Ramsho of Shmooni

This is probably the last office from the Fenqitho I will probably post here. I chose Shmooni's Ramsho because she is a very important saint in Syriac tradition for she, "went first on the path of martyrdom for the sake of the Abrahamic faith." I could write an extensive commentary, but rather than do that I think the office speaks for itself.

The 6th Hour - The Last Office of Tuesday

With this office I've completed another day of offices, by the grace of God. I know I said I'm short on time yesterday, which I am, but I'd still like to offer a very short reflection on the beautiful typologies given in the bo'otho of the office.

Tuesday Safro

To access office, click here.

Very short on time as of late, so I'm unable to give a commentary. Pray for me.

Our Lord, accept our service, our prayers, come to our aid and have mercy on us!

Ramsho of St. Shmooni

In the current age of the Maronite Church, the old Syriac saints have been abandoned in almost exclusive adoption of solely Lebanese saints. Among the old saints is the venerable and holy example given to us by St. Shmooni and her seven sons.

Tuesday Lilyo Completed

The translation of Tuesday Lilyo is complete.

Glory of the Three Youths - Tuesday Lilyo

The beauty and catechismal value of qole never ceases to amaze me. In this qolo from Tuesday Lilyo, soteriological events are attributed to the Son, which in every other Church are generally given to the Father. However, in the Syriac Churches we have a great propensity to theologizing that direct interactions between man and God are the work of Christ, since He is the mediator between the Hidden God and humanity.

Christmas Hymn

In the spirit of the Season of Announcements (i.e. the Syriac equivalent of Advent), I have translated a qolo from the Fenqitho for the Birth of Our Lord (specifically the Ramsho of Christmas from the Hoosoyo) promoted by seeing the drafts for the Liturgical Commission's new issues, and they've decided to eliminate all the Hoosoye qole in favor of some innovative psalmic tone with substance-less words.

I also transliterated the Syriac if anyone is interested in singing the hymn. Let us look forward with fear and reverence to the dawning of our Lord as we commemorate His first coming, and may we serve Him well until His next.

Lilyo Hoosoyo - First Watch

This Hoosoyo from Tuesday's Lilyo is rather beautiful and theologically deep, despite a particularly dense phrasing of ideas.

Qolo from Tuesday Lilyo

The latest installment I have is the first qolo of Tuesday Lilyo. As with most night offices, it has a particularly eschatological/soteriological feeling. Once again, empathetic of merciful God of the Syriacs, the opening verse is a group of the repentant sinners from Scripture comforting the singer of the qolo. In each of their case, the mercy of God is affirmed.

Tuesday Sootoro

I've made good progress by posting two offices in the last weekend. This office of Tuesday's Sootoro, like most evening offices, is very reflective on Judgment and the eschatological typology between night/the end and morning/the second coming.

Qolo Variations

As an interesting point of comparison, the choir Shhimtho of 1890 has different texts at time from the Shhimtho (1904) I use as the major source for my texts. An example of this is this expansion to the popular Qolo, LMaryam Yoldat Aloho, found in the 9th Hour of Saturday. The expansion adds three verses to a one verse song, so at times the variations are substantial. An example is found in the Tuesday Ramsho.

Tuesday Ramsho Complete

This is the first office I've completed in a while. Its prayers, specifically the Sedro and Bo'otho, express the fear and danger of evening, which is a typology for eschatological darkness.

Sooghito from Tuesday Ramsho

This Sooghito centers around the parable alluded to in the Qolo discussed in this post, found in Matthew 20: 1-16. Little sympathy is found for the jealous servant, despite the fact he works all day.

Qolo from Ramsho of Tuesday

So I've gotten a long enough respite today to translate the second Qolo from the Ramsho of Tuesday. It is a beautiful praise to God and plea to God for mercy on judgment - which is, again as I've said many times before, a very common element of Syro-Maronite liturgy.

Active Workspace

Have no fear, blog readers, I have not abandoned my goal!

I do apologize for the lull in offices being posted, my life has become a tad complicated but I will recommit to making regular installations about the offices.

