The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (499 page)

 
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Canticle
.

A song or prayer from the Bible (other than a
Psalm
) used in Christian worship. The Canticle of the Sun is a hymn of praise to God revealed in nature, composed by St
Francis
, probably in 1225.

 
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Cantillation
.

The musical reading of the Jewish Bible,
Talmud
, or other liturgical passages. There is no scholarly agreement over the cantillation of Jewish liturgy.

 
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Cantonists
.

Jewish children conscripted into the Russian army between 1827 and 1856. The children were snatched from their homes to fulfil the government quota.

 
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(Heb.,
azzan
). One trained to lead the Jewish
synagogue
prayer service.

 
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(Vietnamese, ‘supreme palace’ or ‘altar’, and now the name for the supreme God). Syncretist religious and nationalist movement arising in the Mekong delta of Vietnam from spirit seances giving a new ‘third revelation’ through a civil servant, Ngo Van Chieu, in 1919. The first and second revelations had produced
Confucianism
,
Taoism
, Spirit worship,
Buddhism
, and
Christianity
, but Cao Dai would now unite and complete them. In 1923, a businessman, Le Van Trung, began to develop Cao Dai as a strong organization on the
Roman Catholic
model under a pope, although this later split into several sects.

 
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