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.
Before continuing in the vein of paradoxes, I would like to revisit the previously discussed idea of the immeasurability of God's mercy, which is constantly supplicated to and glorified in our Syriac liturgical texts. Often it is compared to, as the proemion says, a "sea of mercy and compassion." Often the symbol of water is a very important one, and here is no exception; if one goes to water to drink, it should be clear that they can drink as much as they'd like and the sea is not affected in volume - so too is God's boundless mercy, no matter how much we drink of it, it does not decrease.

Anyway, in continuation with the idea of paradoxes, we ask the merciful Lord to alter things for the better: as the sedro says, to "let the rich be wealthy through alms," "the needs of the poor make them fervent" and "to the infirmed send relief." No request is too great for God, even if it seems to contradict the very immediate reality. Just as Sunday's 9th Hour says, "He cleansed lepers, opened [the eyes of] the blind, made the deaf hear... and raised the dead." Jesus demonstrated the true power of God when He demonstrated the petty impediments of this world can be easily done away with, they themselves being ontologically not of His Kingdom, as the proemion states it is not temporal nor is there suffering. These are the results of being deprived from the Fruit of Life, which God deprived man of after the fall so that he does not live forever in condemnation and waited until He came to redeem to once again give the Fruit of Life in the form of His flesh. I will not even touch upon the vast paradoxes of the Mystery of the Eucharist since both Mor Ephrem, Mor Yaqoob, and countless others have written countless books on it; I cannot do it justice in a hasty blog post.

The last paradox I'd like to touch upon is the allusion to fire made so distinctly in the bo'oto. Christ is seated on a "blazing throne," similar to when He is described as the master of the fiery legions in Monday's 9th Hour. The paradox this time is mariological and a frequent trope of Syriac poetry: "she was not harmed from His radiance nor from the might of His blaze. By His power, she supported and carried Him, who is carried by cherubim upon His throne." The seraphim, beings of fire, do not look at the blaze of God, nor do they come too close and the cherubim, who are fearful beastly creatures, do not come close either but carry the Lord's throne as a group. Mary is neither made of flames nor is brutish. One of her many titles in Syriac is the Yono Tlitho, the Young Dove - and it was this Young Dove that bore the Ancient Eagle. She did not bear Christ by her own power or might, but because of her extreme piety and holiness God permitted Himself to be emptied to dwell as a man. Mary did not burn when she bore Him, nor was she frightened. In this, we see our calling - we are called, like Mary, the most perfect Christian, to be higher than the fiery seraphim and fearful cherubim if we can only follow the will of God. Man's standard of strength means nothing because the divine will is the determining factor in the final account.

For the text of the 9th Hour of Tuesday, click here.

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