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. 

He has cast down the strong from thrones and exalted the meek.

Lamenting and passion will clothe all sinners on the day in which He is established on the mighty throne of judgment. All concealed things shall come forth like the sun that illumines the earth. The light shall dawn like the sun and repentance like a shoot. Bless is he who laments his person in passion and sorrow.

The first verse is from the Glory of the Virgin Mary (specifically Luke 1:52 of the Peshitto). It is illustrative of the fact that God's will is the will that will triumph. It was very difficult to translate the word for "strong" from Syriac because it also means mighty and stable. But even the stable and established will be uprooted from their thrones, if God wills it. In their place, He will exalt the lowly and meek.

Related to this verse, the following verse of the qolo is one of the Last Judgment where Jesus will establish himself upon the bema (translated here as throne, but think of a judgment stand). The mighty and lowly will be equally lowly before the might of God on that day. All things hidden will be as evident as the sun. On that day, we will be able to conceal nothing - all our failings and deeds shall be before us for all to see. But we should not despair over this inevitable judgment, despite the frightening prospect of everyone seeing our actions (I will certainly not enjoy that part). Jesus is indeed a judge and damnation is a very real possibility. However, the entire creation of man, the giving of Law, its abrogation, the sacrifice of Jesus and the giving of sacraments for the remission of our sins are all acts that demonstrate our judge is a merciful and forgiving one to those who seek His compassion. Two verses down, the qolo continues:

Father of truth, who accepted the prodigal son after he had squandered his possessions in wantonness and drunkenness, who cast himself down and You kissed him, slayed the fattened steer and offered it to him, accept Your servants, O Compassionate One, who return and come to Your sheepfold. The watchers and angels rejoice in the hope of those who are repentant.

The Father wants everyone to be reconciled to Him -  damnation is a self-imposed penalty that He would prefer that we avoid at all costs. In His mercy, He gives us every moment until our judgment to amend our ways and He has ordered all creation to rejoice at our reconciliation - even the angels rejoice at the thought of our coming home. He not only accepts us, but greets us with kindness as the father to the prodigal son (Luke 15: 11-32). How great is the mercy of our God!

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