Excerpt from Holy Cross Hoosoyo

While this blog is specifically for the Ordinary, my curiosity leads me to the Fenqitho. This season is that of the Holy Cross, and the Fenqitho contains propers for this feast which was celebrated on the 14th, and will continue to be commemorated in this season until the new Church year begins in November. I translated a little excerpt from the Holy Cross Safro, which I've added below with a little more commentary.

Verse from the Opening Qolo of Tuesday's Ramsho

I've been very busy as of late and unable to work on translations, other than the last little project below in August. This is the first time in a few weeks I've gotten the chance to pick on Tuesday's Ramsho other than to pray it. As the seasons are changing right now, I find the excerpt from this qolo very appropriate.

Expansion of Qolo

Different versions of the Shhimtho add and subtract to various parts. The 1890 Shhimtho had an extended part of the very well known L'Maryam Yoldat Aloho, whose fourth verse is used in Maronite liturgy 'til today.

Safro of the Assumption

In the Syriac tradition, we lack the systematic treatises of the Latin Church. What we have, instead, are beautiful poetic liturgical texts which are catechismal in two ways: (1) they're instructive as to how we should raise glory to God and (2) they're instructive as to why we should raise glory to God (lex orandi, lex credendi). This office of the Assumption is illustrative to Mary's voluntary role in the Incarnation of God and salvation of mankind, her power was an intercessor and God's magnification of her.

Sedro of the Assumption

The Hoosoye found in the Fenqitho are relatively longer than those found in the Shhimtho, understandably so since they're for major feasts. The Sedro for the Assumption's Safro is no different. It is also a special type of Sedro set to a bo'oto melody (I have posted one other office like this thus far - the Sootoro of Sunday). Within this Hoosoyo, the mystery of the Incarnation is briefly alluded to, Mary's voluntary role and then a good portion is taken up by the angelic salutations to Mary upon her death and petitions to God.

Sooghito from the Safro of the Assumption

I've been making good headway with the Safro of the Assumption and I'm more than halfway complete. Although the sooghito of an office are generally 22 short lines they are the perfect introduction to the hoosoyo because they provide an apt summary for the theological context and importance of what is being celebrate, which is then fully explained in the hoosoyo.

Qolo from the Safro of the Assumption

As explained in this previous post I will be deviating slightly from the objective of this blog (i.e. translating the Ordinary) in honor of the Virgin Mary by translating the Safro of her Assumption (which is found in the book of festal offices called the Fenqitho). The qole and prayers are very beautiful and reflect many of the Church's longstanding Tradition of the Virgin and her death.

In Honor and Remembrance of the Pure and Holy Virgin Mother of God

To those who pray the Shhimtho or have read any Syriac prayers or homilies it is very obvious that Mary is venerated very highly. Thank God our tradition was never touched by the heresies of the reformers. In honor of the Mary I am translating the Safro for the Assumption, which I hope to post sometime next week.

Safro of Monday

I just posted the Safro of Monday, which means this is the second complete day of offices posted.

Monday Lilyo posted

I've just posted Monday Lilyo. This office has particularly beautiful typologies.

Sootoro of Monday posted

I've just finished the Sootoro of Monday. There is a particularly strong bo'oto in the office, which I will discuss below a bit.

Sootoro of Monday's Qolo

Just to give a sneak peak of the Sootoro I've almost finished.

Ramsho of Monday Posted

I've completed another Ramsho office, this one in particular having a strong focus on the reality of the fear we shall feel at Judgment.

Ramsho of Monday Qolo

I have begun translation of the Ramsho of Sunday. The opening Qolo is one of my favorite Syriac hymns and, in fact, is the first Syriac hymn I learned. It is a beautiful Qolo that asks God for mercy at the inevitable judgment.

Midday of Monday and Quick Description of 6th Hour (Midday) Offices

I've really been on top of my translating game as of late - I finished all the Sunday offices and have another office turned out the next day. Anyway, this post will have a brief commentary on the Midday office of Monday but first give a quick description of the office type as I've done for all the other offices.

Midday Office of Sunday

I have finished the Midday Office of Sunday. All the seven offices of Sunday have been uploaded.

Midnight Office of Sunday Finally Completed!

