East Syrian Rite
Also known as the Chaldean, Assyrian, or Persian Rite.
History and Origin
This rite is used by the Nestorians and also by Eastern Catholic
bodies in Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia, and Malabar, who have
separated from them. The Syrian and Mesopotamian Catholics are now
commonly called Chaldeans, or Syro-Chaldeans; the term Chaldean,
which in Syriac generally meant magician or astrologer, denoted in
Latin and other European languages Syrian nationality and the
Syriac or Aramaic language (especially that form of the latter
which is found in certain chapters of Daniel), until the Latin
missionaries at Mosul in the seventeenth century adopted it to
distinguish the Catholics of the East Syrian Rite from those of
the West Syrian Rite, whom they call "Syrians", and from the
Nestorians. The last call themselves "Syrians" (Surayi), and even
"Christians" only, though they do not repudiate the name
"Nestorayi", and distinguish themselves from the rest of
Christendom as the "Church of the East" or "Easterns", as opposed
to "Westerns", by which they denote Latin Catholics, Orthodox,
Monophysites, and Protestants. In recent times they have been
called, chiefly by the Anglicans, the "Assyrian Church", a name
which can be defended on archaeological grounds. Brightman, in his
"Liturgies Eastern and Western", includes Chaldean and Malabar
Catholics and Nestorians under "Persian Rite", and Bishop Arthur
Maclean of Moray and Ross (Anglican) who is the best living
authority on the existing Nestorians, calls them "East Syrians",
which is perhaps the most satisfactory term. The catalogue of
liturgies in the British Museum has adopted the usual Catholic
nomenclature, calling the rite of the East Syrian Catholics and
Nestorians the "Chaldean Rite", that of the South Indian Catholics
and schismatics the "Malabar Rite', and that of the West Syrian
Monophysites and Catholics the "Syrian Rite", a convenient
arrangement in view of the fact that most printed liturgies of
these rites are Eastern Rite Catholic. The language of all three
forms of the East Syrian Rite is Syriac, a modern form of which is
still spoken by the Nestorians and some of the Catholics. The
origin of the rite is unknown. The tradition -- resting on the
legend of Abgar and of his correspondence with Christ, which has
been shown to be apocryphal (see THE LEGEND OF ABGAR) -- is to the
effect that St. Thomas the Apostle, on his way to India,
established Christanity in Mesopotamia, Assyria, and Persia, and
left Adaeus (or Thaddeus), "one of the Seventy", and Maris in
charge. To these the normal liturgy is attributed, but it is said
to have been revised by the Patriarch Yeshuyab III in about 650.
Some, however, consider this liturgy to be a development of the
Antiochene.
After the Council of Ephesus (431), the Church of Seleucia-
Ctesiphon, which had hitherto been governed by a catholicos under
Antioch, refused to accept the condemnation of Nestorius, cut
itself and the Church to the East of it off from the Catholic
Church. In 498 the catholicos assumed the title of "Patriarch of
the East", and for many centuries this most successful missionary
church continued to spread throughout Persia, Tartary, Mongolia,
China, India, developing on lines of its own, very little
influenced by the rest of Christendom. At the end of the
fourteenth century the conquests of Tamerlane all but destroyed
this flourishing Church at one blow, reduced it to a few small
communities in Persia, Turkey in Asia, Cyprus, South India, and
the Island of Socotra. The Cypriote Nestorians united themselves
to Rome in 1445; in the sixteenth century there was a schism in
the patriarchate between the rival lines of Mar Shimun and Mar
Elia; the Christianity of Socotra, such as it was, died out about
the seventeenth century; the Malabarese Church divided into
Catholics and Schismatics in 1599, the latter deserting
Nestorianism for Monophysitism and adopting the West Syrian Rite
about fifty years later; in 1681 the Chaldean Unia, which had been
struggling into existence since 1552, was finally established, and
in 1778 received a great accession of strength in the adhesion of
the whole Mar Elia patriarchate, and all that was left of the
original Nestorian Church consisted of the inhabitants of a
district between the Lakes of Van and Urmi and Tigris, and
outlying colony in Palestine. These have been further reduced by a
great massacre by the Kurds in 1843, and the secession of a large
number to the Russian Church within the last few years. In the
late nineteenth century there was an attempt to form an
"Independent Catholic Chaldean Church", on the model of the "Old
Catholics". This resulted in separating a few from the Eastern
Rite Catholics.
