Syriac Liturgical Traditions

Structure of the services, contrast with Byzantine, Latin, Alexandrine, Armenian

Teacher Training and Resources

• Items used on the Holy Altar, Basali Mathew (Talmeedo 2020 Presentation)

Reference Materials

A reference is a referral to another's text or information and can refer to written sources (books, reports, articles), videos, Internet sites, images, etc. It can also refer to personal communication in the form of letters, e-mails or interviews. A reference is synonymous with a literary citation or citing a source.

The following materials are offered as sources for information and ideas but please remember to properly give credit if material is used in your writing! If you forget to use references, or your references are incomplete, your work can seem like an empty postulation or create suspicions of plagiarism.

Articles

1. West Syrian Worship, H. G. Dr. Paulose Mar Gregorios Metropolitan (MOSC website)
2. Nicene Creed, study note in LRD Holy Qurbana book (page 56)
3. The Spiritual Journey Embodied: Prostrations, Lynnette Horner (Walking an Ancient Path blog, AFR)
4. Christ, the Medicine of Life: The Syriac Fathers on the Lord’s Descent Into Hell, Dr. Irina Kukota (Road to Emmaus Journal)
5. Kozhukatta Saturday (Lazarus Saturday)

Videos

1. Typology of Bishop's Staff | Serpents on the bishop’s staff, Graphē
2. The Syriac tradition in Christianity, Dr. Sebastian Brock
3. Parts of Indian Orthodox Church & Equipment used in Orthodox Church, OSSAEBODHANAM

Podcasts

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Book Excerpts

1. Introduction to West Syrian Liturgical Theology, Fr. Baby Varghese

Scripture

In order to help our children grow in the Orthodox Faith in North America, a decision was made to standardize all materials to the Orthodox Study Bible (DSWA Kalpana DSWA/C/016/2010, October 28, 2010). Please continue to pray and support the development of a fully approved translation based on the Peshitta, and our textbooks will educate on the various translations and historic development of Scripture.

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Liturgical Resources

The Ministry of Liturgical Resource Development (LRD) was created in July of 2015 (DSWA Kalpana DSWA/C/10/2015, July 24,2015) to promote the translation, versification, and publication of vital English liturgical resources. Today most of our Sacramental offices are available and the "Service Book of the Holy Qurbono" and "Shehimo: Book of Common Prayer" are available in print. Wherever possible references will be made using LRD resources given the easy access to these materials to the faithful in North America.

Shehimo Slides and YouTube recordings

Holy Qurbono

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Other Hymns

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Other Prayers

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Promion and Sedro

• Etro from Holy Thursday evening prayer

Receive O Lord God, this incense which we have offered before You in this feast, like the offering of Abel and like the holocaust of Noah, and the sacrifice of Abraham, and the sacred ministry of Melchizedek and like the prayer of Moses, incense of Aaron and undertaking (t'ayono) of Phinehas, supplication of David, tears of Manasseh. Make us glad O Lord, by the remission of our debts and the healing of our pains, protetion of our souls, and the atonement of our departed, that we will offer up glory and thanksgiving to You and to Your Father ..."

Quotes

Patristic Quotes

• [St. Basil] “Of the dogmas and kerygmas preserved in the Church, some we possess from written teaching and others we receive from the tradition of the Apostles, handed on to us in mystery. . . . In respect to piety both are of the same force. No one will contradict any of these, no one, at any rate, who is even moderately versed in matters ecclesiastical. Indeed, were we to try to reject unwritten customs as having no great authority, we would unwittingly injure the Gospel in its vitals; or rather, we would reduce kerygma to a mere term. For instance, . . . who taught us in writing to sign with the sign of the Cross . . . ? What writing has taught us to turn to the East in prayer? . . . Where is it written that we are to bless the baptismal water, the oil of anointing, and even the one who is being baptized? Is it not from silent and mystical tradition? . . . [W]here is it written that we are to renounce Satan and his angels [during the Baptismal process]? Does this not come from that secret and arcane teaching which our Fathers guarded in silence not curiously meddled with . . . In the same way the Apostles and Fathers who, in the beginning, prescribed the Church's rites, guarded in secrecy and silence the dignity of the mysteries; for that which is blabbed at random and in the public ear is no mystery at all. This is the reason for our handing on of unwritten precepts and practices: that the knowledge of our dogmas may not be neglected and held in contempt by the multitude through too great a familiarity.” (ca. A. D. 375)

Other Quotes

• [Fr. Lawrence Farley] "We Orthodox do not reflexively ask, “What does Rome (or New Rome) think?”, but rather, “What did the Fathers say?” For us, the first, strongest, and abiding authority is that of the patristic consensus. This is important, because it sets the tone for all our theology and for how we think and live today. For us, wisdom and the way forward into the future come from following in the trajectory of the past, not because we are bound by the limitations of those living long ago, but because we are freed by them from the tyranny of the present, a present with its blind spots and its slavery to fad and fashion. For us, Tradition is not a strait-jacket, but a set of wings. It means that we do not have to keep on trying to re-invent the wheel, only to get the shape wrong because current fashion favours octagons over circles."
• [Georges Florovsky] "Tradition is the witness of the Spirit; the Spirit’s unceasing revelation and preaching of good tidings ... To accept and understand Tradition we must live within the Church, we must be conscious of the grace-giving presence of the Lord in it; we must feel the breath of the Holy Ghost in it ... Tradition is not only a protective, conservative principle; it is, primarily, the principle of growth and regeneration ... Tradition is the constant abiding of the Spirit and not only the memory of words"
• [Bishop Kallistos Ware] “True Orthodox fidelity to the past must always be a creative fidelity; for true Orthodoxy can never rest satisfied with a barren ‘theology of repetition,’ which, parrot-like, repeats accepted formulae without striving to understand what lies behind them. Loyalty to Tradition, properly understood, is not something mechanical, a dull process of handing down what has been received. An Orthodox thinker must see Tradition from within, he must enter into its inner spirit. In order to live within Tradition, it is not enough simply to give intellectual assent to a system of doctrine; for Tradition is far more than a set of abstract propositions — it is a life, a personal encounter with Christ in the Holy Spirit. Tradition is not only kept by the Church — it lives in the Church, it is the life of the Holy Spirit in the Church. The Orthodox conception of Tradition is not static but dynamic, not a dead acceptance of the past but a living experience of the Holy Spirit in the present. Tradition, while inwardly changeless (for God does not change), is constantly assuming new forms, which supplement the old without superseding them. Orthodox often speak as if the period of doctrinal formulation were wholly at an end, yet this is not the case. Perhaps in our own day new Ecumenical Councils will meet, and Tradition will be enriched by fresh statements of the faith.”

Syriac and Greek Words

• Barekmor (Syriac)
• Kurielaison (Greek)

Icons

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