Abstract
This paper stands at the interface between linguistics, theology, and culture, and its aim is twofold. First, it investigates the challenges that Arabic-speaking Christians in the town of Jish, Israel, might face while singing the four hymns performed during the Wednesday service of the Season of the Glorious Cross in the Maronite liturgy. Second, it studies these hymns, unpacking their meaning. One of these hymns is in Syriac, while the rest are in Modern Standard Arabic, a language not spoken natively but used in formal settings in the Arab world. To achieve the first aim, an anonymous online questionnaire was distributed via two WhatsApp groups belonging to the parish, and it was answered by 37 respondents. The results show that many of the respondents did not understand different parts of these four hymns. This, in turn, demonstrates the necessity of explaining these hymns to Arabic-speaking Maronites. To achieve the second aim, the hymns were transliterated using Roman script and translated into English. For each morpheme (smallest meaningful element in the language), an interlinear gloss has been provided, along with a linguistic and theological commentary on the stanzas of each hymn. It is hoped that such deep linguistic and theological analysis provides linguistic, religious, and cultural insiders (i.e., Arabic-speaking Maronites), as well as outsiders (i.e., non-Maronites and non-Arabs), with a deeper understanding of each hymn and gives them access to part of the Maronite liturgical world.
Keywords
Introduction
Christian hymns written in Modern Standard (MS) Arabic can be challenging to the Arabic-speaking faithful for three main reasons. First, the poetic language of hymns can employ archaic constructions, obsolete words, and/or literary devices whose meanings are not straightforward. Second, some hymns can require some theological background, without which the faithful may not fully understand them. Third, Arabic is a diglossic language; it has two forms, High and Low. The High form comprises only one variety, referred to as MS Arabic, while the Low form consists of a myriad of non-standard varieties. Unlike the non-standard varieties, MS Arabic is not spoken natively by anyone. Its use is restricted to formal settings, such as TV news and courts, and is learned at school. Hence, there is a need to explain these hymns to the faithful.
It is important that the faithful understand the hymns they sing, as hymns are instruments of worship and not merely artistic embellishments to worship. 1 Worship in Christianity centers on developing a personal relationship with God, and such a relationship requires communication. 2 The constitution on the sacred liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium states that “in the liturgy, God speaks to His people and Christ is still proclaiming His gospel. And the people reply to God both by song and prayer.” 3 When the faithful sing hymns or pray using liturgical texts whose meanings are not (fully) understood, the liturgy risks losing its communicative nature and becoming mechanical.
The intelligibility of a hymn depends on two main factors, its content and its language. If the subject matter of the hymn requires a strong background in theology, then the typical faithful may not grasp its full meaning. The language factor can constitute a difficulty for two main reasons. First, there is the poetic language that can be replete with literary devices, such as metaphors. Second, if the language of the hymn is not the mother tongue of the faithful, the latter may have difficulty in fully comprehending it.
While the Latin-rite Church, around the globe, employed extensive (if not sole) use of Latin in her liturgy before the Second Vatican Council, other rites used other languages. The Maronite Church, for example, originally used Syriac (the northwestern dialect of Aramaic), but, with the advent of Islam in the seventh century, Arabic started to creep in and replace Syriac.
As noted above, the Arabic language is diglossic; it has two forms, High and Low. 4 The High form is but one variety, called Modern Standard (MS) Arabic, and is not spoken natively by anyone. It is the language used in formal settings, including the liturgy. The Low form comprises a huge number of varieties, and each variety is the mother tongue of a community of speakers. Today, most of the Maronite Mass (as well as all the Masses celebrated by Arabic-speaking Christians) is in MS Arabic. Thus, Arabic-speaking Christians hear a language that is not their mother tongue, so they are likely to encounter words and grammatical constructions that they might not fully understand. The theology of the text, especially that of hymns, can add to the difficulty.
This paper aims to investigate the challenges that Arabic-speaking Christians in Jish, a small town of about 3,200 people in northern Israel, may encounter when singing four hymns performed every Wednesday during the Maronite Glorious Cross Season. These hymns appear in the Liturgy of the Word (the first part of the Mass). They are the Entrance Hymn, Hymn of Incense, Trisagion, and Psalm of the Readings. The first two hymns vary from one weekday to another in the Glorious Cross Season, while the other two are the same. Of all the Entrance and Incense hymns of this season's weekday services, those of the Wednesday service have been assessed by this author as exhibiting the greatest challenges. This underscores the importance of assessing the extent to which the faithful understand them. In addition, this paper aims to translate and unpack the meaning of each hymn.
