Page:Lesser Eastern Churches.djvu/338

316 edited and translated several times. The book which contains it is called Ḳeddāse (their name for the liturgy). They have an unchanging Ordo communis (the Pro-anaphoral part, Intercession and Post-Communion prayers), which they ascribe to Basil of Antioch; to this is normally joined the "Anaphora of all the Apostles." The Ordo communis is really a version of the Alexandrine St. Mark; the Anaphora of the Apostles is an independent one, from the old Egyptian Church Order. The original form had no Sanctus. This has been added, awkwardly, later. They also have a number of alternate anaphoras, which may be substituted for that of the Apostles. That of "Our Lord Jesus Christ" contains prayers from the "Testament of our Lord" in place of the normal ones. Those of "Our Lady Mary, by Kyriakos of Behnsa," of "Saint Dioscor," of "St. John Chrysostom," have also been published. Brightman gives the titles of eleven others, not yet printed. These are ascribed to St. John the Evangelist, St. James, St. Gregory the Armenian, the "318 Orthodox" (of Nicæa), and so on. One (St. Basil) is merely a version of the Coptic St. Basil. Many of them are not complete anaphoras, but fragments, which may be substituted for the corresponding parts of the Apostles' liturgy. They seem to be used only on rare occasions, some of them not at all.

The normal rite, with the Apostles' Anaphora, as we have said, follows the lines of the St. Mark Liturgy. The instruments and vessels are prepared; the celebrant goes to pay reverence to the tābōt, which he covers with a veil. The bread and wine are made