¹ In Collected Poems of T. S. Eliot 1909–1962 (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc. 1963 and London: Faber & Faber).Google Scholar

² de Matons, José Grosdidier, Romanos le Mélode: Hymnes (Paris 1965) II 163.Google Scholar

³ See Wellesz, Egon, A History of Byzantine Music and Hymnography (2nd ed. Oxford 1961) 182–184, 188–191; Topping, E. C., ‘St. Romanos, Ikon of a Poet,’ Greek Orthodox Theological Review 12 (1967) 92–111; and the excellent bibliography of Beck, H. G., Kirche und theologische Literatur im byzantinischen Reich (Munich 1959) 425–428.Google Scholar

⁴ The text used here is that of Sancti Romani Melodi Cantica: Cantica genuina , edited by Maas, Paul and Trypanis, C. A. (Oxford 1963) 26–34. Earlier editions of the hymn are found listed there on p. 26. The latest edition is that of Grosdidier de Matons (above n. 2) 174–197.Google Scholar

⁵ The feast, which commemorates the ‘meeting’ or encounter of the Christ–Child with Simeon, is known in the West most commonly under the title, ‘Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary,’ but it has other titles also: ‘Presentation of Christ in the Temple,’ and in popular speech, ‘Candlemas.’ But the Greek name, ‘Hypapante,’ persisted in the West in certain liturgical books, notably in Sacramentaries of the Gregorian tradition, in calendars (martyrologies), and in certain Gospel lectionaries. It is found as late as the thirteenth century in the Pontifical of Durandus (ed. Andrieu, M., Le Pontifical romain au Moyen Age, III. Le Pontifical de Guillaume Durand [Studi e Testi 88; Città del Vaticano 1940] 659.5), who in his famous Rationale divinorum officiorum (7.7.5) explains the word (Yπαντὴς [sic]) as meaning ‘obviatio’: ‘quia in illa solennitate [sic] Anna prophetissa & Symeon obuiauerunt beatae Mariae venienti filium suum Christum in templum offerre. Yπαντὴ enim Graecè dicitur obviatio latine, ab ipso quod est ire, & anti, quod est contra’(!). But more than this name was retained in the West. In the Roman Gradual and Roman Missal, the first antiphon prescribed to be sung in the procession which follows the blessing and distribution of the candles on this feast, Adorna thalamum tuum, Sion, is a translation of an ὶδιόμελον attributed to the monk, Cosmas, which is sung or recited in the Great Vespers in the Byzantine Rite, ϰαταϰόσμβσϰν τὸν νuμϕνά σϰν, σι<ν. The ἀπολντίϰιον of the feast, also, Xaϱε ϰεχαϱιτωμένβ Θεοτόϰε continued to be sung for several centuries in translation, Ave gratia plena, Dei Genetrix, in some places in both Greek and Latin (Hesbert, R. J., Antiphonale missarum sextuplex [Brussels 1935] 36–38, where a very curious combination of Greek and Latin is printed from Bruxellensis 10127–10144). Still another name occasionally found in Western books is ‘ Simeonis, S. ’ The feast was first celebrated in Jerusalem in the fourth century, as we learn from the famous Spanish pilgrim, Aetheria [or Egeria], Silviae Del potius Aetheriae peregrinatio ad loca sancta 26. An edict of the Emperor Justinian in A.D. 542 fixed it as a major feast day to be celebrated forty days after Christmas (Theophanes, , Chronographia, ed. de Boor, C. I [Leipzig 1883] 222). Google Scholar

⁶ Maas, Paul, ‘Die Chronologie der Hymnen des Romanos,’ Byzantinische Zeitschrift 15 (1906) 9, believes that Romanos wrote the poem about the time of the edict.Google Scholar

⁷ Described in Thucydidean colors by the contemporary historian Procopius, Wars 2.21–23.Google Scholar

⁸ The refrain of the poem. Introduced in the proem or koukoulion, it forms the last verse of each of the succeeding eighteen stanzas. The audience probably chanted the refrain with the priest or deacon on the feast day of the Hypapante.Google Scholar

⁹ ἔϰ<ν (α' 8). The suffering Titan in Aeschylus, Prometheus 220 uses the same word of his own philanthropy. St. Romanos, who was a Syrian, has in mind all that is expressed and implied in the phrase ἔϰούσιον … θάνατον of the Anaphora of St. James and that of St. Basil. Google Scholar

¹⁰ These literal translations are mine.Google Scholar

¹¹ 2 Corinthians 4.18.Google Scholar

¹² See Maas-Trypanis, , op. cit. xi–xv and Wellesz, , op. cit. 179–197 for a discussion of this genre. St. Romanos, , in the acrostic, calls this poem an snog. Google Scholar

¹³ Luke, 2.22–38, the Gospel reading for February 2. While this is the basic source for Romanos' kontakion, there is evidence that the poet used other sources. de Matons, Grosdidier, op. cit. 165 f., 177 (note 2), 179 (note 1), 181 (note 3), 187 (note 1), 191 (notes 1, 3), 197 (note 2), discusses other important sources, including Cyril of Jerusalem, Basil of Seleucia and St. Basil the Great. Schork, R. J., The Sources of the Christological Hymns of Romanos the Melodist, unpublished Oxford D. Phil. thesis 1957, 97–100, includes Proclus of Constantinople and the apocryphal Acta Pilati among the sources.Google Scholar