The structure of the paper is as follows.
Liturgy in the Maronite Church
The Maronite Church is one of the twenty-three Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches. Like the others, it is under the jurisdiction of the Pope of Rome, while enjoying a degree of autonomy. It is headed by a patriarch elected by the synod of the Maronite bishops. The current patriarch is Bichara El-Rai, whose See is in Bkerke, Lebanon, and who is assisted by about forty-five bishops. Almost every one of these bishops oversees a diocese that comprises several parishes. 5
The Maronite Church employs Syriac as its sacred language. Syriac had been the mother tongue of the Maronites until Muslims conquered the Levant and imposed Arabic on the people there. Gradually, Syriac began to decline as a mother tongue, and even as a liturgical language, but it slowly began to be replaced by Arabic. Today, most of the Maronite liturgy is in Arabic, and there are only a few prayers (such as the Consecration words) that must be prayed in Syriac.
The Maronite Church also maintains its own liturgical calendar, comprising nine liturgical seasons: (1) The Opening of the Liturgical Year, (2) The Season of the Glorious Birth of Our Lord, (3) The Season of the Glorious Epiphany, (4) The Three Weeks of Commemorations, (5) The Season of Great Lent, (6) The Passion Week, (7) The Season of the Glorious Resurrection, (8) The Season of Glorious Pentecost, and (9) The Season of the Glorious Cross.
The Season of the Glorious Cross spans seven weeks, beginning with the Feast of the Glorious Cross on September 14, extending until the first Sunday of October, exclusive. In the Maronite liturgy (both the Mass and the breviary), the Sunday readings of this period have traditionally been entitled the First, Second, and subsequent Sundays after the Feast of the Glorious Cross. Despite these readings, the missal did not include a dedicated service for the Glorious Cross feast before 1992—only two hymns were included, before and after the Trisagion. Such a service existed, however, in the Maronite breviary. 6
The revised 1992 missal introduced this service, which was used from the Feast Day until the first Sunday after the feast (exclusive). From 1992 to 2005, the weekday service that was used during the Glorious Cross Season was called khidmat alusbūʿ alʿādī (خدمة الأسبوع العادي) “the service of the ordinary week.” This service was also used during the weekdays after the Day of Pentecost. A further revision in 2005 reassigned this service exclusively to Pentecost weekdays, introducing six new weekday services for the Season of the Glorious Cross. The text and hymns of each weekday service in this season, as well as in other seasons, were drawn from the Maronite breviary, whose texts and hymns are Syriac in origin. 7
Study
Research Questions
The paper aims to address two questions. First, what challenges can Arabic-speaking Christians in the town of Jish, Israel, face while singing the four hymns performed during the Wednesday service of the Season of the Glorious Cross in the Maronite liturgy? Second, what is the meaning conveyed by each of these hymns?
Participants, Research Instrument, and Procedure
To address the first research question, an anonymous online questionnaire in Arabic was developed using Google Forms. It included excerpts from the four hymns with thirteen questions about the meanings of certain words and phrases appearing in these excerpts (see the English translation of the questionnaire questions in Appendix 4). A link was shared via two WhatsApp groups affiliated with St. Maroun's Parish in Jish, and group members were invited to respond.
The questionnaire was designed to assess semantic comprehension (i.e., the ability to identify the meanings of individual words or expressions) and theological interpretation (namely, the capacity to recognize doctrinal concepts and biblical allusions). In this respect, it resembles basic reading comprehension assessments, which typically include focused questions about the meanings of words, phrases, and references. Such an approach is widely accepted in educational contexts, including schools and universities, and can therefore be regarded as methodologically sound.
A total of thirty-seven individuals responded. Among them, 1 percent were aged 18–19, 32.4 percent were aged 20–29, 21.6 percent were aged 30–39, and 18.9 percent were aged 40–49. Additionally, two respondents were in their fifties, one in their sixties, and one in their seventies. Regarding educational attainment, 37.8 percent completed only high school, 32.4 percent had a bachelor's degree, 27 percent had a master's degree, and one person had a PhD.
