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TheHoly Qurobo (Classical Syriac:ܩܘܽܪܳܒܳܐ ܩܰܕܝܫܳܐ,romanized: Qūrōbō Qādīśō) orHoly Qurbono (Classical Syriac:ܩܘܽܪܒܳܢܳܐ ܩܰܕܝܫܳܐ,romanized: Qurbōnō Qādīśō, the "Holy Offering" or "Holy Sacrifice" in English)[note 1] refers to theEucharist as celebrated inSyro-Antiochene Rite (West Syriac Rite) and theliturgical books containing rubrics for its celebration. West Syriac Rite includes various descendants of theOriental Orthodox andEastern Catholic churches. It consists of two distinctliturgical traditions: the Maronite Rite, and the Jacobite Rite. The majorAnaphora of both the traditions is theDivine Liturgy of Saint James inSyriac language. The Churches are primarily based in theMiddle East, Africa, and India.
The Maronite tradition is employed solely in theMaronite Church originating from the region of modern-dayLebanon.
The Jacobite tradition is employed in theSyriac Orthodox Church[4][5] based inSyria and itsMaphrianate in India known asJacobite Syrian Christian Church, theSyriac Catholic Church based in Lebanon, theMalankara Orthodox Syrian Church, theMalabar Independent Syrian Church and theSyro-Malankara Catholic Church based in India.
Areformed variant of the latter without intercession to saints and prayers for the departed, is used by theMar Thoma Syrian Church, aReformed Oriental Church.[6][7]
The Syriac wordqurobo is derived from theAramaic termqurbana (ܩܘܪܒܢܐ). When the Temple stood in Jerusalem, and sacrifices were offered, "qorban" was a technical Hebrew term for some of the offerings that were brought there. It comes from a Hebrew root, "qarab", meaning "to draw close or 'near'". A requiredkorban was offered morning and evening daily and on holidays (at certain times, additional 'korbanot' were offered), in addition to which individuals could bring an optional personal Korban.
The Holy Qurobo is referred to as "complete" worship, since it is performed for the benefit of all members of the Church. The othersacraments are celebrated for individual members. Thus the Holy Qurobo is believed to be the sacrament that completes all the others. Hence it is called the "sacrament of perfection" or the "queen of sacraments".
A similar termHoly Qurbana is used to denote the eucharistic celebration in theEast Syriac Rite also. Although the termHoly Qurbana is generally associated with the Eucharistic celebration in the East Syriac Rite, the Divine Liturgy in the West Syriac Churches based out ofKerala, inIndia is popularly referred to asHoly Qurbana and rarely,Holy Qurbono, due to their historical ties with the East Syriac Church which lasted until the sixteenth century.
West Syriac liturgical rite is developed out of the ancientAntiochene Rite of thePatriarchate of Antioch, adapting the oldGreek liturgy intoSyriac, the language of theSyrian countryside.[8][9] West Syriac liturgies thus represent one of the major families inSyriac Christianity, the other being theEdessan Rite (East Syriac Rite), the liturgy of theChurch of the East and its descendants.[8][10][11][12]
According to historians, distinct West Syriac liturgies started developing after theCouncil of Chalcedon, which largely divided the Christian community in Antioch into three major factions.[8] TheMelkites, who supported the Emperor and the ecumenical council gradually adopted theByzantine Rite. On the other side, thenon-Chalcedonians (Jacobites), who rejected the council started developing their peculiar liturgical rite, the West Syriac Rite in Jacobite tradition, by translating Greek texts into Syriac.[8] Meanwhile, a distinct West Syriac community was already growing around the monastery ofSaint Maron, who eventually evolved into theMaronite Church, forming the West Syriac Rite in Maronite tradition.[8]
For the Chalcedonian faction, the 10th and 11th centuries witnessed the notable transition from an Antiochene Melkite tradition to the liturgical rite of Constantinople.[8] The Byzantine Rite also has its roots in the ancient Antiochene Rite. This transition was almost co-terminous with the Byzantine reconquest of parts of north Syria during 969–1084. Numerous liturgical and theological texts from Greek were massively translated into West Syriac and subsequently into Arabic, the emerging dominant language of theLevant.[8] Several of the liturgical poetic texts, including those composed byJohn of Damascus, who belonged to the Melkite tradition, were subsequently taken over also into the Jacobite tradition, probably by the following century.[8]
Sebastian P. Brock observes that it must have been from about the 7th century that the Maronite and Jacobite liturgical traditions began to diverge, with the Maronite tradition often retaining archaic elements lost in the Jacobite tradition.[8]
