The "Akathistos". A Study in Byzantine Hymnography Author(s): Egon Wellesz Source: Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 9 (1956), pp.

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THE "AKATHISTOS" A STUDY IN BYZANTINE HYM\NOGRAPHY

EGON WEP-FT4LSZ

HE Byzantineservice is so rich in hymns that one of the greatest

liturgiologists, Anton Baumstark, could speak of the "ivy of hymnography" which threatened to overgrow the service and make invisible the structure of the liturgy. Yet, until a short time ago, very little was known about the hymns and their music, and even our present knowledge is very small indeed compared with what we know about Western chant. This fact can easily be explained: the rituals of the Eastern rite, the Typica, are less clear in their indications about the order of the service than the Western Ordines and - what is even more confusing - they often contain contradictory facts. We shall have to deal with these difficulties in the course of this study which is devoted to one of the most famous hymns of the Eastern Church, the Akathistos hymn. We see from the Patmos Codex of the Typikon of Constantinople that the hymn was sung either during the Vigil of the Saturday in the middle of Lent or during that of the following Saturday.' This was not its original place. The titles of the hymn in the Kontakaria2 of the tenth to thirteenth century indicate that the Akathistos had been sung originally on the feast of the Annunciation, on 25 March. From the later assignment of the hymn to a movable feast, the present custom derived.3 It is now sung in four sections during Mattins of the first, second, third and fourth Saturday in Lent and, in toto, during the Vigil of the fifth Saturday in Lent. This day, therefore, is called "The Sabbath of the Akathistos Hymn" and has a special office.4Though the entire Hymn is sung, the division into four sections is maintained.5 The name "Akathistos"signifies that during the singing of the hymn all had to stand.6 During the cantillation of the psalms and the singing of other chants one was allowed to sit. We can imagine what a strain it was
"Kat oI'av ei8o/xdOa
el8o/ua8Lt ylWveTrac

rukopisei,I (Typika) (Kiev, 1895) p. 124.

'The Kontakarion (KovTaKcapLov or

rravvvXti

TrW VIoTCELWV KVEXL o 7raTpdptapX tTE Tdo IL, e rC rTf tierTa TraVTr v BXaxEpvatL oVTroS." A. Dmitrievsky, Opisanie liturgicheskikh KovSaKapLOV)

to the thirteenth century, have the texts only, i.e. the Prooemium, which is called KovrT,KOV and the first stanza (olKOS).

lection of Kontakia (KovrTaKLa)the feasts of the year. The early MSS., those from the tenth for

is a liturgical book which contains a col-

The Typika, the Ordinesof the Eastern Church,and the Synaxaria,the Acta Sanctorum, give minute instructionsfor the celebrationof each of the fixed feasts during Lent and Easter which might coincide with the movable "Sabbathof the Akathistos."
Tr7Vvrepaylav

(Rome, 1903), and R. P. E. Mercenier, La pridre des eglises de rite byzantin, II, 2 (Paris, 1948) pp. 7-36. The division of the twenty-fourstanzas into four groups of six stanzas is an organic one, as will be shown; it correspondsto the changes in subject matterin the hymn.
= 'AKaOtaOro a-privativum and KaOLCofLat sit) i.e. not (to sitting, standing.

'Cf. P. de Meester's Greek and Italian edition of the 'AKoXovOta TO6 'AKaOitTrovv,uvov EI EOTOrKoV Officio dell'inno Acatisto in onore della Santissima Madre del Dio.

