ABSTRACT
West Syrian texts are largely from the edition of the ferial Breviary or Shimo edited by Dom Bede Griffiths. The Syriac version of this, Kthobo Daslutho Shimtho, is the basic book used in India. In a study of Maronite Vespers, P. E. Gemayel stressed the expiatory role of the incense ceremony. Maronite Compline includes psalm 50 with the initial prayers, psalm 90 is intercalated with verses, and the proemium, sedro, etc. follow rather than precede the psalms. Matins of the West Syrian/Maronite tradition has been rather more extensively studied than Vespers, especially in Jean Tabet's study of the Maronite office. The Syrian Third, Sixth and Ninth Hour services are normally combined with other services. For example, in Jerusalem, the Ninth Hour preceded Vespers and Compline, while the Third and Sixth follow Matins, something similar is common in India. The services are short and now entirely made up of poetic material and prayers.
