Eutychians, Monophysites, and Monothelites, whose creed was condemned by the Council of Chalcedon, A.D. 451. The Coptic version of the New Testament is valuable on account of its antiquity, dating, according to several critics, as early as the third century, and not later than the fifth, at the lowest computation. The number of churches and convents in ruins proves that the Copts were once far more numerous than at present; they number about one hundred and fifty thousand, and nearly ten thousand of them reside at Cairo. Their hierarchy consists of a patriarch, a metropolitan of the Abyssinians, bishops, arch-priests, priests, deacons, and monks. The patriarch is styled "Patriarch of Alexandria," but generally resides in Cairo. The metropolitan of Abyssinia, who always resides within his diocese, is appointed by the patriarch, and retains his office for life. The number of Coptic churches and convents is said to amount to one hundred and forty-six, but the former are few in comparison with the latter. The seven great festivals are as follows:The nativity of Christ, Baptism, the Annunciation, Palm Sunday, Easter, the Ascension, and Whitsuntide. Baptism is practised under a belief that if the ceremony be omitted, the child will be blind in the next world.*

"On the occasion of the administration of baptism, the Copts celebrate a mass after midnight, accompanied with sundry prayers. After they have sung for some time, the deacons carry the children to the altar, who are there anointed with chrism, to signify the putting on of the new man. That part of the ceremony being closed, they begin to sing again, and anoint the neophytes a second time, signing them with thirty-seven different crosses, which is

* Description de l'Egypte, par Denon; Didymi Taurinensis, Literature Coptica Rudimentum; Account of the Manners and Customs of Modern Egyptians, written in Egypt during the years 1833-35, by Edward W. Lane, 2 vols. London, 1835.

looked upon as a kind of exorcism. Then they continue their singing, and the women who are present at the ceremony make loud noises as a demonstration of their joy. In the meantime water is prepared and put into the baptismal fonts. The officiating priest now blesses the water, pouring chrism into it in the form of a cross. After this he takes the infant with one hand, by the right arm and the left leg, and with the other by the left arm and the right leg; making a sort of cross with the limbs of the infant, who is dressed on that occasion in a little white vestment. During the ceremony the priests both read and sing all the time, and the women make loud acclamations or rather hideous howlings. In conclusion, the priest breathes three times upon the face of the child, in order that he may receive, as they imagine, the Holy Ghost. As soon as the child is baptized, the priest administers to him the Eucharist, and this he does by dipping his finger into the chalice, and putting it afterwards into the infant's mouth. At the end of all these ceremonies, the wax tapers are lighted, and a procession is made round the church, all the assistants singing as they move along. The deacons carry the children in their arms, and the priests march before them, the men and women who assist at the ceremony coming after. The latter continue their howlings all the time.*

"The Coptic Church is something like the Greek Church in its ceremonies. At baptism they plunge the child three times into the water, and then confirm it, and give it the sacrament, that is, the wine; the priest dipping the end of his finger in it, and putting it to the child's mouth, which is done after they have administered the sacrament, for they do not keep the consecrated mysteries.

If the child happens to be sick, before it is baptized, it

Cérémonies et Coutumes Religieuses.

is brought to church, for they cannot baptize out of the church; they lay the child on a cloth near the font, and the priest dips his hands in the water, and rubs it all over. If the child is so ill that it cannot be brought to church, they then only anoint, according to the form they have for this purpose, which they say is good baptism." (From Travels in Egypt, by Richard Pococke, LL.D., F.R.S. London, 1743.)

Independently of the festivals observed by the Greeks, the Copts have, as we have already said, their Epiphany. The following description of the ceremony performed on that occasion is taken from Father Vansleb's narrative, he was an eye witness (although, perhaps, a prejudiced one) of that festival at Old Cairo. He says:-"As soon as the midnight service was over, which was read at the conservatory of water in which they were to plunge, the patriarch withdrew to the vestry, whence he returned in a short time, dressed in all his pontifical robes, and attended by a priest and a deacon with his cope on. The former officiated in his alb, and the latter carried a steel cross. As soon as they reached the conservatory, the patriarch began his benediction of the water by reading several lessons, some in the Coptic language, and others in the Arabic, out of the Old and New Testaments. Afterwards he purified the water, and stirred it several times crosswise with his pastoral staff. The priests, who were present, repeated the same ceremony after him. During this benediction, there was a large iron sconce with three branches, about six feet high, and in each of them a wax candle burning. After the benediction, the congregation were allowed to plunge themselves, or were plunged into the conservatory; and as the three who could get there first had the privilege of being dipped by the patriarch himself, one can imagine the hurry and confusion which this act of devotion must create, when no regard was paid

to common decency nor to modest behaviour. After all the men had been plunged in this holy water, they withdrew into the choir, and the women moved afterwards with the same irregularity, to bear a part in this immodest, religious ordinance, which may justly be compared to the lewd and dissolute festivals of the Pagans."

A

B

C

Fig. 60. PLAN OF THE COPTIC CHURCH, OLD CAIRO.

A. Altar.

B. Baptistery.

C. C. Entrance.

In his description of the ancient Coptic churches at Old Cairo, Rev. Alfred Charles Smith says:-"What answers to our ante-chapel at the extreme of the nave, contains beneath a large trap-door a broad and deep tank, called "the Well for Epiphany immersions," and in which at that festival men and boys dip in commemoration of

our blessed Lord's baptism.

The baptistery is usually a small side apartment, generally very dark, with a sunk font; in this the baptized are immersed, sprinkling only with water being unknown."*

Rev. Dr. Bitting informs us that "in the Coptic church, Aboo Sirgeh, at Old Cairo, there is a baptistery of parallelogram shape, sunk in the floor of the court opposite the altar. It measures inside seven feet and eleven inches in length, five feet nine inches in width, and is four feet two inches deep. It seems to be masonry faced with stone." The preceding sketch (Fig. 60) represents a plan of that interesting church, taken during our recent journey in the East.

THE MARONITES.

The term Maronites is the ecclesiastical, and now national, name of a Syrian tribe anciently known as the Mardaites, and inhabiting the slopes of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon. Their present name is derived from one Maro or Maron, an abbot who lived in the fifth century, and whose life was written by Theodoret. Although in union with Rome, they have not made an unconditional surrender of their church liberties. While acknowledging a titular supremacy in the pope, they have always elected their own batrak, or patriarch, and they still retain their own liturgical customs.

The Maronites preserve no water in their fonts, which has been consecrated on Easter-eve for the administration of baptism, according to the custom of the Romish Church; but whenever any one is to be baptized, they bless the water with a great number of prayers; then they

*The Nile and its Banks, 2 vols.