Safro of Thursday

Another morning office available!

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

Lilyo of Thursday

The Lilyo of Thursday brings an interesting insight into repentance and justification.

Ramsho of St. Shmooni

In the current age of the Maronite Church, the old Syriac saints have been abandoned in almost exclusive adoption of solely Lebanese saints. Among the old saints is the venerable and holy example given to us by St. Shmooni and her seven sons.

Tuesday Ramsho Complete

This is the first office I've completed in a while. Its prayers, specifically the Sedro and Bo'otho, express the fear and danger of evening, which is a typology for eschatological darkness.

Sooghito from Tuesday Ramsho

This Sooghito centers around the parable alluded to in the Qolo discussed in this post, found in Matthew 20: 1-16. Little sympathy is found for the jealous servant, despite the fact he works all day.

Qolo from Ramsho of Tuesday

So I've gotten a long enough respite today to translate the second Qolo from the Ramsho of Tuesday. It is a beautiful praise to God and plea to God for mercy on judgment - which is, again as I've said many times before, a very common element of Syro-Maronite liturgy.

Sootoro of Monday posted

I've just finished the Sootoro of Monday. There is a particularly strong bo'oto in the office, which I will discuss below a bit.

Ramsho of Monday Qolo

I have begun translation of the Ramsho of Sunday. The opening Qolo is one of my favorite Syriac hymns and, in fact, is the first Syriac hymn I learned. It is a beautiful Qolo that asks God for mercy at the inevitable judgment.

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.

Reflection on 9th Hour of Wednesday

An inherent aspect of Syriac theology is the great caution in avoiding [what I assume the Syriac Fathers would think of as] overreaching speculation. There is a great deal of meditation upon mystery, and, again, any mystery revealed is considered a voluntary act of mercy by the hand of God. There also develops a certain, almost esoteric language through which thinks are referred to and I will point to several items I think are indicative of this mystique.