2 94. CHURCH POETRY. GREEK HYMNS. 403
18G6. CARL MACKE : ITymnen am dcm Zweistromeland. Dichtungen des hell. Ephrem des tiyrers aus dem syr. Urtext in's Deutsche iibertragen, etc. Mainz 1882. 270 pages. Macke is a pupil of Bickell and a successor of Zingerle as translator of Syrian church poetry. J
The general church histories mostly neglect or ignore hymnology, which is the best reflection of Christian life and worship.
The classical period of Greek church poetry extends from about 650 to 820, and nearly coincides with the iconoclastic con troversy. The enthusiasm for the worship of saints and images kindled a poetic inspiration, and the chief advocates of that worship were also the chief hymnists.1 Their memory is kept sacred in the Eastern church. Their works are incorporated in the ritual books, especially the Mcncea, which contain in twelve volumes (one for each month) the daily devotions and correspond to the Latin Breviary.2 Many are still unpublished and pre served in convent libraries. They celebrate the holy Trinity and the Incarnation, the great festivals, and especially also the Virgin Mary, the saints and martyrs, and sacred icons.
1 Neale and Pitra point out this connection, and Jacobi (1. c. p. 210 sq.) remarks : " Im Kampfe fur die Bilder steigerte sich die Glut dcr sinnlichen Frommigkeit, und mit dem Siege dcr Bildcrvcrehning im neunten Jahrhundert ist eine inncrliche und dusscrliche Znnahme des Heiligenkultus und namcntlich ein Wachsthum dcr Marienverehrung unverkennbar ."
2 The M;;raZa (sc. /?//3A/a, Monatsbilcher} are published at Venice in the Tipografia Greca (/} 'E/./7/r/c?) rv~o-/pa6ia TOV QolviKog). Each month has its separate title: Mrjvaiov TOV 'Iavovapiov} or M;)v 'Iavovapioc.} etc. January be gins with the commemoration of the circumcision of our Lord and the com memoration of St. Basil the Great, and December ends with the /"'>///// ~J'K <>aiae M^rpoc Jin&v MeAdi^c rfjq 'Pw^nmf. The copy before me (from the Harvard University Library) is dated 1852, and printed in beautiful Greek type, with the directions in red ink. On older editions see Mone, Lat. Hymnen, II. p.x. sqq. The other books of the Greek Ritual are the Paracletice (HapaK/.TjriKf/, sc. /?//W.of) or great Oetoechns ('O/crwT/jof, sc. /3/.3/.oc), which contains the Sunday services, the Triodion (IpKf'diov, the Lent-volume), and the Penteco&tarion (n.£VT7jKorTTdpiovJ the office for Easter-tide). "On a moderate computation," says Neale, " these volumes comprise 5,000 closely printed quarto pages, in double columns, of which at least 4,000 are poetry." See the large works of Leo Allatius, De libris eccles. Qraecorurn ; Goar, Euchologion sive Rituale Graecorum, and especially the second volume of Neale's History of the Holy Eastern Church (1850), p. 819 sqq.
404 FOUKTH PEKIOD. A. D. 590-1049.
The Greek church poetry is not metrical and rhymed, but written in rhythmical prose for chanting, like the Psalms, the hymns of the New Testament, the Gloria in Excelsis and the Te Deum. The older hymnists were also melodists and com posed the music.1 The stanzas are called troparia ; 2 the first troparion is named hirmos, because it strikes the tune and draws the others after it.3 Three or more stanzas form an ode ; three little odes are a triodion ; nine odes or three triodia form a canon. The odes usually end with a doxology (doxa) and a stanza in praise of Mary the Mother of God (theotokiori).4' A hymn with a tune of its own is called an idiomelon.5
This poetry fills, according to Neale, more than nine tenths or four fifths of the Greek service books. It has been heretofore very little known and appreciated in the West, but is now made accessible.6 It contains some precious gems of genuine Christian
1 Hence they were called fie^udoi as well as Tro^ra*, in distinction from the mere v/uvdvpafoi. The Greek service books are also music books. Christ dis cusses Byzantine music, and gives some specimens in Prol. p. CXI-CXLII.
2 Tpoirdpiov, the diminutive of rpo-rcoc, as modulus is of modus, was originally a musical term.
3 Elp/udc, tractus, a train, series, was likewise originally a musical term like d/co/loi»i9i'a and the Latin jubilatio, sequentia. See $ 96.
4 QSOTOKIOV, sc. rpoTtdptov (more rarely, but more correctly, with the accent on the ante-penultima, #eor(5/«oy), from -&£OTOKO<;, Deipara. The stauro-theotokion celebrates Mary at the cross, and corresponds to the Stabat Mater dolorosa of the Latins.
5 'Idtdpetov.. There are several other designations of various kinds of poems, as aKohov&ia (the Latin sequentia), di'aj3a-&/iot, (tria antiphona), avrityuvov,
(breve troparium sub finem officii vespertini), dirdarixa,
, eufiivd, nd"&LO{j.a, Karaflaaia, Kovrdpia, /laKapiaftoi, OIKOI, Trpocofioia, OTi^Tfpd, rptridia, rerpaudia, di^dia, i[>a%,Tr/piov, These terms and technical forms are fully discussed by Christ in the Prolego mena. Comp. also the Introduction of Neale.
6 By Vormbaum (in the third volume of Daniel's Thesaurus which needs re construction), Pitra, and Christ. The Continental writers seem to be ignorant of Dr. Neale, the best English connoisseur of the liturgical and poetic litera ture of the Greek church. His translations are, indeed, very free reproductions and transfusions, but for this very reason better adapted to Western taste than the originals. The hymn of Clement of Alexandria in praise of the Logos has undergone a similar transformation by Dr. Henry M. Dexter, and has been made useful for public worship. See vol. II. 231.