144

EGON WELLESZ

upon the congregationto listen standing,since the singing of each of the four sections of the Akathistosmust have taken nearly an hour, for the melody belongs to the richly melismaticstyle which has to be sung slowly and with much expression. Thus, its breakingup into four sectionsand the insertionsof psalms, odes and doxologies,though lengthening the office, gave all in Churchthe rest necessaryfor relaxingfromthe strain. For the purposeof our investigationinto the historyof the Akathistos, its poetical structureand its music, we must, however, separatethe hymn elements and concentrateon the hymn itself, which from the surrounding is one of the most fascinatingpieces of liturgicalpoetry known to us. Much has been written on its authorshipand about the occasion for All which the Akathistoswas composed.7 scholarsagree that it is a hymn writtenin honourof the Blessed Virginand many of them, misled by the hold the view that it dates from the year 626, content of the Prooemium, when the siege of Constantinople the Persiansmiraculouslycollapsed by and the city was saved. Others,however,connectthe hymnwith one of the latersieges, even to that laid by the Russiansas late as 860.8 The reasonfor attributingthe genesis of the Akathistosto one of the is sieges of Constantinople based on the rubricsof the Triodion the OfficeBook for the mobile feasts from Lent to Pentecost- which contains the Aclegendaryhistoryof the siege and of the liberationof Constantinople. cordingto the Synaxar,'the superiorityof the enemy was ten to one. But the PatriarchSergius (who took commandin the absence of the Emperor Heraclius) inspired the defenders, urged them to trust in God and the Blessed Virgin who would not abandon Her City, the city in which one Thus,all assaultswere repelled,and believed the Virginactuallydwelled.10 quarter, finallya tempestthrewthe fleet againstthe shoresof the Blachernae and all ships went down. This was the signal for the Persiansto abandonthe siege. During the whole night afterthe retreatof the enemythe people gatheredin the church
'Cf. the bibliography in C. del Grande's edition of L'Inno Acatisto (Florence, 1948) pp. 830-31. The main supporterof the hypothesisthat it was the siege by the Russiansin 860 to which the Akathistosrefers, and that the PatriarchPhotios was its author, was A. Papadopoulos4ITtOLOB. BIBAIO?HKH Kerameus in his pamphlet: 'O 'AKLaO(roTv/uvos, Ot 'P'sL Kat o 7TraTPLdapXr} MAPASAH, 14 (Athens, 1903). M. Thearvic in "Photius et l'Acathiste,"Echos d'Orient, VII (1904) pp. 293-300, however, argues convincingly that the Synaxar refers to the mentioned. sieges in 626, 677 and 717, but that the siege in 860 is not The Synaxar of the Akathistos is printed in Migne, P.G. 92, coll. 1348-53, and in Manuale II (1897) pp. 157-166. N. Nilles, Kalendariumn in Defenders of Constantinople," Melanges Paul 10 Cf. N. H. Baynes, "The Supernatural Analecta Bollandiana,67 (1949) p. 172. Reprinted in N. H. Baynes, Byzantine Peeters I, Studies and other Essays (London 1955) pp. 248-60.

THE AKATHISTOS

145

at Blachernaeand sang the Akathistos. the courseof the centuries,ConIn stantinoplewas threatenedby the Avars, Slavs, Arabs and Russians;but always the Virgin saved Her City, and the Akathistosbecame a song of victoryin honourof the Theotokos. We must ask, however: was the Akathistoscomposed as a "Song of Can we believe in the commoninterpretation the legend that of Victory"? it was composedin one day and sung by the crowd in the night after the lifting of the siege? These two questionsmake it necessaryto investigate the structureand content of the poem and that of its music. The Akathistosis a Kontakion.This is a poetical form of homiletic associatedwith the name of Anastasios, character, and, above all, Kyriakos of Romanos, who lived at the end of the fifth and the beginningof the sixth One could even call the Kontakion poetical sermon.1l have a We century. no evidenceto determinethe exactdate when the Kontakion developedand was used to designatethe when, for the first time, the name of Kontakion new poetical genre. The poet-musicians mentionedcalled such a poem just either Hymn,or Psalm,or Song, or Laud, or Prayer.12 the PatmosCodex In - a Ritualof the ninth to tenth centuryof the Typikonof Constantinople the Akathistos alreadyreferredto as a Kontakion.13 is Structurally,the Kontakionconsists of eighteen to thirty stanzas, or All Troparia. the Tropariaare composedon the patternof a model stanza,
at the identical place in corresponding lines, so that the melodic highlights correspond to the metrical ones. A short Troparion, metrically independant, is set at the beginning of the Kontakion; this is the Prooemium, mentioned in the MSS. as Troparion or Koukoulion. The stanzas of the Kontakion are linked together by an acrostic which, following Hebrew and Syriac patterns, was originally formed of the letters of the alphabet. In Romanos' mature works the alphabetical acrostic is replaced by a line, e.g.: "Song by the humble Romanos."The structure of the Akathistos differs, however, remarkably from the regular pattern. It has, in
sentazioni sacre nella letteraturabizantina (Grottaferrata,1912). E. Wellesz, A History of
Byzantine Music and Hymnography (Oxford, 1949) pp. 152-67.
, , vl vos, faa)Xl6o, 7roryia, av,8 av7rpoaevXr; other names are:

called Heirmos (Eipyo6 ), and great care is taken in setting the main accents

1 Cf. P. Maas, "Das Kontakion," B.Z. XIX (1910) pp. 285 sqq. G. La Piana, Le rappre-

d. griech. Kirchenpoesie," Sitzungsber.d. philosoph.-philol.Classe d. k. bayr. Akad. d. Wiss.

