ABSTRACT
The phenomenon of the adoption of Byzantine rites by the patriarchate of Antioch, which started imperceptibly from the time of the monophysite and monothelite schisms, grew more intense from the moment of the Byzantine reconquest in 969.Mgr J.-M. Sauget has just discovered in a fragment displayed in the National Museum of Damascus two Syro-Greek folios of the shortened version of the Anaphora of Saint James, dated back to the ninth or tenth century, originating probably from the Patriarchate of Antioch. Throughout its history, mostly following the influence of the great monasteries, like that of Saint Sabas, Jerusalem became more zealous in following Byzantium in its liturgy and language, while keeping its idiosyncrasies, among which the primary one is the preservation of the Liturgy of Saint James; it had stayed in use there for the great holidays. The Christians originating from Palestine spoke an Aramaic dialect very close to the Judeo-Aramaic of the Talmud of Jerusalem and the so-called Palestinian Targums.
