Here’s a draft translation of the various Introductions to both major editions of the Hudhra (the liturgy of the hours of the Church of the East). There’s a lot to say about each of them, but for now I’ll post them as they are. If anyone sees mistakes in my translation (or transliteration of the names), please do let me know.
Below I’m posting them in order of composition:
First, Chaldean Patriarch Mar Putrus Eliya XII’s introduction to the first published edition of the Hudhra in 1887 (presumably when the publication process began).
Second, that of Cardinal Tisserrant which was written when the publication was complete, in 1938.
Third, Metropolitan Mar Thomas Darmo’s introduction to the Assyrian Trishur Hudhra, written in 1960.
Fourth, that of Assyrian Patriarch Mar Esai Shim’un XXIII, from 1961.
Putrus Eliya XII, by grace the Catholicos-Patriarch of Babylon,
to our most-honored brethren, the venerable Metropolitans and Bishops,
and our beloved sons, the splendid priests and monks, and the chosen deacons,
and the other members of the Church, peace and blessings in our Lord.
After the light of the Gospel radiated the glory of the Lord upon this our eastern corner, especially through those three glorious lights, namely, Mar Thomas, Mar Addai, and Mar Mari, the blessed apostles, preachers of the truth, and messengers of righteousness, in a space of a short time, the mighty cloud of idolatry was stripped from its face, and it was doubly brightened by the splendid rays of the truly glorious faith in the one living God of three adorable Qnome, and the thicket of error which the evil one had sown in her from the ages were uprooted, and it flourished and abounded in the seed of the good teaching of the truth, and the thistles of all kinds of vices with which she was covered were taken up, and she was adorned like a lovely meadow with the beautiful blossoms of the well-ordered habits of virtue, and her beauty gleamed before the eyes of all with the adorned lilies of noble works, for the precious blood of the victorious martyrs who were killed for the sake of Jesus watered her thirst and her tribulation. And it so happened that the number of Christians greatly increased like seed from within it, and then churches were established, and hermitages and monasteries were completed in many places, as the books remembering ecclesiastical stories witness, that these lands along with their ancient remnants remain until today. Because of this, our venerable fathers were devoured by the love of the Lord, and the holy fire of divine grace ignited in their heart and exhorted them, and they mused on arriving at the state of spiritual perfection. These chosen vessels of honor and revered dwellings of the Holy Spirit began, as if to refresh the thirst of their hearts, to sing the Psalms of David the king and prophet on Sundays and days set apart and specified, and became concerned to organize rites of various prayers filled with the spirit of divine work, which they celebrated together. Then the flower, this our glorious liturgy of canonical prayers, became a tradition, which was held, and is now held, completely without change, in all the dioceses and churches of our Chaldean nation [`umthan kaldayta]. Thus every discerning person sees clearly how ancient these liturgical prayers are which are offered up every day in our churches, since they were arranged and passed down to us, hand to hand, from the apostles who made disciples in the East, and from their holy disciples, and from people who put on God, and from their composition, and they are kept at all times and celebrated vigilantly and diligently. Indeed, besides the Psalms which rise up in their multitude in all of their parts, and are as the foundation of the liturgy, there are among them compositions of Mar Marutha of Myparqat, and of Mar Shim’un Bar Sabba’e the Catholicos and victorious martyr, and of Mar Ephrem the great teacher, and others of the first teachers who shone in teaching and burned with the zeal of the house of the Lord. Because from the fifth century, when, for reasons unveiled to those who know, the bitter poison of the heresy of Byzantium seeped within these lands, and the beauty of that honored pearl, that is, the faith of true glory which our victorious fathers bought by the blood of their necks, was ruined, some things were added to the prayers composed by the intelligent teachers of that religion. A few services were arranged by Mar Yawsep II, which are those celebrated on the Memorial of St. Barbara, that of St. Nicholas, that of the Massacre of the Children, of the Feast of the Circumcision, the Bringing of Our Lord to the Temple, of St. Joseph the Betrothed of the Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of the Virgin, Corpus Christi (and the Heart of Jesus); and the rite of the Conception of the Holy Virgin without Stain was arranged by Fr. Damian.
It is clear to all those who are convinced by the ecclesiastical histories that in the fourth century after the birth of our Lord, this our honored liturgy was arranged in a splendid arrangement, and complete in all its essential parts, since it was fixed and finalized at the Synod of Mar Isaac and Mar Marutha, which was in the year 410 AD, that “the prayers of the liturgy are to be celebrated according to the manner of the church of Selucia-Ctesiphon.”
The parts of these liturgical prayers in the Hudhra of the whole year, aside from Lent, are three, namely, evening prayer, night prayer, and morning prayer. Evening prayer, in thanksgiving for the provision of the things of the daytime; morning prayer, in thanksgiving that we have been raised from the sleep which symbolizes death, and for our protection against dangers; and the service of night prayer, taken from the word of our Lord and of David. For David says: “In the middle of the night, I arose to gave thanks to you for your just judgments.” And our Lord admonishes us: “Stay awake, for you do not know at what hour your Lord comes,” in the evening, or in the middle of the night, or when the rooster crows. But during the time of Lent, besides these prayers, our fathers of venerable memory set apart others, namely quta’a, ‘iddana, and suba’a.
