It is thought that the Copts numbered about six
millions at the time of the Arab conquest, in the seventh
century ; Eutyches, the earliest historical writer on the
Coptic Church, estimates them at eighteen millions,
which must be an exaggeration, unless he included the
actual population during the early Roman rule.
Of the few scholars who have dealt with the subject,
some have detected traces of negroid origin in the
Copts ; while others, like Rosellini, considered there was
evidence of Jewish and Roman blood.
Denon in his Description de I'Egypte makes the
fullest comparison of Coptic physical characteristics,
with the result that he was satisfied of a remarkable
correspondence to the human figures represented in the
paintings and sculptures of the ancient race.
There is truth, perhaps, in all these theories. In
different parts of Egypt the Christian people are found
to differ somewhat from the general type, according as
these different influences have predominated. The
Copts of Lower Egypt, particularly in the provinces
of Dakalieh and Sharkieh, are much darker than usual,
except in Mansura. In Upper Egypt, the Copts of
Sohag, Girgeh, and Minieh are dark, while almost the
whole of the inhabitants of Ahnoub, near Assiout, are
fair-skinned and have blue eyes.
The colour of the skin, taking the whole country,
ranges from pale yellow to dark brown ; it is never
muddy, but always clear and smooth.
The eyes are generally dark, but the shades vary
from black to a light brown — spoken of in Arabic as
honey-coloured. They are usually inclined to almond
3 1 4 Does the Ancient Race of the
shape ; but they are not exceptionally distant from the
nose, as has often been stated.
The nose is generally straight, but occasionally
hooked a little downwards and enlarged at the tip ; it is
rarely aquiline.
The mouth is of medium size, the lips full and well
shaped, and the teeth white, strong, and regular. Some-
times the ears are large. The Copts are of medium
height ; they are scarcely ever very tall.
The hair is always black or dark brown, sometimes
smooth and glossy, but more often wavy and frizzy ;
never crisp or curly.
Where, in the cities, there are variations from these
general types, it is accounted for by foreign marriages.
There is a certain admixture of Armenians ; though in
the present day there is an inherent prejudice between
the Christians of Egypt and those of Syria, inter-
marriage goes on to a certain extent. Marriage with
Greeks is almost unknown.
Professor Elliot Smith, in a valuable report, made
some comparisons with the bodily measurements of the
men of to-day, which suggest that there is very litde
difference in this respect between the ancient Egyptians
and their descendants.
Skulls of Copts of the early centuries have been
examined, and they have been found to be almost
identical with those of the skulls of the Pharaonic
mummies ; and the same form of skull is found amongst
the modern Egyptian Christians.
A certain deviation of skull, which came about the
fifth century, was traced by Professor Elliot Smith to
the mixture with the Syrian race which took place. It
was at that time that the Council of Ephesus was held
for the excommunication of Nestor for heresy, which led
Pharaohs still survive in Egypt ? 315
to a close connection between the Coptic Church and the
Syrian Church of Antioch. A great number of the
priests of Syria then moved into Egypt ; later, Syrian
monks were so numerous that they had a monastery of
their own in the Natron valley, which has existed from
the tenth century until to-day.
No doubt these monks had a great following of
secular folk to whom are attributed that type occasion-
ally met with amongst the Copts, with wide noses and
large oblong eyes, and the bushy beard which is never
seen in Egypt on any other man.
Occasionally one does come across traces of negro
blood ; and amongst skulls examined, some have been
found with negroid characteristics.
The Copts were always great slave-holders, and at
one period concubinage was common, although the
Church issued stringent injunctions against it, with
threats of excommunication.
The Eastern laws governing the holding of slaves,
which were observed in all their humane kindliness no
less by the Copts, who had no compulsion in the matter
from the Koranic dictates, explain at once how the negro
type would persist after the Church got its way as to the
female slaves. The father would never repudiate the
children of such a union, and there was no law to brand
them as illegitimate. Colour prejudice was — and still is
— quite unknown, so that these children were all married
in their turn into the community in which they were born.
Moreover, any slave who bore a son to her master, from
that instant became free, and was treated with the honour
of a wife.
But with all this, I think sufficient attention has
never been given to the Jewish element in the Coptic
people. It is not a popular suggestion, I know, but
3 1 6 Does the Ancient Race of the
the prejudice which has gathered through the long
Christian era against the Jews, and which the Copts
share to the full, ought not to make us stupidly blind to
historic fact.
From the days of Jeremiah, when Johanan the son
of Kareah led a band of Jews down into Egypt, there
had been a steady stream of emigration of Jews from
Palestine.
In this connection the very ancient tomb preserved in
a synagogue at Old Cairo, which the Jews have always
persisted in declaring contains the body of the prophet
Jeremiah, is of great interest.^
By the first century, we have the authority of Philo
for saying the Jews resident in Alexandria, and in the
country from the desert of Libya back to the bounds of
Ethiopia, did not fall short of a million.
The various philosophic influences to which this
community had been subjected in Egypt had reduced
the old conservative party, such as existed in Jerusalem,
and such as became St. Paul's most relentless persecu-
tors, to a small minority. The majority had the most
lively progressive tendencies ; the dominant school were
led by such a man as Philo, seeking to reconcile Judaism
with Greek philosophy.
^ Until a few years since, a roll, which all agreed was written by the
prophet Ezra, was preserved here, with a curse on any one who should
remove it. It was only through the treachery of a Jew that its existence
became known to outsiders. Two zealous antiquarians forced their way
into the synagogue, discovered the roll, and tried to unloose it. Evidently
it had never been opened for centuries, for the remains of a serpent were
found in its hiding-place, where it must have taken refuge. The edges of
the roll were so glued by the discharge of the serpent, that it was found
impossible to separate them without great damage. The antiquaries,
after seeing enough to satisfy them that it was of marvellous age, departed,
hoping to make a further examination under favourable conditions. But
the guardians took alarm, and a fresh hiding-place, unknown to Gentile
prying, has been found for the roll.
Pharaohs still survive in ^gypt f 317
There is a good deal of evidence that the first appeal
of the Christian faith was almost entirely to the Hellen-
istic Jews, little attempt being made at first to reach the
masses of the native Egyptians.
The "Gospel according to the Hebrews" was read
chiefly by Jewish converts. The "Gospel according to
the Egyptians " implies by its title that it was intended
for use either by the native Egyptians, as distinct from
the Alexandrians, or else by the Gentile converts, in
distinction from the Jewish.
It will be recalled that the earliest Gospels in circula-
tion in Egypt were not the Canonical ones ; in Clement's
day these two Gospels — to the Hebrews and to the
Egyptians — were still in general use. It is generally
believed that these two documents preceded the four
Apostolic Gospels in Egypt, and were most likely the
ones used by the earliest Christian community there.
" It is purely a matter of conjecture, although
perhaps a correct conjecture," says Harnack, "that more
Jews were converted to Christianity in the Nile valley
than anywhere else."
Egypt is the home of asceticism, and it is most
likely that Christianity was looked upon at first by the
Jews as a call to a new and deeply spiritual Way, which
could only be reached through Judaistn. As time went
on, it is reasonable to suppose that these Jews became
absorbed into the Christian Church which was fast
covering the country.
What strange development is it in Egypt that
leads to the feeling of repugnance for the Jew to-day,
which denies him, alone of all men, admittance to the
Coptic church during service ? The Moslem even is
never refused admittance. I have stood throuofh the
whole celebration of the Holy Eucharist with a well-
3 1 8 Does the Ancient Race of the
known sheikh at my side — but to the Jew the door is
closed.
And amongst the common people in Egypt the last
word of insult is to call a man a Jew ! After an
Egyptian has smiled indulgently at such epithets as dog,
or ass, or buffalo, to call him a Jew will generally open
the floodgates of Oriental wrath.
I think that in the case of the Copts it cannot be the
old grievance of the usury of the Jews, which in all other
parts of the world has been so largely responsible for
this hatred. For the Copts themselves are the " bankers,"
to use their own term, or in plain words, the chief money-
lenders, of Egypt. In this business they have been
astute and hard, so that some of their princely fortunes
have been built up on methods which have helped to
embitter the victimised Moslems (taught in the Koran
that the usurers' business is sinful and despicable) against
the whole race.
I have met one or two wealthy Copts whose relent-
less and unscrupulous pursuit of gain by means of adroit
usury had turned them into the type of brutal harpy, the
only suggestion of whose existence, fortunately for most
of us, comes from melodrama ; as the only man who
could be a match for them would be a Mr. Justice
Raffles.
I have heard the suggestion that it was because he
found men of this type, with ability, and the strength to
exert it, that Mohammed Ali, the maker of modern
Egypt, and the first of the Khedivial line (he reigned
from 1811 to 1848), and later on Ismail (1863-79), put
the financial affairs of Egypt into the hands of the Copts.
Those were the days of some very cruel acts of
financial pressure, when money was extorted, and pro-
perty often craftily seized, in ways that were barbarous.
Pharaohs still survive in Egypt ? 319
An old friend of mine often speaks to me of a raid he
remembers as a young man on his father's flocks, when
the marauding emissaries of Ismail took away every
head of cattle from the large farms, without any sort of
excuse. But the youthful blood of my Moslem friend
being up, he called to the family retainers, and with a
fine daring they galloped on borrowed horses to the
Khedive's farms a few miles distant, and recaptured the
cattle. The sequel was truly Oriental. Ismail laughed
at the original theft done in his name, but he admired
the spirit which would not sit down under it, and sent for
my friend to compliment him, so that ever after they
were good country neighbours. The Copts in such
employment would not, however, commend themselves
to the affection of the people.
Seeing the epoch-making developments which had
their birth in Egypt, through the early passion of the
Christians for monasticism, a brief note may be per-
mitted on an extraordinary development of Alexandrian
Judaism, by which a community of Jews, settled near
Lake Mareotis, formed themselves into an ascetic
brotherhood. Philo^ describes how each member of
the brotherhood lived in a separate cell, called monas-
terium, in which he spent his time in mystic devotion
and ascetic practices, and especially in the study of the
Torah, and in reciting the Psalms ; practising the while
great self-denial. Women, he says, were admitted into
the Order ; they spent their time in caring for orphan
children, and they listened "behind a separating wall "
to the Law as read by the men at their devotions.
Which incidentally may be thought to dispose of the
oft-repeated charge that the dividing screen was the
later invention of the terrible Moslem.
^ In De Vita Contejnplativa.
320 Does the Ancient Race of the
By the fourth century asceticism was the dominant
force in Egypt. It is not impossible that it was out of
this early tendency in Egyptian Judaism that the whole
movement sprang.
It was persecution which first turned the thoughts of
the most saintly of the early Christians in Egypt to the
peace to be found in desert retreats — first in lonely caves
and cells, and then in the monasteries which had been
built in places equally remote from the ordinary life of
the world.
