PENANCE. — The Nestorians do not appear to have known any penitential rite other than that of the reconciliation of an apostate or a heretic; the other attributed to Išō'jahb III and published by H. J. Denzinger (Ritus Orientalium, II, Würzburg 1864, p. 467) certainly has a different purpose. As a rite of private penance, it lacks Confession and the entire liturgical part composed of prayers, psalms, prostrations, and acts of humility that precede II. Some influence of the Latin private penance can be discerned
in a recent rite, however, which the Nestorians took from the Jacobites (cf. J. Vosté, La confession chez les Nestoriens, in Angelicum, 7 [1930], pp. 17-26).
Priestly Ordination. — It has preserved its ancient structure. The ordinand first receives the tonsure and the insignia of the diaconate, followed by a long series of prayers, readings, and chants. After this, the ordinand kneels and covers his eyes with his hands, while the bishop recites the formula: "The grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ...", and imposes hands on the head of the ordinand, saying the two sacramental prayers; raising him, he clothes him in the tunic and orarion, returns to him the book of the Gospels, and makes the sign of the cross on his forehead. The rite concludes with the kiss of peace. For the first edition of the pontifical, cf. J. Vosté, Actes du XXᵉ Congrès internat. des Orientalistes, Brussels 1938, p. 340.
Extreme Unction. — The long rite celebrated by several priests, which is fundamentally the same in all Eastern rites, does not appear ever to have penetrated among the Nestorians. In order to supply this lack, Catholic priests have drawn up a rite for this Sacrament in an Eastern structure.
Divine Office. — It comprises only the three major hours: Vespers, Nocturns, and Lauds; sometimes Compline is added to Vespers; Catholic monks add the little hours taken from the Maronites. In Nocturns, one-third of the Psalter is recited, so that on the six weekdays of the week the entire Psalter is recited twice; in the other hours as well, the psalms constitute the fundamental part. Liturgical poetry, however, is rich, but the readings from Sacred Scripture are entirely omitted. It is noteworthy that even today the people regularly attend and participate every day in Vespers and Lauds. For Catholics, a Breviary has been printed that has greatly shortened the Office of the Night.
Calendar. — The liturgical year is divided into periods, generally of seven weeks each: Annunciation or Advent, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Apostles, Summer, Elijah, the Cross, Moses, and the Dedication. The feasts of the saints, called "memories," are few, and are celebrated either on a fixed date of the year or on the Friday of a particular week within a given period.
The liturgical books were published for Catholics in Rome and Mosul, for the Nestorians by the Anglican mission in Urmia; to the list of A. Baumstark, Liturgie comparée, in Irénikon, 1934, pp. 229-31, should be added a Missal published in Mosul in 1936 and a anastatic edition of Bedjan’s Breviary in 3 vols. in Rome in 1938.
Translations of liturgical texts into European languages are found in the general works of J. Assemani, Codex liturgicus, 13 vols., Rome 1749-66; E. Renaudot, Liturgiarum orientalium collectio, Paris 1716; Denzinger, op. cit.; F. E. Brightman, Liturgies Eastern and Western, Oxford 1896. Add: C. Mousseau, La Messe caldea degli Apostoli, Rome 1948; D. Dahane, Liturgie de la Sainte Messe selon le rite chaldéen, Paris 1937; G. P. Badger, The Nestorians and their Rituals, 2 vols., London 1852; A. J. Maclean, East Syrian Daily Offices, ibid. 1894; id., The Evening, Night and Morning Services, complete text, with the feast of Epiphany in Conybeare, Rituale Armenarum, Oxford 1905, pp. 298-388; P. Martin, Saint Pierre et saint Paul dans l'Eglise nestorienne, Paris 1875, complete text for the feast of the two Apostles.