PRINCETON, N. J. Shelf. Number Division Section v.2. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/ancientcopticchu02butl THE Ancient Coptic Churches °f Egypt VOL. II. a HonUon HENRY FROWDE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE AMEN CORNER A Coptic Painting. THE ncient Coptic Church of Egypt BY / ALFRED J. BUTLER, M.A. F.S.A. Fellow of Brasenose College^ Oxford IN TWO VOLUMES Vol. II. AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1884 [All rights reserved] CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME, List of Illustrations CHAPTER I. The Coptic Altar.— Portable AltaPv.— Fittings of the Altar— Coverings of the Altar . . . . i CHAPTER II. Eucharistic Vessels and Altar Furniture. — Chalice. —Paten. — Dome or Aster.— Spoon. — Ark or Altar Casket. — Veils.— Fan. — Ewer and Basin. — Pyx. — Crewet. — Chrismatory. — Altar - candlesticks. — Textus.— Gospel-stand.— Thurible— Bridal Crown 37 CHAPTER III. The Furniture and Ornaments of the Sacred Build- ing. — Ambons. — Lecterns. — Reliquaries. — Lamps and Lights —Coronae.— Ostrich Eggs.— Bells.— Musical Instruments.— Mural Paintings.— Pictures . . 64 viii Contents. CHAPTER IV. PAGE The Ecclesiastical Vestments of the Coptic Clergy.— Previous Authorities.— Dalmatic— Amice.— Girdle. —Stole.— Pall.— Armlets 97 CHAPTER V. Ecclesiastical Vestments (continued). — Phelonion.— Crown or Mitre— Crozier or Staff of Authority. — Pectoral Cross. — Processional Cross. — Sandals. Benediction al Cross.— Epigonation— Rosary . .173 CHAPTER VI. Books, Language, and Literature 239 CHAPTER VII. The Seven Sacraments.— Baptism and Confirmation.— Eucharist.— Penance 262 CHAPTER VIII. The Seven Sacraments (continued).— Orders.— Matri- mony.'— Anointing of the Sick 301 CHAPTER IX. Various Rites and Ceremonies of the Church. — The Holy Oils —Consecration of a Church and Altar. —Consecration of a Baptistery.— Festival of Epi- phany. — Palm Sunday and Holy Week.— Seasons of Fasting 330 Contents, CHAPTER X. Legends of the Saints. — Legend of Abu-'s-Sifain. — Anba Shanudah.— Mari M!na.— Mari Tadrus.— Mari Girgis.— Abu K1r wa Yuhanna.— Yakub al Mukatt'a. —The Five and their Mother— Abu Nafr. — Anba Barsum al 'Arian.— The Virgin's Ascension. — Siman al Habis al 'Amudi. — MarIna. — Takla.— Abu SIkh!- run.— St. Sophia— St. Helena.— The Finding of the Cross.— Girgis of Alexandria. — Anba Maharuah. — St. Michael. — Anba Zacharias. — Peter the Patri- arch. — Anba Markus Index to vol. ii, LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. II. PAGE A Coptic Painting ....... frontispiece Coptic Altar 4 Marble Altar-slab 8 Altar-top showing marble slab inlet 8 Marble Altar-slab pierced with drain ..... 9 Consecration Crosses . .21 Silk Curtain with massive silver embroidery, before the Haikal door at Al Muallakah 31 Various pieces of Church Furniture 41 The Hasirah or Eucharistic Mat 45 Flabellum in repousse silver 47 Processional Flabellum of silver-gilt used by the Melkite Church of Alexandria 49 Textus Case of silver-gilt 58 Gospel-stands with Prickets for Candles 59 Bridal Crown 62 Ivory-inlaid Lectern at the Cathedral in Cairo ■ . .66 Ivory-inlaid Lectern (back view) 67 Ancient Iron Candelabrum at Abu-'s-Sifain . . 70 Glass Lamp at Sitt Mariam 72 Bronze Lamp at Dair Tadrus , 73 Seven-wicked Lamp of Iron for the Anointing of the Sick . 76 Specimens of Altar Candlesticks 76 Embroidered Dalmatic .110 Shamlah (back and front view) 119 xii List of Illustrations. PAGE Patrashil of crimson velvet embroidered with silver . .130 St. Stephen: from a painting at Abu Sargah . . . .137 Seal of the Coptic Patriarch 151 Fresco at Al Mu'allakah 156 St. Michael : from a painting at Abu Sargah . . . .159 Armlets at the Church of Abu Kir 167 The Crown of the Coptic Patriarch 205 Priestly Cap 211 Coptic Crozier 220 Benedictional Cross and small Amulet Crosses . . . 232 Head of Processional Cross of silver 234 Wafer or Eucharistic Bread 278 THE ANCIENT COPTIC CHURCHES OF EGYPT. CHAPTER I. Of the Coptic Altar. Altar. — Portable Altar. — Fittings of the Altar. — Coverings of the Altar. TYMOLOGICALLY the Coptic term for altar seems to correspond very closely with the Greek. For JUL^rtepojtJOoaji, which is the ordinary word, means ' place of making sacrifice': nor is the significance of this etymology lessened by the fact that the remote root in ancient Egyptian, from which the Coptic ojuoocyi is derived, has rather the meaning of ' placing' or ' leaving' than of sacrifice. In point of usage ojuoooji con- veyed the idea of sacrifice to the Copts and no other. Accordingly we find the corresponding Arabic word used in the liturgies and in common speech is (madbah) derived from which means to slaughter, so that the idea is clearly that of a sacrificial structure like the Ov a ^ so Ro ma Sotteranea, vol. iii. p. 44. 2 La Messe, vol. ii. p. 118. Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. I. At present, as far as I can ascertain, the chief if not the sole use of the altar-cavity among the Copts is on Good Friday, when a picture of the cross is buried in rose leaves within it, to be uncovered on Easter morning. In the Latin Church the use of relics for the con- secration of an altar, and the association — confusion one might almost say — between the ideas of sacrifice and sepulture, reach back to the remotest antiquity. Thus Jerome remarks 1 ,' Romanus Episcopus . . . super mortuorum hominum Petri et Pauli secundum nos ossa veneranda . . . offert Domino sacrificia et tumulos eorum Christi arbitratur altaria.' The place where the relics were laid was called technically the sepulcrum, and in England the sepulchre was always in front or on the westward side of the altar : the idea being that the congregation in the nave, and not as in the Coptic arrangement the elders round the apse, should be thus reminded of the ' souls under the altar.' In the crypt under the south chancel aisle at Grantham Abbey the cavity is 3 ft. 2 in. long by 2 ft. 4 in. broad. The cavity was always closed by a sealed slab engraved with five crosses, such as may still be seen in the cathedrals of Norwich and St. David's. A very early instance, dating probably from the fourth century, occurs in the church of San Giacomo Scossacavallo at Rome 2 , where the cavity is in the middle of the altar-top, which legend says was once upon the altar of pre- sentation in the temple of Jerusalem. This same altar at S. Giacomo has a second sepulcrum or confessio below, with an arched doorway very like 1 Tom. ii. adv. Vigilant, p. 153, quoted by Gibbon. 2 La Messe, vol. i. pi. xxiv. CH. I.] The Altar. 15 the Coptic arrangement. Other examples are fur- nished by an altar at the church of Esquelmes in Belgium, All Saints chapel at Ratisbonne, and the altar in the north transept of Jervaulx Abbey, where the sealed slab was only 6\ in. by 7^ in. Though the confessio or crypt below the altar is quite distinct from the sepulcrum, yet the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably. Thus in the Ecgbert Pontifical 1 at the consecration of an altar the bishop is directed to make a cross with chrism in the middle and at the four corners of the ' con- fessio/ where the slab of the ' sepulcrum ' is clearly intended. So too in the Ordo Romanus exactly the same form is prescribed in the words ' ponat crisma in confessionem per angulos quattuor in crucem . . . tunc ponat tabulam super relliquias.' The true confes- sionary or crypt seems to have been introduced into England by the Roman missionaries, and is in fact essentially Latin 2 . It does not occur in any Saxon churches, except such as were built under the influ- ence of Italian models, and is quite unknown in Ireland. Eadmer, c. 1000 a.d., describes that at Canterbury as made expressly in imitation of the crypt under the original basilican church of St. Peter at Rome. In the high altar was buried the body of Wilfrid of York, and in the Jesus altar the head of St. Swithin : while in the confessionary were the head of St. Furseus and the tomb of St. Dunstan. At Canterbury and elsewhere there was a flight of steps leading from the choir to the presbytery, the stone floor of which was thus raised four or five feet above the choir floor : underneath it was the subter- 1 P. 45. 