Tsome Dgwa

According to the Gwenderine School of Extra-eucharistic Liturgy

Editorial Note:

The following is a 2,000 word essay analyzing the way in which the extra-eucharistic worship services of the EOTC are conducted during the Lenten (or Great Fast) season, by a student of the art.

Written By:

Dcn. Mihret Melaku, Neuroscience student at Harvard University

The Great Fast, also known as ዐቢይ ፆም (abiy tsom) is without a doubt the “spiritual prime” of the Ethiopian Orthodox tewahdo Church. During this time, the worship services exponentially increase in their length and complexity, and in some of the great cathedrals, the services are essentially 24 hours a day every day.

Perhaps the greatest of these services (aside from the Divine or Eucharistic Liturgy itself) is the tsome dgwa (Lenten Hymnal) of the great hymnographer St. Yaréd the Aksumite.* This is a book which the saint composed for the 55 days of Lenten services. The book is used during the fast, along with two other of his compositions, miiraf, and mewasiit which are antiphonies of the psalms and the prophets with lines uniquely written by him inserted in between the antiphonies.

While the hymnals of St. Yaréd were written in the seventh century, the traditions by which these hymnals are applied to the worship service changed and evolved with the rise of other hymnographical scholars in Ethiopia. As of now, there are two main hymnographical schools of tradition according to which the scholars of the church observe the Lenten services (as well as the other services of the year).

The first is the hymnographical school of Bethlehem, located in Southern gwender.** This school bears the title of the certification house of dgwa, which is the a cappella or qum zéma style of hymnody most associated with St. Yaréd.*** The second is the hymnographical school of gwender beata le’Maryam, located in Northern gwender.**** This school is known as the certification house of a style of hymnody called aqwaqwam, which is a much more drawn out kind of chanting derived from the qum zéma of dgwa, and used alongside the sistrum (tsenatsil), the double-headed drum (kebero), and the prayer staff (meqwamya). Today, we take a look at how this particular school of tradition observes the Lenten services.

Firstly, it is worth noting that during the Lenten fast there is a universal proclamation which forbids the use of the sistrum and drum during the church. These are instruments of joy, the church reasons, and the Lenten fast is to be a somber season, so gwender, like the rest of the country refrains from the use of drums and sistra. However, the use of the meqwamya is continued during the fast, and this particular subtype of aqwaqwam or chant that uses the meqwamya choreography is called zimamé. In most churches, zimamé during the Great Fast is only done on Sundays, however, gwender has zimamé which is derived from the a cappella chants of the daily tsome dgwa services. Therefore, they have zimamé that is done every day of the Great Fast, which is compiled in a book called metshafe qiniwat, literally “the Book of Nails”, a reference to a type of hymn called qiniwat or “Nails” which is theologically centered on the crucifixion of our Lord.

The tsome dgwa services are divided up into the morning service, the service of the third hour, the sixth hour, and the ninth hour. The services are, as mentioned previously, made up of dgwa and miiraf. When a person learns the melodies of the church, they are expected to learn what is called zéma bét, which are a series hymnodies primarily used for the tsome dgwa service.***** For reference, here is a list of these hymnodies. zéma bét is composed of:

widasé Maryam zéma (the chanting of the seven days of the Praises of the Theotokos)

mestegabi

arbait

aryam

selest

miiraf (antiphonies of the Great Fast) which include:

miizal (literally meaning back and forth)

miqnay

ariste mihila (the hymns of supplication)

wayzéma and sibhate negh miiraf

tsome dgwa which consist of the following components:

izl

mahilét

sibhate negh

isme le’alem

qiniwat

abun

selam

tsome dgwa is the peak and the end of zéma bet, and all of the hymnodies leading up to tsome dgwa serve as its components. This will be highlighted as we generally explain how the tsome dgwa services are done according to the tradition of gwender. A detailed explanation for this (although highly technical, and in Amharic) was written by the certifying teacher of gwender’s certification school of aqwaqwam, megabé ailaf Kibur Tilahun in his book misTeere libuna (the Mystery of the Heart).

Morning tsome dgwa Service:

The service begins with prayer and absolution from the priest. The praises of the Theotokos for the seven days along with the prayer of anqetse birhan (Gate of Light) are distributed to those within the qiné mahilét, which is the part of the church where the scholars and those with holy orders gather for the tsome dgwa service. Then all say the Lord’s Prayer.

The first hymn of the morning service is the izl, which is said with a leader and a responder (meree misle temeree). This izl is done both in the qum zéma of dgwa and in the zimamé of aqwaqwam. Then the sibhate negh miiraf is begun, quickly segueing into miizal, which is when there is a back-and-forth of lines recited, from memory, of the psalms of David.

miizal is done in such a way where the left side of the qine mahilét and the right side each have their own miizal they do simultaneously. After this, a hymn from mestegabi is sung, then the miqnay of the morning is done in zimamé and a type of movement of the prayer staff called shibshabo which imitates the sistrum by moving the staff up-and-down, and then imitates clapping by repeatedly striking the staff on the ground.

Then, the priest says, “as the Lord kept us from evening to morning, may He keep us from morning to evening,” and then all say the Lord’s Prayer. Then, another mestegabi hymn is done and then the miizal starts up again, with more psalms being recited back-and-forth. At the end, the people on the furthest left and right of the qine mahilét, (the ones who have finished the miizal), end the psalm recitation by saying, “Glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit”, they then prostrate before the altar, and then each person on the left and right side goes to the person closest to the center of the qine mahilét on their respective sides and bows to each person (the left going to the left, the right going to the right) while saying with each bow, “do in like manner to your neighbor,” each person who was bowed to responds by saying, “may the blessings of David dwell upon you”.