I've finally completed the Lilyo of Sunday. It is the longest of the offices and contains many beautiful prayers.

Hoosoyo of Sunday Lilyo

Below I've attached the Hoosoyo (Proemion, Sedro, Qolo and Etro) of Sunday's Lilyo. It's pretty clear to me the reason why these offices have remained untranslated the more I look at them because it seems the certain Syriac theology revealed to them would be upsetting to certain sensibilities currently present in the Maronite Church. The Etro particularly comes to mind because it sets a typology up between the sacrifice of Abraham, Moses, Aaron and the other Levitical high priests and the current priesthood both intended for the glorification but also appeasement of God. Such ideas have been central to Syriac theology for the last two millennia and we must remember that our current priesthood is a continuation of the Levitical priesthood magnified by the Incarnation. We should not cast off the understanding of our soteriology for meaningless platitudes because it seems a bit frightening that God is not required to grant us the remission and forgiveness of sins and offenses.

Lilyo Sooghito

Once again, my apologizes to those who follow this blog for a recent lull in posts, I've been very busy. I just completed the Sooghito of Sunday Lilyo (included below) and I hope to finish the office in its entirety pretty soon.

All I will say of the sooghito is that it shows an interesting dynamic of theosis resonating with the phrase "Christ became man so that we may become god" (St. Athanasius).

Glory of the Three Youths

This is the first opportunity I've gotten to translate in a while. Below is the full text of the opening Qolo of the fourth watch of Sunday's Lilyo. It has a few verses of typology, as well as intercessory verses.

First Verse of the Glory of the Three Youths Hymn - Sunday's Lilyo

So I know I haven't made a post in a while, so I wanted to just post a teaser of the first qolo before the hoosoyo in the fourth watch of Sunday's lilyo.

Mshiho Qom!

Mshiho qom men bet mete bteshbohto whaylo rabo (The Messiah is raised from the house of the dead in great glory and power), dear readers!

I apologize for the lack of blog updates since the beginning of this month - I have been very busy, to say the least. Nonetheless, the fourth watch of Lilyo of Sunday has been started and as soon as I get out of this wave of work I will be soon to update the blog.

Our Lord, accept our service, our prayers, come to our aid and have mercy on us!

Sunday Lilyo 3rd watch

The Sunday Lilyo has been taking me a rather long time - so far I've just began the final watch. I thought I would share the sedro of the hoosoyo in the 3rd watch [to the departed].

Brief Overview of Lilyo

I'd like to make a post on Lilyo since I haven't posted anything in a while, as I don't have much time to work on the office itself either. Lilyo the longest office of the day. It should begin being said at midnight and contains four qawme (watches - like sentinel watches), each of which have a different devotion. This office has the most extensive structure, as it essentially is like four composite canonical hours (with the final watch being longest than the other three).

Lilyo Excerpt

The Syriac tradition has a rich poetic-prayer tradition, thanks to Mor Ephrem and Mor Yaqoob of Sarug. Many elements of the office are indicative of this, like the sooghito that the verses are alphabetically arranged by the first word of each verse.  The Syriac theological tradition lacks the precision of words the Greek and Latin traditions consist of, but more than makes up for it in its poetry and astute typologies. The excerpt below is demonstrative of this (take from the Lilyo of Sunday, which I'm currently working on).

Uploaded Ramsho of Sunday

I've just completed and uploaded the Ramsho of Sunday. With that, five offices of Sunday have been completed and only two remain to be translated (albeit Lilyo is substantially longer - numbering around 30 pages - and the 6th Hour numbers around 5).

Brief Overview of Ramsho

I have begun translating the Ramsho of Sunday. I thought it would be a point of interesting to just go over the basic office structure.

Safro of Sunday finally completed and uploaded!!!

So with great joy, I'm happy to announce I've completed a translation of Sunday's Safro. I've been reflecting on individual parts progressively since I've started, so I think I will just use this reflection to analyze one of the lines in the Bo'oto.

First Office Mazmooro

Safro gives an example of what a mazmooro is following the Etro of the Hoosoyo. Mazmooro can either refer to the mazmoore of King David (i.e. the canonical Psalms) or this short style of hymn.