2 Hist, Eng. Ch. Arch. p. 47, &c, 1 6 Ancient Coptic Churches. |ch. i« ranean chapel with its own altar and shrine \ The name is clearly given in the Ceremoniale Episco- porum 2 : 'locum qui in plerisque ecclesiis sub altari majori esse so let ubi et mar ty rum corpora requiesctcnt qui martyrium seu confessio appellatiir! The crypt too was sometimes called confessor htm, and Du Cange quotes from the 1 Laudes Papiae apud Muratorem ' as follows : ' Fifteen churches are found having very large crypts with vaulted roofs upheld on marble columns : these are called confessoria, and in them bodies of saints rest within marble coffers.' Richard, prior of Hexham, says of St. Wilfrid's church there, about 1 1 80 a.d., that there were many chapels below the several altars throughout the building. Mr. Scott gives instances of Saxon crypts at Brixworth, Wing, and Repton : and of later crypts at York, Old St. Paul's, Winchester, Gloucester and elsewhere. I may add that a very good instance of a confes- sionary occurs in the church of St. Clement at Hastings. But essential as the presence of relics was considered in the early ages of the church, in later times, despite the miraculous power of multi- plying possessed by martyrs' bones, there seems to have been a dearth of such remains, and altars were consecrated without them. In a MS. of the fifteenth century, now in the British Museum 3 , may be found a rubric providing that the practice of placing relics inside the altar ' raro fiat . . . propter relliquiarum paucitatem.' This ordinance, hitherto unnoticed, was pointed out to me by Mr. Middleton. Corresponding to the altar-cavity of the Coptic 1 See Rock, Church of our Fathers, vol. i. p. 219. 2 Lib. i. c. 12. 3 Lansdowne, 451, fol. 137 a. CH. I.] The Altar. 17 Church and the sepulcrum of the Latin, there was always a place beneath the Greek altar (sub altari locum excavatum l ), called the sea, OdXaaaa or BaXaaaiSLov. Here were thrown away the rinsings from the priests' hands and the water used for washing the sacred vessels ; and here were laid the ashes of holy things, such as vestments or corporals, that were burnt by fire by reason of their decay. These, uses give some colour to the derivation of the term propounded by Ligaridius, who says that the idea comes from the lustral service of the sea, because in the words of Euripides OdXaaaa -rrdvra KXv£ei. The thalassa no doubt was pierced with a drain to carry off the rinsings, and so far corre- sponded with the western piscina. Moreover, in early times the piscina in English churches was a drain at the foot of the altar on the westward side. This is proved for instance by the w T ords of the Ecgbert Pontifical, according to which the holy water that is left over after sprinkling a church at dedica- tion is poured ' at the base of the altar.' There is also a symbolical reason assignable ; for as the altar figures the throne in heaven of St. John's vision, so this thalassa figures the sea by the throne. Besides the uses above given the thalassa had a further purpose as a receptacle for vestments on the eve of a festival, for which they were specially hallowed by being placed under the altar 2 . In the thalassa too, as in the sepulcrum, relics were sometimes though rarely placed : usually they were kept in separate chests or coffers, as became the later practice in the Latin and the Coptic churches alike. Evagrius for 1 Goar, Euchol. p. 15. vol. 11. C 2 Id. p. 518. 1 8 Ancient Coptic Churches. [ch.i. example 1 speaks of a ' finely wrought shrine of silver' used as a reliquary. Goar, after asserting that the altar was merely a table on four columns, states that the relics, which by the Greek canons were absolutely essential to the dedication of a church, were placed either inside the slab or else inside the pillars. But I have already shown part of this statement to be erroneous, inasmuch as the rubric for dedication allows the altar to be built up as a solid structure. When moreover we read of the thalassa being the place in which the relics sometimes though rarely were deposited ; the right conclusion doubtless is, that where the rarer, i.e. the solid form of altar pre- vailed, there the thalassa, being walled all round like the Coptic cavity, served to give the relics a shelter and security which they would not receive under the open table-altar. The hollow form of the Greek altar is expressly mentioned in early times. Thus Ardon, Abbe" of Aniane, who died in 82 1 a. d., writes : • Altare illud forinsecus est solidum, ab intus autem cavum, retrorsum habens ostiolum, quo privatis diebus inclusae tenentur capsae cum diversis relliquiis Patrum V And of vestments we read : ' vespera praecedente, sanctum habitum suscepturt vestimenta ad sanctum altare asportantur et in sanctae mensae gremio seu mari (kv rS> 6a\ao-(ri8i(p rrj? ayias Tpane^rj^) reponuntur 3 .' Conversely, altars supported on columns are sometimes found in Latin churches. An altar on four pillars is depicted in the mosaics of the baptistery at S. Apollinare in Classe, Ravenna ; similar is the altar of St. Rusticus at Minerve in 1 Hist. lib. ii. c. 3. 2 Thiers, Les Principaux Autels des Eglises, p. 20. Paris, 1688. ? ; Id. ib. p. 33. CH. I.] The Altar. l 9 Herault, dated 457 a.d. 1 The slab in the Vienna museum rested on three supports : as did a slab in the church of SS. Vincent and Anastasius at Rome. A single central pillar is found in the case of an altar of the seventh century at Cavaillon, and another at Six-Fours 2 . There seems to have been nothing in the structure of Greek churches corresponding to the confessionary. Neither in the description of St. Sophia nor in any other record, as far as I know, is any indication of it : and this fact, taken in connexion with the many analogies existing between Greek and Coptic usage, so far bears out the idea that the arrangement of the crypt at Abu Sargah is accidental, and is not a martyr s shrine placed intentionally beneath the high altar. It will be remembered too that the only other example of a subterranean chapel in a Cairo church, the chapel of Barsum al 'Arian at Abu-'s-Sifain, is not merely not under the high altar but is outside the main church altogether : while in regard to the examples in Upper Egypt information is wanting. The church of Anba Bishoi in the Natrun valley has a curious cavity showing under the patriarchal throne in the tribune, which may possibly have been designed for relics. One further point remains. In western Christen- dom the altar was nearly always marked with five crosses incised on the slab, one in the centre, and one at each of the four corners. These are called consecration crosses, and are sculptured in the places where the bishop at dedication signed the sign of the cross with chrism, and burnt over each spot a 1 La Messe, vol. i. pi. xliii. 