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Hymnody

Over the centuries the Church has developed a rich tradition of hymnody to proclaim,
explain, and defend the faith but also to inform the faithful of the specific liturgical
commemoration of a given day. The quality of these hymns varies, from a brief cou-
ple of stanzas to a terse theological formulation. In fact for a long period Byzantine
hymnographers drew inspiration from the highly theological, but also highly rhetorical,
homilies of Gregory the Theologian, sometimes borrowing entire sections outright.55
The hymnographic tradition is diverse in its literary genres as it has been formed over
centuries and has diverse geographical origins. While early scholars have often postu-
lated a Syriac origin for the Byzantine hymnographic tradition, more recent scholars
have pointed out that it is more likely that both traditions have a similar origin in
the earliest pieces of Syriac and Greek Christian literature.56 Such metrical homilies
as the second-century homily by Melito of Sardis, Peri Pascha, originally written in
Greek, witness to a very early inspiration if not outright antecedent to the later Greek
hymnographic tradition. While the exact steps are unknown, the trajectory from homily
to hymnody is not difficult to follow. For example, Peri Pascha reads in one section:
71. He is the lamb being slain, this is the speechless lamb, this is the one born of
Mary the fair Ewe, this is the one taken from the flock, and led to slaughter; who
was sacrificed in the evening, and buried at night; who was not broken on the
tree, who was not undone in the earth, who rose from the dead and resurrected
humankind from the grave below.57
Later Greek hymns will take this exact same imagery from Isaiah 53:7b-8 of the
messianic figure as a blameless lamb who will be slain by lawless men, and identify it
clearly with Christ and his Passion just as Melito did. For instance, a hymn sung during
the office on Good Friday (also found in a Syriac translation) echoes Melitos words:
As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, O Christ King, and like a sheep without
guile you were nailed to the cross by wicked men for our sins, O Lover of man.
(Second troparion, First Hour, Good Friday)
To be sure Christ has been identified with the Lamb of God since at least John the
Baptist (John 1:29), but along with content, the metrical homilies and metered hymns
share a method of scriptural exegesis that interprets a passage by an interpolated word,
or a parallel verse structure, or even succinct summaries of scriptural verses.58
55
P. Karavites, Gregory Nazianzinos and Byzantine Hymnography, Journal of Hellenic Studies 114
(1993) 81-98,
56
Egon Wellesz, A History of Byzataine Music and Hymnograghy (Oxford: Clarendon, 1961) 10 11.
This book is still a good, accessible history of Byzantine hymnography.
57
Melito of Sardis, On Pascha: With the Fragments of Melito and Other Material Related to the
Quartodecimans, trans. Alistair Stewart-Sykes (Crestwood, N. Y.: St. Vladimirs Seminary Press,
2001) 56.
58
The connection between Melitos Peri Pascha and later Byzantine hymnography was first noted
by Egon Wellesz in his important article Melitos Homily on the Passion: An Investigation into
the Sources of Byzantine Hymnography, Journal of Theological Studies 44 (1943) 41-52. A more
precise connection between Melito and the hymn from Good Friday mentioned above is drawn out
by Sebastia Janeras in his study on the Byzantine Churchs celebration of Holy Friday: Le Vendredi
Saint dans la tradition liturgique byzantine, Studia Anselmiana 99/Analecta Liturgica 12 (Rome:
Pontificio Anteno S. Anselmo, 1988) 262-270.
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All of this is not to say that the Syriac Christian literary tradition did not have an influ-
ence on the development of Byzantine hymnody. Historians of Byzantine hymnography
have long cited the influence of fourth-century Ephrem the Syrians poetry on the first
known Byzantine hymnographer, Romanos the Melodist (sixth century).59 Romanos,
himself of Syrian origin, wrote in a genre of hymnography called a kontakion.60 The
structure of the entire kontakion involves a short poetic introductory piece, a prooimion,
which establishes both the literary theme and the musical pattern that govern the rest
of the kontakion. This introductory stanza is followed by an ikos, a short hymn that
takes up and develops the theme while following the musical pattern established in
the prooimion. Usually some type of refrain or alternating refrains follow each ikos,
either a series of strophes with the same concluding phrase or a simple alleluia. A
kontakion could contain as many as twenty-four ikoi with refrains. This whole struc-
ture was repeated up to twelve or thirteen times, though each unit ended with the same
refrain. The most famous kontakion, though likely not written by Romanos, must be
the Akathistos hymn in honor of the Mother of God, which is still prescribed to be sung
on the fifth Saturday of Great Lent, though out of devotion it is often sung throughout
the year by the faithful (Akathistos literally means not sitting; in other words, the
hymn to be said standing). The Akathistos to the Mother of God follows the usual
pattern of kontakia, with a short introduction, the prooimion:

