Ramsho of Shmooni

This is probably the last office from the Fenqitho I will probably post here. I chose Shmooni's Ramsho because she is a very important saint in Syriac tradition for she, "went first on the path of martyrdom for the sake of the Abrahamic faith." I could write an extensive commentary, but rather than do that I think the office speaks for itself.

Midday of Monday and Quick Description of 6th Hour (Midday) Offices

I've really been on top of my translating game as of late - I finished all the Sunday offices and have another office turned out the next day. Anyway, this post will have a brief commentary on the Midday office of Monday but first give a quick description of the office type as I've done for all the other offices.

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.

Hoosoyo of Sunday Lilyo

Below I've attached the Hoosoyo (Proemion, Sedro, Qolo and Etro) of Sunday's Lilyo. It's pretty clear to me the reason why these offices have remained untranslated the more I look at them because it seems the certain Syriac theology revealed to them would be upsetting to certain sensibilities currently present in the Maronite Church. The Etro particularly comes to mind because it sets a typology up between the sacrifice of Abraham, Moses, Aaron and the other Levitical high priests and the current priesthood both intended for the glorification but also appeasement of God. Such ideas have been central to Syriac theology for the last two millennia and we must remember that our current priesthood is a continuation of the Levitical priesthood magnified by the Incarnation. We should not cast off the understanding of our soteriology for meaningless platitudes because it seems a bit frightening that God is not required to grant us the remission and forgiveness of sins and offenses.

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 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).

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.

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. 

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.

3rd Hour Tuesday uploaded

So the 3rd Hour of Tuesday has been uploaded, appropriately in time for Tuesday morning. Anyway, I think a reflection on Marian typology is in order.

3rd Hour of Monday Uploaded!

Apologizes to the recent lull in uploads. There are a few reasons for both being unable to translate and upload as of late. But anyway, Monday's 3rd Hour has been uploaded! Although the mercy of God is not nearly a mundane or tired topic to discuss, I cannot eloquently reflect on another office that grasps at the infiniteness of divine love. Another office centered around divine mercy, however, should be indicative of the focus of the Syriac tradition. However, I'd like to give a little "liturgical" (I guess) reflection.

3rd Hour of Sunday Uploaded!

So I've uploaded the 3rd Hour of Sunday in a temporary format (discussed here). I hope those who pray it are brought to a deeper understanding of the Triune God and it serve as an efficacious petition to our merciful Lord.

For the 3rd Hour of Sunday, click here.

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

First 3rd Hour Translated

So I recently translated the 3rd Hour of Sunday to add to the Shhimto-in-progress. However, I've run into a small issue of logistics since I no longer have my computer is format the document as I please or add Syriac for the melody notation. I will be most likely adding a temporary text, which I will replace at a later time.

Anyway, the 3rd Hour is, structurally, the same as the 9th Hour but this office in particular presents something very interesting about Eastern theology in general.