By severest self-repression, by the vexing and
humiliating of the body in every possible way, by crush-
ing all natural instinct, men thought they were living
the life of the angels, and were taking the only way
to the salvation of their own souls, which indeed,
especially in Egyptian monasticism, was the sole aim of
its followers.
Very literally, the hermits and monks (and nuns, for
it must be remembered that women always had a great
part in this movement) considered that in this way they
were making the desert " to blossom as the rose."
If the desert blossomed — and indeed many a fair and
fragrant flower did bloom in its parched soil — everything
that was most vital and helpful to the life of the Church
and the nation wilted and died.
When the later persecutions of Byzantium came upon
the Copts, most of the power for a noble resistance had
been lost ; they fought and bickered, intrigued and
plotted, and retaliated with bloodthirsty passion, in the
spirit of their oppressors.
There is little wonder that the Arabs found the
conquest of Egypt a matter of little difficulty, and that
the first impression they received of Christianity there
was unattractive to those hardy sons of nature.
■ -■m.
o
iM
JZ
o
o
-o
k.
C3
<u
3
?
O
o
fc-i
*5j
«
j:3
_aj
'-C
(A
1 -
C3
o
^
-a
(U
3
_c
,
ra
QJ
H
OJ
'in
c
in
JZ
t-
"3
)— I
S-
^
B)
C^
J2
o
1o
^
_o
-o
k4
u
a
3
a
CJ
^
cr
^
^
CJ
x;
>— H
L.
.h
^
o
^
'J
kl
"5
>
^
^
,
c
m
^
73
cm
o
-a
o
—
p
O
3
a
^
-u
-£■
'a
cd
U
aj
t!
B
-J
^
-O
Q
c
£
o'
o
^
< ia
<:
o
o
u
- ■"•'''fe-
■< iV iVSamfM'
■1
■? <;
a.
Pharaohs still survive i?i Egypt P 321
Much has been written about the many persecutions
of the Copts by the Moslems, and the Western bias with
which the story has been told has taken too little account
of the toleration shown by the first conquerors, and by
certain of the later rulers. The many acts of ill-mannered
self-aggrandisement and pride on the part of the Copts
when they were in the enjoyment of liberty, which often
aggravated the Moslems to cruel reprisals, have scarcely
been recorded. Those who know the Oriental temper
appreciate the significance of such stories as that of the
rich Copt (it was a double offence that his wealth was
gained by usury) who in old days rode through Cairo
with incredible arrogance and display, and caused those
who did not render him obeisance to be chastised ; and
of the wrath of the Moslem authorities at such reports,
and the savage use they made of their superior power, by
ordering such public humiliations of the Copts as were
diabolical in their ingenuity. The Copts should there-
after wear distinctive dress in the streets, so that all men
might know they were mere Christians, and point at
them the finger of scorn. They should not escape notice
even in the baths, for naked they must wear bells round
their necks. If a Copt presumed to ride either a horse
or a mule, the first Moslem who met him might slay him
and take his goods. The Copt might ride the lowly ass,
but then only with his face to the tail.
Bitter and cruel indeed were those days, when enmity
and persecution so pressed upon the Christians that all
their skill and cunning were given to preserving their
lives, and that only in hiding.
Their churches were built over by every sort of
erection so that they might escape observation ; their
church bells had long since been silenced. The people
huddled together in their own separate quarters, which
21
«<a
32 2 Does the Ancient Race of the
they fortified as far as they dare, disguising their dwell-
ings as they had done their churches.
It may be said that for hundreds of years the Copts
practically buried themselves alive, their very existence
passing unsuspected by even Christian visitors to their
country.
The English officials who, in these days of our
supremacy there, in the curious mistrust and dislike they
show of the Copt, unknowingly are basing their dislike
on the objectionable manners bred of such an existence
— a shrinking lowliness of bearing, which is called
servility; a sly glance seeking for the line of least resist-
ance, which Lord Cromer calls " trimming " ; an economy
in the use of truth, until they see their way clear, which
goes by a sterner name.
And if the Copt mentions religion, as a claim to
favour, the Englishman cannot disguise his nausea, never
reflecting that the Copt has for centuries, in the nature of
things, looked upon this as the first claim on fellow-
Christians both to receive and to give help.
The dislike thus engendered in the English leads to
far-reaching judgments, some of them unjust ; so that
many of the Copts are declaring that they were in a
better position, especially after Mohammed Ali had
removed their disabilities, a century since, than they have
ever been under the British rule.
If the Englishman would look below the surface, he
would find that the fundamental elements in the Coptic
character are of higher worth than could be imagined by
those who judge him by the distorted manners he has
acquired.
For one thing — and this of the first importance in a
Briton's judgment — the Copt is not altogether a craven,
as is so often said ; though, more than any other Oriental,
Pharaohs still survive in Egypt? 323
I admit he does go in deadly fear of exciting ill-will.
But a great deal of his history cries aloud against the
charge of cowardice. The tenacity of his early patriot-
ism, and the unswerving loyalty to his Church, from
which no prospect of gain, either from Constantinople or
Rome, could turn him aside for an instant, confirmed the
splendid triumphs of the early martyrs and the endur-
ance of the saintly fathers — of whose incredible attain-
ments those of St. Simeon Stylites, at Alexandria, are but
a single instance.
It is said, with easy self-assurance, that the Copt is
not a fighting man, with no reference to the fact that from
the year a.d. 642 he was never allowed to bear arms.
The Copts at intervals all through the centuries of
oppression have shown signs of a latent heroism, apart
altogether from those great powers of stolid resistance
which alone have preserved their existence. If they
only suspected themselves of fear, they, with an Oriental
complexity of mind, again and again branded themselves
and their loved ones with the cross, so that, perforce,
they should not deny their Lord when the time of trial
came.
What more beautiful story, in all Christian history,
is there than that of the followers of Christ, who having
apostatised to Islam under great pressure, later on, in
response to the preaching of Matthew their Patriarch,
decided to return to their allegiance to the Cross at
whatever cost.
Cairo, that city of many weird religious phantasia,
never saw a stranger or more moving sight than when
in the year a.d. 1389 a procession entered its gates con-
sisting of a great stream of men and women, strained
with suppressed emotion and stern with resolve, who
as they marched, cried aloud, " We are Christians !
324 Does the A7icient Race of the
We renounce Islam and its Prophet ! with shame we
confess that we deserted Christ for fear of persecution ! "
In this way they sought to expiate the desertion of their
faith, knowing that it was by this road that they would
put themselves beyond the terrible fear of again proving
traitors.
The Moslem crowd surrounded the men and women
with vilifying cries, while the sheikhs demanded their
submission. With one voice, again and again, they
replied, " We are Christians ! We are Christians ! We
have come in this way to atone for our grievous sin ; by
death we may perhaps gain the pardon of the Saviour
whom we denied ! "
When it was found that not one of them would yield
either to threat or promise, it was determined to make
an example of the men first. One by one they were
beheaded, before the eyes of the women. These, how-
ever, remained firm, crying the more that they preferred
death to the betrayal of their Lord. The chief Kadi,
becoming enraged by the constant rejection of his
demand, ordered the guards to take all the band of
women to the foot of the citadel and there behead them
all. This was done ; although even the Moslems in the
crowd cried out against the Kadi for taking the lives of
women by beheading.
To come to our own times. At the fall of Omdurman
to the Mahdi many Copts were killed and others were
forced into worship in the mosque. Of those who sur-
vived those days were two well-known Copts, one
named Boules, who so successfully defended himself, in
his own house, that the Dervishes promised him his life
to save themselves the trouble of bringing up the heavy
guns. The other, Ibrahim Bey, owed his life to a black
servant.
Pharaohs still survive in Egypt P 325
It can never be known how many Copts refused at
that time to give up their faith. The natives told of
one, however, a Copt from Berber, who, when brought
before the KhaHfa Abdulla, said that his fathers before
him were Christians, and that he would prefer death to
the denial of his faith. Even while he bowed his head
to the stroke, his friends interposed and begged the
Khalifa to give them time to teach him the new faith,
saying he was mad and ignorant. On his second
appearance, he still persisted and declared that he would
rather die than give up Christ. The Khalifa discharged
him as a lunatic ; but on the next Friday in his sermon
in the mosque he took the bravery of this Christian as
his subject, expressing the doubt that any one of his
congregation would be willing to die, in cold blood, for
Mahdism.
During those thirteen years of awful misrule at
Omdurman, the Copts and other Christians managed to
collect in a quarter by themselves, and though they had
to appear regularly at prayers in the mosque, their
children were baptized secretly by Sitte Katerina, the
wife of a Greek merchant, who was possibly the bravest
of them all.
If such stories as this — and they are by no means
solitary instances — are attributed to religious emotion, it
is fair to recall that at the time of the French invasion
the Copts showed not only courage but resource. It
was a man named Jacob, with his Coptic recruits from
Upper Egypt, whom he had trained, who fortified his
house during a three days' massacre, and afterwards
with great skill and courage fortified and guarded the
whole Christian quarter in Cairo. It is stated (and has
never been denied) that Napoleon took a number of
young Copts from Egypt to serve in his army in France,
326 Does the A7icie7tt Race still survive?
where several of them rose to the rank of captain, and
one became a general. It was Tewfik Bey, a Copt,
who later was the hero of the garrisons of the Red Sea
Coast.
Those Frenchmen who have had intimate relations
with the Copts — and the French people have always
shown a capacity to understand the Egyptians beyond
that of the English — have never shown the same sort of
contempt for them. They have never spoken of them
as cowards. Amelineau wrote with enthusiasm of the
calm courage of some of the leading country Copts, who
like his intimate friend, Abd el Schahid Botros, head of
a rich family at a village between Girgeh and Abydos,
weathered the storm raised by the rebellion of Arabi
Pasha in 1881-82, showing remarkable qualities of
diplomacy and self-restraint in turning aside the anarchy
and fanaticism which, in the lower orders of the people
of any country, always finds an outlet as soon as ordinary
government is overthrown.
CHAPTER VIII
The Egyptian Christians and British Rule
The Author has thought it best to leave this chapter exactly as
he wrote it, in the last days of peace, in 19 14.
AS I have never had the slightest inclination —
possibly owing to some sort of temperamental
eccentricity — to approach any of the people of
the Orient with that prejudice which seems to be natural
to the majority of Englishmen, I think I shall be on safer
ground if I quote the exact words of an English writer,
whom I take to be an official, as expressing the views
on which the British official attitude towards the Copts
is based.
