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“When the Son of Man come in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of glory.”

The second Sunday of the Pre-Lenten period is dedicated in the Maronite Church to the lay faithful and religious who have died It is part of our unique Syriac-Antiochian heritage that the three Sundays of the dead are part of our calendar.  Over the centuries, due to the Maronite proximity and close relationship with the Latin Church, some or our Syriac roots became obscured.  Thanks in large part to Patriarch Stephen al-Duwayhī (d. 1704) who served as Maronite Archbishop of Cyprus, aimed to restore ancient traditions using old manuscripts, compiling anaphoras and commentaries like Manārat al-Aqdās.  20th-century reforms (e.g., 1992 Missal, 2005 edition) further purified the rite, emphasizing the Syriac heritage.