In the seventh century, [the liturgy’s] parts were arranged in the Upper Monastery of Mar Gabriel and Mar Abraham, the disciples of Mar Eugene the blessed, which is near the city of Mosul, when with keen mind, sharp faculties, and great discernment, it was divided into the known seasons, namely, Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Resurrection, Ascension, Pentecost or Apostles, Summer, Elijah, Cross, Moses, and the Sanctification of the Church. And for each of these seasons, and the feasts and memorials which occurred in them, they arranged proper services, prayers, and marvelous hymns, according to the subject of the particular feast or memorial, and the theme of the season. And so there is the glorious Conception of our Lord Jesus Christ, and his Birth, and his Circumcision, and his Baptism, and his holy Fasting, and his Preaching, and his Passion and his Death, and his Resurrection, and his Ascension, and the Descent of the Spirit Paraclete upon the Blessed Apostles, and their Tribulations and Preaching and Conversion of the Nations. And after the entire providence of our Savior and the conversion of the nations by the hands of the apostles and their true successors, and after the interval of years until the end of time, Elijah the Zealous is sent, and in his zeal he shames the one who is called and is the son of perdition, and thereafter the sign of the Son of God will be seen, namely the holy Cross, and then after the eradication, uprooting, and condemnation of the son of perdition, the heavenly Bridegroom will dawn from the holy and glorious heavens, and will raise all from the dust, and raise the good to the height above and dismiss the sinners to the fire of Gehanna. And the end, just as the same holy Church who is the betrothed of Christ, which is the saints and the true believers, will go out to meet him in joy as she extolls and glorifies him with all honors. Then the Bridegroom of Truth, Jesus our Savior, will receive his betrothed, the holy Church, and raise her with him to heaven, and bring her into the eternal bride chamber, and sit her at his right hand, and delight her with his visage, and make her young with the light of his face, and she will rejoice and extoll in him, and with glorious songs and sweet melodies sing glory to him in the Church of the first-born of heaven, forever and ever, with the assemblies of the heavenly, as she sang to him here in the Church on earth.
This splendid and marvelous arrangement of the yearly cycle of liturgical prayers, which was held from the first centuries, and is held now in perfect harmony in all our churches, and the divine care having established us, without worthiness, upon this Patriarchal Seat of Babylon, we were eagerly desirous and planning, against all difficulties which happened upon us, that editions of our glorious liturgy should be printed and distributed in order to fulfill the needs of the churches in all our Patriarchal territory. And thus when the holy Congregation of the Propaganda [Fide] had approved our wish, Mar John Simeon, Cardinal all-honorable, the head of said Congregation, wrote to us that we may examine and arrange a complete and corrected edition, scoured of all novelties, corruptions, and errors, so as to set them for printing. We then arose gladly and gathered the editions most ancient and accurate, and, comparing them with one another, we corrected, fashioned, and arranged a complete edition, free and separated, not only from everything fixed against the subjects of the Catholic Faith, but also against the luster of our Aramaic language [mamla dylan aramaya]. And in this whole work we followed the footsteps of those who preceded us, and guarded the true arrangement of the liturgy in all diligence. We only cast away and removed from its holy names that dark fog which was seen in it afterward because of the negligence of writers and the insolence of those with an unhealthy mind, and returned it to its original clarity, and its clear originality.
The hymns of evening and night prayer of ordinary days which were set apart on their own in the book of the Kashkul we arranged in their places following after their own Sunday in the Hudhra, and then attached the Gazza which gathered all the prayers of the feasts and memorials, and we divided all of these books of the liturgy into three volumes: the first volume, from Advent until the beginning of the great Lent; the second from the beginning of Lent until Pentecost; the third from Pentecost until the end of the season of the Sanctification of the Church. And we placed the general Introduction at the beginning of each volume as an additional commentary on the quality of the perfection of the service of the canonical prayers. And we arranged in it the prayers of priests and the glorifications in their places, and assembled the prayers for help and their shuhlape, and the funeral hymns, with the Psalms of David, and the petitions, the martyr hymns, the “before and after,” the common prayers of Wednesdays of the first and second cycles, and the “ordering of the month,” and from them a common section was composed, which can be found at the end of each of the three volumes.
At the end, we appointed our brother, the all-honored Mar ‘Abdysho’ Khayyat, Metropolitan of Amid, as manager, due to his education in the rites of the Church, and sent him to Rome, that he may lead this work before the holy Congregation as in our person, that which was requested humbly by our beloved son, Father Paul Bedjan, the Persian Lazirite (who took pains in praiseworthy zeal to gather the necessities required for this great work), in order to print the books mentioned above in complete keeping of our arrangement. This same holy Congregation of the Propaganda [Fide] increased its gracefulness with us and put up also half the cost of their publication.
Many benefits indeed are reaped from the printing of this liturgy: aside from the fact that there will no longer be a chance or opportunity to add or subtract anything from it, and there is one harmony and one equality and one goal of the liturgy, as there has been from the beginning in all our dioceses and churches; and aside from the fact that copies will be multiplied and increased in every place, that indeed there may not be a scarcity of these books, even for those who should and must pray this service alone, such as those who are on a journey, a new treasure of beautiful examples is opened also before lovers of learning, in which many of the foundational matters of the Catholic Faith are established, such as the original sin we inherited from our first father, and the freedom of the human will, and the necessity of the grace of Christ, and the Sacraments [`raze] of the New Testament, and prayer for the dead, and the propriety of pictures of the providence of Christ, and the honor due to the dwellings of the saints, and the reliance on the intercession of the blessed who rule in heaven, and the fastings and services of the Church, and the superiority of the holy virgin Mary above all the saints, and the perpetual punishments of Gehanna, and the truth of the Sacrifice which is offered in the Divine Mysteries, and the transubstantiation [shuhlap `osya] of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, and the finding of the presence of Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, and the authority of the priesthood in the Church to forgive sins, and the necessity of sacramental confession for the absolution of faults, and the headship of the Roman Pontiff [reshanuth kumra rhomaya], and many more which are found other than those listed by us now. Nevertheless, the benefits of this our liturgy are great not only at a glance at that which we have spoken, but also because of the lucidity of the paternal language which is in it, and the luster of its phrases, and the greatness of its thoughts, and the high quality of its understanding, such that it is seen to be and is in truth the very blossom of the Aramaic language [lishana aramaya].
