West Syriac Rite

In Brief

The West Syriac rite is the liturgy of five Churches: the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch; the Syriac Catholic Church; in India, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, the Malankara (Jacobite) Syrian Orthodox Church and the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church.^1,2,3,4,5 It belongs to the Antiochene tradition, one of the five Eastern traditions the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches names, prayed in Syriac and the vernaculars.^1,6 Its Mass is the Qurbono, the Offering. Its ordinary anaphora is St James's, obligatory on the great occasions.^7,8 At the institution and at the epiclesis the people answer Amen after each half.⁹ The kiss of peace opens the anaphora, and the fraction and the elevation come before the Lord's Prayer.⁹

Where to Experience It

The Middle East is its home: Syria, Iraq, Turkey and Lebanon, and the Gulf.^1,2 In India it is the rite of Kerala above all, and of the Malankara diaspora.^3,4 The Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate's own figure is "around four million" faithful, the majority of them in India — it counts the Malankara Jacobite faithful with its own.¹ CNEWA gives 2,500,000 for the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, 208,000 for the Syriac Catholic Church and 445,000 for the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, all undated, on pages modified between October 2021 and October 2024.^2,3,4 The diaspora is in the United States and Canada, in Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Ireland and in Australia.

Find a parish

• Syriac Orthodox Archdiocese for the Eastern United States

Your First Visit

What follows distinguishes the Catholic liturgies from the Orthodox ones, because the law does. The postures are those the books read print.^8,11

The Shape of the Liturgy

The Qurbono has the two parts of every Mass, the Service of the Word and the Eucharist, and between them the Creed, the lavabo and the kiss of peace, which opens the anaphora.⁹ Some parts stand where a Roman Catholic would not look for them. The peace comes before the Eucharistic Prayer. The fraction and the elevation come before the Lord's Prayer.⁹

The order below follows Brightman's composite of 1896, checked against the Syriac Orthodox books of 1967 and 1991 and the Syro-Malankara Catholic book, all with the Churches' imprimaturs.^7,8,9,11 Brightman's ordo communis is translated from modern Malabar copies and Boderie's Latin of 1572; his anaphora proper is from a 12th-century manuscript.⁹ It is not any Church's present book. The Syriac columns of the scans did not OCR, so no Serto incipit is printed from them; the transliterated terms are Brightman's and the books'. The line under the title is the catalogued title of the 1967 book, "Anaphora of Mar Jacob, brother of our Lord, the pious, first of Jerusalem".

