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?

Safro of Thursday

Another morning office available!

To access this office, click here.

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

Wednesday Ramsho and Sootoro

A belated blessed feast of Denho (Epiphany) to all my blog readers. Nothing new, but I've been a bit busy. This post contains the links for Wednesday's ramsho and sootoro that I finished quite a while ago but never got the chance to post.

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.

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.

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.

Monday Lilyo posted

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

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.

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.

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.

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.