A brief note on Jish is warranted. Jish is a small Arabic-speaking town in Galilee, Israel. It has a population of approximately 3,200 people. About 65 percent are Christians, and the rest are Muslims. All the Christians are Catholic, belonging to one of two sui juris Churches: The Maronite Church and the Melkite Church. About 80 percent of the Christians in Jish are Maronites, and 20 percent are Melkites. Although there are two distinct parishes, many Melkite parishioners also attend church services in the Maronite Church, and thus, they are well familiar with the Maronite liturgy.
The Maronite parish hosts an Apostolic Movement, including both Maronite and Melkite children, adolescents, and adults. Two WhatsApp groups are associated with the movement, one for young people and the other for parents. These two groups include all the members of the Apostolic Movement, as well as their parents. Because the questionnaire was administered through these two groups, the respondents are collectively referred to as Arabic-speaking Christians.
Analysis and Results
This section presents translations and analyses of the four hymns, alongside relevant questionnaire results. The words of each hymn are transliterated and divided into morphemes (the smallest meaningful elements in the language). Each morpheme is glossed according to the Leipzig Interlineal Glossing rules, and an English translation is provided. Additionally, each stanza of each hymn is analyzed linguistically and theologically. The Arabic text of the four hymns appears in Appendix 1.
Hymn 1: Entrance Hymn
The first hymn comprises three stanzas. Each stanza consists of five lines. Each of the first four lines of each stanza is divided into two parts that appear opposite to each other. The last line has but one part that stands on its own (see Appendix 1). The hymn follows the Balbībūtū ʿashīntū melody, which has three major melodical pauses. Hence, in transliterating the hymn, each stanza will be presented as three lines (see the list of Abbreviations in Appendix 5).
The first stanza reads as follows:
(1) al-ṣalīb-u ṣakk-u al-khalāṣ-i al-muḥyī biʿat-a al-īmān “The cross is the document of salvation that gives life to the Church of Faith” (2) fa-hiya al-yawm-a tu-zayyiḥ-u al-ṣalīb-a fī kull-i al-buldān all- “and, today, she is carrying the cross [in procession] in all the countries” (3) wa-al-ban-ūna yu-nshid-ū-na li-l-fadī conj-def-child-nom.m.pl 3.ipfv-sing-pl.m-ind prep-def-savior al-maṣlūb-i aʿdhab-a al-alḥān “and the children are singing the sweetest melodies to the crucified savior”
As can be seen, this stanza opens by describing the cross as the document of salvation that gives life to the Church of Faith. It can be argued that this description is not easily understood. The difficulty stems to some degree from the Arabic words ṣakk “document” and to a greater degree from the word almuḥyī “life-giving.”
Although the word ṣakk means “document,” it is strongly associated with banking, specifically the term for a bank check, illustrating its dual meaning in different contexts. When asked about the meaning of this word, 78.4 percent of the respondents gave the correct answer, while the rest gave wrong answers.
The word almuḥyī “life-giving” appears at the end of the first line and may initially seem to modify ṣakku al-khalāṣ “the salvation document,” suggesting the sentence means “The cross is the life-giving document of salvation.” A closer look, however, reveals that the first sentence in this hymn constitutes the whole of the first line and the first part of the second line. Thus almuḥyī “life-giving” is not to be taken as an adjective modifying a noun but as the active participle of the verb aḥyā “to give life.” If the cross is described as the salvation document that gives life, one would inquire about the beneficiary. The answer appears in the second line; it is biʿata alʿīmān “the Church of Faith.”
The fact that the beneficiary appears in the second line can itself be a source of another difficulty. This can lead to misreading that the first line alone forms a complete sentence—either that the cross gives life to the document of salvation, or the reverse. The difficulty in understanding this line is attested by the questionnaire results. When the respondents were asked about who gives life to whom, 18.6 percent thought that the cross gives life to the faith, 16.2 percent said that the cross gives life to the document of salvation, 8.1 percent answered that the document of salvation gives life to the cross, one person said that they did not know the answer, and 24.3 percent rightly believed that none of the three options given was correct.
The meaning of the rest of the first stanza appears straightforward. It describes the church as carrying the cross in procession across all nations. It also describes the children of the church, i.e., the faithful, singing the sweetest melodies to the crucified savior.
