Anaphora of Sharar

In Brief

Sharar is the oldest voice in the Maronite books and the one the books no longer contain: the name is the Syriac for "confirm", the first word of its opening prayer, and it is also called the Anaphora of the Apostles and the Third Anaphora of St Peter.^1,2 Listed first among the anaphoras in the oldest manuscript missals, it stood in the 1594 first printed edition and was removed in 1716, when the Latin Mass anaphora in Syriac and Arabic was inserted in its place; it is not among the anaphoras of the 1992 Book of Offering or the 2005 Bkerke edition, and its living use is the adapted Great Friday rite of the Signing of the Chalice.^1,2,3 Sharar and the East Syrian Anaphora of Addai and Mari share a common origin, and Macomber, Engberding and others hold the Maronite version the more archaic of the two; but it is not the Maronite version of Addai and Mari, and the 2001 Addai and Mari Guidelines are not applied to it.¹ The Eparchy's page is frank about the unreconstructed text: "as it stands now, it cannot be used".²

The Shape of the Liturgy

Part by Part

Authorship & Date

No historical author is known, and the entry invents none. The "Third Peter" of the title is a traditional ascription, kept as such. Beggiani reports the pious idea the ancient Maronite authors seem to have answered, that the anaphora was composed by the twelve Apostles, each contributing a prayer of inclination, which would explain a desire to have at least that number of prayers; he presents it as their theory, not as history.¹ What can be said with confidence is structural: "Sharar contains basic differences in structure and content from the anaphoral tradition of Antioch", representing a period before the Antiochene tradition exercised a definitive influence on the Maronite liturgy.¹

Witnesses & Editions

The critical text is Sauget's, Anaphorae Syriacae II.3 (Rome 1973), pp. 272-327; Beggiani's English follows Sauget, with William Macomber's translation of the Anaphora of the Apostles consulted.¹ The official witness to its names, its meaning and its fate is the Eparchy of Saint Maron's page on the Qurbono.² The manuscript witness is the oldest missals, where it stands first; the printed witness is the 1594 first edition, which has it, against the later editions, which do not.¹ The shape strip above follows Beggiani's schema and his translation, appendix pp. 69-83.¹

Theology & Spirit

The anaphora begins after the Creed with the Prayer of Faith, the "confirm" prayer, and moves through a Prayer of Preparation in secret, in which the celebrant asks power "to invoke your most Holy Spirit on this offering", and a long poetic Prayer of Peace aloud, from Gabriel's greeting of Mary to the Cenacle of Zion.¹ Then, before any thanksgiving, come the commemorations: on the holy altar the whole Christ, "his annunciation, conception, nativity, baptism, humiliation, passion, death, crucifixion, burial, resurrection", and with him the fathers, prophets, apostles, martyrs, the councils, the kings, St Maron, the departed and the offerers.¹ The burning of incense before the Prayer of Praise is found, Beggiani notes, only in the Chaldean anaphora and Sharar among all the Syrian liturgies.¹

The thanksgiving itself, "Lord, the Heavens and the Earth adore You", leads through the Sanctus to the "Prayer after the Holy", thanking the Son who "put on" our humanity.¹ The institution is told with Christ addressed in the second person, "You took bread in your pure and holy hands", and the anamnesis that follows is lengthy and addressed to the Son, "the Spiritual Lamb who was immolated for all people".¹ This is the Edessan trait the Maronite tradition kept: with the East Syrian Addai and Mari only partly, Sharar retained the anamnesis to the Son.⁴

Then the order inverts what every other Maronite anaphora does: the Great Intercession comes before the epiclesis. It begins with a prayer addressed to Mary asking her intercession, then remembers the just, the hierarchy, "the Pope of the city of Rome", the living and the dead.¹ The epiclesis is stark and biblical: "Hear me, O Lord. Hear me, O Lord, Hear me, O Lord. May your Living and Holy Spirit come, rest and repose on this offering of your servants."¹ After it, Beggiani writes, there are no major differences from the Antiochene rite.¹

Relations

Addai and Mari is the sibling, not the parent: a common Edessan core, the Maronite form arguably the more archaic, each going its own way, the Chaldean abbreviating under Iso'yahb III if Macomber's citation of Ibn at-Tayyib holds.¹ The Twelve Apostles is the contrast within the Maronite books: there the intercessions follow the epiclesis, as in all the Maronite anaphoras except Sharar.¹ St James of the Syriac tradition shares the Son-addressed anamnesis, the other Edessan survival in the West Syrian family.⁴

