Archdale KING: THE RITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOMLondon, Catholic Book Agency, 1948, (pp.445-478)THE CHALDEAN RITEInterior arrangements and ornamentsA traditional Chaldean church has 3 main divisions: a) the east end separated from the rest of the building bya solid wall rising to the roof, pierced by a single opening and extending the whole width of the church;b) the bema, (bîm, solea) an oblong platform, between the sanctuary doors and the dwarf wall in the nave,which is raised about 2 feet above the general level of the church, and surrounded on 3 sides by rails withentrances in front and on either side;c) the rest of the church, which forms the nave. (Haiklâ, temple)On the right of the east end or sanctuary (qanke, apse, kogch; madhb'ha, sacrificing place, altar or sanctuary;kedush kudshe, holy of holies) is the baptistery, (beth m'amoditha, beth'mada) on the left the diakonikon;(Assyrian: beth shamasha, house of the deacon; Chaldean: beth diyakun).Beyond this, on the extreme left, is sometimes a martyrium, (beth sahde, beth-kaddishe) where relics arekept. In the patriarchal church at Mosul, a single compartment serves for the baptistery and martyrium. TheSunhadus (V,12,25) directs that burial in a church is confined to martyrs, and this custom is referred to in theferial evening service in the week "before the first Tuesday:" "The martyrs are placed in the temple."Each division of the eastern area of the church has a door on the west, which in the case of the sanctuarydoor (or door of the altar) is furnished with a large curtain (wîla). [Narsai mentions no veil or impediment,and nowhere suggests that either the altar or sacrifice was ever withdrawn from the eyes of the faithful. Thefirst clear witness to altar veils occurs in a letter of Synesius to Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria (+ 412,PG 66:1420].The door leading from the diakonikon may be the "little door of the sanctuary," mentioned in the rubricconcerning the epistle. Where, as in the cathedral at Mosul...