To thee, our leader in battle and defender, 0 Theotokos, we thy servants, delivered
from calamity, offer hymns of victory and thanksgiving. Since thou art invincible
in power, set us free from every peril, that we may cry to thee: I Hail, Bride
without Bridegroom.

The ikos comes next:

A prince of the angels was sent to the Theotokos from heaven, to say to the
Theotokos, Hail! And seeing thee, O Lord, take bodily form at the sound of his
bodiless voice, filled with amazement he stood still and cried aloud to her.

Then the numerous strophes begin:

Hail, for through thee joy shall shine forth: hail, for through thee the curse shall
cease. Hail, recalling of fallen Adam: hail, deliverance from the tears of Eve.
Hail, height hard to climb for the thoughts of men: hail, depth hard to scan even
for the eyes of angels. Hail, for thou art the throne of the King: hail, for thou
holdest him who upholds all. Hail, star causing the Sun to shine: hail, womb of
the divine incarnation. Hail, for through thee the creation is made new: hail for
through the Creator heroines a newborn child.

The strophes conclude with a refrain that will carry on throughout the entire Akathistos:
59
W. L. Peterson, The Dependence of Romanos the Melodist upon the Syriac Ephrem, Vigilae
Christianae 39 (1985) 171-187.
60
Romanoss life and work along with the relevant bibliography is in the critical edition of his kontakia:
Romanos le Melode, Hymnes, Sources chrtiennes (SC) 99 (Paris: Cerf, 1964); SC 110 (Paris: Cerf,
1965); SC 112 (Paris: Cerf, 1965); SC 128 (Paris: Cerf, 1967); and SC 283 (Paris: Cerf, 1980).
An English translation of a selection of Romanoss kontakia can be found in Kontakia of Romanos,
Byzantine Melodist, 2 vols., trans. Marjorie Carpenter (Columbia: University of Missouri Press,
1973); and also On the Life of Christ: Kontakia, trans. Ephrem Lash (San Francisco: HarperCollins,
1995).
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Hail, Bride without Bridegroom!