"When the English came into the country in 1882
they adopted, it must be admitted, an attitude of mistrust
towards the Copts, not unlike that felt in Europe with
regard to the Jews. This attitude becomes exaggerated
when put into words — it is so undefined and unexpressed
— but there can be no doubt that it did, and still does, exist
amongst English residents as a whole. The somewhat
servile manner of some of the Copts annoyed the British
official. By reputation, if not always in actual fact, they
were too fond of strong drink. Sometimes a Copt
seeking employment in the office of an Englishman
would make his petition in the name of the Saviour who
died for both of them — a peculiarly distasteful means of
327
328 The Rgyptia7t Christians
approach, the substance of which on first thoughts the
Briton was incHned to deny with some heat. Moreover,
it was felt, not entirely in jest, that while the Moslem
Egyptian never told the truth except when he intended
to deceive, the Copt omitted to tell it on all occasions." ^
I have shown elsewhere how far I think this sort of
judgment is founded on what is superficial observation
and the hasty conclusions of temper, rather than on
patiently acquired knowledge and experience. If I am
right, it will not be difficult to see how, based upon such
data, the widespread injustice of personal treatment, as
well as the course which politics would take, would lead
to grievance and discontent.
And as time has gone on, I fear it must be admitted
that very litde has been done to seek a truer knowledge
of these people, by looking beyond mere superficial
manners to the deeper springs of life and character ; or
to find, perhaps, historical explanations of certain habits
of mind which irritate Englishmen, reared in a land of
vigorous freedom ; or to admit excuses for conduct which
might be admitted to be the outcome of centuries of
severe constraint.
It was the English who delivered the Copts from an
existence that was only made possible by lowly deport-
ment, if not by " trimming " and intrigue. As for the
mention of the Cross in the ordinary concerns of daily
life, of course it is repugnant to Englishmen, with their
reserve and shyness about any mention of sacred matters.
But here again it might be considered how entirely the
Oriental differs from us, and that in a close community
like the Copts, the one bond must always have been that
of the Christian religion. How could they know that
with the English our deepest feelings are offended by
^ Blackwood's Magazine, August 191 1.
and British Rule 329
references which to the Oriental are the most natural ?
And Lord Cromer was right — for the Copt himself
woti/d, if he had the power, show favour to other
Christians.
I hope I have made it clear that I have no sympathy
with those who would encourage the Copts to expect any
sort of preference above the Moslems, or to think that
they have a single claim, historical or personal, to any
such treatment. But we need not s^ive them less than
equality, in our desire to show that we are impartial, or
deny them justice to prove our dislike of certain traits
that are distasteful.
If the way in which their claims are presented does
irritate us, we might still consider such claims on their
merits, and agree to such facts as admit of plain proof
None of these things were done by Sir Eldon Gorst ;
and although since the irritable outburst of the last of
his reports was written the temper shown to the Copts
has been more restrained, things still stand almost as he
left them. A cessation of their mild agitation for con-
sideration of their claims has been purchased by the
vague promise of future readjustment, with threats, not
at all vague, of the consequences of any sort of renewal
of their plaint.
The points for which the Copts ask consideration are
perfectly clear. They come under five main headings :
(i) Since British rule began they have been
debarred from holding the position of Mudir, or
Governor of a province, or of Mamur, the chief adminis-
trative magistrate of a district.
(ii) The Copts employed by the Government are
compelled to work on Sunday, because Friday has been
made, by the English, the day of rest, in deference to
its being the Moslem day of prayer.
330 The Egyptian Christians
(iii) The Coptic community is not properly repre-
sented upon the Government councils and committees.
(iv) They are obliged to pay taxes for the support
of many schools wherein the religious teaching is solely
Islamic, and very inadequate provision is made in any
of the schools for giving any sort of Christian teaching
to their children.
(v) They wish to call attention to the enormous
sums spent by the Government for Moslem religious
celebrations, such as the sending of the Holy Carpet to
Mecca every year, while no countenance or support is
given to the Coptic religion.
The first injustice seems to me to be the greatest, as
it is also the most crallinor. If I am rioht in judo-inof
that the keeping of the Copts out of the higher adminis-
trative posts of the country is the work of mere political
expediency, it will be easy to imagine how the best part
of the Coptic community is stultified and humiliated by
hearing that the "diplomatic" reason, given far and
wide, is that the Copts are lacking in the necessary
ability to occupy such posts.
At the very moment that our Agent was declaring
to the people of Great Britain, in his reports, that the
Copts must be condemned to such a measure of extinc-
tion, in the affairs of the country, because of inadequate
ability, the Prime Minister of Egypt, who had risen to
power by sheer merit, was himself a Copt.
As for the qualifications for the exercise of
administrative authority, who can be ignorant of the fact
that Egypt has again and again been ruled, to all
practical purposes, solely by Copts }
But still, the Coptic cause has been ill served by
certain sympathetic English writers whose advocacy has
led them to assert (and this has often been asserted)
and British Rule 331
that the people of this race are not only equal to, but far
ahead of, the Moslems in skill and in character. In
what may be called the office work, in book-keeping,
and the details of the routine of administration, they
have shown superior skill. In the private concerns of
the country there is scarcely a single estate, or a
business concern, in Moslem hands, which is not ruled
in those departments by a Copt, whose ability and
integrity are freely acknowledged by their employers.
At the same time, the Moslems who rise to power
are possessed of no mean gifts of organisation ; those
ofifts that o-o to the astute selection and manao'ement of
men, to initiative, and a certain clearness of foresight
and judgment. But I believe that, speaking generally
of their ability, the Copts and the Moslems are almost
indistinguishable. I admit that the consciousness of
belonging to the conquering race gives to the Moslem
an air of dignity and self-assurance which seems to mark
him out as a ruler. But is it not possible that, with
proper encouragement, impartially administered under
our rule, it would soon be found that the Copts
would in large numbers recover the spirit so necessary
to command ?
If this grievance is not the outcome of what the
English, rightly or wrongly, have thought was a political
necessity, how is it that until the Occupation the posts
in question were never regarded as altogether closed to
the Copts ?
I have many Moslem friends in Egypt, and when
they are questioned it is evident that they have caught
the suggestion entirely from, the drift of the British
policy, of all they have to say in favour of Coptic
exclusion. Strange as it may seem, it is from the
English that the idea even of religious disqualification
332 The Egyptian Christians
has come, for when pressed the Moslems never attempt
to support it by precept or precedent of their own.
The late Sheikh Ali Yussef once said, in the days
before he had taken the cue from the policy of Sir Eldon
Gorst which led the sheikh to that hatred of the Copts
which he afterwards exhibited in the newspaper he
edited : " There is no difference between the ability of
the Copts and the Moslems."
As for the religious question, we have the evidence
of an Englishman. Professor Sayce said recently :
" When I first knew Egypt, in the pre-Occupation days,
the religious antagonism between the Copts and Moslems
did not yet exist : they were all alike, Egyptians."
I have myself seen Coptic churches built by Moslems,
and a mosque, built only a year or two before the
Occupation, by a Coptic landowner. In the Secular
Coptic schools, built by private munificence, in different
parts of the country, I have never failed to find Moslem
pupils ; and no one thinks of excluding Coptic children
from similar schools built by the Moslems, especially in
the country places.
The history of Islam teems with instances, founded
on the teaching of the Prophet, showing clearly that
religion was never to be an obstacle to the employment
of the best men obtainable in the administration of
affairs important to the commonwealth — all the Western
prejudice against Islam which comes under the cherished
formula of " fanaticism " notwithstanding.
Both under the dynasties of the early Caliphs and the
Mamelukes, the Copts were promoted to the highest and
most responsible positions in the State, always excepting
the Army and the Governorship. Mohammed Ali (the
great statesman and soldier, founder of the present
dynasty) would never hear of the disqualification in the
a7id British Rule 333
service of the State of any man of proved ability,
whether he was a Copt or a Jew ; and there was never
in his day any sign of the rehgious resentment which it
is now said would arise under such appointments as he
and his successor made.
When one considers the despotic nature of Mohammed
Ali's rule, and the methods used to wring from the
people through these appointments the taxation he
imposed, one finds a conclusive answer to the doubt that
the Moslems would resent the appointment of Copts to
commanding positions. Mohammed Ali knew quite well
the extent to which the Mamelukes before him had given
power to the Copts, not stopping short of entrusting
them with the collection of taxes, and responsibility for
expenditure as well as for revenue.
When Egypt was divided into many states, each
ruled by a Moslem Turk with a regiment of soldiers, a
Copt was always appointed to the chief civil office as
the Governor's Secretary. The duties of this Copt were
varied and important. He not only levied taxes, but
was responsible for the Budget ; and he supervised the
surveying of the cultivated land, and generally advised
the Governor. Indeed, when Mohammed Ali first took
the reins in Egypt he found that the man who was in
charge of all the State affairs was Ibrahim el Gohary, a
Copt, and he made this man his Chief Secretary or Grand
Vizier ! According to El Gabarty, the great Moslem
historian, this man was the only Egyptian who was
privileged to smoke his pipe in the presence of the first
of the Khedives.
After the death of El Gohary, Mohammed Ali
appointed another Copt, Ghali Doss, as Chancellor of the
Exchequer, again with full powers over the taxation and
expenditure. Doss was also allowed to appoint all
334 -^^^ Egyptian Christians
officials in his own department. His son Basalious
succeeded him, with such success that he was raised to
the rank of Bey, Mohammed Ali making him a member
of his Privy Council, which was composed only of his
relatives and a few intimate friends. In time that
Council came to look upon Basalious as its leader.
It has so often of late years been asserted that no
Copt has served in a position where the Moslems would
have to submit to his rule, that it may be of use to give
the names of men whom I have traced as having filled
such posts. Mohammed Ali appointed Risk Bey, a man
from Mit Yaish in Lower Egypt, to be Mudir Edara of
Kalyobieh province ; Makram Agha of Gizeh was made
Mudir Edara of Gizeh. The Khedive also appointed
Boutros Faltaos to be Governor of Denderah, and
Mikhail Abdu to be Governor of Fashn. There is no
record that the Moslems showed any signs of resentment
to these appointments.
Later, in the time of Said and of Ismail, the Copts
continued to fill similar posts, Ismail making it a rule to
appoint a Copt to the post of public prosecutor in every
province — a position of considerable power, as the men
holding it had at certain times to act as judges. They
ranked third in the order of precedence with the provin-
cial officials. Among others, Sedarous Takla served in
Esneh ; Tadros Shalabi in Girgeh ; Shehata Hasaballah
in Assiout ; Abdel Malek Katcout in Minieh : Girgis
Yacoub in Beni Souef; and Awadallah Bey Srour in
Dakalieh. The last-named gentleman was appointed
sub-governor for Behairah, and filled the position with
great credit until he retired on a pension just before the
British occupation.
In the time of Ismail (who continually asserted that
" all were Egyptian alike ") the Copts served the State
and British Rule 335
in many high positions, the most striking fact being that
the Ministry of War was for the first time given to a
Copt (it was Mohammed Ali who first removed the dis-
abilities of the Copts to serve in the army), and Ayad
Bey Hanna had full control.