The order of the Qurbono

1. Preparation
   The celebrant vests — kuthino, uroro (stole), zunoro (girdle), the zende (cuffs), phaino — a verse or prayer at each, then makes ready the altar. At the prothesis the stamped bread ('the seal') is set on the paten with Isaiah 53:7, and the chalice is mixed with water: 'blood and water' from the pierced side.⁹
2. The service of penitence
   Prumion, sedro, qolo ('Voice') and 'etro ('the smoke'), the Kyrie thrice, the Our Father: 'The service of penitence is finished.'⁹
3. The offertory prayers
   The deacon bids 'Stomen kalos' ('let us stand well'); the people answer 'Kurillison'. The priest lifts the paten in his right hand and the chalice in his left, crosswise, praying the general memorial of Christ's saving economy — the living, the departed, the one for whom this Qurbono is offered. The gifts are set on the tablitho and covered with the great veil.⁹
4. Censing
   The prumion and sedro of incense: three censings of the altar — 'a type of the Father … of the Son … of the Holy Ghost' — and censing east, west, north and south, with remembrance of the Virgin Mother of God, the prophets, the apostles, the martyrs and the doctors.⁹
5. The lessons
   Old Testament lessons where the day has them. Then the hymn of Mar Severus and the Trisagion, three times: 'Holy art thou, o God: Holy, o mighty: Holy, o immortal / who wast crucified for us: have mercy upon us'. The 1967 book, the 1991 book and the Syro-Malankara Catholic book all print 'who was crucified for us'; a 2000 Syriac Catholic festal booklet omits it, on its page image, in both its Syriac and Arabic columns.^7,8,9,10,11
6. Praxis and Apostle
   The Acts or the Catholic Epistles (praxis), with the priest's prayer 'by the intercession of thine holy apostles'; then St Paul. In the 1967 book the deacon reads the Acts on the north side and St Paul on the south, both facing the people.^8,9,11
7. Gospel
   The thurifer bids silence; the priest proclaims the Gospel, and the deacon answers 'We believe and confess.'^8,9,11
8. The Creed
   The deacon bids 'Sophia and proschomen' ('Wisdom! Let us attend'). All say the Creed in its Syriac form: 'who proceedeth from the Father', no Filioque in the Orthodox books or in the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church's authorised English book; 'one church apostolic catholic and glorious'. The Syriac Catholic Creed text was not seen. Then the lavabo.^8,9,11
9. The kiss of peace
   'That pure of all guile … we may greet one another with a kiss holy and divine': 'Peace be to you all' — 'Give we the Peace' — 'Account us worthy, o Lord.' In the 1967 book the Hand of Peace passes from the priest to the thurifer, the senior deacon, the deacons and the people, each touching the next person's hands and then his hands to his lips. The peace opens the anaphora.^8,9,11
10. The veil
    All bow their heads for the prayer of the veil over 'this fearful and unbloody sacrifice.' Then 'Stand we fairly' — 'Mercies, peace, (a sacrifice of praise)' — and the priest lifts and waves the great veil (shushafo) three times over the Mysteries. The dialogue: 'The love of God the Father and the grace of the only-begotten Son and the fellowship and descent of the Holy Ghost be with you all' — 'The minds and hearts of all of us be on high' — 'Let us give thanks unto the Lord with fear' — 'It is meet and right.'^8,9,11
11. Preface and Sanctus
    The preface (gehontho, low-voiced, with its aloud ending, telitho): the praise of creation, the heavenly Jerusalem, the angelic orders. The people sing 'Holy holy holy mighty Lord God of Sabaoth … Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he that came and cometh in the name of the Lord.'^8,9
12. The institution
    'In the same night in which he was delivered up for the life and salvation of the world' he took bread on his holy hands, gave thanks, blessed, hallowed, broke and gave it, saying 'Take, eat of it: This is my body which for you and for many is broken and given for the remission of sins and for eternal life.' The people answer Amen. Then the cup: 'in like manner also after they had supped' he took the cup, 'mixed with wine and water', gave thanks, blessed, hallowed and gave it, saying 'Take, drink of it, all of you: This is my blood of the new testament which for you and for many is shed and given for the remission of sins and for eternal life.' The people answer Amen.^7,8,9,11
13. The epiclesis
    The priest asks pardon, then prays the invocation in two parts. Over the bread: 'Have mercy upon me, o God the Father … and send upon this bread thy Holy Spirit … that he may make it the life-giving body of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ unto eternal life to all that partake thereof' — Amen. Over the cup: 'and upon this cup thy Holy Spirit … that he may make it the life-giving blood … to them that drink thereof' — Amen.^8,9,11
14. The intercessions
    The diptychs: the holy fathers who kept the faith — the 1967 book names Nicaea, Constantinople and Ephesus, and Dioscorus, Severus 'the Crown of the Syrians' and Jacob Baradaeus; the Syro-Malankara Catholic book prints no council and no doctor's name — the Mother of God, the apostles, the martyrs; the living (the Catholic books name the Pope); the departed. The people sit for the commemorations.^8,9,11
15. The fraction
    The priest breaks the Bread and signs it with the Blood, uniting the two, saying (Bar Salibi's form, 1967 book): 'he is one Emmanuel and not divided after the union indivisible into the two natures.' The veil is drawn at the fraction and the priest's communion.^8,9,11
16. The Lord's Prayer
    The deacon bids all bow their heads; the priest says the introductory prayer and all say the Lord's Prayer — after the fraction and the elevation.^8,9
17. The elevation and the communion
    The priest raises the spoon — and, in the 1967 book, the gmurto — 'to remind them of the Lord's second coming which will be like a flash of lightning.' The veil is opened. One Communion formula names Body and Blood together: the people receive 'the gmurto of the Body and Blood of Christ'. The 1991 book gives Communion to the priests with the spoon and to the deacons by hand. The people's manner of reception is printed in none of the texts read; the Malankara Orthodox site says Communion is usually by intinction for the laity. At the end: 'Finished and perfected is the anaphora' — in the 1843 Catholic Missale syriacum.^7,8,9,11,12
18. Thanksgiving and dismissal
    The thanksgiving prayers; the final blessing and dismissal, with the distribution of the eulogia (blessed bread) to the faithful.^8,9,11

The shape of its anaphoras

• Opening dialogue
• Preface / thanksgiving
• Pre-Sanctus
• Sanctus
• Post-Sanctus
• Institution narrative
• Anamnesis
• Offering
• Epiclesis (after anamnesis)
• Intercessions
• Commemorations / diptychs
• Doxology

Each colour is one part of the eucharistic prayer, in the order the prayer says it. Compare every anaphora.

