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The Early Syriac Liturgical Drama and its Architectural Setting

Conference Paper · April 1998

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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.

Introduction Georgio Arbelensi vulgo adscripta. Over the course of

this century academics have disputed the original
Spending Easter with the Syrian Orthodox Church is an attribution of the manuscript to the ninth-century author
experience that is in many ways alien to those of us who George of Arbela. It now seems likely that it was
have been raised in the traditions of western Christianity. written in the eighth century by an unknown East-Syrian
From the first day of Lent onwards the community is (Nestorian) theologian. Along with mention of the
preparing itself for the momentous events of Passion bema (a straight-sided horseshoe-shaped platform in the
week. On Good Friday the church is packed hours nave facing the apse) and its function in a variety of
before the service. Old ladies fight each other for the other Syriac and Armenian sources we can use this
seats at the front in behaviour not unlike that of manuscript with the material remains and knowledge of
teenagers wanting the best view of the latest music current liturgical practice to reconstnrct the rinral life
sensation. The events of the next three hours are played and world view of the early Christian population. The
out in the sanctuary of the church. The people reach importance of the Syrian tradition is that it extended the
fever pitch when the flower filled bier, representing concept of microcosm further than other early Christian
Christ's body taken down from the Cross, leaves the east traditions by the extensive use of visual imagery coupled
end of the church and is manhandled around the building with liturgical furniture
by local young men acting as pallbearers. Those
standing around the perimeter of the church become 60
0l--L--Fa- 1iprn
almost hysterical as they attempt to take flowers from O tO 1i!0rnl
the bier as a form of blessing. When the bier reaches the 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 .

The impact of the modern Good Friday festival is u#sdne Mascrf Resafa
extremely theatrical and the faithful are merely
spectators to the action as it unfolds. There is little
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 oDAilf,scljg
procession all the events centre on the altar, the lectern t
I
or Golgotha, as the Syrian Orthodox call it, with the 3
Gospel book and the cross and censers. The Syrian t
o
t!r-
evidence is important because it is the only early major
JORDAN
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 Figure l. LocationmaP
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 N. \ry. Syria and its churches
allowing us a clear view of their spatial zllrangement and
liturgical features. The limestone massif of north-west Syria is located
between Aleppo and Antakya (Antioch) (Figure 1). The
The Church as microcosm is not a new idea. area flowered briefly between the fourth and early
Anthropologists are familiar with microcosm as an seventh centuries when olive oil, the spice route and
element of ceremonies in traditional societies and large numbers of pilgrims travelling to visit local holy
architectural historians have suggested that this men, as well as en route to the Holy Land, created
cosmological view is illustrated by a variety of prosperity in the hinterland of the great city of Antioch.
monuments (see McVey1983; McEwan 1993, 1'994)- In The communities which prospered there were Christian
the case of the Syrian liturgical tradition we have a and spoke Syriac, a form of Aramaic, with the more
surviving document from the East Syrian tradition that educated possessing a knowledge of the Greek used in
explains the church interior in cosmological terms. This Antioch itself. Thus the inscriptions recorded in this
text is known as the Expositio fficorum ecclesiae, area are mainly Greek, with some Syriac and Latin. The

