West Syriac Rite

The West Syriac Rite, also called the Syriac-Antiochian Rite and the West Syrian Rite, is an Eastern Christianliturgical rite that employs the Divine Liturgy of Saint James in the West Syriac dialect. It is practiced in the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Syriac Catholic Church and the Malankara churches of India. The Maronite Church also uses the rite but in a very distinct way. 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 anaphora than any other rite.

Although the West Syriac liturgical tradition had always included many texts translated from Greek, this new influx of materials of Greek origin led to the emergence of two slightly different Syriac Orthodox traditions, that of Antioch, incorporating these new elements, and that of Tikrit, which did not incorporate it. It was essentially the Tikrit rite that was introduced into South India in the 18th and 19th centuries.