What makes it distinctive

• One rite, five main bearers: the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch; the Syriac Catholic Church; the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church; the Malankara (Jacobite) Syrian Orthodox Church; the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church.^1,2,3,4,5
• St James's is the ordinary anaphora, obligatory on the great occasions; the counts of the other anaphoras are never given as one number.^7,8,9
• The people answer Amen after each half of the institution narrative and after each half of the epiclesis.⁹
• The kiss of peace opens the anaphora, after the Creed and the lavabo; the fraction and the elevation come before the Lord's Prayer.⁹
• The great veil is lifted and waved three times over the Mysteries at the dialogue, drawn at the fraction and the priest's communion, and opened for the people's communion.^8,11
• No Filioque in the Orthodox books or in the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church's authorised English Creed; the Syriac Catholic Creed text was not seen.^8,11
• The Catholic books name the Pope in the diptych of the living; the Orthodox books name the councils and the doctors.^8,10,11

History

Origins

The ordinary anaphora is ascribed by the Churches' tradition to St James, the brother of our Lord, first bishop of Jerusalem: so the title leaf of the 1967 book and the contents leaf of the Syro-Malankara book.^8,11 Brightman printed the anaphora proper from BL Add. 14690, a manuscript of A.D. 1182; the ordo communis he translated from two "modern, from Malabar" manuscripts — Kerala copies — and from Boderie's Latin of 1572.⁹ The 1967 book's diptych still names, among the doctors it commemorates, Dioscorus, Severus "the Crown of the Syrians" and Jacob Baradaeus — the figures after whom the separated Churches are known. The Index's voice keeps the Patriarchate's "an Aramaic dialect akin to the Aramaic spoken by Christ and the Apostles".

The printed books

The first Catholic printed missal was the Missale syriacum of Rome, 1843 — Brightman's fifth source.⁹ Brightman's Liturgies Eastern and Western I of 1896 made the Syrian rite known to scholarship in a composite English dress.⁹ The Syriac Orthodox Anaphora of 1967, translated by Murad Saliba Barsom and published by Metropolitan Mar Athanasius Yeshue Samuel, carries the imprimatur of Patriarch Ignatius Yacoub III, dated at Damascus 14 August 1967.⁸ The Anaphoras of 1991, from the Syriac Orthodox dioceses of North America (Lodi, NJ), print thirteen.⁷ The Syro-Malankara Catholic English Order of the Holy Qurbono, after 2007, is the English of the Malayalam Takso D'Qurobo of 2007, with the imprimatur of Major Archbishop Baselios Cleemis.¹¹ The current Syriac Catholic missal and its full text remain unlocated. The one Syriac Catholic text reached is a festal booklet of 2000 for a patriarchal liturgy at a U.S. parish, Syriac in Arabic letters facing Arabic, with English sections, no imprimatur — not the typical book.^10,17 The critical series Anaphorae Syriacae (1939-81) printed 22 of the anaphoras (Catalogued).¹³

Unions and declarations

The Syriac Catholic line began in 1662, when Andrew Akhijan was elected patriarch by the Catholic party; he died in 1677 and the line lapsed in 1702.² Michael Jarweh of Aleppo, elected patriarch and declaring himself Catholic — the election year is 1781 or 1782 by source, never 1783 — took refuge in Lebanon and built Our Lady at Sharfeh, from which the Catholic succession runs unbroken. Ottoman recognition came in 1829; Aleppo in 1831, Mardin in 1850, Beirut in the early 1920s.² The see is Antioch, residing at Beirut; the Patriarch is Ignatius Joseph III Younan.

In India, the Coonan Cross oath at Mattancherry on 3 January 1653 pledged the Church against Portuguese and Roman Catholic authority. The connection with the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch began in 1665, and the adoption of West Syriac worship was gradual from there, not complete until the 19th century.^22,23 The Catholicate was established in 1912, "as a symbol of freedom, autocephaly and apostolic identity", an Indian metropolitan elected as its head; in 1958 the Supreme Court declared the Indian Catholicos the rightful head of the Church.²² The reunion of 20 September 1930 — Mar Ivanios and Mar Theophilos entering communion with Rome — began the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church. Magnum Nobis of 11 February 1932 set its hierarchy, and it was raised to a Major Archiepiscopal Church in 2005. Its head is Major Archbishop Baselios Cleemis.

On 23 June 1984 John Paul II and Patriarch Ignatius Zakka I Iwas signed their Common Declaration. The Eucharist "cannot yet be concelebrated by us" (§8). But where the faithful "find access to a priest of their own Church … materially or morally impossible, they are authorized to receive the sacraments of Penance, Eucharist, and Anointing of the Sick from lawful priests of either of our two sister Churches" (§9).²⁰ The declaration speaks for the Catholic Church and the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch. It is read as covering the Indian faithful under the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch, not the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, which is autocephalous and was not a party. It is a limited provision in necessity, not intercommunion. No Eucharistic provision was found for the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church: a 2010 joint statement on sharing the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick is listed by the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, unread.²⁴