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 The churches of the limestone massif all date from the
scale, the limestone buildings were constructed skillfully fourth to the first decade of the seventh century, a span
(so much so that in many cases only the roofs are of just over two hundred years. They generally follow
missing today) with competently carved, but simple, the type outlined above, with a few centrally planned
decoration. The ruins are so numerous that locally the manyria providing the exceptions, as at Qal'aat
people call the area 'the Dead Cities'. The area was Sem'aan, the well known pilgrimage site that centred on
surveyed by Georges Tchalenko in the 1950s and his the column that St. Simeon Stylites mounted in the fifth
resulting three volume study Villages Antiques de la century (Figure 3). The apsed basilica was used for both
Syrie du Nord (1953-58) remains the standard text on the parish and conventual churches (Figure 4) a fact that in
sites of the massif. 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
excavated and in most cases only survey work has been catechism classes and accommodation for the priest.
carried out. Each village has at least one, and often as These extra buildings served administrative purposes as
many as three, churches. On the hills around the great church life came to be regulated by diocesan authorities
church of Qal'aat Sem'aan, the area known as the Jebel for the first time. It was in the fourth century that
Sem'aan, there are approximately two hundred churches. Christian ritual was codified for the first time and an
There are other 'Jebel' groupings slightly to the south, organised church hierarchy began to institute a fixed rite
although the Jebel Sem'aan appears to have a slightly according to accepted doctrine.
larger number of settlements than the other areas and is
better known because of the pilgrimage centre at Qal'aat Much attention has been paid to the stationary liturgy
Sem'aan. that developed in Jerusalem and which is so famously
explained by the pilgrim Egeria and later commentators,
Amongst these churches around forty-five stand out but for those outside the Holy Land who wished to
from the rest. This group is scattered across these hills, recreate a sacred topography, symbols had to replace the
with one or two churches further to the south and east monuments themselves. This is where the church
and one notable exception (Resafa) located in the desert interior assumed sacred meaning and evolved into a
far to the east. These churches are different because 'holy place' rather than merely a place for the faithful to
they all possess a bema. Whilst they have been gather. For those who could not undertake a pilgrimage
considered from an archaeological perspective to Jerusalem the clergy enacted a weekly ceremony that
(Baccache 197911980; Tchalenko 1990) and have been symbolically drew a map of the world for the faithful.
discussed by liturgiologists (Renhart 1995; Taft 1968), Tlte bema played a central part in this evolution. There
surprisingly nobody has yet used first hand knowledge was no fixed size prescribed for the bema but it was
of the buildings coupled with the existing Syriac texts in usual for it to sit twelve members of clergy. At the west
order to reconstuct the rituals that took place within end was what was called by Tchalenko the 'bema
them. The liturgiologists have not spent time visiting the throne'. In actual fact this 'throne' was a lectern to hold
remains and the archaeologists have not read all the the Bible during the Gospel reading (Figure 5). The
Syriac texts. Together the churches and the texts give a bema was joined to the sanctuary by means of a sacred
fuller picture of the ritual life of the early church and the pathway known as the bet-sqaqone, which is largely
world view of those who worshipped within these thought to have been purely symbolic, although clearly
buildings. visible pathways have been documented in Iraqi bema
churches.

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
1{ Word, that is Christ represented by His Gospel, along
the bet-sqaqone to the bema. At the bema the book

I 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
Figure 2. Syrian 'type' church 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
Church-building and Liturgy presiding over them as the Gospel on the throne. The
homily would be conducted from the bema and hymns
At this stage it is necessary to pause for a moment and sung before the clergy would take the Bible and
discuss church-building in fourth-century Syria. It is solemnly process back along the bet-sqaqone to the
widely accepted by both archaeologists and art historians sanctuary to show Christ returning to the heavenly
who have concentrated on this area that the Syrian 'type' Jerusalem. Therefore the liturgy of the word was
was an apsed basilica built of limestone, basalt, gypsum conducted in the midst of the people.

t9
 Figure 3. Central octagon of the great church of Saint Simeon Stylites
(Qal'aat Sem'aan), facing east

The clergy, although removed a little as they sat above T}.re Bema, Architecture, Archaeolory and function
the faithful on the bema, were not closeted in the east
end of the church enacting the rite purely amongst Half the population benefitted particularly from the
themselves as they are today. By coming out of the east bema. The women traditionally occupied the western
end of the church and bringing the service to the people half of the church, entering from a south-western door,
the process fostered a much closer relationship between whilst the men came in at the south-east and stood
the clergy and the laity. They were also able to illustrate before ttre altar. It was the women that the priest would
the central message of the Gospel in a physical way. By be addressing directly in his homily, whilst the men
this movement around the interior of the church the stood in front of the bema. This issue of women at the
clergy were bodily reinforcing the fact that God made back has long been debated in the Syrian Orthodox
his ion flesh and sent him to live amongst the people. Church with the more conservative communities of the
There was less of a physical barrier between clergy and Jezira in north-east Syria retaining the tradition until the
laity. This ritual of entering the midst of the people. and present day. There has been much debate about the
talliing from the nave gave an immediacy and visual
iextual sources and whether this seating was followed
impaci that is lost today as the priest stands high up at
everywhere. Archaeological evidence has been difficult
the east end of the church, as if on a stage. The earlier
intimacy is lost and the feeling is that the priest is apart to interpret because these barriers were apparently
from, and not standing amongst, his congregation as he wooden and therefore have not survived. However at the
prays. church at Kafar Dar'et 'Azze Tchalenko found a notch