TheSaint Thomas Christian community of India, who originally belonged to theProvince of India of theChurch of the East and they were following the East Syriac Rite till the sixteenth century, when the interventions of the Portuguese Padroado missionaries led to a schism among them. Following the schism in 1665, one of the two factions that emerged (thePuthenkoor) made contact with the Syriac Orthodox Church through ArchbishopGregorios Abdal Jaleel. Links with the Syriac Orthodox Church were further strengthened in the course of time, as other Syriac Orthodox prelates continued to work among them and to replace their original liturgical rite.MaphrianBaselios Yaldo andBaselios Shakrallah were prominent among them. In this way the West Syriac liturgical tradition was gradually introduced to them, and thus the descendants of thePuthenkoor which includes the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, Malankara Marthoma Syrian Church, Syro-Malankara Catholic Church and Malabar Independent Church currently employ the West Syriac Rite.[13] Essentially, the West Syriac liturgical tradition that was introduced into India was theTagrit usage of the Jacobite tradition.[8]
TheLiturgy is related to theMystagogic Catecheses of StCyril of Jerusalem. Theliturgy possibly dates back to the fourth century, originally composed inGreek language, while its Syriac version evolved after the fifth century, following theChalcedonian Schism.[9][14] TheLiturgy is associated with the name ofJames the Just, the "brother" of Jesus and patriarch among theJewish Christians atJerusalem. Saint James was martyred at the hands of a mob incensed at his preaching aboutJesus and his "transgression of the Law" - an accusation made by theJewishHigh Priest of the time,Hanan ben Hanan. Among the Eastern liturgies, theLiturgy of Saint James is one of theAntiochene group of liturgies, those ascribed to Saint James, toSaint Basil, and to SaintJohn Chrysostom.
Most authorities propose a fourth-century date for the known form, because theanaphora seems to have been developed from an ancient Egyptian form of the Basilean anaphoric family united with the anaphora described inThe Catechisms ofSt. Cyril of Jerusalem.[15]
A variant of the West Syriac Rite, theMalankara Rite, developed in theMalankara Church of India since the arrival of ArchbishopGregorios Abdul Jaleel in 1665 and is still used in its descendant churches. They are theJacobite Syrian Christian Church (Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church) which is part of theSyriac Orthodox Church, theSyro-Malankara Catholic Church, a particular Church in the Catholic Communion, theMalankara Orthodox Syrian Church an Oriental Orthodox Church, theMalankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, a reformed-oriental church in the Anglican Communion, and theMalabar Independent Syrian Church, an independent Oriental Orthodox Church in Communion with the Anglican Communion.
Although the termHoly Qurbana is generally associated with the Eucharistic celebration in theEast Syriac Rite, the Divine Liturgy in the West Syriac Churches in India is popularly referred to asHoly Qurbana and rarely,Holy Qurbono, due to the historical ties with theEast Syriac Church which lasted until the sixteenth century.
The anaphorae currently used by theSyro-Antiochene Rite (orWest Syriac Rite) are numerous and the main are:[16]
The AntiocheneMaronite Church is one of the richest in the number of anaphorae contained in its Liturgy, most of them belong to the tradition of the Antiochene rites. There are at least seventy-two Maronite Anaphorae.
Liturgy of Saint James is celebrated on Sundays and special occasions. The Holy Eucharist consists ofGospel reading,Bible readings, prayers, and songs. The recitation of the Liturgy is performed according to with specific parts chanted by the presider, the lectors, the choir, and the congregated faithful, at certain times in unison. Apart from certain readings, prayers are sung in the form ofchants andmelodies. Hundreds of melodies remain preserved in the book known asBeth Gazo, the key reference to Syriac Orthodoxchurch music.[17]
Thethabilitho is a wooden slab placed at the center of thealtar and covered with cloth. During Holy Qurobo thepaten andchalice are placed over it. It is consecrated withchrism by abishop during theconsecration of a church. The Holy Qurbono can be celebrated anywhere on a thabilitho, and cannot be celebrated without one.[18]
The Syrian Orthodox also became the target of Anglican missionary activity, as a result of which the Mar Thoma Church separated from the Orthodox in 1874, adopting the Anglican confession of faith and a reformed Syrian liturgy conforming to Protestant principles.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Fortescue, Adrian (1912)."West Syrian Rite". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved29 June 2016.| Sacraments | |||||||||||
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