Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 2.djvu/441



custom of worshipping toward the East is the subject of an apostolical canon, and is founded upon that saying of our Blessed : "As the lightning cometh forth from the east and shineth towards the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be." And because "of that day and of that hour knoweth no man, neither the angels" of heaven, it becometh us ever to be on the watch, with our faces turned towards the promise of His coming. This custom is therefore profitable in two ways; first, because it stirs up the remembrance of the end, and of the judgment to come, which is a preservative against evil; and, secondly, because it brings to mind our old place from which we were driven out on account of our sins, viz. Paradise, which is situated in the East, and thereby we are led to lay hold on repentance.

It is written in the Commentaries of Mar Ephraim, that the angel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin from the East, and that when he said unto her, "Hail, thou highly favoured!" she worshipped at his salutation towards the East. And when our ascended up to heaven, His face was turned toward the west, in the same way in which He will come at the Resurrection. The disciples who were before Him, and looking at Him ascending, worshipped Him towards the East, and the angels said unto them: "This same which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come, in like manner, as ye have seen