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The Apostle Peter, Justinian and Romanos the Melodos

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2016

Eva C. Topping
Eva C. Topping*
Affiliation:
Cincinnati, Ohio
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Extract

In the case of the poems of Romanos the Melodos the usual difficulties involved in establishing chronologies are further compounded by at least two factors. First, very little is known about this Byzantine poet of the sixth century. A hagiographical life, adorned by a miracle, provides us with meagre information about Byzantium’s poetic genius. Secondly, because his poetry is liturgical, composed for the corporate worship of the Church, it is necessarily impersonal and general in character. Romanos speaks most often as a priest, a sacred poet of the ekklesia. Fortunately, however, rich sources survive for the Golden Age of Justinian, the period of Romanos’ poetic activity in Constantinople. Encouraged by these abundant materials, and eager to understand better the poet’s creativity, the student of Romanos is tempted to undertake chronological problems. This paper is concerned with the chronology of the six kontakia of Romanos in which the Apostle Peter figures prominently.

Type
Research Article
Information
Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies , Volume 2 , 1976 , pp. 1 - 15
Copyright
Copyright © The Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, University of Birmingham 1976

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References

1. For a thorough discussion of the sources for the biography of Romanos see Mitsakis, K., I (Thessaloniki, 1971), pp. 358–98 Google Scholar.

2. See Topping, E. C., ‘The Poet-Priest in Byzantium’, Greek Orthodox Theological Review, XII (1969), 31–41 Google Scholar.

3. The sources for the years 518-27 are discussed in detail by Vasiliev, A. A., Justin the First: An Introduction to the Epoch of Justinian the Great (Cambridge, Mass., 1950), pp. 9–42 Google Scholar. Hereafter this work will be cited as Vasiliev. For the sources for the years 527-65 see Diehl, C., Justinien et la civilisation byzantine au VIe siècle (Paris, 1901), pp. xi–xxxviii Google Scholar.

4. The pioneering study by Maas, P., ‘Die Chronologie der Hymnen des Romanos’, BZ, XV (1906), 1–44 Google Scholar, remains valuable for chronological investigations of Romanos’ work.

5. These are listed below. All citations and references will be to Maas, P. and Trypanis, C. A., Sancti Romani Melodi Cantica: Cantica Genuina (Oxford, 1963)Google Scholar. This will hereafter be cited as Maas-Trypanis. The translations are my own.

6. For the history of the concept of apostolicity in the West before 451 see Dvornik, F., The Idea of Apostolicity in Byzantium and the Legend of the Apostle Andrew (Cambridge, Mass., 1958), pp. 39–105.Google Scholar

7. Discussed by Downey, G., A History of Antioch in Syria from Seleucus to the Arab Conquest (Princeton, 1961), pp. 583–6 Google Scholar.

8. The hymns for these two services are called the ‘seules acclamations de l’Orient grec sur la primauté de S. Pierre’, by Pitra, J. B., Hymnographie de l’Eglise Grecque (Rome, 1867), p. 27 Google Scholar.

9. The sermons on Peter printed in MPG, L, 725-36, and LIX, 491–6 are included among the spurious works.

10. Theodorus Lector, MPG, LXXXVI, 189C-192A. Cf. Charanis, P., Church and State in the Later Roman Empire: The Religious Policy of Anastasius the First, 491-518 (Madison, Wisconsin, 1939), p. 20 Google Scholar; 2nd ed. (Thessaloniki, 1974), p. 49.

11. For the description of the events of Justin’s reign I depend on Vasiliev’s audioritative monograph (above, n. 3).

12. Vasiliev, pp. 146-60.

13. Ibid., pp. 162-4. For Anastasius’ futile negotiations with Hormisdas see Charanis, op. cit., pp. 58-63, 66-8, 75-6; 2nd ed., pp. 87-92, 95-7, 104-5.

14. Vasiliev, pp. 175-83.

15. On the Buildings, I. iv. 1. This was probably the first of the many churches founded by Justinian. Although he built churches from the Euphrates to the Pillars of Heracles, there is no record of another Justinianic foundation dedicated to Peter.

16. Vasiliev, p. 378.

17. Justinian started life in the Balkans as Flavius Petrus Sabbatius.

18. Vasiliev, pp. 212-21.

19. Ibid., pp. 418-26. See also W. H. C. Frend’s valuable discussion of relations between the two Romes in the age of Justinian (518-65) in Relations between East and West in the Middle Ages, ed. Baker, D. (Edinburgh, 1973), pp. 11–28 Google Scholar.