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 perhaps supports the view taken by many
suggested that this was where the wooden barrier that Fir
Uturgiologists
that liturgical change generally moved
separated the men from the women was attached, and from west to east rather than the other way around.
this mark is still visible today fony years after Certainly the bema evidence offered from archaeological
Tchalenko's survey. The pillar had fallen parallel to the remains suggests that the earliest bemata were built
bema around a third of the way along the nave, thus the around Antioch in the mid to late fourth century. The
back two thirds of the church would have been taken up evidence of synagogue bemata and the Manichaean
by women (Figure 6). This division of the sexes would bema festival must be omitted in this case as being
actually echo the male to female ratio of contemporary outside the central issues of this paper. There ii
Syrian congregations where many men must work on evidence that the churches of Iraq have retained the
Sundays. Work could have accounted for a similar ratio bema and its associated liturgy (Dr E. Hunter, University
in late antiquity. Further investigation by the author has of Manchester, pers. com.) which would perhaps suggest
revealed similar notches in pillars, in this case still that the bema liturgy was connected to a particular rite
standing, at the nearby bema churches of Burj Heidar which died out in western Syria after the early decades
and Kharab Shams, in these cases located further east of the seventh century. The alternative is that the west
than at Kafar Dar'et 'Azze. This tadition of women at Syrian bema evolved into the byzantine ambo, another
the back is an obvious impediment when the ritual nave-platform that was moving closer towards what we
unfolds at the far east of the building and so this division recognise as the contemporary pulpit today.
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
This interpretation of the bema is not mere conjecture. limestone massif, and whilst I do not wish to get
The Expositio fficiorum explains this symbolism but involved in the long-running debate as to why tfre
has not been extensively studied yet. This is due to the villages were seemingly abandoned at the beginning of
fact it is written in a particularly opaque form of Syriac the seventh century, this desertion seems to have
and belongs to the East Syrian tradition which has occurred at much the same time as a reform of the
received less attention than the West Syrian tradition Iiturgy took place. The Church at Antioch appears to
because of the old view of the eastern church as have undergone liturgical change at the same time as Iso
heretical. This view is now recognised as stemming Yahv III was carrying out his changes further to the east.
from ignorance concerning Assyrian traditions. The text It has sometimes been argued that tlere is a link between
is seemingly eighth century, with extensive references to this apparent return to the cities and the increased
liturgical changes instituted by the Assyrian (Nestorian) influence of the monasteries so, Iike western Europe in
Catholicos Iso Yahv III in the seventh century but the the middle ages, religious change was centred on the
liturgy it describes can be related to the existing monasteries and their attendant schools. This meant that
monuments in Syria. the secular community took less part in religious life.

