Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 2.djvu/41

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HOURS OF PRAYER.

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merly received by the Nestorians, and the cause of those changes which took place in after times:—

"Jesus Christ, our good and merciful God and Lord, Who knoweth the frailty of our mortal nature, in His Divinity by the prophets, and in His united Divinity and Humanity by the Apostles, enjoined upon us seven times of prayer, suited to our condition. And the Catholic Fathers, who themselves followed this rule, appointed the same for monks and anchorites, and their successors ordained that each of these seven services should consist of three hoolâlé, [a hoolâla is a certain number of psalms,¹] which rule is still observed by the holy priests and righteous believers who are much given to prayer. But the Fathers who rose up in after times, perceiving that all the people were not equally well disposed to divine worship, and moreover that their ordinary occupations did not always allow of their perfecting it according to the Canons, ordained that the services for laymen should be four in number, viz. Vespers, Compline, Nocturns, and Lauds,² which decree they sealed with the words of our Lord.

"The order of Vespers and Lauds is of canonical authority, and can neither be added to nor abridged. The order of Compline and Nocturns, according to the use of Deir Alleita^[1]^{, 3} is as follows: The Compline consists of one hooldla, an anthem, a short doxology, a collect, and a litany. The Nocturns consist of five or seven hooldle, an anthem, a short doxology, a collect, and a litany. On account of the necessary worldly occupations of laymen it was permitted that they should observe these services voluntarily; but the Lauds and Vespers as ordered by the canons without intermission."

↑ Deir Alleita, literally the High Convent or Church, dedicated to Mar Gawrièl and Mar Auraham, It is situated at the north-west part of Mosul, just within the city wall, where its ruins are to be seen up to the present day. From several notices, of frequent occurrence in the MSS. still extant, it appears that there existed here a famous seminary or college, and that here the last revision of the Nestorian Ritual was made under the superintendence of the Patriarch, and a conclave of Bishops. When the unfortunate Nestorians were driven from their mountain homes by the barbarous Coords, many of them, and more especially the priests, paid devout visits to this spot, and it is still a common practice among the Chaldeans who seek any special blessing, to resort to these ruins, where after lighting a taper, near where the altar is supposed to have stood, they offer up their prayers to Almighty God.

VOL. II

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[1] Deir Alleita, literally the High Convent or Church, dedicated to Mar Gawrièl and Mar Auraham, It is situated at the north-west part of Mosul, just within the city wall, where its ruins are to be seen up to the present day. From several notices, of frequent occurrence in the MSS. still extant, it appears that there existed here a famous seminary or college, and that here the last revision of the Nestorian Ritual was made under the superintendence of the Patriarch, and a conclave of Bishops. When the unfortunate Nestorians were driven from their mountain homes by the barbarous Coords, many of them, and more especially the priests, paid devout visits to this spot, and it is still a common practice among the Chaldeans who seek any special blessing, to resort to these ruins, where after lighting a taper, near where the altar is supposed to have stood, they offer up their prayers to Almighty God.

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