Why do I bring this up? Many have sent me questions as to what office we are to pray during the season of the Resurrection. We operate on a one-week breviary cycle called the 'Shhimtho' (literally ordinary - not in the sense of the Latin Church as in 'ordinal' or numbered but ordinary as in normal). If one looks below at the graphic, the Shhimtho is used the vast majority of the year (88% or about 320 days). There are relatively few options within the Shhimtho - in the Shhimtho Rabtho, or the Big Ordinary, (which is a choir book) there are several options for different hymns and hoosoye, particularly on Sunday. The Shhimtho Zo'urto, the Small Ordinary, (the equivalent of a handheld breviary) has no options save the ordinary text.
So what of the other 12% of the year? Properly speaking, offices exist for the day of a feast. The introduction of seasonal and festal propers, both within the office and the mass, are revisionist innovations made by generally taking the Safro of a feast and repurposing different parts. It is a bit problematic to say Maronites use festal "propers" - proper offices are used, but proper parts has the connotation of retaining the general ordinary but interchanging certain parts. The proper festal offices are entirely different, save the psalms that are used, because the Syriac office is wholistic - the hymns match the hoosoyo and bo'utho thematically. If the feast is the feast of St. Jude then all the hymns and prayers are about St. Jude, which segues into where these festal offices are found.
The second most used book (split into two volumes of summer and winter) is the Fenqitho (lit. tablet, volume). The Fenqitho is composed of 26 feasts' offices split into two equal volumes of 13 offices each, one for summer and the other for winter (used on 27 days - 7.4% of the year, as the Annunciation is celebrated twice a year on the Syriac calendar). Each set of offices for a feast day has four offices - Ramsho, Sootoro, Lilyo and Safro (the 3rd, 6th and 9th hours are taken from the Shhimtho on feast days). The Fenqitho has offices for saint days (e.g. St. George, St. Shmooni), some Dominical feasts (e.g. Christmas, Transfiguration) and Sundays during the Season of Annunciations (e.g. Annunciation to Mary, Annunciation to Zechariah).
A third book used is called the Tedmrotho - Miracles - as it is the book containing the offices for the Sundays during the Great Lent. Great Lent in the Syriac tradition is thematically organized based around Sundays commemorating different miracles in the ministry of Christ (e.g. healing of the blind man, healing of the hemorrhaging woman, etc.). This book is minimally featured, as there are only 6 Sundays of Great Lent.
The last book used during the year is the Hasho (lit. the Passion) which is used during 1.6% of the year (or just six days). The Hasho contains 43 offices with seven offices a day for Holy Week beginning on Monday and ending on Saturday. The additional office is for the Rite of the Adoration of the Cross on Friday of the Crucifixion.
There remains an unaccounted approximate 2% for offices during the year. Within the Shhimtho Rabtho is the office of Qyomto, or the Resurrection. Beginning on Easter Sunday until Pentecost this office is celebrated on each Sunday in between. In addition within a book called the Book of Rites there are three noteworthy offices. The first chronologically is the PONTIFICAL (read: only bishops may perform this rite, common to all Eastern Churches) washing of feet on Thursday of the Mysteries. Easter Sunday itself has the Rite of Peace, an office for removing the cross which was buried on the Friday of the Crucifixion during the Adoration of the Cross. Lastly, Pentecost has an office for the Rite of Kneeling - the first time Syriacs kneel since the celebration of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday.
Hopefully this serves for some clarity regarding when we pray what office.
Our Lord, accept our service, our prayers, come to our aid and have mercy on us!
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