The West Syriac Rite, also called the Syro-Antiochian Rite and the West Syrian Rite, is an Eastern Christian liturgical rite that employs the Divine Liturgy of Saint James in the West Syriac dialect. It is practised in the Maronite Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Syriac Catholic Church and various Malankara Churches of India. It is one of two main liturgical rites of Syriac Christianity, the other being the East Syriac Rite.
It originated in the ancient Patriarchate of Antioch. It has more anaphoras than any other rite.
Holy Qurobo in the Maronite Church
A West Syriac Rite Holy Qurbono of the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church holding paterissa (crozier)
A West Syriac Rite Holy Qurbono of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church
Holy Qurobo in the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church
Eastern Christianity comprises Christian traditions and church families that originally developed during classical and late antiquity in the Eastern Mediterranean region or locations further east, south or north. The term does not describe a single communion or religious denomination. Eastern Christianity is a category distinguished from Western Christianity, which is composed of those Christian traditions and churches that originally developed further west.
Christ Pantocrator, detail of the Deesis mosaic in Hagia Sophia – Constantinople (Istanbul) 12th century
An Eastern Catholic bishop of the Syro-Malabar Church holding the Mar Thoma Cross which symbolizes the heritage and identity of the Saint Thomas Christians of India