LITURGIES OF THE JACOBITES AND THE Syrian churches are rich in sacramental Liturgies. Of these we have not spoken in treating on each separate community, because many of them are used by the Jacobite, Maronite, and Indian churches in common; and the subject itself could be more advantageously considered in a distinct article. ܩܘܕܫܐ tion or also The Liturgical service (kurbono, "the oblation or access;" also kudsho, "the holy ritual") of all the Syrian churches, consists of two principal parts; the first being performed in the public congregation, composed alike of the faithful and the general (s) hearers; but the second available only to the baptized, or believers. This latter part is called gul, anaphora, or, "the uplifting," a term referring both to the presentation of the eucharistic materials on the altar, and to the devotional elevation of the mind in the communicants. Of these Anaphoras, a few are the productions of Syrian fathers; the rest are versions or adaptations from the Greek. We will enumerate them under the names of their respective or reputed authors. 1. The first is the Liturgy of St. JAMES, which shall be described more at large in page 198. 2. The lesser Liturgy of St. JAMES; an abridgment of the first, by Gregory, catholicos of the East, about A. D. 1591. This is used on comparatively private occasions, as baptisms and matrimony. 3. The Liturgy of St. PETER, chief of the apostles ; probably in use in the patriarchal church, Antioch, which held a supposed relation to the apostle Peter, as its first bishop. 4. That of "PETER, pope of Rome." 5. Another of PETER, chief of the apostles. 6. The Liturgy of CLEMENT, of Rome. This is not printed, and nothing certain is known either of its age or the church in which it originated. 7. That of St. DIONYSIUS, of Athens. In the printed Missale Chaldaicum, there is an office with this title; but it is in reality the work of DIONYSIUS BAR SALIB, a Jacobite metropolitan of Amida. 8. The Liturgy of IGNATIUS, bishop of Antioch, and martyr; the printed and manuscript exemplars of which have many variations. Of course, no one believes it to be the work of the great Ignatius. It is Jacobite in character, and probably the work of one of the patriarchs of that communion, who in latter times assumed the name of the Antiochian martyr, as their common title. 9. That of St. MARK, preacher and evangelist, used by the Jacobites on the day of St. Mark, and as a token of respect for the church of Alexandria, from whose Liturgy it was adapted. The editors of the printed Maronite copies of this form have not been sparing in their alterations; but the Latin version we have in Renaudot's collection was made from the manuscripts. 10. The Liturgy of JOHN the evangelist, printed in the Missale Chald., and extant in Ms. There is an office under the same name in Ethiopic, but it is described as being different from this one. 11. The Liturgy of the TWELVE APOSTLES, printed also at Rome, but with many variations from the мss. 12. That of JULIUS, pope of Rome. It is said the Monophysites have held the name of this pope in much honour, on account of certain fictitious epistles of his, which are favourable to their peculiar doctrine on the person of our Saviour. This office is not printed. 13. That of EUSTATHIUS, patriarch of Antioch, in great repute among the Syrians, and printed in the Maronite collection. The Latin version of Renaudot was from a мs. in the king's library at Paris. 14, 15. Two with the name of St. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, or, as the Syrians call him, Mar Yuchanon Phumo dadahabo, "St. John of the golden mouth." Both of these differ from the Greek Liturgy of Chrysostom. One of them, indeed, in some exemplars, bears the name of John the Haranite. 16. Another of St. JOHN the apostle, in мs. 17. The Liturgy of Mar MARUTHA, metropolitan of the East, and a contemporary of Chrysostom, printed. This is 18. The Liturgy of St. BASIL the Great. unquestionably one of the most ancient church-offices. Masius rendered it from Syriac into Latin. It may be found also in the sixth volume of the Bibliotheca Patrum, and in the second volume of Renaudot. 26. 28. Besides these we have also the Liturgies of, 19. CYRIL of Alexandria, printed. 20. THOMAS of Charchel, Ms. 21. MOSES BARCEPHA, MS. 22. The sacred DOCTORS, by JOHN, surnamed the Great, a patriarch. 