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THE COPTIC See also:- CHURCH
- CHURCH (according to most authorities derived from the Gr. Kvpcaxov [&wµa], " the Lord's [house]," and common to many Teutonic, Slavonic and other languages under various forms—Scottish kirk, Ger. Kirche, Swed. kirka, Dan. kirke, Russ. tserkov, Buig. cerk
- CHURCH, FREDERICK EDWIN (1826-1900)
- CHURCH, GEORGE EARL (1835–1910)
- CHURCH, RICHARD WILLIAM (1815–189o)
- CHURCH, SIR RICHARD (1784–1873)
CHURCH IN See also:EGYPT
The earliest places of See also:Christian See also:worship in Egypt were probably only chapels or oratories of small dimensions attached to the monasteries, which were spread throughout the See also:country ; a wholesale destruction of these took See also:place at various times, more especially by the See also:- ORDER
- ORDER (through Fr. ordre, for earlier ordene, from Lat. ordo, ordinis, rank, service, arrangement; the ultimate source is generally taken to be the root seen in Lat. oriri, rise, arise, begin; cf. " origin ")
- ORDER, HOLY
order of See also:Severus, about 200 B.C., so that no remains have come down to us. The most See also:ancient examples known are those which are attributed to the empress See also:Helena, of which there are important portions preserved in the churches of the See also:- WHITE
- WHITE, ANDREW DICKSON (1832– )
- WHITE, GILBERT (1720–1793)
- WHITE, HENRY KIRKE (1785-1806)
- WHITE, HUGH LAWSON (1773-1840)
- WHITE, JOSEPH BLANCO (1775-1841)
- WHITE, RICHARD GRANT (1822-1885)
- WHITE, ROBERT (1645-1704)
- WHITE, SIR GEORGE STUART (1835– )
- WHITE, SIR THOMAS (1492-1567)
- WHITE, SIR WILLIAM ARTHUR (1824--1891)
- WHITE, SIR WILLIAM HENRY (1845– )
- WHITE, THOMAS (1628-1698)
- WHITE, THOMAS (c. 1550-1624)
White and Red monasteries at the See also:foot of the Libyan hills near Suhag.
Although the See also:plan of the Coptic church is generally basilican, i.e. consists of See also:nave and aisles, it is probable that they were not copied from See also:Roman examples, but were based on expansions of the first oratories built, to which aisles had afterwards been added. There are no See also:long transepts, as in the See also:early Christian basilicas of St See also:- PETER
- PETER (Lat. Petrus from Gr. irfpos, a rock, Ital. Pietro, Piero, Pier, Fr. Pierre, Span. Pedro, Ger. Peter, Russ. Petr)
- PETER (PEDRO)
- PETER, EPISTLES OF
- PETER, ST
Peter's at See also:Rome, and of St See also:Paul outside the walls, and there is only one example of a cruciform church with a See also:dome in the centre following the See also:Byzantine plan. Even at an early See also:period the nave and aisles were covered sometimes with See also:barrel vaults, either semicircular or elliptical. The Coptic church was always orientated with the sanctuaries at the See also:east end. The aisles were returned See also:round the See also:west end and had galleries above for See also:women. Sometimes the western See also:aisle has been walled up to See also:form a See also:narthex; in many cases a narthex was built, but, in consequence of the persecution to which the See also:Copts were subject at the hands of the Moslems, its three doors have been blocked up and a See also:separate small entrance provided. The narthex was the place for penitents, but was sometimes used for See also:baptism by See also:total See also:immersion, there being See also:epiphany tanks sunk in the See also:floor of the churches at Old See also:Cairo, known as See also:Abu Serga, Abu-s-Sifain (Abu Sefen) and El See also:Adra; these are now boarded over, as total immersion is no longer practised.
There are a few exceptions to the basilican plan; and in four examples (two in Cairo and two at See also:Deir-See also:Mar-Antonios in the easterndesert by the Gulf of See also:Suez) there are three aisles of equal widths, divided one from the other by two rows of columns with three in each See also:row, thus dividing the roof into twelve square compartments, each of which is covered with a dome.
The sanctuaries at the east end, as See also:developed in the Coptic church, differ in some particulars from those of any other religious structures. There are always three chapels or sanctuaries, with an See also:altar in each, the central See also:chapel being known as the Haikal. The chapels are more often square than apsidal, and are always surmounted by a See also:complete dome, a peculiarity not found out of Egypt. The seats of the See also:tribune are still preserved in a large number of the sanctuaries, and there are probably more examples in Egypt than in all See also:Europe, if See also:Russia and See also:Mount See also:Athos be excepted. Those of Abu-Serga, El Adra and Abu-s-Sifain, with three concentric rows of seats and a See also:throne in the centre, are the most important; but even in the square sanctuaries the tradition is retained, and seats are ranged against the east See also:wall, and in one See also:case (at Anba-Bishoi) three steps are carried across, and behind them is a segmental tribune of three steps, with throne in the centre.
The most remarkable Coptic churches in Egypt are those of the Deir-el-Abiad (the White monastery) and the Deir-el-Akhmar (the Red monastery) at Suhag. These were of See also:great See also:size, measuring about 240 ft. by 130 ft. with vaulted narthex, nave and aisles separated by two rows of monolith columns taken from ancient buildings, twelve in each row and probably roofed over in See also:timber, and three apses, directed respectively towards the east, See also:north and See also:south. These apses are unusually deep and have five niches in each, in two storeys separated by superimposed columns. In the church of St See also:John at Antinoe there are seven niches. A similar arrangement is found in the three apses, placed See also:side by side, in the more ancient portion of St See also:Mark's, See also:Venice, built A.D. 820, and said to have been copied from St Mark's at See also:Alexandria. There is no See also:external See also:architecture in the Coptic churches; they are all masked with immense enclosure walls, so as to See also:- ESCAPE (in mid. Eng. eschape or escape, from the O. Fr. eschapper, modern echapper, and escaper, low Lat. escapium, from ex, out of, and cappa, cape, cloak; cf. for the sense development the Gr. iichueoOat, literally to put off one's clothes, hence to sli
escape See also:attention. The walls of the interior still preserve a great portion of the paintings of scriptural subjects; the screens dividing off the Haikal and other chapels from the See also:choir are of great beauty, and evidently formed the See also:models from which the panelled woodwork, doors and pulpits of the See also:Mahommedan mosques have been copied and reproduced by Copts.
Illustrations are given in A. J. See also:- BUTLER
- BUTLER (or BOTELER), SAMUEL (1612–168o)
- BUTLER (through the O. Fr. bouteillier, from the Late Lat. buticularius, buticula, a bottle)
- BUTLER, ALBAN (1710-1773)
- BUTLER, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1818-1893)
- BUTLER, CHARLES (1750–1832)
- BUTLER, GEORGE (1774-1853)
- BUTLER, JOSEPH (1692-1752)
- BUTLER, NICHOLAS MURRAY (1862– )
- BUTLER, SAMUEL (1774-1839)
- BUTLER, SAMUEL (1835-1902)
- BUTLER, SIR WILLIAM FRANCIS (1838– )
- BUTLER, WILLIAM ARCHER (1814-1848)
Butler's Ancient Coptic Churches of Egypt (1884); Wladimir de Bock's Materiaux archeologiques de l'Egypte chretienne (1901) ; and A. Gayet's L'See also:art coptique.
(R. P.
End of Article: THE COPTIC CHURCH IN
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