The position of sub-governor of a province was
certainly held by a Copt, Even under Arabi a Copt
was promoted to be sub-Minister of Justice, a post which
actually carried with it the superintendence of the Cadi's
courts, and the necessary minor appointments for those
courts. The Master of the Ceremonies at the court of
Ismail itself was a Copt, Wassif Pasha Azmy,
It was hardly to be expected of Orientals, that when
the Moslems saw a chance of getting the succession to
all the chief posts in the country, they would do any-
thing to persuade the British rulers that their diplomatic
idea favouring this was mistaken and ill-founded. Sir
Eldon Gorst's political role had been to reverse the
Cromer regime, and initiate a diplomatic friendship for
the Khedive Abbas to which England had hitherto been
a complete stranger. The result was that no single
Copt was to be found in the entourage, or even in the
service, of the several departments of the Court. Indeed,
to speak with the men who surrounded that corrupt
Khedive of Egypt was to be led to imagine that one
was in an opposing camp, the enemy being the Christian
part of the nation.
Under the stern glance of Lord Kitchener, who went
to Egypt to remedy the mistakes of the chequered Gorst
rule, anything like personal friendship between the
Khedivial Court and the British Agency soon perished,
and the ground for the dislike of the Copts by the
Court changed to the suspicion that they were again
trying slimly to commend themselves to the British
336 The Egyptian Christians
through their Westernised manners and their Christian
faith.
Of late, however, there have not been wanting signs
that the authorities are coming to some sort of reahsation
of the truth, which had guided their predecessors, that
the people make up one nation, and that the religion of
neither Moslem, Copt, nor Jew should prevent men
from being one in patriotism and loyalty, or from equal
opportunities in the service of the State, and a share in
the honours of that service.
The Copts declare that whereas when the British
took control of the country their people occupied a great
number of the highest positions in the State, in less than
a quarter of a century almost all the Coptic heads of de-
partments have disappeared. They were fully repre-
sented on the bench of judges, but gradually the number
has been reduced to nil ; and so in every other depart-
ment of the State, the process of removing them, and
shutting the door against fresh appointments, has gone
on until they have been reduced to a state of discourage-
ment""bordering on despair.
I have often seen how the effects of this are paralysing
the springs of the best part of the Coptic life. I have
talked with the fathers of promising sons as to the com-
pletion of their education, and in doing so have dis-
covered how it comes about that in a community which
sets such a high value on education, so few Coptic youths
find their way to our English Universities and Colleges
as compared with the Moslems.
"It is useless," these fathers say to me. " I may
make great sacrifices to give my boy the best possible
education in England, and when he returns to Egypt he
will eat his heart out in the work of trivial posts, and
will see the men who studied by his side at Oxford or
and British Rule 337
Cambridge, and who in no way excelled him, promoted
again and again because they happen to be Moslems. I
will not make the mistake which has been made, and
leads to so much bitterness, by some of my friends."
I have often talked, long and earnestly, with young
men of both reliofions who have followed this course :
with a charming young Moslem, who after a successful
career at an English University, has been promoted by
rapid strides ; and with a young Copt, who was his com-
panion at the University, and whose ability has been
placed beyond doubt, but whom Egypt has left unem-
ployed. Not being under the necessity of seeking
the crust of lowly service, the latter has almost lost
interest in his country and is using his talents in a land
where the disabilities of Egypt are unknown — to his
parents' grief, who, being of an ancient family, doubly
deplore the loss of their son. I can say that everything
I learned of this young Copt's failure came from his
Moslem friend, who regarded it with genuine sadness ;
and, in this instance, the Copt said nothing to me, nor
did his father, of the disappointment they were suffering
througrh British neoflect.
These are some of the facts which might be taken
into account when the Copts are pleading for a con-
sideration of their case — facts not to be impatiently
dismissed as a part of a case got up out of sheer Coptic
vexatiousness, or in an attempt to secure something to
which the Copts have no sort of claim.
One of the strangest things, perhaps, in Britain's rule
in Egypt is the way the question of the observation of
Sunday has been dealt with. Who could believe that a
Christian people, on whom the observance of the Sabbath
is laid as a Heaven-given commandment, could go into a
country where there was already another Christian Church,
22
338 The Egypt ia7i Christia7is
with many hundreds of thousands of adherents, and
promptly make arrangements by which they deprived
the Christians whom they employed, and all their children
in the State schools, of any chance of observing their Holy
Day ; giving up at the same time their own Sunday to
secular work ? But this is what British rule has done.
And to what end ? Some one conceived the idea
that this was the only politic thing to do out of con-
sideration of the Moslem people, who must alone be
thought of because they are in the majority ! That this
political idea was imaginary and ill-founded may be judged
from the effect it has had on the minds of those whose
prejudices were thought to demand it. I am more than
convinced that there is nothing which has robbed us of
respect on the part of the Moslems so much as this very
act which we had done to gain their goodwill. Over
and over again I have been asked, with great seriousness,
by Moslems of every class, in all parts of Egypt, " Have
the English Christians any Day of Prayer ? " And when
I have explained the nature of our Sabbath, I have been
met by expressions of surprise that such a religious
institution could, under any circumstances, be set aside.
They are utterly incredulous when it is suggested that
this was done out of consideration for Moslem views.
There is nothing in the Moslem religion that would
lead its followers to resent the keeping of a Holy Day in
their midst ; on the contrary, such an observance appeals
deeply to them. I have seen this in Algeria, where the
French people have never abated their private and public
respect for the Sabbath, and find no difficulty in meeting
at the same time the demands of the Moslems for their
Hours of Prayer on Friday. Many a pious Moslem
sheikh in Algeria has spoken to me of the way this has
favourably impressed his people.
and British Rule 339
The nature of the Moslem Day of Prayer has never
called for such a sacrifice as the English officials were
led to make for it, for it is in no way a day set wholly
apart for religious observance, or even for rest. It is
incumbent on the Moslem to abstain from work every
Friday until he has made his '"great prayer " at noon;
after that he is free, by the express words of the Prophet,
to "go his ordinary way, for profit or pleasure-."
If the Moslem feeling was misread in this matter, it
is certain that the protests of the Copts were equally
mistaken. A surface judgment had suggested — Lord
Cromer expresses this in his great work on Egypt — that
the Egyptian Christians were so in name only, and that
there was little real feeling for the keeping of the
Sabbath behind the grievance they somewhat elfishly
urged.
As a matter of fact, with all their contradictions of
conduct, I have seen abundant evidence that the Copts
have an intense feeling of reverence for the Sabbath,
based first of all on the scriptural commands, — and the
literal Scripture is at the root of everything in which the
Oriental Christian believes, — and then on a sort of super-
natural influence which gathered in the early centuries
about the Day of God and of the Eucharist, with its
rest from toil, even for the fellah and the slave. I
know Copts in Upper Egypt who ride for three hours
on a donkey's back to attend the Sunday worship ;
one of them to my knowledge gave up his only means
of livelihood rather than violate the Sabbath ; though
when his Moslem employer saw he was really in earnest
he took him back into his service, and has showed him
the most perfect confidence ever since.
Those of the Copts who are most deeply concerned
to see their countrymen of the Christian faith advance
340 The Kgyptian Christians
towards a more spiritual realisation of their religion, are
justified in speaking as Dr. Fanous has done. Lord
Cromer, he said, " hinted that we Copts are not an
example of true Christianity. Alas ! it is too true ; and
it is because our education as Christians is neglected.
How can we expect the people to follow the precepts
of their religion if they are shown that they are of no
importance to the authorities, who will themselves put
obstacles in the way of our religious observances ? We
have been taught the habit of neglecting the precepts
of our religion."
Unlike the Moslem, the Copt must go fasting to his
church ; and in contrast to the worship of the mosque,
which lasts not more than half an hour, even with the
sermon, the Holy Eucharist goes on from before eight
o'clock till well on to noon. After that the binding law
is that the Christian shall " do no work."
It is a surprising thing that the only plan for meet-
ing the claims of these Holy Days that commends itself
to British authority is to give a half-holiday to all the
schools and the Government offices on Thursday after-
noon and a whole day on Friday ; and to ignore, both
for the Copts and for themselves, any provision for the
observance of the Christian Sunday.
The Law Courts are open on Sundays, and all
Christians must attend there when occasion demands,
leaving their religious duties — and this applies even to
a priest who may be summoned, whose duty was to
have been serving at the altar. An adjournment of
the Courts is made, however, on Fridays for the
Moslems, and the Mixed Courts adjourn on Sundays
for the benefit of the European Christians, without any
inconvenience. In the national schools no opportunity is
given to the students of keeping Sunday. And yet the
and British Rule 341
General Post Office is closed at Alexandria, and also
the Customs offices on Sunday instead of Friday, in
deference to a certain amount of special pressure there ;
and it is found quite an easy matter to allow the
Moslems to be absent on Friday until after their
noonday prayer.
As a solution of this sore grievance, what is sug-
gested is that the Copts in the Government Depart-
ments should work each day an hour longer than at
present, in order that on Sunday they might be free
to worship. They point out that the Sultan Khalif
of Islam adopted long ago the custom of closing the
Government offices at Beyrout, and in other places, on
Sunday as well as on Friday, with no ill result ; and
within the last year or two the Turkish Government,
after consultation with the Sheikh-el- 1 slam, the chief
religious authority of the whole Moslem world, decided
to admit the claims of Sunday.
As for the schools, it is asked that, instead of the
Thursday half-holiday, the Coptic pupils might have the
necessary time on Sundays to attend the Holy Eucharist.
This would mean, even then, a certain loss of school
time, but it is pleaded that this would be insignificant
as compared with the wrong of bringing up the rising
generation in complete detachment from the practice
of their religion ; and all the time doing violence to
the consciences of the parents, many of whom are
keenly apprehensive of the evil results which they see
accruing from this practice.
The British official answer (showing the attitude
of mind the authorities bring to any discussion of this
question) may be found in the following words : " It
cannot be denied that, on the face of it, the Coptic
desire to worship their God on the Christian Sabbath
342 The Egyptia?t Christians
is not only just but laudable ; yet it is not a demand
with which the British authorities can comply, so long
as they only represent the occupying power. Moham-
medanism is the State religion of Egypt, and since the
officials have too much work to do to be able to adopt
the Beyrout system, there is nothing for it but to con-
tinue the observance of Friday as the only day of rest
in the week."
It is questionable if such callous expediency as this
can ever, under any circumstances whatever, be justified
where vital principles are at stake. But what can be
said of justification so shallow as to fall back on the
plea of Islamism being the State religion — when all the
best teaching of Islam is opposed to the thing here
implied of it.
As for our "only representing the occupying power,"
such a pale ghost dissolves at the first instant that the
British authorities feel the need of asserting the sovereign
and autocratic power, which they know perfectly well
they do in reality possess, to carry out any project
whatsoever, the most trivial as well as the most im-
portant, on which they are intent. It is this sort of
pretence which brings upon England the scorn of men
of other nations, and hampers our influence as a
Christian people. There is an unctuosity about it which
supplies our foes with their bitterest sneers.
