arls" are taken out in a spoon and so administered, as in
the Greek rite. Reservation is uncanonical. Renaudot states that it was
permitted in cases of great extremity, when the host remained upon the
altar with lamps burning and a priest watching, but it is not now
practised, and there is no evidence of any such vessel as a pyx in
Coptic ritual. Small benedictional crosses belong to each altar, and
processional crosses are common. The crucifix is unknown, for while
paintings and frescoes abound, graven images are absolutely forbidden.
The liturgy was read exclusively in the extinct Coptic language till the
end of the 19th century, but parts are now read in Arabic, while the
lessons have long been read in Arabic as well as in Coptic. The services
are still excessively long, that of Good Friday lasting eleven hours;
but benches are now provided in the newer churches. Seven sacraments are
recognized--baptism, confirmation, eucharist, penance, orders,
matrimony, and unction of the sick. The chief fasts are those of Advent,
of Nineveh, of Heraclius, Lent and Pentecost. Pilgrimage to Jerusalem is
a duty and sometimes a penance.

The Coptic ritual deserves much fuller study than it has received. Since
the 7th century the church has been so isolated as to be little
influenced by changes affecting other communions. Consequently it
remains in many respects the most ancient monument of primitive rites
and ceremonies in Christendom. But centuries of subjection to Moslem
rule have much weakened it. For the liturgical dress see VESTMENTS;
CHASUBLE, &c.

Present state of the church.

The British occupation of Egypt profoundly modified Coptic religious
life. Before it the Copts lived in their own semi-fortified quarters in
Cairo or Old Cairo or in country or desert Dairs (Ders). Walls and gates
were now thrown down or disused: the Copts began to mix and live freely
among the Moslems, their children to frequent the same schools, and the
people to abandon their distinctively Christian dress, names, customs
and even religion. Freedom and prosperity threatened to injure the
Church more than centuries of persecution. Many of the younger
generation of Copts began openly to boast their indifference and even
scepticism: in the large towns churches came to be too often frequented
only by the old or the uneducated, confession and fasts fell into
neglect and the number of communicants diminished; while the facility of
divorce granted by I