Glossary of East Syriac Liturgical TermsAbu-Halim: 1. Nickname of Patriarch Elias III (+ 1190) / 2. The book which contains the prayers composed orcollected by this Patriarch, and which are recited at the end of the qale d-sahra and at the beginning of the sapra.Alaha melta: God the Word, incipit of d'basaliqe of the first Sunday of AnnunciationAlam: forever.Aqapta: psalmic verses added to a fore-going psalmBarek(u): Incipit of the canticle of the three young men in the furnace, which is sung at the festive sapra. In theBreviary we find a refrain for this canticle, under the rubric d-barek(u)Bate, plural of baita (house): Subdivision or stanzas of certain hymns.Ba'uta, pl. ba'wata, supplication, rogation1. The best known, also celebrated by the Western Syrians, is the Ba'uta of Nineveh. These rogations, whichinvolve a fast, are celebrated on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of the third week before the beginning of Lent.2. There were other ba'wata, now fallen into disuse, such as that of the Virgins, which took place on the Monday,Tuesday and Wednesday after Epiphany, and those of Mar Zaya, celebrated on the same days in the weekfollowing the second Sunday after Christmas.Bema: Large platform, raised one or two steps above the nave, which occupied the center of the church. The bemasymbolizes the earthly Jerusalem. In the middle of the bema there is an altar (i.e. a table) where the Cross isplaced, called Golgotha. The bishop and the priests sit at the bema, facing the altar, during certain parts of theoffice and the Mass. There are also two lecterns (bet qaroye), the one on the left for reading the prophets, the oneon the right for reading the epistles and the Gospel. The bema is connected to the sanctuary by a corridor (betsqaqone). In the church, women occupy the part of the nave that remains behind the bema. Men stand on bothsides of the bema and up to the front of the sanctuary. Cf. Anonymous author, Expositio I,91-92.B-rasit (‘In the beginning’): Poetic piece, spe...