21
 east
5. Bema'throne an'd bema at Qirq Bize' facing
Figure

the perimeter of the

to helping us ln Friday. These processions aroundtoda ttre raittr!| the
This argument goes a long -wlv bema' No church interior g";;, ;J still si'e oitt't vestments of
-
bemata
J orilp;';";;"1
..pi.r"'iii',t 9; chance to touch
have vet been orsco'Lrea in a monastic instinrtion' They however ttre earlier intimacy
'i"''Bdlt;tt'Jctott
ne-p*"''.
built for the lay the bishop as albeit at one
#"inil;"ilil-ii-.-tor.t., village called where the clergy"ui *idst ttre laity'
and with the exception of a
community, remove, has now been lost'
uy'ilL.f.nr.o to have possibly.had two
Ruweiha, said
h;fi;;k;-1990: even though 187) no village has liturgy is static and
bema churches these The contemporary Syrian Orthod'oxan Rribic homilv' in
more than ooJ'-iii- inurch' conducted, with il;A;;F;; "f once the language of
two or three churches each' was
settlements have on average Svriac. This aramaic dialect
certain exception' for while Io'i';;t *t widely studie$ outside the
The case of Ruweiha is not
a
Lrt*ry Possessei abema today'
tt. tAtrtfU, uo'
distance between clergy
one church in the-viltg" oriesthood *d ,iri.';l; io-tt.
unmarked flagged floor' women now sit on the south
the other church possesses an ffi"I.il. io1o,o. cases
Tchalenko u.r", inl"]iiali'*
-il a bema in this church
tif side of tfre ctrurctr and men !o
ttle north' rather than
walls of the building and in even more liberal
on re-usea .u*n'i the
being divided ;;;;J; and
E^IT:T of
r"tttfr ttrat tt'e 6'*oBi"o" was removed when the more not scgreg3ted:
-fnt lectern
communities the sexes are is still
was built' This would
important 'Ch;h oi theearlieui*tft ittuin
- howevEr'
only one church at a dme in a G"G;il;' Jtuoogt' it now stands in the
support tf,. nypott'Ltit tt'ut called the
viitige Possessed a bema' ,.rr,E'"*'frtn*li-if;t centre of a symbolic
sanctuary,
entrance mentionsthe bema'
Jerusalem. anit rt"r;f of
idea that the symbolism of to the sancftary which is the
the
This would reinforce the although it ,.,ii il;;i;
bema, and in T"ti *'" whole
tonttpi of the church most commonly known meanlng
of tt" word and is used
primarily for the
interior u, ,ni.,ot**, *t' developed as well as in Syriac'
in this sense in Oieet and Armenian
education of tf'e-faity and
was.thlrefore obsolete in a
monastic rorniltion'' itre
imptication here is that the of bema-related liturgical
The clearest sign that vestiges-
monks were enough not to need the weekly practices ,"rnui' #;'ffi;oy rntosoay when a ritual
"a'"ttta
sacred topographv offered
by the bema i^t Supper takes place' This is
reinforcemen, of reinactmen, of^ tr'L 'dtatform uuitt before the
into ttre monasteries
liturgy. ttris retrlat of thi f"utnti played out ; ; **d*
changes caused agrowing tt'" p*ari with the bema is so many
clear
and the uurnaliilituigita sanctuary. I'f;
anJ iaity' and particularly for this service
remoteness between clergy that as ,oon .'Tln"id the
church
at ttre back of the ;i;;;ilk: littll or no English' but had
affected the women who remained most
centred friends,
t r,'i'"Jfto*the ritual that was now rushed up and gestured at
church, building' This some rno*rrjit'"i*i"*"t5'
in the sancuary at the 'u't tnJ of
the 'betna"
later addition of ritual it. prutfot* sa:Ying simPlY
was mitigated in part by
effect
the
processions on"Uoty days' t' on-pttm Sunday or Good

22
As in Europe, where a perceived distance between the internal reform. This process has begun through the
priesthood and the faithful led to the Vatican II reforms encouragement of choirs and congregational particip-
and other discussions of how a largely mediaeval liturgy ation in hymns and prayers rather than simply listening
could be reformed in order to return to the earlier roots to the priests and deacons.
of Christianity, the Syrian Orthodox are attempting

