Consecration & Renewal of the Church: First Sunday of the Year

The Syriac liturgical year begins a week or two before the Season of Annunciations/Announcements. It commemorates the reality of the Church, encapsulated in this verse from the Feast’s ܪܡܫܐ(ramsho - evening prayer):

Who is this, the King’s daughter whom David said stands in glory on the right hand of the Father?

Her garment is the true light. Her robe is fire and spirit, and on the clouds she is borne in pomp.

Far-reaching is her authority; she rests her head on her love and awaits Him to come to her feast.

She is, then, the Holy Church; her love is Christ the King Who brings His pure flesh and blood to her feast.

Her children come and approach to receive Him in true faith, hallelujah! They are forgiven.

The hymn, as many of the prayers, draws on the idea that the Church is mystically present through all of salvation history - the first line sees her in Psalm 44 (45), which was proclaimed by David, calling her the King’s daughter standing in glory. This mystical Church is not just an abstraction but a lover who places her head on Christ’s chest. And no greater love exists than Christ, God Almighty, who gives her everything, including His own body and blood for eternal life and the forgiveness of sins for all her children.