Forgive Us Our Debts
This Gospel records Jesus' words from the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
What is the Gospel of Luke?
Verse:
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. Luke 23:34
In the West Syriac liturgical rite, this greeting of fellowship is exchanged before the Anaphora
What is Shlomo (the Kiss of Peace)?
This 4th-century Syriac saint, called the "Harp of the Holy Spirit," wrote extensively on repentance and Paradise.
Who is St. Ephrem the Syrian?
In this parable, a father runs to meet his returning son before the son can finish his rehearsed apology.
What is the Parable of the Prodigal Son?
This Greek phrase means Lord Have Mercy.
What is Kyrie Eleison?
This is the number of times Jesus tells Peter he must forgive.
What is seventy times seven?
Verse:
Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. Matthew 18:22
This three-day penitential fast before Great Lent commemorates a pagan city's repentance at the preaching of Jonah.
What is Sawmo d-Ninwaye (the Nineveh Fast)?
This saint's famous teaching describes a "merciful heart" that burns with compassion even for other parts of God’s creation.
Who is St. Isaac of Nineveh (Isaac the Syriac)?
This short tax collector climbed a sycamore tree and repaid fourfold anyone he had cheated.
Who is Zacchaeus?
This Hebrew word for "peace" or "wholeness" is the root behind the Syriac greeting exchanged in the liturgy.
What is shalom?
In the Lord's Prayer, God's forgiveness of our trespasses is explicitly conditioned on this.
What is our forgiving those who trespass against us?
Verse:
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
Matthew 6:12
This Syriac word for "forgiveness," used in the Lord's Prayer, shares a root with the legal term for divorce or release
What is Shubqono?
This 4th-century Syriac writer devoted an entire "Demonstration" to the subject of penitents.
Who is Aphrahat the Persian Sage?
This protomartyr, stoned to death, prayed for his executioners' forgiveness, echoing Christ's words on the cross.
Who is St. Stephen?
This Syriac word means both "sin" and "debt" — the same wordplay behind Jesus' language in the Lord's Prayer.
What is hawbo or huwb (hawbayn)?
This Old Testament patriarch's brothers sold him into slavery, yet he wept and forgave them, providing for them in Egypt.
Who is Joseph?
Book:
Genesis
This priestly prayer of absolution typically concludes the Sedro in West Syriac worship.
What is the Husoyo?
Known as the "Flute of the Holy Spirit," this bishop composed many poems including a mimro on the Prodigal Son.
Who is St. Jacob of Serugh?
Confronted by the prophet Nathan, this king's repentance after his sin with Bathsheba, is tied to Psalm 51.
Who is King David?
This Greek word for "repentance" literally means a "change of mind."
What is metanoia?
In John 20, the Risen Christ breathes on the apostles and grants them this two-fold spiritual authority over sin.
What is the authority to forgive or retain sins?
This is the traditional threefold order of Syriac prose prayer, ending in the prayer of absolution.
What is Sedro–Qolo–Husoyo?
This anonymous Syriac ascetical work divides the Church into "Small" and "Upper," linking radical forgiveness of enemies to the latter.
What is the Book of Steps (Liber Graduum)?
In the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant, this is the exaggerated size of the first servant's debt to the king.
What is ten thousand talents?
This Syriac genre of dialogue-poetry, used by St. Ephrem and others, dramatizes the inner repentance of figures like the Sinful Woman.
What is the soghitho?