2 Id. ib. pi. lvi and Ixxv. C 2 20 Ancient Coptic Churches. [ C h. i. little heap of incense and two crossed tapers. In England most of the original altar-slabs were thrown down at the reformation or in Puritan times, and used as paving-stones or tombstones. Some few remain in situ, such as on the high altar at Peter- church in Hereford; in the parish church at Forth- ampton, Gloucester; the collegiate choir at Arundel; the chapels of St. Mary Magdalene and of Maison Dieu at Ripon. A very good example was the splendid slab on the high altar at Tewkesbury Abbey (re-discovered and replaced by Mr. Mid- dleton), but unfortunately the crosses have been almost obliterated by a process of repolishing. A slab used as a tombstone may be seen in the north aisle of St. Mary's, West Ham, Pevensey, and ex- amples are not uncommon elsewhere. The Greek rite does not differ materially from the English, except that the cross is marked in three places instead of five on the slab — and of the three crosses one is in the centre, one at each side. The crosses, however, are rather larger ; for the chrism is poured out in the form of a cross, as at baptism. Though the corners of the slab are not marked, yet each of the four pillars upholding it is signed by the pontiff with three crosses of chrism ; and it is probable that on all the places thus anointed the figure of a cross was afterwards incised in the stone. On the whole altar, therefore, there would be fifteen consecration crosses. The Coptic altar bears no incised crosses other than those which are cut upon the slab of wood ; and where this slab is wanting, the marble top does not generally show the symbol of consecration, though there is a single large cross sculptured on CH. I.] The Altar. 21 two of the three slabs in the crypt at Abu Sargah. But the Egyptian custom is said to tally with the Greek, three crosses of chrism being anointed on the altar at its dedication in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost respectively 1 . The use of chrism for the consecration of the altar is particularly mentioned by Renaudot, who, speaking of the church of St. Macarius in the Natrun valley, says, ' ecclesiae consecratio facta est episcoporum et Fig. 4. — Consecration Crosses. 1. On the columns of Al 'Adra, Harat-az-Zuailah. 2. On the columns at Abu Sargah. 3 and 4. On the slabs in the recesses of the crypt at Abu Sargah. ipsius patriarchae ministerio, chrismatis tarn ad altare quam ad parietes consignationibus factis 2 .' This was in the time of Benjamin, thirty -eighth patriarch, or about 620 a.d. Even though Renaudot is some- 1 See Vansleb, Histoire de l'Eglise d'Alexandrie, p. 220 (Paris, 1677). 2 Historia Patriarcharum Alexandrinorum, p. 166 22 Ancient Coptic Churches. [ C h. i. what fond of assuming the existence of Coptic rites on the analogy of the Latin, there is on this point every reason for believing his testimony. For, apart from more direct evidence, since it is unquestionable that consecration crosses were made on the walls and columns, just as in the Greek and western rituals; it is scarcely possible that the chrism should have been used to anoint the fabric of the building, and not used to anoint its most sacred part, the altar. The rubric for the re-consecration of a defiled altar in Gabriel's Pontifical 1 speaks of five crosses, appa- rently one on the top and one on each of the sides. But where exactly the crosses were made is uncer- tain. There is, as was mentioned, a central cross carved on the altar-board, which fits into an oblong depression on all such altars as have not a marble top. Probably one cross of chrism at least was marked by the bishop upon the wooden slab, though this would be against the western prac- tice, which disallows the use of chrism upon wood. Indeed that the Copts did not scruple to use chrism on a wooden surface seems proved by another pas- sage in Gabriel's Pontifical, headed in Renaudot ' Consecratio tabulae ut altare fiat.' Subsequently the words ' benedic huic tabulae ligneae, ut fiat altare sanctum et mensa sancta pro altari excelso et lapide exstructo,' seem to point to the tabula decisively as a portable altar, although possibly the word may denote the wooden slab, which is the common appurtenance of the stone altar. In any case the rubric runs : ' tunc accipiet chrisma sanctum et ex eo signabit tabulam in modum crucis in quattuor 1 Lit. Or. torn. i. p. 56. ' Quinquies mensam et ejus quattuor latera cruce signabit.' CH. I.] The Altar. 23 ipsius lateribus;' though here again the points anointed with the holy oil are not clearly denned. Nevertheless, even though the slab be used on occasion as a portable altar, the very fact that it is detached from the stone structure and easily re- moveable makes it unlikely that the symbols of dedication should have been confined to that part. We must imagine then that the chrism was anointed on the top or walls of the altar itself, in places of which no sculptured record is preserved. It has been already mentioned that a Coptic church always possesses three altars in contradistinc- tion to the single altar of the Greek ritual. The side altars are, however, used only on the occasion of the great festivals, namely, Easter, Christmas, Palm Sunday, and the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross 1 . On these days more than a single celebration is required ; and the result is obtained without violating the Coptic canons, which forbid a second celebration on the same altar within the day. The altar, like the communicant, must be ' fasting,' as the Copts phrase it ; and the same expression is applied to vestments and vessels which are used in the ceremonial of the mass. So many points of resemblance may be noted between Coptic and Armenian practice, that it is not surprising to find the Armenian Church uphold- ing the same canon, and consequently requiring three as the normal number of altars 2 ; there is, however, this difference, that the side-altars in the sacred buildings of the Armenians stand before the 1 Abu Dakn omits Easter, but seems wrong. See his History ^ tr. by Sir E. Sadleir (London, 1693), p. 13. 2 Fortescue's Armenian Church, p. 177. 24 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. I. sanctuary or in some other place, and not in a line with the high altar and behind one continuous screen, as usual in the Coptic arrangement. Yet the Armenian church at Urfa is described as having ' three aisles,' i.e., nave and two aisles, 1 and an altar at the end of each aisle' 1 ; the bishop's throne is in the north-east corner of the choir, and faces east. Several altars seem to be allowed in the ritual of the Syrian Jacobites, of the Nestorians, and of the Maronites. Thus at Urfa a Syrian church of modern date has a long narrow platform at the east end with ' several altars,' and before each a step for the cele- brant. The Nestorian church at Kochanes has ' three tables or altars in the nave,' two of which are called the 1 altar of prayers' and ' altar of the gospel ' respectively, besides a small stone altar at the east end. It is open to question, however, whether any but the last-named are really eucharistic altars. At Aleppo the Maronite church is described as having five altars 2 , and a throne against the east wall facing west, according to the proper arrangement. Quite enough then has been here written to show the fallacy of Neale's generalization to the effect that ' throughout the whole East one church contains but one altar 3 .' Neale is very positive about the matter, and adds 1 nor is this peculiar to the church of Con- stantinople : the rule is also observed in Ethiopia, Egypt, Syria, Malabar, by Nestorians and Jacobites, in short over the whole East :' though with curious 1 Christians under the Crescent in Asia, by Rev. E. L. Cutts; London S. P. C. K. (n. d.), p. 83. 