23. PHILOXENUS, bishop of Hierapolis, Ms. 24. SEVERUS of Antioch, ms. 25. DIOSCORUS of Alexandria, Ms. JACOB BARADÆUS, MS. 27. JACOB of Sarug. JACOB of Edessa, мs. 29. JOHN, patriarch. 30. JOHN BAR-MAAD, MS. 31. GREGORY BAR HEBRÆUS, MS. 32. DIOSCORUS, bishop of Gordæa. 33. JOHN, bishop of Bassora. 34. IGNATIUS, patriarch of Antioch. 35. MICHAEL, patriarch, Ms. 36. MATTHEW the pastor, printed. 37. John BARSUSA, printed. 38. XYSTUS, bishop of Rome, printed. 39. The TWELVE APOSTLES, sometimes called after the evangelist Luke. In addition may be mentioned, 40. The Liturgy of PROCLUS of Constantinople; and that of, 41. JOHN KAR RENSIS, which may be found in the Bibliotheque Royale at Paris. The Liturgies used by the Nestorians, we will consider by themselves. Though most of the foregoing devotional offices have been in use, more or less, in the Jacobite and Maronite churches alike, the Liturgy distinguished by the name of St. JAMES has been always held in the greatest favour by both communions, and still continues to be their CANON of divine worship. The precise age of this ritual cannot be well determined. Many of the Greeks and Syrians have professed to believe it to be, in reality, the composition of the apostolical man whose name is affixed to it; and, as such, it is cited in the thirty-second canon of the council in Trullo, in 692. Dion Bar Salib gives the tradition as held among the Syrians on the subject, that, on the third day after the Pentecost, Mar Jacob, apostle, celebrated the Liturgy in all respects as we now have it. And when he was interrogated whence he had received it, he replied, 'As the Lord liveth, I have neither added unto nor taken from that which I have heard from our Lord;' and therefore is this liturgy the most excellent of all." On the other extreme, several learned Protestants have denied both its authority and antiquity, and affected to treat it as a forgery of modern times. The truth does not appear to be on the side of either party. That the apostles and their coadjutors* would lay down certain principles and regulations for the proper observance of public worship in general, and of the communion of the Lord's supper in particular, may be fairly inferred, not only from the nature of the case, but from several passages in the New Testament. (See Matt. xxviii. * "The apostles," says Epiphanius, "were the ordainers of the mysteries, with James, the brother of our Lord."-Adv. Hæres, 70. No. 3. 20; 1 Cor. xi. 23, 34; Titus i. 5 1 Cor. xiv. 40.) Hence, it is neither unreasonable nor unscriptural to suppose that St. James, during his long superintendency of the church of Jerusalem, would follow a generally defined order in conducting the solemnities of the house and the table of the Lord, and an order that would be religiously followed, with as little variation as possible, by those who succeeded him. The same remark holds good of the other primeval churches. So that it becomes far from improbable, that the written Liturgies of later times comprised in their leading and essential parts the traditional outline, or plan, of the procedure adopted by the congregations of the apostolic day. That they have been greatly enlarged, and that, not only by comparatively unworthy, but positively corrupt, accessions, no enlightened man will doubt; but, notwithstanding these disparagements, they may be fairly considered as exhibiting some idea both of the open and the sacramental worship of the first and second centuries. We see the great constituents of Christian worship in all time; the uplifting of the heart for divine assistance; confession of sin, and prayer for pardon and acceptance, for renewal and sanctification; the recognition of the fraternal relation among believers; the joint exercise of thanksgiving and praise; the adoration of the divine excellence, with especial acknowledgments of redeeming love; the lecture of holy scripture; the breaking of bread by the faithful in the holy supper, with prayer for themselves, the whole church, and all conditions of mankind, such are the essentials of the Lord's-day solemnities of the Christian sanctuary in all lands and ages, and such are the leading provisions of the most ancient Liturgies. But that any WRITTEN FORM was adopted in or soon after the apostolic day, may not be affirmed with confidence; on the contrary, there are strong reasons for con |