The Early Syriac Liturgical Drama and its Architectural Setting

Case Studies in Archaeology and World Religion The Proceedings of the Cambridge Conference Edited by Timothy Insoll BAR International Series 755 r999 I The Early Syriac Liturgical Drama and its Architectural Setting. Emma Loosley , School of Oriental and African Studies, University of Inndon. Georgio Arbelensi vulgo adscripta. Over the course of this century academics have disputed the original attribution of the manuscript to the ninth-century author George of Arbela. It now seems likely that it was written in the eighth century by an unknown East-Syrian Introduction Spending Easter with the Syrian Orthodox Church is an experience that is in many ways alien to those of us who have been raised in the traditions of western Christianity. (Nestorian) theologian. Along with mention From the first day of Lent onwards the community is preparing itself for the momentous events of Passion week. On Good Friday the church is packed hours before the service. Old ladies fight each other for the seats at the front in behaviour not unlike that of teenagers wanting the best view of the latest music sensation. The events of the next three hours are played out in the sanctuary of the church. The people reach of the bema (a straight-sided horseshoe-shaped platform in the nave facing the apse) and its function in a variety of other Syriac and Armenian sources we can use this manuscript with the material remains and knowledge of current liturgical practice to reconstnrct the rinral life and world view of the early Christian population. The importance of the Syrian tradition is that it extended the concept of microcosm further than other early Christian traditions by the extensive use of visual imagery coupled with liturgical furniture fever pitch when the flower filled bier, representing Christ's body taken down from the Cross, leaves the east end of the church and is manhandled around the building by local young men acting as pallbearers. Those standing around the perimeter of the church become 60 0l--L--Fa- almost hysterical as they attempt to take flowers from the bier as a form of blessing. When the bier reaches the O 1iprn tO 1i!0rnl TURI(EY safety of the sanctuary again and is symbolically 'buried' behind the altar, the red velvet curtains before the sanctuary swish together, to remain shut until they are opened to celebrate the resurrection late the next day on the eve of Easter Day . u#sdne The impact of the modern Good Friday festival is extremely theatrical and the faithful are merely spectators to the action as it unfolds. There is little Mascrf Resafa evidence of the sacred topography that played an integral part in early Syrian Christianity. The priests and deacons with their (male) pallbearers are the only active participants in the service. The church building itself also plays little part in the proceedings. Apart from the procession all the events centre on the altar, the lectern or Golgotha, as the Syrian Orthodox call it, with the Gospel book and the cross and censers. The Syrian evidence is important because it is the only early major Christian rite that can be studied through its material remains. Antioch was an important centre of early Christianity with Rome and Jerusalem, but whereas in the two latter cases the churches of the area have been destroyed or extensively altered over time obscuring the original plan, in the towns and villages to the east of Antioch the churches have been preserved unchanged allowing us a clear view of their spatial zllrangement and liturgical features. oDAilf,scljg I 3 t o t!r- JORDAN Figure ceremonies monuments (see McVey1983; McEwan 1993, 1'994)- In the case of the Syrian liturgical tradition we have a surviving document from the East Syrian tradition that explains the church interior in cosmological terms. This text is known as the Expositio fficorum LocationmaP The limestone massif of north-west Syria is located between Aleppo and Antakya (Antioch) (Figure 1). The area flowered briefly between the fourth and early seventh centuries when olive oil, the spice route and large numbers of pilgrims travelling to visit local holy men, as well as en route to the Holy Land, created prosperity in the hinterland of the great city of Antioch. The communities which prospered there were Christian and spoke Syriac, a form of Aramaic, with the more educated possessing a knowledge of the Greek used in Antioch itself. Thus the inscriptions recorded in this area are mainly Greek, with some Syriac and Latin. The in traditional societies and have suggested that this historians architectural cosmological view is illustrated by a variety of of l. N. \ry. Syria and its churches The Church as microcosm is not a new idea. Anthropologists are familiar with microcosm as an element t ecclesiae, 18 peace and prosperity enjoyed by these settlements meant or mud-brick depending on local resources (Figure 2). that they had the leisure and funds to undertake a number of building projects. Although on a provincial scale, the limestone buildings were constructed skillfully (so much so that in many cases only the roofs are missing today) with competently carved, but simple, decoration. The ruins are so numerous that