The Liturgical Seasons and Services
The hymns on this site are grouped the way the Maronite Church uses them: four sections follow the seasons of the liturgical year, and four belong to services sung all year round.
Seasons of the year
Section titled “Seasons of the year”Nativity
Section titled “Nativity”The Maronite year opens with the Season of the Glorious Birth (Soubboro, the Announcement). Its Sundays walk through the announcements to Zechariah and Mary, the Visitation, the birth of John the Baptist, and Joseph’s dream, before reaching Christmas and Epiphany (Denho). The Nativity hymns include some of the most beloved Syriac melodies — many attributed to Saint Ephrem’s carols on the Virgin.
Great Lent (Sawmo Rabo, the Great Fast) begins with Cana Sunday and moves through the Sundays of healing: the leper, the hemorrhaging woman, the prodigal son, the paralytic, blind Bartimaeus. The hymns call the fast a weapon and a door: fasting opens heaven. The season closes with Lazarus Saturday and Hosanna (Palm) Sunday.
Passion
Section titled “Passion”Passion Week (Hasho) has the richest chant of the year: the Boté d’Hasho (stanzas of the Passion), the laments of the Virgin at the cross, the hymn of the thief, and the great Good Friday processions. Many of these melodies exist only in the Maronite tradition.
Resurrection
Section titled “Resurrection”The Season of the Resurrection (Qyomto) runs fifty days from Easter to Pentecost. Its hymns ring with Halleluya: the angel at the tomb, the women with their spices, the harrowing of Sheol, and the bridegroom Christ risen.
Services sung all year
Section titled “Services sung all year”Anaphora
Section titled “Anaphora”The Anaphora is the Eucharistic prayer of the Mass (Qourbono), from the transfer of the offerings to the great thanksgiving and the words of consecration. The Maronite Church’s oldest anaphora, that of Saint Peter (Sharar), is one of the most ancient Eucharistic prayers still in use anywhere. This section holds the sung parts of the Mass: the Our Father (Aboun dba’Shmayo), the Sanctus (Qadish Qadish), the incensation hymns, and the dialogues before communion.
Communion
Section titled “Communion”Hymns sung while the faithful receive: “I am the bread of life” (Eno Eno Lahmo d’Hayé), “This is my body” (Faghro Dil), and meditations that set words of Saint Ephrem on the Eucharist to melody.
Divine Office
Section titled “Divine Office”The daily prayer of the church (Shhimto): Ramsho (evening), Sootoro (compline, “the protection”), Lilyo (night), and Safro (morning). The hymns here include the midnight psalms of praise (Lokh da’Mchabhin Malakhé), the lamp hymns of evening, and the Bo’outo — the pleading chants in the meter of Saint Jacob of Serugh and Saint Ephrem.
Funeral
Section titled “Funeral”The Maronite funeral service (Jenoz) sings the departed to rest with some of the tradition’s most moving poetry: “Give rest, O Lord, to the departed” (Anih Moryo l’Anidé), and separate orders for laity, priests, bishops, and children.