Therefore, we willingly order that this edition be distributed in all our Patriarchal territory, and verify and ratify its acceptance, and we witness that the services and prayers contained in this edition complete perfectly the liturgy of the Patriarchal See of Babylon, and we decree and command, by our patriarchal authority, that it be kept in every diocese and church in all its requirements, without alteration and without subtraction, and in harmony, as the custom has been held among us Chaldeans [lwathan kaldaye] until now.
In conclusion, if this liturgy is thus so ancient, and its compositions so beautiful, and its divisions so many, and its benefits so overflowing, how right it is for all of us to hold it in honor, and fulfill it in splendor and diligence, and keep it in faithfulness as an honored trust, and pass it on in its essence to the ages to come, as it has been passed on to us from our venerable fathers of blessed memory. Thus we trust, O venerable brothers and beloved sons, your praiseworthy zeal and the goodness of your wills, that you will keep all the canons, services, and prayers in this edition completely and earnestly. As we command all our people to be thankful for the gift of the holy Congregation of Propaganda [Fide], which is always careful to keep and promote in every place the honored things of our fathers, and to plead to God in your prayers for the victory of the Holy Catholic Church, and for all those who participated in this work, and especially for our Chaldean race [sharbthan kaldayta], that its original beauty may be doubled, and it may be like a glorious olive tree in the house of God. We give you, as a pledge of love, the paternal blessing: may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all, amen.
At the Patriarchal residence in Mosul,
15 February, 1887 AD
+ Putrus Eliya XII
by grace the Catholicos-Patriarch of Babylon
To the All-Blessed Mar Joseph Emmanuel II Thomas, Catholicos-Patriarch of Babylon, and the exalted Metropolitans and Bishops, and the revered Priests and Monks, and the entire blessed ecclesial assembly of the Rite of the East Syrians in Mesopotamia and in Malabar,
This canonical prayer of the Rite of the East Syrians has been in preparation for printing for fifty years’ time. This has come about by the praiseworthy diligence of Patriarch Mar Elijah XII, who departed from this temporal world in the year 1894. Then a commemorated high priest was set apart and appointed to fulfill this great task: Mar ‘Abdysho’ Khayyat, the renowned and eminent teacher, who was the Metropolitan of ‘Ammid in that time, and became afterwards the Patriarch, and who passed on to the land of delights in the year 1899; [also] to the honored Father Paul Bedjan, the Persian Lazirite, who died in the year 1920. These two then, of blessed memory, diligently examined and arranged the bulk of prayers and services, according to the manuscripts that were most ancient and accurate. They corrected it and took out and rejected all corruptions and novelties from it. This work of theirs provided an honor and a boast for the rite of the East Syrians. On that account, it is right that it be guarded completely. Because of this, the Apostolic See, when it approved, with a rejoicing heart, their just request, which had been offered many times, it judged and decided that the prayers of their honored rite should be set down anew in print.
Let it be known to you, that the size of the first printing was made smaller, but its substance remained clear and easy to read. This was done, then, that one may find it ready to pray alone. Again, there was great diligence in the correction of the volumes, such that this new printing on lovely paper may please and be enjoyed by everyone.
Furthermore, the antiquity and richness, and the marvelous elegance of the rite of the East Syrians, does not need explanation or verification, for they are obvious to everyone in marvelousness and great wonder. And all those who are educated in the rites of the Church witness with one accord, that this rite has been kept and passed down faithfully in the ancient tradition of the universal prayer of the Christian Church. This is the reason which moved and incited the Apostolic See to guard all the marvelous rites of the Easterners completely, for they are like jewels fastened in the crown of Jesus the great King.
Indeed, without prayer, spiritual life cannot exist. It is obvious and clear also that without community prayer, there is no place for common Christian life for our Church or our people. Therefore it is expedient and appropriate for the whole rank of the Church, the lone vision and example before the eyes of all, to be in this spiritual and Christian life. A cleric [‘edtanaya] therefore should be a man of prayer, insofar as he is a man of God. This suffices to convince us and show us the prime necessity and the just fittingness of daily prayer, in order to guard the spirit of our priesthood. Indeed, we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world, and this is according to the glorious will of Christ our Lord. Therefore, without prayer, there is no power in us to enlighten souls nor to keep them in divine life. We are certain, therefore, that this canonical prayer that was newly printed will be for you as a particular grace of God, adored be his Name, and like a gift of compassion of the Apostolic See, for the guarding and the perfect completion of your canonical prayer.
With these very desires and wishes, we extend to you the new printing of the canonical prayer, as we request you to pray for the upholding and health of the High Pontiff, Pope Pius XI, who rules blessedly, and for the good workers who labored and prepared this new printing, and thus also that you may pray for my weak self.
Rome, on the Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord, 6 January 1938
Eugene Cardinal Tisserant
Prefect of the Eastern Congregation
Introduction
of the Publisher of the Hudhra
After the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ to this world, twelve blessed apostles were chosen to announce the life-giving news, as he said to them: “Go and announce to the whole world and baptize them in the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” After this, the light of his announcement, that is, the holy Gospel, shone upon this eastern corner, especially through those three pillars of light, namely the glorious lamps Mar Toma, he who after his preaching and building churches in these our lands, then by the command of his Lord came to India, and Mar Addai and Mar Mari, the blessed apostles, and preachers of the truth, and announcers of justice. After a short time had passed, when they had gone out and preached and taught and made disciples and baptized many, and uprooted the high places [‘lawatha] and idol houses and houses of demon worship, and broke the images and carvings, and purified and scoured the creation, and washed it from the grime of sin and the satanic abomination and filth, they were adorned, like precious and lovely meadows, with the beautiful blossoms of orderly, virtuous works.