England could without doubt settle this grievance,
if she cared to. It would be done, if she could first
believe in the sincerity of the advocacy which asks for
redress, and could then bring herself to be as interested
in the moral and social development of the Egyptian
people as she is in the material gain which so hand-
somely accrues from her rule.
Of the remaining Coptic grievances I shall say
and British Rule 343
nothing. If the strong man ever appears in Egypt,
with aspirations towards the spiritual upHfting of the
nation, with no special appHcation to either Islam or
Christianity, he may confidently be expected to readjust
the position of the Coptic people with regard to the
historic and moral considerations already set forth.
Then the sore grievances as to education, and the
incidence of the taxation respecting it, the religious
instruction of the children, the just representation of the
Copts in the Councils of the Government, will auto-
matically disappear.
As for the national Moslem celebrations, I doubt if
another word of dissent would ever be heard, for in such
details the minority must always submit. Pre-Occupa-
tion history, if appealed to on one side, must also be
left to settle Coptic objections to the expenditure on
the Holy Carpet Pilgrimage, so dear to the great
majority of the Moslem population.
If such a man as I hope for does not appear, and
the British Government itself, sitting in London, is
never to be moved to look for anything in the rule
of Egypt beyond audits, with monetary balances on the
credit side, I do not see that any arguments can be
of use.
With deep conviction I trust and believe that both
the inspiration and the man will come, when the day is
ripe. And to those who know something of the soul of
Egypt there are many signs of a rare harvest, to be
garnered in God's good time.
:^s
j4cidenda
THE BURYING OF THE PICTURE IN THE ALTAR
ON Holy Thursday the picture of the Crucifixion is taken down
from its place in the church, and put upon a special stand, and
round it are placed crosses, censers, and candles. A silver Gospel case
is also placed on the stand, covered with a great quantity of rose petals.
On Good Friday the service goes on from nine o'clock till sunset, and
at one point the picture is taken and carried in procession three
times round the church. Another picture, of Christ in the tomb, is
now buried in the altar, with a small wooden cross. Small pieces of
myrrh are laid upon the cross, and then a quantity of roses and petals
are put in to bury the whole, which is covered with a large veil.
The congregation, in the belief that when our Lord descended into
Hades all the/imprisoned souls fell down on their faces to worship
Him, are now required by the Church to make four hundred prostrations,
each hundred directed to a cardinal point. They then break their fast,
with an infusion of myrrh in vine-leaves.
The Easter service begins at sunset on Saturday, when the Liturgy
of St. Gregory is recited with special pomp. Immediately before the
service of the Holy Eucharist the doors of the sanctuary are closed,
and the deacon, after chanting a long hymn, strikes the closed doors
on the western side and says, " Open ye, O Kings, your doors," etc.,
to make an entrance for the King of Glory. The priest inside the
sanctuary demands, " Who is the King of Glory ? " and then opens the
doors. The picture is then brought out from the altar, and all the
clergy and cantors then carry another picture of our Lord, rising from
the dead, in procession round the church, chanting, " Christ has risen ! "
This service ends about midnight.
345
S=
346
Addenda
THE BREAKING OF THE BREAD
The method of dividing the Host is as follows :
I St. The priest divides it up into a right third, and left two-thirds.
2nd. He places the right third upon the left, two-thirds in the form
of a cross. He now severs a piece of the third, to which the Ispadikon
is attached, and places it in the paten towards the east, and another
piece, to be placed to the west. He also severs a piece from the right
third and places it to the right, and puts the remaining part to the
left in the paten, thus forming the figure of a cross.
3rd. He divides the piece of two-thirds into two divisions, and
places the entire Ispadikon in the centre of the paten.
4th. The remaining third in his hands is also divided. He now
takes in his hands the third placed to the left, and puts in its place
the last third that was divided.
5th. He also divides the third that is in his hands, and puts it to
the right of the paten.
6th. He now collects all these divisions together in the centre ot
the paten, and rubs his hands together to get rid of any crumbs that
might have become attached to them.
Ml
Bibliography
The following books bear upon the subject, and some of them have
been consulted :
Egypt and Israel. Professor Flinders Petrie. (Society for Pro-
moting Christian Knowledge.)
Among the Huts in Egypt. M. L. Whately. (Seeley, Jackson, &
Haliday.)
Ragged Life i?i Egypt. M. L. Whately. (Seeley, Jackson, &
Haliday.)
More Ragged Life in Egypt. M. L. Whately. (Seeley, Jackson, &
Haliday.)
Dr. Liddon^s Tour in Egypt and Palestine. (Longmans, Green,
& Co.)
Copts and Moslems under British Control. Kyriakos Mikhail.
(Smith, Elder, & Co.)
Egypt and the Christian Crusade. Charles R. Watson. (Published
in America.)
In the Valley of the Nile. Charles R. Watson. (Fleming H.
Revell Co.)
The Eastern Church. A. P. Stanley. (J. M. Dent.)
The Patriarch of Jerusalem. Ven. Archdeacon Dowling. (Society
for Promoting Christian Knowledge.)
Ancient Coptic Churches of Egypt. A. J. Butler, M.A. (Clarendon
Press.)
Egypt and Syria. Sir J. W, Dawson. (Religious Tract Society.)
The Story of the Church of Egypt. E. L. Butcher. (Smith, Elder,
&Co.)
Christian Egypt: Past, Presetit, and Future. Rev. Montague
Fowler, M.A. (London Church Newspaper Ltd.)
Folk-lore of the Holy Land. J. E. Hanauer. (Duckworth & Co.)
Blessing of the Waters. Marquis of Bute, K.T., and E. A. Wallis
Budge, M.A. (Henry Frowde.)
347
348 Bib Hog raphy
upper Egypt, its People and Products. Dr. Klunzinger. (Blackie
& Son.)
Thais. Anatole France. (The Bodley Head Press.)
Dictionary of Christia?i Biography. (John Murray.)
The Paradise of the Fathers. Translated by E. A. Wallis Budge, M. A.
(Chatto & Windus.)
The Egyptian Church. Archdeacon Dowling. (Cope Fenwick.)
The Abyssinian Church. Archdeacon DowUng. (Cope Fenwick.)
The Coptic Church. Archdeacon Ward. (The Faith Press.)
The Rites of the Coptic Church— Baptism and Matrimony. Trans-
lated by B. T. A. Evetts. (David Nutt.)
The Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics.
Yearly Reports of the Anglican and Foreign Church Society.
(S.P.C.K.)
^
^sm
Index
Abbas, Khedive, and Sir Eldon Gorst, 335.
Abd-el-Sayed, the Rev., on the Bishop of the
Fayoum, 286.
Ability, the special, of the Copts, 331.
Abraham, the first recorded Hebrew visitor to
Egypt, 148.
Absolution, the prayer of, 195.
attitude of the people during, ig8.
to the Son, 19S.
to the Father, 203.
Ahu Nerus, carnival of, 66.
Abu Sifain, the picture of, 293.
the saint's picture at, 217.
the casket at, 215.
Abydos, temple at, 172.
Abyssinia, chief Bishop of, visits Egypt, 304.
Abyssinians, Epiphany, ceremony of, 66.
Acolytes, the, at the altar, 181.
Adib Bey Wahba, the miracle of, 304.
Administrators, Government, the Copts' claims to
be, 329. 33°-
Adoration of the Host, 201.
Advent service, the, 220.
the Fast of, 223.
Aggrandisement, self-, of early Copts, 321.
Agriculture, skilled, 4.
Akhmin, the home of the recluse Shenouda, 292,
Alexander, Pope, destroying an idol, 281.
Alexandria, the burial-place of St. Mark, 176.
ApoUos of, 230.
the date of Coptic Easter always decided at,
234-
loses its position as the first See, 234.
the Metropolitan of, 255.
turning an ancient temple there into a church,
281.
Judaism there, 319.
St. Simeon Stylites at, 323.
Altar, the high, 175, 176.
prayer for preparation of the, 195.
the neglect of the, 226.
the, stained with blood in the theological feuds,
236.
burying the picture in the, 345.
Amelineau on Coptic courage, 326.
American Mission, debt of the Copts to, 83.
the, and the villages, 24T.
Angel, the guardian, 198.
invocation to the, 202.
Angels, disputing as to whether they have wings,
232.
supplication in the name of, 281.
Animals, care in beckoning, 73.
Ankh, the ancient, transferred to the Christian
Cross, 295.
Annianus, St. Mark's first convert, 229.
Anonymous, gifts to the Church must be, 206.
Anthony, the monk, a saying of, 271.
called by hearing the Scriptures read, 193.
23
Apis, the bull, 74.
Apollos, an Alexandrian, 230.
Apostates, the bitter remorse of, 323.
the glorious story of their return to the faith,
324-
Apostles, the Fast of the, 223.
Arabi Pasha, 326.
" Arabian Nights," the, live again in the bazaars,
'SS-
Arabic, reading the Scriptures in, rga.
Arabs, the reception of the invading, 237.
Arian controversy, 232.
Arius, and his definitions of the Trinity, 233.
to be restored to priesthood, 234.
Ark, the, on the altar, 177.
Armenians, a mixture of, 314.
Arsenius, the plot of, 255.
Asceticism, Egypt the home of, 317, 320.
Assiout, a great wedding at, iig.
burning the church pictures at, 219.
the itinerant teachers of, 241.
the Patriarch at, 261.
early connections of Bishop Abraam with, 301.
Assumption of the Virgin, the Fast of, 223.
Athanasian Creed, the, 200.
Athanasius the Great, 228, 233, 234.
plotting in the time of, 255.
Baboon, the story of the, 75.
Babylon in Egypt, 229.
Backsheesh, 11, 43.
Bagdad, a Patriarch summoned to, for healing,
293.
Baking the Eucharistic cakes, 213.
Balcony, the use and antiquity of, 39, 40.
Baptism, customs and rites of, 95.
ideas of infant, loi.
Baptist, St. John the, story of relic of, 221.
Baramous, the monastery of, 255.
Barsoum, the monastery of, 137.
Basalious, Coptic Chancellor of Exchequer, 334.
Basil, St., Liturgy of, 169.
Liturgy proper of, 2or.
prayer of the kiss of, 201.
Basin, the, used by the priest, 182.
Baskets, making of, in monasteries, 151.
Bath, the infant's first, 90.
visit to, enjoined after healing, 295.
Bazaars, the workers in the, 155, 156.
Beans, the story of the, 30.
"Beating the board" to summon worshippers,
224.
Bedouin, visit to tents of, 49, 57.
the pride of the, 58.
Bells, the use of, in church, 197.
distasteful to Moslems, 224.
no church, 224.
Beni Hassan, inscription on a tomb at, 185.
Berber, the brave Copt of, 325.
