Homilies and Songs, Volume 1

by affirming and denying at the same time. For example:

(Food) me'kultha deyn men ekultha Food, indeed, from [the] food
(God) dealaha hu kul sayim bealaha Of God, it is [that] everything is placed in God
(God) wemetul sawuteh dealaha kul sayim And because of the constancy of God, everything is placed

Moreover, the Doctor’s style abounds in antitheses, with him repeating the same word many times in the same sentence, e.g., bealaha kul sayim . kul sayim kul sayim ayik kul sayim In God everything is placed. Everything is placed, everything is placed as everything is placed.

II It is wonderful how large a part the works of Narsai claim for themselves in the ecclesiastical office of the Eastern Syrians. Entire hymns, all the prayers called sluta prayer, all the canticles called qanuna canon/chant, and the greater part of the teshbuhta praise/gloria and cunyaya responsorial chant in the Houdhra are by the Author. Not only is the same office full of stanzas taken from the writings of Narsai, but it is also, so to speak, conceived according to the mind of Narsai, i.e., the ideas of the prayers are very often found faithfully excerpted from the Doctor, as is easily seen in the office of the four weeks of Dedication, Advent, the heptad (shabua week) of Elijah, the Holy Cross, etc. Two examples suffice:

These few things about Narsaiian versification; we also have in the Eastern Syrian Breviary certain hymns of the same author, written in prose, such as madbaha debnay kulhu kulhu kulhu suhara [altar of the sons of all, all, all wonder]