Princeton Expeditions to Syria (1899, 1904-1905, 1909)

E.A.W Budge The Book of Governors, London 1893 Vol. I. pp L - LII

Each of the three churches of Bêth 'Abhê must have had a flat roof, above which rose either rectangular projections or domes, and each must have been lighted from windows cut high up in the walls.

As no plans or detailed descriptions of these churches have come down to us we are obliged to have recourse to the allusions to the various parts of them scattered through the work of Thomas of Margâ, and to the descriptions of churches of monasteries now standing (Badger, The Historians vol. I, p. 94 [...] Petermann, Reisen II, 317) to obtain an idea of their internal divisions and arrangements. The church of a monastery was oriented to the east, and contained three main divisions in its longitudinal base. At the extreme east end stood the altar ([ ] or [ ], and upon the altar stood a cross), raised upon a step or steps, which was approached from the [another language] = βήμά - κογχή , this part of the church was kept closed by means of the gates of the κογχή [...], and the vail [?] βήμά = velum. Strictly speaking the [...] (κογχή) was the circular projection from the east wall of the church in which the altar stood, and the [...] (βήμά) was the space which was raised above the rest of the floor of the church to the height of three steps and by which the [...] (κογχή) was approached; we may see, however, that the word [...] (κογχή)

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on its west side led into the [...] or place where the after - supper service was said. The martyrium of Bêth 'Abhê contained a casket in which were preserved the relics of some of the Apostles which Isho'yalbh II had stolen from Antioch, and in it were buried five metropolitans and eighteen bishops. Where Isho'yalbh II built the second church at Bêth 'Abhê their bodies were not disturbed but where his namesake built the third church a century later they were removed to the library temporarily.

In front of the church was a portico [...] i.e. στοα which usually extended along the entire length of the front of the church; the space between the pillars or supports of its roof was called [...] "the place of pillars," and the portion of the church immediately inside the west wall was called [...] or the place where the office for the night was sung.

[3. The positions of these places are indicated by Thomas, who tells us that as Rabban Cyracus was going into the portico from the temple, and as Sergius was going into the temple from the colonnade, they met each other in the "place of the watchers" i.e. [...] vol. II p. 431]

( To be noted that vol. II p. 341, annot. 2, Budge says: κατα στρώμα ["tiled pavement"] is the whole area of the church before the [...] not the place where the seats of the clergy stand, and was the raised or built up floor of the choir upon which the altar of sacrifice [...] stood. The [...] also included the "steps of the apse," and its pediment was three steps above the pavement of the rest of the church".)

[Page 9 Insert 4] Bêth 'Abhê

[Plan of an ancient Nestorian Church]

EAST

(Floor Plan) Altar raised on steps or platform Altar dedicated to some saint Place of baptism Steps of the Apse

NORTH

[at left] The place where compline was said

[Center] Σωλεα

SOUTH

[Bottom left and right] The place set apart for women

[Center] ΝΑΟΣ Chancel or choir of the monks πύλαιι ώραϊαι

ΠΡΟ ΝΑΟΣ The 'temple' where the male part of the laity sit

[At left and right] The place set apart for women

[Bottom] [Arabic] The colonnade

στοά [Arabic] The portico

WEST

a. The lectern from which the extracts from the Old Testament or Acts are read b. The lectern from which the extracts from St. Paul's Epistles are read. c. The place where certain services were performed.

Plan of an ancient Nestorian Church. (Budge, The Book of Governors, Vol. I London 1893, p. (LIII)