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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	bishop_n	order_n	ordination_n	3,692	5	10.0697	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A24128	The true history of the Jacobites of Egypt, Lybia, Nubia, &c. their origine, religion, ceremonies, laws, and customs, whereby you may see how they differ from the Jacobites of Great Britain / translated by a person of quality from the Latin of Josephus Abudernus ...; Historia Jacobitarum seu Coptorum in Aegypto, Lybia, Nubia, Aethiopia tota, & parte Cypri insulae habitantium. English	Abudacnus, Josephus.; Sadleir, Edwin, Sir, d. 1719.	1692 (1692)	Wing A157; ESTC R7172	21,679	45

if any Jacobite having forsaken his Religion does embrace that of the Greeks Papists or Armenians then he may and even ought to call him to an account but if he be turned Mahometan then he cannot for they are Masters and it is not lawful for Christians to contend with those whom they serve but if he lives in those Countries which are not subject to the Turk as in Aethiopia he may call him and require a reason why he did forsake his Religion nay indeed pronounce an Anathema against him but this is rarely done in these times the Patriarch fearing least he that is so used should turn Mahometan amongst whom there is no Salvation the Mahometan not caring to be saved by or in Christ And this only Power he now possesses for he is not secure as to the things belonging unto the Church such as Tythes First-fruits Marriage-fees or Alms which are given by Christians at or near their Death-beds or those things used to be given by such as receive the Sacraments of Ordination and Confirmation c. for concerning these things he can move no Controversie with the Subject For whether he can give or not give perform or not perform what is appointed it is the same thing he must wait upon his charitable disposition and kindness and so much for the Spiritual Government of those who are under the Dominion and Empire of the Turk CHAP. IV. Of the Election of the Patriarch Archbishops c. WHen the Patriarch who held the Keys in Spiritual Matters is dead and buried the Canons of the Church do publickly exhort every one to pray to God that he would please to assist each one with his Holy Spirit that a new Governour of the Church may be chosen which may be acceptable to his Divine Majesty and to Men and presently Convoke by their Letters the Arch Bishops and Bishops who as soon as they are come together into the Cathedral Church choose one of the ancientest Monks of the Hermites who seems to be a truly Penitent and to have strictly exercis'd Fasting and Continency and all other Vertues belonging to the Mortification of the Flesh But when any one is chosen they do not declare who it is for as soon as any of them knows he is chosen to that Dignity he flies and does not willingly accept but they take and lead him by force into the Town and intreat him with many supplications that he would vouchsafe to be Pastor of their Church since he was chosen by the Arch Bishops and Bishops conducted by the Holy Ghost He opposes with many Words and Tears professing himself insufficient for so great a Charge but at last overcome as it were by their importunity he accepteth Then he is brought to the Bacha or Vice-Roy for that time in Aegypt by whom he is constituted Patriarch of the Jacobites and from whom he receives a Grant of his first Petition which is That he may Govern the Church according to the Institutions of their Ancestors And so much for the Election of the Patriarch let us now speak of the Bishops They are chosen almost in the same way as the Patriarchs for they are taken by force and conducted to the Patriarch who admonishes them not to wave any longer so sacred a Function but to submit themselves to it remembring that they are both Elected and Called by the Holy Ghost who can render facile to them what they think hard and difficult to whom as soon as consenting to take on them the Office is given either by the Patriarch or the Bacha after the same manner a Faculty that it may not be lawful for any Person under their Charge to disobey or contend in any thing As to the Election of the Arch-Bishop the Patriarch together with the Canons assemble in the Church and having chosen him he receives Authentick Letters from the Patriarch and Vice-Roy or Bacha and such a Power as is usually given to an Arch-Bishop and so after his Consecration is sent into the Province which is allotted him The same way are chosen Prebendaries Priests and Superiours of Convents who all refuse at the first but at last overcome as it were by entreaty do accept Of which number none receive this Authority from the Turk nor his Confirmation but Abbots and Priors of Convents the others requiring not such a one because under either the Patriarch or some Bishop CHAP. V. Of the Consecration