During the 6th century AD, Īshōʿyahb I, Patriarch of the Church of the East, produced a code of law dealing with questions raised by Bishop Jacob of Darai in the Gulf. Perennial Church issues include priestly conducts, ecclesiastical rankings, and ordinations. Legal matters for the faithful concern wills, marriages, vows, lending at interest, and swearing. Most interesting are names of church architecture that the Code gives, including bema, diaconicon, and qestroma, terms that are still used today.
Table of Contents (v)
List of Abbreviations (vii)
List of Symbols (ix)
Introduction (1)
Outline (1)
Classification of the Codes (3)
Sources of the Code (4)
Sources from Nisibis (4)
Synods of the Church of the East (4)
New Testament (6)
Common sense (6)
Hagiographical source (6)
Church Architecture (7)
Bema (bīm) (7)
Qankē (8)
Qestrūmā (9)
Diaconicon (10)
Altar (10)
Baptistery? (11)
Sanctification (11)
Ecclesiastical Orders (12)
Eucharist (14
Chrism (14)
Sanctification at the End of the 6th Century (15)
The Day of the Lord (22)
Gifts and Vows to Churches and Monasteries (22)
Manuscripts (23)
Previous Editions and Translations (24)
Summary (25)
Text and Translation (29)
Bibliography of Works Cited (125)
Syriac Sources (125)
Online Sources (126)
Modern Sources (126)
Index (129)