• Anaphora of the Twelve Apostles (Syriac)companionBoth Maronite anaphoras of the Antiochene sphere; Sharar's Great Intercession stands before the epiclesis, where the Twelve Apostles' intercessions follow it.¹

Disputed Questions

How old is it? Beggiani proposes composition before the fourth-century Trinitarian controversies, perhaps before Ephesus in 431; the Eparchy's page proposes a fifth-century Edessan origin; the structure itself argues for a time before Antiochene influence became definitive.^1,2 All three are proposals, and the entry labels each as one. Why was it removed in 1716? The books record the removal and the insertion of the Latin anaphora; they do not record the editors' motives, and the entry does not supply them.² Which is older, Sharar or Addai and Mari? Macomber and Engberding favor Sharar's Maronite form; the entry reports the verdict without making it a dogma.¹

Go Deeper

Two small things repay attention. The text as Sauget prints it keeps a scribe's intercession inside the epiclesis section: "Remember, Lord God, at this moment, your weak and sinful servant George, who wrote this". A copyist's prayer, preserved inside the holiest text he copied.¹ And the twelve-apostles theory of its composition, each apostle contributing a prayer of inclination, may explain the anaphora's most visible feature, its length: the commemorations, the peace prayer, the intercessions, prayer heaped on prayer until Beggiani's schema runs to twenty movements.¹ What the 1716 editors found unusable "as it stands" is also what makes it, for the historian, the most precious: a Maronite prayer older than the Antiochene order that now frames it.

On Domus Dei

• The Maronite Rite

Recommended reading

• Beggiani, Seely (Chorbishop), “The Holy Mystery of Offering (Qorbono), Part One”, Eparchy of Saint Maron of Brooklyn (reprinted with permission).The English translation (after Sauget II.3, Macomber consulted), the full schema, and the introduction: the common origin with Addai and Mari, the pre-epiclesis Great Intercession, the second-person institution. Read online
• Gemayel, Boutros (Archbishop), trans. Stephen Hector Doueihi, “Qurbono: The Book of Offering. General Introduction and Explanation (Bkerke, 31 July 1992)”, Eparchy of Saint Maron of Brooklyn (reprinted with permission), 1992.The official eparchy page: Sharar's names and meaning, the 1716 removal, survival as the Great Friday Signing of the Chalice. Read online
• Varghese, Baby, “The Anaphora of Saint James and Jacob of Edessa”, Jacob of Edessa and the Syriac Culture of His Day (Monographs of the Peshitta Institute, Brill, 2008), pp. 239-264, 2008.The Syriac anamnesis addressed to the Son as the Edessan trait Sharar keeps with the Maronite tradition. Read online