"ta*

r ,Ji

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
 to embrace further contact with the laity
If it continues Conclusions
we may soon find more interaction, which can only help
a younger generation of women who sometimes feel This study illustrates how liturgiologists and
-In an
.*ilud"d by ttre current beliefs which prevent them-.even archaeologiits can benefit by working together'
area tfrai is famed for the sheer volume of its
assisting ai the altar. However it is extremely unlikely
that thJchurch interior will ever take on such a detailed archaeological sites it is wrong simply to-discount the
ritual topography again. evidence of tfr. buildings in favour of the few texts that
remain. In many cases the churches fit exactly with the
There is one instance where a bema survived beyond the textual descriptions and fill in the missing gry.s' By
seventh century. We can trace the history of this attempting to fit in the missing pieces and explain why
particular churth because it was an important cultic tfre Syrian Orthodox Church has processions around the
..ntrr. The church is located far to the east of the church interior on holy days, but otherwise remains
limestone massif in the Syrian desen and is the Basilica essentially static when the earlier texts suggest almost an
of the Holy Cross at Resafa, originally called air of audience participation in the ceremonies, we are
Sergioupolis. The city was believed to have been not only questioning a change in liturgical practice but
founAea on the very spot where Sergius, a Roman, was also a ihinging world view. At some time the clergy
A martyrium decided that it-was no longer necessary for the whole
-built for refusing to kill christians.
martyred
world to be contained within the four walls of the
was in the city to house his relics, but the city was
partitioned in the siventh century causing the relics to be church. This symbolism was no longer needed in a
^translated
to the basilica, which already possessed a world that was growing smaller and is now largely
bema. Tchalenko discovered a crypt beneath the east forgotten and unlikely ever to gain such prominence
end of the church and has hypothesised that the relics again.
were kept there and brought out for special festivals. on
these felst days the casket containing the bones was However in a climate where the laity are demanding
placed upon a ciborium situated in the cenfie of the change the church is looking to the past for clarity in
br*o. ihe br*a at Resafa is much larger and more liturgical matters. The archaeological evidence provides
elaborate than usual. It possesses a small vestibule that information on a period before textual evidence was
the clergy entered before going up another level to the commonplace and gives us a view of life outside the
bencheJ that sat twenty four instead of twelve. This great catiredrals. There is always textual evidence at the
could have significance as double the amount of the Lntr"r of power. The churches of the limestone massif
apostles, but it is more likely that my Syriac t-utgr' an enable us to reconstruct the lives of those at a l0wer
Rleppian priest, was correct when he suggested that in level. By looking at these village churches in context we
this'iase they represent the twenty four thrones of can come to moie informed conclusions concerning the
Revelation. We have documentary evidence that this extent to which ritual was codified in these early years of
site was a popular centre for pilgrims up until the 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, Acknowledgements
ihrore and benches for clerics, making it clear that it was
in use for the entire working life of the church' I would like to thank the Seven Pillars of wisdom Trust,
However during the thirteenth century the Caliph the British Institute at Amman for Archaeology and
ordered the evacuation of the city and so the church was History and the Louis H. Jordan bequest for comparative
abandoned with everything else at Resafa. Resafa is religion for the grants that enabled this fieldwork. Many
three to four hours drive east of Aleppo in the midst of p.olpt. have offered their time and advice. I would like
the Syrian desert and this isolation has meant ttrat the io tt unt my supervisor at SOAS, Dr A. Palmer, also Dr
remains are exceptionally well preserved. However it is E. Renhart, Ot S. Brock and Dr E. Hunter for taking the
this isolation which may have originally led to the time to answer specific queries. There are many people
continuation of the bema liturgy long after it appears to who aided me in Syria but special thanks must go to
have disappeared in other parts of Syria. The location of Metropolitan Grigorios Yohanna Ibrahim of Aleppo for
Resafa so f- to the east also suggests that the church his hospitality and to Abouna Antoine Deliapo, Farida
could have played a key role in the transmission of the Boulos and Samir Katerji for their continuing assistance
bema to the East SYrians. in countless waYS.

It is also perhaps this isolation that sees the only

continuation of the bema liturgy in contemporary Syria'
At nearby Raqqa, Father Na'aman, a Roum (Greek) References
Catholic priest, is the only clergyman between Aleppo la
and the iezira. As such he ministers to all Christians Baccache, E. 1979. Eglises de village de Syrie du
from the Armenians to the Assyrians. Every October nord, vol.2; Planches- Paris: P. Geuthner'
7th, the eve of Saint Sergius' day, he takes a bus of the
faithfut out to Resafa and celebrates the Feast of Saint Baccache, E. 1980. Eglises de village de la Syrie du
Sergius from the bema. A symbo] perha.ps. of the nord, vol.l; Album. Paris: P. Geuthner-
conlinuity of the ancient liturgical traditions, it is fitting
that the iongregation should be of mixed denomination Connolly, R.H. (ed.) 1911-15. Anonymi auctoris
(Figure 7). expositi-o fficiorum ecclesiae Georgio Arbelensi vulgo
adscripta. Paris: corpus Scriptorum orientalium

24
 Scriptores Syri. Ser.2. Tom.91,92. Renhart, E. 1995. Das syrische Bema: liturgische-
archiiolo g is che U nters uchun g en. Graz: Grazer Theolog-
Lassus, J., Tchalenko, G. 1951. Ambons Syriens. ische Studien 20.
Cahiers Archiolo g ique s 5 : 75 -122.
Taft, R.F. 1968. Some notes on the Bema in the East
McEwen, I.M. 1993. Hadrian's Rhetoric I. The and West Syrian Traditions. Orientalia Chistiana
Pantheon. Res: Anthropology and Aesthetics 24: 55-67. Periodica 34:326-359.

Mc Ewen, I.M. 1994. Hadrian's Rhetoric II. Thesaurus Tchalenko, G. 1953-58. Villages antiques de la Syrie du
Eloquentiae, the villa at Tivoli. Res: Anthropology and Nord. Paris: P. Geuthner.
Aesthetics 25: 5l-60.
Tchalenko, G. 1990. Eglises syriennes d b€ma. Paris: P.
McVey, K.E. 1983. The Domed Church as Microcosm: Geuthner.
literary roots of an architectural symbol. Dumbanon
Oal<s Papers 37 : 9 l-121.

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