{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/hec/hec06.htm","path":"chr/hec/hec06.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/hec/hec06.htm","text":"Hymns of the Eastern Church, by J.M. Neale, [1884]\nAs a general rule, the first poetical attempts of the Eastern, like those of the Western, Church, were in classical measures. But as classical Greek died out from being a spoken language,\u2014as new trains of thought were familiarized,\u2014as new words were coined,\u2014a versification became valueless, which was attached with no living bonds to the new energy, to the onward movement. Dean Trench has admirably expressed this truth in the introduction to his \"Sacred Latin Poetry,\" and showed how the \"new wine must be put into new bottles.\" Ecclesiastical terms must be used, which rebel against classical metre: in Greek, no less than in Latin, five words in eight would be shut out of the principal\nclassical rhythms. Now, the Gospel was preached to the poor. Church hymns must be the life-expression of all hearts. The Church was forced to make a way for saying in poetry what her message bade her say. *\nS. Gregory Nazianzen, the first Greek Church poet, used only the ordinary classical measures. S. Sophronius of Jerusalem employed (and in\ntheir way not unhappily), Anacreontics: and his hymns on various festivals have some elegance. But there is a certain degree of dilettante-ism, rather than of earnestness, in these compositions; and the most airy, tripping, frivolous measure that the Greek Muse possessed, never, by any possibility, could form the ordinary utterance of the Church. The Church compositions of S. Sophronius, though called \u03c0\u03bf\u03b9\u03ae\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1, are in fact mere prose: as those grand prayers on the Epiphany.\nHow then was the problem to be solved as to\nthe composition of Eastern Church Song? In Latin, somewhat before the time of S. Sophronius, A.D. 630, it was answered by the glorious introduction of rhyme. Why not in Greek also?\nNow, it is no less true in Greek, than in Latin, that there was a tendency to rhyme from the very beginning. Open Homer: look for caudate rhymes:\u2014\n\u039d\u03b7\u03bc\u03b5\u03c1\u03c4\u03ae\u03c2 \u03c4\u03b5 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f08\u03c8\u03b5\u03c5\u03b4\u1f74\u03c2 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u039a\u03b1\u03bb\u03bb\u03b9\u03ac\u03bd\u03b1\u03c3\u03c3\u03b1\u00b7\n \u1f1c\u03bd\u03b8\u03b1\u03b4\u1fbd \u1f14\u03b7\u03bd \u039a\u03bb\u03c5\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03b7, \u1f38\u03ac\u03bd\u03b5\u03b9\u03c1\u03b1 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f38\u03c6\u03b9\u03ac\u03bd\u03b1\u03c3\u03c3\u03b1.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Il. xviii. 46.\n\u1f0c\u03c3\u03c4\u03b5\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b1\u1f30\u03b8\u03bf\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03bf\u03b9\u03bf\u00b7 \u03b8\u03b5\u1ff6\u03bd \u03b4\u03ad \u03dc\u03b5 \u03bc\u1fc6\u03bd\u03b9\u03c2 \u1f00\u03bd\u1fc6\u03ba\u03b5\u03bd.\n \u03a0\u1fb6\u03c3\u03b9 \u03b4\u1f72 \u03b8\u1fc6\u03ba\u03b5 \u03c0\u03cc\u03bd\u03bf\u03bd, \u03c0\u03bf\u03bb\u03bb\u03bf\u1fd6\u03c3\u03b9 \u03b4\u1f72 \u03ba\u03ae\u03b4\u1f10 \u1f10\u03c6\u1fc6\u03ba\u03b5\u03bd\u00b7\n \u1f69\u03c2 \u1f08\u03c7\u03b9\u03bb\u03b5\u1f7a\u03c2 \u03a4\u03c1\u03ce\u03b5\u03c3\u03c3\u03b9 \u03c0\u03cc\u03bd\u03bf\u03bd \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03ba\u03ae\u03b4\u03b5\u03b1 \u03b8\u1fc6\u03ba\u03b5\u03bd\u00b7\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Il. xxi. 523.\n\u039f\u1f50 \u03bc\u1f72\u03bd \u03b3\u1f70\u03c1 \u03bc\u03b5\u1fd6\u03b6\u03bf\u03bd \u03ba\u03bb\u03ad\u03bf\u03c2 \u1f00\u03bd\u03ad\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2, \u1f44\u03c6\u03c1\u03b1 \u03ba\u03b5\u03bd \u1f26\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd\n \u0397 \u1f45 \u03c4\u03b9 \u03c0\u03bf\u03c3\u03c3\u1f76\u03bd \u03c4\u03b5 \u1fe5\u03ad\u03b6\u03b5\u03b9 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03c7\u03b5\u03c1\u03c3\u1f76 \u03dc\u03b5\u1fc6\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd\u00b7.