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THE LITURGICAL YEAR OF THE SYRO-MALABAR CHURCH
The Mystery of Salvation, accomplished by the Father in
Jesus Christ with the work of the Holy Spirit, is wholly and fully
re-enacted in every Eucharistic Sacrifice celebrated in the community of
the faithful. Every community when
it takes part in this most sublime and divine action has to realise its
own salvation through the salvific acts of Christ. But psychologically we
are not capable to grasp and realise the fullness of the grace of the
Mystery of Christ in one action. Hence each community has made some
arrangement to concentrate on one at a time and thus gradually to
celebrate and realise the whole Mystery of Salvation in the cycle of a
year. The following pages discuss how the Thomas Christians of the Syro-Malabar Church as a
particular community realise in itself the Mystery of Salvation through
the liturgical cycle of the year.
The liturgical year of the Syro-Malabar Church is
divided into 9 seasons having 7 weeks each in principle, but with
necessary adjustments. It is definitely a different system from that of
the Latin Church, but very much close to the other Oriental Churches,
especially that of the Malankara, Jacobite, Orthodox and Nestorian
Churches, her neighbours and co-heirs of the ancient Thomas Christian
heritage.
1. ܕܣܘܼܒܵܪܵܐ Weeks of
Annunciation
The Syro-Malabar liturgical year begins with the
proclamation and celebration of the historical encounter between God and
man in the person of Jesus Christ, the human appearance of the Divine
Person. The Second Person of the
Holy Trinity, the Icon of Father’s Person and the Splendour of His Glory,
One in essence with Him and the Holy Spirit, emptied Himself and took the
form of a servant, became a perfect man and was born of Virgin Mary, for
us men and for our salvation, taking to Himself all the weaknesses of our
humanity except sin. The Syriac word Subara, ‘Annunciation’, with
which the Church qualify the first five or six weeks of her liturgical
year, is, in fact, an announcement and proclamation with celebration with
this supreme glad news of divine condescension to the human frailty in
order to raise it up to the divine sublimity. For the whole East Syriac tradition and
thus also to the Syro-Malabar Church, the
whole period of Annunciation is a big Christmas! December 25th is only the
climax of this celebration.
According to the true vision of Christian faith, there
is no sense in expecting and preparing for the coming of the
Redeemer. He has already come two
thousand years ago. Today we can only celebrate that historical event in
the Church through effective and fruitful signs and symbols and
appropriate its salvific fruits in our own life. It is this true vision
of Christian faith that the Eastern traditions, especially the East
Syriac one, proclaims to the world during the celebration of Subara,
the weeks of Annunciation.
A different way of thinking and connected practices was
forced upon the Syro-Malabar Church during
the western colonial period and is still haunting her in all levels of
her Christian life. The concept of Advent, Christmastide, and so on to
divide the integral vision of Subara and the like are the fruits
of this colonial enforcement. Vatican II has already demanded a conscious
change of this situation in 1964, paving way to the return and
restoration of the above-mentioned authentic and perfect vision of
Christian faith. Negligence in this case even after four decades can no
more be tolerated.
In the context of the Divine Condescension to human
history, the believers are encouraged to meditate upon all the salvific
events which led to the incarnation of God, namely, creation, life in
Paradise, human fall, helpless situation of humans, promise of salvation,
preparation through countless divine interventions, election and
rejection and the immediate preparation through the Forerunner, during
the time before Jesus’ Nativity. The events after His birth up to the
baptism in Jordan such as
the visit of the Magi, presentation to the Temple and
visit to the temple at twelve are pondered on the days after Christmas.
The weeks of Annunciation, especially the first part up
to Nativity, is also an occasion to turn deeper to oneself,
a real self-examination. How far
we could creatively respond to this self-emptying love of God? It is in this context, the Church
developed the 25-day fasting, which is also an observance very much in
common with our fellowmen in other religions of India in
connection with important religious celebrations. We are, in fact, called to purify
ourselves from all grossness of our humanity so that we may become
capable to rise up to the divinity of God-man Jesus.
This period is also a time to remember and honour the
Blessed Virgin Mary in a special way.
