This is an Aramaic phrase, and should
be regarded as the Church’s oldest liturgical prayer. Its meaning has been
debated. Theodoret translates it: ‘The Lord has come’, breaking it up into Maran
atha, which makes it an affirmation of the coming of the Messiah; but it
seems more likely that it ought to be divided Marana tha, and
translated, ‘Come, Lord.’ In Revelation (22:20) the expression ‘Ερχου Κυριε
‘Ιησου certainly looks like
a Greek translation of this phrase, and the Aramaic form appears in 1 Cor.
16.22. It voices the strongly eschatological attitude of the Jewish
Christian community. (Jean Daniélou, The
Theology of Jewish Christianity: The Development of Christian Doctrine Before
the Council of Nicaea [trans. John A. Baker; London: Darton, Longman and
Todd, 1964], 336)