2 Id. ib. pp. 84, 217, 48. The author is not very clear in his evidence on the subject. 3 History of the Holy Eastern Church, Gen. Introd. vol. i. p. 182. CH. I.] The Altar. 25 inconsistency he admits, almost in the next sentence, that examples of churches with several altars are not wanting from the earliest times. However the ques- tion is one of rule, to be settled by rule. And, so regarding it, one need only remark that the law of three altars is not merely universal in Egypt at the present time, but there is not a single religious build- ing of the Copts, however ancient its foundation, which does not bear the clearest structural proofs of having been designed with a view to precisely the same ritual arrangement. And though there is no express evidence for Abyssinia, yet considering the historical and actual dependence of the Church of Ethiopia on that of Alexandria, one can scarcely question that the same rule holds good there also. The practice in Armenia is clear in upholding the same custom : and if the practice in the Syrian and Nestorian Churches is not quite clearly established as identical with that of the Egyptian, Ethiopian and Armenian, yet obviously the truth lies rather in the complete reversal of Neale's canon, and must rather be expressed by saying that nowhere in the whole East does a single church contain only a single altar, with the exception of buildings belonging to the see of Constantinople. The Greek Church re- cognises one altar : all other Churches recognise a plurality of altars. Portable Altars 1 . The Coptic clergy rarely make use of portable altars, not from any canonical objection to them, but 1 Renaudot is quite wrong in his remarks about the Coptic altar. He says (Lit. Or. torn. i. p. 164) : ' consuetudo a multis seculis 26 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. I. merely because the necessity for their employment seldom arises. Both in the capital and in most other towns of Egypt churches are thickly scattered, and the Christians have a way of clinging round them. Being thus always within easy reach of a church, those who are hale can resort to the celebration, while the sick receive a portion of the korban which is carried from the church by a priest. The rule of to-day is that the korban must always be conse- crated within the sacred building ; although in places where there happens to be no church, in case of emergency the priest is allowed to consecrate as he judges necessary. I have found but one notice of such an altar in Coptic history. When Zacharias, king of Nubia, about 850 a.d. sent his son and heir George to Egypt to settle a question of tribute money, the royal envoy paid a visit to the patriarch invaluit ut tabulas solas sive mensas haberent, quibus insternebatur mappa benedictionibus episcopalibus consecrata, aut tabula ad ipsius altaris longitudinem, aut tandem altaria ut apud nostros vocantur portaiilia : laminae scilicet aut segmenta ex marmore quae facile afferri et removed possint . . . . Ita non modo Graecorum sed etiam Latinorum disciplinae de sacris altaribus convenire deprehenditur Orientalis disciplina.' It is this perpetual assumption by analogy ■which vitiates so much of Renaudot's information. ' Graecae Ecclesiae, cui aliae in Oriente similes sunt' (p. 166) is his maxim in all cases of doubt. So he says that for the most part there is but a single altar in one church, a conclusion reached as follows : 1 Cum autem insignes olim ecclesiae multae in Aegypto essent, jam omnino paucae supersunt, in quibus primaevae antiquitatis obscura vestigia agnosci possint nihil ex antiquis Christianis aedificiis residuum est unde conjectura de ecclesiarum aut al- tarium forma capi queat ; nihilque vero propius quam ut illorum forma ex Graecarum (sic) lineamentis intelligatur ; eadem mm erat utrarumque dispositio! The dangers of such a method are obvious. CH. I.] The A It av. 27 Joseph, then in the chair of St. Mark, to whom he carried letters. Thence he proceeded to do homage to the khalif at Bagdad ; and on his return to Cairo was granted as a very great privilege by the patriarch a portable altar of wood to carry to his father. Tra- dition says that such a thing was never known before ; and the concession was only justified by the peculiar circumstances of the Nubians, who were restless nomads and dwellers in tents, and whose life was all fighting and foray 1 . It is quite likely that this altar was a board from one of the churches : indeed the Copts of to-day allege that the portable altar used in cases of extreme necessity is nothing else than the wooden slab, which must therefore be conse- crated with chrism. Moreover the entire disappear- ance of the altar-board from some of the minor chapels in Cairo may well point to the fact that the board was carried outside the building, and used as an altar. It is curious to remark that the Nestorian canons, while not apparently sanctioning the use of portable altars, yet in cases of urgent need allow the eucharist to be consecrated over the hands of a deacon, pro- vided express permission be first obtained from a bishop 2 . The Syrians use consecrated slabs of wood, like the Coptic : or where neither an altar nor a con- secrated slab is at hand, they allow the eucharist to be celebrated on a leaf of the gospel 3 . About the practice of the Greek Church there is no such ambiguity. The consecration of portable altars or antimensia, as they are called, was a regular 1 Renaudot, Hist. Pat. Alex. p. 282. 2 J. A. Asseman, De Cathol. seu Pat. Chald. et Nestor. Com, p. 120. 3 Renaudot, Lit. Or. vol. ii. p. 46. 28 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. I. part of the ritual for the dedication of a new altar. The antimensia were laid on the altar ; and after oivdvOr) or scented wine had been poured upon them, and three crosses had been made upon each with chrism, relics mixed with ceromastic to prevent the loss of any of the holy fragments were brought forth, anointed with chrism, and enclosed in a pocket behind each tablet. The celebration of the eucharist com- pleted the form of consecration for the antimensia, which then were ready for use. Their employment was as common in the Greek as it was rare in the Coptic Church. Many examples might be quoted to prove the custom of using portable altars in western Christen- dom. In England the practice prevailed from the earliest times, every large church possessing one or more tablets of wood or metal, which the priests could carry when they wished to minister to sick people, or to celebrate in remote places where there was no consecrated building. Perhaps the most ancient extant specimen of the kind is the portable altar used by St. Cuthbert, which is now preserved, though in a mutilated condition, in the cathedral library at Durham. It is a small wooden tablet covered with a leaden casing which seems to be of later date and bears some indecipherable Greek characters. The Fittings of the Altar. Over every high altar in the churches of Egypt, and sometimes also over the side altars, rises or rose a lofty canopy or baldacchino resting on four CH. I.] The Altar. 