HYMNOLOGY
435
HYMNOLOGY
semblc, in its measure and antiphonal structure, the songs used in pagan worship" (Coleman, Pn'/w. Church, v. 370). The oldest Christian hymn -writers, however, were mostly Gnostics in their doctrines, and they seem to liavc used their songs as " a popular means of com- mending and propagating their errors." The first of these was Bardesanes, in the Syrian Church of the 2d century, who ^\Tote in imitation of the Psalms 150 hymns, with GnosHc additions. Valentinus of Alexandria be- longs also to the oldest hymn-writers (comp. Munter, Odie GnosticK, Copenh. 1712). The Gloi-ia in Kxcelsix (q. v.), which is still retained in use, is ascribed to the third centurj% See Angelical H\'>in.
1. Oriental and Greek. — The Therapeutm in Eg>-pt sang in their assemblies old hymns transmitted by tra- dition. When, under Constantine the Great, Christi- anity became the religion of the state, the hymns ac- quired the importance of regular liturgical Church songs. Ephraem Syrus (q. v.), in the 4th century, who may be considered as the representative of the whole Syrian hymnology, sought to bring the heretical hymns of the Gnostics into disuse. In the Eastern Church the hymns of Arius had, by their practical Christian spirit, acquired more popularity than the orthodox hymns, which con- sisted mostly of an assemblage of dogmatic formulas. To oppose this tendency, Gregory of Nazianzum and Synesius composed a number of new orthodox hymns, but, not being adapted to the comprehension of the peo- ple generally, these did not become popular, and thus failed to answer the purpose of the writers. Sacred po- etry in general began to decline among the Greeks ; and as in the next century the strife concerning the adoration of Mary and the saints began, the orthodox hymns be- came mere songs of praise to these. Such are the hymns of Cosmas, bishop of Majumena (780); Andreas, bishop of Crete (660-732) ; Germanus, patriarch of Constantino- ple (634-734) ; John Damascenus in the 8th centurj', and Theophanes, metropolitan of Nicfea, and Josephus, dea- con of Constantinople, in the 9th.
In the history of hymnology, Schaff distinguishes three periods, both in the Greek and Latin Church po- etry: (1.) that of formation, while it was slowly throw- ing off classical metres and inventing its peculiar style, down to about 650 ; (2.) that of perfection, down to 820 ; (3.) that of decline and decay, to 1400, or to the fall of Constantinople. " The first period, beautifid as are some of the odes of Gregory Nazianzen and Sophronius of Jerusalem, has impressed scarcely any traces on the Greek office books. The flourishing period of Greek poetry coincides with the period of the image contro- versies, and the most eminent poets were at the same time advocates of images; pre-eminent among them being John of Damascus, who has the double honor of being the greatest theologian and the greatest poet of the Greek Church. The flower of Greek poetry belongs, therefore, to a later division of our history. Yet, since we find at least the rise of it in the oth cen- tiurj', we shall give here a brief description of its pecul- iar character. The earliest poets of the Greek Church, especially Gregory Nazianzen in the 4th, and Sophro- nius of Jerusalem in the 7th century, employed tlie clas- sical metres, which are entirely unsiutable to Christian ideas and Cluirch song, and therefore gradually fell out of use. Ehyme found no entrance into the Greek Church. In its stead the metrical or harmonic prose was adopt- ed from the Hebrew poetrj' and the earliest Christian hymns of Mary, Zacharias, Simeon, and the angelic host. Anatolius of Constantinople (f 458) was the first to re- nounce the t^Tanny ofthe classic metre and strike out a new patli. The essential points in the pecidiar system of the Greek versification are the following : The first stanza, which forms the model of the succeeding ones, is called in technical language Jlirmos, because it draws the others after it. The succeeding stanzas are called Troparia (stanzas), and are divided, for chanting, by commas, without regard to the sense. A number of troparia, from three to twenty or more, form an Ode,
and this corresponds to the Latin Sequence, which Avas introduced about the same time by the monk Notker in St. Gall. Each ode is founded on a fiirmos, and ends with a iroparion in praise of the holy Virgin. The odes are commonly arranged (probably after the exam- ple of such Psalms as the 25th, H2th, and 119th) in acrostic, sometimes hi alphabetic order. Nine odes form a Canon. The older odes on the great events of the in- carnation, the resurrection, and the ascension, are some- times sublime ; but the later long canons, in glorification of unknown martyrs, are extremely prosaic and tedious, and full of elements foreign to the Gospel. Even the best hymnological productions of tlie East lack the health- fid simplicity, naturalness, fervor, and depth of the Latin and of the evangelical Protestant hymn.
" The Greek Church poetry is contamed in the liturg- ical books, especially in the twelve volumes of the Menrea, which correspond to th« Latin Breviarj', and consist, for the most part, of poetic or half poetic odes in rhythmic prose. These treasures, on which nine centuries have wrought, have hitherto been almost exclusively confined to the Oriental Church, and, in fact, yield but few grains of gold for general use. Neale has latterly made a hap- py effort to reproduce and make accessible in modern EngUsh metres, with very considerable abridgments, the most valuable hvTiins of the Greek Church. We give a few specimens of Neale's translations of hymns of St. An- atolius, patriarch of Constantinople, who attended the Council of Chalcedon (451). The first is a Christmas hymn, commencing in Greek : Miya Kai Trapdco^ov Srav/ia.