Milestones

1. 1182BL Add. 14690, a 12th-century manuscript of the Syriac Anaphora of St James, from which Brightman prints the anaphora proper⁹
2. 1572Boderie's Latin version (Antwerp), from which Brightman takes the opening of the ordo communis⁹
3. 1653The Coonan Cross oath at Mattancherry (3 January): the Indian Church pledges against Portuguese and Roman Catholic authority²²
4. 1662Andrew Akhijan is elected patriarch by the Catholic party: the beginning of the Syriac Catholic line; he dies in 1677 and the line lapses in 1702²
5. 1665The Indian Church's connection with the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch begins; the adoption of West Syriac worship is gradual from here, not complete until the 19th century^22,23
6. 1781/1782Michael Jarweh of Aleppo is elected patriarch and declares himself Catholic; the election year differs by source (never 1783); he takes refuge in Lebanon and builds Our Lady at Sharfeh, from which the Catholic succession runs unbroken; Ottoman recognition in 1829, Aleppo 1831, Mardin 1850, Beirut in the early 1920s²
7. 1843The Missale syriacum (Rome), the Catholic printed missal Brightman uses as a source⁹
8. 1896Brightman's Liturgies Eastern and Western I prints the composite Syrian liturgy: the ordo communis from modern Malabar copies, the anaphora from the 12th-century manuscript⁹
9. 1912The Catholicate is established in India, 'as a symbol of freedom, autocephaly and apostolic identity', an Indian metropolitan elected as its head²²
10. 1930The reunion of 20 September: Mar Ivanios and Mar Theophilos enter communion with Rome; the beginning of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church²⁵
11. 1967The Syriac Orthodox Anaphora of St James, translated by Murad Saliba Barsom, with the imprimatur of Patriarch Ignatius Yacoub III (14 August)⁸
12. 1984The Common Declaration of John Paul II and Patriarch Ignatius Zakka I Iwas (23 June): §§8-9, no concelebration yet, and a provision for sacramental sharing in necessity²⁰
13. 1991The Anaphoras of the Syriac Orthodox dioceses of North America (Lodi, NJ): 13 anaphoras in Syriac and English⁷
14. after 2007The Syro-Malankara Catholic English Order of the Holy Qurbono, with the imprimatur of Major Archbishop Baselios Cleemis: 6 anaphoras, the first headed 'The (Minor) Anaphoro of Mor Yacob'¹¹

Texts & Books

The 1967 book holds the anaphora in Syriac and English with the Patriarch's imprimatur; the 1991 book holds thirteen anaphoras in Syriac and English. The Syro-Malankara book holds the common order and six anaphoras in English, after the Malayalam typical book of 2007.^7,8,11 No anaphora count stands alone in this entry. Brightman in 1896 knew "Besides S. James sixty-four Anaphoras … at least by name"; Raes in 1939 listed 70; the Malankara Orthodox site says "about 70" and "about 80 are known and about a dozen are used in India"; 22 are printed in Anaphorae Syriacae. St James is the ordinary anaphora in every witness, obligatory on all festivals, at ordinations and consecrations, at a new priest's first Eucharist and at the first Eucharist in any church. The Syro-Malankara book's first anaphora is headed "The (Minor) Anaphoro of Mor Yacob". The book calls it the first anaphora, and its preface implies it the principal one, but "ordinary" is not the book's word. Its identity with Raes's Anaphora minor S. Iacobi stays open.¹¹

Theology & Spirit

The epiclesis is prayed in two parts, and the people answer Amen to each. Over the bread: "Have mercy upon me, o God the Father … and send upon this bread thy Holy Spirit … that he may make it the life-giving body of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ unto eternal life to all that partake thereof" — Amen. Over the cup: "and upon this cup thy Holy Spirit … that he may make it the life-giving blood … to them that drink thereof" — Amen.⁹ The Catechism teaches that "in the institution narrative, the power of the words and the action of Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit, make sacramentally present under the species of bread and wine Christ's body and blood".²⁶

The fraction prayer, Bar Salibi's form in the 1967 book, says: "he is one Emmanuel and not divided after the union indivisible into the two natures."⁸ The 1984 declaration's language for the agreement: Christ is "perfect God as to His divinity and perfect man as to His humanity", the union "without blending or mingling, without confusion, without alteration, without division, without the least separation".²⁰ The confusions and schisms "in no way affect or touch the substance of their faith, since these arose only because of differences in terminology and culture".²⁰ The Trisagion is sung "to the Lord Jesus alone". "Who wast crucified for us" stands in the 1967 book, the 1991 book and the Syro-Malankara Catholic book. The one Syriac Catholic booklet read omits it, on its page image, in both its Syriac and Arabic columns.^7,8,10,11 No Filioque stands in the Orthodox books or in the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church's authorised English Creed; the Syriac Catholic Creed text was not seen.^8,11

Family & Relations

The rite's main bearers are the five Churches. The Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch is under Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II at Damascus, and the Malankara (Jacobite) Syrian Orthodox Church with him. The Syriac Catholic Church is under Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Younan at Beirut, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church under Catholicos Baselios Marthoma Mathews III at Kottayam, and the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church under Major Archbishop Baselios Cleemis at Trivandrum.^1,2,3,4,5 Two smaller Indian Churches, the Mar Thoma Syrian Church and the Malabar Independent Syrian Church of Thozhiyur, keep Malankara liturgical practice to a great extent. The Maronite Church is Antiochene but has its own entry: Brightman counted the Maronites among the Churches of the Syrian rite, "with slight variations in detail".⁹

