The Liturgy of the Hours (Yamaprarthanakal) is the official set of daily prayers prescribed by Church to be recited at prescribed hours. Prayers of liturgy of hours are the continuation of a Jewish tradition from times of Babylonian Exile of the Jews. The Syro-Malabar Church has seven sets of liturgical prayers, as described in the figure left.
Prayer texts and some helpful tips are available in the following webpages:
Ramsha : Evening Time
In the Old Testament the paschal lambs were killed in the evening (Ex 12:6). Jesus died on the cross exactly at that time. Over and above such facts of history, the evening is highly symbolic to the Fathers of the Church. It symbolises the end of an era and the beginning of a new one. Jesus’ death was the victory over the powers of darkness and the inauguration of a new era of light. Moreover, Saint John joins together Jesus’ death and resurrection. In this theological vision, through the death and resurrection of our Lord we have entered a new era, the era of eschatological life. It is the era of salvation and thus it is beyond the ordinary era of space and time. It is an era sealed with the self sacrifice of the heavenly Lamb and one to be fulfilled at the end of time. Thus it is also the end of the era of darkness or slavery and the beginning of the era of salvation. It is in this context the East Syriac tradition and thus also the Mar Toma Nasrani Church of India begins her ‘Liturgical Day’ with the Ramsha, the ‘Evening Liturgy’ at 6.00 pm. Then completes it singing praises to the Lord through the following ‘hours’ of Lelya (9.00 pm), Qala d-Shahra (3.00 am), Sapra (6.00 am), Quta’a (9.00 am), Endana (12.00 noon) and D-Bathsha Shayin (3.00 pm).