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Odyss. viii. 147.\nLeonines are still more common. The reader's attention is particularly requested to those that follow:\u2014\nIl. ii. 220. \u1f1c\u03c7\u03b8\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b4\u1fbd \u0391\u03c7\u03b9\u03bb\u1fc6\u03ca \u03bc\u03ac\u03bb\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u1fbd \u1f26\u03bd, \u1f20\u03b4\u1fbd \u1f48\u03b4\u03c5\u03c3\u1fc6\u03ca,\n484. \u1f1c\u03c3\u03c0\u03b5\u03c4\u03b5 \u03bd\u1fe6\u03bd \u03bc\u03bf\u03b9, \u039c\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c3\u03b1\u03b9, \u1f48\u03bb\u03cd\u03bc\u03c0\u03b9\u03b1 \u03b4\u03ce\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u1fbd \u1f14\u03c7\u03bf\u03c5\u03c3\u03b1\u03b9\u00b7\n475. \u1fec\u03b5\u1fd6\u03b1 \u03b4\u03b9\u03b1\u03ba\u03c1\u03af\u03bd\u03c9\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd, \u1f10\u03c0\u03b5\u03af \u03ba\u03b5 \u03bd\u03bf\u03bc\u1ff6 \u03bc\u03b9\u03b3\u03ad\u03c9\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd.\niii. 84. \u1f6d\u03c2 \u1f14\u03c6\u03b1\u03b8\u1fbd\u00b7 \u03bf\u1f31 \u03b4\u1fbd \u1f14\u03c3\u03c7\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03bf \u03bc\u03ac\u03c7\u03b7\u03c2, \u1f04\u03bd\u03b5\u1ff3 \u03c4\u1fbd \u1f10\u03b3\u03ad\u03bd\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03bf.\nv. 529. \u1f6e \u03c6\u03af\u03bb\u03bf\u03b9, \u1f00\u03bd\u03ad\u03c1\u03b5\u03c2 \u1f14\u03c3\u03c4\u03b5, \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f04\u03bb\u03ba\u03b9\u03bc\u03bf\u03bd \u1f26\u03c4\u03bf\u03c1 \u1f15\u03bb\u03b5\u03c3\u03b8\u03b5.\nvi. 242. \u03a4\u1f78\u03bd \u03b4\u1fbd \u1f19\u03bb\u03ad\u03bd\u03b7 \u03bc\u03cd\u03b8\u03bf\u03b9\u03c3\u03b9 \u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03c3\u03b7\u03cd\u03b4\u03b1 \u03bc\u03b5\u03b9\u03bb\u03b9\u03c7\u03af\u03bf\u03b9\u03c3\u03b9.\nOd. i. 40.\u1f18\u03ba \u03b3\u1f70\u03c1 \u1f48\u03c1\u03ad\u03c3\u03c4\u03b1\u03bf \u03c4\u03af\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 \u1f14\u03c3\u03c3\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 \u1f08\u03c4\u03c1\u03b5\u03dc\u03af\u03b4\u03b1\u03bf.\n397. \u0391\u1f50\u03c4\u1f70\u03c1 \u1f10\u03b3\u1f7c \u03dc\u03bf\u1f34\u03ba\u03bf\u03b9\u03bf \u03dc\u1f04\u03bd\u03b1\u03be \u1f14\u03c3\u03bf\u03bc\u1fbd \u1f21\u03bc\u03b5\u03c4\u03ad\u03c1\u03bf\u03b9\u03bf.\niv. 12 1. \u1f18\u03ba \u03b4\u1fbd \u1f19\u03bb\u03ad\u03bd\u03b7 \u03b8\u03b1\u03bb\u03ac\u03bc\u03bf\u03b9\u03bf \u03b8\u03c5\u03ce\u03b4\u03b5\u03bf\u03c2 \u1f51\u03c8\u03bf\u03c1\u03cc\u03c6\u03bf\u03b9\u03bf.\nxiv. 371. \u1f08\u03c3\u03c0\u03af\u03b4\u03b1\u03c2, \u1f45\u03c3\u03c3\u03b1\u03b9 \u1f04\u03c1\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 \u1f14\u03bd\u1f76 \u03c3\u03c4\u03c1\u03b1\u03c4\u1ff7 \u1f20\u03b4\u1f72 \u03bc\u03ad\u03b3\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9.\nAnd I might mark multitudes more: but these are enough by way of example. The question then occurs at once, Why did not the new life, instilled into the Greek as well as into the Latin language by Christianity, seize the grand capability of Rhyme in the one case as well as in the other? How stately it would have been in anap\u00e6stics! how sweet in trochaics! Why was it neglected?