The second stanza reads:
(4) al-nabiyy-u mūsā aḥyá bi-al-ḥayyat-i al-nuḥāsiyyah “By the copper serpent, the prophet, Moses, resuscitated” (5) man ādha-t-hum li-kufr-i-him bi-al-lāh-i ladgh-āt-u al-ḥayyah (6) yā la-rasm-i-n ʿajīb-i-n kāna ramz-a al-ṣalīb muḥyiy-a-n ḥayy-a “what a strange drawing; it was a vivid life-giving symbol of the cross”
Unlike the first stanza, which requires a thorough command of Arabic grammar, the second stanza requires a mastery of theology. It refers to Exod 21:4-9. There, we read about the people of Israel, who spoke against God and Moses and to whom God sent the serpents that bit them. As they sought Moses’ help, Moses prayed, and God ordered him to make a copper serpent, and so Moses did, and all those who looked at the copper serpent were healed. The second stanza argues that the copper serpent is but a vivid symbol of the cross.
The faithful who are not familiar with the biblical story are likely to miss the meaning conveyed by the stanza. According to the questionnaire results, only 27 percent of the respondents reported that they knew this story well, while 35.1 percent stated that they encountered it but could not remember it well, and 37.8 percent indicated that they did not know it at all. Moreover, when asked about what constituted a symbol of the cross according to this stanza, 62.2 percent gave the right answer while the rest did not. It could be the case that the latter did not think that a snake could be a symbol of the cross. Note that, in addition to referring to a dangerous reptile, the Jish Arabic word ḥayyi “snake,” is metaphorically used to refer to a cunning person.
The third stanza reads:
(7) al-mulūk-u al-ḥukkām-u al-muʾmin-ūna biʿat-u al-ʾīmān “The kings, the faithful rulers, the Church of Faith” (8) ya-sjud-ū-na li-ṣalīb-i fādī-nā al-malik-i al-dayyān “worship the cross of our savior, the king and judge” (9) yā ʿūd-a al-juljulah ḍumm-a al-kawn-a oh wood- kull-a-hu na-shdū-ka al-shukrān all- “Oh, Wood of Golgotha, embrace the whole universe; we sing you thanksgiving”
The third stanza does not seem to posit any difficulty to the typical faithful. It describes the kings, the faithful rules, and the faithful in general as worshiping the cross. This cross is the cross of the savior, who is also the king and the judge. The stanza moves on to address the cross, describing it as the Wood of Golgotha, and imploring it to embrace the whole universe.
Hymn 2: Hymn of Incense
This hymn includes four stanzas, each containing two lines. Every line is split into two parts, following the pause structure of the Sogītū melody.
The first stanza reads:
(1) anta ʿarsh-u rabb-i al-kawn-i “You are the throne of the Lord of the universe” (2) ṭūbā-ka yā ʿūd-a al-ibn-i blessed- “Blessed are you, O Wood of the Son” (3) bi-al-maṣlūb-i al-ḥayy-i al-akram “Through the most generous living crucified,” (4) 01;lī ādam
The first stanza opens by addressing the throne of the Lord of the universe. Parishioners who are not well-versed in MS Arabic tend to mistake the throne for Jesus, when it in fact refers to the cross. The difficulty in understanding the first part of the first line stems from the use of personification (addressing the cross as if it were a person) and the metaphorical description of the cross as a king's throne. When the respondents were asked whether the pronoun anta “you” refers to Jesus, 63.9 percent answered in the affirmative. This result corroborates the claim above.
This metaphor elevates the cross by portraying it not as an instrument of suffering, but as a king's throne—depicting Jesus not as a humiliated person but as a king seated on his throne. The first stanza continues by praising the cross, through which Jesus—the immortal God who generously laid his life on the cross—renewed Adam, whose sin made him mortal. The imagery, however, may not be fully grasped because of the word bālī “mortal.” When asked about why Adam is described as bālī, 30.6 percent stated that it was because he lived a very long time ago, 11.1 percent indicated that they did not know the reason, and 2.8 percent ascribed this to Adam's growing old. 55.6 percent chose the correct answer, which is “Neither of the two options above is correct.”