Then churches were established, and hermitages and monasteries were crowned in many places, as the holy writings of the ecclesiastical histories witness of these eastern lands, and indeed an ancient remnant stands until today. Because of these things, our venerable and holy fathers were constantly devoured by the love of the Lord, and these pure and chosen vessels of honor and splendid dwellings of the Holy Spirit began, as if whetting their thirst, to sing the Psalms of David, he who is named prophet and king and the heart of the Lord, on Sundays and on days set apart and known. And they became concerned with arranging liturgies of various prayers filled with the spirit of divine labor, which they celebrated in assembly, and without variation, in all the dioceses and churches of our Assyrian nation [`umthan athorayta] in all lands. Since from the blessed and holy apostles, disciple-makers of the East, they passed down to their blessed disciples, and from the holy fathers and persons clothed with God, and from the compositions of these skillful saints, it was arranged and passed down to us, hand to hand, and kept at all times diligently, without change and without alteration, and it was celebrated excellently, in all carefulness. Besides the Psalms which rise up as a majority in all its parts, and which are as a foundation of the liturgy, there are among them compositions by Mar Marutha of Mipraqat, and there are of Mar Shim’un Bar Sabba’e, the Catholicos of the East and victorious martyr, and there are of Mar Ephrem the Syrian, the great and victorious teacher, and there are of the other early teachers, and teachers of the truth, who were shining with teaching and burning with zeal for the house of the Lord.
The blessed Mar ‘Abdysho’, Metropoitan of Soba and Armenia, in the abridged collection of the Synodical Canons which he collected, writes thus: “Regarding how many and what are the prayers appointed for each one of the ranks of Christians: the good and merciful one, our Lord Jesus Christ our God, and knower of the weakness of our nature and its frailties, through his prophets in his Divinity, and through his apostles in his humanity as well as his Divinity, according to our weakness, arranged for us seven times of prayer. The fathers of the world, then, since they also went according to this path, arranged these seven times for anchorite and sojourning hermits. Then those after them made the service of each time complete with three and three Hulale. The modest priests in the world, and the orderly faithful who possess love of prayer also are enjoined to keep this arrangement.”
Therefore, the fathers after these, when they saw that the laypeople were not equal to this love of [liturgical] service, and there were among them those who were working in their labors, gave them a hand in fulfilling their service according to what was commanded: they measured also according to the tangle of weakness, and commanded that laypeople may not cease from four services. These are the four: evening prayer, the prayer before sleep, night prayer, and morning prayer. These limit the canon of the word of our Lord.
Evening prayer, then, for the thanksgiving for the things provided during the day. The prayer before sleep, that he may keep us from all foolish visions and dreams and anxieties, and to give us sleep and rest at night. Night prayer, taken from the word of our Lord and from David. For David says: “In the middle of the night I arose to give thanks to you for your just judgment,” and our Lord also thus enlightens us and says: “Stay awake, for you do not know at what hour your lord comes,” in the evening, or in the middle of the night, or when the rooster crows. Morning prayer, in thanksgiving that we have been raised from sleep, which symbolizes death, and for our protection from temptations and dangers.
During the time of Lent, besides these, our holy fathers of venerable memory set apart other prayers, namely: Quta’a, ‘Iddana, and Suba’a.
In the seventh century, its sections were arranged in the Upper Monastery of Mar Gabriel and Mar Abraham, disciples of the blessed Mar Eugene, above the city of Mosul, when with keen mind, sharp faculties, and great and marvelous discernment, it was divided into the distinct and known seasons – see page 111.
This adorned, lovely, and marvelous arrangement of the yearly cycle of liturgical prayers, which was held in the first centuries is now also held in full harmony in all our churches in all our lands.
The hymns of evening and night prayer of ordinary days which were set apart on their own in the book of the Kashkul we arranged in their places following after their own Sunday in the Hudhra, and also the prayers of Patriarch Mar Eliya III Abuhalym, each one in its place. We then attached the Gazza in which were contained all the prayers of feasts and memorials, and divided all these liturgical books into three volumes, and the book of Before and After is fully found at the beginning of each of the three volumes, and the explanatory composition of the readings, the Shuraye, the apostle, the Zumara, the Gospel, of each of the three volumes, each day in its place. Aside from those from the first Sunday of Subara until the great Sawma, and of Ba’utha, and of the Friday of the Deceased, which were separated from their places. See p 537.
The first volume is from Subara until the beginning of the great Sawma; the second, from the beginning of the great Sawma until Pentecost; the third, from Pentecost until the end of the season of the Sanctification of the Church.
As an introduction and further commentary on the quality of the fulfillment of the celebration of the canonical prayers, we placed a general introduction at the beginning of each volume, and arranged in it the prayers of the priests and the glorifications, in their places.
And we gathered the Hymns for Assistance and their Shuhlape, and the Hymns of the Deceased, with the Psalms of David and the petitions, and the Martyr Hymns of ordinary days and Sundays, and the Common Hymns of Wednesday of the first and second [cycles], and the ordering of the month, and from them, a general section was fashioned, to be found at the end of each of the three volumes.
Let us now turn to the goal of the printing of this Hudhra for the first time in the history of the world and of our Church; this is not hidden, but rather known to all the sons of our Church and Assyrian nation [`umthan athorayta]. That the word may not be lengthened, we now show in summary to the educated readers how we began in this good and holy work.