Manuscripts and Editions
The authorities for this rite are chiefly in manuscript, the
printed editions being very few. Few of the manuscripts, except
some lectionaries in the British Museum, were written before the
fifteenth century, and most, whether Chaldean or Nestorian, are of
the seventeenth and eighteenth. The books in use are:
* Takhsa, a priest's book, containing the Eucharistic service
(Qurbana or Qudasha) in its three forms, with the administration
of other sacraments, and various occasional prayers and blessings.
It is nearly the Euchologion of the Greeks (see CONSTANTINOPLE,
RITE OF).
* Kthawa dhaqdham wadhwathar or Qdhamuwathar, "Before and After",
contains the Ordinary of the Divine Office except the Psalter,
arranged for two weeks.
* Dawidha (David), the Psalter, divided into hulali, which answer
more or less to the kathismata of the Greeks. It includes the
collects of the hulali.
* Qiryana, Shlika w'Iwangaliyuna, lections, epistles, and gospels,
sometimes together, sometimes in separate books.
* Turgama, explanatory hymns sung before the Epistle and Gospel.
* Khudra, containing the variables for Sundays, Lent and the Fast
of the Ninevites, and other holy days.
* Kashkul, a selection from the Khudra for weekdays.
* Geza, containing variables for festivals except Sundays.
* Abukhalima, a collectary, so called from its compiler, Elias
III, Abu Khalim ibn alKhaditha, Metropolitan of Nisibis, and
patriarch (1175-99).
* Ba'utha d'Ninwayi, rhythmical prayers attributed to St. Ephraem,
used during the Fast of the Ninevites.
* Takhsa d'amadha, the office baptism.
* Burakha, the marriage service.
* Kathnita, the burial service for priests.
* Anidha, the burial service for lay people.
* Takhsa d'siamidha, the ordination services.
* Takhsa d'khusaya, the "Office of Pardon", or reconciliation of
penitents.
These last six are excerpts from the Takhsa.
Of the above the following have been printed in Syriac:
For the Nestorians: The Takhsa, in two parts, by Archbishop of
Canterbury's Assyrian Mission (Urmi, 1890-92) The Society for
Promoting Christian knowledge has published an English translation
of the first part of the Takhsa, both parts "unmodified except by
the omission of the heretical names" (Brightman); Dhaqdham
wadhwathar, by the same (Urmi, 1894); Dawidha, by the same (Urmi,
1891).
For the Chaldean Catholics: 'Missale Chaldaicum", containing the
Liturgy of the Apostles in Syriac and Epistles and Gospels in
Syriac with an Arabic translation, in Carshuni (Propaganda Press
fol., Rome, 1767). A new and revised edition, containing the three
liturgies and the lections, epistles, and gospels was published by
the Dominicans at Mosul in 1901. The Order of the Church Services
of Common Days, etc., from Kthawa dhaqdham wadhwathar (8vo, Mosul,
1866). "Breviarium Chaldaicum in usum Nationis Chaldaicae a
Josepho Guriel secundo editum" (16mo, Propaganda Press, Rome,
1865). "Breviarium Chaldaicum", etc., [8vo, Paris (printed at
Leipzig, 1886].
For the Malabar Catholics: "Ordo Chaldaicus Missae Beatorum
Apostolorum, juxta ritum Ecclesiae Malabaricae" (fol., Propaganda
Press, Rome, 1774). "Ordo Chaldaicus Rituum et Lectiounm", etc.,
(fol., Rome, 1775). "Ordo Chaldaicus ministerii Sacramentorum
Sanctorum", etc., (fol., Rome, 1775). These three, which together
form a Takhsa and Lectionary, are commonly found bound together.
