SIGHTSEEING IN EGYPT

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 261, 22 January 1941, Page 3

SIGHTSEEING IN EGYPT

EX-TANEATUA BOY'S EXPERIENCES DOING THE ROUNDS OF CAIRO' SERIES OF LETTERS

Next morning (Sunday) we had our Easter service. Twelve months ago Ave Ave re in Auckland —Avho would have thought then that this year I w-as to spend Easter so close to the Holy Land, let alone the cave where the Holy Family liAed while in Egypt, as 1 told you in my last letter. After leaving Maadi Station Avith William, Captain Hyde, one of our padres and John Lcdgenvood (of the Y.MVC.A.) avc left the train at St, Georges, a station half Avay to Bab-el-luk (Cairo). St. Georges Avas the district we avc re to see something of. This is in Old Cairo. Across the road from the station avc went doAvn as though to a subway and through rt gateway equipped Avith a hcavj' Avooden door of ancient design. The lock too Avas a link with the past. This door in ancient times was locked after the Christian inhabitants from the neighbourhood had entered following the alarm being giA'en that tlicy Avere in danger of persecution. Once inside.' avc avc re met by a native Avith whom William had made arrangements and Avho Avas to act as guide through AA'hat was ahead. He led the party through numerous alleyways and then down a darker one and doAvn Ave Avent into St. Sargius Church, the eldest church in the Avorld. This church Avas built over the cave the Holy Family lived in after escaping from Palestine and King Herod. Jesus Avas then only tAvo years old and Mary used ! o place him in ri little hollow in the end of the :\ave. To-dav this cave has a little double door over it and an old painting inside. The painting is so old iioav that it is hardly to be recognised as such. The only lighting here is from a feAV small electric light bulbs. The crypt is about 12ft. square and about Bft. high. About three feet up the Avails are the water marks left after the waters of the Nile recede from flood-level. The crypt is reached from the church above by a flight of about 14 to 16 stone steps and there is not much head room. The weight of the church was a bit of a problem, so they put about (i pillars in to strengthen the roof of the crypt. The nave of the church is divided into three parts separated by 12 pillars, representing the 13 apostles. Eleven are / top painted and have crosses on them, the other is plain and represents Judas Avho betrayed" the Lord. The church is divided off for the men to sit in one place and the Avonien in another and if the congregation -is too big the women go up in the gallery, and the men take up the centre as avcll as the tAvo sides set aside for the..women. All these 'Captic' or Christian Churches have three altars. The centre one is the main one. If more than one service is held on any one_ day the second and third altars are used,j but only once a day is each, used. Services are usually held on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. The altars are separated from the body of the church by a screen of carved and inlaid Avood. In these screens neither glue or nails liaA 7 e been used the pieces are dove-tail-ed into one another. In tact this old church hasn't got a nail in it. Inlaid Avith the Avood are a lot of small pieces of iron and they mak» wonderful designs. On one side of "the screen near the doorway near the centre altar are two ebony panels inlaid with ivory. The first one represents the birth ot Christ in the Manger and has Miary, the animals, the Shepherds' and the Star, The other represents the miracle of the loaA'es and fishes. On the other side of the altar are three images

carved to represent the Saints— Dimitrius, George and Theodore. In the centre of the sanctuary is the allar in the form of a square tabic surmounted by a wooden canopy inside which i;-' painted the image of Christ surrounded by angels. On the rear Avail is a semi-circular tribune (of marble) of seven steps representing tho seven degrees of clergy. I stepped inside to get a better view, hut was politely told that it was sacred, and I "was not allowed in unless I took off my boots. The pulpit is a high marble one and stands en ten or a doz'.-n pi! lavs (about (3 inches in diameter). In this church, as in all the Coptic Churches, the Babtismal Font is \va:: buHL in inc- cvi.Ui.y. ..a.

before that, services used to be held in the Crypt beneath. We visited several of those churches but the general lay out is the same in all of them, but some are more lavishly decorated than the others. You probably think it strange that all these coptic churches are huddled together. AAvay back in the dim past it became the custom to collect the church of several adjoining parishes within the walls of a fortress This particular group is in the old Babylon Fortress. This was done because of the frequent persecutions.' At any moment in case, of a raid,

an alarm was sounded, and all Christians in the district lied to the Deyr (as it is called) with their families and any portable property. "With tTie gates shut and plenty of wells they were able to stand a siege if necessary. However the invaders were often successful, and that is why most of the old churches and monastries of Egypt have perished.

One sees some strange things here. Near one of the churches Ave visited is a special chapel, if you could call it such., AA'here the Avedding ceremonies take place. It is a queer show. Tt is about 13ft by 15ft and inside the Avail on one side is a narrow stairAvay up Avhich the bridegroom goes and he stays up there until after the ceremony. On either side of his little room and on the other side of the building are rooms where the women go. The men take up their position on the main floor. Underneath the window where the bridegroom is„ is a bench for the bride and her attendants. They are married there apart. Give me the good old Presbyterian service any day. Another place aac visited Avas a Nunnery, but didn't see much of it. We also saAA r Avhere they hold the funeral scivices, .it AA'as a fairly plain stone building, nothing outstanding about it. In another church avc saw a painting of Mary and no matter at what angle one looked her eyes seemed to be on one. There is something different in

each church. In another we Saw cupboards Avherc the Bible is kept. They still use the old scroll and some of these oie hundreds of years old. The Moallaka or 'Hanging Church' is well worth a visit too. It was built on a ruined wing of an old Roman fortress. The entrance is at street level and inside is a litthe courtyard' of marble with a garden plot in the centre and a palm tree too, then up a lliglit of steps to the main entrance. This church was built about the stli or 6th century and reconstructed in the 15th. The churPh was opened up by an oftl priest, a real old timer, who looked as though he had stepped straight out of the Bible. There are some really wonderful examples of carved screens, inlaid with ivory. A younger jiricst who was Acting as our guide through here, held a lighted taper behind the screen and the ivory set in cedar and ebony showed up as a soft rosy glow. The columns on which the pulpit is built, arc recognised as the most per feet sample of Egyptian sculpturing. We went down to the Church of Abu Sergeh, it is close handy and well down. There was a service on when we arrived. In the women's icction were several women and children. In another small room was the tomb of Patriachs from about 1860 to 1939. As in the other churches there are a lot of paintings, of tlje Holy Family and other characters of the Bible. A Patriarch is a Priest and the head of the Coptic Church is the Pope, a Patriarch of Alexandria, and the title dates back to the clays of St. Mark who christianised the Shoemaker in Alexandria and appointed him Ist Bishop of the New Church with 3 Priests and 7 Deacons. In one of these churches we we re shown some bund'es covered with cloth. They contained —have a guess—nothing more than the bones ol' Saints. (To be continued).