So then, after I arrived at this blessed land of India, in the year 1952 AD, we began to build churches hand in hand, and our seminary, and other things. At this point I made it known to His Holiness the Patriarch that we wished to print the Hudhra of our Church, and I asked him for help, that is, for the costs. When he heard about the publication of the Hudhra, he rejoiced and was glad, and said in his letters dated 30 July 1956, 5 February 1958, and 14 March 1958, “if only this holy book could be printed, and we eagerly desire this good work. Nevertheless,” he said, “this work requires great cost, and at this time we find it difficult to thus gather money. However, the sons of our Church in the United States of America receive many wages, and have much money. But because of this, we cannot help you in this work…”
I then asked his Blessedness Mar Yawsep to gather some money from the sons of our Church in Iraq, that is, Mesopotamia [beth nahryn], for the costs of the printing of our Hudhra. In his letter dated 26 February 1958, he gave me the same answer as that of His Holiness the Patriarch. When I received these replies, I was greatly and exceedingly sad, but I trusted in the Lord.
Then immediately afterward, I wrote to His Holiness the Patriarch thus: “I, by the power of the great God, will begin this work. If the Lord helps me and I find and gather the costs, how good and lovely. Indeed, I have trust and faith and great hope that he will aid me.” With that trust I began to write to the faithful of our beloved and praiseworthy Assyrian Church and Nation [d-‘edtan wad-`umthan athorayta] in personal letters. Thus, “through a scroll of a voice from the East,” in the time of three years more or less, I received some amount of a little money from here or there, and this amount was not enough to begin the work. But even then, we had nothing but hope.
After we had finished building our seminary, according to custom, due to the great heat of Trishur, I went up to Qunur, a village built on hills, for some rest and for a change of weather. The athlete Awtyynashu knew we were seeking to print the book of the Hudhra, and were seeking costs, etc. He, from his love and zeal toward our Church, helped us with the cost of paper for two volumes. By the power of the great God and the help of this faithful man, we began the printing. If it were not for this man, we would not have been able to begin this work, for this we plead to the Lord to repay him with a reward of heavenly benefits in both worlds.
Then the sons of our Church and nation, after they heard and knew about the great sacrifice of this man, began also to give. They sent from the United States of America, and Iraq, that is Mesopotamia, and Syria and Lebanon, and Iran, but the most from the Press of Mar Narsai in Trishur.
Before we began, according to the general legal canons of publishing books, requesting and seeking ancient and accurate manuscripts which were placed as a foundation for the book which was being published, before we went to ask and see from people outside, by the compassion of our good God, we found the books (Hudhre) which we were in need of in our own archive, and they had been in the archives from the days of the deceased Mar Timothy, Metropolitan of our Church in this land. They were compared and examined and investigated in all diligence and great care. These editions of the Hudhra are as written below.
1. The first manuscript. This is noted in its colophon: “This book of the Hudhra was completed by the help of our Lord on the day of Friday, 28 April, the second Sunday of the Resurrection, whose ‘onytha is “Your resurrection, O Lord, has adorned…” in the year 1909 of the blessed Greeks. This book was written in the blessed and beatified village, priestly in its orthodox faith, of Alqaye, which is set and ordered under the shelter of St George the victorious martyr, and the companionship of Mar Addai and Mar Mari, the blessed apostles, under the leadership of the Father of Fathers, Mar Eliya, Catholicos-Patriarch of the East, and in the days of the diligent leader and amazing pastor and marvelous guide Mar Yawsep bishop of Azerbaijan, that is, the blessed and beatified land of Armenia…this book was written by the hands of Deacon Hnanysho’, lazy servant, in the year numbered 1909.”
2. The second manuscript is of Alkosh, and this is written in its colophon: “This book of the Hudhra of the entire year was finished and completed in the blessed month of June, on its 11th day, on Saturday, the vigil of the fourth Sunday of the Apostles, whose ‘onytha is “O Lord, when the assembly,” of the year one-thousand nine-hundred and ninety-two of the blessed Greeks…this book of the Hudhra was written in the blessed and beatified village, noble in orthodox faith, Alkosh, the village of Nahum the Prophet, which is settled and ordered and built near the holy dwelling of Mar Rabban Hormizd the Persian…it was written in the days of the Father and Lord of the Fathers…Mar Eliya Catholicos Patriarch of the head of all corners, the East, and of all the ends of the world of righteous glory. The weak and repentant priest George, son of priest Israel, son of the priest Hormizd, son of the deceased priest Israel Alkoshaya, wrote, or rather ruined and blotted [it].”
3. The third manuscript, in three volumes of the Hudhra, in which are contained the Gazza, the Kashkul, and the Before and After, printed the second time in the publishing house of William of Rugulyn in the city of Leipzig, in the country of Germany, in the year 1938 AD. It was of the deceased Rubel, son of the faithful Muhatas, of the village of Mar Bhysho’. He compared the manuscripts which were very old and accurate of the Hudhra of our Church, and he examined and searched it with great diligence, lest some theological fault pass through into this our holy, lovely, and adorned liturgy. He prepared it for publication, but before he began this good work, he was summoned by our Lord. This manuscript remembered above was sent to us by Deacon George of the house of Benjamin, Ashithnaya.
Thus also his deceased teacher, priest Joseph Qilayta had this intention from the beginning, until the last hour of his life, to print the Hudhra of our Church. He prepared everything needed for its printing, but there were people who stood against him and hated him, and they took the printing from him, and did not allow him to print it, and they themselves did not print it. He also, while in this diocese, was summoned by his Lord, and they did not allow him to complete his virtuous work. The very same thing happened to us during our days. This parable of our Savior is true, where he says: “Woe to you who close the door of the kingdom of heaven before men, for you neither enter, nor do you allow them to enter.” Matthew 13:14; Luke 11:52.
4. The book of Sukale, which shows the liturgy of the services of the Church and its tradition, which was made and composed in great examination by priest Abraham Shikwana, which is known as Beth Qasha, in the year 1898 AD.