Compare with

• Maronite Rite: the other Antiochene entry: the Maronite books descend from the same Syrian St James, and Fortescue found in them the Syrian rite 'with considerable modifications of a Romanizing tendency'^9,27
• Roman Rite: the rite most visitors know: here the peace opens the anaphora, and the fraction and the elevation come before the Lord's Prayer⁹

The Rite Today

Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II and Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Younan met at Damascus in January 2026.²⁸ The Syriac Catholic Patriarchate's site lists its liturgical books — the Book of the Mass, the rites, the feasts, the Gospel and Epistle books, the Fenqitho and the Shhimo — by name only, with no title, year or approval. The current missal is not located.¹⁷ The Syro-Malankara Catholic English Qurbono, after 2007, is the most recent typical-text translation found, with the Major Archbishop's imprimatur. The Churches fast five fasts. The Nativity fast is 10 days from 15 December, since the 1946 Council of Homs; the Ninevites 3 days; the Great Fast; the Apostles 26-29 June; the Virgin 10-15 August — with Wednesdays and Fridays kept. In 1966 Patriarch Yacoub III permitted fasting only in the first and last weeks of Lent besides Wednesdays and Fridays.¹⁴ The year begins on Qudosh 'idto / Hudoth 'idto.^15,21 The chant is the Beth Gazo system of eight tunes, taught by ear by the malpans. Varghese judges it "at the verge of disappearance"; a Malankara page dates the spread of West Syriac chant (ekkara) in Kerala to Patriarch Peter III's visit of 1875.^13,16

As of 20 September 2026.

Disputed Questions

Go Deeper

The 1967 Anaphora and the 1984 declaration are free to read, as is Varghese's research survey; the Malankara Orthodox Church's site publishes its own account of the rite in India.^8,12,13,20 Translations from Syriac, Arabic and Latin are the Index's own. The English of the Churches' books is the Churches' own.

On Domus Dei

• The Maronite RiteThe other Antiochene entry, whose books descend from the same Syrian St James
• The Anaphora of St JamesThe rite's ordinary anaphora
• The 24 Catholic ChurchesEvery Church sui iuris on one board, the two Catholic West Syriac Churches among them

Official resources

• The Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East
• The Anaphoras (Syriac Orthodox Resources, with the dioceses' permission)

Recommended reading

• Barsom, Murad Saliba (trans.), The Anaphora of the Holy Apostle St. James, the Brother of Our Lord, Hackensack, NJ: Syriac Orthodox Church, 1967.The Church's own authorised English text of the anaphora, with the Patriarch's imprimatur; free on archive.org Read online
• John Paul II; Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, Common Declaration (23 June 1984), 1984.The 1984 Common Declaration, §§8-9: the exact limit of the sacramental provision Read online
• Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, “West Syrian Worship”, malankaraorthodoxchurch.in, 2026.The Malankara Orthodox Church's own account of the rite in India
• Varghese, Baby, One Hundred Years of Research on the West Syrian Liturgy, 2014.The research survey: the anaphora lists, the printed series, the chant literature

