Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/West Syrian Rite The rite used by
the Jacobite sect in Syria and by the Catholic Syrians is in its
origin simply the old rite of Antioch in the Syriac language.
Into this framework the Jacobites have fitted a great number of
other Anaphoras, so that now their Liturgy has more variant
forms than any other. The oldest form of the Antiochene Rite
that we know is in Greek (see ANTIOCHENE LITURGY). It was
apparently composed in that language. The many Greek terms that
remain in the Syriac form show that this is derived from Greek.
The version must have been made very early, evidently before the
Monophysite schism, before the influence of Constantinople and
Byzantine infiltrations had begun. No doubt as soon as Christian
communities arose in the country parts of Syria the prayers
which in the cities (Antioch, Jerusalem, etc.) were said in
Greek, were, as a matter of course, translated into the
peasants' language (Syriac) for their use. The "Peregrinatio
Silviae" describes the services a