The Propaganda reprinted the third part in 1845. "Ordo Baptismi
adultorum juxta ritum Ecclesiae Malabaricae Chaldaeorum" (8vo,
Propaganda Press, Rome, 1859), a Syriac translation of the Roman
Order.
The Malabar Rite was revised in a Catholic direction by Aleixo de
Menezes, Archbishop of Goa, and the revision was authorized by the
Synod of Diamper in 1599. So effectively was the original Malabar
Rite abolished by the Catholics in favour of this revision, and by
the schismatics (when in 1649, being cut off from their own
patriarch by the Spaniards and Portuguese, they put themselves
under the Jacobite patriarch) in favour of the West Syrian
Liturgy, that no copy is known to exist, but it is evident from
the revised form that it could not have differed materially from
the existing Nestorian Rite.
The Eucharistic Service
Qurbana, "the Offering"; udasha, "the Hallowing"
There are three Anaphorae; that of Apostles (Sts. Adaeus and
Maris), that of Nestorius, and that of Theodore (of Mopsuestia)
the Interpreter. The first is the normal form, and from it the
Malabar revision was derived. The second is used by the Chaldeans
and Nestorians on the Epiphany and the feasts of St. John the
Baptist and of the Greek Doctors, both of which occur in Epiphany-
tide on the Wednesday of the Fast of the Ninevites, and on Maundy
Thursday. The third is used by the same (except when the second is
ordered) from Advent Sunday to Palm Sunday. The same pro-anaphoral
part serves for all three. Three other Anaphorae are mentioned by
Ebedyeshu (metropolitan of Nisibis, 1298) in his catalogue, those
of Barsuma, Narses, and Diodorus of Tarsus; but they are not known
now, unless Dr. Wright is correct in calling the fragment in Brit.
Mus. Add. 14669, "Diodore of Tarsus".
The Eucharistic Liturgy is preceded by a preparation, or "Office
of the Prothesis", which includes the solemn kneading and baking
of he loaves. These among the Nestorians are leavened, the flour
being mixed with a little oil and the holy leaven (malka), which,
according to the legend, "was given and handed down to us by our
holy fathers Mar Addai and Mar Mari and Mar Tuma", and of which
and of the holy oil a very strange story is told. The real
leavening, however, is done by means of fermented dough (khmira)
from the preparation of the last Eucharistic Liturgy. The Chaldean
Catholics now use unleavened bread.
The Liturgy itself is introduced by the first verse of the Gloria
in Excelsis and the Lord's prayer, with "farcings" (giyura),
consisting of a form of the Sanctus. Then follow:
* The Introit Psalm (variable), called Marmitha, with a
preliminary prayer, varying for Sundays and greater feasts and for
"Memorials" and ferias. In the Malabar Rite, Pss. xiv, cl, and
cxvi are said in alternate verses by priests and deacons.
* The "Antiphon of the Sanctuary" (Unitha d' qanki), variable,
with a similarly varying prayer.
* The Lakhumara, an antiphon beginning "To Thee, Lord", which
occurs in other services also preceded by a similarly varying
prayer.
* The Trisagion. Incense is used before this. In the Eastern Rite
at low Mass the elememts are put on the altar before the
incensing.
* The Lections. These are four or five: (a) the Law and (b) the
Prophecy, from the Old Testament, (c) the Lection from the Acts,
(d) the Epistle, always from St. Paul, (e) the Gospel. Some days
have all five lections, some four, some only three. All have an
Epistle and a Gospel, but, generally, when there is a Lection from
Law there is none from the Acts, and vice versa. Sometimes there
is none from either Law or Acts. The first three are called
Qiryani (Lections), the third Shlikha (Apostle). Before the
Epistle and Gospel, hymns called Turgama (interpretation) are, or
should be, said; that before the Epistle is invariable, that of
the Gospel varies with the day. They answer to the Greek
prokeimena. The Turgama of the Epistle is preceded by proper psalm
verses called Shuraya (beginning), and that of the Gospel by other
proper psalm verses called Zumara (song). The latter includes
Alleluia between the verses.
* The Deacon's Litany, or Eklene, called Karazutha (proclamation).