(1903) pp. 625-36, and E. Mioni, Romano il Melode (Turin, 1937) p. 10. 13 A. Dmitrievsky, op. cit., p. 124.

characterize the alphabetic acrostic, aAadf,8rov. Cf. K. Krumbacher, "Die Akrostichis in

ros, 3e7aTLs, La and, to

146

1EGON WELLESZ

some manuscripts at least, two Prooemia of different content and metre: one, in which the subject-matter of the Kontakion is given in the form of an argumentum, namely, that the Angel went to Joseph's house and addressed the Virgin as "Bride unbrided," and another, in which the City, freed from danger, addresses the Virgin. In the thirteenth century Codex suppl. grec. 186 of the Vienna National Library 1 the first Prooemium (fol. 79v) is marked as 1TporTaptov (Troparion), the second as KOVraiKCOV (Kontakion); the two Prooemia are, however, separated by doxologies, chants and psalms, so that the connexion of the Troparionwith the hymn is obscured, as can be
seen from the text of Cod. suppl. grec. 186 which is here given:
wp(a) 8E' A' r?'
aKoXOvO(tcaV)
77X(O 1) ITX. 8'. El) Xacq3cO 7VJ(OTEL. iTEOT77.

crVKT%(v) crrj'vQiV)

(!)

r'v

6'P0(pov) St' r(rv)

'K'17T7jpLov

(!)

njsF aKKacl6o-Zov ILE'E(a)

T(OV) Ei'a'aXIt(ov)

OE(OTO')KOV.

rpor(dpLov)

TO rrpoo-raxOEV 1LV(7WCKU .
E)T 07)

l)f0l

TOy

IC 77f

( '7TOV87

o acMOl/aToSg* XE 7Ct ct)

cTELpoy3cq.

roP` o'pavov 0O KXlvavaT7 KaLra/3a -tEL cavXXOLWT-wO'XogEv o-oi' XWPECTra

OV

KCLaL /XE7T)1

EVl /L77T(p (TOV

Xa/30'vra 8oiXov luop(ff')

Eto-TTaILcaKpatyya4~EWV(7Ot XatPE
l)V/JfrYa cLlVfJ4EVTE.

(The Angel, understanding the secret command, appeared suddenly in Joseph's dwelling, and said to her who knew not wedlock: He, who with his descent has bowed down the heavens, finds room in Thee, unaltered and whole. Seeing him taking a servant's form in Thy womb I marvel and cry out to Thee: Hail, Bride unbrided.) Now follow the rubrics, indicating which hymns and chants the office requires until the "Great Doxology" is sung and the Apolytikion T' 7rpoo-raxOEv

repeated. After it has been sung three times, the second Prooemium, the Kontakion, follows in the fourth plagal mode (rX.8').
T(7TcU JflTEpILcLXa T7)pa7) Ty

VLKT7aTKPUL. EvXaptorT-qpLa

Uj XvrpcoOdo-a mw-v 8ELVytV *

1This Codex has recently been transferred from the Imperial Fidei-Komissbibliothek to the National Library. Dozent H. Hunger, Keeper of the Creek MSS., kindly showed me the Codex, a Triodion-Pentekostarion with musical notation, during my visit to vienna in Oct. 1954, and sent me photographs of foil. 79'-81', on which the text of the Office of the Akathistos is written.

THE AKATHISTOS
cvaypad) ro 7' I TOXLts c'ov * OEOTOKE *

147

adXXco eXovoa TOKpadro av7Tpoo-tdcXqTpov X

EK iTTravroov /ILE KLsvlvov

cXEvOepOrov . vV/Lr]v7 advvLc)vre.

tva

Kpadco croL

Xacpe

(To the invincible Leader I, Thy City, freed from danger, I dedicate the thanksgiving for victory, O Mother of God. Since thou hast power unassailable, Free me from all kinds of trials, That I may cry out to Thee: Hail, Bride unbrided. )15 Already in 1907 A. Baumstark in a review of Strzygowski's book on the miniatures of the Serbian Psalter in Munich pointed out 16 that the second Prooemium was independent of the hymn and added to the Akathistos at a later date, between Sergios and Photios. This view was taken up and expounded by Krypiakiewicz in his study on the author of the Akathistos.17 He argues rightly that the first Prooemium is a prelude to the story of the Incarnation and also stylistically akin to the diction of the hymn; the author of the Prooemium uses not only the same similes but the same words as one finds in the hymn. The strongest argument in favour of the coherence of the first Prooemium with the Akathistos is seen in the dogmatic significance of the line: XwopeT7ra Verbum Dei) avaXXottwrco oXkoEvcroi (finds room (sc. in Thee, unaltered and whole), which expresses the confirmation of the Orthodox view against the Apollinarian heresy in the second half of the fourth century, and is paralleled in the first lines of the fifteenth stanza:
"OXon
"I
^

?7v Ev roC0
,,

KaoT

KaL 7rtco avol

ovS

, c

o0XO

Cog

aTr)jv o adeptypacoL

Xo yo;.

