Vol.I - The Coptic Orthodox Church

CH. vi.] Churches in Cairo. 275
one eastward and one westward. They resemble
roughly the crosses at Abu Sargah, but are larger,
measuring 6J in. by 3^. Beyond these four there
the
seem to be no other dedication crosses ; and
fact that they occur on Saracenic pillars is interest-
ing, as possibly determining a date for the reconsecration
of the church in the tenth century, when
Cairo was founded. The pillars with crosses in
relief among the foliage point clearly to a much
earlier date for the main edifice, which cannot be
later than the sixth or seventh century.
The pulpit in the nave is an imitation of an older
one, the marble mosaics being imitated in painted
woodwork. It remains without staircase other than a
moveable ladder. There is a little shrine railed in
between two columns in the north outer aisle ; and
another rather larger in a recess 6 ft. by 4 off the
south aisle. In the latter, called the Shrine of the
Virgin, the pictures are fenced by a wire grating
hung with shreds, in remembrance of prayers or
vows, as at Dair Mikhail. The principal painting
represents Mary with the Child in the branches of
a Jesse-tree, which is surrounded by a number of
saints, each in a separate little panel. The face,
unfortunately, is burnt by
candles that have been
carelessly held before it; still the painting is interest-
ing from its style and treatment, as well as from its
antiquity. A lamp hangs in front of it burning
perpetually.
The pictures on the iconostasis are also ancient,
above them towers conspicuously
but much decayed ;
a large cross or rood the only instance I have seen
of a true rood on the haikal-screen of a Coptic church
in Cairo. At either side of the foot of the cross an
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