ABSTRACT
The organization of the hierarchy of the Jacobite Church is elaborate, closely knit together, and has some unique features arising from its peculiar circumstances in history. The highest authority and head of the church is the patriarch. The candidate had to be a monk of lifelong celibacy, learning and sanctity. Since the ancient discipline prohibited, as in the Coptic Church, the translation of bishops from one see to another, it became the rule that a bishop could be elevated to the patriarchal throne. The rites and liturgies of the Syrians are known for their great antiquity, since Antioch was one of the first places where organized Christian worship was instituted. It is here that one may legitimately trace the origins and parentage of Jacobite practices. A survey of the ancient history of Syria shows how much its pre-Christian civilization was under the influence of foreign cultures, from the Egyptian in the south to the Greek from the north.
