SYRIAN
416
SYRIAN
half, after which the other half is signed 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 San-
guine" (Renaudot's tr.), and a particle is put in the
chalice, after some intricate arranging on the paten.
(18) The Communion. The veil is thrown open, the deacon exhorts the communicants to draw near, the priest breaks up the Host for distribution. Then follows the Lord's Prayer, with Introduction and Embolism, and the Sancla 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 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 avriSupov, and as the name of the latter implies, to non-communicants. The Chaldean Uniats 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 Uniat priests say Mass daily, and where there are many priests there will be many Masses in the same Church in one day, which 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 addi- tion of Words of Institution to the first Anaphone. The recent Uniat edition has made the same altera- tions 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. Fre- quently 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 re- sembles the Greek iKipuiv^aii.
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 {oipipiov) 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 theSudhra, with an Uramover the left shoulder.
The Divine Office. — The nucleus of this is, as 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 ordy Morning and Evening are commonly used, but these are extremely well attended daily by laity as well as clergy. When Nestorian monas- teries existed (which is no longer the case) seven hours of prayer were the custom in them, and three hiilati, of the Psalter were recited at each. This woulil 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 th(' evening service there- is a selection of from four to seven psalms, varying with the day of the week, and also a Shurmja, or short psalm, with gen(>rally a portion of Ps. cxviii, varying with the day of the fortnight. At the morning service the in- variable psaJins are cix, xc, ciii (1-0), cxii, xcii, cxlviii, cl, cxvi. On ferias and "Memorials" Ps.
c.xlvi 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 a-rixvpi, but
more extensively, between verses of psalms. On
Sundays the Gloria in Excehis and Benedicite 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 Calend.\r. — 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"), Epiphany, Lent, Easter, the Apostles, Summer, "Elias and the Cross", "Moses", and the "Dedication" {Qudash idla). "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), orsaints' days, which have special lections, occur on the Fridays between Christmas and Lent, and are therefore movable feasts, but some, such as Christmas, Epiphany, 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: (1) the Fast of Mar Zaya, the three days after the second Sunday of the Nativity; (2) the Fast of the Virgins, after the first Sunday of the Epiphany; (3) the Rogation of the Ninevites, seventy days before Easter: (4) 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 ob- solete. As compared with the Latin and Greek Calendars, that of the Chaldeans, whether Uniat 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 Chal- dean Uniats. The Chaldean Easter coincides with that of theOrthodoxEastern Church, as the Julian Cal- endar is used, but the years are numbered, not from the birth of Christ, but from the Seleucid era, 311 B. c.
The Other Sacr.\ments A>rD Occasional Serv- ices. — The other Sacraments in use among the Nes- torians are Baptism, with which is always sissociated an anointing, which as in other eastern rites answers to Confirmation, Holy Order and Matrimonj', but not Penance or Unction of the Sick. The latter appears to be unknown to the Nestorians, though Assemani ("BibliothecaOrientaUs, pt. II, p. ccbcxii) considers it might be shown from their books that its omission was a modern error. The Chaldean Uniats now have a form not unlike the Byzantine and West Syrian. The nearest ajiproach to Penance anibng the Nestorians is a form, counted as a sacra- ment, for the reconcilation of apostates and excom- municated persons, prayers from which are occasion- ally used in cases of other penitents. As.semani'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 tlie Mala- bar Nestorians ar<- not conclusive. Tlie Clialdeans have a similar form to that of the Lai in Rite. The Nes- torians omit Matrimony fniin the list, and accdnliiin to Ebedyeshu make up the number of the mysteries tu
