First Monday of Great Lent (Shub-khono)

First Monday of Great Lent (Shub-khono)

Service of Reconciliation(Shubhkono) according to the liturgical calendar of the Syriac Orthodox Church. The Shubhkono service is on the first Monday of the Great Lent after the third hour prayers. This service of forgiveness is a preperation for Great Lent and is marked by 40 prostrations with the kiss of peace at the end.The Church, begins Great Lent with the 'Day of Forgiveness,' and sets her journey into penitence. With kneeling & prostrating, her people look ahead to Kymtho, the great feast of the Light. The service of reconciliation is conducted on Monday, the first day of the Great Lent, at the end of sixth hour. The Service of Reconciliation or Shubkhono, stands at the 'threshold of Great Lent.' The service marks the actual doorway into Lent, the threshold on the other side of which stands the fullest measure of ascesis that the Church metes out to the whole of her faithful throughout the world. As we stand at the threshold of the fast, we sing of him who stood before the gates of Eden.Meditation by Aphrahat for Matthew 18:22:When Simon Peter heard this word, he said to our Lord, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?”” Our Lord said to him, “Not seven times only, but seven times seventy times. Forgive him even if he offends you for hundred and ninety times in one day.” Such a person has become like his good Father, who multiplied his forgiveness upon Jerusalem. When he made the Israelites go into captivity in Babylon, he chastised them there for seventy years. And when his mercy was set in motion, he gathered them to their land through Ezra the scribe. He multiplied his forgiveness toward them by one half of his day, which is about seventy weeks of years (four hundred and ninety years). But when the inhabitants of the city shed innocent blood he did not pardon Jerusalem, but delivered it into the hands of its enemies. They uprooted it and did not leave one stone upon another, nor did they leave the foundation for the Lord. And he did not say to the Edomites that they would be punished, because they did not cry out concerning Jerusalem, “Lay it abre! Lay it bare to its foundations!” God forgave them for half of his day (four hundred and ninety years) and endured their sins. But then he uprooted Jerusalem and delivered it into the hands of foreigners. It is in this way that our Life-giver commanded that a person should forgive his brother four hundred and ninety times in one day. St Aphrahat – Demonstration 2:13 On Love. (courtesy Heavenly Bread FB Page) "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" I John 1:9 KJV Let us all ask forgiveness from everyone we may have wronged willingly or unwillingly, knowingly or unknowingly so that our fast and prayers may be pleasing to God. Bible readings for this day from the Church Lectionary:Morning:Genesis 1: 1- 12I Kings 3:5-12Great Wisdom 7:7-24Isaiah 29:15-24St. James 1:2-12Romans 1:18-25St. Matthew 4:1-11Shubkhono:I John 4:11-21I Corinthians 13:4-10St. Matthew 18:12-35Explanation by Fr. Manu Baby (Courtesy Hymonutho): https://youtu.be/qSBQY3PDaIUശുബക്കൊനോ ശുശ്രൂഷ - സുറിയാനി ഓർത്തോഡോക്സ് സഭയുടെ നടപടി ക്രമങ്ങൾ (courtesy Hymonutho): https://bit.ly/3m3GwvRHymns from Shubkhono in Malayalam:Sneha Tharuve: https://youtu.be/l0p7_SWj6Tk Kalpana Kappan: https://youtu.be/GD2q2nvtTVUPriyare: https://youtu.be/9pHPhrOrQYMShubhkono Service Book Syriac: https://tinyurl.com/48b3mdxhShubkhono Service Book English: https://tinyurl.com/3ucp7hx8 Shubkhono Service Book Malayalam: https://tinyurl.com/42hcrjnb First Monday of Great Lent: https://goo.gl/oBYrB9