Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 2.djvu/50

22 Psalter, but the same portions are read at the Vespers week by week.

In Lent, however, the order varies considerably from the above. It is appointed that during this season the whole Psalter shall be read over twice at the six weekly Nocturns, i.e., one-third at every Nocturn. Moreover it is so ordered that at the third, sixth, and ninth hours—services occurring between the Lauds and Vespers during Lent,—and at the Vespers and Compline of this season, the entire Psalter shall be read over twice during the six days of the week.

During the Baootha d'Ninwâye, or three days' fast in commemoration of the deliverance of the Ninevites, the whole Psalter must be said once daily between the Nocturn and Matin, divided into several portions as is set down in the office for that fast.

Besides the above use of the Psalter, one psalm, or the portion of a psalm, is appointed to be recited at the opening of every office, at the Baptismal, Eucharistic, Burial, and every other Church service.

The psalms are always chanted by two persons, sometimes by the officiating priests and deacons, and sometimes by laymen. The priests usually recite them from memory, but the laymen from the written Psalter. A Psalter is placed on each side of the chancel, and after one verse is chanted the person on the opposite side chants the second, and so on alternately until the appointed portion is ended. At the conclusion of certain psalms the Gloria Patri is added.10

The, or Cycle of services for all the Sundays throughout the year, for Lent, and for the Baootha d'Ninwâyé, is a collection of anthems, responsories, hymns, and collects, comprised in a large folio volume containing upwards of eight hundred pages. Yeshua-yau of Hdeyyeb, as mentioned by Mar Abd Yeshua, arranged the order of the Khudhra, but in what year does not appear. It "must however have been long before his time, as his name is given among the first recorded in his catalogue of the Nestorian fathers. The last revision, according to the historical notices found in the prefaces to this ritual, was made in the Deir Alleita, cir. 1250.

The, (literally a collection from all, and generally written as one word and pronounced Keshkool,) comprises a col-