of the Patriarch arch-Arch-Bishops and Bishops SInce it is not a daily but a rare thing to Consecrate a Patriarch we will in few words give some account of that Ceremony The Election of the Patriarch being made as we said before in the Cathedral Church and Notice being given to all People of the certain Day of his Consecration all the Citizens and Inhabitants of Memphis and many Strangers come flocking into the Church where the Consecration is to be solemniz'd and not only many Christians but many of the principal Turks and Mahometan's flock thither for as this Ceremony is seldom to be seen so when it is they husband the opportunity This then is the Order of Consecration At Midnight after Mass is begun and the Introit is over one of the Seven Bishops who begun it leaves all the rest and goes into the Sanctuary The Second goes on with the rest of the Mass to the Second the Third suceeds who also takes his turn as to the Celebration the Fourth to the Third and so to the Seventh who after he has sung the Preface gives over the rest of the Mass and goes with the other into the Sanctuary as we shall see in the next Chapter which is encompassed with seven steps and in which is in the middle an Altar where the Mass is celebrated upon which steps stand the seven Bishops upon every step one upright in his Pontifical Habit and Mitre at which time the Canons of the Church and other Ministers of the Sanctuary there assisting having on a Linnen Surplice and a Girdle of which we spoke in the third Chapter and a woollen Ephod on their Heads call the Patriarch and when he is come to the first Bishop who stands upon the first step he reads to him a certain Period of the Pontifical-Book placed near his Head and encouraging him to hope that God will endue him with his Grace whereby he may Govern his Church after which he breathes in his mouth saying Receive the Holy Ghost which done he takes the Mitre from his Head and the same does the second third and fourth Bishop and so to the seventh on the seventh and last step and when he is come to the seventh step seven Canons of the Cathedral bring to him the Pontifical Habit each tendring him that part of the Garment which he is to put on the first a sort of Linnen which he wears about his Shoulders the second the Surplice the third the Girdle c. adding some special words appointed to each part of the Garment when he is

where it may pass away But the Water of Baptism is convey'd through some hole into a subterraneous place Baptism is solemnly celebrated twice in the Year first on the Sunday of the Pentecost and then on the Sunday of the Passion when as we have said it is administred to Infants But as we remarked in the first Chapter Circumcision is diligently observed and that on the eighth day after the Birth and this not only in the principal Cities where there is a great concourse of people but also in Villages and in the Country with the greatest rigour CHAP. XI Of the Sacrament of Confirmation IN the preceding Chapter we remembred you of this Sacrament when we said the Priest administred it to the Infant The Consecration of the Oyl is by the Priest as also Confirmation and he does not stay till the Bishop celebrates So that herein is a difference betwixt the Jacobites and the Papists in this matter that with the latter the Consecration of the Oyl is only by the Bishop but not with the former Confirmation also amongst Jacobites is given to Infants together with Baptism but amongst the Papists they are given separately and Confirmation is given only by the Bishop CHAP. XII Of Auricular Confession THE Ecclesiasticks as we have observed do very seldom use this Sacrament a little oftner the Laics and then it is severely and rigidly exercised Many Historians inform us that in Aethiopia where this Religion flourishes the Confessors take a great deal of Money of such as confess notwithstanding they are forced besides to undergo a strict and rigid penance but in Aegypt they do not give Money unless it be according to the ability of him that doth penance and if he giveth nothing then he is obliged to abstain for some time from the Temple The penance which the Confessors are accustomed to enjoyn their penitents is sometimes so heavy and for so long a space that it often exceeds six Months and sometimes a Year during which time they are not admitted to receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist And this for the most part is the nature of their penance two or three times a week they abstain from Victuals living upon Bread and Water and bow every Night to the Ground fifty or a hundred times kissing it towards the East They think there is but one sort of sin and not different Species of them as the Papists use to say CHAP. XIII Of the Sacrament of the Eucharist THE Ministers who celebrate Mass together with the Priest receive as we have said the Sacrament of the