Then, another mestegabi hymn is done. Then, the sihbate negh miiraf of the prophets is done in antiphony. In this particular case, it is the prayer of the three young men. In between, the mahilét and sihbate negh for the morning are done in zimamé and shibshabo. Then, the isme le’alem, qiniwat, and abun are done, and repeated in zimamé. After this, the book of Isaiah is read aloud. At the end of the reading of the passage, the reader says, “He who receives a prophet in the name of the prophet, receives the reward of the prophet from God”.

Then, the leading scholar reads from the synaxarium from the day. Then, a short prayer is given, and then prokeimenon (misbak), a short excerpt from the psalms, is sang by a deacon in vestments in the liturgical melody. Then, the gospel is read aloud. In the Ethiopian calendar, there is a cycle of four years based on the four evangelists. Depending on which evangelist’s year, the gospel of said evangelist is read every morning starting from chapter 1 on the first day, and eventually the gospel is finished by the last day before Holy Week. The selest is then done and repeated in zimamé, and then the selam is done along with zimamé. Then, after the selam, there is a mirag (a hymn praying for the prayers to ascend to heaven), primarily consisting of the chanting of “Lord Christ have mercy on us.” Then, the hour ends with the chanting of melka himamat, which are the hymns of the passion of Christ.

Third Hour Service:

The third hour, like the sixth and ninth hours, opens up with 50 psalms being read aloud, as well as two days of widasé Maryam being read. melka Michael is also fully done. It is quite similar in terms of the order of the miiraf and tsome dgwa hymns, the only difference is that a new hymn is added for the third, sixth, and ninth hour, which is aryam.

Additionally, there is a prostration service called misgad, which is done during the third, sixth, and ninth hours. The left and right side take turns prostrating, while singing hymns from the psalms. Additionally, the supplicatory prayer, “Forgive us, Father,” is sung for each of these hours. The synaxarium, misbak, and the gospel are only done during the morning’s service.

Sixth Hour (and Ninth Hour) Service:

The sixth hour is also similar, except, the prayer selam lekee is done in shibshabo, and the widasé Maryam is sung in zéma and zimamé. Then, the supplicatory prayer, tselota we’siileta (may the prayers and intercession of Mary save us) is done in zimamé. After this, the liturgy of hours hymns tefesihee Maryam and melka siil are sung. Then, the priest reads aloud the Miracles of Mary (teamire Maryam). Then, melka Maryam portions are distributed to be prayed by those in the qiné mahilét. Then, the priest reads aloud the Miracles of Jesus (teamire eeyesus). Then, the book of Isaiah is read. The ninth hour is essentially the same structure as the third hour.

It is worth noting that this is the structure for the services Monday through Friday. On Saturday, essentially only the morning service is done, because the liturgy is done early on Saturday. Sunday’s service is called sirate mewedis, and although it technically falls under tsome dgwa, its structure is drastically different. It is also worth noting that interspersed between all these hymns, the priest is supposed to sing the leeTons and ze’yinegis (the liturgical hymns of the morning), for all seven days of the week.

There also three days during abiy tsom that are days of lamentation supplications (ilete mihila). On these days, not even zimamé is allowed, and in addition to the qum zéma of dgwa, there is a whole different type of miiraf called ariste mihila, where essentially the whole of the psalms of David are recited back-and-forth, in addition to supplicatory hymns called temailelu.

These days of mihila are the Friday of mikwrab (3rd week of the Great Fast), the Wednesday of gebr hér (6th Week), and the Friday of Nicodemus (7th Week). On the Friday of Nicodemus, which is the last day of the fast, at the end of the dgwa service, the tsome dgwa is wrapped in vestment clothes and placed on the head of a deacon, and all the scholars go in a procession around the church with the drums and sistra.

There is also a day during the fast where the playing of the drums is allowed during the fast. This is the Friday of gebr hér, which is called sealu lene (intercede for us). The story goes that during the time of St. Yaréd, Emperor Gebre Mesqel, in obedience to a divine vision, had brought relics of the saints to Aksum.

When St. Yaréd saw this, he was inspired to hit the drum in honor of the relics of the saints, while saying, “intercede for us”, even though it was on the Friday of gebr hér. Because of this, every Friday of gebr hér, the kebero is hit at the end of the tsome dgwa, while the psalters are wrapped in processional clothes and placed on the head of a deacon, and all the scholars proceed around the church.

That said, this is a brief summary of all the chants which are done during the tsome dgwa. It is a quite complex worship service which highlights the memory and skill of the scholars and priests.

May their prayers be with us, and may all glory be to God.

Notes:

* Anglicized as Jared.

** gwender is also gonder. It is strictly speaking a city, and loosely speaking greater gwender is a city-state or dukedom. It is also suspiciously close to one of the human kingdoms in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth. And there is another Tolkien calls Rohan, which is one letter shy of the UNESCO World Heritage site Roha. And in addition to studying ancient languages and cultures, Tolkien was born in Africa…

*** qum zéma is literally standing melody. This same root is found in the Aramaic of the New Testament (Mark 5:41), and Levantine renditions of Christ is Risen From The Dead

**** beata le’Maryam means Entrance of the Theotokos to the Temple, and is the name of a parish which is the site of this liturgical school. The same parish has a K-12 secular school as well.

***** zéma bét literally means house of melodies, but dynamically has a set curriculum of musical notations and hymnals to study.