What I learned from the Syriac Tradition

[Pavel Mosko]

1) Christ was a poet, not just in heart but also in actual speech. If we bring the Gospel text back into the original spoken language of Aramaic we find there are many poetic devices used by Christ in his sermons, parables and sayings. This is significant because many people I think have a false impression of Christ. They see Christ purely as a guru saying lots of metaphysical stuff that simply blows away our conventional earthly expectations of things, and often down play anything related to aesthetics.

example
Many years ago while in the Charismatic movement I heard a sermon by Rick Joyner speaking about some of the impracticalities of seminary training. He mentioned how "the Sermon on the Mount did not resemble anything concerning rules of homiletics that is promoted in preaching", "It is the most disjointed message you will ever hear..... yet is the most spiritual one there ever was." He then went on to imply that spiritual messages do not often conform to various rules and contemporary wisdom. (This is false Christ used many devices that maximized verbal aesthetics and were traditional for his culture and time).


But anyway if your interested check out this Blog post and I may post some examples from the old Peshitta.org site I use to visit.

Aramaic Herald: Jesus the Poet: Christ’s Words as Hebrew Poetry By Stephen Andrew Missick


More to come....

 

[Pavel Mosko]

 

[Pavel Mosko]

In the Syriac tradition theology was poetic. Sermons and homilies were frequently sung and theology itself was often done as poetry rather than as a prose writing like in the Latin and Greek Christian traditions. This area is not something I know a lot about so I will quote from the web site of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch.

"Syriac Christianity has the distinction of developing one of the earliest musical traditions in Christendom. Early Syriac Christian writers preferred poetry as the mode of theological expression, employing imagery and symbolism, basic to all human experience. Mor Ephrem, acclaimed as the "Harp of the Holy Spirit," was the earliest exponent of the poetic genre of the madroshe, the teaching songs, in communicating the orthodox faith of the Church to a wide audience (Bardaisan is credited with originating this literary genre; his speculative theological ideas were countered by Mor Ephrem in the same poetic form.) Poetry permitted Syriac theologians to eschew static theological definitions and express the subjective spiritual experience of the Creator, whose mysteries the Syriac tradition held to be beyond human comprehension, in a fluid and dynamic fashion. Despite the later Christological controversies of the fourth and fifth centuries, which drew the Syriac tradition along with the rest of Christendom into precise theological positions and resulting schisms, the poetic form continued to be the preferred mode of theological expression in the Syriac churches. The teaching songs of Syriac liturgy express the profound mysteries of the Creator and the creation in a manner that is not didactic but spiritually resonant with the soul.

Syriac theological poetry spread its influence on the Greek and Latin Christian traditions where Syriac poetic forms were adopted. Many of St. Ephrem's poetic works were translated into Greek by the latter part of the fourth century by Flavian of Antioch and Diodore of Tarsus. St. Romanos, the greatest exponent of the Greek genre of the kontakion, is widely believed to have been inspired by Syriac poetry. St. Augustine in his Confessions speaks of his mother Monica as taking part in a liturgical innovation in Milan, "where the practice of singing hymns and psalms was introduced, in keeping with the usage of the Oriental churches, in order to revive the flagging spirits of the people during the long vigil service." (Brock, 2001).

The prolific theologian-poets of the Syriac Orthodox tradition produced volumes of poetry that became the basis of an extensive liturgical music tradition in the Syriac Orthodox Church. Isaac of Antioch, Rabbula, Balay, Shem`un Quqoyo (the potter), Mor Ya`qub of Sarug, Patriarch Mor Severus, Ya`qub of Edessa are among the ranks of the illustrious poets of the Church. They created rich genres of music that survive to this day in Syriac Orthodox liturgical music."

Syriac Orthodox Music

 

[Pavel Mosko]

Speaking of Syriac stuff.... Here is "Ya" from the East Syrian (Nestorian) Tradition


"The YH Bigramatton Print is a stylistically uncomplicated illustration that is powerful and thought provoking. The central bold YH ensignia is defined in a blurb on the bottom right hand side which draws viewers in for closer scrutiny. Above, the word "Trinity" is inscribed in the beautiful calligraphic Western Serṭā Assyrian script.

This print highlights one of Christendom's most ancient and reverent symbols.
YH (YOD-HEH; pronounced YAH) is the shorter form of the set-apart Name; YHWH.

With three points above signifying The Holy Trinity (3 Qnume) and one point below signifying the singular nature of God (1 Kyana), the ancient YH (ܞ) insignia epitomizes the theology of the Church concerning the doctrine of God.
This shorter form of YHWH occurs twice in Exodus (15:2 and 17:15). The former passage is echoed in Isa. 12:2 and Ps. 118:14.
YH is frequently used in combination with names or phrases as either a suffix or prefix, for example:
ELIJAH: my God is YAH
ISAIAH: YAH is Saviour
MALKIJAH: My King is YAH
HALLELUYAH: Praise YAH"

taken from
YH (ܞ) Ensignia - Bigrammaton