Sources

1. Primary textSyriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, “History”, syriacpatriarchate.org, 'The Syriac Orthodox Church followers today are around four million; the majority of them reside in India'. LinkVerified 2026-09-19 · page read (19 Sep 2026; copy kept with the research files): the liturgy uses 'the Syriac language, an Aramaic dialect akin to the Aramaic spoken by Christ and the Apostles'; 'The Syriac Orthodox Church followers today are around four million; the majority of them reside in India' (the Church's own figure, includes the Malankara Jacobite faithful); the Holy Synod of 2000 approved 'Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch' as the English name.
2. ReferenceRoberson, Ronald G.; Catholic Near East Welfare Association, The Syrian Catholic Church, 2021, Membership. LinkVerified 2026-09-20 · read: 'Head: Ignatius Joseph III Younan (born 1944, elected 2009)'; 'Title: Patriarch of Antioch of the Syrians'; 'Residence: Beirut, Lebanon'; 'Membership: 208,000'; 'Last Modified: 26 October 2021'.
3. ReferenceRoberson, Ronald G.; Catholic Near East Welfare Association, The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, 2021, Membership. LinkVerified 2026-09-20 · read: 'Head: Baselius Mar Thoma Paulose II (born 1946, enthroned 2010)' (he died in 2021: the page is out of date on the head); 'Membership: 2,500,000'; 'Last Modified: 26 October 2021'. The current Catholicos, Baselios Marthoma Mathews III, is confirmed by the NCR report of his 11 Sep 2023 Vatican audience.
4. ReferenceRoberson, Ronald G.; Catholic Near East Welfare Association, The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, 2024, Membership. LinkVerified 2026-09-20 · read: 'Head: Major Archbishop Baselios Cleemis Cardinal Thottunkal (born 1959, elected 2007, cardinal 2012)'; 'Title: Major Archbishop of Trivandrum of the Syro-Malankars'; 'Residence: Trivandrum, Kerala State, India'; 'Membership: 445,000'; 'Last Modified: 24 October 2024'.
5. ReferenceNational Catholic Reporter, Praying for unity, pope welcomes head of Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, 2023. LinkVerified 2026-09-20 · read: on 11 Sep 2023 Pope Francis welcomed 'Catholicos Baselios Marthoma Mathews III', 'primate of the India-based Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church'.
6. Magisterial / canonicalCode of Canons of the Eastern Churches, Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1990, can. 28 §2. LinkVerified 2026-09-12 · URL repointed 18 Sep 2026 to the Latin text on vatican.va (part 1; cann. 656–657 are in part 2, codex-can-eccl-orient-2), because the caedm.ca English extract (616A) carries cc. 27–38 only; cann. 28, 40 §1, 656, 657 read there in the Latin, 18 Sep 2026. English translation: cann. 27–28 read in the caedm.ca PDF; cann. 671, 697, 707, 710, 713 read in the IntraText English edition; can. 881 §1 in IntraText, 2026-09-14
7. Primary textBarsom, Murad Saliba (trans.); Samuel, Mar Athanasius Yeshue (ed. and publ.), The Anaphoras of the Syro-Antiochene Church, Lodi, NJ, 1991, p. 96 n. 1; p. 140; p. 36; pp. 100-102; Introduction; Introduction (the site's menu). LinkVerified 2026-09-19 · web reproduction of the 1991 book (Syriac and English) read (19 Sep 2026): the Introduction (Metropolitan Samuel, Lodi, New Jersey, 1991), the menu of 13 anaphoras (St James, St Mark, St Peter, Twelve Apostles, St John, St Xystus, St Julius, St John Chrysostom, St Cyril, Jacob of Sarugh, Philoxenus, Severius, Mar Bar Salibi), the St James text with notes (obligatory occasions n. 96:1, the fraction n. 126:2). The reproduction carries no Syriac characters (0 code points in U+0700-074F).
8. Primary textBarsom, Murad Saliba (trans.), The Anaphora of the Holy Apostle St. James, the Brother of Our Lord, Hackensack, NJ: Syriac Orthodox Church, 1967, p. 35 n. 1; pp. 53-57; pp. 37, 49; title leaf; p. 31; pp. 35-36; pp. 37, 39, 49; pp. 20-21; pp. 21-22; pp. 22-23; p. 30; p. 37; p. 38; pp. 38-39; pp. 41-43; pp. 44-47; p. 49; pp. 51-52; pp. 39, 53-57; p. 57; p. 74. LinkVerified 2026-09-19 · archive.org djvu text read (19 Sep 2026): preface leaves with the imprimatur of Patriarch Ignatius Yacoub III (14 Aug 1967); the order, pp. 20-21 (Trisagion), 24-25 (prumion-sedro-qolo-'etro), 30 (Creed), 35-63 (the Qurbono, incl. p. 35 n. 1 on the obligatory occasions, the epiclesis, the diptychs, the fraction, the people's communion, the dismissal), p. 74 (discipline of the mysteries), p. 85 (the fans). The Syriac columns did not OCR: no Serto incipits taken.
9. Primary textBrightman, F. E., Liturgies Eastern and Western, vol. 1: Eastern Liturgies, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1896, pp. 87, 89-90; pp. 83-84, 97-99; p. lv; p. lvii; p. 71; pp. 85, 97; p. 70; pp. 83-84; pp. 85, 97-98; pp. 82-84; pp. 69-109; table of sources; pp. 69-71; pp. 71-72; pp. 72-74; pp. 74-76; pp. 76-77; p. 78; pp. 79-80; p. 82; pp. 84-85; pp. 85-86; pp. 86-87; pp. 89-90; pp. 93-96; pp. 97-98; p. 99; p. 109; pp. 85-96. LinkVerified 2026-09-12 · archive.org full text; pp. lxxxiii, lxxxv, lxxxviii–lxxxix checked; order locators spot-checked 13 Sep 2026 (pp. 362, 377–378, 393, 394; glossary s.v. Zeon, Cancelli, Ektene). Checked 19 Sep 2026 for the Ge'ez entry: Preface p. xiii, the Ethiopic translations are the Rev. C. J. Ball's ('the Rev. C. J. Ball for the Ethiopic (including the collation of the British Museum manuscripts)'); p. lxiii, the Egyptian rite; pp. lxxii-lxxiii, the Rome printing of 1548 ('Testamentum novum.. Missale') and the Lord's anaphora there; pp. 194-244, the Ethiopic Liturgy of the Apostles from BM Or. 545 (1670-75); p. 232, 'THIS bread… IS MY BODY' (a rubric between) and 'DRINK… THIS CUP'
