Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 29.djvu/151

 THE ANCIENT CnRISTIAN CnURCHES OF MUSR EL ATEEKAH. 121 Mary (of which the chief is known as El Moallaka, " the Suspended "), one to the Kedeseli Berbarra, one to JNIari Girgis (S. George), and one to Abou Sergeli, which last con- tains the crypt, or small subterraneous church of Sitt Miriam. IV. Dai/r Bahldn, which contains a Church dedicated to Sitt ]Iiriam, and is interesting as preserving through the wreck of ages and the vicissitudes of conquest the name of the Roman Babylon of Egypt. V. Dajjr Tcodrilft, containing the two churches of Sitt Miriam and Abon Eer wa Ilanna. VI. Dai/r Mclck Michaeel, a residence of the Metro- politan, which contains the Church of the Archangel S. Michael. VII. And lastly, some distance further on, on the way to Toorah, the Dayr and Church of Adra Miriam. It may be remarked here that the word " DajT," or Convent, does not now in Egypt, whatever it may have done formerly, impl}'-, like the term " Convent " or " ]Ionas- tery " in Western Christendom, a society of brethren, clerical or lay, pledged to celibacy and living in common, but it is applied in some instances to a village of Coptic Christian people, living crowded together within narrow walls of ancient date, in houses surrounding one or more Ciiurches, upon a site which has often been in their pos- session from the later Roman period. Visiting one day the Coptic Metropolitan Archbishop, ^larcus of Alexandria, who till the apj)ointment of a new Patriarch acts as the ecclesiastical head of the Coptic Church, I remarked that it was interesting to see in remote districts these small Christian communities living upon their own small ances- tral properties in the midst of a hostile jNEohammedan popu- lation. His Grace replied, " It is the work and will of God alone." In other instances the word "Dayr" is used to designate one or more churches with the residences of the married priests adjacent ; the whole being inclosed within lofty walls, entered, for security's sake, by a single ex- tremely small doorway. Amongst the Copts the patriarchs antl bishops alone are denied the luxur}^ of a wife. I have been unable to find any detailed account of the Christian Dayrs, near Cairo, and experience has shown me that they are, with one exception, rarely visited by travellers. I propose, therefore, to set down a few notes upon each in