Eucharist without that of Confession every Sunday and Holy-day using only the Eve before a Holy day to prepare themselves by abstaining that Night from eating and drinking And after the Laics have performed the penance that their Confessors have enjoyned them they come weeping and bare-headed with great devotion to the Door of the Sanctuary There they stand and holding some Linnen in their hands the Priest gives them a bit of the Host and the Deacon presents them with some Wine from the Cup in a Gold or Silver Spoon Likewise if any small Children are to be washed with the sacred Water of Baptism which Ceremony is also to be done at other times besides those before-mentioned they are brought by the Pater Lustricus or by such like person to the door of the Sanctuary then the Priest puts a small piece of the Host into the Child's mouth and having dipped his finger in the Cup rubbeth therewith the Childs mouth Likewise if any Infant be made Deacon or Sub-deacon which often happens when a Bishop celebrates Mass he is by him introduced into the Sanctuary CHAP. XIV Of the Sacrament of Ordination MEntion was made of this Sacrament when we treated of Baptism where we said excepting that of the Priesthood there is no respect had to Age in conferring of any Order all other the greater as well as the less being conferred without taking the Age of any one into consideration And this is the way of administring this Sacrament If any Child is to be made a Deacon who by reason of his yet-tender Age cannot perform the Duties of his Order then one of his near Relations either Father or Mother promises to observe them for him till he grows of Age to keep them himself and these are the Rules of the Order To fast twice videlicet every Wednesday and Friday in the Week to abstain from Milk and Victuals made with Blood to mortifie his Body in Lent by fasting until the Evening to go to Church on Holy days and hear Mass c. But none performs the Divine Office until he has attained to Priest s Orders which he takes at the Age of five and twenty and then he is obliged to observe the aforesaid Rules But he that is received into Orders be they greater or less first giveth his Name to the Bishop's Secretary and a single piece of Money to the Patriarch of about Three-pence English and then at the time of Consecration the Bishop standing before the Door of the Sanctuary cutteth off his Hair then putting his Hand upon his Head blesseth him in form of a Cross and therewith congratulateth him on his admittance into the number of the Ecclesiasticks this being done he enters into the Sanctuary and sits upon his Pontifical Chair and the Ministers or those that assist at the Ceremony having on a long Surplice and a Girdle bring him a Girdle then the Bishop confers upon him the other Orders as far as the Diaconate and uses those Ceremonies which are used by the Greeks and Romans If you enquire of me concerning the Priests the manner is different as to them for they are elected when they are absent and are taken in the Church against their wills in time of Orders and after several words and supplications as if they were overcome by them they are forced to consent after which being cloathed with the Sacerdotal Ornaments they are conducted to the Bishop into the Sanctuary and there by him ordained as has been shewed and is the Custom amongst other Nations There is besides those Orders already mentioned another which they call Alcommus those of that Order are either Canons or Confessors which are established by the Bishop as we have said in the Priests Orders and after many Admonitions ordained in the Temple and indued with a power to absolve Sinners after Auricular Confession He advises them likewise to take care of the Church and to do carefully their Duties and live so chastly that they may be Examples to others of Chastity and from this Office they rise to the Pontificate as we said in the Chapter of the Election of the Patriarch CHAP. XV. Of the Sacrament of Marriage THeir Marriages as we have said in the Chapter of the Sacraments are celebrated with great solemnity and magnificence and this is the manner of them in Aegypt The Bridegroom and Bride first ask leave of the Turkish Judge for those