29 columns. The canopy, which is always of wood though sometimes upheld by stone pillars, is gene- rally painted in rich colours within and without, and adorned with a picture of our Lord in the centre of the dome and with flying angels and emblematic figures. A full description of such a canopy has been given in the chapter on the church of Abu-'s-Sifain and need not here be repeated 1 : only it may be added that the domed canopy sym- bolises the highest heaven, where Christ sits throned in glory surrounded by angels, and the four pillars on which it is upheld typify either the four quarters of the globe, according to Germanus, or else the four evangelists, whose symbols are also sometimes painted within the canopy. The Coptic baldakyn is invariably in the form of a cupola, never having a pointed roof with gables, as in the church of St. Anastasius at Rome ; nor a flat roof, as in two examples at St. Mark's, Venice ; nor a pyramidal roof, as in a third example at St. Mark's, also in the church of Sta. Potenziana near Narni, and that of Spirito Santo at Ravenna 2 . Yet it is curious that in all cases where a canopy is now standing, the columns which support it have, if I remember rightly, Sara- cenic capitals. This is natural enough at Abu-'s- Sifain, which was built in Arab times, but more surprising at Abu Sargah, where the columns of the nave are Greek or Roman. In some cases 1 The description (vol. i. p. 114) may be compared with that of the ciborium over the altar of St. Gregory built by Gebehard, bishop of Constance. M. de Fleury, in giving a cut of the ceiling which shows the figures of the four evangelists, conjechiraUy inserts their symbols. La Messe, vol. ii. p. 26. 2 La Messe, vol. ii. pi. ciii, civ, cix, xcvii. 30 Ancient Coptic Churches. [en. i. the columns have disappeared altogether, and the canopy rests on cross-beams driven into the walls. No doubt the true explanation is, that in the ancient churches the altar with its canopy received a more rich and sumptuous adornment than any other part of the church, and therefore specially attracted the malice of Muslim fanatics engaged in plunder or destruction of the Christian edifices. It seems how- ever very possible that in some cases, where a full dome roofed the sanctuary and overshadowed the altar, a separate baldakyn on pillars was dispensed with, in later times at any rate, after the disuse of hangings. Certainly it would be quite wrong to infer that the altar-canopy was a mediaeval innova- tion among the Copts : for it is one of the earliest traditions of primitive church decoration. Between the four columns of the canopy run four slender rods or beams, which should be painted with texts in Coptic as at Abu Sargah. These beams were meant originally to hang the altar-curtains upon. For in ancient times the altar was veiled with hang- ings : and though there is no instance of such curtains remaining in an Egyptian church, yet both the beams themselves, and the rings with which they are some- times (as at Abu-'s-Sifain) still fitted, prove that even in the middle ages the practice of surrounding the altar with hangings was not disused ; while the seventh or eighth century panel at Abu Sargah, in which they are figured, furnishes a good example of earlier usage. At Abu Sargah two of the columns stand at a distance of 2 ft. 9 in., two at 3 ft. 3 J in., from the nearest corner of the altar ; so that there remained quite room enough for the celebrant to move round the altar inside the curtains. At Abu-'s-Sifain the CH. I.] The Altar. 3i shortest distance is 2 ft., which leaves rather a narrow space for movement. No doubt the altar-curtains were richly embroidered with texts and figures in SCAL£ OF FEET ..,.-1-^-^ \ * ? _* Fig. 5.— Silk curtain, with massive silver embroidery, before the haikal door at Al Mu'allakah. needlework, or in tissue of gold and silver. To this day a curtain always hangsbeforethe doorof thehaikal embroidered either with a red cross or with figures. 32 Ancient Coptic Churches. [ C h. i. In his description of the great church of St. Sophia, Paul the Silentiary relates that over the high altar on four columns of silver gilt, which were spanned by arches, rose a lofty ' tower' or canopy, the lower part of which was octagonal, while above it tapered off in a cone. On the top of the cone was set a golden orb, and on the orb stood a cross of gold encrusted with jewels. Between the silver pillars costly hangings were spread ; and on the curtain before the altar there was wrought in glorious embroider)- of gold the figure of Christ in the attitude of benediction and holding a book of the gospels in his left hand. This descrip- tion is sufficient to prove the early practice of the Greek Church: but Goar also mentions 1 the altar- canopy as symbolical of heaven, and in the same place speaks of a curtain before the altar embroidered with a figure of our Lord. These hangings too are found depicted in early monuments : thus in the splendid mosaics that adorn the dome of St. George's church at Salonica (now used as a mosque) may be seen a fine representation of an altar shrouded in curtains and covered with a canopy. The work dates from about 500 a.d. A silver canopy, too, dating from the early fifth century, stood over the altar at the neighbouring church of St. Demetrius. At the present day such curtains are not used in the Greek any more than in the Coptic ritual. Their chief purpose, besides giving an air of mystic sanctity to the precincts of the altar, was to veil the celebrant at the moment of consecration. Accordingly they were always drawn close during the recitation of the canon. Their disuse is probably due to the fact that the iconostasis formed an effectual screen in itself ; J Euchologion. p. 15. CH. I.] The Altar. 33 and if there were no express testimony to the contrary, it would be natural to conclude that the iconostasis is a more mediaeval arrangement, the adoption of which did away with the necessity for altar-curtains. At St. Sophia, however, Paul the Silentiary tells us there was before the sanctuary a screen with three doors, and on it were blazoned figures of angels and prophets, while over the central door was wrought the cypher of Justinian and Theodora. There was in fact even at that early date, coexisting with the magnificent curtains, a true iconostasis. Neither the Armenian nor the Nestorian churches have any screen before the high altar other than a curtain, which is drawn across the whole chancel, and seems to serve not merely as a screen but also as the Lenten veil. In the western Church, wherever the basilican 1 type of building prevailed, the altar was overshadowed by a domed canopy and veiled with curtains, as for instance in the old basilica of St. Peter and that of St. Paul without the Walls at Rome. Thebaldakyn at St. Peter's, presented by Gregory the Great, was of silver ; so too was that given by Honorius I. to the church of St. Pancratius. Rock 1 makes mention of curtains hung at the north and south sides of the altar to keep the wind off the candles : but