The second stanza reads:
(5) ghuṣn-u ʿadn-i-n jān-i-n qattāl branch- “The branch of Eden is a perpetrator and killer (6) anta al-ghusn-u muḥyī al-ajyāl “You are the branch that gives life to the generations” (7) dhāqa-t ṭaʿm-a al-mawt-i ḥawwā taste-3 “Eve tasted the taste of death” (8) ṣāra-t bi-al-ʿuṣyān-i balwā become- “A catastrophe occurred due to the rebellion”
The second stanza draws a comparison between the cross and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The tree is alluded to through the deadly branch of Eden. Eve, who rebelled against God's commandment, tasted death by eating from that tree, and a catastrophe was brought upon her, i.e., expulsion from the Garden of Eden with all the consequences that followed it. Besides the “deadly branch,” the second stanza mentions the life-giving branch, i.e., the cross that gives life to all who believe in it. Note that describing the cross as a life-giving branch may allude to the Tree of Life, mentioned in Gen 2:9 and 3:22. The difference between them, however, remains in the fact that, after the fall, no human being could approach the tree, whereas all are invited to approach and embrace the cross.
Theologically, this stanza does not seem to posit any difficulty, as the story of the fall of Adam and Eve and its consequences are well known. Linguistically, however, the word jānin may not be well understood, being homonymous with both “perpetrator” and “fruit picker.” When asked about its meaning, 55.6 percent of the respondents stated that it means “fruit picker,” and 11.1 percent reported that they did not know its meaning.
Notably, the final line of this stanza is ambiguous. The agreement suffix -t in the word ṣāra-t “become-
The third stanza reads:
(9) jāʾa-t bint-u ḥawwa al-ʿadhrā come- “The Virgin, the daughter of Eve, came to” (10) tu-ʿṭī al-kawn-a ashhá thamra (11) mawt-u ādam jaʾa min ʿūd death- “The death of Adam came about from a piece of wood” (12) rabb-u ādam aḥyā bi-l-ʿūd lord- “The Lord of Adam gave life from the wood”
The third stanza identifies the Virgin Mary as the daughter of Eve and describes her arrival bearing the most precious fruit—Jesus. Thus, in the second line of the second stanza and the first line of the third stanza, a comparison is drawn between Eve, whose fruit brought death upon humanity, and Mary, whose fruit brought life. The second couplet also contrasts Adam with Jesus. Adam died because of “a piece of wood,” i.e., the branch of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil from which he ate the forbidden fruit, while the Lord of Adam gave life through “a piece of wood,” i.e., the cross. Although this last imagery appears to be straightforward, most of the respondents (55.6 percent) did not understand it. Upon being asked about the meaning of the sentence rabbu ādam aḥyā bilʿūd “The Lord of Adam gave life from the wood,” they stated that God gave life to Adam as he breathed in him the breath of life after having fashioned him from dust.
The fourth stanza reads:
(13) ṭāba jurḥ-u al-mawt-i lammā heal( “The wound of death healed when” (14) rabb-u al-mawt-i dhāqa al-ṭaʿm-a lord- “the Lord of death tasted the taste (of death)” (15) ya-bqá yawm-u dhikrá al-ʿūd-i 3 “The anniversary of the Wood remains” (16) yawm-a shukr-i-n wa-sujūd-i day- “a day of thanksgiving and worship”
The first line of the last stanza talks about the wound of death, i.e., the eternal separation from God due to the first sin. This wound, as the stanza describes it, healed after the Lord of death tasted death. Note that, in Arabic, the word for death is not mentioned, and therefore, must be comprehended from context, making the line potentially confusing. In a multiple-choice question about what the word ṭaʿm “taste” refers to, 61.1 percent of the respondents indicated “death,” 25 percent believed it referred to the incarnation of God, 8.3 percent chose “life,” while the rest indicated that they did not know the answer.
The second line of the stanza describes the “Anniversary of the Wood” (i.e., the feast of the Triumph of the Cross) as a day of thanksgiving and worship. The meaning of this line appears to be straightforward, but the absence of a related questionnaire question about it represents a limitation.
It is worth noting that this hymn, its original Syriac counterpart (presented in Appendix 2), and a homily by St. John Chrysostom—a Church Father who died around 407 If you knew by what means Christ was victorious, your admiration would become greater. With the same weapons that Satan defeated man, Christ defeated him. And listen how? [A] Virgin, a tree and death are symbols of our defeat. The virgin was Eve, because she did not know her husband. The wood was the tree (from which God commanded Adam not to eat) and death was Adam's punishment. But the Virgin, the wood, and death, which were symbols of our defeat, became symbols of victory. Because we have the Virgin Mary instead of Eve, we have the wood of the cross instead of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and we have the death of Christ instead of the death of Adam. Did you see that Satan was defeated with the same weapons that he used in the past?!! Satan fought Adam and defeated him near the tree, and Christ defeated Satan on the wood of the cross. The first tree led humans to hell, while the second carried them from the abyss to life. Also, the first tree hid the prisoner because he was naked, but the second showed him openly to everyone, that is, the victorious Christ, who was naked and hanging above it. Also, the first death condemned all those born after it, while the second, that is, the death of Christ, resurrected those who lived before Christ: “Who can describe in words the power of the Lord” (Psalm 106:2). We were dead and now we are alive.
