Thanks to Stephen, a fine biblioblogger, for this find:
Egypt’s oldest church will finally reopen its doors this December, after Antiquities chief Zahi Hawass announced that a project to save it from harmful air is coming to an end. The 3rd century AD Hanging Church has been decaying sharply over the past few hundred years, with much of its ornate imagery and wooden iconography in danger of disappearing forever…
The task has been made more difficult by the constant burning of incense, which is taking its own toll on some of the country’s most treasured coptic relics…
The Hanging Church is the oldest church in Egypt’s capital, and rests in the Old Cairo district in an important Coptic region called Religion Compound. It is so called because it rests partly upon the 2nd century AD Babylon Fortress; a vital Roman stronghold built by Emperor Trajan to compound his dominance of the north African coast. The church has seen a myriad restoration projects in its time…
Read the whole of the report here.
September 12th, 2009 10:57 pm
Joel,
The Coptic Orthodox are Miaphysite, that Christ has one united nature out of two: divinity and humanity.
Fr. R.