Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 2.djvu/160

132 this sacred thing a merchandize and a source of temporal profit." See Appendix B. Part iv. c. 7.

The Nestorians have no images or pictures in their churches, and are very much opposed to the use of them, even as ornaments, or as barely representing historical facts illustrative of sacred Scripture. They will not even allow of a crucifix, and regard the mere exhibition of such an emblem, to say nothing of adoration, as a monstrous iniquity. I have certain knowledge of the fate of several crucifixes which were introduced among them by Roman missionaries: the cross, if possible, was spared; but the image was treated ignominiously and broken to pieces. The only symbol in use among them is the plain Greek cross, (so called,) and the reader may easily infer from the following extracts how highly they venerate it, and how important its use is deemed both in public and in private worship.

According to Mar Abd Yeshua the Cross is to be reckoned as one of the sacraments of the Church, for "the sign of the life-giving Cross," he says, "is that by which Christians are ever kept, and by which all the other sacraments are sealed and perfected;" by which he means that all other divine services are sanctified and blessed by the use of this sign in the invocation of the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity which always accompanies it. That he did not however intend that the Cross was a sacrament in the same sense in which Baptism and the Supper of the are sacraments, will be shown under Article XXV.; as also because after having named it as a sacrament, he does not subsequently allude to it as such in the chapter wherein he specially treats of the "worship of the  Cross." Or, if he attributes to the Cross a real sacramental efficacy, he does so not as a bare symbol, but in the sense of the Crucified One, from Whom all grace springs, and from Whom alone it is communicated to all who are in need of it, as will appear in the sequel.

The festival commemorative of the holy Cross is observed by the Nestorians on the 13th of September, and the service appointed for this day is very long, and contains many prayers, hymns, and anthems, in praise of the Cross. In the Khâmees