(The Infinite Word was wholly present on earth, yet in no wise absent from heaven.) The o'Xos 7v ev rots KaarWis the repudiation of the teaching of Apollonius of Laodicea that Christ had a human body and a human soul (,vxi), but not a human mind (vovs); and that the Word was his vovs, his VrwEvia. The interpretation of the two passages - in the Prooemium and in the fifteenth stanza - as a statement of the Orthodox view on the Christological
T The English translation is based on the poetical version which Mr. Mango made and kindly let me use when I read my paper on the Akathistos at the Symposium at Dumbarton Oaks. 6 B.Z., XVI (1907) p. 657. P. F. Krypiakiewicz, "De hymni Acathisti auctore," B.Z., XVIII (1909) pp. 361-3.

148

EGON WELLESZ

dogma leads inevitably to the conclusionthat the Akathistosembodies a poetical layer which goes back to the times when the Christological question was passionatelydiscussed in poetical homilies, and Krypiakiewicz thereforeargues that the Akathistosgoes back to the days of Ephraem Syrus.This may quite well be so, though in a note appendedto his study, K. Krumbacher, then editor of the ByzantinischeZeitschrift,says that S. refers as genudid not considerthe poem to which Krypiakiewicz Mercati inely the work of Ephraem. P. Maas, however, carries the investigation L'InnoAcatistohe pointsout 18 muchfurther.In a reviewof P. de Meester's that Romanos,describingin his KontakionDe Pentecoste,stanza 8,19the descent of the Paracletfromheaven,says of Him:
ov yap yeyovE uLETar3ao(at
o7 'TvyKarTdlao'Lt.
OV VITE r 'll (eve eltoclrW.

avo) yap 7v.

KaT KaT)O 7V.

Kal 7IravTaxov.

(His descent became not a change of place, nor sufferedHe diminution. For He was in heaven, and was on earth,and everywhere.) and is of The resemblance the lines to those of the Akathistos unmistakable suggests Romanosas authorof the hymn. Maas supportsthis view in his 20 study on the date of the hymns of Romanos by showing that of all the problemsof Christiandogmaticsit is Christologyonly in which Romanos is interested,and the defence of its orthodoxview against Monophysites, Arians,Docetistsand Manichaeans.21 Nestorians, Suggestive as it may be to ascribe the Akathistosto Romanoson the grounds of the strikingsimilarityof his dogmatic reasoning,to be convincingit needs still more evidence;it needs above all an investigationinto the structureof the hymn, the formof which must firstbe explained. has The Akathistos the same numberof stanzasas are usuallyfound in however, differences, of the Kontakia the sixthcentury.The main structural are and betweenthe Akathistos all the otherKontakia as follows:the twentyfour stanzasare not of equal length; stanzasone to twenty-fourhave each seven lines in which the poet gives a runningaccountfromthe Annunciation to the Adorationof the Magi, and a commentupon the miracle of the Incarnation.
B.Z., XIV (1905) p. 644.
19

Pitra,Analecta Sacra,I, p. 160, stanza 7.

20P.
21

Maas, "Die Chronologie der Hymnen des Romanos," B.Z., XV (1906) pp. 1 sqq. Ibid., pp. 13-17.

THE AKATHISTOS

149

Stanzas 1, 3, 5, etc. to 23 have appended to the seven lines twelve Chairetismoi in sixteen lines, and one line of refrain, i.e. "Hail, Bride unbrided." Stanzas 2, 4, 6 etc. to 24 have, appended to the seven lines, one line of refrain, i.e. "Alleluia." This gives twenty-four lines for the long stanzas, eight lines for the short stanzas. The building up of the hymn from these two alternating sets of stanzas leads us to assume that the present form of the Akathistos is composed of two different kinds of liturgical poetry: of twenty-four Troparia of homiletic character and of twelve Chairetismoi, based upon a doxological layer. The form is quite exceptional. There are a few homilies with Chairetismoi, of which the eleventh homily of Cyril of Alexandria, the Encomium in Sanctum Mariam Deiparam has eighteen Hail's and contains, apart from some similes which are very similar to those which one finds in the Akathistos, the line: 22
8ta' SovXvr rov 1uop7iv 8o;Xov Xa6ovra

(A bondwoman through Him who took the form of a bondman) which corresponds to line 7 of the first Prooemium Xaaf6vra SovXov /top4rv, and to line 5 of staza IX: el Kal 8ovXov E'Xa,8E opr-4v. A Chairetismos has come down to us, also, in the fourth stanza of a hymn of doxological character on a seventh-century papyrus: 23
XaipE
OeoTrKE?ayvn)

{rov 'Io-rpaX}) ovpavwcv

Jlrvrpa XaipE s,L ,rXarvrepa

ov
ot

Xatpe adyta, e7rovpavwe pove,

7rats8E vfLVOVVres EXEyov:

EvoXoyere ra E'pya Kvpiov.