We know for sure that the divine plan of human salvation is
realised only through her fiat,
her consent. Thus the early images
or icons of Mary are all with child Jesus. The whole importance of Mary, and hence
her veneration in the Church, depends on her relation to Jesus, the most
special being His mother. The Syro-Malabar tradition, therefore, honours
her in very special way during the weeks of Annunciation which celebrates
Jesus’ Nativity. Her celebration
is also underlined with two very solemn festivals of her: Immaculate
Conception on December 8th and Congratulation to Mary as
Mother of Jesus on the last Friday of this season. The Latin tradition,
according to its liturgical style, shows such special respect to Virgin
Mary through May and October monthly devotions. Monthly devotion is
totally strange to the Syro-Malabar liturgical spirituality.
2. ܕܕܸܢܚܵܐ Weeks
of Denha
The weeks centred on the
great solemnity of Denha,
Epiphany, Jesus’ Baptism in Jordan, provides the faithful an occasion for
meditating deeper on the Trinitarian economy of human salvation. Baptism in Jordan was the first historical event when the Holy
Trinity is revealed to humans in the humanity of Jesus Christ. Every
human being is destined to be transfigured to the person of Jesus Christ
and thus to the Holy Trinity according to Christian faith. The Son, sent
by the Father, accomplished the human salvation, and it becomes realised
in every human being (and through the humans the whole creation) by the
work of the Holy Spirit. This fundamental article of faith is what we
meditate and celebrate during the weeks of Denha, Epiphany.
Through the solemn celebration of Jesus’ baptism, we are also
introduced to His public life. We the believers are, therefore, invited
to renew our baptismal commitment, lead an authentic Christian life and
grow mature to the personality of Jesus by celebrating His memorial,
participating His Risen Body and being sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
According to Syriac sources,
the weeks of Denha begins on
the Sunday nearest to January 6, the solemnity of Denha, Epiphany and runs to the beginning of Great Fast. The Fridays of this period are set
apart to celebrate the reflection of Divine Epiphany in humans in the
Church. On the first Friday the Church celebrates Mar John the Baptist
who in person bore witness to the first Trinitarian manifestation in Jordan. The
second is dedicated for the Apostles Peter and Paul, representing the
whole apostolic community on which the Church is built up. On the third is celebrated the four
Evangelists who gave a documentary form to this Epiphany. Then comes Mar Esthappanos, the protomartyr, who shed his
blood and offered his life for this Divine manifestation. The fathers and
doctors of the Church who authentically interpreted and taught it,
bearing wit-ness to it in their own lives, are celebrated on the
following Fridays. The Friday just before the last is set apart for
celebrating the Patron Saint of the Church, who is a constant inspiration
to the believing community for following Jesus Christ. And on the last
Friday we celebrate all our dear departed ones who are in deed the
forerunners for bearing witness to the Trinitarian manifestation and
economy of salvation. Moreover,
this celebration of our dear departed ones is a most becoming help to
enter the period of Great Fast, where we keep up an intense memory of
them.
Since the Syro-Malabar Church
is proclaiming and celebrating the most Holy Trinity in a special way in
the whole liturgical period of Denha,
it is rather meaningless and against the mind of Second Vatican Council
to hold Trinity Sunday after Pente-cost, merely
imitating the Latin tradition. It was, in fact, a colonial enforcement
during the European missionary period without considering the liturgical
genius of this Church.
3. ܕܨܵܘܡܵܐ ܪܲܒܵܐ Weeks
of Great Fast
During
these weeks the faithful reflect on and meditate over the public life of
Jesus and especially on its culmination in his passion, death and burial.
It is a God-given time for turning to one’s own life more deeply and to
become convinced of the abundant blessings of the loving God – the
creation, the providential caring, the human fall, the helplessness of
man to save himself, the promise of salvation, the redemption through His
Son Jesus, the invaluable Gift of the Holy Spirit and the inheritance of
the heavenly Kingdom. This must naturally lead the faithful to metanoia,
a total conversion and a full return to the loving Father in His Son the
redeeming Jesus Christ and its proclamation in the Church through the
Mystery (Sacrament) of Reconciliation.
Thus all the faithful make themselves ready to rise up with Lord
Jesus to a totally new life of peace, tranquillity, satisfaction, joy,
and so on. For this, everybody should fully become oriented towards God
and fellow beings during the Great Fast. In short, prayer (personal
intimacy with Jesus – upawasa), renunciation (getting rid of
everything that is not pleasing to Jesus – tapas) and almsgiving
(helping the neighbour in all possible ways – danadharma) should
become the action plan of Christian life.