5. The Kashkul: this is noted in its colophon: “This book of the Kashkul was completed and took final form and completion in the blessed month of September, on the 6th day, on a Friday, of the year one-thousand eight-hundred and ninety-five of Alexander, son of Phillip the Macedonian, and of the birth of Christ, one-thousand, five-hundred, and eight-five (four)…in the blessed and beatified city, priestly in its orthodox faith, dwelling-place for the sick, Kotamangalam, in the church of St Mary the Holy Virgin (which is in the land of India today), under the headship of the Father of Fathers and the Leader of Shepherds, the venerable and fount of veneration, pure and fountain of purity, Mar Shim’un Catholicos-Patriarch of the East…and in the days of the wakeful leader and amazing and faithful guide, marvelous judge and attentive navigator, and true shepherd, Mar Abraham the bishop metropolitan of India…these pages were written, that is scratched and ruined, spoiled and tarnished, by a sinful man, more sinful than the sinners of sinners, the miserable one, he who is not worthy to be remembered by name in the holy books due to the greatness of his faults…Matthew son of Joseph the priest.”
It should be known that this book was not printed by our hands casually or by happenstance, but rather care and great diligence were shown, that it might be complete in everything required of it. It was examined, compared, and printed with the manuscripts mentioned above, and after they were tested and searched with much care and great diligence, as the writers of the manuscripts confessed and said in the introductions they made to their books. These are the manuscripts printed, especially those two books of the Hudhra mentioned above. We placed them as a foundation for this book, that we may lay out in print for the sons of the holy, apostolic, catholic Church of the East without alteration or change.
This also should be made known: I confess and make known that I am not very learned or educated, nor was I expert fully enough for this book of our beautiful and marvelous Huhra, to enter this arena of printing it, in which is contained all the points of religion and theology of our holy Church, of true glory. Nevertheless, my love and zeal toward our Church enticed and beguiled me, and strengthened me and dragged me, to this work which is far above my strength. I thought, indeed, that the healthy and true teaching of our holy fathers should not perish. It was right for me to enter, and I entered this arena according to my bodily weakness and my lacking in teaching, by the power and aid of the Lord of all, he who gives sight to the blind, walking to the lame, speech to the stammering and dumb, health to the sick, wisdom and knowledge and teaching to the simple, and good hope to each one who believes in him. He helped me and strengthened me to finish this work.
Many obstacles came before us. Nevertheless, that which was worst of all was that the workers, that is, the printers, that is, those who arrange the letters in our press, were Hindus, and Indian Christians, who knew nothing, and were not experts or could learn the meaning of a single word or letter of our Aramaic language [lishanan aramaya]. Because of this, innumerable obstacles were before us, until indeed we verified and read and examined every single section six or seven times or more, before we could send it to the printer.
Therefore, let it be known to your love, O my brethren in our Lord, all who are familiar with this book, especially the educated clerics, that you may find some errors or blunders of grammar, etc. Correct them by the love of our Lord, and pray for my frailty.
This also, even more, should be remembered: that we have great gratitude for our sons in the Spirit, priest Francis son of the faithful David of the house of Pullubaran, and deacon Joseph son of the faithful Thomas of the house of Arangashery, head of the Press of Mar Narsai, for the love and zeal toward our Church they showed in the publication of this book. Though they are not well-studied in our Aramaic language, still according to their ability they aided me, and greatly labored and took care to correct errors, etc. and did not shrink from this work night and day and at all hours, according to the necessity of the time. Deacon George also, son of the faithful John of the house of Immaty, and deacon Raphael, son of the faithful Joseph of the house of Puatingal, aided us greatly whenever they found opportunity or time.
Now then, we lift up glory, honor, exaltation and halleluiah to the blessed, glorious, and holy Name of our good God for the providence and help toward our weakness, he who by his eternal mercies gave us health of body and spirit, and strengthened and aided us to print this book of the Hudhra, which there is great need for. Indeed, after almost two thousand years more or less, this is the first time of its printing and its entering into print fully, without subtraction and without alteration, according to the true liturgy of the holy apostolic catholic Church of the East, besides the fact that copies can be produced and multiplied in every place, that there be no need for these books, as there has been, ever again.
At the end, we have great and constant gratefulness toward all the clerics and faithful men and women of our loved and beloved Church and nation who helped us, whether by donations or by prayers or by work or by showing their ecclesial love and zeal, for this book. And now by the Lord’s aid, we have come to the end.
We pray, therefore, and plead from the Lord, that he may reward you and accept your sacrifice, as that of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and as the widow’s penny. We pray also, and plead from the Lord, for peace and serenity in the world, and for the upholding of our holy Church, and for all readers and hearers who make use of this book, that they may be enriched and pluck heavenly benefits from it for both worlds, amen.
Written down in the Metropolitan villa in Trishur of southern India,
January 25, the day of the Birth of our Lord,
in the year of our Lord 1960,
+ the weak Thomas Darmo
by grace,
the Metropolitan of the Church of the East
in India.
-Yah-
From the Patriarchal Palace of the Church of the East:
receive prayers and blessings.
To our brethren in spiritual shepherdhood, leaders and shepherds, the venerable metropolitans and bishops, and to our beloved sons the chosen priests and deacons, and the other splendid clerics, and to the whole group of the sons of the holy apostolic catholic Church of the East, and of all the ends of the world: may grace and blessings dwell among you.
When the blessed apostles preached the life-filled Gospel in our eastern corner, after a short time the shadow caused by idolatry was exterminated, and idols and images of the custom of paganism from the face of the earth, and the radiance of the rays of the light of the true and whole faith radiated, that of the one Divine Nature, impassible and immortal, living forever and ever.
And the thorns of error which the evil one had sown in the field of mankind were uprooted through the victorious blood of the blessed apostles and true preachers.