this was only a remnant of the earlier arrangement, which was designed above all to screen the celebrant at the moment of office. Indeed the essential part of the baldacchino was the curtains, as the very name proves, being derived from Baldacco the Italian for Bagdad, as damask from Damascus, fustian from Fustat, the ancient Arab name of Old Cairo. Baldac- 1 Church of our Fathers, vol. i. p. 230. vol. 11. D 34 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. I. chino, then, means properly a costly tissue woven in the looms of Bagdad : in its anglicised form ' balda- kyn ' it is not uncommon in our ancient church records : but the name passed by an easy transition from the hangings to the canopy above the altar. The baldacchino was a common feature in our early Anglo-Saxon churches. A very clear and fine representation of an altar-curtain may be seen, for example, in the South Kensington Museum on an ivory tablet of Anglo-Saxon workmanship. The subject is the Adoration of the Magi : the figures are grouped under an arch, above which and in the spandrels the structure of the temple is pourtrayed : all round the arch runs a rod, on which hang curtains looped and falling in folds. This tablet has some curious points of resemblance with the carved panel at Abu Sargah. A similar arrangement is shown in an engraving figured in Rock 1 , and taken from an illumination in Godemann's Benedictional. More- over the Ecgbert Pontifical orders the curtain to be drawn across between clergy and people at the con- secration of an altar 2 . There was no elevation of the host before the congregation in the Saxon ritual, a fact which Mr. G. Gilbert Scott connects, no doubt rightly, with the use of altar- curtains. One may push the argument a step farther, and suppose that the disuse of altar-curtains in the eastern as well as the western churches was hastened, as the practice of elevating the host won its way into predominance. This practice was unknown in the West before the end of the eleventh century, and was not received in England till the thirteenth century 3 , though it very . 1 Vol. i. p. 194. 2 P. 45. 3 Rock. vol. iv. p. 155. VV/c Altar. 35 probably originated in the East much earlier. Yet it was about the end of the eleventh century, namely in the time of St. Osmund, who was bishop of Sarum and Chancellor of England 1078 a.d., that the use of the canopy was discontinued in this country. In many cases however the two eastward columns and the beam joining them were left standing *, and on this beam was set a crucifix together with a vessel of holy water, a box with singing-breads, wine, and the like. The curtains which were hung north and south of mediaeval altars have been mentioned : they were suspended on rods driven into the wall and called ' riddles.' Another trace of the old usage was pre- served in the Lenten veil, which shrouded the altar from the eve of the first Sunday in Lent till Maundy Thursday during the mass, and was withdrawn only at the reading of the gospel. In some churches, where the chancel-arch was narrow, the Lenten veil hung across the entire width : in cathedrals it hung between the choir and the presbytery. It was made of white linen, or sometimes of silk, and was marked with a red cross. Coverings of the Altar. The ordinary covering of a Coptic altar (sitr) is a tightly-fitting case of silk or cotton, sometimes dyed a dim colour or brocaded with small patterns of flowers in needlework or silver. This reaches to the ground, entirely concealing the fabric of the altar. More splendid stuffs are used for great 1 Rock, vol. iv. p. 208. D 2 36 Ancient Coptic Churches. festivals, and even in common use an outer cover- ing is sometimes put over the first 1 . The only other form of altar-vestment that I have seen is a sort of frontal, about 18 in. square, hanging on the western side ; this is of costly material, and richly embroidered with a cross in the centre and figures in the corners. But even the most intel- ligent of the Copts seem to have no information concerning its usage. In our early English churches there were three principal coverings : — the cerecloth, fitting tightly like the Coptic vestment and removed but once a year, on Maundy Thursday, for the washing of the altar ; then a white linen cloth the size of the slab, not falling over the sides, but having a super-frontal attached ; and thirdly, a cloth of fine linen covering the top and hanging over the north and south sides ; upon this were embroidered five crosses. The Greek vestments were also principally three, called the irpos adpKa or cerecloth, the kirzitSvo-is or overall, and the elXr)rbv or corporal (?) : but under- neath all, at each corner of the altar, was hung a narrow strip of embroidery worked with the figure of an evangelist, and hence called evayyeXLcrrrfpio^ 2 . The term evangelisterium is sometimes wrongly used for the textus or book of the gospels. 1 There is no distinction of name between the coverings, which are simply called ^.'^) ^L-kg. 2 Thiers, Les Principaux Autels des Eglises. ch. xxi. p. 154. CHAPTER II. Eucharistic Vessels and Altar Furniture. Chalice. — Paten. — Do?ne. — Spoon. — Ark. — Veils. — Fan. — Ewer and Basin. — Pyx. — Crewel. — Chrismatory. — A Itar-candlesticks. — Textus. — Gospel-stand. — Thurible.— Bridal Crown. DN the celebration of the eucharist the Copts use five instruments — chalice 1 , paten, dome, spoon, and ark. None of the extant chalices that I have seen are very ancient or interesting. They are usually of silver, though the church of Al Amir Tadrus had one of plain white Venetian glass gilded. As a rule the bowl is small and nearly straight-sided ; the stem long and ending downwards in a round knop, below which the base slopes away rather abruptly, but the foot is relieved with plain mouldings and is always circular. The shape thus differs from that of the English, chalice in two chief particulars : the bowl, in being more conical and less hemispherical, more nearly resembles that of the Elizabethan communion-cup ; and the knop is below the stem instead of dividing it in the middle, and is less prominent. Moreover, in England the base of the chalice was changed from circular to hexagonal after the fourteenth century, 1 Arabic ^SS\ Coptic m HOTHpiort. 38 Ancient Coptic Churches. [ch.h. owing to a rubric which ordered the chalice to be laid on its side to drain after the celebration : and the hexagonal base obviated the danger of rolling. But a chalice with an angular foot is never found in the churches of Egypt. The Nestorians some- times use for a chalice a plain bowl of silver. Glass chalices only came into use when the more precious vessels had been plundered or destroyed by the Muslims. Thus it is recorded that about the year 700 a. d. so great a spoliation of the churches took place, that glass chalices and wooden patens were substituted for the lost vessels of silver and gold 1 . As regards western practice, Durandus says that Zephyrinus in the early third century enjoined the use of glass chalices, but pope Urban prescribed metal. About the same time, 226 a.d., the Council of Rheims forbade the use of glass. In England horn and wood were forbidden materials on account of their absorbent qualities. The canons of Aelfric mention gold, silver, glass, and tin as per- missible : and glass chalices were used in the very early Irish Church, though afterwards disallowed 2 . In the thirteenth century tin was forbidden by the Constitutions of Archbishop Wethershed 3 . But in eastern and western ritual alike gold or silver seems to have been the normal metal for the chalice. Renaudot relates that about the year 12 10 the khalif Malik Al 'Adal, hearing that there were great treasures buried in a well at Dair Macarius in the Natrun desert, sent and discovered, among other things, a silver chalice and paten, which were 1 Renaudot, Hist. Pat. Alex. p. 193. 