-rrrrrr
350
Index
Bible, the life of, reproduced, 43, 47.
material sanctity of the, 100.
as a talisman, 178.
Bibliography, 347, 348.
Bird life, 7.
Birds, fearlessness of, 72.
Birth, the customs attending, 82.
Bishop of the Fayoum, the, 180.
Bishop's blessing, a, 275-
Blacksmith, the, and his primeval implements,
159-
Blackwood's Magazine on the Copts, 328.
Blessing, the, of a Bishop, 275, 276, 277.
Blind cantor, the, 196.
Blood, the Patriarch must never have shed, 251.
Blyth, Bishop, suspected by the Patriarch, 311.
Boasting of monkish achievements, 186.
Bolsters, the, containing the relics, «2o.
Bones of the saints, 220.
Books never used by the church congregation,
183.
Botros, Abd el Schahid, courage of, in the Arabi
rebellion, 326.
Boutros Faltaos, a Coptic governor, 334.
Box, the incense, 182.
Boys as deacons, 190.
Bread, native, resembling stones, 81.
the elaborate ceremony of breaking the Euchar-
istic, 346.
Breathing, the priest's use of, 98.
ordination by, 263.
Bricks without straw, 47.
British Museum and its Coptic treasures, 253.
Coptic Church treasures in the, 225, 226.
British political attitude towards the Copts, 327.
" Broom of the Nunnery," the story of, 108.
Bruce, the traveller, visited Egj-pt without know-
ing of the existence of the Copts, 306.
Burseem, or " taste of the spring," 9.
Burying the sacred picture. 177.
Butcher, Mrs. E. L., the misleading statements
of, 107.
the prejudice of, 309.
Butler, Dr., on the Egyptian School of Painting,
215-
quoted, 308.
Byzantine persecutions, the horrible, 237.
Caf^s, the Street of the, 160.
Cairo, the welcome of, to the returning Patriarch,
261.
Old, the prophet Jeremiah's tomb, 316.
Cakes, the Eucharistic, distributed in church,
212.
Calendar, the Coptic, 66, 231.
Camel, a story of a, 75.
bone of, as a shop sign, 165.
Candelabra, the church, 173, 181.
Candle-maker, the, 161.
Candles, religious use of, 161, 163.
used at wedding festivals, 164.
Canopy, the baldaquin, 176.
Cantor, the blind, 196.
Carelessness of the Church treasures, 150, 173.
Carnival of the high Nile, 66.
Carpenter, the, how he works, 155.
Cathedral, the Cairo, 169.
Cavity, the, of the altar, 176.
Celibacy, unknown amongst servants, 17.
of the nuns and monks, 238.
Censer, the song of the, 199.
Censing of the people, 190.
the ceremony of, 199.
Chains, use of the, to bring the new Patriarch to
Cairo, 254.
Chalcedon, the Council of, 231.
the stormy Council of, 235.
Chalice, the, 177.
the ceremony of mixing the, 204.
Characteristics, personal, 313, 314.
Charm, the Scriptures as a, 178.
the, given by the Patriarch, 248.
Charms found in Christian graves, 134.
Childlessness, horror of, 86.
overcome by Bishop's prayers, 304.
Children, the charm of the, 79.
love of, 93.
Choir, the Coptic, 169, 196.
Chrism, use of, 97, 98, 99.
the use, and the making of, 214.
Christ, disputes as to the nature of, 235.
Christianity, easily understood by ancient
Egyptians, 132, 170.
Christmas Eve, the Fast of, 223.
Church revenues in the hands of the Patriarch,
248.
services, days of the, 220.
Churches, the plan of the, 171.
neglect of, 225.
Circumcision, practice of, 102.
Claims, the Coptic, 329, 330.
Claudius Bey Labib on origin of Copts, 312.
Clement, St., the Liturgy of, 182.
Clergy, degeneracy of, not due to fasts, 223.
Clerk, the native, 41.
Clocks, story of|the stopped, 32.
CofiFee, discovery of, 16.
making, 50.
Collection, the threefold, 212.
College, a theological, founded and abolished,
256.
Colour prejudice unknown, 315.
Commemoration of the dead, 131.
Communicants, absence of, 205.
Confession, is it disliked by Orientals, 205, 206.
Confirmation at the time of baptism, 102.
Constantine, the Emperor, 231.
Constantinople, rivalry of the Coptic Church
with that of, 234.
Controversy, the Arian, 232.
Conversation, charm of, 32.
Convert, the first, of St. Mark, 229.
Coptj the derivation of the name, 311.
Coptic, prayers in, 183.
reading the Scriptures in, 192.
Coptos, the town of, 311.
Corn-dealer, the, 158.
Corn-mill, the modern, 58.
Corporal, the silk Eucharistic, 177.
Councils, the forming of the new, 255, 258.
Country Copts, the isolation of the, 240.
Craftsmen, Oriental, 147.
Craven, the Copt not a, 322.
Creed, the Athanasian, 200.
Crocodile, stuflfed, as a shop sign, 165.
Crocodiles, sacred, 74.
Cromer, Lord, and the corvie, 6.
abolished the whip, 146.
and the Patriarch, 245, 247.
acts against the Patriarch, 259.
defeated by Cyril v., 261, 262.
on the sole difference between Copt and
Moslem, 310.
on the Copts' claim as a Christian, 329.
on the keeping of the Sabbath, 339, 340,
Cross, the flat hand-, 179.
always tattooed on the wrist, 181.
sign of, on the forehead, 207.
the hand, as used in blessing, 274,
belief in magic of, 295.
Index
351
Cross, mention of, repugnant to English officials,
328.
Crotch, the dervish's, 158.
Crowning, the, in the wedding ceremony, 115.
Crucifix, the, unknown to the Copts, 179.
Crusaders, the, and the Copts, 305, 306.
Crutch, the use of, in the Church, 184.
Cures, marvellous, by Bishop Abraam, 303.
Curtains, the baldaquin, 176.
Cymbals, the use of, igi, 197.
Cyril the Fifth, Patriarch, sketch of, 243.
Cyrillus, Patriarch, burning of the pictures by,
2i8, 219.
Danke, the Moravian missionary, 232.
Darkness, fear of, 162, 163.
David and the rule about the shedding of blood,
^ 251- . .
Deacon, position of, at the altar, 195.
Deacons, little boys as, 190.
Death, rites and customs concerning, 122.
Degeneracy of clergy not due to fasts, 223.
Deir-el-Bahri, sacred picture at, 216.
Deir-el-Baramous, Bishop Abraam and his dis-
ciples at, 302.
Deir-el-Meharak, the Bishop of, against reform,
261.
Delta, the levelling of, 4, 45.
the geology of, 4.
the handsome race of the, 55, 63.
Denon on Coptic characteristics, 313.
Depopulation, mistaken ideas of, 237.
Devil, the, largely ignored in the pictures, 218.
Devils, casting out, 265, 287.
Dimiana, Sitt, the moolid of, 141.
Dioscoros refuses to agree with the Council of
Chalcedon, 235.
" pipping" in the Scriptures, 178.
Dispute, propensity to, 63.
Disputing, love of, 232.
Divination, belief in, 282, 283, 291.
Divorce uncommon with the Copts, 118.
Dogma, a great dispute of, 232.
Dome, the vision in the, at the Monastery of
Barsoum, 137.
Doss, Ghali, Coptic Chancellor of Exchequer,
^ 333-
Dowry, the correct, no.
Drink, intoxicating, 30, 32.
Droller>', love of, 19.
Ears cut off, to avoid Patriarchate, 255.
Easter, date of Coptic, always decided at
Alexandria, 234.
the change of the Western date of, 234.
Eating-places, how they differ from those of the
West, 161.
Ecumenical Councils, the first of the, 233.
Eggs, ostrich, in church, 174.
Egypt, St. Peter in, 229.
Egyptians, the Gospel to the, 317.
El-Baramousi El-Saghir, the Rev., on the Bishop
Abraam, 301.
Elijah, Abba, the monk who established a
nunnery, 296.
Endowments of the Church, the lajmien's views
of the, 264.
Engagement for marriage, 105.
England, Church of, and the Coptic Church,
. 310-
English preference for the Moslems, 239.
impartiality, how it is unbalanced, 309.
dislike, reasons against, 322.
Epiphany tank, the, 209, 211.
the services of, 210, 211.
Ethnology, the, of the bazaar workers, 156.
Eucharistic cakes distributed in church, 2r2.
Eutyches excommunicated by Greeks and
Romans, 235.
the views of, 235.
estimate of population, 313.
Evening service, the, 195.
prayer, preceding the Sabbath, 207.
Evil eye, the, 25, 26, 81.
and the ornaments of Gideon, 74.
Ewer, the, used by the priest, 182.
Excitement, a scene of, at the celebration of the
Holy Eucharist, 207, 211.
Excommunication, a rule of, 289.
of Coptic Church by Rome, 235.
of the Bishop of Sarabon, 258.
Excommunications, wholesale, of Cyril v., 260.
Exile of the Patriarch, 259.
Exorcism, 265.
story of the Bishop of Fayoum and, 287.
Ezra, the story of the scroll of, 316.
Fanaticism, 61.
Fanning of the holy elements, 182.
Fanous, Dr., on the unity of the people of Egypt,
239-
on Sabbath observance, 340.
Fast of Ramadan, 221.
Fasting for the Holy Eucharist, 175, 183.
Fasts, the Coptic, 221.
the genuineness of the Eastern, 222.
Fatalism, 124.
Father, the, Prayer of Reconciliation to, 201.
Fayoum, the Bishop of, 180, 224, 268.
Feasts, the seven Coptic, 224.
Fellaheen, the qualities of, 62.
Fetish of Scripture reading, 193.
" Fixed price " a modern introduction in Europe,
164.
Food, willingness to share, 61.
the, of the poor, 81.
offerings to the dead, 133.
the, of the handicraftsmen, 156.
Fortitude, Oriental, in ordinary calamity, 123.
Fox, stories of the cunning of, 76.
Francis of Assisi, St., unaware of existence of
Coptic Church, 306.
French invasion, Coptic courage at the time
of, 325.
Friday, Good, one of its ceremonies, 177.
Friends, Society of, introduced the "fixed
price," 164.
Furniture, destruction of, when death takes
place, 126.
Gabarty, El, the historian, 333.
Gabriel, the angel, 190.
Gardener, the monastery, with only one gar-
ment, 154.
Gardens, Egyptian, 28.
Garnault on the oracles, 291, 292.
Gauge, the Nile, 67.
George, St., and the Dragon, 218.
Ghost, an early monastery, 296.
Gideon and the camel's ornaments, 74.
Gifts to the Church must be anonymous, 216.
to the bride-elect, in.
Ginn, fear of, in the dark, 162.
protection of the Cross against, 180.
Gipsies, the Egyptian, 296.
Girdle, ceremony of the loosing of the in-
fant's, lOI.
the Coptic, 189.