\nFor this reason: the reader must remember that hardly one of the rhymes I have been pointing out in Homer would be rhymes to a Greek ear. Read them accentually, and you find \u1f04\u03c1\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 and \u03bc\u03ad\u03b3\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 are no more double\nrhymes to a Greek than gloriously and ferociously are to us: \u03bc\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c3\u03b1\u03b9 and \u1f14\u03c7\u03bf\u03c5\u03c3\u03b1\u03b9, no more than glory and victory. Accent, in the decline of the language, was trampling down quantity. Now accent is not favourable to such rhymes, though many poems have been thus composed in the newer Greek:\n[paragraph continues] But it was not sufficiently removed from every-day life,\u2014too familiar,\u2014had too little dignity. There was an innate vulgarity about it which rendered it impossible to the Church.\nNow, let it be observed, accentuation even in Latin was not without its difficulty. In the new style, dissyllables, whatever their real quantity, were always read\u2014and so we read them now\u2014as trochees. F\u00e9rox, v\u00e9lox, sc\u00e9ptrum.\n[paragraph continues] Hence a verse in the early metrical hymns, such as\u2014\n\"Castos fides somnos juvat,\"\na dimeter iambic, would have been read in medi\u00e6val times, C\u00e1stos f\u00eddes s\u00f3mnos j\u00favat, and so have virtually become a dimeter trochaic. Popular poetry soon devised its own metre, political verse, as it was called, because used for every-day domestic matters. This was none other than a favourite metre of Aristophanes, iambic tetrameter catalectic,\u2014our own ballad rhythm:\u2014\n\"A Captain bold of Halifax, who lived in country quarters.\"\nAnd this, sometimes with rhyme, sometimes without, is the favourite Romaic metre to the present day. For example:\u2014\nThe Church never attempted this sing-song stanza, and preferred falling back on an older form.\nFrom the brief allusions we find to the subject in the New Testament, we should gather that \"the hymns and spiritual songs\" of the Apostles were written in metrical prose. Accustomed as many of the early Christians were to the Hebrew Scriptures, this is not unlikely; and proof seems strong that it was so. Compare these passages:\u2014\nEph. v. 14. Wherefore he saith:\nUndoubtedly the fragment of a hymn. Again:\u2014\nApoc. iv. 8.\n[paragraph continues] And nearly coeval with these we have the Gloria in Excelsis, the Ter Sanctus, and the Joyful Light. Also the Eastern phase, so to speak, of the Te Deum; the \u03ba\u03b1\u03b8\u1fbd \u1f10\u03ba\u03ac\u03c3\u03c4\u03b7\u03bd \u1f21\u03bc\u03ad\u03c1\u03b1\u03bd. And to this rhythmical prose the Church now turned.\nThen, not to pursue the subject with a detail of which this Introduction will not admit, we find that by the beginning of the eighth century, verse, properly speaking (and that with scarcely an exception), had been discarded for ever from the hymns of the Eastern Church; those hymns, occupying a space beyond all comparison greater\nthan they do in the Latin, being written in measured prose. And now to explain the system.\nThe stanza which is to form the model of the succeeding stanzas,\u2014the strophe, in fact,\u2014is called the Hirmos, from its drawing others after it. The stanzas which are to follow it are called troparia, from their turning to it.\nLet Ps. cxix. 13, be the Hirmos:\u2014\nThen verse 15 would be a troparion to it:\u2014\nSo would 17:\u2014\nand Ps. cii. 16:\u2014\n[paragraph continues] Let verse 44 be a Hirmos:\nand 45 will be a troparion to it:\u2014\nThese troparia are always divided for chanting by commas,\u2014utterly irrespective of the sense. This separation into commatisms renders it very difficult to read them without practice. Take an example, with the corresponding effect in English\n\u03a9\u03b9\u03b4\u1f74 \u03ac\u00b7 \u1f26\u03c7\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b4\u1fbd\u00b7 \u1f41 \u03b5\u1f36\u03c1\u03bc\u03cc\u03c2\u00b7\n\u0398\u03b1\u03bb\u03ac\u03c3\u03c3\u03b1\u03c2 \u03c4\u1f78 \u1f10\u03c1\u03c5\u03b8\u03c1\u03b1\u1fd6\u03bf\u03c5 \u03c0\u03b5\u03bb\u03b1\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2, \u1f00\u03b2\u03c1\u03cc\u03c7\u03bf\u03b9\u03c2 \u1f34\u03c7\u03bd\u03b5\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd, \u1f41 \u03c0\u03b1\u03bb\u03b1\u03b9\u1f78\u03c2 \u03c0\u03b5\u03b6\u03b5\u03cd\u03c3\u03b1\u03c2 \u0399\u03c3\u03c1\u03b1\u1f74\u03bb, \u03c3\u03c4\u03b1\u03c5\u03c1\u03bf\u03c4\u03cd\u03c0\u03bf\u03b9\u03c2\n[paragraph continues] \u039c\u03c9\u03c3\u03ad\u03c9\u03c2 \u03c7\u03b5\u03c1\u03c3\u1f76, \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u1f08\u03bc\u03b1\u03bb\u1f74\u03ba \u03c4\u1f74\u03bd \u03b4\u03cd\u03bd\u03b1\u03bc\u03b9\u03bd, \u03b5\u0311\u03bd \u03c4\u1fc7 \u1f10\u03c1\u03ae\u03bc\u1ff3 \u1f10\u03c4\u03c1\u03bf\u03c0\u03ce\u03c3\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf.\n\"Israel in ancient times passing on foot with, unbedewed steps the Red Gulf, of the sea, turned to flight by, the cross-typifying arms, of Moses the might of Amalek, in the wilderness.\"\nThe perfection of troparia is in a Canon, of which I shall say more presently. I need not trouble the reader with the minute distinction between troparia and stichera; as a troparion follows a Hirmos, so a sticheron follows an bomoion, and then becomes a prosomoion. There are also idiomela,\u2014that is, stanzas which are their own models,\u2014and an infinite variety of names expressive of the different kind of troparia.\nA collection of any number of troparia, preceded by their Hirmos, sometimes merely quoted by its initial words, sometimes given at length, and with inverted commas, is an Ode.\nLet the Hirmos, be as before\u2014\n\"With my lips have I,\" &c.\nand the Ode might follow thus:\u2014\nHirmos.\nGlory.\nBoth now.\nAnd let this be most carefully observed: an Ode is simply a Sequence under somewhat different laws. Just when the system of Greek\necclesiastical poetry was fully developed, S. Notker and the Monks of S. Gall hit out a similar one for the Latin Church: the Sequence or the Prose. It was not copied from the East, for we have S. Notker's own account of the way in which he invented it. It prospered to a certain extent; that is, it became one, though the least important, branch of Ecclesiastical verses. Now the perfection of Greek poetry is attained by the Canons at Lauds, of which I proceed to speak.\nA Canon consists of Nine Odes,\u2014each Ode containing any number of troparia from three to beyond twenty. The reason for the number nine is this: that there are nine Scriptural canticles, employed at Lauds, (\u03b5\u1f30\u03c2 \u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u1f4c\u03c1\u03b8\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd), on the model of which those in every Canon are formed. The first: that of Moses after the passage of the Red Sea\u2014the second, that of\n[paragraph continues] Moses in Deuteronomy (chap. xxxiii.)\u2014the third, that of Hannah\u2014the fourth, that of Habakkuk\u2014the fifth, that of Isaiah (xxvi. 9\u201320)\u2014the sixth, that of Jonah\u2014the seventh, that of the Three Children (verses 3\u201334, of our \"Song\" in the Bible Version)\u2014the eighth, Benedicite\u2014the ninth, Magnificat and Benedictus.\nFrom this arrangement two consequences follow. The first, that, as the Second Canticle is never recited except in Lent, the Canons never have any second Ode. The second, that there is generally some reference, either direct or indirect, in each Ode, to the Canticle of the same number: in the first Ode, e.g., to the Song of Moses at the Red Sea: in the third to that of Hannah. This gives rise, on the one hand, to a marvellous amount of ingenuity, in tracing the most far-fetched connexions,\u2014in discovering the most remote types;\u2014it brings out into the clearest\nlight the wonderful analogies which underlie the surface of Scripture narration; and so far imbues each Ode with a depth of Scriptural meaning which it could scarcely otherwise reach. On the other, it has a stiffening and cramping effect; and sometimes, especially to the uninitiated, has somewhat of a ludicrous tendency. It would be curious to sum up the variety of objects of which, in a thousand Sixth Odes, we find Jonah's Whale a type. On the whole, this custom has about the same disadvantages and advantages which Warton points out as resulting from the four rhymes of a Spenserian stanza;\u2014the advantages,\u2014picturesqueness, ingenuity, discovery of new beauties: the disadvantages,\u2014art not concealed by art, tautology, imparity of similitudes, a caricature of typology, painful and affected elaboration.