The second ikos continues the theme of the ineffability of her conception of Jesus the
Son of the Most High:
The Holy Maiden, seeing herself in all her purity, said boldly unto Gabriel:
Strange seem thy words and hard for my soul to accept. From a conception
without seed how dost thou speak of childbirth, crying: Alleluia.61
According to the structure of the kontakion, this whole pattern is then repeated up to
twelve times. At one time the kontakion was the centerpiece of Byzantine hymnography.
Over the centuries, however, it gave way to a new hymnographic structure that had
monasteries and not urban cathedrals as its point of origin. Nevertheless the kontakion,
and especially the Akathistos hymn, as has been stated, never entirely disappeared from
the Byzantine liturgical tradition. New kontakia continued to be written and performed
as part of a regular liturgical cycle well into the twelfth century and even into the
modern era.62
In the seventh and eighth centuries hymnographers from the environs of Jerusalem
and the great monastery of Saint Saba in Palestine introduced a new genre of hymnog-
raphy to the Byzantine Church; the canon.63 . Such men as Andrew of Crete and John
of Damascus64 and his adopted brother Kosmas the Melodist, wrote great numbers of
canons, which were then transmitted to the Byzantine Church in Constantinople most
likely on account of their popularity and their sound Orthodox doctrine and through a
dynamic process of liturgical interaction and borrowing between Jerusalem and Con-
stantinople. In the ninth century Theodore of the Stoudion monastery in Constantinople
was instrumental both in composing canons and in introducing their use into Byzantine
worship.65 The structure of the canon is rather simple: it is a series of anywhere from
two to three to four or even eight or nine groups of hymns, each loosely based on one
of nine biblical odes.66 Each ode begins with a heirmos, which is followed by a series
of other hymns, called troparia, and is concluded by a final hymn called a katavasia.
The heirmos establishes the music and the poetic meter for the rest of the hymns that
belong to that ode. When a hymnographer sat down to compose a canon, he or she
61
The Lenten Triodion, 422-423.
62
On the continued use of this form, see Alexander Lingas, The Liturgical Use of the Kontakion in
Constantinople, in Liturgy, Architecture, and Art of the Byzantine World: Papers of the XVIII Interna-
tional Byzantine Congress (Moscow, 8-15 August 1991) and Other Essays Dedicated to the Memory
of Fr. John Meyendorff ; ed. C. Akentiev, Byzantinorussica 1 (Saint Petersburg: Vizantinorossika,
1995) 50-57.
63
The work of the Sabaitic hymnographers are reviewed in Christian Hannick, Hymnographie et
hymnographes Sabaites, in The Sabaite Heritage in the Orthodox Church from the Fifth Century to
the Present, ed. Joseph Patrich, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 98 (Louvain: Uitgeveij Peeters en
Departement Oosterse Studies, 2001) 217-228.
64
For an analysis of John of Damascuss hymnography, see Andrew Louth, St. John Damascene:
Tradition and Originality in Byzantine Theology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002) 252-282.
65
Theodores liturgical reforms are most recently summarized in Pots, La rforme liturgique byzantine,
99-29. For his hymnographic work, see esp. 117120. For the style of other ninth-century composers,
see A. Kazhdan, An Oxymoron: Individual Features of a Byzantine Hymnographer, Rivista di studi
bizantini e neoellenici 29 (1992) 19-58.
66
The nine biblical odes are Exod. 15:1-19; Deut. 32:1-43; 1 Sam. 2:1-10; Hab. 3:1-19; Isa. 26:9-20;
Jon. 2:3-5o; Dan. (LXX) 3:26-56; Dan. (LXX) 3:57-88; Luke 1:46-55, 68-79. On these, see Taft,
Mount Athos, 181, 188-19.
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could compose a new heirmos for that particular canon, or he or she could choose
an extant one from a repertoire of heirmoi contained in the liturgical book called the
heirmologion or the Book of Heirmoi. Strictly speaking, therefore, the heirmoi do not
necessarily make up part of the composed canon, while the troparia always do. This
point is made clear in a commentary on music, where the author says:

Whoever wishes to create a canon must first sing the heirmos, then create troparia
with the same number of syllables and the same metre as the heirmos and
preserving the theme.67

The content of the heirmos typically makes concrete allusion to the biblical ode
it is associated with and also sets forth another theological theme that will be carried
through the ode. The canon for Holy Thursday, attributed to Kosmas the Melodist,
demonstrates the structure of the canon well. The heirmos of the first ode, which in this
canon was written by Kosmas himself, has as its biblical theme the song of Moses from
Exodus 15:1-19, in which the Israelites praise God for delivering them from Pharaoh
and his army. The heirmos of this canon begins:

The Red Sea was parted by a blow from Moses staff, and the deep with its waves
grew dry. It served as a path to the unarmed people of Israel, but to the Egyptians
in full armour it proved a grave. A hymn of praise was sung, well-pleasing to
God: Christ our God is greatly glorified.

The mention of Christ being glorified in the last phrase serves a double purpose: at
once it acknowledges that Christ was the deliverer of ancient Israel. At the same time
Christs glory obviously alludes to his death and Resurrection, the new Passover. The
troparia of this ode of the canon then build from the biblical theme of the Passover
described in Exodus 15 to the theological theme of Christ the Wisdom of God, who is
the true Passover. According to the canon, as the Passover of old was celebrated with
food and drink, the celebration of this new Passover is the consumption by the faithful
of the Wisdom and Word of God who is glorified by his Passion. The first troparion of
this ode makes the first connection by praising the Incarnation of Christ:

Cause of all and bestower of life, the infinite Wisdom of God has built his house,
from a pure Mother who has not known man. For, clothing himself in a bodily
temple, Christ our God is greatly glorified.

