Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/336

 332 COPTS were converted into Christian churches. Some of the churches are still subterranean ; and at Thebes a church of the catacombs has been discovered hardly less interesting than the churches beneath St. Agnese and St. Sebastian at Rome. In the ordinary construction of Coptic churches there are four compartments. At the furthest end from the doorway is the chancel, the heylcel, which is completely hid- den behind a high screen, with the doorway in the centre closed by a curtain, on which a cross is embroidered. Next to this is the part appropriated to the priests who interpret in Arabic the Coptic service to the singers, to the leading men of the congregation, and to strangers who may be present. This is sepa- rated from the next compartment by a high lattice, in which there are three doors. In this third compartment, which communicates di- rectly with the street, are stationed the mass of the congregation. A fourth compartment in the extreme rear, or on one side, is reserved for the women. This is dimly lighted, and separated from the main room by a lattice- work partition. The women wear their veils during worship. The poor of the congregation wait during the service around the outer door- way, and receive alms as the congregation passes out. As in the mosques, every worship- per must take off his shoes before his feet touch the mats of the holy house, and must go at once to kneel before the cross on the curtain. The more devout then go round and pray in turn before the pictures of the saints, which are hung around the second apartment, giving a kiss to those within reach of their lips. During most of the service the congregation remain standing, or rather leaning upon long crutches, with which most of them are provided. The service within the heykel or sanctuary is en- tirely from the Coptic liturgies. No other tongue is allowed before the altar. The priests who officiate here wear ornamented vestments specially appropriated to the various religious seasons and festivals. The ordinary celebration of the eucharist requires two or three priests within the heykel, while as many more explain the lessons to the people in the next apartment. The communion is given to the clergy in both kinds, but the laity are privileged only to have cakes on which the wine has been sprinkled. The more devout confess their sins to the priests at least once in every week ; and none have a right to ask for the sacred bread until they have eased their minds by such acknowl- edgment. The penances imposed are similar to those in the Roman church. The regular seasons of fasting in the Coptic church include more than half the year. With the exception of the 50 days between Easter and Pentecost, every Wednesday and Friday throughout the year are "meagre days," in which meat is prohibited. Besides these, there are the fast of the Nativity, 28 days long ; the fast of the Apostles, which follows the Ascension festival ; the fast of the Virgin, 15 days in length, to pre- pare for the feast of the Assumption ; and the great fast of Lent, which, with the additions that various patriarchs have made, and the pre- liminary fast of the prophet Jonah, extends to 58 days. In these fast seasons there is a daily service in the church, and the houses of worship are kept constantly open. There are seven principal festivals : those which commemorate the nativity, the baptism, the triumphal entry, the resurrection, and the ascension of Christ, the Pentecost miracle, and the annunciation to the Virgin. All of these festivals occur within the first half of the year, two of them in Jan- uary, and the remaining five usually in April, May, and June. At the feasts el-Milad, Christ- mas, el-GMtas, the baptism, and el-Kalir, Easter, there is a midnight service in the churches. The feast of baptism is still further honored by the custom of plunging into the river, or into a tank in the church, after prayers have been said and the water duly blessed. The men and boys together go through this ceremony, which is accompanied by a washing of the feet, performed by the priest. Besides these principal festivals, there are the feast of the Apostles, the holy Thursday and Saturday of Passion week, and the Salib feast in Sep- tember, which commemorates the finding of the true cross. These feasts are marked by unusual show in dress, by largesses to the poor, and by indulging in ardent spirits to the degree often of intoxication. The Copts have a convent in Jerusalem and a chapel in the church of the Holy Sepulchre, and there are perhaps 100 of their communion who reside in the holy city and welcome the pilgrims in their annual visit. The duty of pilgrimage is as binding upon Copts as upon Moslems ; but the number of those who fulfil it is compara- tively small. The creed of the Coptic church is that of the Monophysites, who were con- demned as heretics at the council of Chalcedon in 451. They deny the doctrine of two natures in Christ, and insist that after the incarnation there was but a single nature and a single will. In common with the Greeks, they hold that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father alone. It is affirmed by some writers that they believe the doctrine of transubstantia- tion ; but this is denied by the Coptic priests, who hold to a theory more like the Lutheran than the Catholic. The number of sacraments is seven, but these differ in several particulars from the Roman sacraments, faith and prayer being substituted for matrimony and extreme unction. They acknowledge as authoritative only the three councils of the church which preceded the council at Chalcedon, viz. : of Nice, of Constantinople, and of Ephesus. The general name by which the Egyptian church is known in controversy is that of Jacobite, which name was applied to them as the fol- lowers of the Eutychian Jacobus Baradaeus, one of the chief apostles of the heresy. This heresy they share with the Abyssinians, with whom indeed in most particulars of doctrine