¹⁴ It is divided into a proem of six lines in one metre, and eighteen strophes of nine lines each in another metre.Google Scholar

¹⁵ Such passages as strophe ιβ' were most congenial to the theology-loving Byzantines.Google Scholar

¹⁶ Of the three koukoulia printed by Maas-Trypanis, , op. cit. 26 f., the first seems to be the original one by Romanos, . Cf. de Matons, Grosdidier, op. cit. 166–169.Google Scholar

¹⁷ ὒμνος (kouk. 1, 2); ὒμνοuν (γ' 1).Google Scholar

¹⁸ θαμα(kouk. 1, 1); cf. α' 4, δ' 4, ιγ' 5.Google Scholar

¹⁹ For the importance of this concept to Byzantine aesthetics see Mathew, Gervase, Byzantine Aesthetics (London 1963) 1, 7.Google Scholar

²⁰ Cf. Eliade, Mircea, The Sacred and the Profane (New York 1961) 68–113.Google Scholar

²¹ The same word is repeated in the concluding strophe (ιβ' 3) in exactly the same position.Google Scholar

²² See Lossky, Vladimir, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church (London 1957) 25–43.Google Scholar

²³ ἐϰπλήττομαι expresses this reaction to divinity. See kouk. 1, 1; α' 3.Google Scholar

²⁴ Exodus 13.1–2; Leviticus 12.6–8.Google Scholar

²⁵ “Oθεν διϰαίως ϰαὶ ἀλβθς θεοτόϰον τὴν ἁγίαν Mαϱίαν ὀνομάζομεν ṁ τοτο γὰϱ τὸ ὂνομαἅπαν τὸ μνστήϱιον τς οἰϰονομίας σuνίστβσι (De fide orthodoxa 3.12 [PG 94. 1029]). I owe this reference to Lossky, op. cit. 140.Google Scholar

²⁶ σνγϰατάβασις(kouk. 1, 3).Google Scholar

²⁷ λύτϱωσις. Cf. ι' 3, 8.Google Scholar

²⁸ βονλόμενοι (α' 1). It must be an act of free will. See Lossky, , op. cit. 124f. Google Scholar

²⁹ A classical Greek word describing gods and semi-divine beings. Cf. β' 2.Google Scholar

³⁰ Eliot, T. S., ‘A Song for Simeon.’ Google Scholar

³¹ While all mystics proclaim the ineffability of the experience, most of them try to communicate it.Google Scholar

³² Simeon's song occupies ninety-eight of the kontakion's one hundred and sixty-two verses.Google Scholar

³³ Known in the Greek Church as ὁ θεοδόχος, he is enrolled among the saints. The church honors his memory on February 3, the day after the Hypapante.Google Scholar

³⁴ There are many examples of the triadic principle in this kontakion: e.g., α' 5–7, β' 3–5; the prophecy also falls into 3 parts: θ' 3–9, ι'–ιβ' 9, ιγ'.Google Scholar

³⁵ St. Romanos does not follow the order in the Gospel text: in verse 28 Simeon blesses God, in 29 he pronounces the Nunc dimittis, and in 34 he prophesies to Mary.Google Scholar

³⁶ ‘The All-Holy'; cf. ι’ 1. This title of the Theotokos, familiarf rom repetition in the Divine Liturgy, is universally beloved among Eastern Christians. ‘Panagia,’ of all the Virgin's many epithets, falls most naturally and frequently from Orthodox lips in referring to Mary, her ikons, feasts and churches. The common baptismal names, Παναγι<τβς (m.) and Παναγι<τα (f.) are further evidence of Orthodox devotion to this sacred title.Google Scholar

³⁷ ς' 1, ιδ' 3, ις' 6. Verbs of ‘seeing’ form a motif that appears throughout the poem: see α' 3, 4, γ' 7, δ' 4, ιζ' 7, ιβ' 3.Google Scholar

³⁸ Among other Orthodox writers Saints Symeon the New Theologian, Macarius of Egypt and Seraphim of Sarov have used this metaphor: see Lossky, , op. cit. 181, 219, 222, 225. In regard to Biblical expressions of ‘light’ referring to God, Lossky, op. cit. 218, explains that in Orthodox mystical theology such images ‘are not used as metaphors or as figures of speech, but as expressions for a real aspect of the Godhead.’ Perhaps this is equally true of ‘fire’ images.Google Scholar

³⁹ ταλαίπωϱος describes βϱοτοί in Aeschylus, , Prometheus 237, 317, 595, 623.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ δλοϰαντ<μασιν at the beginning of this strophe (ε' 1).Google Scholar