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Hymn 3: Trisagion
The third hymn is the Trisagion, and it is an integral part of every Mass. It comprises two lines. The first line remains constant, while the second varies according to the liturgical season,
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as shown below:
During the Seasons of the Great Lent, Pentecost, and the Glorious Cross, the response is “Have mercy on us.” During the Season of the Glorious Birth of Our Lord, the response is “O Christ, who were born from the daughter of David, have mercy on us;” During the Season of the Glorious Epiphany, the response is “O Christ, who were baptized by John, have mercy on us;” During the Passion Week, the response is “O Christ, who were crucified for us, have mercy on us;” During the Season of the Glorious Resurrection, the response is “O Christ, who rose from the dead, have mercy on us.”
The first line is a prayer of praise; it addresses Jesus and describes him as being God, powerful, and immortal. The second line is a prayer of petition, as it asks Jesus to have mercy on the faithful. The only apparent source of difficulty in this hymn is that it is prayed in Syriac, a language that only some Maronites know well.
(1) qadīsh-at ālohō qadīsh-at ḥayiltonō qadīsh-at lō moyūtō holy- “Holy are you, God; holy are you, O powerful one; holy are you, O immortal one” (2) it-raḥam ʿl-ayn “Have mercy on us.”
Nevertheless, this prayer is well known. Although it is in Syriac, it seems to be widely understood for two reasons. First, the Divine Mercy chaplet has been prayed by Arabic-speaking (Catholic) Christians for years, largely owing to broadcasts by the Christian Voice of Charity radio station and the Telelumière and Noursat TV channels. These media outlets have aired the recitation of this chaplet, in which each decade concludes with the Trisagion in Arabic. At St. Maroun's Parish in Jish, the text of the chaplet has been distributed every Good Friday for approximately twenty years, and the faithful have been encouraged to pray it. Also, for about five years, this chaplet has been recited in the same parish on alternate days before the evening Mass.
Second, the words in Syriac are similar to those in both Modern Standard (MS) Arabic and various non-standard Arabic dialects, including Jish Arabic: (1) Syriac qadīsh corresponds to Arabic quddūs, (2) ālohō to allāh, (3) ḥayiltonō to MS Arabic ḥawl and Jish Arabic ḥēl, (4) lō moyūtō to MS Arabic lā yamūt and Jish Arabic bimutish, (5) itraḥam to irḥam, and (6) ʿlayn to MS Arabic ʿalaynā and Jish Arabic ʿalēnā. When the respondents were asked to write the meaning of qadīsh, 91 percent of them gave the correct answer, two respondents indicated that they did not know, and one gave an incorrect answer. The case of the Syriac word ḥayiltonō is slightly different, as its similarity to its Arabic counterparts seems to be less pronounced than that of the other words in the Trisagion. When the respondents were asked to supply its meaning, only 73.5 percent provided the right answer, while 14.7 percent gave a wrong answer, and 11.8 percent stated that they did not know its meaning.
Hymn 4: Psalm of the Readings
The fourth hymn is called the Psalm of the Readings, though it is not based on the biblical psalms. Like the Trisagion, this hymn is an integral part of every Mass. Unlike the Trisagion, it changes to reflect the liturgical occasion. It can be the same in all the masses of a certain liturgical season (like that of the Glorious Cross); it can differ from one Sunday Mass to another in another liturgical season (e.g., Advent), and it can even differ from one day to another in yet another liturgical season (as in the Pentecostal time).
This hymn comprises three stanzas, each having two lines and each line having two parts. Its meaning is straightforward and does not pose any challenges, except regarding the Arabic word sirr which covers the semantic range of English mystery, sacrament, and secret.