Holy are You, Lover of Mankind

I'm drawing near to completing the Safro  of Sunday. The last qolo of the office is to the melody of Qadishat Rohem Nosho (Holy are You, Lover of Mankind). This qolo takes the trisagion (the one prayed before every office and at every liturgy - Holy are You, God, Holy are You, Strong One, Holy are You, Immortal One) and expands it by singing the glory of God relating to His compassion.

Shabah - Safro Qolo of Glorification

If one hasn't noticed already by the previous posts I've made about Safro (here's a general overview), the qole are very oriented towards the glorification of God - the opening Gloria (not a qolo) the Glory of the Mother of God, the Glory of St. Ephrem. This post is about the Shabah (plural imperative of glorify/praise), a qolo that rotates its verses with Psalms 148-150 and 117. Instead of giving a lengthy analysis of the Shabah I decided to just post my translation for Sunday's Safro below.

Verse of Safro's Qolo

One of the main travesties of the Prayer of the Faithful is that it destroys the brilliant formula of prayer that the writers of the Sh'himto created. Everything is complimentary - hymns in the morning, for example, speak about the Second Coming as the dawning of the sun and the apostles being bright lights that illuminated the four quarters of the earth. Tangentially, it also alludes in the night office to death and lying down in the hope of resurrection. In an even more complex complimentarity, the rotating verses of scripture are related to the following verse of each qolo.

In this post, I will take a look at one of the eschatological verses of one of the qole in Sunday's Safro. 

Brief Overview of Safro

Each large office has a distinctive set of prayers. Safro is no different. I haven't had much time to work on translating the actual texts (although I've been working on Sunday's!) but I'll give a brief overview of the setup.

Syriac Gloria

So while I'm working on Safro and the longer offices I will obviously not be able to post full offices as often. Instead, for longer offices I'll share interesting bits and reflections while the office is still being translated. For this post, I'd like to share the Syriac Gloria.

Short Term Goal

While I think how I have been approaching things thus far (i.e. doing the smaller offices) is good, I'd like to have Sunday finished in its completion. It makes the most sense to me, personally, to have the entirety of the most holy day of the week available for use and then I'll resume working on the various offices of the week.

The [tentative] order I intend to complete Sunday in is Safro, Shet Sho'een, Ramsho and then Lilyo. This prompts me to say it should not be surprising if I do not upload another office for more than a week since all of these (save Shet Sho'een) are substantially longer offices than what I have thus uploaded.

Our Lord, accept our service, our prayers, come to our aid and have mercy on us!

3rd Hour Tuesday uploaded

So the 3rd Hour of Tuesday has been uploaded, appropriately in time for Tuesday morning. Anyway, I think a reflection on Marian typology is in order.

3rd Hour of Monday Uploaded!

Apologizes to the recent lull in uploads. There are a few reasons for both being unable to translate and upload as of late. But anyway, Monday's 3rd Hour has been uploaded! Although the mercy of God is not nearly a mundane or tired topic to discuss, I cannot eloquently reflect on another office that grasps at the infiniteness of divine love. Another office centered around divine mercy, however, should be indicative of the focus of the Syriac tradition. However, I'd like to give a little "liturgical" (I guess) reflection.

3rd Hour of Sunday Uploaded!

So I've uploaded the 3rd Hour of Sunday in a temporary format (discussed here). I hope those who pray it are brought to a deeper understanding of the Triune God and it serve as an efficacious petition to our merciful Lord.

For the 3rd Hour of Sunday, click here.

Our Lord, accept our service, our prayers, come to our aid and have mercy on us!

First 3rd Hour Translated

So I recently translated the 3rd Hour of Sunday to add to the Shhimto-in-progress. However, I've run into a small issue of logistics since I no longer have my computer is format the document as I please or add Syriac for the melody notation. I will be most likely adding a temporary text, which I will replace at a later time.

Anyway, the 3rd Hour is, structurally, the same as the 9th Hour but this office in particular presents something very interesting about Eastern theology in general.

Reflection on Compline of Sunday

So the second compline office has been posted. I think I've decided I like the idea of shorter reflections, seeing as how I don't want to go on forever to bore the few readers I have - if anyone would like any specific item addressed, feel free to ask in writing and with your permission I'll publicly address it (or privately if you'd prefer).