20. Cf. Maas-Trypanis, p. xv n. 5.

21. A thaumaturgie icon of the Theotokos gave the church prominence in the capital’s Marian cult. Kyros the Prefect built the church in the fifth century. See the interesting study of Constantelos, D., ‘Kyros Panopolites, Rebuilder of Constantinople’, Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, XII (1971), 451–64 Google Scholar.

22. For a brief account of this form of liturgical poetry see Maas-Trypanis, pp. xi-xv. For more extensive accounts see Maas, P., ‘Der Kontakion’, BZ, XIX (1910), 285–98 Google Scholar; Wellesz, E., A History of Byzantine Music and Hymnography, 2nd ed. (Oxford, 1961), pp. 179–87 Google Scholar; Mitsakis, op. cit., pp. 171-93.

23. Reference in Kontakion 48 to the earthquakes of 552 and 555 indicates that Romanos lived on into the last decade of Justinian’s long reign (527-65).

24. Described by Vasiliev, pp. 145-6.

25. Cf. Maas-Trypanis, Index Nominum, s.v.

26. For a valuable introduction, notes and French translation consult Matons, J. Grosdidier de, Romanos le Mélode: Hymnes IV (Paris, 1967), pp. 55–97 Google Scholar. This work will henceforth be cited as Grosdidier de Matons. See also the introduction and English translation by Carpenter, Marjorie, Kontakia of Romanos, Byzantine Melodist I: On the Person of Christ (Columbia, Missouri, 1970), pp. 167–77 Google Scholar, henceforth cited as Carpenter.

27. E.g., Kontakia 1, 2, 4, 19, 45. See the comments on character portrayal in the first kontakion by Topping, E. C., ‘St. Romanos: Ikon of a Poet’, Greek Orthodox Theological Review, XII (1966), pp. 102–4 Google Scholar.

28. Grosdidier de Matons, p. 59, unjustly calls Romanos a ‘mediocre psychologue’. This kontakion and those mentioned above in n. 27 refute this severe judgement by the French scholar.

29. See ∊′ 4, θ′ 4, ι′ 5, ιβ′ 1. Фιλία is a major theme of the seventeenth kontakion.

30. See γ′ 3, ια 3, ιβ′3, kα′ 7.

31. στ′ 1 ζ′ 6, 7, θ′ 4, ′α′ 1, 5.

32. στ′ 3, θ 6-ι′ 9, ια 6-9. Romanos assigns seventeen verses of direct speech to Peter, two to Jesus and none to Judas.

33. The sacred drama occupies six (στ′-ια′) of the hymn’s twenty-three strophes.

34. Used of patriarchs by St. Basil in the fourth century, MPG, XXXII, 969A.

35. This military metaphor had been applied to Christ by Clement of Alexandria and Mediodius, MPG, VIII, 392A, and XVIII, 96B. Romanos’ contemporary, Cosmas Indicopleustes, used it of Elijah, MPG, LXXXVIII, 260B; ed. Walska-Conus, Wanda, Cosmas Indicopleustes Topographie Chrètienne, II (Sources Chrètiennes, 159 [Paris, 1970]), p. 205 Google Scholar.

36. There is nothing comparable in John 13: 4-10, the Scriptural account, where Peter speaks only three brief sentences.

37. Grosdidier de Matons, p.59.

38. On the church of Sts. Peter and Paul see Mathews, T. F., The Early Churches of Constantinople. Architecture and Liturgy (Pennsylvania State University Press, 1971), pp. 42–7 Google Scholar.

39. See Grosdidier de Matons, pp. 355-421, and Carpenter, pp. 311-25.

40. δ′ 1, 3, 7 (bis), 9 (bis), 11.

41. When the poet resumes the narration (∊′ 1), he almost apologizes for the interruption.

42. Peter’s most familiar honorific title, but not exclusive to him. See Lampe, G. W. H., A Patristic Greek Lexicon (Oxford, 1968)Google Scholar, s.v. Romanos uses it of Peter again in 18, II Prooemium 2, and 39 ∊′ 8.