As it is
mentioned earlier, the faithful enter the weeks of Great Fast,
celebrating the memory of all the Faithful Departed on the last Friday of
Denha. According to the ecclesial
and liturgical vision of this tradition, the weeks of Great Fast is also
an occasion to keep up the memory of the beloved Departed through special
prayers, renunciation, almsgiving, and so on and
thus prepare oneself for a good death and resurrection in Jesus Christ.
The Latin tradition, of course, according to their liturgical heritage,
does it through the November devotion.
4. ܕܲܩܝܵܡܬܹܗܿ ܕܡܵܪܲܢ Weeks of Resurrection
The Church celebrates the Resurrection of our
Lord during these seven weeks: Jesus’ victory over death, sin, suffering
and Satan. The empty TOMB, the empty CROSS, the blooming or living or
flourishing or flowering or fruit bearing TREE, and so on are speaking
icons or images in the Church of this unique victory of Jesus. The
devotees are incorporated to Jesus’ Risen Body in holy baptism and
nourished through the same Body in the life-giving Eucharistic
celebration until they grow to the full maturity and inherit the
everlasting Kingdom. The most vivid expression and celebration of this
reality is the Qurbana, the Eucharistic celebration and it, besides
transfiguring the faithful to the Risen body of Jesus, fills them with
the effects of Resurrection, namely, the new life, renewal, peace,
tranquillity, satisfaction and joy. The Holy Spirit who transformed the
material body of our Lord to ‘Spirit-Body’ is also working constantly in
every faithful who receives Jesus’ Body in the Holy Eucharist,
transforming them also to ‘spirit-body’(Rom 8:11). We pray in our Qurbana celebration: “Let us
receive the Holy Qurbana and be sanctified by the Holy Spirit”. The blooming or flowering or glorious
CROSS shines forth in the Church and in the world as the sign of cosmic
transfiguration brought about in the Resurrection of Jesus.
5. ܕܲܫܠܝ݂ܚܹܐ Weeks
of the Apostles
The
descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles marks the beginning of this
particular liturgical period. During its seven weeks the Church meditates
deeply on the work of the Holy Spirit in humanity, sanctifying,
transforming and elevating it to the heights of divinity. The Tree of the
Church, the true wine stock, planted and inaugurated on the Pentecostal
day, sprouts, sends its roots deep in the soil and spreads its branches
far and wide through the authentic witnessing of the Apostles, martyrs
and saints. The holy Church is built on the Apostles, our Lord Himself
being the Cornerstone. The Church is, in fact, the continuation of our
Lord Jesus in the world today and the sign of the heavenly Kingdom. The work of the Holy Spirit in humans
and through them in the whole world, the role of the Apostles in the
Church, the actual life of the early Church, her unity, diversity and
universality, the missionary call of the members of the Church, their
responsibility to bear witness to the personality of Jesus and His
salvific action all through their life and the like are the most
important realities to be reflected upon and absorbed into our Christian
personality during these weeks. Dukrana, the remembrance of the
martyrdom of our Father in Faith, Mar Toma Sliha, is most solemnly
celebrated on the third of July.
6. ܕܩܲܝܛܵܐ Weeks
of Summer
The maturity and fruitfulness of the Church are
specially meditated on during the weeks of summer. The Syriac word Qaita means
“summer”. Summer is the time when
grains and fruits mature and ripen.
Thus it is a time of plentiful harvest for the Church. The fruits of the Church are those of
holiness and martyrdom. The Church, having grown, developed and spread to
the nukes and corners of the world, shines forth as the image of the
heavenly kingdom, giving birth to innumerable saints and martyrs. Just as
the Apostles, martyrs and saints, filled with the Power from above, the
Holy Spirit, dared even to the unknown lands and cultures for bearing
witness to Jesus Christ, their Lord and Master, today all Christians,
filed with the same Spirit, must bear witness to their Lord all through
their life and in all circumstances that they fill the Church with the
fruits of sanctity and martyrdom.
On the first Sunday of this liturgical period we
celebrate the twelve Apostles and Nusardeil. Nusardeil is a Persian word
which means “God-given New Year Day”.
