orientalcairocit00sladuoft

298 Oriental Cairo
polite and cordial. But the convent had nothing to dignify
it. It was simply a poor living-place for women united by
a rule of the loosest order.
We made one other incursion into a Coptic church, and
there we felt some of the exultation which filled us the day
we went over the glorious Hanging Church of Babylon for
the first time. For that was the Cathedral which we attended
at the great Easter Eve service. The Copts seemed to make
more of the eve than of the day itself.
The Cathedral was filled with an immense crowd. If it
were not for the screen, it would have looked like a very
Evangelical English church. But behind the rich screen,
hung with flashing ikons we saw glimpses of all manner of
splendid mysteries. As we took our seats, two men in white,
wearing crimson-and-gold crosses, were reading something
at the lectern together. The voice in which they read was
almost a scream. The lower part of the church was packed
with tarbilskes. Most, but not all, of the women were
behind grills in the gallery. It is possible that those who
were below belonged to other religions, like the ladies of
our party. The Greeks and Copts attend each other's Easter
services, which do not clash, the great Easter service in
the Greek cathedral taking place at the conclusion of the
service in the Coptic cathedral. The great church was
brilliantly lit with vast crystal chandeliers, and from the
gaily lighted recess behind the screen came an incessant
tinkling of cymbals and cloud after cloud of incense. In
front of the screen sat personages with crowned heads, and
after a long period of tinkling and intoning and the reading
of a sort of lesson, two most important-looking personages in
coifs like Venetian doges and doges' gowns, one of cloth-ofgold
and one of crimson velvet, made their appearance, which
was the signal for indescribable enthusiasm and shouting
and crooning, until a procession of acolytes, also wearing
crowns and carrying lighted tapers, drew up in a line outside
the screen.
Round the entrance to the screen, which was half filled
up by a picture of the Resurrection, was a band of beautiful