I have no doubt that it was after this custom that the disciples drank when Jesus "took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave to them: and they _all_ drank of it."[4]
No account of fraternal feasting in Syria can be complete without mention of the _z[i-breve]kreh_ (remembrance). To be remembered by his friends after his departure from them is one of the Syrian's deepest and dearest desires. The _z[i-breve]kreh_ plays a very important part in the literature of the East, and expresses the tenderest spirit of its poetry. The expressions "I remember," "remember me," "your remembrance," "the remembrance of those days" and like phrases are legion among the Syrians. "O friends," cries the Arabian poet, { 64} "let your remembrance of us be as constant as our remembrance of you; for such a remembrance brings near those that are far away."
Rarely do friends who have been feasting together part without this request being made by those of them who do not expect to meet with their friends again for a time. "Remember me when you meet again," is said by the departing friend with unspeakable tenderness. He is affectionately grateful also when he knows that he is held in remembrance by his friends. So St. Paul pours out his soul in grateful joy for his friends' remembrance of him. "But now when Timotheus came from you unto us, and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, and that _ye have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see you_."[5]
This affectionate request, "remember me," signifies, "I love you, therefore I am always with you." If we love one another, we cannot { 65} be separated from one another. The _z[)i]ikreh_ is the bond of fraternity between us.
Was not this the very thing which the Master meant when he said, "This do in remembrance of me"?[6] The disciples were asked never to allow themselves to forget their Master's love for them and for the world: never to forget that if his love lived in their hearts he was always with them, present at their feasts, and in their struggles in the world to lead the world from darkness into light. "This do in remembrance of me," is therefore the equivalent of "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."[7]