THE TRUE HISTORY OF THE JACOBITES OF Aegypt Lybia Nubia c. THEIR Origine Religion Ceremonies Laws and Customs Whereby you may see how they differ from the JACOBITES of Great Britain Translated by a Person of Quality from the Latin of Josephus Abudernus a Man of Integrity and born in CAIRO in AEGYPT Licensed Sept. 3th R. Midgley LONDON Printed for Eliphal Jaye at the Bible on the North-side of the Royal Exchange and Published by R. Baldwin at the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane MDCXCII THE EPISTLE TO THE READER HOW agreeable it will be to present the World with these small effects of my Leasure that is filled with so many soaring Geniouses I know not but at least how pardonable it may be I shall endeavour to shew when I have told how this little History of the Antient Nations of the Christian Jacobites of Aegypt amongst other loose Papers came to my hands in the most casual manner after it had been asleep in a Repository altogether unsuspected of any such thing for almost sixteen years past when more out of curiosity then ought else finding the Name of Jacobite upon it an Appellation we now give to the followers of an unhappy Prince fled to the French King for succour I look't and what I imagine the rest of the World may be was inquisitive to know whether the Sect of the Old and new Jacobites resembled one another as much in Principles as they did in Name to which also the Novelty of the History and the Elegancy of the Latin Tongue added some strength of temptation and having found it so handsom and so compendious a Narrative and so many mistakes rectified by it which we had imbibed from other Histories I could not forbear in imitation of the French who with most applauded and indefatigable application bring all the Learning of the World into their own Country wishing the sight of it in our own English Tongue And my Zeal for it extended so far not finding any one had done it that together with the prospect of a most taking and acceptable diversion it imployed me with some precipitation in the rendring of it into our own Natural Language which with what assistance the difficulty of some places made necessary through my unacquaintance with many of their Ceremonies I accomplished in some few dayes and brought to this present shape in which you now see it which allowing for those inevitable defects that attend most Translations the Graces and Idioms in any Language especially the Latin being hardly to be supplyed by any other with the same agreeableness I hope to be tolerably perform d and therefore shall not trouble the Reader with tedious Apologies for the defects of what I have permitted to be published for the better information only of such who have not study'd Languages of the present state of the Ancientest though unhappy erroneous Church in the whole East many things concerning which have been very fabulous and inauthentick and indeed their Errors recorded and augmented to a breach of Charity when their Sound and Orthodox Opinions have been omitted and past by then which day is not more evident if some late Historians be conferred with this and the Aethyopian History Neither are their Vertues which is the greatest Injustice faithfully recounted as their Piety Simplicity entire Obedience to a Patriarch most unspeakable Zeal for the Sacred Writing insomuch as there is no Musick to them like reading the Holy Scriptures Their Reverence for the House of God is very remarkable for they think it irreligion so much as to ride upon a Mule when they are near any Church and therefore alight and walk I say nothing more only I desire you to peruse this small Treatise and I do not question but you will be satisfied fully in seeing the difference between the Old Jacobites of Aegypt and New Jacobites of England Farewel THE PREFACE OF THE AUTHOR TO THE READER THE Christian Faith having been heretofore planted in Aegypt about the beginning of the Gospel by the Holy Apostles and especially by the Preaching and good success of St. Mark encreased abundantly in a little time according to the most fertile nature of that Soil The Learning of that fruitful Country having as it were predisposed them for those Mysteries and by fitting their Minds thereto served as it were as a handmaid to Theology Here Amonius Pantoenus Clemens Tatianus Origen and not to name any more the incomparable Athanasius were born Here was first begun and cultivated the Monkish Discipline Here were the supputations of time and the perpetual designation of the Feast of Easter and from hence propagated by Circular Letters to other Churches Here lastly in the space of a few Months were destroyed One Hundred and Forty Thousand Men under Dioclesian for the Christian Faith and Seventy Thousand banished with Tyrannical Effusion of Christian Blood does and deservedly give date to Martyrdom it self from which dreadful and barbarous destruction we count as from an Aera And never any where certainly did the Christian Religion extend its roots with more felicity till the Third Age in which it brought forth Arius and with him a most pestilent brood of Heresie which was scarce extinguished by the Council of Nice and the pious care of the Princes and Orthodox Bishops But immediately after to wit in the Fourth Age up started Eutaches Superiour of a Monastery at Constantinople and broached new Errors in the Church who flying after his condemnation by the Constantinopolitan Council to Dioscorus Bishop of Alexandria unhappily obtained from that pious Bishop a defence of his Heresie by which