Anyway, the theme I'd like to address in this Sootoro is the frequent imagery in Syriac theology of the mystical wedding feast between the Bridegroom and the Church.

Post-Hootomo

So the editions prior to what Moran Mor Antoun promulgated and what he promulgated are substantially the same. However, one noticeable difference is the one promulgated by Moran or Antoun is that there is a prayer included after the Hootomo (which, in itself, means conclusion).

Last Ninth Hour Posted!

The last Ninth Hour office has been posted (viewable here). I hope to start now on completing the 6 sootore that are yet to be done.


Our Lord, accept our service, our prayers, come to our aid and have mercy on us!

Reflection on 9th Hour of Friday

This is the second to last of the 9th Hour offices. I have yet another short reflection in mind for this office, but brevity will not impede the magnitude of the item. I'm speaking of the "Tree."

Reflection on 9th Hour of Thursday

While my previous reflections have been lengthy, I think this one can be tackled in a briefer post. Thursday's Ninth Hour, while comparatively shorter than even some of the short offices, it is full of prayers indicative of a healthy Syriac spirituality. As previously mentioned, primary amongst these are our inherent unworthiness and God's limitless and uncompelled mercy.

Reflection on 9th Hour of Wednesday

An inherent aspect of Syriac theology is the great caution in avoiding [what I assume the Syriac Fathers would think of as] overreaching speculation. There is a great deal of meditation upon mystery, and, again, any mystery revealed is considered a voluntary act of mercy by the hand of God. There also develops a certain, almost esoteric language through which thinks are referred to and I will point to several items I think are indicative of this mystique.

Reflection on 9th Hour of Tuesday

The 9th Hour of Tuesday is indicative of what I like to call the paradoxical nature of Syriac theology. And, might I add, I think the paradoxes that we use to express our prayers are appropriate because Christianity in itself is centered around the greatest paradox: the highest Being (i.e. God) lowering Himself to be a meek human so that humanity may be elevated to be on High with God. He is the God that has become manifest through the Son, but remains Hidden in the Father; we are started from Him by sin yet through His Spirit we are made temples.

First Compline Office Posted!

So I've just uploaded the first Sootoro (compline) office; as per usual, it can be found here or if you'd like to come back to it later it can be found under the 'Office Texts' tab. For those of you interested in a discussion of Sootoro's structure, click 'Read More!'

Reflection on 9th Hour of Monday

As I stated previously, whenever I upload an office translation, such as this office that can be found here or the 'Office Text' page, I would like to write a reflection on the prayers. I find this hoosoyo to be an excellent summary of Syriac theology and the focus of God's majesty and mercy.

First 9th Hour Office Posted!

So I've posted the first 9th hour (i.e. 3PM) office. I intend to write a prayerful reflection on something in the office, but for the first type of each office I'd also like to make some remarks.

Hootomo - the Concluding Prayers of An Office

The Hootomo, or conclusion, is the very last part of the office. This is said at the conclusion of every office. One thing that the version I translated makes clear is that the Syriac offices were written to be prayed in community with at least one priest.

Pre-Office Uploaded

So the first item to be downloaded is the pre-office. The link can be found at the end of this post or in the tab marked above as 'Office Texts.' Anyway, the prayers said in preparation for an office should seem more or less familiar to most Christians, especially those of the East.

Office Structure

So to anyone liturgically interested, I'm sure the question of what a traditional office actually looks like comes to mind. If anyone has seen the structure of the office book "Prayer of the Faithful" published by the Eparchy of Brooklyn, the prayer structure is vaguely correct, although modified to look more like a Latin office. It should also be noted that in keeping with our Semitic heritage, the liturgical cycle begins with evening prayer.

Hello!

So I'm excited to begin this blog. I won't bore my nonexistent (at least not yet!) blog readers with repeating the information in the 'About' section. At the present moment starting this blog, I have about a dozen offices complete and another dozen that are underway being translated so I hope to start downloading the finished one's soon.

Our Lord, accept our service, our prayers, come to our aid and have mercy on us!