Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 2.djvu/41

 merly received by the Nestorians, and the cause of those changes which took place in after times:—

", our good and merciful and, Who knoweth the frailty of our mortal nature, in His Divinity by the prophets, and in His united Divinity and Humanity by the Apostles, enjoined upon us seven times of prayer, suited to our condition. And the Catholic Fathers, who themselves followed this rule, appointed the same for monks and anchorites, and their successors ordained that each of these seven services should consist of three hoolâlé, [a hoolâla is a certain number of psalms,1] which rule is still observed by the holy priests and righteous believers who are much given to prayer. But the Fathers who rose up in after times, perceiving that all the people were not equally well disposed to divine worship, and moreover that their ordinary occupations did not always allow of their perfecting it according to the Canons, ordained that the services for laymen should be four in number, viz. Vespers, Compline, Nocturns, and Lauds,2 which decree they sealed with the words of our .

"The order of Vespers and Lauds is of canonical authority, and can neither be added to nor abridged. The order of Compline and Nocturns, according to the use of Deir Alleita, 3 is as follows: The Compline consists of one hooldla, an anthem, a short doxology, a collect, and a litany. The Nocturns consist of five or seven hooldle, an anthem, a short doxology, a collect, and a litany. On account of the necessary worldly occupations of laymen it was permitted that they should observe these services voluntarily; but the Lauds and Vespers as ordered by the canons without intermission." Rh