Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 1.djvu/280

These vestments are all made of white calico or linen, and are of the plainest shape: the breeches are not unlike the common shalwar of the country; the surplice, like a shirt with short sleeves; and the chasuble, a plain square cloth with a cross inscribed on the centre, which is thrown over the head and shoulders, and the two parallel corners held between the thumb and forefinger of each hand. The girdle and stole consist of a narrow band or scarf with alternate white and blue crosses worked on squares of the same colours, the white crosses on the blue, and the blue on the white ground. The stole reaches only as far as the loins, where it is confined beneath the girdle. In the above description I have described the only ecclesiastical vestments now in use among the Nestorians; those worn by the Patriarch and Bishops being of the same pattern, but of somewhat better materials. These robes, I ought to remark, are not generally used, except during the celebration of the Holy Eucharist and the administration of Baptism; at the daily prayers and other services of the Church, the priests seldom change their usual costume, which scarcely differs from that of the laymen, except in the turban, which with them is usually black or of a dark colour.

The annexed is a rough ground plan of Mar Gheorghees at Asheetha:—