Then the Church was adorned, the splendid bride, with beautiful blossoms, and the adorned flowers of virtuous manners, and she became intoxicated by the pure and victorious blood of the martyrs and confessors, on behalf of him who saved the beloved and holy catholic Church from slavery to idols and adoration of images by his holy blood, in order to shepherd the rational flock. By the grace of our Lord and God, leaders and shepherds were set apart in an election of the Holy Spirit, that through them, the authority of the Spirit may be fulfilled, to bind and to loose on earth and heaven, namely, those first Fathers in whose heart a holy fire burned, and even more so were devoured by commenting on and interpreting the Scriptures of the Old and New, as witness the books of the histories of our eastern Church.
Even more so, this our marvelous and gorgeous liturgy of prayers, which was passed down to our first fathers from the tradition of the Apostles, when its foundation was first composed by the blessed Apostles, and then hand to hand was crowned and decorated with the beauty of its spiritual solemnity by men clothed with God, among whom were Mar Shim’un bar Sabba’e, Catholicos and victorious martyr, and Mar Ephrem the Great, and Mar Marutha, Bishop of Maphraqat, and others among them, breathing the Holy Spirit.
It is clear to all who know and are educated, who are experts in the histories of the apostolic Church of the East, that in the Fourth Century AD, this our liturgy was arranged in a marvelous and gorgeous arrangement in all its essential parts, and was settled and sealed at the Synod of Mar Isaac the Catholicos-Patriarch, and Mar Marutha, and the Fathers, leaders of the Church of the East, that happened in 410 AD.
In the Fifth Century, the glorifications, petitions, ‘onyatha, and madrashe were added to the seasons, composed by our illustrious teachers, zealous and victorious in spiritual love, and longing for divine things: Mar Babai the Great, and Mar Babai of Nisibis, and Mar Narsai the Harp of the Spirit, and Hnana the Solitary, and Mar Abraham of Seleucia, and the others.
In the Seventh Century, then, it was arranged and crowned in the Upper Monastery of Mar Gabriel and Mar Abraham, disciples of the blessed Mar Eugene, which is near the city of Mosul in the land of Assyria [Athor]. Those pillars of fire and rays of light, in the discernment of their mind and the clarity of their powers, and in the sharpness of their intelligence, divided this liturgy into the known seasons, namely Subara, Nativity, Epiphany, Sawma, Resurrection, Ascension, Pentecost or Apostles, Summer, Elijah, Cross, Moses, and the Sanctification of the Church. All these are arranged cyclically in a year, and each one of these seasons, and the feasts and memorials they contain, arrange in an orderly way the services and prayers and marvelous hymns, according to the topic of the proper feast or the memorial, that the topic of the providence of God the Father through his only-begotten Son for the salvation of our Adamic race is shown as the topic of that season. Such as the glorious conception of our Lord Jesus Christ, and his birth, and his baptism, and his holy fasting, and his preaching, and his suffering, and the death of his humanity, and his resurrection, and his ascension, and the descent of the Spirit, the Paraclete, upon the blessed apostles, and their struggle and preaching and the discipling of the nations, and after a measure of some years, at the end of times, Elijah the zealous will be sent, and in his zealousness, he will shame the one who is called and is the son of perdition, and then the sign of the Son of God will be seen, namely, the holy Cross, and thus after the eradication and uprooting and condemnation of the son of perdition, the heavenly Bridegroom will dawn from his glorious holy heavens, and will raise all from the dust, and lift up the good to the heights above, and will dismiss sinners to the unending fire of Gehanna, and because the holy Church is the betrothed of Christ, she will come out to meet him in joy as she extolls him with all honors, and he the Bridegroom of Truth, Jesus Christ our Savior, will receive his betrothed, the holy Church, and bring her up with him to heaven, and bring her to the eternal bridechamber, and sit her at his right hand, and gladden her in his vision, and renew her by the light of his face, and she will rejoice and extoll in him, and with glorious songs and beautiful hymns, will sing to him in the Church a glorification forever and ever with the heavenly assemblies, as she sang to him here in the Church on earth.
The parts of the prayers of this our liturgy, according to the intention of the Fathers, outside of Sawma, are three: namely, Evening Prayer, Night Prayer, and Morning Prayer, and the others set apart of Suba’a, Midnight, and Quta’a, and ‘Iddana, according to the word of our Lord: “awake, for you do not know at what hour your Lord comes, in the evening, or in the middle of the night, or when the cock crows.”
Thus when this our lovely and beautiful liturgy was arranged and settled from the first centuries in all its spiritual services, constant thanksgivings and adorations were offered to the Divinity, according to the word of the Apostle, in Colossians 2:18.
It is also right to make known that this our liturgy is divided into three volumes: first from Subara until the beginning of the great Sawma; second from the beginning of the great Sawma until Pentecost; third from Pentecost until the end of the season of the sanctification of the Church.
And in each volume, the book of the Gazza, and the Kashkul, are fully arranged, and the Psalms of David, and the glorifications, the petitions, and the prayers of Mar Eliya III, Patriarch, Abuhalym, and at the end of each volume, we attached the book of Before and After completely.
With this, then, our brethren and the sons of our Liturgy, the upside-down Chaldeans [kaldaye qlybaye] introduced Roman customs into this our liturgy of the Eastern Fathers. The first who added in the printing was Putrus Eliya XII, their Patriarch, by the order of his master, His Excellency the Cardinal John Simeone, and by an endowment of his supposed mother, the Congregation of the Propaganda, in the year 1887 AD.