means the infection being spread through Aegypt it there received name and increase from one Jacobus Syrus Baradienses and prevailed yet more and more in the next Age viz. under Leo the Little and Zeno Isauricus and Anastasius his Successors until it was reduced under Justin and Justinianus who fortifying the Decrees of the Council of Chalcedon with the secular arm gave the name of Melchites or in other terms King followers to the Orthodox Christians Melchi in their Language signifying King Now at that fatal period when the Dissenters were too severely used and the Magistrates of Alexandria were too immoderate in their punishments of them the Saracens made an irruption into Aegypt and the distressed Jacobites who by their daily ill usage had been too much exasperated and were more evilly and maliciously forced into Arms for the common safety and add to this had as much cause of fear of their fellow Christians as of the blasphemous enemies of that sacred name they fled to Mahomet for succour upon which the Impostour is reported to have said Do good to the Cophts of Aegypt for they are related to you both by Blood and Marriage and he that does hurt to a Copht does hurt to me And I wish to God our not long since immoderate usage of our fellow Christians though Dissenters in Hungary even in this Age had not produced as

dreadful an effect by driving the miserable into nefarious Camps But now the Aegyptian Cophti easily submitting themselves to the Mahometan Yoke being mildly used sound a much more gentle Slavery than the other Christians whence even to this day they far surpass them in number and Cyrillus Patriarch of Alexandria in his Letter to Vytenbogaen Anno 1613. assures us they surpass the Greeks in number ten times adding this half Verse or Hemistic out of Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As to the present state of them they being not only different from us in their Religion but also distant so far Eastward from our Europe what account we hear of them is either wholly fabulous or at least through studiousness of Parties very unsincere for such is the inward delight of travellers in fiction that instead of presenting us with the true Histories of things and seting them before us in their proper colours they treat us only with a banquet of hear-sayes and impossibilities and for such who vary from us in Opinion we do nothing for the most part but load them with the most odious calumnies and criminations So that Josephus Abudernus a man born in Cairo and of unexceptionable truth and integrity and a sufficient witness of things done in his own Country having compiled a short Commentary of the Manners and Customs of his Compatriots we thought it not improper to present it to the Publick especially since it would take up but little time and cost in either Printing or Perusing Farewel The TRUE HISTORY OF THE JACOBITES OR COPHTES OF Aegypt Lybia Nubia c. CHAP. I. Of the Jacobite's NAME MAny of the ancient Doctors have desir'd to know the Origine of the Jacobites and the Name of those from whom they derived for they are many in number as we shall shew hereafter and both had and have still many Errors in their Religion They are not only call'd Jacobites but Cophtes also and by most of the Papists in Europe Christiani per Cingulum or Christians of the Girdle As to the Origine of their Name the aforesaid Doctors think they took it either from their ancient Fatriarch of Alexandria for they are Subjects of that See or from some other Saint namely Jacobus Syrus Baradiensis but this does not seem certain for in the Catalogue of their Patriarchs as it is in their Sacrifice of Mass there is no mention made of that Patriarch therefore the most probable Opinion is this that they are descended of the ancient Patriarch Jacob the Son of Isaac the Son of Abraham often called Israel in Holy Writ as afterwards when we come to treat of their other Name of Cophtes shall be seen and indeed was not this a great Truth a multitude of Hebrews which are now living in Aegypt should be called Israelites and not Jacobites But because the Hebrews which are known throughout the rest of the World have gotten to themselves this Name of Israelites they are willing to differ from them by this first Name Jacobite and not Israelite altho' they agree together in Circumcision add to this that they are Christians and not Hebrews and do this to distinguish themselves from other Nations which are living with them in the same Countries They have therefore no other Author to whom they owe the Name of Jacobites but the before-cited Patriarch and this also I can my self affirm that in their Exhortations as well publick as private I have heard them called Israelites and the Flock of Israel Of the Second Name THey are also stiled as we said before Cophti from Cophtes a very noted place in Thebais it being a common trading Town both