The first stanza addresses the cross, describing it as the cross of lights and the mystery of the redeemer of ages, i.e., of all people. It also mentions that, from the cross, all the sacraments of the church emerge as a flowing spring. Here, it should be noted that the word asrār “sacraments” is the plural form of sirr, which, as has been mentioned above, means secret, sacrament, and mystery. The average faithful would very likely assume that the two words (i.e., sirr in the first line and its plural form asrār in the second line) carry the same meaning, when they do not. Sirr means mystery while asrār means sacraments. While every sacrament is a mystery, not every mystery is a sacrament. Answering the question “Which asrār ‘sacraments/mysteries’ flowed from the cross?”, 43.2 percent selected the option “the mystery of salvation,” 35.1 percent chose the correct answer “the seven sacraments,” 10.8 percent stated they did not know, 5.4 percent identified “the mystery of life,” and another 5.4 percent thought that none of the provided answers was correct.
(1) yā ṣalīb-a al-anwār-i “O Cross of the lights” (2) sirr-a fādī al-adhār-i mystery- “the mystery of the redeemer of ages” (3) min-ka asrār-u al-biʿah “from you, the mysteries of the Church” (4) fāḍa-t ka-al-nabʿ-i al-jāri overflow- “overflowed like a flowing spring”
The second stanza tells us that, through the cross, the priest gains an extraordinary authority, which enables him to carry out all the sacraments.
(5) min anwāri al-ṣalīb-i “By the lights of the cross” yu-dḥī al-kāhin-u al-mukhtār “the chosen priest becomes” (7) dh-ā sulṭān-i-n ʿajīb-i owner- (8) ḥamil-a-n kull-a al-asrār carrying- “carrying all the mysteries”
It would have been revealing to find out what the respondents understood by the phrase fādī aladhāri “the redeemer of ages” in the first stanza and sulṭānin ʿajībi “an extraordinary authority” in the second stanza. However, no related questions were included in the questionnaire.
The third stanza addresses the cross, describing it as a glorified cross and as a ladder that transcends error and through which the church goes up toward Jesus, her redeemer. The word ladder can allude to the story of Jacob's dream (Gen 28:10-17). This imagery is used abundantly by early first millennium Eastern Christian writers.
(9) yā ṣalīb-a-n tamajad “O Cross, who was glorified” (10) sullam-a-n ya-smū tīh-ā ladder- “a ladder that transcends error” (11) fī-ka al-bīʿat-u ta-ṣʿad “through you, the church goes up” (12) naḥwa al-rabb-i fādī-hā toward DEF
The only word deemed difficult to understand is tīh “error,” as it is less common than the other words. When surveyed on this word's meaning, 55.6 percent of the respondents indicated that they did not know, 16.7 percent stated that it meant arrogance (which can be correct but not in this hymn), 13.9 percent selected the option “earthly/mundane life,” 8.3 percent chose the correct answer, and 5.6 percent claimed that none of the provided answers was correct.
This study has investigated the meanings conveyed by four hymns sung in the Maronite Church on Wednesdays during the Season of the Glorious Cross. It has yielded three main findings.
First, the Maronite liturgy places significant emphasis on the concept and theology of the cross. Christians from other Churches can appreciate the fact that the Maronite Church dedicates an entire liturgical season to the cross.
Second, three of the four hymns portray the cross, not merely as the wooden instrument of Christ's crucifixion, but as a central symbol of salvation, a life-giving instrument, a throne of the Lord, a channel of grace, and a ladder to the Kingdom of God.
Third, the hymns connect the cross to biblical narratives, particularly the fall of Adam and Eve and the bronze serpent raised by Moses. These allusions enrich the hymns theologically and throw light on the economy of salvation.
This study has also investigated the extent to which Arabic-speaking Christians in Jish (northern Israel) understand these hymns. The results of the questionnaire indicate that, overall, the respondents demonstrate an apparent substantial understanding of the four hymns. By “apparent substantial understanding” is meant the participants’ apparent understanding of most words in each hymn, as they are familiar with their meanings. That said, had the respondents been asked more questions or had been interviewed, the results may have revealed that even words whose meanings seem clear to the respondents are not fully understood. For example, while the respondents—most of whom are well educated—know the meaning of the word khalās “salvation,” they might not know from what or whom Jesus saved humanity. Such a result would indicate that the respondents have a partial understanding of the word. This partial understanding seems to be a theological, rather than a linguistic, issue. It seems that, like many other Christians, the respondents struggle with this concept due to their limited exposure to it and to other theological concepts. This hypothesis merits further investigation through expanded qualitative methods.
ome of the respondents encountered difficulties with certain words and phrases either due to language barriers (such as not knowing the meaning of a certain word) or theological challenges (such as not knowing the biblical stories referenced in the hymns). Notably, the thirty-seven respondents are predominantly educated adults. Had the questionnaire been administered to people who had not received adequate education, the results would likely have been different. A lack of a certain level of education is likely to negatively affect understanding the target hymns to a greater extent. This, in turn, highlights the importance of explaining these and other hymns to the faithful.