Indeed, they ruined the beauty of its original composition, and its foundational essence. They added and planted in it the cursed customs and thoughts of the Romans, namely “God was born of Mary, and suffered, and died.” Indeed they confess that he was immortal from the beginning, but became mortal in the latter times – see the Qalta of the Sixth Sunday of the Resurrection, or the Second Sunday of the Cross, in the printing of the Chaldeans.
The upside-down Chaldeans also confess in the transubstantiation [shuhlap `osiya] of bread and wine in the holy Mysteries, to the flesh and blood of God the Word. Indeed they confess that the Nature of God the Word became flesh to a man hypostatically/substantially [`osyayth].
Not only do they deny the divine revelations that were shown to us through the prophets and sealed through the witness of the Evangelists, and explained and interpreted by the blessed apostles, but whether knowingly or unknowingly, they deny the faith of our Fathers of Nicaea, who confessed as lords: Mar Ephrem the Great and Athanasius the Renowned in true glory. Mar Athanasius, the Patriarch of Alexandria, confesses thus in a book On the Incarnation: “God the Word, when he saw that there is no other Mediator in whom to renew the ruined man, aside from that of death, and since it was impossible for God the Word to die, since he is immortal in his Nature, therefore took for himself a body of mortal nature, so that that mortal body, in its unity with God the Word, on behalf of all men may taste death, for since it is mortal and corruptible in its nature, because of this God the word dwelt in it, and made it one with him in a unity of dwelling, that he may therefore be incorruptible, and eradicate the corruptibility of all men through the grace of his resurrection.” (Rowan Greer, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Pub Faith Press, London, p. 14-15). It is clear that the upside-down Chaldeans inserted foreign customs of the Latins into the eastern Liturgy in their edition, since prayers were added of Barbara, and Nicholaus, and the Slaughter of the Children, and the Feasts of the Circumcision of our Lord, and the Presentation at the Temple, and St Joseph the betrothed of the Virgin Mary, and the Annunciation of the Virgin, the Body of Christ, the Heart of our Lord, and the Conception of the Virgin, and other Roman customs that were never known in our eastern liturgy.
Thus by the grace of God the Father, and the mercy of the Son, and the compassion of the Holy Spirit, we have printed it in its primordial essence and original substance, which was arranged by our Fathers of true glory, Mar Shim’un bar Sabba’e the Catholicos and victorious martyr, and Mar Ephrem the Great, namely upon the foundation of their faith, which is upon the temple of God the Word.
That is, God the Word took for himself a perfect man from the virgin Mary, and made him his Temple, and dwelt in him. The Evangelists witness: “’Tear down this temple and in three days I will raise it up;’ but he spoke of the temple of his body.” John 2:19-22. “That Temple in which dwells the complete fullness of Divinity in a fleshy way.” Colossians 2:9.
For this, the Fathers of the East placed and founded their faith upon the Evangelical and Apostolic Faith. Mar Shim’un bar Sabba’e the Catholicos, in the Glorification “Glory to you, O Lord who created us:” “Glory to you, holy Son, who wore our body and saved us” (see the Shubaha of ferial days during the Great Sawma).
Mar Ephrem the Great: “God the Word, Only-Begotten of the Father: may I please you alone, in the humanity which you wore” (see the Glorification of morning prayer of ferial Saturdays, “Blessed is the Being who made us”).
Likewise: “the Word from the Father, did not take the likeness of a servant from the angels, but rather from the seed of Abraham, and in our humanity came in his grace to save our race from error” (see the first Sunday of Subara, the Responsory of the Basilica).
So we, by the aid of grace and the will of the Holy Spirit, have returned this our liturgy to its original clarity and its primordial and substantial arrangement, cleansed and purified from all alien unhealthy ideas.
We have corrected and set in order, and for this edition, our liturgy has wholly been examined, and searched by comparing the oldest manuscripts found in our time.
For this good work, and great labor, we established as manager our beloved brother Mar Thomas Darmo, Metropolitan of Malabar and all India, that he, as in our own person, may guide this work.
Thus it is also right to make known that the honored Ynashu son of the faithful Thomas of the house of Olluqaran, victorious in all athleticism, faithful and God-fearing, who by a willing sacrifice took from his own the finances – not small – to begin this good and holy work of the printing of this book of the Hudhra. It is indeed obvious that without his donations, this work would not have succeeded. For this reason, we also grant him our Paternal blessings to dwell with him, and pray that he and the members of his family may be blessed with all heavenly and earthly blessings, in this world and that to come.
And we praise the diligent zeal and well-ordered care of our beloved sons, priest Francis son of the faithful David of the house of Pulluqaran, and deacon Joseph son of the faithful Thomas of the house of Arangasherry, and deacon George son of John of the house of Immathy, and all the faithful in the city of Trishur, and all the sons of the Church of the East in India, that they may be blessed by all blessings of the spirit in heaven through Jesus Christ our Lord.
On behalf of all the sons of our Church in the various lands who by their good will sent respectable donations, and made full sacrifices for the costs of printing, we pray that they be blessed with all blessings of the sprit in heaven and on earth, yes and amen.
Therefore we willingly permit, and approve, and ratify, that this edition of the Hudhra be distributed in all our Patriarchal territory, and we command and order by our Patriarchal authority, that this edition be kept in all the parishes of our holy apostolic catholic Church of the East and of all the ends of the earth, without alteration or subtraction, and that there should not be given place or chance to introduce additional corrupted heretical thoughts into it.
And let there be one communion and one harmony in all the Church together, and that editions may be increased and multiplied for the use of clerics, priests and deacons, and all those who love to pray in every place.
And as a gift of love, we give you our apostolic patriarchal blessings, and may the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all, amen.
Given at the Patriarchal palace
in the city of San Francisco, California
in the United States of America.
12 January 1961 AD
+ Mar Eshai Shim’un XXIII
by grace,
Catholicos-Patriarch of the East
This is fascinating .