locally the people call the area 'the Dead Cities'. The area was surveyed by Georges Tchalenko in the 1950s and his resulting three volume study Villages Antiques de la The churches of the limestone massif all date from the fourth to the first decade of the seventh century, a span of just over two hundred years. They generally follow the type outlined above, with a few centrally planned manyria providing the exceptions, as at Qal'aat Sem'aan, the well known pilgrimage site that centred on the column that St. Simeon Stylites mounted in the fifth century (Figure 3). The apsed basilica was used for both Syrie du Nord (1953-58) remains the standard text on the sites of the massif. parish and conventual churches (Figure 4) a fact that in some cases has led to disputes over whether certain churches were part of monastic foundations or instead Very few of the villages have been comprehensively served the local community with outbuildings for catechism classes and accommodation for the priest. These extra buildings served administrative purposes as church life came to be regulated by diocesan authorities for the first time. It was in the fourth century that Christian ritual was codified for the first time and an organised church hierarchy began to institute a fixed rite excavated and in most cases only survey work has been carried out. Each village has at least one, and often as many as three, churches. On the hills around the great church of Qal'aat Sem'aan, the area known as the Jebel Sem'aan, there are approximately two hundred churches. There are other 'Jebel' groupings slightly to the south, although the Jebel Sem'aan appears to have a slightly larger number of settlements than the other areas and is better known because of the pilgrimage centre at Qal'aat according to accepted doctrine. Much attention has been paid to the stationary liturgy that developed in Jerusalem and which is so famously explained by the pilgrim Egeria and later commentators, but for those outside the Holy Land who wished to Sem'aan. Amongst these churches around forty-five stand out from the rest. This group is scattered across these hills, with one or two churches further to the south and east recreate a sacred topography, symbols had to replace the monuments themselves. This is where the church interior assumed sacred meaning and evolved into a 'holy place' rather than merely a place for the faithful to gather. For those who could not undertake a pilgrimage to Jerusalem the clergy enacted a weekly ceremony that symbolically drew a map of the world for the faithful. Tlte bema played a central part in this evolution. There was no fixed size prescribed for the bema but it was usual for it to sit twelve members of clergy. At the west end was what was called by Tchalenko the 'bema throne'. In actual fact this 'throne' was a lectern to hold the Bible during the Gospel reading (Figure 5). The bema was joined to the sanctuary by means of a sacred pathway known as the bet-sqaqone, which is largely thought to have been purely symbolic, although clearly visible pathways have been documented in Iraqi bema and one notable exception (Resafa) located in the desert far to the east. These churches are different because they all possess a bema. Whilst they have been considered from an archaeological perspective (Baccache 197911980; Tchalenko 1990) and have been by liturgiologists (Renhart 1995; Taft 1968), surprisingly nobody has yet used first hand knowledge of the buildings coupled with the existing Syriac texts in discussed order to reconstuct the rituals that took place within them. The liturgiologists have not spent time visiting the remains and the archaeologists have not read all the Syriac texts. Together the churches and the texts give a fuller picture of the ritual life of the early church and the world view of those who worshipped within these buildings. churches. 1{ I Figure 2. Syrian 'type' church The purpose of the bema was to enable the weekly reinactment of the crucifixion and resurrection through its use in the liturgy of the word. When it was time for the Gospel reading the clergy would leave the sanctuary, which symbolised the heavenly Jerusalem, and carry the Word, that is Christ represented by His Gospel, along the bet-sqaqone to the bema. At the bema the book would be placed on the lectern, which was, and is still, known as the Golgotha. It would then denote Christ crucified in the earthly Jerusalem. The bema represented Jerusalem in its entirety, on another level it also symbolised the upper room and the events of the last supper. It was no coincidence that the usual number of seats was twelve for the apostles, with Christ presiding over them as the Gospel on the throne. The homily would be conducted from the bema and hymns Church-building and Liturgy At this stage it is necessary to pause for a moment and sung before the clergy would take the Bible discuss church-building in fourth-century Syria. It is widely accepted by both archaeologists and art historians who have concentrated on this area that the Syrian 'type' was an apsed basilica built of limestone, basalt, gypsum and solemnly process back along the bet-sqaqone to the sanctuary to show Christ returning to the heavenly Jerusalem. Therefore the liturgy