2 Warren's Lit. and Rit. of the Celtic Church, p. 143. 3 Archaeological Journal, vol. iii. p. 133. CH. II. j Euchavistic I esse/s. 39 carried off, besides a silk embroidered curtain for the haikal-door valued at 3000 gold pieces. The story adds that when the Copts pleaded, and proved from the inscriptions and the Book of Benefactions, that the vessels and the hanging were special offer- ings made to the church, the khalif generously restored them, and they were carried in chests on camels to Old Cairo surrounded by companies of men singing and bearing lighted tapers. Forty years later, when Al Muallakah was spoiled, a fine chalice of ancient workmanship was found buried under one of the altars, i.e. doubtless hidden away in the sepulcrum. I have not seen any cross or engraving of the crucifixion upon the foot of a Coptic chalice, such as was usual in western mediaeval chalices, though not in those of a more primitive epoch. The donative inscription is gene- rally round the base. Patens 1 are, as a rule, plain, flat, circular dishes, with a vertical raised border round. They have not any depression in the middle, nor any engraved figure of the Veronica, like our fourteenth and fifteenth-century patens ; nor have they any stem or foot like those of the Elizabethan and later periods. In fact both chalice and paten correspond in their simplicity of design, if not altogether in shape, more closely with the earliest extant speci- mens of the like vessels in western Christendom. The dome' 1 , or kubbah as it is called in Arabic, consists of two half-hoops of silver crossed at right angles and rivetted together. At the celebration of mass the dome is set over the consecrated bread 1 Arabic & Coptic "f"!AjCJ e " ' t ^ ie chalice-stand' or 'the stand :' in Coptic HITOTe. ch. ii.] Eucharistic Vessels. 43 and the rim when it is thus enclosed is about flush with the top, so that the paten rests as much on the tabernacle as on the chalice. The four walls of the tabernacle are covered with sacred paint- ings, — our Lord and St. John being the most fre- quent figures. Most of the tabernacles now in use are modern and artistically worthless, but one beau- tiful ancient specimen I discovered at Abu-'s-Sifain, and of this a full description is given in another place \ There can, I think, be no doubt that this taber- nacle or altar-casket of the Copts is the mysterious 'area' which has puzzled liturgical writers from Re- naudot to Cheetham 2 . Renaudot quotes a prayer preceding the Ethiopic canon entitled ' Super arcam sive discum majorem,' and thinks that the ark was a sort of antimensium. But the title is at once explained if we remember the Coptic practice of placing the chalice inside and the paten on the box, — a practice from which the Ethiopic was doubt- less derived. The very words of the prayer, taken in connexion with the Coptic custom, really set the vexed question at rest. They follow the dedica- tion of chalice, paten, and spoon ; and are, as ren- dered by Neale 3 : 'O Lord our God, who didst command Moses thy servant and prophet, saying, Make me precious vessels and put them in the taber- nacle on Mount Sinai, now, O Lord God Almighty, stretch forth thy hand upon this ark, and fill it with the virtue, power, and grace of thy Holy Ghost, that in it may be consecrated the Body and Blood of Thine 1 Vol. i. pp. 109, no. 2 Diet. Christ. Ant. s. v. 3 Eastern Church, Gen. Introd. vol. i. p. 186. 44 Ancient Coptic Churches. [ CH . n. only begotten Son our Lord.' Neale himself comes to the conclusion that this ark is ' simply used for the reservation of the blessed sacrament;' but the words of the prayer which I have just cited, — (the italics are mine,) — leave no doubt whatever that the ark at its dedication is intended not for the reservation but for the consecration of the host ; and even if this deduction were doubtful, it is ren- dered absolutely certain by the analogy of Coptic usage, of which both Renaudot and Neale are quite ignorant. It may be true, as Neale alleges, that in the Ethiopian Church the host actually is some- times reserved in the ark ; but that is an accident, and a perversion of the original intention. The Copts have no instrument corresponding to the holy lance of Greek ritual for the fraction or division of the wafer. A special appurtenance of the Coptic liturgical worship is the little mat or 'plate' 1 as they call it, numbers of which are used in the celebration of the korban. They are circular in form, five or six inches in diameter, and made of silk, strengthened at the back with some coarser material. Each mat has a cross embroidered or woven upon it : and sometimes, as in the woodcut, smaller crosses are set between the branches. The mat here given is of cloth of gold with designs embroidered in thread of silver gilt, — an ancient example from the church of Abu Kir wa Yuhanna at Old Cairo. Red, pink and green are equally common hues, there being no re- gulation as to colour. The manner in which these 1 jns-WJI or s^^JJ ; in Coptic TTIOOJUL : it seems to correspond with the 'minus velum' mentioned by Renaudot, Lit. Or. torn. i. p. 304. 45 mats are used at the mass will be explained in another chapter. Before the commencement of the mass the sacred elements are covered with a veil or corporal called jJIjlUI in Arabic, and ru npoc^A-pm 1 in Coptic. The veil is of white or coloured silk, generally about 18 in. square ; the middle is embroidered with a cross ; Fig. 7.— The Hasirah or Eucharistic Mat. and tiny bells are sometimes attached to the centre and the corners. This lafafah seems to answer to the 1 Renaudot (I.e.) remarks that this, the 'velum majus,' is called anaphora — ' praecipue in Syriacis Ritualibus." Nauphir'vs no doubt the term used by the Syrians, but the Coptic name is that given in the text. 46 Ancient Coptic Churches. [ch.h. SiorKOKaXv/jLfia of Greek ritual, while the hasirah or tabak corresponds in some measure to the Greek chalice veil. But the Copts employ only these two eucharistic veils, and have nothing analogous to the Greek drjp or ve(pe\r]. The use of the fan 1 or flabellum no doubt origin- ated in the sultry East, where being almost a neces- sity of daily life, it passed very early into the service of the Church. Its employment in Coptic worship dates from a great antiquity. In the Liturgy of St. Clement, translated from the Apostolical Constitutions, a rubric runs thus : 1 Two ' deacons on each side of the altar hold a fan made ' of thin vellum, fine linen, or peacocks' feathers, to ' drive away flies or gnats, lest they fall into the ' chalice.' Costly fans are mentioned in the year a.d. 624A These doubtless, as was usual later, were made of metal, either gold or silver. A common type is that given in the illustration, a disk of silver fitted with a silver socket, into which is fastened a short wooden handle. The disk is surrounded and divided across by dotted bands, and upon it are worked two rude figures of the seraphim. The whole of the design is repousse. At the church of Al Amir Tadrus there were four of these flabella : but their purpose is so far forgotten, that they are only used as ornaments upon the occasion of the silver textus- case being set in the choir. The textus-case then is placed upright upon a sort of stand, which has at each corner a short pricket to receive the wooden 1 2 Gregory the Great's Liber Sacramentorum, ed. H. Menardus, Paris, 1642, p. 319. where several authorities are cited. Fig. 8. — Flabellum in repousse silver. 