Photographer:
Title:
| Apse in the Church of St. Mercurius |
Description:
|
The church was founded probably in the seventh
century and dedicated to St. Mercurius, a Roman
officer belonging to a noble family, who
underwent martyrdom for having vigorously
defended the Christian religion. According to an
old tradition, an angel appeared to him and gave
him a second sword (whence his name Abu al-Seifein,
"the one with the two swords") as a symbol of
his energy in the defense and diffusion of
Christianity. Iconography represents St.
Mercurius in his armor, on horseback, and with
two swords drawn and crossed above his head as
he tramples on the emperor Julian the Apostate.
His body is said to have been brought from
Palestine to Old Cairo in the fifteenth century. |
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