This resembles the "Great Synapte" of the Greeks. During it the
proper "Antiphon [Unitha] of the Gospel" is sung by the people.
* The Offertory. The deacons proclaim the expulsion of the
unbaptized, and set the "hearers" to watch the doors. The priest
places the bread and wine on the altar, with words (in the
Nestorian, but not in the Chaldean Catholic Rite) which seem as if
they were already consecrated. He sets aside a "memorial of the
Virgin Mary, Mother of Christ" (Chaldean; usual Malabar Rite,
"Mother of God "; but according to Raulin's Latin of the Malabar
Rite, "Mother of God Himself and of the Lord Jesus Christ"), and
of the patron of the Church (in the Malabar Rite, "of St.Thomas").
Then follows the proper "Antiphon of the Mysteries" (Unitha d'
razi), answering to the offertory.
* The Creed. This is a variant of the Nicene Creed. It is possible
that the order or words "and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost and
was made man, and was conceived and born of the Virgin Mary", may
enshrine a Nestorian idea, but the Chaldean Catholics do not seem
to have noticed it, their only alteration being the addition of
the Filioque. The Malabar Book has an exact translation of Latin.
In Neale's translation of the Malabar Rite the Karazutha, the
Offertory, and the Expulsion of the Unbaptized come before the
Lections and the Creed follows immediately on the Gospel, but in
the Propaganda edition of 1774 the Offertory follows the Creed,
which follows the Gospel.
* The first Lavabo, followed by a Kushapa ("beseeching", i.e.,
prayer said in kneeling) and a form of the "Orate fratres", with
its response. It is now that the variations of the three Anaphora
begin.
* The Kiss of Peace, preceded by a G'hantha, i.e., a prayer said
with bowed head.
* The prayer of Memorial (Dukhrana) of the Living and the Dead,
and the Diptychs; the latter is now obsolate among the Nestorians.
* The Anaphora. As in all liturgies this begins with a form of a
Sursum corda, but the East Syrian form is more elaborate than any
other, especially in the Anaphora of Theodore. Then follows the
Preface of the usual type ending with the Sanctus.
* The Post-Sanctus (to use the Hispanico-Gallican term. This is an
amplification (similar in idea and often in phraseology to those
in all liturgies except the Roman) of the idea of the Sanctus into
a recital of the work of Redemption, extending to some length and
ending, in the Anaphorae of Nestorius and Theodore, with the
recital of the Institution. In the Anaphora of the Apostles the
recital of the Institution is wanting, though it has been supplied
in the Anglican edition of the Nestorian book. Hammond (Liturgies
Eastern and Western, p. lix) and most other writers hold that the
Words of Institution belong to this Liturgy and should be supplied
somewhere; Hammond (loc.cit) suggests many arguments for their
former presence. The reason of their absence is uncertain. While
some hold that this essential passage dropped out in times of
ignorance, others say it never was there at all, being
unnecessary, since the consecration was held to be effected by the
subsequent Epiklesis alone. Another theory, evidently of Western
origin and not quite consistent with the general Eastern theory of
consecration by an Epiklesis following Christ's words, is that,
being the formula of consecration, it was held too sacred to be
written down. It does not seem to be quite certain whether
Nestorian priests did or did not insert the Words of Institution
in old times, but it seems that many of them do not do so now.
* The Prayer of the Great Oblation with a second memorial of the
Living and the Dead, a Kushapa.
* The G'hantha of the Epiklesis, or Invocation of Holy Spirit. The
Epiklesis itself is called Nithi Mar (May He come, O Lord) from
its opening words. The Liturgy of the Apostles is so vague as to
the purpose of the Invocation that, when the words of Institution
are not said, it would be difficult to imagine this formula to be
sufficient on any hypothesis, Eastern or Western. The Anaphorae of
Nestorius and Theodore, besides having the Words of Institution,
have definite Invocations, evidently copied from Antiochene or
Byzantine forms. The older Chaldean and the Malabar Catholic books
have inserted the Words of Institution with an Elevation, after
the Epiklesis. But the 1901 Mosul edition puts the Words of
Institution first.
* Here follow a Prayer for Peace, a second Lavabo and a censing.