for the Aegyptians and Arabians lying towards the Red Sea and which gave name to all Aegypt as it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies the Land or Country of Cophtus Of the Third Name YOU will wonder it may be and not without reason why they should be called by the Europeans Christiani della Ceintura that is Christians of the Girdle but you will cease that admiration when you know the cause The Cophtes as we shall shew more at large in the Chapter of Baptism at the Receiving of their Sacraments use a certain Girdle wherewith the Priest is accustomed to gird him who receiveth the Sacrament which they call the Girdle or Band of Chastity or Cingulum Castitatis as our Saviour calleth it in the Gospel and from this Ceremony they have obtained this Name CHAP. II. Of the Antiquity of the COPHTS HItherto have we treated of the Name and Origine of the Jacobites and having proved them to have been descended from the Patriarch Jacob it must of necessity follow if you enquire of their Antiquity that they were long before our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ And after his coming as Ecclesiastical History telleth us they were converted to the Faith by St. Mark then Bishop of Alexandria and after his Martyrdom those that adhered to his Opinion dispersed his Doctrine thro' all Alexandria Aegypt Lybia Nubia c. in which Countries they are still living If you enquire after their Number I answer There were more of them in the Primitive Church before they were subject to the Barbarity and Tyranny of the Turk and to that Cruelty which the Mahometans have exercised upon them But besides these Countries which are filled with Jacobites or Cophtes there are several others to be found in which they are not wanting as all Aethiopia and part of the Island of Cyprus so that they differ one from the other not in Religion but in their Country The Patriarch of Alexandria ruling all those Countries in Spiritual Matters and giving them their Bishops Metropolitans and the like and again those Jacobites living in any Episcopal City or See cannot lawfully Elect or Consecrate any Patriarch without their Consents and Approbations before obtained of which hereafter CHAP. III. Of their Spiritual Government ENough seems to have been already said of the Name and Origine of the Jacobites now we are to speak of their Government in Matters Spiritual but before I commence you must know the Jacobites do not in all places enjoy the same liberty for those that are free from the Injury and Jurisdiction of Pagans and Mahometans enjoy a more ample liberty in governing the Church and such as do the Papists and Greeks as many Historigraphers relate but those that dwell in Aegypt Lybia Nubia Thebais c. and are compell'd to bear the Tyranny of the Turks and to obey the Commands of a barbarous Emperour are not truly so free But now how they are govern'd in Spiritual Matters we shall see in few words Amongst the Jacobites the highest Dignity is that of their Patriarch as they call him and he takes his Power from the Vice Roy or Bacha who Commands in Aegypt in place of the Emperour his Office is to exercise his Power on the Christians in Spiritual Things For Example

Cap in the Figure of a pot but have no sign on their heads as the Papists and Greeks use to have It is a Crime to a Woman to be in the Hermitage where they live neither can any person that is in the Monastery go into a Nunnery every Week almost they are appointed some Mechanick Work as to sow the Ground or to plow the Fields or to grind at the Mill or to bake in the Oven or the like so that they never find any time to spend in laziness but employ their time either in working or praying Their Divine Studies are the Lives of Saints and some spiritual Books of Oraisous wherein they are carefully to exercise themselves In time of Lent the greatest part of them that are more advanced in Age remain alone Days and Nights in Hermitages But now of the sacred Virgins which some call Religious they are amongst the Jacobites as they are amongst the Papists and Greeks They are always shut up in their Monasteries and never go out unless necessity forces some of them that are the chiefest and have the Government when it may conduce to the good and profit of the Monastery in their Victuals they live in all respects as the Monks before-mentioned do only they have no commerce with a stranger or person of any other Tribe unless it be in the Monastery where they are shut as in the Refectory or Choire where it is lawful to them to see one another None are let into the Monastery unless they will be anathematized Yet sometimes to some noble persons it is permitted to enter that they may bestow their Charity but they must first have leave from the Patriarch Their Custom is to build these Monasteries in neat Towns near a Church that they may hear Mass on Holy-days CHAP. XIX Of their