10. Primary textSyriac Catholic Church, The Patriarchal Liturgy (festal booklet, 2000), United States, 2000, p. 9; p. 6; p. 14. LinkVerified 2026-09-19 · archive.org scan read (19 Sep 2026): the priest's and choir's Syriac printed in Arabic letters (Garshuni) facing an Arabic translation, with English sections. The Trisagion seen on the page image of p. 6 (no 'who wast crucified for us'); pp. 9, 10, 13, 17, 19 read in garbled Arabic OCR only: Arabic-only readings are reported from the scan's OCR and should be checked on the page images before any quotation is printed. A single festal booklet for a parish patriarchal liturgy, not a typical missal.
11. Primary textSyro-Malankara Catholic Church (Synodal Commission for Liturgy), The Order of the Holy and Divine Qurbono of the Syro-Malankara Church, Major Archiepiscopal Church of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, 2007, preface; p. 33; pp. 44-48; pp. 29, 42-44; contents leaf; p. 26; p. 15; p. 17; pp. 17-19; p. 25; p. 28; pp. 29-30; pp. 31-33; pp. 34-35; pp. 36-39; pp. 42-43; pp. 49-50; p. 39; contents leaf, preface, p. 28. LinkVerified 2026-09-19 · archive.org scan read (19 Sep 2026): preface with the imprimatur of Major Archbishop Baselios Cleemis; the six anaphoras of the contents leaf (the '(Minor) Anaphoro of Mor Yacob' first, then St John the Evangelist, the Twelve Apostles, Mor Dionysius Bar Salibi, Mor Ivanios, the M'kanashto); the St James order, pp. 15 (Trisagion), 25 (Creed), 28-52 (the Qurbono), 33-34 (two institution narratives), 36, 39 (diptychs), 42-43 (fraction), 50 (people's communion). The Syriac columns did not OCR: no Serto incipits taken.
12. Primary textMalankara Orthodox Syrian Church, “West Syrian Worship”, malankaraorthodoxchurch.in, 2026.Verified 2026-09-19 · page read (19 Sep 2026; copy kept with the research files): a page in an individual author's voice. St James 'may be used on all occasions' with the same obligatory occasions; 'only about 70 [anaphoras] can be traced by the present writer'; 'about a dozen are used in India' (St James, Bar Salibi, St John Chrysostom, St John the Evangelist named as most common); the liturgy 'now-a-days celebrated mostly in the vernacular'; communion 'in both kinds, usually by intinction for the laity'; confession and midnight fast.
13. ScholarshipVarghese, Baby, One Hundred Years of Research on the West Syrian Liturgy, 2014.Verified 2026-09-19 · read (19 Sep 2026; copy kept with the research files): the Raes list of 70 anaphoras (AS I.1, 1939), the 22 printed in Anaphorae Syriacae (1939-81), the West Syrian octoechos 'adopted from the Byzantine tradition in the 10th/11th centuries' with local variations, handed over orally and 'at the verge of disappearance'; the literature (Jeannin and Puyade 1913, Husmann 1971, Cody 1982) catalogued as citations.
14. Primary textMalankara Orthodox Syrian Church, “Fasting and Abstinence”, malankaraorthodoxchurch.in, 2026.Verified 2026-09-19 · page read (19 Sep 2026): the five fasts (Nativity 1-25 Dec; Nineveh three days; Great Fast seven weeks; Apostles 16-29 June; Virgin 1-15 Aug), Wednesdays and Fridays, the eight-day fast before the Nativity of Mary, the Ascension-Pentecost fast; 'Holy Qurbana is not conducted on fast days except on Saturday, Sundays, mid-day lent, fortieth Friday and the Annunciation'.
15. ReferenceJoseph, T.; Skaria, S., “Calendar”, syriacorthodoxresources.org, 2014.Verified 2026-09-19 · page read (19 Sep 2026; page last updated 2 Jan 2014): an UNOFFICIAL site, the calendar text credited to T. Joseph and S. Skaria (IVth Syriac Computing Forum, Princeton, 2003). Reported, not the Church's own statement: the year's start (Qudosh 'idto/Hudoth 'idto), the great feasts, the five fasts, the 1955 Gregorian move for immovable feasts (Holy Land excepted) and the 1953 Malankara move.
16. Primary textMalankara Orthodox Syrian Church, “Liturgical Music”, malankaraorthodoxchurch.in, 2026.Verified 2026-09-19 · page read (19 Sep 2026): the Beth Gazo ('treasury') system, the Ktobo d'Beth gazzo taught by Malpans through the aural tradition, the eight tunes (qinto/kintho, in Kerala ekkara), the hymn metres (Ephrem's seven-syllable, Jacob of Serugh's twelve-syllable). The page dates West Syriac chant in Kerala to after Patriarch Peter III's 1875 visit and says the Church practised 'East Syrian language and music' until then: this conflicts with the Holy Qurbana page (1665) and is reported as the page's claim, flagged.
17. Primary textSyriac Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch, “Liturgical books (Arabic page)”, syrcath.org.Verified 2026-09-19 · page read (19 Sep 2026; copy kept with the research files): lists the Mass book (كتاب القداس), rites, feasts, Gospel and Epistle lectionaries, Fenqitho and Shhimo, with no title, year or language. The current Syriac Catholic missal and its full text remain unlocated.
