Prostrations

As we approach Great Lent, we can all expect to be doing quite a few prostrations. Last year, my first Great Lent, I had not yet discovered the proper technique of doing a prostration, which is of course, to get up from the floor with both legs at one time. Instead, I would get up one leg at a time. This made for a very difficult service of Forgiveness Vespers. After I had gotten around to the 50 or so people there and doing a prostration in front of them, my right leg was throbbing. The next day, I could hardly walk. I quickly learned after that the proper way to prostrate.

In Ugaritic class today, we read, for the umpteenth time, a letter with the typical greeting formulae. Usually, when an inferior is writing to a superior, the greeting section includes a statement such as the following from two slaves to their master:

Vocalized text:
lê pa`nê ba`lināyā ṯinêida šab`ida marḥaqtama qālānāyā

Translation:
At the feet of our master, twice seven times from afar we fall down

This sort of formula may be seen with various numbers indicating the number of prostrations the inferior is hypothetically performing such as "seven times seven" or the formula n+1, "seven times and eight." These prostrations are understood from Egyptian relief paintings and Akkadian letters to be prostrations not only on the belly but also the back. The Egyptian painting shows a Canaanite on his back with his beard sticking up and then on his belly. Either he would prostrate first on his belly, get up, and then lie on his back, or roll over onto his back from lying prostrate on his belly. Either way, it is a very humiliating action to be doing in front of a superior.

I do not have any particular spiritual application of this analogy other than to state it's rather humorous existence. It is a form of obeisance that was observed over 3,500 years ago and still used today by Christians all over the world.

So, as we do our prostrations during Forgiveness Vespers or the Great Canon of St. Andrew, we can be glad we do not have to prostrate on our back as well.

Brrrrr!

Sunday


Snow
Likely
Hi 17°F

Sunday
Night

Partly
Cloudy
Lo 6°F


I really hope that when I graduate, I can get a professorship somewhere in California, Florida, or back home in Texas.

Housekeeping

I respectfully request that any criticisms toward the Orthodox Western Rite that would not be made in the spirit of constructive discussion be directed to my personal e-mail at eric DOT jobe AT gmail DOT com.

Those who may disagree with the presence of the Western Rite within Orthodoxy and their practices are certainly entitled to their opinions, and I personally welcome any discussion that might lead to a better understanding between those who support the Western Rite and those who do no not. However, those who criticize the Western Rite in any other spirit are not welcome to comment publicly on this forum.

Again, dissenting opinions are certainly welcome here, as long as they are offered in a spirit of love and respect. but if this cannot be done, I would ask that comments be directed to my personal address given above.

RS 18.031 A Letter from the King of Tyre to the King of Ugarit

We translated an interesting Ugaritic letter in class this week. It is a letter from the king of Tyre to the King of Ugarit regarding a shipwreck of the coast of Tyre. The king of Ugarit was most likely Ammurapi I, the last king of Ugarit during the time roughly contemporary with Ramses II of Egypt and Hattušili III of Hatti. In other words, this would be roughly contemporaneous with the Biblical Exodus.

It begins with the greeting formula:

l.mlk.ugrt
aḫy.rgm
tḫm.mlk.ṣr.aḫk

Vocalized text:

lê malki ugarit
aḫîya rugum
taḥmu malki ṣurri aḫîka

Translation:

To the king of Ugarit, my brother, say: A message of the king of Tyre, your brother.

The letter continues with more greeting formulas and continues on line 10 of the tablet:

anykn.dt
likt.mṣrm
hndt.b.ṣr
mtt.by [--]
gšm.adr
nškḥ.w
rb.tmtt
lqḥ.kl.ḏr`
bd[nh]m.w.ank
k[l.]ḏr`[h]m
[k]l[.n]pš
w[.a]klm.bd
r[b.]tmtt.lqḥt
w.ṯṯb.ank.lhm
w.anyk.ṯt
by.`ky.`ryt
w.aḫy.mhk
b.lbh.al.yšt

Vocalized text:

anayyukana dāti
la'ikta miṣrêma
hannadāti bi ṣurri
mêtatu biya
gišmi aduri
naškaḥū wa
rabbu tamūtati
laqaḥa kulla ḏar`i
bîdênahumu wa anāku
kulla ḏar`ihumu
kulla napši
wa aklahumu bîdê
rabbi tamūtati laqaḥtu
wa ṯaṯābu anāku lêhumu
wa anayyuka ṯit
biya akāyi `arīyatu
wa aḫuya mahaka
bi libbihu al yašit

Translation:

As for your boats that you sent to Egypt, these wrecked off Tyre. They found themselves in a strong storm. The salvage master recovered all of the grain in their possession. But all of their grain, all of the crew, and their food in the possession of the salvage master I took and returned to them, and your boats have moored in Acco stripped (of their rigging). So my brother should not worry.

A lot is going on here if you read between the lines. First of all, we have more evidence from this letter of what we know from other sources, that there was a great famine in Hatti, for which the other nations in the Near East were supplying grain. Egypt and Hatti had recently made peace, and now Ugarit, a vassal state of Hatti, is sending its ships to Egypt to pick up grain shipments on their way to Hatti.

Along the way back, the ships encountered a quick, violent storm just off the coast of Tyre, which was then an island. As captains had the custom of always sailing within sight of land, people on the coast of Tyre saw them, and after the storm cleared, they recovered the ships, their crew, and cargo. The salvage master (lit. master of death), by arrangement with the government, has certain rights to any salvage he may collect. However in this case, the king himself intervenes and recovers all of the crew, cargo, supplies, and the ships themselves, and sends word back to Ugarit. He tacitly lets the king of Ugarit know that his ships, crew, and cargo, are ready to be returned to him. In other words, the king of Tyre has performed a favor for the king of Ugarit. Hint, hint, wink, wink, nudge, nudge ;)

Whatever the value of this text, it is very interesting to take this slight peak back in time to an event 3,500 years ago- a shipwreck, and an opportunistic king. For all of the literature of the ancient world, this letter and thousands like it give us the clearest glimpse into the daily happenings of real people directly from their own mouthes. The languages were real, the people were real, and the situations were real. No scholars debate about the 'authenticity' of these texts or engage in source criticism. It happened, and here is the record of it written on a clay tablet 3,500 years ago...just about the time that God was leading his people out of exile.

Blessed Feast

Today is (was) the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle in the Western Rite calendar and thus the first patronal feast of the Western Rite parish of St. Paul Orthodox Church in Houston, TX.

Many years to all of the faithful of St. Paul's!

Being the patronal feast, the parish website went live today, developed by your's truly. It's not much now, but we will continue to add content in the future.

In the Eastern Rite, we celebrate the memory of St. Gregory the Theologian.

All-in-all, it was a good day.

Ss. Paul and Gregory, pray for us!

Most Perfect

Wine is the most perfect beverage on the planet (red or white).

Close runner-ups include:

(1) Single-malt Scotch
(2) Espresso

Discussion?