43. John 21: 15-17; Matthew 16: 18-19; 14: 28-31.

44. Cf. 31 στ′ 5.

45. Vasiliev, pp. 214-15.

46. Except for this extraordinary encomium to Peter there seems to be no other internal evidence by which to date Kontakion 29. Without any support for her suggestion, Sophia Oikonomou, in Tomadakis, N. B., IV (Athens, 1961), p. 380 Google Scholar, assigns it to the poet’s acme, which she places in the 550s, the last decade of Romanos’ lite. I rind it hard to accept this hymn as the work of an aged poet. The exuberant, lyrical style and spirit are more consonant with a young Romanos, exhilarated by the dramatic events he witnessed in the 520s. None of his five otfier extant Easter kontakia match the beauty and artistry of Kontakion 29.

47. For 18 see Grosdidier de Matons, pp. 99-141, and Carpenter, pp. 179-90; for 39 consult the introduction, notes and translation by Carpenter, Marjorie, Kontakia of Romanos, Byzantine Melodist II: On Christian life (Columbia, Missouri, 1973), pp. 33–43 Google Scholar.

48. The Denial is related in Matthew 26: 69-75; Mark 14: 66-72; Luke 22: 56-62; John 18: 15-18, 25-7; the Healing of the Lame Man in Acts 3: 1-10.

49. The episode of Peter’s denial in particular is discreetly avoided. Cf. Grosdidier de Matons, pp. 99-100. Note, however, a mosaic in the upper register of Sant’ Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, assigned to the first quarter of the sixth century, which represents Jesus predicting Peter’s denial. See pl. 59 in von Matt, L., Ravenna (Cologne, 1971)Google Scholar.

50. Not only in this kontakion, but also in 19 γ′ 2-3, 30 η′ 5, 31 ∊′ 2-4, 47 k∊′ 7, 52 α′ 4, β′ 7. A poet of the Western Church would have been less likely to make such frequent allusions to Peter’s weak moment.

51. Romanos contrasts John’s deference with ‘our’ knowledge of the equal status of the two disciples, ∊′ 6-11.

52. Concerning Kontakion 18, Grosdidier de Matons, p. 102, writes: ‘de la date de cet hymne, nous ne savons donc rien …’. Its first editor, Pitra, J. B., Analecta Sacra Spicilegio Solesmensi parata, I (Paris, 1876), p. 116 Google Scholar, assigned mis hymn either to Romanos’ youth or to his old age.

53. For 31 see Carpenter, pp. 337-46, and N. G. Kontosopoulos, in Tomadakis, op. cit., pp. 3-36; for 33 consult Carpenter, pp. 359-71, and J. B. Pitra, op. cit., pp. 157-64.

54. Trypanis in Maas-Trypanis, p. xx n. 3, hesitates to connect 31 with the decree of 539. Maas, op. cit., p. 21, admits a ‘probable’ relationship between 33 and the edict of 529. Kontosopoulos, op. cit., p. 10, believes 31 to be a work of Romanos’ youth.

55. See especially γ′ 2-6, Kβ′ 1-6. Cf. 33 ιη′.

56. Before the days of Romanos Christian art had represented the disciples as philosophers. Cf. Grabar, A., Christian Iconography: A Study of Its Origins (Princeton, 1968), p. 33 Google Scholar.

57. A recurrent motif, see β 2, ∊′ 1, ιδ 1, K′ 1. For other ‘academic’ imagery see II Prooemium 1, α′ 2, ∊′ 2, ζ′, 2, ι′ 5, ιστ 1, ιη′ 1.

58. See above p. 9.

59. His name occurs six times : γ′ 5, 6, δ′ 1, ι′ 1, ιγ′ 1, ι∊′ 5. Andrew is the only odier discipline named, ι∊′ 6. James and John are referred to as the sons of Zebedee, ι∊′ 7.

60. See also 29 δ′ 6. For Peter as the Good Shepherd in Early Christian art see Grabar, op. cit., p. 70 and ill. 170.

61. A title which the Church borrowed in the fourth century from official administrative vocabulary to denote a metropolitan whose episcopal jurisdiction extended over a whole province. Cf. Sophocles, E. A., Greek Lexicon of the Roman and Byzantine Periods, I (New York, 1957)Google Scholar, s.v. It was first used of Peter by Isidorus Pelusiotis in the fifth century, MPG, LXXVIII, 385B.

62. The account of Pentecost in Acts 1-2:13 contains nothing that can be considered the model for this speech.

63. Cf. 31 ι∊′ 5. Maas, op. cit., p. 21 n. 3, cites an attack on Plato by Justinian. Like Romanos the emperor punned on the philosopher’s name.

64. Cf. 31 ιστ′ 2.