Immortality, a glorified future existence as an Osiris in the
kingdom of Osiris, with all the pleasures and comforts of life,
was secured to him who was buried with the proper rites and knew
the magic words. And yet the old feeling was never lost that the
dead was somehow in the grave and might suffer hunger and thirst.

When Christianity came into Egypt, all the gaudy apparatus of the
Osiris religion was swept out of existence. The body was to rise
again and might not be mutilated. Mummification, which destroyed
the body in order to preserve a conventional simulacrum, ceased
abruptly. Grave furniture was of course unthinkable. But the use
of charms did not cease. Crosses were embroidered in the
gravecloths; or small crosses of metal or wood placed on the
breast or arm; the gravestone bore a simple prayer to the Holy
Spirit for the peaceful rest of the soul. But the offering place
was still maintained; prayers were recited on the feast days;
lamps were allowed to remain at the grave; food was brought, but
given to the poor.

In all periods there are thousands of graves of poor people
without a single thing to secure their future life,--people who
were probably content simply to lay down the burdens of life. In
the Christian period these thousands of unnamed dead all have one
mark. They are laid with their feet to the east. Each one was a
Christian and secure in his future life, according to his faith
and his life on earth.