* The Fraction, Consignation, Conjunction, and Commixture. The
Host is broken in two , and the sign of he Cross is made in the
Chalice with one half, after which the other with the half that
has been dipped in the chalice. The two halves are then reunited
on the Paten. Then a cleft is made in the Host "qua parte intincta
est in Sanguine" (Renaudot's tr.), and a particle is put in the
chalice, after some intricate arranging on the paten.
* Communion. The veil is thrown open, the deacon exhorts the
communicants to draw near, the priests breaks up the Host for
distribution. Then follows the Lord's Prayer, with Introduction
and Embolism, and the Sancta Sanctis, and then the 'Antiphon of
the Bema" (Communion) is sung. The Communion is in both species
separately, the priest giving the Host and the deacon the Chalice.
Then follows a variable antiphon of thanksgiving, a post-
communion, and a post-communition, and a dismissal. Afterwards the
Mkaprana, an unconsecrated portion of the holy loaf, is
distributed to the communicants, but not, as in the case of the
Greek antidoron, and as the name of the latter implies, to non-
communicants. The Chaldean Catholics are communicated with the
Host dipped in the Chalice. They reserve what is left of the Holy
Gifts, while the Nestorian priests consume all before leaving the
church.
Properly, and according to their own canons, the Nestorians ought
to say Mass on every Sunday and Friday, on every festival, and
daily during the first, middle, and last week of Lent and the
octave of Easter. In practice it is only said on Sundays and
greater festivals, at the best, and in many churches not so often,
a sort of "dry Mass" being used instead. The Chaldean Catholic
priests say Mass daily, and where there are many priests there
will be many Masses in the same Church in one day, whch is
contrary to the Nestorian canons. The Anglican editions of the
liturgies omit the names of heretics and call the Anaphorae of
Nestorius and Theodore the "Second Hallowing" and "Third
Hallowing". Otherwise there are no alterations except the addition
of Words of Institution to the first Anaphorae. The recent
Catholic edition has made the same alterations and substituted
"Mother of God" for "Mother of Christ". In each edition the added
Words of Institution follow the form of the rite of the edition.
The prayers of the Mass, like those of the Orthodox Eastern
Church, are generally long and diffuse. Frequently they end with a
sort of doxology called Qanuna which is said aloud, the rest being
recited in a low tone. The Qanuna in form and usage resembles the
Greek ekphonesis.
The vestments used by the priest at Mass are the Sudhra, a girded
alb with three crosses in red or black on the shoulder, the Urara
(orarion) or stole worn crossed by priests, but not by bishops (as
in the West), and the Ma'apra, a sort of linen cope. The deacon
wears the Sudhra, with an urara over the left shoulder.
The Divine Office
The nucleus of this is, as it is usual, the recitation of the
Psalter. There are only three regular hours of service (Evening,
Midnight, and Morning) with a rarely used compline. In practice
only Morning and Evening are commonly used, but these are
extremely well attended daily by laity as well as clergy. When
Nestorian monasteries existed (which is no longer the case) seven
hours of prayer were the custom in them, and three hulali of the
Psalter were recited at each. This would mean a daily recitation
of the whole Psalter. The present arrangement provides for seven
hulali at each ferial night service, ten on Sundays, three on
"Memorials", and the whole Psalter on feasts of Our Lord. At the
evening service there is a selection of from four to seven psalms,
varying with the day of the week, and also a Shuraya, or short
psalm, with generally a portion of Ps. cxviii, varying with the
day of the fortnight. At the morning service the invariable psalms
are cix, xc, ciii (1-6), cxii, xcii, cxlviii, cl, cxvi. On ferias
and "Memorials" Ps. cxlvi is said after Ps. cxlviii, and on ferias
Ps. 1, 1-18, comes at the end of the psalms. The rest of the
services consist of prayers, antiphons, litanies, and verses
(giyura) inserted, like the Greek stichera, but more extensively,
between verses of psalms. On Sundays the Gloria in Excelsis and
Benedicte are said instead of Ps. cxlvi. Both morning and evening
services end with several prayers, a blessing, (Khuthama,
"Sealing" ), the kiss of peace, and the Creed. The variables,
besides the psalms, are those of the feast or day, which are very
few, and those of the day of the fortnight. These fortnights
consist of weeks called "Before" (Qdham) and "After" (Wathar),
according to which of the two choirs begins the service. Hence the
book of the Divine Office is called Qdham u wathar, or at full
length Kthawa daqdham wadhwathar, the "Book of Before and After".