\nThe Hirmos, on which each Ode is based, is\nsometimes quoted at length at the commencement, in which case it is always distinguished by inverted commas; or the first few words are merely cited as a note to the singer, for whose benefit the Tone is also given.\nThe next noticeable matter is that these Odes are usually arranged after an acrostich, itself commonly in verse: sometimes alphabetical. The latter device was probably borrowed from the Psalms; as for example the 25, 112, 119.\nThe arrangement is not to be considered as a useless formality or pretty-ism: it was of the greatest importance, when so many Canons had to be remembered by heart. We know to what curious devices the Western Church, in matters connected with the Calendar, had recourse as a Memoria Technica; and not a few of her short hymns were alphabetical, either by verses or by lines; I know no instance of any other kind of\nacrostich. Besides the line which forms the initials of Greek Canons, the name of the composer, likewise finds a frequent place. And it is worth noticing that, whereas the authors of the world-famous hymns of the West, with a few exceptions (such as the Vexilla Regis, the Dies Ir\u00e6, the Veni Sancte Spiritus), are unknown, the case in the East is reversed. The acrostich may, or may not, run through the Theotokia, of which I now proceed to speak.\nEach Ode is ended by a troparion, dedicated to the celebration of S. Mary, and thence named Theotokion. Sometimes there is another, which commemorates her at the Cross; and then it is a Stauro-theotokion. In long Canons, a stanza, sometimes intercalated at the end of the third or sixth Odes, is called a Cathisma, because the congregation are then allowed to sit. There is also the Oicos, literally the House,\u2014which is the\nexact Italian Stanza,\u2014about the length of three ordinary troparia. The Catavas\u00eda is a troparion in which both choirs come down together, and stand in the middle of the Church, singing it in common.\nThe acrostichs are usually in iambics,\u2014sometimes none of the best: e.g.\u2014\non the feast of S. Zacharias the Prophet:\u2014and generally bringing in some paronomasia on the Saint's names; as\u2014\n\u03c6\u03b5\u03c1\u03ce\u03bd\u03c5\u03bc\u03cc\u03bd \u03c3\u03b5 \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u0398\u03b5\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03b4\u1ff6\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd \u03c3\u03ad\u03b2\u03c9, on that of S. Dorotheus.\n[paragraph continues] Or again:\u2014\nand of S. Clement:\nBut there are examples of acrostichs which take the form of an hexameter, as\u2014\nand\nI shall more than once have occasion to observe that, while the earlier Odes, which treat of such subjects as the Resurrection, Ascension, Nativity, are magnificent specimens of religious poetry, the later ones, composed in commemoration of martyrs, of whom nothing but the fact of their martyrdom is known, are often grievously dull and heavy. Herein the Eastern Church would have done well; to have had, for such as these, a Canon of the Common of Martyrs, instead of\ncelebrating each differently; if the tautology which composes such Odes can indeed be called different.