Vol.I - The Coptic Orthodox Church

238 Ancient Coptic Churches. [ C H. iv.
corridor about 45 ft. in length, ranged along which
are three little chapels (or rather two chapels and a
baptistery), with a continuous iconostasis. Each of
these three divisions is entered by its own double
door through the screen. They are now mere rub-
bish holes, where a few books and many pictures lie
rotting and decaying in deepening dust and unbroken
darkness. The baptistery lies northernmost of the
three, and the priest affirms with some show of
reason that this corridor is much older than the rest
of the church. Indeed it may be regarded
as abso-
lutely certain that the three divisions represent the
haikal and aisle-chapels of some smaller earlier
building. Opposite
the more southern of the
corridor chapels, the corridor is widened out
and the additional space encloses a large Epi-
phany tank.
A very curious hiding-place for the sacred vessels
exists at the north end of the corridor. A door
flush with the wall opens revealing another door
inside the wall, and when the latter is thrown back
the floor of a secret chamber is seen 3 ft. above the
level of the threshold, whence it rises without steps.
This chamber, like the chapels, is unillumined by a
ray of light, and at present is a mere storehouse for
pots and cauldrons and vessels, used to prepare the
viands which the priest sets before his friends and
neighbours at the yearly festival of dedication. A
more likely place for hidden treasure it is not easy
to imagine : but though a light was flashed in
every nook and corner,
nor gold, nor anything more precious than the wares
of an Arab scullion.
it discovered neither silver
Returning now to the main building through the