other bishops. They have the usual orders of the hierarchy, with a special rank (ḳummuṣ) for higher priests, many monks, and a few nuns. The standard of education among the clergy is low, now raised in some respects, with doubtful advantage, by Protestant missionaries. They cling to their hereditary heresy and still ahbor Chalcedon; otherwise there is little to say against their faith. Particularly they pray to saints, for the dead, and have the greatest possible devotion to our Lady. Their churches and services are the most interesting feature of this sect. Their customs are in many ways more archaic than those of Byzantine Christians. Their services are in Coptic (otherwise a dead language), with many formulas in Greek. Their rite is the old rite of Alexandria, attributed to St. Mark; though on most days they use, not the original anaphora, but a later one modelled on the Greek St. Basil. They have a Calendar of their own, reckoned from the "Era of the Martyrs," which is our year 284. Like all Eastern Christians they fast in a way that we should find impossible.