The stage is thus set as the canon calls to mind the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. The
canon passes over the subsequent occurrences between his Incarnation and incidents
commemorated on Holy Thursday because a summoning of historical events is un-
necessary. Christ, the Wisdom of God the cause of all and bestower of life has
become incarnate and offers himself as food to the faithful. The next two troparia make
the connection clear:

Instructing his friends in the mysteries, the true Wisdom of God prepares a table
that gives food to the soul, and he mingles for the faithful the cup of the wine
of life eternal. Let us approach with reverence and cry aloud: Christ our God is
greatly glorified.
67
J. B. Pitra, Analecta Sacra Spicilegio Solesmensi, vol. 1 (Paris: A. Jouby et Roger, 1876; repr.
Farnborough, Hants.: Gregg Press, 1966) xlvii.
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Throughout these troparia, Kosmas has added a further level of theological depth
by referencing Proverbs 9. And in both instances the tangible nature of food and drink
is exploited as a medium to commune with the Wisdom of God. In the concluding
troparion Kosmas cites Psalm 33:9 (LXX) and mixes the imagery and makes explicit
that the feasting and drinking of this Passover celebration is the consumption, or the
hearing, of the exalted preaching of the Word and Wisdom of God:
Ye faithful, let us all give ear to the exalted preaching of the untreated and
consubstantial Wisdom of God, for he cries aloud: O taste and see that I am
good! Sing: Christ our God is greatly glorified.
The structure of this canon is typical, and as with any other canon, the basic structure and
theological themes are then carried through in the remainder of the canon. This canon
from Holy Thursday concludes both structurally and theologically, as do all canons,
with the ninth ode. The heirmos and first troparion of this ode return unambiguously to
what was put forward at the beginning of the canon:
Come, ye faithful, let us raise our minds on high and enjoy the Masters hospitality
and the banquet of immortal life in the upper room; and let us hear the exalted
teaching of the Word whom we magnify.
Go, said the Word to the disciples, and prepare the Passover of those whom I
call to share in the Mystery: with the unleavened bread of the word of truth prepare
the Passover in the upper room where the mind is established, and magnify the
strength of grace.68
Aside from kontakia and canons, hymns of varying length, generically referred to as
troparia, or sometimes as stichera, make up the bulk of the Byzantine hymn repertoire.
Troparia and stichera show up throughout the Byzantine liturgy fulfilling numerous
functions. At times they stand alone and form a liturgical unit by themselves, such as
the apolytikia, or dismissal hymns. At other times they are interspersed between psalm
verses, such as during the singing of the vespertine Psalm 141. Unlike canons and
kontakia, hymns such as these do not share any sort of formal structure beyond perhaps
common music patterns. Throughout all the liturgical services, numerous types of these
hymns may be heard, and whereas the names and function of these hymns differ, the
methods used to convey the message of the hymns are even more varied. For example,
during the Lenten season one finds hymns that are homiletic in nature and do nothing
less than exhort the faithful to a higher way of life:
All the names of the Old Testament have I set before you, my soul, as an example.
Imitate the holy acts of the righteous and flee front the sins of the wicked.69
Or hymns present a simple exposition of the fundamental ethical teaching implicit in
the gospel in song:
Come, ye faithful, and in the light let us perform the works of God; let us walk
honestly as in the day. Let us cast away every unjust accusation against our
neighbour, not placing any cause of stumbling in his path. Let us lay aside the
pleasures of the flesh, and increase the spiritual gifts of our soul. Let us give
68
The Lenten Triodion, 548-549, 553.
69
Sixth troparion of the eighth ode, Great Canon of Saint Andrew at Great Compline. The Lenten
Triodion, 227.
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bread to those in need, and let us draw near unto Christ, crying in penitence: O
our God, have mercy on us!70
Many hymns simply serve as basic prayers and end with nothing other than a plea
for Gods great mercy:
Do not demand from me worthy fruits of repentance, for my strength has failed
with me. Give me an ever contrite heart and poverty of spirit that I may offer
these to thee as an acceptable sacrifice, O only Savior.71

70
First sticheron at vespers, first Friday of Great Lent. The Lenten Triodion, 273.
71
Fourth troparion of the ninth ode, Great Canon of Saint Andrew at Great Compline. The Lenten
Triodion, 265.

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