Syriac Liturgy.pdf

The Syriac-language churches are spread throughout the Middle East and India, divided into communities with ties to Rome and independent churches under a patriarch's authority. Syriac, the sacred language, is used in liturgies, with Arabic and Malayalam sometimes used as substitutes. The churches maintain the use of the turoyo dialect, derivative of the suroyo, an evolved form of the Edessan dialect. The Syria of the first Christians was reorganized by Diocletian, with Antioch playing a decisive role in Christianity's development. The members of this religion distinguished themselves as Western Syrians and Eastern Syrians, with linguistic distribution defined by the Tigris River. The Western Syrians were dedicated to meter, while the Eastern Syrians emphasized singing over words, introducing a non-measured style. The Syrian Church of Antioch arose during a troubled period, with the Jacobite Church, Syrian Catholic Church, and Syrian Orthodox Church emerging. The musical traditions of the Syriac-language liturgies are bound by language, with the same poetic forms, metric systems, and vocabulary used, but with different sounds. Five oral traditions are presented, including those of Urfa, Amid, Mardin, Tagrit, and Tur 'Abdin, each with unique characteristics.