Christmas Sooghito

Christmas is an extremely important feast in all of Christendom but especially in Syriac Christianity - why? Whereas the Latins emphasize the Passion and the Greeks the Glorious Resurrection (both of which are essential to the faith and should be properly commemorated), we Syriacs focus on the Incarnation which begins with the birth of Christ. Our theology is an "incarnational" one - God has become man so that man may become God, having assumed what is ours and giving us what is His. Volumes could be written on the subject, so I shall just leave a Sooghito from the Christmas office in which Mary praises her newly born Son. How amazing is the self-abasement of Christ in His Incarnation - the Sustainer of the Ages condescends to be fed by a woman, the Bearer of Worlds is borne by a virgin, He who moves all things crawls on the ground, He who governs all things is directed by a human, and He, before whom fiery angels shudder and hide their faces from His blaze, is embraced by a lady.

Let us pray for peace this Christmas for Christ has brought peace between heaven and earth - between whom can He not bring peace?

3rd Hour of Friday

For access to the 3rd Hour of Friday, click here.

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

Safro of Friday

For access to the Safro of Friday, click here.

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

Lilyo of Friday

For access to the Lilyo of Friday, click here.

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

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.

Sootoro of Monday's Qolo

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

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).

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.

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.

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.