SWABIAN PEACEMAKING PRAYER

SWABIAN  PEACEMAKING  PRAYER

Press release 141 E

1. Discussing with me the situation in Ukraine and Crimea, as well as the reflection of this situation in media, my dearly beloved sister in Christ Gisela Leiser (she is 83, she has come from Karlsruhe to Krasnodar to Easter, accompanying her husband – my dearly beloved brother in Christ pastor Gerhard Leiser, who is now 85) said, that the Swabians have a saying, rather suitable for this case.

2. The Swabians, seeing non-desiring to have a peace antagonists; pronounce in their dialect rather a strong expression, which is a specific peacemaking prayer. It sounds in the following way: “Herr, schmeiss Hirn ra!”

3. The word “schmeiss” means “throw, fling”. In the literary German the word “wirf” is used in such a meaning. From the Swabian “schmeiss”, by the way, the slang name of a submachine gun – “schmeisser” - is originated. 

4. The word “Hirn” means “brains”.

5. The word “ra” is the Swabian concision of the literary German “herunter”, that means “down”.

6. Thus, “Herr, schmeiss Hirn ra!” means: “Lord, throw brains down!”, i.e. “give mind to these idiots”!

7. The expression, indeed, is rather strong. But it is quite Biblical. Here it is enough to remember, that the Vulgatic “Stultorum infinitus est numerus” (V, Eccl., 1:15) Escriva did understand as: “Fools number is unaccountable”.

8. And this understanding corresponds enough with “Herr, schmeiss Hirn ra!”

9. Peace unto you! (John, 20:19)

Professor    N.  E.  Alyoshin