Thus this particular liturgical day appears to be one uniting
together the heaven and earth in the Person of Jesus, Amman-hu-El
= “God with us” and the Church, His continuation on earth which is
founded on the twelve Apostles.
The great feast of Transfiguration (August 6) and
Assumption (August 15) which are celebrated during this liturgical period
are typical Icons of its spirit.
7. ܕܐܹܠܝ݂ܵܐ ܘܲܨܠܝ݂ܒ݂ܵܐ Weeks
of Elias and Cross
The great solemnity of the Glorious Cross that we
celebrate on September 14th is the basic theme meditated on
and absorbed in all through this liturgical period of Eliah-Sliba.
This feast emerged as the second Easter, especially in Eastern
Traditions, in the second half of the liturgical year, parallel to the
Easter in the first half. During
this period the faithful try their best to have an experience of the heavenly
bliss here on earth itself, a foretaste of the intimate union with the
Divine Person. Jesus’
transfiguration on mount Tabor was in
fact such an experience to the selected three. It was so fascinating and
absorbing that Saint Peter exclaimed: “Master, it is well that we are
here” (Mk 9:5). The
Glorious Cross, we know, is transfigured Jesus. Today we are given such an experience
in the Church in Qurbana celebration. When we really have the Tabor
experience in our Qurbana celebration, we will simply love
celebrating it as solemn as possible and remain immersed in it as long as
possible; the Eucharistic communion really becomes the participation in
the heavenly banquet, becoming one with our Bridegroom Jesus in His Risen
Body. During this liturgical season
the believers try earnestly to transfigure themselves to Jesus, to dream
and foresee their real encounter with Jesus at the end of time and
prepare fully for that exceptional and unique meeting with their Lord and
God.
The glorious Cross is the living sign of Jesus’ victory
over death, sin and suffering. It
is the Tree of Life, Stem of Jesse (Jesus), Staff of Comfort (Holy
Spirit), Ark of Noah (Church), the sign of
Jesus’ life, death and Resurrection, and that of Christian perfection.
Thus the Cross is the sum total of authentic Christian living.
8. ܕܡܵܪܝ ܡܘ݂ܫܹܐ Weeks
of Mar Moses
This liturgical period is, indeed, a God-given occasion
for meditating on the end of time and the last judgement. The believers
are called to foresee their real encounter with their Creator, Redeemer,
Sanctifier, Lord and God, make an examination of their real life here on
earth, repent on all the failures, do necessary reparation, turn
completely to the Lord and commit themselves unconditionally to Him. They are definitely prompted to raise
themselves fully to the level of the Divine. The liturgical celebrations
in the Church, especially the Holy Qurbana, are such occasions for
giving them the Divine encounter and experience.
This is a liturgical period whose duration is in fact
uncertain. It depends upon the
arrangement of the whole liturgical year every time, and thus always open to variation. There may be one or two or three
weeks for this period depending on the arrangement of other periods. Hence, fathers and commentators say
that this particular nature is typical of the end of time and last
judgement, which are always uncertain.
9. ܕܩܘ݂ܕܵܫ ܥܹܕܬܵܐ Weeks
of the Dedication of the Church
The last four weeks of the
Syro-Malabar liturgical year are precisely arranged to have an in-depth
heavenly experience for the faithful. Christ the Bride-groom leads His
bride the Church to the heavenly bride chamber and offers her to the
Father giving her the fullness of heavenly bliss. The church being the
sign of heavenly Kingdom here on earth, every time the believer enters
it, he/she is invited to such a heavenly experience and sing praises to
the Lord in the company of the celestial choirs. The faithful reach to
the climax of such experience during the Qurbana celebration, the
full and integral expression of their faith and life. The Holy Communion
becomes the real participation in the heavenly banquet. They are also
encouraged and helped to have an internal vision of the Lord, converse
with Him and be truly transfigured to His personality. With such heavenly
transformation, their earthly life becomes a standing invitation to their
fellowmen and the whole creation for a transfiguration to the Creator.
Conclusion
The history of salvation is very fruitfully celebrated
in the Syro-Malabar Church
according to this distribution of it in the cycle of a year. Vatican II has asked all Churches to
order or re-order their spiritual life according to the flow of their
liturgical year. The Syro-Malabar Church has to
make self-examination in this respect and do whatever is needed.
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