FASTS THey are used to fast four times in the Year And first in Lent which continues from Septuagesima-Sunday to Easter and is observed both by Lay men and also by those the French call Religious and finally by all who have attained the Age of sixteen Years They eat only of Bread and Pulses and Herbs which they are not to season with Oyl and of these but once a day and that is in the Evening The second time of fasting is the Advent from the fifteenth day in November till the Feast of the Nativity which happens the twenty fifth of December And then they forbear Flesh and Milk but may eat of Fish lawfully The third is celebrated in honour of the blessed Virgin and begins the twenty fourth day of September and ends the twenty-fifth day of August which is Assumption-day Their fourth and last Fast is in honour of the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul and begins the first Sunday in Pentecost and ends on their day viz. the twenty ninth of June But as to the time or duration of this Fast it is not certain for it is according to the course of Easter At this time as well as at the Advent they eat Fish but in time of Lent or when they fast in honour of the blessed Virgin they do not CHAP. XX. Of their Holy Pilgrimages THE Jacobites are used to go on Pilgrimage upon a Religious account for to say in a word there are many places in Aegypt where the Bodies of Saints and Images of the blessed Virgin are kept which they believe to perform many extraordinary Miracles But about the middle of Lent for the most part they are wonted to travel to Jerusalem and because the Road is infested with Thieves and Arabs they use all to gather together in the Metropolis of Aegypt whether Jacobites Greeks or Europeans Merchants or Artificers Pilgrims c. and there joyn in one Body or Caravan as they call it and the number of the Pilgrims is so great that it sometimes exceeds sixty thousand Men. And after in this manner they are assembled together they ascend their Camels and begin their Journey and in twelve or fifteen days space reach the City of Jerusalem But before they arrive there they are to enter into the City of Gaza and then Catea and Ravilay in which three mentioned places they are to pay a Toll or Custom to the Turk such as are Subjects eight French Crowns the rest double to wit sixteen Again when they are come to Jerusalem four Crowns are to be given by the Subject eight by the rest and they live in a sort of Hospitality together as long as they stay at Jerusalem where all the Holy Week they visit the Holy places But on the Sabbath-day they assemble all together in the Church of the Sepulcher and hear Mass which all the Bishops that are present celebrate in so many several Chappels In the Chappel of the Sepulcher only the Patriarch of the Jacobites if he be present otherwise his Vicar with some of the Abyssine Churches upon whom they say a Light shineth out of the Sepulcher But the Turks that are Keepers extinguish all the Lamps and Candles set up that day in the Church which are again lighted by the Divine Light springing out of the Sepulcher But many esteem this to be a fiction and in truth it is so it is possible and many testifie that this might anciently have been when those that professed the Christian Religion were very rare but now the Faith being displayed through the whole World we have no need of any such Miracles But that the Turks may have a good esteem of the Christian Religion they are wont to deceive the credulous minds of the simple with such Arts as may bring no damage to the Christian Faith feigning the Lamps to have been kindled by a light shining out of the Sepulcher when indeed they have a Lamp suspended out of the Sepulcher with which the Priest lighteth up again all the rest that were extinguished And this is done by the Aethiopians or the Jacobites because they alone as we said before celebrate Mass in the Chappel of the Sepulcher Many Europeans believe this but to impose upon the Greeks and Chaldeans in this matter is a thing impossible The first day of Easter being past they visit the Holy Places which are out of Jerusalem as Bethlehem the River Jordan and the rest of the Holy Places of the Passion which they do throughout the whole Week of Easter and after this every one returneth into his own Country But there are also some peculiar places in Aegypt to which they go upon a Religious score as first to the Virgin Mary's Temple to which they are accustomed to go thinking on the eighth day of September which is her Birth-day the Blessed Virgin together with some particular Saints appear in a phantastick manner in the Circuit of the Sanctuary which many flock together to see Many other places likewise they have dedicated to Saints as to St George St. Antony and others and because they are famed for many Miracles out of devotion they repair thither in a great number they take