(Hail pure Mother of God, the Holy one in Israel. Hail Thou whose womb is greater than the heavens. Hail, O Sanctified one, O Throne of the Heavens, Which the Children praised, saying: Bless ye the works of the Lord.)
22 Cf. Migne, P.G. 77, col. 1032 C. 3Cf. C. H. Roberts, Catalogueof the Greekand Latin Papyri in the John RylandsLibrary, Manchester,III (Manchester, 1938) pp. 28-35. I consider both hymns to be specimens of the doxological Troparionpoetry, not as examples of early Kanon composition. Cf. also H. Schneider, "Die biblischen Oden seit dem sechsten Jahrhundert," Biblica, 30 (1949) p. 261: "Aus den Uberschriftenist zu erschliessen, dass die Strophen zu bestimmten Abschnittenspater sind es die letzten Stichoi- der biblischem Oden zu singen waren."

150

EGON WELLESZ

We may mention in this context also the Oratio in praesentationem SS. Deiparae of Germanus,Patriarchof Constantinople (Migne P.G., 98, 304-8). Here are twelve stanzas of Chairetismoi, the same number as in the Akathistos. Eleven of them begin with Xaipovg, the twelfth with XaZpOE. In this last stanza one also observes a close kinship to the Akathistos, viz.:
VV, XaZLpE,KEXaPLtWILE Mapta ) TioWv KaLOvpavcJV V4J7)XOTE'pa ayLOwV ayLCOTEpa,
KaL XEpovf834L E'8o
TEpaL, Ka`LlEpaL

r ..pa Tptwepa

(Hail Mary full of Grace, Thou art more saintly than the Saints, And higher than the heavens, and more glorious than the Cherubs, And more honourable than the Seraphs.) It now remains to prove that the Kontakion and the Chairetismoi were not organically connected from the beginning, i.e. from the moment when its forerunner, a poetical homily, was brought into the exquisite metrical pattern which is an outstanding feature of the Akathistos. It was again P. Maas who pointed out that from the seventh stanza onwards in all the short stanzas it is Christ of whom the poet speaks, not Mary, and in stanza K(10), the poet addresses Him:
K'4PVKE1 OEOEPOp7EyOVoTEgot t7rTTr,rpE4iav eb r?)lv Baf3vXwJva, V e TgOvPov EKTEXEVaEavT Kat K7)pVeavTE
9 O-E TrP

/.tayot

XPJ7.tUWo.

Xpto-,ro v &iraotv,

cLkVTE* T?v 'Hp 'S-qv

c XkqpaS&q

n' 18 ,ra

. 'aXXEav 'AXX-qXoCI~a.

(The Magi, turned into God-inspired heralds, went back to Babylon, Having fulfilled Thy Oracle;and proclaiming Thee to all as Christ They left Herod as a fool, not knowing how to sing: "Alleluia.") The same happens in stanzas M(12), 11(16) and T(20), but also in some stanzas with Chairetismoi, e.g. in A(i), A(11), and 0(15), where the transition from an address to Christ to the praise of the Virgin gives the impression of an artistic tour de force. This is most obvious in A( 12):
L~VaXr1JOELaQ E)V nAc4L#as v p'j Aiyv'wrp~ n Aa'/.t~702agE'A' ' 72)4X0TXLJEV
a' yap ESoXa
7a;T-qT

O-cOT7jp,

L77EVE yKavPTa Ot TO1TV avE/900V

aov

T7jV WO-XVV, 7TITTLKEV

& 8 PVO-OEVTE9

TT)V OEOTO'KOV Tp2POl T&WdVOpOflTWV KTX. XaZpE, avopOcn'

THE AKATHISTOS (Having kindledin Egypt the light of Truth, Thou hast expelledthe darkness deceit. of And her idols fell, O Saviour, when they were unableto bear Thy might.And they who were freed fromidolatrycried to the Motherof God: Hail, Thou who hast correctedmankind . . . .)

151

The exampleshere given show that Maas was right in assumingthat the originalpoetical homily, or Kontakion, which is lost, was a hymn to Christ,going back to the times before the Council of Ephesus in 432, at which Mary was proclaimed'Theotokos'; originatedpresumablyin the it of the Apollinarian The mariological days heresy. parts, the praisesof the Theotokoscould not have been composedbefore the second half of the fifth century.At a later date both the christological and mariological parts were blended togetherand finallyacquiredthe poeticalstructure which we possessin the presentshapeof the Akathistos. The questionnow ariseswho the poet was who welded togetherthese two elements with a maltriseunparalleledin the whole field of liturgical was poetry.The problemof the authorship discussedat great length in the firstdecade of this century,partlyin the Byzantinische Zeitschrift, partlyin the Echos d'Orient,but also in variousother journals.The particulardifficulty of assigningthe hymn to an authorarosefromthe fact that the hymn is ascribedin some MSS. to the PatriarchSergios,24 others to Georgios in in the Latin version to Germanos,26 even to Photios. In a single Pisides,25 MS. only, Cod. Thessalonic. Blataion41, fol. 193, the name of Romanosappears togetherwith that of the PatriarchSergios:
OVTOiOl EfoLOLKOiEUcYW Wi TtVETAEyOVrTt Zepywov TOVTrVLKaTa rov . . .

