Cairo - Church of St Sergius

... More >

between the columns; the galleries are supported on alternate groups of two columns and a masonry pier. The marble columns, taken from ancient buildings, are used without regard to their diameter or architectural form.

The church is entered by a doorway at the southwest corner. The three original doorways in the west front, now walled up, led into the narthex, which was occupied during services by catechumens (converts under instruction) awaiting baptism. The narthex is divided into three parts by wooden screens. In the middle section is an old piscina, used by the priest for washing the feet of male worshipers on the Feast of the Epiphany; the north section, with a recess, is the Baptistery. The narthex is separated from the nave by another wooden screen. The nave, with an acute angled timber roof, is traditionally reserved for men, while the women sit in the aisles. Steps lead up to the sanctuary and two side chapels, which are shut off by wooden screens, paneled and richly adorned with carvings in wood and ivory. In the sanctuary (heikal) are the canopied high altar and an apse with steps on which the priests used to sit.