SYRIAN
417
SYRIAN
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
interest 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 con-
secration 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 the Holy Horn. The last, which,
though really only plain oil, represents the chrism
(or iiipov) 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 at His baptism and pre-
served 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, ^\'ith 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 Maundy
Thursday.
The baptismal service is modelled on the Eucharis- tic. The Mass of the Catechumens is almost iden- tical, with of course appropriate Collects, psalms, Litanies, and Lections. After the introductory Gtoria, Lord's Pra}er, Marmitha (in this case Ps. lxx.\iii) ana 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 which the priest says the prayer of the imposi- tion 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 jilace 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 thanks- giving. Confirmation follows immediately. There are two prayers of confirmation and a signing between the eyes with the formula: "N. is baptized and per- fected in the name, etc." It is not quite clear whether oil should be used with this signing or not. Then anv 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 con.secration with rather curious cere- monies. The Chaldean Uniats have added the renun- ciations, profession of faith, and answers of the spon- sors from the Roman Ritual, and .anoint with chrism.
The marriage service (Bvrakha, "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 (Hiupnthiaqna), deacon (Sha- fna«/ia), priest (Qashisha), archdeadon {ArkUlhyaqurw.) and bishop (Apisqupa). The degree of archdeacon, though it has an ordination service of its own, is only counted as a degree of the presbyterate, and is by XIV.— 27
some held to be the same as that, of chorepiscopus
(Kurapisqupa), which never involved episcopal or-
dination among the Nestorians. \^Tien a priest
is engaged in sacerdotal functions, he is called
Kahna (i. e., Upevs; sacenhs, cf. Hebrew '~<Z) and a
bishop is similarly Rab Kahni (Chief of the Priests,
dpx'fpE, ponlifei). Quashisha and Apisqupa only
denote the degree. Kahmdha, priesthood, is used of
the three degrees of deacon, priest, and bishop. The
ordination formula is: "N. has been set apart, con-
secrated, and perfected to the work of the diaconate
[or of the presbyterate] and 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 Madhhkha) consists largely of unctions. The altar is anointed all over, and there are four consecra- tion 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.
B.tDOER, The Nestorians and their Ritual (London, 1S52); Idem, The Syriac Liturgies of the Apostles, of Theodorus and of Nestorius (Eastern Church Assoc, London, 1875); Etheridob, The Syrian Churches (London, 1846) ; M.iCLEAN AND Browne, The Calholicos of the East and His People (London, 1892); Mac- lean, East Syrian Daily Offices (London, 1894), a translation of the Kthawa dhaqdham wadhwathar, with introduction and notes; Idem, The East Syrian Epiphany Rites in Conybeare, Riluale Armenorum (0:!LioTd. 1905); S.P.C. K., The Liturgy of the Holy Apostles, etc. (London, 189,3); RiLEY, The Archbishop of Canterbury's Mission to the Assyrian Christians. Narrative of a visit, 1S84. Report of the foundation of the Mis.iion in I8S6 (London, 1891); Irving, The ceremonial use of oil among the .^a.s( iSyrians (Eastern Church Assoc, Oxford, 1902); Renaudot Liturgiarum Orientalium CoUectio (Frankfort, 1847); La Eigne, Magna Bihliotheca veterum Patrum (Paris, 1654); Radun, Historia Ecclesim Malaharicm cum Diamperitatia Synodo (Rome, 1745): BiCKELL, Der katholische Orient (Munst^r, 1S74): Idem, ISTM; Bru'.htman,
h ; :,, ISM); ilUl,A-,u. l'JU7), a 'eale. History of the m (London, 1850); ordinalionihus (Ant- vcrp. 1695), including the Nc^turiau; Diettrich, Die nestorian- ische TauflUurgie (Giessen, 1903); d'Avril. La Chald^e chretienne (Paris, 1892); Giamil, Genuino' Relationes inter Sedem Apos- tolicam et Assyriorum Orientalium seu Chaldceorum Ecdesiam (Rome. 1902); Braun, Das Buch der Synhados (Stuttgart and Vienna, 19(X)); Assyrian Mission, Letters from Assyria (Lon- don, 1887-89); Idem, Quarterly Paper (London, 1890— — ). Besides the SjTiac editions of the service books mentioned above.
Henry jEN>fER.
Syrian Rit>e, West. — The rite used by the Jacobite sect in Syria and by the Catholic Syrians is in its origin simply the old rite of .\ntioch in the Syriac language. Into this framework the Jacobites have fitted a great number of other Anaphoras, so that now their Liturgy has more variant forms than any other. The oldest form of the Antiochene Rite that we know is in Greek (.see Antiochene Liturgy). It was apparently composed in that language. The many Greek terms that remain in the Syriac form show that this is derived from Greek. The version must have been made very early, evidently before the Monophysite schism, before the influence of Constantinople and Byzantine infiltrations had begun. No doubt as soon as Christian communities arose in the country parts of Syria the prayers which in the cities (Antioch, Jerusalem, etc.) were said in Greek, were, as a matter of course, translated into the peasants' language (.Syriac) for their use. The " Peregrinat io Silvia?" describes the services at Jeru- salem as being Greek; but the les.sons, first reafl in Greek, are then translated into .'syriac propter popu- lum (ed. Geyer, p. 99). As long as all Western .Syria was one communion, the count ry dioceses followed the rite of their patriarch at Antioch, only ch.anging the language. Modifications adopted at Antioch in
Cojispectus rei Syrorum literarim (Munster, 1
Liturgies Eastern and Western (Oxford, 1>
LlTTLEDALE, The Liturgies of SS. Mark, Jam.
torn and Basil and of the Church of Main!
Prince Max of Saxony, Missa rhaUlnicn i
Latin translation of the second T.itiiri;\-; N'e
Holy Eastern Church. Gcn.r.il Inlm.lurliar,
iNus, Commentarius de , -i-Ti: Errl,