\nI said, some short time since, that the Greek Ode and the Latin Notkerian Sequence were essentially the same. This being so, it is to introduce confusion into the very axioms of hymnology to call that kind of Sequence, as Mone does, by the name of Troparion. The Troparion does not answer to the Sequence, but to each stanza of the Sequence. The differences between Odes and Sequences may be briefly summed up as follows:\u2014\nThe Hirmos in the former has a number of Troparia following it and based on it, whereas in the latter the Troparia run in couples; that is, one Hirmos has one follower, or Troparion, and there an end; then, another follows another, and so on. There are sometimes triplets, but these are not common.\n2. The Hirmos in Greek Odes is always an already existing Troparion; whereas, in Latin, the writer generally composed that as much as any other part of the Sequence. But in certain Sequences this was not always the case. Godeschalkus sometimes took a verse from the Psalms.\n3. Sometimes, indeed, a whole Sequence was made super some other Sequence, and then it became a vast Troparion, the different verses taking the place of the commatisms in Greek Odes. In the February number of The Ecclesiologist for 1859, is given a list of Hirmos-Sequences, from the Brander MS. of S. Gall. But even in these cases, it is better not to call them Troparia, as they have so little real resemblance to Greek stanzas of that kind: I had rather see them called Homoia.\n4. The rhythm in the Greek is far more exact. Not only the syllabic arrangement, but the accentuation\nis the same; whereas in Latin, the accentuation is often counter; that is, an iambic dimeter in the Hirmos is answered by a trochaic dimeter in the Troparion. For example, if the Hirmos were,\u2014\nthe requirements of a Sequence would be satisfied with the Troparion,\n[paragraph continues] Such a licence would not for one moment be allowed in the Greek.\nI next have to speak of the books in which Greek Hymnology is to be found. They consist principally of sixteen volumes.\n\u03b1. Twelve of the Men\u00e6a:\u2014which would answer, in Western Ritual, to the Breviary, minus the ferial offices. But, whereas in the\n[paragraph continues] West, the only human compositions of the Breviary are the lections from the sermons of the Fathers, the hymns, and a few responses\u2014the body of the Eastern Breviary is ecclesiastical poetry: poetry not, strictly speaking, written in verse, but in measured prose. This is the staple of those three thousand pages\u2014under whatever name the stanzas may be presented\u2014forming Canons and Odes; as, Troparia, Idiomela, Stichera, Stichoi, Contakia, Cathismata, Theotokia, Triodia, Staurotheotokia, Catavas\u00ed\u00e6,\u2014or whatever else. Nine-tenths of the Eastern Service-book is poetry.\n\u03b2. The Paracletice, or Great Octoechus: in eight parts.\nThis contains the Ferial Office for eight weeks.\nEach week has on Sunday\u2014\nA Canon of the Resurrection.\nA Canon of the Mother of God (one or more).\nOn Monday:\nA Canon of the Angels.\nOn Tuesday:\nA Canon of the Forerunner.\nOn Wednesday:\nA Canon of the Mother of God.\nOn Thursday:\nA Canon of S. Nicolas.\nOn Friday:\nA Canon of the Mother of God (two).\nOn Saturday:\nA Canon of the Dead.\nIn the first week, the whole of the Canons are sung to the first Tone: in the second, to the second, and so on. The Greek Tones answer to our Gregorian, thus:\u2014\n| | Latin. | Greek. | | \n| Tone | I. | I. | | \n| | II. | I. | Plagal. | \n| | III. | II. | | \n| | IV. | II. | Plagal. | \n| | V. | III. | | \n| | VI. | | Varys (heavy.) | \n| | VII. | IV. | | \n| | VIII. | IX. | Plagal. | \nThe Paracletice forms a quarto volume (double columns) of 350 pages: at least half is the work of Joseph of the Studium. The\n[paragraph continues] Octoechus, sometimes called the Little Octoechus, contains the Sunday services from the Paracletice: they are often printed separately.\n\u03b3. The Triodion: the Lent volume, which commences on the Sunday of the Pharisee and Publican (that before Septuagesima) and goes down to Easter. It is so called, because the leading Canons have, during that period, only three Odes.