conducted in the midst of the people. t9 of the word was Figure 3. Central octagon of the great church of Saint Simeon Stylites (Qal'aat Sem'aan), facing east T}.re Bema, The clergy, although removed a little as they sat above the faithful on the bema, were not closeted in the east end of the church enacting the rite purely amongst themselves as they are today. By coming out of the east end of the church and bringing the service to the people Architecture, Archaeolory and function Half the population benefitted particularly from the bema. The women traditionally occupied the western half of the church, entering from a south-western door, whilst the men came in at the south-east and stood before ttre altar. It was the women that the priest would be addressing directly in his homily, whilst the men stood in front of the bema. This issue of women at the back has long been debated in the Syrian Orthodox Church with the more conservative communities of the the process fostered a much closer relationship between the clergy and the laity. They were also able to illustrate the central message of the Gospel in a physical way. By this movement around the interior of the church the clergy were bodily reinforcing the fact that God made his ion flesh and sent him to live amongst the people. There was less of a physical barrier between clergy and laity. This ritual of entering the midst of the people. and talliing from the nave gave an immediacy and visual impaci that is lost today as the priest stands high up at the east end of the church, as if on a stage. The earlier Jezira in north-east Syria retaining the tradition until the present day. There has been much debate about the iextual sources and whether this seating was followed everywhere. Archaeological evidence has been difficult to interpret because these barriers were apparently intimacy is lost and the feeling is that the priest is apart from, and not standing amongst, his congregation as he wooden and therefore have not survived. However at the church at Kafar Dar'et 'Azze Tchalenko found a notch prays. 20 Figure 4. south-west convent church at Deir Sem'aan, facing south-east in a pillar around a metre from the floor (1953-3). He Fir suggested that this was where the wooden barrier that separated the men from the women was attached, and perhaps supports the view taken by many Uturgiologists that liturgical change generally moved from west to east rather than the other way around. Certainly the bema evidence offered from archaeological remains suggests that the earliest bemata were built around Antioch in the mid to late fourth century. The evidence of synagogue bemata and the Manichaean bema festival must be omitted in this case as being outside the central issues of this paper. There ii evidence that the churches of Iraq have retained the bema and its associated liturgy (Dr E. Hunter, University of Manchester, pers. com.) which would perhaps suggest that the bema liturgy was connected to a particular rite which died out in western Syria after the early decades of the seventh century. The alternative is that the west Syrian bema evolved into the byzantine ambo, another nave-platform that was moving closer towards what we recognise as the contemporary pulpit today. this mark is still visible today fony years after Tchalenko's survey. The pillar had fallen parallel to the bema around a third of the way along the nave, thus the back two thirds of the church would have been taken up by women (Figure 6). This division of the sexes would actually echo the male to female ratio of contemporary Syrian congregations where many men must work on Sundays. Work could have accounted for a similar ratio in late antiquity. Further investigation by the author has revealed similar notches in pillars, in this case still standing, at the nearby bema churches of Burj Heidar and Kharab Shams, in these cases located further east than at Kafar Dar'et 'Azze. This tadition of women at the back is an obvious impediment when the ritual unfolds at the far east of the building and so this division became more of a problem when liturgical changes occurred in the seventh to ninth centuries. This disappearence of the bema in Syria coincides with the desertion of the so-called 'dead cities, of the limestone massif, and whilst I do not wish to get involved in the long-running debate as to why tfre villages were seemingly abandoned at the beginning of the seventh century, this desertion seems to have occurred at much the same time as a reform of the Iiturgy took place. The Church at Antioch appears to have undergone liturgical change at the same time as Iso This interpretation of the bema is not mere conjecture. The Expositio fficiorum explains this symbolism but has not been extensively studied yet. This is due to the fact it is written in a particularly opaque form of Syriac and belongs to the East Syrian tradition which has received less attention than the West Syrian tradition because of the old view of the eastern church as heretical. This view is now recognised as stemming from ignorance concerning Assyrian traditions. The text is seemingly eighth century, with extensive references to liturgical changes instituted by the Assyrian (Nestorian) Catholicos Iso Yahv III in the seventh century but the liturgy it describes can be related to the existing monuments in Syria. Yahv It III was carrying out his changes further to the east. tlere is a link between has sometimes been argued that this apparent return to the cities and the increased influence of the monasteries so, Iike western Europe in the middle ages, religious change was centred on the monasteries and their attendant schools. This meant that the secular community took less part in religious life. 21 Figure 5. Bema'throne east an'd bema at Qirq Bize' facing to helping us ln This argument goes a long -wlv bema' No J orilp;';";;"1 ..pi.r"'iii',t have vet been orsco'Lrea bemata 9; in a monastic instinrtion' They built for the lay #"inil;"ilil-ii-.