e(o. KwvcravTvwov7rO1 *aXXot 8e 7ro foelov'Poruavovi [StaKovov] TOV ,OcEX)8sov.27

It may be said at once that the arguments Christ,Pitraand othersin of favourof one or other authorare based upon the now discardedview that same Melodoswho is said to have composedthe hymn on the day of the liberationof Constantinople from the siege of the enemy, and that it was the congregation sung by duringthe samenight. Thereis no suggestionin the Synaxar, was however,that the Akathistos
24 Christ-M. W. Paranikas,Anthologiagr. carm. christ. p. 140. Pitra, Anal. Sacra, I, p. 250. 6 Migne, P.G. 92, col. 1353 sqq. M. Huglo, "L'ancienne version latine de l'hymne acathiste," Museon, 64 (1951) pp. 44-61, ascribes the Prooemiumto Germanos,but says that his investigation into the old Latin version produces no argumentagainst the authorshipof Romanos. 2Cf. C. Emereau, Hymnographi Byzantini.-Acathisti auctor, Echos d'Orient, XXI (1922) pp. 259-63.

the Prooemium T VIrepIaciX)orrparTqyyand the hymn were written by the

152

EGON WELLESZ

composed as a "Hymn of Victory"; only that it was sung by the people during the whole night without a pause.
OyE Lr7v 00)OeO4tX rTs Kovo-ravrivov
OXOVVKTLOV TOV VWVOV,

Xaaos rTj Oeo,uropL

CKaOtarov

Tr7V xapwv TO Kara

da0/OCtLOVjULEVOL,

Kat

aVT7n E/L?(.eXs(rOLav, (09

virep avrwv aypv7rvrqo-ao7, Kal v7rEppVE Sva/jtE StarpCaILeva 8ve

?rTv EXOpPv TpoTraLov.

(And the people of Constantinople, who were so dear to God, sang the hymn standing and without any respite during the whole night, as a thanksgiving to the Mother of God, as She had kept watch over them and with Her great might had achieved the monument of victory over the enemies.) It is possible that the Prooemium was composed on the day of the lifting of the siege, either by the PatriarchSergios in 626, or, what now seems more probable, by S. Germanos, Patriarch of Constantinople, after the retreat of the Arabs on 24 March 719; but it is quite unthinkable that the text and music of the twenty-four stanzas of the Akathistos were composed and sung on the same day. After the careful investigation into the Latin version of the Akathistos by Dom M. Huglo 28 one can reconstruct the genesis of the new Prooemium in the following way: the lifting of the siege took place on the eve of 25 March, the feast of the Annunciation, which was traditionally celebrated in the Church of the Annunciation at Blachernae"the church in which the Virgin delighted" 2 - by the singing of the Akathistos. Again the Virgin had miraculously saved Her City, and, what made the miracle even more striking, on the Vigil of the feast of the Evangelismos. Thus the new Prooemium to "Our Lady of Victories" was sung on that occasion in place of the original one and remained for ever in its place. A legend was now created about the victory and from that time the Akathistos was seen as a Hymn of Victory; and this view still finds supporters. However, by accepting the scholarly view that the composition of the Akathistosis not coeval with the composition of the Prooemium Tjj vrEepduX
orTparry,) we are freed from the fetters of semi-historical facts and can try

to discover the author by criteria of quality and content. Taking into account all the elements which constitute the greatness of the poem: power of expression, boldness of similes, perfect harmony of the lines and, above all, poetical vision, we know of no other poet than Romanos who could possibly be regarded as the author of the hymn; Romanos, the
2
-

Cf. M. Huglo, op. cit., pp. 44-50.

F. Combefis,HistoriaHaeresis Monotelitarum(Paris, 1648) col. 754-5.

THE AKATHISTOS

153

who flourishedduring the reign of Justinian greatestof all hymn-writers, and who is known as the most prolificpoet-musician Kontakia. of A very suggestive argumentin favour of Romanoshas recently been broughtforwardby Carlodel Grande:In the seventeenthstanza the poet praisesthe divine wisdomof the Theotokos:
XaZpE (fLtXO'cfOov5 aTo46OV &eLKKvovaca .

XaZpe TeXvoXoyovs daoyov

eyXyXovcra -

XaZpe, onL EfLopavOr)crav ol Selvoi ovr)T7Trai ? rTOLUTra L XaZpE, OTtEfLapavO7crav ol TrOvuVLVOcV XaZpe, rTcv 'AOqrvativ Tras rXOKcas 8tacrTrO-a
?

