Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Today at least ten churches exist which, whatever the doctrinal and jurisdictional divisions among them, share to varying degrees a common cultural, theological and liturgical heritage, syriac being the linguistic medium. The Syrian churches fall into three groups: (1) those of the East Syrian tradition, the church of the east , the chaldean Catholics and the Syro-Malabar church; (2) those of the West Syrian tradition, the syrian orthodox , syrian catholic , Malankara Orthodox, Syrian Jacobite (in South India) and Mar Thoma churches: and (3) the maronite church. Withdrawal from ecclesial communion has never precluded borrowing liturgical ideas and materials, and communities periodically enriched their respective inheritance by cross-fertilization and, in some cases, wholesale borrowings. Older scholarship was content to characterize the East and West Syrian rites as two branches descended from a common Antiochene liturgical tradition, with the Maronite rite a minor variant of the West Syrian. The Maronite rite has, in the course of its history, assimilated and adopted material of Syrian Orthodox origin. Other elements suggest, however, an earlier independent development. Furthermore, the East Syrian rite seems to have derived from edessa , not antioch . Most liturgical scholars are agreed that the East Syrians, by virtue of living eventually beyond the Roman empire, isolated ... log in or subscribe to read full text