Sources

1. ReferenceBeggiani, Seely (Chorbishop), “The Holy Mystery of Offering (Qorbono), Part One”, Eparchy of Saint Maron of Brooklyn (reprinted with permission), appendix pp. 69, 74; history section; appendix p. 69; appendix pp. 69-83; appendix pp. 70-71; appendix p. 72; appendix p. 74 (headnote); appendix pp. 71-73; appendix pp. 72-75; appendix pp. 75-76; appendix p. 73; appendix pp. 78-79; appendix pp. 72, 80-81; appendix pp. 72, 81-82; appendix pp. 82-83; appendix pp. 69-71; commentary; appendix p. 82 n.. LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · read in full (undated page): 'The Anaphora of the Apostles (also known as III Peter and by the Syriac word Sharrar), which the Maronite Church shares in common with the Church of Edessa, is the oldest Anaphora in the Catholic Church, and is still found in adapted form as the Anaphora of the Signing of the Chalice on Good Friday'; the Syriac term 'refers to the idea of offering', the Arabic to 'making holy'
2. Primary textGemayel, Boutros (Archbishop), trans. Stephen Hector Doueihi, “Qurbono: The Book of Offering. General Introduction and Explanation (Bkerke, 31 July 1992)”, Eparchy of Saint Maron of Brooklyn (reprinted with permission), 1992, the Sharar passage. LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · read in full: the first edition, 'published in Rome between 1592 and 1594' from a manuscript written in 1566, whose publishers 'translated the words of consecration from Latin to Syriac'; the patriarch rejected it, then under the papal delegate Dandini accepted it temporarily (1596); the second edition (1716) 'proved to be more Latinized than the first one', 'the anaphora of the Latin Mass, translated into Syriac and Arabic, was inserted here, while the Anaphora of Sharar was removed'; the third (1763) 'included eight anaphoras instead of the fourteen'; Qozhaya 1816, 1838, 1855, 1872; Beirut 1888 and 1908, where Bishop Youssef Dibs 'placed the Roman anaphora before the other anaphoras'; Jounieh 1959; the 'Simple Rite' of 1973, 'used experimentally for only one year'; all save 1973 published 'without the seal or the signature of the patriarch'; the new text presented to the Patriarchal Synod in 1980 and 1982, 'accepted, definitively, and in all its details' by the Synod and the Congregation for the Oriental Churches; the order of the Service of the Word, with the Prayer of Forgiveness with the Incense (Hoosoyo), the Qadeeshat (Trisagion), 'addressed to the Lord Jesus alone' in the Maronite and other Syriac Churches, while 'The Latin Church, theologically speaking, considers this hymn as Trinitarian', and 'almost fifty services, having the same number as the weeks of the year'; the preparation of the offerings assigned 'to the deacon according to earlier tradition'; the liturgical year 'begins with the first Sunday of November and concludes with the last Sunday of October'; the words of the Lord 'are sufficient to consecrate the Qurbono', the meaning of 'the profound bowing of the celebrant after each of the Lord's words', and yet 'we consider the eucharistic prayer as one… it is perfected only by the invocation of the Holy Spirit'; the Lord's Prayer and 'a rite of communal penance'; 'Holy things for the holy', answered 'One Holy Father, one Holy Son, one Holy Spirit'; the farewell, 'Remain in peace, O altar of God'; the Maronites 'preserved the Eastern Syriac anaphora known as the Anaphora of the Apostles or Sharar'; 'six anaphoras only', all 'prior to the tenth century': Twelve Apostles, St Peter Head of the Apostles, St James, St John, St Mark, Sixtus; 'one single text for the words of consecration', the Twelve Apostles' with 'slight touch-ups'; the entrance hymn 'must be sung in Syriac in the Maronite churches all over the world', so that 'Maronites, wherever they may be, will then be able to hear the same hymn, with the same melody, and in the same language', with the Qadishat and the Institution narrative; Sharar 'as it stands now, it cannot be used', surviving as 'a rite of communion for Great Friday'; on 6 June 1992 the Synod allowed celebration facing the people or facing east, the ruling left to the local hierarch; Communion by dipping the Body into the cup and giving it 'directly in the mouth'
3. Primary textMaronite Patriarchate, Patriarchal Commission for Liturgical Affairs, Kitāb al-Quddās bi-ḥasab ṭaqs al-Kanīsa al-Anṭākiyya al-Suryāniyya al-Mārūniyya. Kitāb al-muʾminīn (the Book of the Mass according to the rite of the Antiochene Syriac Maronite Church: the people's volume), Bkerke: Maronite Patriarchate, 2005, contents p. 1116.Verified 2026-09-18 · read on the page images of the people's volume, cited by printed page. Title page: title, 'Kitab al-mu'minin', 'Bkerke 2005'. pp. 4-5, the patriarchal decree (register of delegations no. 1512 of 2005), given at Bkerke on the feast of Sts Peter and Paul, 29 June 2005, signed and sealed by Cardinal Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir: it cites CCEO cann. 656 and 657, the letter of Cardinal Ignace Moussa Daoud, head of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches, no. 381/2003 of 17 April 2005, approving the use of the book, and the consent of the Synod of Bishops to the new edition prepared