Girl preacher, a, 241.
Godparents, close relationship of, 96.
352
Index
Gohary, Ibrahim EI, Coptic Grand Vizier, 333.
Gordon, Lady Duff, the Patriarch's rudeness
to, 250.
Gorst, Sir Eldon, dislike of the Copts, 329.
Goshen, the land of, 46, 47.
Gospel-case, the sealed, 100, 177.
Gospel to the Egj^ptians, the, 317.
Gospels as a cure for headache, 297.
the first, circulated in Egypt, 317.
Governor, a Coptic, 334.
Gratitude, how it is shown, 61.
Gravity of the Oriental, the, 19.
Greek Orthodox Church, the, 234.
the translation of the Gospel into, 230.
Gregory, St., the Liturgy of, 185.
Grief, the Oriental in, 122.
Guardian angel, 198.
Guilds of the ancient workers, 156.
Guiltiness, the, of sin, 185.
Guimet on a sacred picture, 216.
Gulah used by the priest, 182.
Hadrian, the Emperor, on the Copts, 148.
Haikal, the (or screen), 170.
Hand-cross, the flat, 179.
Hands, the bleeding, of Theodore's, the monk,
151-
laying, on the sick, 265.
Oriental use of the, 198, 199.
the washing of the priest's, 196, 200.
the washing of the, 31.
Hanna, Ayad Bey, Minister of War, 335.
Harat-az-Zuailah, venerated picture at, 217.
Hareeiii, the, 20, 21, 23.
Harness-makers, the, 42.
Head, the native, never uncovered, 52.
Headache cured by touch of Gospels, 297.
Head-covering of the priest, 189.
Healing, a great church service of, 293, 294, 295.
power of the saints, 221.
Hebrews, the Gospel to the, 317.
Hclba, belief in virtues of, 88.
Helowan, the monastery near, 137.
Heraclius, the Fast of, 223.
his intervention declined, 236.
Herbs, use of, 294.
Heredity, belief in, 85.
Heresy, "the soul-destroying," of the Copts,
249, 310.
Heroism shown by the Copts, 323, 324, 325, 326.
Hiding of the Copts from Western Christians as
well as the Moslems, 305, 306.
Holy Ghost, the Coptic dogma of the procession
of, from the Father, 233.
Holy Week, the Fast of, 222.
Hope of the future, 343.
Hospitality, duty of, 29.
Host, the .idoration of the, 201.
the elaborate ceremony of dividing the, 346.
Houses, tomb, visits to, 132.
Hyena, superstitions about the, 76.
Hypnotic suggestion, the monk's surgical opera-
tion by, 296.
Hypnotism of the Patriarch's prayers, 251.
Impassibility, efforts to attain, 291.
Incense, morning, the service of offering, 1S3.
box, the, 182.
India, the Gospel sent to, 230.
Infants, unbaptized, beliefs about, loi.
in church, liberty of, 171.
partake of the Communion, 100, 205.
Inlay work, skill in, 149.
Instruments, musical, 37.
Intrigue, the mistake of, 256.
Invasion, the Arab, 237.
Irrigation water, the stealing of, a great sin,
185.
Isis, the robe of the priests of, 188.
traces of the cult of, 210.
the boat of, in Christian picture, 216.
Islam, conversions to, 239.
the absorption of the village Copts by, 240.
Ismail, story of his cattle raids, 319.
on equality, 334.
Jackals in Christian picture, 216.
Jacob, the Copt who resisted the French inva-
sion, 325.
Jacob's experiment with the flocks, 86._
James, St., healing based on his teaching, 294.
Jaundice, a cure for, 77.
Jeremiah, the prophet, buried in Egypt, 316.
Jerusalem, the pilgrimage to, 209.
entry denied to Copts by the Crusaders, 305.
Jesus, the early stories about, 298.
Jewellery, the women's, 24.
skill in making, 148.
Jewish element in the Coptic race, 315, 316.
Jews, ascetic brotherhood of, 319.
denied entrance to the Coptic Church, 317,
318.
Joseph, a scene reminiscent of his time, 158.
Judaism, Alexandrian, 319.
Justification, an Egyptian trait, 186.
Kallini Pasha on the Patriarch's Council, 289.
Khamseen, the, 20.
Khedive, the, sought as the ally of the Patri-
arch, 258.
the, sought to override the Patriarch, 258.
the, and the IVai/s, 263.
Kiss of peace, the, given by congregation, 201.
Kissing the Gospel, 191.
the hand of the priest, for purification, 297.
Kitchener, Lord, changes made by, 335.
Kultah, Saint, the picture of, 293.
Labour, forced, 5.
Ladies, Coptic, and domestic efficiency, 271.
Lamps, church, 174.
Land reclamation, 45.
Lane on the Copts, 107, 293, 306.
Language, the dead Coptic, 170.
Laughter never loud, 19.
Laymen, reading church lessons, 194.
their attempt to assert themselves, 255.
Left hand, the, dishonourable, 198.
Leider, Mr., the C.M.S. missionary, 232.
Lenten Fast, the great length of, 222, 223.
Leonides, one of the first martyrs, 230.
Light, love of, 162.
Litany, a beautiful, 190, 191.
Liturgy of St. Basil, 169, 183.
of St. Clement, 182.
of St. Mark, 1S5.
of St. Gregory, 185.
Loaves, the three Eucharistic, 182, 195.
Longevity, instance of, 48, 49, 50, 51.
and the fasts, 224.
Lord's Prayer, how used, 207, 208, 247.
Lots, casting of, to find the new Patriarch, 252.
Macarius the monk and the mosquito, 72.
and the friendly panther, 73.
Magic of the Gospels, 178.
the, of the Cross, 180.
the Church's teaching about, 298.
Mahdi, the, and his Coptic prisoners, 324, 325.
Makram Agha, a Coptic Mudir, 334.
Inde.
'X
'7
3
53
Maician dethrones the Patriarch, 236.
Marcus Simaika Pasha on Coptic resignation,
^23.
and the proper marking of Eucharistic cakes,
213.
and the Coptic Museum, 150, 226.
and the Patriarch, 263.
Marcus the cook, 27.
Mareotis, Lake, ascetic brotherhood of Jews
there, 319.
Mark, St., buried at Alexandria, 176.
St., Liturgy of, 185.
hymn to the Apostle, 190.
St., the coming of, 228, 229.
ben el-Konbar, an early reformer, 294.
Marriage, often very happy, 106.
Martyrdom of St. Mark, 229.
of Leonides, 230.
of Diocletian, 231.
Martyrs, the chief Coptic, 143.
Martyrs' relics, 220.
Maspero on the oracles, 292.
Matarieh, the Holy Family at, 299.
Mat-making in the monasteries, 151.
Mats, the altar, iSi.
Maundy Thursday, the tank for, 211.
Meat, the offence of eating it all the year round,
250.
Mediation, the Coptic view of, 185.
Medicine, often studied by the clerics, 293.
Melkite and Jacobite feuds, 195.
authority defied, 236.
Memphis, the sanctuary for the sick there,
292.
Menelek, King of Abyssinia, his gift to the
Patriarch, 246.
Mercurius, St., converted Vasheh, 216, 217.
Mercy, belief in God's, 217, 218.
Messenger, the native, 43.
Midnight prayer in the church, 220.
Mihrab, the Moslem niche, adopted from the
Copts, 175.
Mikhail, the angel, 281.
Mimicry, children's love of, 80.
Minieh, the Bishop Abraam at, 301.
Minority, baptismal innocence presumed during,
206.
Miracle of the Monastery of Barsoum, 137.
Missionaries, Western, attacks of, on the Coptic
Church, 250.
Mohammed Ali and Coptic state service, 318,
332; 333. _
Monasteries, the work in the, 151, 152.
ignorance of the monks of the, 225.
the revenues of, in the hands of the Patriarch,
248.
dislike of, by reformers, 253.
Monasticism, depopulation due to, 238.
Monk, the, who sold shoes, 15J.
Monkeys, reasons for detestation of, 74.
Monks, how they earned their bread, 151.
their practice of standing, 184.
the boasting of the, 186.
weeping for their sins, 187.
ignorance of the, 225.
the immense number of, 238.
Monophysite controversy, the, 235.
Monotone, the musical, 196.
Moolids, or saints' birthday feasts, 136.
Morality of the Copts, 107.
Morning incense, the service of offering, 183.
Morocco, story of the Sultan of, 32.
Mosaics, skill in making, 149.
Moslems preferred by Patriarch to Protestants,
250.
Moslems seeking the ministration of the Chris-
tian Bishop, 282.
Coptic provocations to, 321.
the, on Coptic ability, 331, 332.
the, on our non-observance of the Sabbath,
338-
Mosque, equality of the worshippers in the, 54.
Mother-in-law, the ancient joke of, 71.
Mudirs, Coptic, 334.
Mummification practised till the fifth century,
133-
Museum, Coptic, at Old Cairo, 150.
British, and its Coptic treasures, 253.
Musical instruments, 37.
Mustapha Pasha Fehmi acts against the
Patriarch, 259.
Names used by the Copts, 91, loi.
Napoleon on the Egyptians, 146.
and Coptic troops, 325.
Natron valley, the monastery in, 255, 3x5.
Nature, the people's love of, 64.
Neglect of the churches, 225.
Negro blood, traces of, 315.
Nestorius on the two natures of Christ, 235.
News, how it travels, X2, 13.
Nicaea, Council of, the point of separation,
218.
Council of, and the Copts, 228.
Council of, on standing for prayer, 184.
the Creed of, 19X, 233.
Niche, the decorated, in the churches, 175.
Nickname, Moslem's, for the Copt, 312.
Nile, the rising of, 65.
boatmen of, 65.
the, as a subject of conversation, 65.
prayers for the flood, 68, 69.
the miracles of, 68.
the beneficent water of, 70.
prayers for inundations of, 194.
blessing the waters at Epiphany, 210.
Nineveh, the Fast of, 223.
Nitria, the monastery in, 259.
Novatian heresy, the, 230.
Nunnery, the, under Abba Elijah, 296.
Nuns, strenuous and self-denying, 154.
the immense number of, 238.
Oblation, the prayer of, 197.
Occupation, the Christian, strange results of,
240.
Official posts, great, held by Copts, 334, 335- I
Oil of healing, the, 215.
the consecrated, or chrism, 214, 215.
holy, use of, 97, gS, 116, 293, 294.
Ombos, the crocodiles in the Temple of, 74.
Omdurman, courage of Copts at, 324.
Oracles, the people's love of the, 291.
Ordination, the Patriarch's sole power of, 263.
Origen, 230.
story of conversion of, 192.
Orphan, care of the, 93.
Ostrich eggs hung in the churches, 174.
Ovation, the, given to the returning Patriarch,
261.
Oven, the church, 213.
Pachomius, the monk, 238.
story of the gardener of his monastery, 284.