(Hail Thou who showest the wise ignorant, Hail Thou who provest the sophists speechless, Hail, for the skilled disputers are become foolish, Hail, for the poets of fables are withered. Hail Thou, who dissolvest the word-webs of the Athenians.) The word "Athenians"must refer to the philosophers of the School of Athens which was closed by Justinian in 529. The allusion, therefore, must have been written before that date, i.e. in the days of Romanos. This passage breathes, I think, the same spirit which we find in the 18th stanza of Romanos' hymn on Pentecost:
Ti bvo-C'Lt Kact fapu,8aivovCLv ol "EXXgh7vE;
rL 'avTriovTraL

TpoS "ApaTov rTv rptcrKaraparov;

riTrXavwvvraat rpo IIhXarwva;KTX.

Why do the Greeks boast and puff themselves up? Why do they dream of Aratos, the thrice accursed? Why do they err after Plato? Finally, another point, already mentioned by Pitra, Anal. Sacra, I, p. XXXI, supports the authorship of Romanos. Byzantine hymnographers either compose their poems in a new metre and to a new melody - these compositions are called Idiomela - or to the metre and melody of other hymnwriters or former hymns of their own; the latter are called Prosomoia and bear the rubric: E?i ro, i.e. "to be sung to the melody. . ." Romanos' Kontakion on "Josef in Egypt" now bears in Cod. Corsin. 366 the rubric:
7rpot To
.

ayyeXog irpt(x)ro(rTdTrl)

(to be sung to the melody: An angel of the highest rank. . . .) The words to which this rubric refers are the beginning of the Akathistos. We have no reason to doubt that the rubric is authentic. Romanos therefore

154

EGON WELLESZ

refers in one of his hymns to a formerone, the Akathistos;and since all lived after to is hymn-writers which the Akathistos ascribedin the Synaxaria his time and none is knownwho lived beforehim, we may takeit as certain that Romanosreferredto a formerhymn of his own, not to that of another Melodos. We have not touched so far upon the question of Romanos'literary ancestrywhich may also throwsome light upon the questionof the authorthe Two important studies,the one by T. Wehofer,30 ship of the Akathistos. and discussthe influenceof Ephraemon Romanos P. otherby C. Emereau,31 G. that Maasin his studyon the Kontakion, of Basilof Seleucia.32 La Piana's 33 gives ample evidence of investigationinto the poetical homily in general was able to draw his the sourcesfrom which the authorof the Akathistos
material.

Indeed, a glance at Ephraem's particu"Hymnsto the Blessed Virgin," with the Akathistos. the 16th, 17th and 20th, shows their relationship larly The 39th homily In Sanctissimam by Deiparae Annuntiationem Basil of model for the Akathistos. Seleuciamust also be regardedas a remarkable Some lines in the 15th stanza,which containsthe refutationof the Apollinarian heresy, are based nearly verbatim upon a passage from the homily:34

Basil of Seleucia
KaTw) "OXo To0Ti ETrE(o OXoe
Kai ovS' oAXO Tdvvoavw rorra/. ov yap aXXa X7 KaTa,Sao-C Ka crv

Akathistos
V lv TOSKa'rW
avw ov8'o'Xo

aoirnvo arEptypaTrrto Xoy.os

TOTLK7 yEyOVEV

eiKiq riE TpaKTal cvyKaraBfaclr.

avyKaraacrLF yap OiK7j, 8eS ov ,LETra38ao-f TrorLK yEyovEv.

however,is the.dialogue The most strikingprototypeof the Akathistos, between Mary and Gabrielin the eleventh Oratiode LaudibusMariae35 the (d. by Proclosof Constantinople 447). Here,when the linkingwordsof narrator, "Andthe Holy One saidto the Angel"are takenout, a dialogue e.g. acrosticfromA-M,caras in distichsbecomesapparent does an alphabetical ried out in such a way that the firstwordsof the questionsof the angel and the answersof the Virginbegin with the sameletter.
0o Wehofer, "Untersuchungenzum Lied d. Romanos auf die Wiederkunftdes Herrn." T. Sitz. ber. d. Akad. d. Wiss. Wien, Philos.-Histor.Kl. Bd. 154, 5. Abt. (Vienna, 1907). C. Emereau, Saint Ephrem le Syrien (Paris, 1918). 2B.Z., XIX, pp. 290-8. 3G. La Piana, Le 1912). sacre nella letteraturabizantina (Grottaferrata, Rappresentazioni B.Z., XIX (1910) pp. 2984Cf. Migne, P.G., 85, 448 B, and P. Maas, "Das Kontakion," 306. 5Cf. Migne, P.G., 65, and G. La Piana'smetricalreconstruction, cit. pp. 250-2. op.