The Calendar
The Calendar is very peculiar. The year is divided into periods of
about seven weeks each, called Shawu'i; these are Advent (called
Subara, "Annunciation"), Ephiphany, Lent, Easter, the Apostles,
Summer, "Elias and the Cross", "Moses", and the "Dedication"
(Qudash idta). "Moses" and the "Dedication" have only four weeks
each. The Sundays are generally named after the Shawu'a in which
they occur, "Fourth Sunday of Epiphany", "Second Sunday of the
Annunciation ", etc., though sometimes the name changes in the
middle of a Shawu'a. Most of the "Memorials" (dukhrani), or
saints' days, which have special lections, occur on the Fridays
between Christmas and Lent, and are therefore movable feasts, but
some, such as Christmas, Ephiphany, the Assumption, and about
thirty smaller days without proper lections are on fixed days.
There are four shorter fasting periods besides the Great Fast
(Lent); these are:
* the Fast of Mar Zaya, the three days after the second Sunday of
the Nativity;
* the Fast of the Virgins, after the first Sunday of the Epiphany;
* the Rogation of the Nineties, seventy days before Easter;
* the Fast of Mart Mariam (Our Lady), from the first to the
fourteenth of August.
The Fast of the Ninevites commemorates the repentance of Nineveh
at the preaching of Jonas, and is carefully kept. Those of Mar
Zaya and the Virgins are nearly obsolate. As compared with the
Latin and Greek Calendars, that of the Chaldeans, whether Catholic
or Nestorian, is very meagre. The Malabar Rite has largely adopted
the Roman Calendar, and several Roman days have been added to that
of the Chaldean Catholics. The Chaldean Easter coincides with that
of the Orthodox Eastern Church, as the Julian Calendar is used,
but the years are numbered, not from the birth of Christ, but from
the Seleucid era, 311 B. C.
The other sacraments and occasional services
The other Sacraments in use among the Nestorians are Baptism, with
which is always associated an anointing, which as in other eastern
rites answers to Confirmation, Holy Order and Matrimony, but not
Penance or Unction of the sick. The latter appears to be unknown
to the Nestorians, though Assemani ("Bibliotheca Orientalis", pt.
Ii, p. cclxxii) considers it might be shown from their books that
its omission was a modern error. The Chaldean Catholics now have a
form not unlike the Byzantine and West Syrian. The nearest approch
to Penance among the Nestorians is a form, counted as a sacrament,
for the reconciliation of apostates and excommunicated persons,
prayers from which are occasionally used in cases of other
penitents. Assemani's arguments (ibid., cclxxxvi-viii) for a
belief in Penance as a Sacrament among the ancient Nestorians or
for the practice of auricular confession among the Malabar
Nestorians are not conclusive. The Chaldeans have a similar form
to that of he Latin Rite. The Nestorians omit Matrimony from the
list, and according to Ebedyeshu make up the number of the
mysteries to seven by including the Holy Leaven and the Sign of
the Cross, but they are now rather vague about the definition or
numeration. The only other rite of any interet is the consecration
of churches. Oil, but not chrism, plays a considerable part in
these rites, being used in Baptism, possibly in Confirmation, in
the reconciliation of apostates, etc., in the consecration of
churches, and the making of bread for the Eucharist. It is not
used in ordination or for the sick. There are two sorts of oil;
the one is ordinary olive oil, blessed or not blessed for the
occasion, the other is the oil of he Holy Horn. The last, which,
though really only plain oil, represents the chrism (or "XXXX" )
of other rites, is believed to have been handed down from the
Apostles with the Holy Leaven. The legend is that the Baptist
caught the water which fell from the body of Christ as His baptism
and preserved it. He gave it to St. John the Evangelist, who added
to it some of the water which fell from the pierced side. At the
Last Supper Jesus gave two loaves to St. John, bidding him keep
one for the Holy Leaven. With this St. John mingled some of the
Blood from the side of Christ. After Pentecost the Apostles mixed
oil with the sacred water, and each took a horn of it, and the
loaf they ground to pieces and mixed it with flour and salt to be
the Holy Leaven. The Holy Horn is constantly renewed by the
addition of oil blessed by a bishop on Maunday Thurday.