Palm Sunday, curious services on, 211.
leaves, uses of, 150, 154. _
Paphnutius the monk and his tunics, 284.
Paten, the, 177.
Patriarch, and young engaged couples, 105.
the, at the monastery of Barsoum, 137.
354
Indt
ex
Patriarch, Cyrillus, burning of the pictures by,
218, 2ig.
the present, piety of, 224.
Athanasius, the, 233.
Dioscoros, the, 335.
regarded as sovereign of their country, 237.
the hypnotic power of his prayers, 251.
how elected, 252.
a, and the cup of coffee, 257.
the triumph of, 261.
the passionate attachment to, 261.
the sole power of, 263.
the, defied by Bishop Abraam, 289.
the intrigue of, with France, Turkey, and
Russia, 260.
Patriarchate, the, dread of, 254.
Patriarchs, mention of names of, in the Holy
Eucharist, 203.
Patriotism roused by the disputes of the
churches, 236.
Pedlars for the monks and nuns, 152.
Pentapolis, the city of St. Mark, 228.
Persecution of Severus, 230.
of the Arabian invaders, the, 237, 321.
Peter's, St., First Epistle dated from Babylon,
229.
Petrie, Professor Flinders, quoted, 231.
Pharaohs, are the Copts the descendants of, 305.
Philo on the Jews in Egypt, 316, 319.
Picture, sacred, in Church of St. Michael, 70.
burying the, in the altar, 177, 345.
Pictures, the church, 215.
church, burned in Cairo, 218, 219.
church, readmitted by the present Patriarch,
219.
private prayer before, 219.
Pigeon towers, the, 14, 15.
Pilgrimages, Copt and Moslem, 16, 165.
Piterius, the visit of, to the nunnery, 108.
Poison, Scripture reference to, 265.
Politan, the Patriarch, 293.
Politeness, Oriental, 11, 12.
native, a story of, 60.
Population, increase of, 5.
of Egypt, the, 239.
Posts, great, held by the Copts, 333.
Poverty of the monks, 284.
Prayer, a, translated from the Coptic, 194.
private, 219, 220.
washing before, 219.
hours of, 220.
Prayers of the Patriarch, hypnotic power of,
251.
Praying before the church pictures, 217.
Preacher, girl, my visit to a village with, 241.
Prejudice, yielding to Western, 308.
Presbyterian zeal against church pictures, 219.
Pride "that apes humility," story of, 187.
Priest's prayer for his own forgiveness, 204.
neglect of church treasures, 225.
Prime Minister, the Coptic, 330.
Prospharin, one of the altar veils, 177.
Prostration of the congregation, 203.
Proverbs, 33.
Ptah Sotmu, sanctuary of, 292.
Public Prosecutor, the Copt as, 334.
Pulpit, the, 174.
Purification, service of, 97.
Quartets, the congregation divided into, 199.
Raisins used for Eucharistic wine, 214.
Ramadan, the Fast of, 221.
Real Presence, the, belief in, 197.
Reclamation of the land, 45.
Redemption, the Coptic view of, 185.
Reform, the Patriarch suspicious of, 249.
hopes of, 254.
Reformation, the English, hated by orthodox
Copts, 250.
the English, distasteful to the Patriarch, 311.
Reformers and the church pictures, 218.
Relics of the saints and martyrs, 220.
Repentance, no word in Coptic for, 187.
Repetition of the Scriptures, a fetish, 193.
Oriental love of, 280.
Repudiation of sin, 185.
Resting, different forms of, 18.
Revenues of the Church and monasteries in the
hands of the Patriaich, 248.
Riaz Pasha and the Patriarch, 261.
Risk Bey, a Coptic Mudir, 334.
Ritual, love of, 84.
Robe, story of the Bishop's, 283.
Rome and the Epiphany service, 210.
excommunication by, of the Coptic Church,
235.
Rosary, the general use of, 19.
the Coptic use of, 280.
Rosellini on origin of Copts, 313.
Sacrament, the mode of administering the, 206.
Saints' tombs, 136.
reading the Lives of, in church, 194.
held in remembrance in the Eucharist, 203.
relics, 220.
Sakieh, the, 43, 64.
Sanctuary, the church, reverence for, 170,
Sarabon, Bishop of, excommunicated, 258.
Sayce, Professor, on religious antagonism, 332.
Scents of rural Egypt, 6.
love of, 28.
School, the first great Christian, 230.
Screen, beauty of that at the Church of Abu
Sifain, 149.
the haikal, 173.
Scriptures, the reading of the, 192.
Sealed Gospels, the, 177.
Secretiveness, Oriental, 305.
Serapion, Abba, reading the Scriptures, 193.
Serapis, St. Mark's protest against the feast to,
229.
Sermon, the place of the, 200.
Serpent, the, in symbolism, 18S.
Serpents, Scripture reference to, 265.
Severus, the persecution of, 230.
Shadoof, the, 43, 159.
Shafika, the Coptic singing woman, 107.
Sheep roasted whole, the, 35.
Sheikh, the, and the girl preacher, 243.
Shenouda, the recluse of Akhrain, 292.
Shoemaker, a, the first Christian convert, 229.
Shoes, the story of the monk who sold, 153.
Shopkeepers, Oriental, 146.
not wholly mercenary, 165.
Sick, the solemn service for the, 217.
the, visits of to ancient temples, 292.
Sickness cured by laying on of hands, 265.
Signs, shop, 165.
Silversmith, the, and his primitive tools, 155.
Simeon Stylites, a Coptic saint, 323.
Sin, the Coptic view of the guiltiness of, 185, 187.
repudiation of, 185.
Singing, native delight in, 36, 37.
Slave-holding, 315.
Sleep, scorn of, 290.
Slippers, the story of the Prophet's, 75.
Smith, Professor Elliot, on personal character-
istics of the Copts, 314.
Sobhy, Dr., views on origin of Copts, 312.
<
I
Ldl
Index
355
Sociability, native, 32.
Soldiers, why the Copts are not, 323.
Songs of the fellaheen, 55, 56.
Soul of the recently dead, sending away the,
130.
Souls, the, "under the altar," 176.
Spiritualism born in Egypt, 296.
Spoon, the, used in the Eucharist, 177.
the Eucharistic, how used, 205, 207.
Staff, the bishop's, 188.
the bishop's, used to stir the waters, 212.
Standing, the monks' practice of, 184.
for prayer, 184.
Stanley, Dean, on the liturgy, 185, 187.
mistaken ideas of, 309.
Statues, none in the Coptic Church, 216.
Stirring the waters for the Epiphany, 212.
Stole, the priest's, 189.
Stones, magic, 77.
Straw, bricks without, 47.
Street cries, the, 157.
Strenuous, when the people were, 160.
Suez Canal, the conservative way of the labourers
on, 150.
"Suggestion," the young monk surgically oper-
ated on by hypnotic, 296.
Sunday, the claim for its observance, 329.
the non-observance of, under British rule, 337.
the passionate attachment of the Copts to
observance of, 339.
Coptic suggestions for keeping, 341.
Superstition, an early effort to suppress, 294.
Supineness of modern days, 160.
Surplice, origin of the, 18S.
Synod, the Patriarch's, 259.
Syrians, a mixture of, 314, 315.
Tabernacle, the, on the altar, 177.
Table-rapping in the fourth century, 296.
Tank, the Epiphany, 209, 211.
Taor, the nun, 154.
"Taste of the spring," the, 9.
Tattoo used to mark the cross on the wrist, 180.
Tent-peg, story of the, 34.
Terrors of the judgment never pictured, 217,
218.
Tewfic Society, the, 257.
Tewfik Bey, the Coptic hero, 326.
T xtus cases, the, 178.
Thebais, the city monasteries of, 238.
Thebes, the monastery at, 238.
the nunnery at, 296.
Theological College, a, founded and abolished,
256.
Thieves, Sitt Dimiana's power over, 144.
a Bishop's power over the, 282.
Shenouda's power over, 292.
Thor, the monk, 238.
Thoth superseded by Enoch, 281.
Throne, the church, 175, 176.
Tolerance, religious, between Copt and Moslem,
. S3-
instances of mutual, 332.
Tomb-houses, visits to, 132.
Torture never represented in the church pictures,
217.
Treasures taken from the churches, 225.
church, neglect of, 253.
Tree, a sacred, 77, 78.
Triangle, the use of, in church, 197.
Tribune, the church, 175.
Trinity, the Holy, view of, 185.
Truth, difficulty of finding the, 307.
Tunic, the priest's embroidered, i8g.
Turban, the priest's black, 189.
Turkish decoration accepted by the Patriarch,
262.
Uniat Church, the, 257.
Unitarianism, views leading to, 233.
Usury, Coptic, 318.
Vasheh converted by St. Mercurius, 216, 217.
Veil, the woman's, 21.
Veils, the Eucharistic, 177.
Vestments, the interest of the, 188.
Villages with no church or priest, 240.
Virgin, festival of a, 69.
use of the picture of the Blessed, 190.
Virgin's Well, balsam from, for chrism, 214.
Wailing women, 126.
IVakfs, the Moslem, 263.
War, a Coptic Minister of, 335.
Ward, Mr. John, on Coptic customs, 307.
Washing before prayer, 219.
Water, of the Nile, 70.
"the gift of God," 157.
the stealing of, a great sin, 185.
thrown upwards by the priest at the Holy
Eucharist, 206.
scattered over the congregation, 207.
Holy, views about, 209.
from the priest's hands, magic of, 297, 298.
Waters, blessing of, 210, 211,
Water-wheel, the making of, 43.
Wealth in the hands of the Copts, 3.
Wedding, rites and customs of the Coptic, 112.
Well, the holy, at Harat-az-Zuailah, the story
of, 299.
Whately, Miss, an anecdote by, 186.
a story of her visit to a remote village,
241.
on Coptic morals, 310.
Wheelbarrows never used for proper purpose,
ISO.
Wheelwrights, the, 42.
Whip abolished by Lord Cromer, 146.
Whistling, distastefulness of, 162.
Wife, the, how chosen, 104.
Wind, Arab hatred of, 20.
Wine, the giving of, to mothers, 88.
the Eucharistic, 214.
Wissa-Fanous, the costly wedding of, 118.
Woman saint, a, 108.
Women, seclusion of, 21, 22, 104.
the work of the, 59.
screened by the Jews, 319.
Writers who do the Copts great disservice,
308.
Vussef, the late Sheikh AH, on Coptic ability,
332-
Zagreet, the women's cry, 125.
Zephyr, "smelling the," at Easter, 234,
J3SX
-'-■'-■■"-"'"'
/ PRINTED BY
MORRISON AND GIBB LTD.
. EDINBURGH
N^Nj^X/'^'/
I
II
/
PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE
CARDS OR SUPS FROM THIS POCKET
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY
DT
70
Leeder, 3 H
Modern sons of the Pharaohs
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11