It is worth noting that focusing on semantic comprehension does not imply that comprehension of vocabulary exhausts the mystery of the liturgical encounter. On the contrary, it acknowledges that semantic opacity can hinder deeper participation in liturgy. The use of a questionnaire is thus meant to uncover such linguistic and theological obstacles, so that Arabic-speaking preachers or catechists can be aware of them and explain the hymns to the faithful.
It is also important to clarify that the focus of this study was practical comprehension and not semantic structure. It investigated the extent to which Arabic-speaking churchgoers understand hymn language. It did not aim to investigate how meaning is constructed in the liturgy at a theoretical level. Although some of the hymns rely on metaphorical and symbolic language (e.g., the cross as a throne), this study did not aim to analyze these metaphors through the prism of a certain semantic theory.
In addition to presenting the questionnaire results, this paper has discussed and unpacked the meaning conveyed by each hymn. The presentation and analysis of these hymns have three benefits.
First, their translation and analysis elucidate their meanings. As has been discussed, the hymns are written in MS Arabic, a written form that is not used in everyday speech by native speakers. Although the overwhelming majority of Arabic-speaking Christians study this language at school, not all of them master it. They can certainly read it and understand it; however, some words and grammatical constructions may not be understood, especially in poetry. Also, it is noteworthy that the structure of the poem can sometimes hinder understanding, as the end of the line is not necessarily the end of the sentence; the first stanza of the first hymn is a case in point.
Second, providing transliteration, interlinear glossing, and translation of the four hymns makes these hymns accessible to both religious and cultural insiders as well as outsiders. Religious and cultural outsiders refer to non-Maronites; the translation and analysis of the four target hymns give these outsiders access to part of the insider's liturgical world. Religious and cultural insiders refer to Maronites who are not native Arabic speakers. Although they may have the missal translated into their mother tongues, the hymns are not translated; instead, new hymns are presented with the same Maronite melodies as those of the original Arabic hymns. These non-native Arabic-speaking Maronites can now have access to the hymns sung by native Arabic-speaking Maronites. It is worth noting that Appendix 3 presents the four target hymns in English, as they appear in the missal used by English-speaking Maronites. A preliminary comparison reveals that, except for the Trisagion, the three other English hymns do not match up perfectly with their Arabic counterparts.
Finally, this study contributes to the field of theology in two ways. First, it stimulates research within the field, as it can prompt liturgists to carry out similar research on hymns written in their mother tongues. This, in turn, can stimulate comparative studies, where researchers compare and contrast intra-rite hymns (that is, hymns coming from the same Church but written in different languages) or inter-rite hymns (that is, hymns coming from different Churches). Second, this study sheds light on the biblical and christological aspects of part of the Maronite liturgy. The four hymns in question revolve around the cross of Christ, and contain numerous references to the Bible.
Conclusion
This paper has demonstrated that Arabic-speaking Christians encounter some challenges with certain hymns sung in their churches. These challenges stem from two main factors.
First, the hymns are written in a language that is not spoken natively by anyone, and therefore, some of the words and phrases appearing in these hymns may be unfamiliar to them.
Second, these Christians may lack a strong theological background, which can affect their comprehension of certain theological ideas mentioned or alluded to in these hymns.
Advocating the importance of explaining such hymns to the faithful, this paper has presented and discussed four hymns sung every Wednesday during the Season of the Glorious Cross in the Maronite liturgy. The hymns have been transliterated using Roman script and translated into English; in addition, an interlinear gloss of each morpheme has been provided. Each stanza of each hymn has been explained from a linguistic and theological viewpoint. This linguistic and theological analysis can introduce insiders, as well as outsiders, to some of the richness of the Maronite liturgy. It is hoped that this study will trigger other similar studies that give theologians, linguists, and the public new insights into the world of ecclesiastical hymns.
Footnotes
Declaration of Interest statement
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Funding
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Notes
References
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