-tor.t., village called and with the exception of a community, Ruweiha, said possibly.had two 187) no village has uy'ilL.f.nr.o to have h;fi;;k;-1990: even though more than ooJ'-iii- inurch' bema churches these two or three churches each' settlements have on average certain exception' for while a The case of Ruweiha is not Lrt*ry Possessei abema today' one church in the-viltg" unmarked flagged floor' the other church possesses an a bema in this church Tchalenko u.r", inl"]iiali'* walls of the building and .u*n'i -il tif the was removed when the more r"tttfr ttrat tt'e 6'*oBi"o" was built' This would important 'Ch;h oi only one church at a dme in a support tf,. nypott'Ltit tt'ut viitige Possessed a bema' of the idea that the symbolism on re-usea This would reinforce the tonttpi of the church bema, and in T"ti *'" whole primarily for the developed interior u, ,ni.,ot**, *t' was.thlrefore obsolete in a education of tf'e-faity and imptication here is that the monastic rorniltion'' itre enough not to need the weekly monks were by the bema "a'"ttta sacred topographv offered reinforcemen, of liturgy. ttris retrlat of thi f"utnti and the uurnaliilituigita the perimeter of the Friday. These processions aroundtoda ttre raittr!| the church interior g";;, ;J still si'e oitt't vestments of chance to touch the bishop as where the clergy"ui and outside the Io'i';;t *t widely studie$ distance between clergy oriesthood *d ,iri.';l; io-tt. women now sit on the south ffi"I.il. io1o,o. cases ttle north' rather than side of tfre ctrurctr and men !o even more liberal in and being divided ;;;;J; E^IT:T of tt. tAtrtfU, uo' not scgreg3ted: -fnt lectern communities the sexes are howevEr' ittuin earlieui*tft is still now stands in the the called the G"G;il;' Jtuoogt' it centre of a ,.rr,E'"*'frtn*li-if;t sanctuary, symbolic entrance mentionsthe bema' Jerusalem. anit rt"r;f of to the sancftary which is the although it ,.,ii il;;i; of tt" word and is used most commonly known meanlng as well as in Syriac' in this sense in Oieet and Armenian The clearest sign that vestigespractices ,"rnui' #;'ffi;oy of bema-related liturgical rntosoay when a ritual takes place' This is i^t Supper 'dtatform uuitt before the played out ; ; **d* clear tt'" p*ari with the bema is so many sanctuary. I'f; service this for church that as ,oon .'Tln"id the littll or no English' but had ;i;;;ilk: most friends, rushed up and gestured at some rno*rrjit'"i*i"*"t5' 'betna" reinactmen, of^ tr'L into ttre monasteries changes caused agrowing t r,'i'"Jfto* t' ttre laity' liturgy is static The contemporary Syrian Orthod'oxan Rribic homilv' in conducted, with il;A;;F;; "f once the language of was Svriac. This aramaic dialect the in the sancuary at the 'u't tnJ of addition of ritual later the was mitigated in part by processions on"Uoty days' *idst remove, has now been lost' anJ iaity' and particularly remoteness between clergy at ttre back of the remained affected the women who centred the ritual that was now church, building' This effect however ttre earlier intimacy 'i"''Bdlt;tt'Jctott ne-p*"''. albeit at one it. on-pttm Sunday or Good 22 prutfot* sa:Ying simPlY internal reform. This process has begun through the encouragement of choirs and congregational participation in hymns and prayers rather than simply listening to the priests and deacons. As in Europe, where a perceived distance between the priesthood and the faithful led to the Vatican II reforms and other discussions of how a largely mediaeval liturgy could be reformed in order to return to the earlier roots of Christianity, the Syrian Orthodox are attempting "ta* r Figure 6. Bema-throne (foreground) and bema at Kafar Dar'et 'Azze, the notched pillar is level with the bag on the left. View facing east Figure 7. Father Na'aman on the bema at Resafa, facing east 23 ,Ji to embrace further contact with the laity we may soon find more interaction, which can only help If it continues a younger generation of women who sometimes feel .