Page:The travels of Macarius, Patriarch of Antioch - Volume I.djvu/255



the holy arch of this Church of St. Sophia, a part of the description of which was given in the preceding section of this narrative, is written in Greek what we thus translated into Arabic: "God is in the midst of her, and she shall not he shaken: God helps her from day-break to day-break:"—as it is related of the building of St. Sophia, in Constantinople, that Justinian the Emperor wrote on all its tiles to the same effect.

The Holy Table is very large, being laid to the size of the Tabernacle; and having in the centre a kind of bridge of boards, which rises step by step to a great height, and holds the candlesticks in rows with their green wax tapers: these, when lighted, form an arch of fire, which raises the admiration of the beholder for its beauty and ingenuity. On the right of the Tabernacle is a door, with a lofty window above it, through which you enter a chapel with a cupola and two windows in the centre furnished with panes of glass, dedicated by the title of "The Birth of Our Lady." Near this is another chapel like it, named after St. Michael. So also on the left are four chapels; two with lofty cupolas, and dedicated to the Divine Burial and the Figured Handkerchief (of St. Veronica): the fourth is by the name of St. Nicolas. The Iconostasis which is over the doors of these chapels or tabernacles is much to be admired, and is very magnificent: it is quite new, and astonishingly beautiful; and so large, and divided into such a variety of compartments, and so much gilt and ornamented, that no man's pen is adequate to its description. Rh