18. Magisterial / canonicalCode of Canon Law, Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1983, cann. 923, 1248 §1, 916, 919 §1; can. 844 §2; cann. 923, 1248 §1. LinkVerified 2026-09-12 · cann. 844, 919, 923 read on vatican.va; cann. 913–914 read 2026-09-12; can. 1248 §1 read on vatican.va 2026-09-14; cann. 6 §1, 912, 924 §§1–2 and 926 read on vatican.va 2026-09-15; can. 916 read 2026-09-16: 'A person who is conscious of grave sin is not to celebrate Mass or receive the body of the Lord without previous sacramental confession unless there is a grave reason and there is no opportunity to confess'
19. Magisterial / canonicalPontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism, 1993, nn. 122, 124. LinkVerified 2026-09-12 · §§122–125 read verbatim on christianunity.va; §115 read 2026-09-14
20. Magisterial / canonicalJohn Paul II; Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, Common Declaration (23 June 1984), 1984, §§8-9; §4; §3; §9. LinkVerified 2026-09-19 · read on vatican.va (canon copy jp2-zakka-1984.txt): §8, the Eucharist 'cannot yet be concelebrated by us'; §9, the provision for the faithful who find access to a priest of their own Church materially or morally impossible (Penance, Eucharist, Anointing of the Sick from lawful priests of either sister Church). A limited provision in necessity, not general intercommunion.
21. Primary textMalankara Orthodox Syrian Church, “Liturgical Year and Seasons”, malankaraorthodoxchurch.in, 2026.Verified 2026-09-19 · page read (19 Sep 2026): 'the liturgical year is divided into six seasons' (in the Malayalam text of Holy Qurbana): after Qoodosh Etho, after Yeldho, after Kothine Sunday, after Qyomtho, after Pentecost, after Sleeba. The page's argument for seven seven-week seasons is the author's proposal, not the Church's rule.
22. ReferenceWorld Council of Churches, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (member church page). LinkVerified 2026-09-20 · read: no total membership given ('Of which 100,000 in North America'); the Church's account of 1653 (the Bent Cross protest), 1665 (the connection with Antioch begins), 1912 (the Catholicate established), 1958 (the Supreme Court verdict).
23. Primary textMalankara Orthodox Syrian Church, “Holy Qurbana”, malankaraorthodoxchurch.in, 2026.Verified 2026-09-19 · page read (19 Sep 2026; copy kept with the research files): 'About 80 [anaphoras] are known and about a dozen are used in India'; the Church's account of the West Syriac adoption beginning with Mar Gregorios in 1665.
24. Magisterial / canonicalDicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, Joint statement on sharing the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick (Catholic Church and Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church), 2010.Verified 2026-09-20 · Catalogued: listed by the canon review as posted by the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity on its page for the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church; not read. Cited only to bound the claim that no Eucharistic provision binds that Church.
25. Primary textEparchy of St Ephrem of Khadki (Syro-Malankara Catholic Church), The Malankara Catholic Church. LinkVerified 2026-09-20 · read (19 Sep 2026; copy kept with the research files): the eparchy's own account of the Syro-Malankara line: Diamper 1599, the Koonan Cross oath 1653, Mulanthuruthy 1876, the 1912 Catholicate, the reunion of 20 Sep 1930 (Mar Ivanios, Mar Theophilos), Magnum Nobis 11 Feb 1932, 2005 (raised to a Major Archiepiscopal Church), 2007. Cited for 1930, 1932, 2005 and 2007 only.
26. Magisterial / canonicalCatholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed., Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997, §1353. LinkVerified 2026-09-12 · §§460, 1105–1106, 1353, 1375, 1377 read on vatican.va; §1125 read on vatican.va; §1203 (ENG0015 __P3C) and §1367 (__P41) read on vatican.va 2026-09-15
27. ScholarshipFortescue, Adrian, The Mass: A Study of the Roman Liturgy, London: Longmans, Green, 1912, p. 84. LinkVerified 2026-09-13 · archive.org full text, pages fixed from the running heads: p. 100, the older theory that the Gallican family came from Asia Minor, 'brought to Lyons by the disciples of St John', and 'This theory is now abandoned'; p. 106, 'That it is related to the Gallican liturgies and not to that of Rome (as the Roman rite is now) seems obvious'; p. 184 (the medieval additions 'take nothing from its dignity') and p. 394 (Pius V's Missal of 1570 'for the first time admits it as part of the Mass'), each between its running heads
28. ReferenceMiddle East Council of Churches, His Beatitude Mor Ignatius Youssef III Younan visits His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, 2026. LinkVerified 2026-09-20 · read: the report of January 2026 names Mor Ignatius Aphrem II as the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch and Mor Ignatius Youssef III Younan as the Syriac Catholic Patriarch. Cited for the two heads as of 2026 only.