Ebook: Between the Twilights - An Interlinear Translation of the Syriac Orthodox Breviary

Since it began more than two millennia ago, Christianity has given birth to a wide range of traditions, covering most of the languages and cultures of the earth. Among the most ancients of these, the Syriac speaking churches occupy a special place: they alone are using what is considered to be the mother tongue of Jesus himself, Aramaic, which is also one of the two languages of the Old Testament.

More than a source of mere linguistic curiosities, the Syriac churches have also preserved a precious variety of rites and prayers that form more than a set of scattered jewels: what they offer are a true way of life and, in particular, a life of prayer, which is not only rooted in a single theological vision, but also offer man a chance to reconcile his spiritual life with the cycle of nature that he experiences each day, week, month, or year of his life.

The present book offers a translation of one of these traditions: the weekly prayer cycle of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch, that is, the breviary gathering the text of the seven services of each day of the week, except for some of the services of the first day, whose text changes every week. The Syriac text is here first translated once in an interlinear form in order for the Syriac learner to be able to follow and understand the services without impediment, and it is translated a second time in plain English at the bottom of each page.

Before the translation, an essay will show the link between the weekly prayer cycle and the cycle of nature which is displayed across the sky, tied to the movement of the sun for the days, the phases of the moon for the weeks and the months, etc. This reflection aims at the nurturing of a stronger bond with the sacred, through the conjunction of prayer with a deep awareness of the experience of the flow of nature.