Streaming live Ordination Bishop Francis Chaldean Eparchy of St Thomas

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I watched or tried to watch that on EWTN cathedrals across America last nightand I was struck by the huge cultural differences. The people applauded very loudly, and screamed ai, ai, ai, ai,ai, over and over. Nearly every word was not in Latin, or English, but in Arabic.

The vestments were also different, no one wore a chasuble but most of them wore copes. Bishop Francis did not carry a crosier but a stained wood branch.

THERE IS NOTHING BAD ABOUT ANY OF THIS. But it was just a big cultural shock to a Byzantine.

I have never been to a Chaldean church, but there was once an Assyrian Church of the
East where I lived. And the ACE is very different from the Chaldeans, even though they come from the same place. ACE draws a curtain across the Altar, and they have no crucifixes or any other Iconography, only elaborate plain crosses.

It was good for those used to it and in that culture, but I would not choose that place to go to Mass or Divine Liturgy on a regular basis. The differences in culture are just too large for me. Especially the Arab war cry, ai, ai, ai, ai.
 
Especially the Arab war cry, ai, ai, ai, ai.
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Really? Not only are Chaldeans not Arabs (they are Eastern Assyrian/Syriac people; the indigenous people of Iraq), but I am nearly 100% certain even though I missed watching the streaming event that what you heard was ululation, which is a common way of expressing joy in the Middle East and certain parts of Africa, and as such is not an “Arab war cry” You’ve already admitted that it is outside of your cultural comfort zone and shocks your Byzantine sensibilities, so, knowing that, why not show some respect and quit equating fellow Christians expressing joy with the violence and war of the dominant cultural group of the region who are actually oppressing and murdering these very same people?
 
dzheremi said:
Really? Not only are Chaldeans not Arabs (they are Eastern Assyrian/Syriac people; the indigenous people of Iraq), but I am nearly 100% certain even though I missed watching the streaming event that what you heard was ululation, which is a common way of expressing joy in the Middle East and certain parts of Africa, and as such is not an “Arab war cry” You’ve already admitted that it is outside of your cultural comfort zone and shocks your Byzantine sensibilities, so, knowing that, why not show some respect and quit equating fellow Christians expressing joy with the violence and war of the dominant cultural group of the region who are actually oppressing and murdering these very same people?
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Sorry about that. Now I understand since you explained the word ululation to me. I understand it is a cry of joy at the consencration of a new Bishop. The ACE spoke and used a form of an ancient language, and not Arabic. Why was it in Arabic?
 
andrewstx said:
Sorry about that. Now I understand since you explained the word ululation to me. I understand it is a cry of joy at the consencration of a new Bishop. The ACE spoke and used a form of an ancient language, and not Arabic. Why was it in Arabic?
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Arabic is the vernacular, but the Assyrian/Syriac/Aramaic language of the Eastern dialect is their liturgical language. It is shared by the Syro-Malabars of India; and the Western dialect is used by the Maronites, the Syriacs, and the Malankara Church of India.
 
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