4 8 Ancient Coptic Churches. [ch. n. handle of the flabellum 1 . A taper is further stuck or crushed upon the upper part of the disk and lighted ; so that the fan seems to serve only as an elaborate candlestick. It may well be, however, that this usage betrays a consciousness of some such mystic symbolism as undoubtedly is attached to the fan in the Greek ritual. At Abu Sargah, where the ritual, or at least the worship, has suffered less decay than at the deserted Tadrus, similar silver fans exist, and are, I believe, used at solemn festivals, if not in the regular celebration of the mass. Upon the altar at Anba Shanudah I found a rude axe-shaped fan of woven rushes, such as the Arabs wave to cool their faces; and the fact that this fan is still employed, either regularly or in the hot season, for the service of the altar, proves that the right use of the flabellum is not entirely forgotten. In the office for the ordination of the patriarch of Alexandria, the rubric speaks of a procession through the church with crosses, gospels, tapers, and fans or figures of the cherubim. Flabella were waved by the deacons in the Syrian Jacobite, and probably also in the Coptic rite for the ordination of a priest at the laying on of hands. In the ritual of the Mel- kite Egyptians to-day a metal flabellum is sometimes used : thus at the ancient church of St. George on the tower at Old Cairo two fans stand upon the altar. More often, however, they use a fine linen cloth or corporal, such as is employed also for the same purpose in the service of the altar at the Coptic monasteries in the desert, and is called al lafafah. Yet, even where a veil or corporal is used to fan the sacred elements, the original metal flabellum survives still as 1 See illustration, page 41 supra. OH. II.] Eticharistic I 'csscls. 49 JU.B Fig. 9.— Processional Flabellum of silver-gilt used by the Melkite Church of Alexandria. VOL. II. a processional ornament among the Melkites, as will be seen from the illus- tration. We constantly read of fans carried in procession in the Coptic ritual, as well as in the Armenian. In both cases there was prob- ably a special form of the instrument for processions corresponding to the Mel- kite flabellum : but this form has long since disap- peared among the Copts. In the Greek Church the fan, or pnriSiov, seems to have departed altogether from its original purpose, and to have a ceremonial rather than a practical value. The one given in Goars illustration is made of wood, and consists of a small carved image of the seraphim mounted on a short handle, — an instru- ment which could be of little service in driving away gnats and flies. It is just after the pax and hymn of victory, and again just before the diptychs in the Greek rite, that the fan is employed ; and on So Ancient Coptic Churches. [ch.u. both occasions the deacon solemnly fans the elements, signifying a wafting of divine influence upon them. Moreover, on Good Friday, at the consecration of the chrism, when the box with the holy oil is carried in procession, seven deacons move on each side of it, every one holding a fan above it. In the absence of a proper flabellum, the Greek rubric sanctions the use of a napkin or corporal to fan the oflete. That the same usage existed among the Copts is clear from a MS. in the Vatican 1 , which describes the procession for the consecration of the chrism as consisting of twelve subdeacons carrying lamps, twelve deacons carrying fans, twelve priests carrying thuribles, and the bishop with the vessel of oil covered by a white pall which is borne by deacons ; and round the bishop a throng of clergy moves, all carrying in their hands 'cherubim,' i.e. fans, and crosses. The word employed in the Coptic rubric seems to be pmicTHpiort, a mere transliteration of a form still found in the Greek. The Maronite and the Armenian Churches both employ a metal flabellum — silver or brass — having a circular disk surrounded with a number of little bells. These bells are no doubt meant to call attention to the special part of the office which is being performed: and I may repeat that they are occasionally fastened in the same manner on a Coptic corporal, stole, or dalmatic. A full and interesting account of the Armenian use of the flabellum is given in the Rev. S. C. Malan's introduction to his translation of the Divine Liturgy 1 Ordo consecrationis chrismatis et olei catechumenorum, ex cod. Vat. 44, ed. Tukio, quoted by Denzinger, Ritus Orientalium, torn. i. p. 251. ch. ii.] Eucharistic Vessels. 5' of St. Gregory the Illuminator. We read there that ' the bishop before celebrating goes round the church preceded and accompanied by clergy having fans and banners, holding in his hand the cross, with which he blesses at the end of every prayer said aloud up to the Song of the Cherubim.' Another passage speaks of the waving of the fans at the trisagion as sym- bolical of the quivering wings of the seraphim : and a Russian eyewitness of the ceremony mentions ' the noise of silver fans ' as being strange to him, but not disagreeable. The noise of course arises from the bells ; for the flabellum without bells is a familiar instrument in Greek worship. In Georgia the flabellum was used in early times, as is proved by an ancient fresco at Nekresi, in which two angels are shown beside the altar, each holding a long-handled flabellum, the disk of which is ornamented with a figure of the seraphim, but has no bells. The flabellum found its way at an early date into the western churches 1 . Cardinal Bona quotes an instance of its use in the sixth century. Two figures which seem to be flabella are incised on an eighth- century altar, which stood in the church of St. Peter at Ferentillo 2 . In an inventory at St. Riquier near Abbeville, 831 a. d., occurs a ' silver fan for chasing flies from the sacrifice.' In 1250, at Amiens, is men- tioned a 'fan made of silk and gold': in 1253 the Sainte Chapelle at Paris possessed ' duo flabella, vulgo nuncupata muscalia, ornata pedis and 'esmou- 1 See paper in Archaeological Journal by the late Albert Way, vol. v. 2 La Messe, vol. i. pi. Iviii, and p. 171. 52 Ancient Coptic Churches. [ch. h. choires ' are given in an inventory of 1376. In the Library at Rouen is an illuminated thirteenth-century missal with two illustrations of a deacon waving a flabellum over the celebrant at the altar. Coming to our own country, a Salisbury inventory of 1 2 14 mentions two fans of vellum and some other stuff, perhaps silk. In 1298 the chapel of St. Faith in the Crypt of St. Paul's had a ' muscatorium,' or fly-whip of peacocks' feathers. About the year 1400 one John Newton gave to York minster a silver-gilt handle for a flabellum : and even in remote parishes the use of peacocks' feathers was not uncommon. Thus in the churchwardens' accounts at Walkerwick, in Suffolk, there is' an entry of ' iv