by the Patriarchal Commission for Liturgical Affairs; it orders its use in all Maronite churches within the Patriarchate and in the countries of the diaspora from the first Sunday of November 2005, the start of the liturgical year, and forbids the use of any other book for the Maronite Quddas (Mass) from Christmas, 25 December 2005. pp. 8-9, Sfeir's preface: the 'Simple Rite' approved by Patriarch Meouchi with the Synod and put in force by decree no. 43 of 13 April 1973, for one year, experimentally; p. 8, 'circumstances', especially from 1975, when the wars broke out that 'lasted sixteen years', kept the Liturgical Commission from continuing its work 'in a regular manner' (bi-sura muntazama; re-read on the image 18 Sep 2026); the renewed rite 'in a second edition'. p. 32: the Gospel chanted in Syriac and then read in Arabic until the twentieth century. pp. 33-34, the introduction of Archbishop Boutros Gemayel: the first edition, 1594, had 14 anaphoras; that of 1716 also 14, turning Sharar into the rite of the Signing of the Cup; the 1992 edition had 6; two anaphoras of the West Syriac pattern were added, attributed to St John Chrysostom and St John Maron, 'for their relation to the Antiochene Syriac Maronite Church and for the great esteem of these two names', so that the collection 'now consists of eight anaphoras'; of the John Maron anaphora 'we find no trace in any of the old manuscripts'; Duwaihy's collection has 34 anaphoras. p. 35: all stand at the elevation and say its prayer with the priest; the Commission insists on Communion under both kinds, the priest dipping the Body in the chalice, 'but the final decision belongs to the Holy Synod'. pp. 46-48, the rules: St Maron on 9 February only (rule 39); the offerings prepared on Sundays and feasts on a small altar to the right of the main altar, on weekdays at the main altar (rule 46); the celebrant chooses one of the eight anaphoras and says it in Syriac or in Arabic (rule 48). p. 53: the celebrant, or whoever he deputes, prepares the offerings; the people sit. p. 54: under 'The vesting' the celebrant vests in the sacristy or at the church door and says quietly (sirran) the psalm 'Have mercy on me, O God' (Ps 50/51), named by its opening words, or one of three other prayers (to p. 55). p. 57: the entrance, standing. The anaphora of the Twelve Apostles, pp. 728-744: the rite of peace, sitting (p. 728), the peace passed with joined hands during a hymn of peace (p. 729); the Eucharistic Prayer, standing (p. 730); at the epiclesis the deacon bids all stand in prayer and the celebrant kneels on both knees, 'Answer us, O Lord' three times, the people answering Kyrie eleison (pp. 733-734); the commemorations, sitting (p. 735); the elevation, standing (p. 739); the Lord's Prayer with hands extended (p. 740); the bowing of heads and the blessing (p. 741); Communion, the communicant bowing and signing himself, with the words 'The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ and his Blood are given to you for the forgiveness of your sins and for eternal life' (pp. 743-744). pp. 924-926, the obligatory Syriac texts: the entrance, the Trisagion, the pre-anaphora and the Institution narrative. p. 1116, the contents: the anaphoras of the Twelve Apostles, St Peter Head of the Apostles, St James Brother of the Lord, St John the Apostle, St Mark the Evangelist, St Xystus Pope of Rome, St John Chrysostom and St John Maron
4. ScholarshipVarghese, Baby, “The Anaphora of Saint James and Jacob of Edessa”, Jacob of Edessa and the Syriac Culture of His Day (Monographs of the Peshitta Institute, Brill, 2008), pp. 239-264, 2008, p. 263. LinkVerified 2026-09-20 · read in full (browser text of the PDF, pp. 239-264): Greek accepted as the original language; the core back to the 4th/early 5th c. (Tardy); Fenwick's conflation hypothesis (Jerusalem redaction from Palestinian sources + early Basil) with Winkler's critical review noted; the Antiochene version before the Chalcedonian/non-Chalcedonian split, earliest possible date first half of the 5th c.; Syriac translation before the end of the 6th c. (Khouri-Sarkis on literal Greek renderings); the three Syriac manuscript groups (OSV, NCR, textus receptus); the oldest OSV witness BL Add. 14615 (8th-c. palimpsest); Rucker's 57 manuscripts (5 Maronite); Heiming's edition (Anaphorae Syriacae 2.2, Rome 1953, 30 mss., 109-179) 'the most reliable'; the NCR attribution to Jacob of Edessa challenged by Rucker and Heiming (an evolution over one or two centuries, not one man's work); Jacob's commentaries (GS, Th) reflecting OSV not NCR; the sixfold commemoration division (18 prayers in 6 groups) introduced before NCR and widespread by the 10th c.; the Syriac anamnesis addressed to the Son (unlike Greek), long in OSV and abridged in NCR; Bar Kepa's 9th-c. directive to address the prayers to the Father; Jacob of Edessa's biography (En Deba, Eusebona, 'who hated Greeks'); Michael the Syrian's silence on any liturgical revision; the 12th-c. growth of Jacob's authority; the general practice of attributing anaphoras to apostles and Fathers 'to get wider acceptance'; Raes on the Twelve Apostles (II) and Jacob of Edessa institution narratives (Anaphorae Syriacae 1.2, 1940 and 3.1, 1981)