*ilud"d by ttre current beliefs which prevent them-.even assisting ai the altar. However it is extremely unlikely that thJchurch interior will ever take on such a detailed ritual topography again. There is one instance where a bema survived beyond the seventh century. We can trace the history of this particular churth because it was an important cultic ..ntrr. The church is located far to the east of the limestone massif in the Syrian desen and is the Basilica of the Holy Cross at Resafa, originally called Sergioupolis. The city was believed to have been founAea on the very spot where Sergius, a Roman, was A martyrium martyred -built for refusing to kill christians. in the city to house his relics, but the city was was partitioned in the siventh century causing the relics to be ^translated to the basilica, which already possessed a bema. Tchalenko discovered a crypt beneath the east end of the church and has hypothesised that the relics were kept there and brought out for special festivals. on these felst days the casket containing the bones was placed upon a ciborium situated in the cenfie of the br*o. ihe br*a at Resafa is much larger and more elaborate than usual. It possesses a small vestibule that the clergy entered before going up another level to the bencheJ that sat twenty four instead of twelve. This could have significance as double the amount of the apostles, but it is more likely that my Syriac t-utgr' an Rleppian priest, was correct when he suggested that in this'iase they represent the twenty four thrones of Revelation. We have documentary evidence that this site was a popular centre for pilgrims up until the Conclusions This study illustrates how liturgiologists archaeologiits can benefit by working together' area tfrai is famed for the sheer volume and -In an of its archaeological sites it is wrong simply to-discount the evidence of tfr. buildings in favour of the few texts that remain. In many cases the churches fit exactly with the textual descriptions and fill in the missing gry.s' By attempting to fit in the missing pieces and explain why tfre Syrian Orthodox Church has processions around the church interior on holy days, but otherwise remains essentially static when the earlier texts suggest almost an air of audience participation in the ceremonies, we are not only questioning a change in liturgical practice but also a ihinging world view. At some time the clergy decided that it-was no longer necessary for the whole world to be contained within the four walls of the church. This symbolism was no longer needed in a world that was growing smaller and is now largely forgotten and unlikely ever to gain such prominence again. However in a climate where the laity are demanding change the church is looking to the past for clarity in liturgical matters. The archaeological evidence provides information on a period before textual evidence was commonplace and gives us a view of life outside the great catiredrals. There is always textual evidence at the Lntr"r of power. The churches of the limestone massif enable us to reconstruct the lives of those at a l0wer level. By looking at these village churches in context we can come to moie informed conclusions concerning the extent to which ritual was codified in these early years of Christianity. thirteenth century, and the archaeological remains tell us that the bemamust have continued in use throughout this period. \\e bema is still intact except.for its ciborium, ihrore and benches for clerics, making it clear that it was in use for the entire working life of the church' However during the thirteenth century the Caliph ordered the evacuation of the city and so the church was abandoned with everything else at Resafa. Resafa is three to four hours drive east of Aleppo in the midst of the Syrian desert and this isolation has meant ttrat the remains are exceptionally well preserved. However it is Acknowledgements I would like to thank the Seven Pillars of wisdom Trust, the British Institute at Amman for Archaeology and History and the Louis H. Jordan bequest for comparative religion for the grants that enabled this fieldwork. Many p.olpt. have offered their time and advice. I would like io tt unt my supervisor at SOAS, Dr A. Palmer, also Dr E. Renhart, Ot S. Brock and Dr E. Hunter for taking the time to answer specific queries. There are many people who aided me in Syria but special thanks must go to Metropolitan Grigorios Yohanna Ibrahim of Aleppo for his hospitality and to Abouna Antoine Deliapo, Farida Boulos and Samir Katerji for their continuing assistance in countless waYS. this isolation which may have originally led to the continuation of the bema liturgy long after it appears to have disappeared in other parts of Syria. The location of Resafa so f- to the east also suggests that the church could have played a key role in the transmission of the bema to the East SYrians. isolation that sees the only in contemporary Syria' liturgy continuation of the bema a Roum (Greek) Na'aman, Father Raqqa, nearby At Catholic priest, is the only clergyman between Aleppo and the iezira. As such he ministers to all Christians from the Armenians to the Assyrians. Every October 7th, the eve of Saint Sergius' day, he takes a bus of the faithfut out to Resafa and celebrates the Feast of Saint It is also perhaps this of References Sergius from the bema. A conlinuity of the ancient liturgical traditions, it is fitting that the iongregation should be of mixed denomination symbo] perha.ps. the Baccache, E. 1979. Eglises de village de nord, vol.2; Planches- Paris: P. Geuthner' la Syrie du Baccache, E. 1980. Eglises de village de nord, vol.l; Album. Paris: P. Geuthner- la Syrie du Connolly, R.H. (ed.) 1911-15. 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Geuthner. : 9 l-121. 25