⁴¹ Hebrews, 12.29.Google Scholar

⁴² Κννuμαι is placed for emphasis as the first word of strophe ς'.Google Scholar

⁴³ Also in β' 2, ε' 1, ζ 4, ι 4, ιδ' 3, to underline the miracle that the βϱέϕος (α' 5, β' 7) held by Simeon is the Kyrios of the universe. For the meaning of kyrios see Nock, Arthur Darby, Early Gentile Christianity (New York 1961) 32–35.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ Θ' 6.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ ιζ' 1.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ β' 5. Cf. α' 5.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ σϕϱαγίς, χαϱϱαϰτήϱ Cf. Hebrews 1.3.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ ε' 7, ς' 1, 2, 7, ζ' 7.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ παντέλειος, late form of classical παντελής. See Aeschylus, , Septem 118.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ Cf. Hebrews, 1.3.Google Scholar

⁵¹ μνστήϱιον, a favorite word of St. Paul and of Orthodox liturgical vocabulary.Google Scholar

⁵² E.g. ἀπϱόσιτος, ἀπεϱινόβτος, ἀσύγχβτον.Google Scholar

⁵³ 1 Timothy 6.16. The words are St. Paul's who had been blinded by his vision of God.Google Scholar

⁵⁴ As in the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, the Second Prayer of the Faithful: ϰαὶ σο δεόμεθα, ἀγαθὲ ϰαὶ ϕιλάνθϱωπε, and in the Dismissal at the end of the Liturgy: Xϱιστὸς ὁἀλβθινὸς θεὸς ἡμν … ἐλεήσαι ϰαὶ σΚσαι ἡμς, ὡς ἀγαθὸς ϰαὶ ϕιλάνθϱωπος.Google Scholar

⁵⁵ σuνάναϱχος (β' 8, ζ' 6), ἄχϱονον (δ' 8), πϱοαιΚνιν (β' 4) stress the eternal divinity of Christ which was challenged by certain heresies of the time.Google Scholar

⁵⁶ The Byzantine symbol for the acceptable bringer of offerings. Cf. the first kontakion, ϰα' 8.Google Scholar

⁵⁷ She had accepted a double paradox; she was mother yet virgin (γ' 3); her child was her God (δ' 1–6).Google Scholar

⁵⁸ Luke 2.28.Google Scholar

⁵⁹ E.g. ὁϱατόν, ἀόϱατον, ὁμολογ, πιστεύω.Google Scholar

⁶⁰ Luke 2.30.Google Scholar

⁶¹ θανάτον λντϱούμενος (ι' 8).Google Scholar

⁶² The longest part of his song, 43 verses (θ' 3 - ιγ' 9).Google Scholar

⁶³ The ‘prophet’ motif is prominent in the hymn extending its temporal dimensions backward to the Old Testament, and forward till the end of time. See e.g. θ' 4, ιε' 4, ιζ' 4.Google Scholar

⁶⁴ E.g. ἐϰύϱβξαν (θ' 3), ἐϰέϰϱαγε, ϰατήγγειλεν (θ' 4).Google Scholar

⁶⁵ Repeated with variation, ς' 1.Google Scholar

⁶⁶ Luke 2.34. The relevant verbs are πίπτω, ἀνίστβμι.Google Scholar

⁶⁷ Eliot, T. S., ‘A Song for Simeon.’ Google Scholar

⁶⁸ For the concept of theosis in Byzantine theology see Lossky, , op. cit. 91–113.Google Scholar

⁶⁹ Eliot, T. S., ‘A Song for Simeon.’ Google Scholar

⁷⁰ For Christ the ἰατϱος see Joseph Schork, R., ‘The Medical Motif in the Kontakia of Romanos the Melodist,’ Traditio 16 (1960) 353–363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁷¹ Mathew, G., op. cit. 22: ‘The transcendent conceived as the object of desire is the subject of all Byzantine mysticism.’ Google Scholar

⁷² ιδ' 3–ις' 9.Google Scholar

⁷³ ις' 4.Google Scholar Cincinnati, Ohio. Google Scholar Eua Catafygiotu Topping Google Scholar ROLAND'S CHRISTIAN HEROISM Google Scholar It is an anomaly that most readers of the Chanson de Roland seem to side with the villain, not the hero. Improbable as it is that the poet would have sympathized with this condemnation of his hero, the usual verdict seems to be that of Ganelon — that Roland is guilty of overweening pride. For example, the introduction to a new translation speaks of Roland's ‘presumptuous folly,’ and regards him as a ‘tragic’ hero who sins through pride and ‘impetuosity,’ barely redeeming himself by admitting his error (‘three mighty blasts of Roland's oliphant … proclaim his admission of error’) and dying in sanctity because he is penitent.¹ The translator seems to agree, noting in her preface that ‘Roland's words of repentance [are] so convincing that he, who might well have sinned the same way again, can be carried off to heaven with angelic and human rejoicing’ (p. x).² But an odd note creeps into the same sentence, for, she says, his ‘words of repentance are imprecise enough to leave his heroic stature untouched.’ Is heroism, then, incompatible with repentance ? Perhaps this depends on what the hero repents. If Roland must repent because he has wickedly caused the slaughter of his own men, then he would seem to be more villain than hero.Google Scholar

⁷⁴ Eliot, T. S., ‘A Song for Simeon.’ Google Scholar

⁷⁵ See note 21.Google Scholar