\n\u03b4. The Pentecostarion,\u2014more properly the Pentecostarion Charmosynon,\u2014the Office for Easter-tide. On a moderate computation, these volumes together comprise 5000 closely printed quarto pages, in double columns, of which at least 4000 are poetry.\nThe thought that, in conclusion, strikes one is this: the marvellous ignorance in which English ecclesiastical scholars are content to remain of this huge treasure of divinity\u2014the gradual completion\nof nine centuries at least. I may safely calculate that not one out of twenty who peruse these pages will ever have read a Greek \"Canon\" through; yet what a glorious mass of theology do these offices present! If the following pages tend in any degree to induce the reader to study these books for himself, my labour could hardly have been spent to a better result.\n26:* As an illustration of this remark, it is worth while noticing how very few examples of Hexameters occur in the New Testament. I believe that the following are all that are tolerable; that is, that can so be scanned without one or two false quantities:\u2014\nS. Luke xxi. 18. \u0398\u03c1\u1f76\u03be \u1f10\u03ba \u03c4\u1fc6\u03c2 \u03ba\u03b5\u03c6\u03b1\u03bb\u1fc6\u03c2 \u1f51\u03bc\u1ff6\u03bd \u03bf\u1f50 \u03bc\u1f74 \u1f00\u03c0\u03cc\u03bb\u03b7\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9\nS. John xiii. 5. \u0392\u03ac\u03bb\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9 \u1f55\u03b4\u03c9\u03c1 \u03b5\u1f30\u03c2 \u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u03bd\u03b9\u03c0\u03c4\u1fc6\u03c1\u03b1, \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f24\u03c1\u03be\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf \u03bd\u03af\u03c0\u03c4\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd.\nS. John xiii. 16. \u03bf\u1f50\u03ba \u1f14\u03c3\u03c4\u03b9 [\u03bd] \u03b4\u03bf\u1fe6\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2 \u03bc\u03b5\u03af\u03b6\u03c9\u03bd \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03ba\u03c5\u03c1\u03af\u03bf\u03c5 \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6.\nS. John xvii. 20. \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03c0\u03b5\u03c1\u1f76 \u03c4\u1ff6\u03bd \u03c0\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03b5\u03c5\u03c3\u03cc\u03bd\u03c4\u03c9\u03bd \u03b4\u03b9\u1f70 \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c5 \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u1ff6\u03bd.\nTitus iii. 2. \u03bc\u03b7\u03b4\u03ad\u03bd\u03b1 \u03b2\u03bb\u03b1\u03c3\u03c6\u03b7\u03bc\u03b5\u1fd6\u03bd, \u1f00\u03bc\u03ac\u03c7\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2 \u03b5\u1f36\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9, \u1f10\u03c0\u03b9\u03b5\u03b9\u03ba\u03b5\u1fd6\u03c2.\nHeb. xii. 13. \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03c4\u03c1\u03bf\u03c7\u03b9\u1f70\u03c2 \u1f40\u03c1\u03b8\u1f70\u03c2 \u03c0\u03bf\u03b9\u03ae\u03c3\u03b1\u03c4\u03b5 \u03c4\u03bf\u1fd6\u03c2 \u03c0\u03bf\u03c3\u1f76\u03bd \u1f51\u03bc\u1ff6\u03bd.\nThere are some which are very near a hexameter: as S. Matt. xxiii. 6\u2014\n\u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03c4\u1f70\u03c2 \u03c0\u03c1\u03c9\u03c4\u03bf\u03ba\u03b1\u03b8\u03b5\u03b4\u03c1\u03af\u03b1\u03c2 \u1f10\u03bd \u03c4\u03b1\u1fd6\u03c2 \u03c3\u03c5\u03bd\u03b1\u03b3\u03c9\u03b3\u03b1\u1fd6\u03c2.\n[paragraph continues] A tolerable pentameter occurs in Rom. vi. 53\u2014\n\u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03c4\u1f70 \u03bc\u03ad\u03bb\u03b7 \u1f50\u03bc\u1ff6\u03bd \u1f45\u03c0\u03bb\u03b1 \u03b4\u03b9\u03ba\u03b1\u03b9\u03bf\u03c3\u03cd\u03bd\u03b7\u03c2\u00b7\nand a remarkable iambic in the Lord's Prayer.\n\u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u1f04\u03c1\u03c4\u03bf\u03bd \u1f21\u03bc\u1ff6\u03bd \u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u1f10\u03c0\u03b9\u03bf\u03cd\u03c3\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd \u03b4\u03af\u03b4\u03bf\u03c5.","title":"Hymns of the Eastern Church: Introduction","type":"page"}