The baptismal service is modelled on the Eucharistic. The Mass of
the Catechumens is almost identical, with of course appropriate
Collects, psalms, Litanies, and Lections. After the introductory
Gloria, Lord's Prayer, Marmitha (in this case Psalm 88) and its
Collect, follow the imposition of hands and the signing with oil,
after which follow an Antiphon of the Sanctuary and Ps. xliv, cix,
cxxxi, with giyuri, Litanies, and Collects, then the lakhumara,
Trisagion, and Lections (Epistle and Gospel ), and the Karazutha,
after whch the priest says the prayer of the imposition of hands,
and the unbaptized are dismissed. An antiphon answering to that
"of the mysteries" follows, and then the Creed is said. The
bringing forward of the Holy Horn and the blessing of the oil take
the place of the Offertory. The Anaphora is paralleled by Sursum
corda, Preface, and Sanctus, a Nithi Mar, or Epiklesis, upon the
oil, a commixture of the new oil with that of the Holy Horn, and
the Lord's Prayer. Then the font is blessed and signed with the
holy oil, and in the place of the Communion comes the Baptism
itself. The children are signed with the oil on the breast and
then anointed all over, and are dipped thrice in the font. The
formula is: "N., be thou baptized in the name of the Father, in
the name of the Son, in the name of the Holy Ghost. Amen." Then
follows the post-baptismal thanksgiving. Confirmation follows
immediately. There are two prayers of Confirmation and a signing
between the eyes with the formula: "N., is baptized and perfected
in the name, etc." It is not quite clear whether oil should be
used with this signing or not. Then any oil that remains over is
poured into the Holy Horn, held over the font, and the water in
the font is loosed from its former consecration with rather
curious ceremonies. The Chaldean Catholics have added the
renunciations, profession of faith, and answers of the sponsors
from the Roman Ritual, and anoint with chrism.
The marriage service (Burakha, 'Blessing") has nothing very
distinctive about it, and resembles closely the Byzantine, and to
some extent the Jewish rite.
The orders of the Nestorians are those of reader (Qaruya),
subdeacon (Hiupathiaqna), deacon (Shamasha), priest (Qashisha),
archdeacon (Arkidhyaquna) and bishop (Apisqupa). The degree of
archdeacon, though has an ordination service of its own, is only
counted as a degree of the presbyterate, and is by some held to be
the same as that of chorepiscopus (Kurapisqupa), which never
involved episcopal ordination among the Nestorians. When a priest
is engaged in sacerdotal functions, he is called Kahna (i.e.,
lereus; sacerdos) and a bishop is similarly Rab kahni (Chief of he
Priests archiereus, pontifex). Quashisha and Apisqupa only denote
the degree. Kahnutha, priesthood, is used of the three degrees of
deacon, priest, and bishop. The ordination formula is: "N. has
been set apart, consecrated, and perfected to the work of the
diaconate [or of the presbyterate] to the Levitical and stephanite
Office [or for the office of the Aaronic priesthood], in the Name,
etc., In the case of a bishop it is : "to the great work of the
episcopate of the city of . . ." A similar formula is used for
archdeacons and metropolitans.
The Consecration of churches (Siamidha or Qudash Madhbkha)
consists largely of unctions. The altar is anointed all over, and
there are four consecration crosses on the four interior walls of
the sanctuary, and these and the lintel of the door and various
other places are anointed. The oil is not that of the Holy Horn,
but fresh olive oil consecrated by the bishop.
HENRY JENNER
Transcribed by Joseph P. Thomas In memory of Father Mathew
Kanippillil