THE AKATHISTOS

155

The close parallels in style, structure, and the use of the alphabetical acrostic in the Annunciation homilies and in other poetical orations, particularly those of Basil of Seleucia, made P. Maas, in his study on the Kontakion, doubt whether one can still consider Romanos as a poet of the first rank; he goes so far indeed as to declare that a wider knowledge of the homilies of the beginning of the sixth century would show that Romanos was only a minor poet ("als Autor zweiten Ranges").3 One must regret this judgment which contradicts everything Maas had written before in favour of Romanos' genius, and one can only assume that these lines were written under the spur of Maas's discovery of the homilies of Basil of Seleucia. But even if we assume that this was the case, our opposition to Maas's view must go even further, for this kind of criticism shows a misunderstanding of the task of the hymnographer. His aim was not to write poetry as a classical author, but to present the hagiographical object of the feast in a new form. The Akathistos, like all the homilies which preceded it and the hymns which followed it, was part of the liturgy. The main part of the hymn which the Melodos composed - this word covers both the music and the words was given by the feast, just as the text of the prayers of the Office of the day had to commemorate the occasion of the feast. The hymnographer, like the painter of icons, had to follow his forerunners as closely as possible; he had to follow a given pattern; this unwritten law applies as much to the words as to the music. To imitate one's model is, therefore, not a sign of lack of imagination, but the duty of the Byzantine Melodos. His greatness can be seen from the treatment of the material which he has taken over from his forerunners, and in that respect Romanos surpasses all Byzantine hymnwriters. Summing up, we are, I think, entitled to come to the following conclusion: It was impossible to settle the question of the authorship of the Akathistos as long as the Prooemium T r v7repjLdu orTpar^yi was considered an of the hymn. However, once one knows that the "Victory"integral part Prooemium was added to the Akathistos at a later date, both internal and external evidence point to Romanos as the author of the hymn. One should not be confused by the fact that the name of Romanos occurs in one MS. only, and there only second: all the MSS. and also the Typika and Synaxaria were written at a time, when the original Prooemium was separated from the hymn, and the later one - one may now ascribe it to S. Germanos- was attached to the hymn. Far more important, and I should say, decisive evidence is the rubric
to Romanos' Joseph-hymn which mentions the "AyyeXog TrpoToo-raTrr as a
P. Maas, "Das Kontakion," B.Z., XIX (1910) p. 299.

156

EGON WELLESZ

withoutbias,one cannotbut think model.Indeed,if one readsthe Akathistos of Romanosas its author. Let us now turnto the contentof the hymn and considerits divisioninto of four sectionsin the "Office the Akathistos." is sung in the Orthros,the Mattins,which begin with the The hymn doxology;the Hexapsalm(Ps. 3, 37, 62, 87, 102, and 142); anothergroup of doxologies and the thrice repeated chanting of the Dismissal chant from Office(whichwas To (Apolytikion) lrpoo-raXOev LuvcrOTLKW the Vespers the originalProoemium),followed by a groupof shortchants;then follows the Akathistos. The first group of twelve stanzascontainsthe story of the Incarnation, divided into two sections after the sixth stanza by the repetition of the firstpart of the hisTr Prooemium, irEep,daXT aor-par^y4, the readingof the and fromthe Synaxar, the repetitionof the Prooemium. toryof the Akathistos The contentof the twelve stanzasof this groupis as follows: 1) An Angel of the first rank sent from heaven announces to the BlessedVirginthat she will give birthto the Saviour. 2) The Virginasks the Angel how this could happen to her who is a Virgin. 3) The Angel revealsto her the Divine Omnipotence. the 4) The Powerof the Highestovershadows Virgin. 5) Marygoes to Elisabethwhose unbornchild is the firstto praisethe Motherof God. but is 6) Joseph,ignorantof the Mystery, perturbed; when madeaware of it, he sings Alleluia. 7) Shepherdshearingthe chant of the Angels come to greet Jesus in Bethlehem. 8) A starappearsand leads the Magi. 9) The MagipraiseJesus. 10) The Magi go back, preachingeverywherethe appearanceof the Saviour. the 11) The Flight into Egypt and, following the Apocrypha, Fall of the Idols. 12) SimeonrecognizesGod in the ChildJesus. second part from the Synaxaris read and followed by the cantillationof
(I shall open my
At the end of this group the Tr vtrepzaXo crrpar7ry4 is sung again, the

oPs. 50. Hereafter begins the Kanon 'Avoow Tr roa tov

THE AKATHISTOS

157

mouth) by Joseph Hymnologos,of which the first and third Odes with
inserted Troparia are sung, and the Prooemium Tj1v1rep,LaX() repeated. is The second part of the Akathistos, stanzas 13-24, contains the praise of the Mystery of the Incarnation. This part is again divided into two sections, each of them consisting of six stanzas. 13) By being born of an immaculate Virgin the Creator reveals a new creation. 14) Let us lift up our Hearts, so that we can understand the Mystery. 15) Praise of the Incarnation. 16) The Angels praise the iniracle of God living among Men. 17) The verbose orators are mute like fish seeing the Blessed Virgin. 18) The faithful however understand God's mercy. The Good Shepherd must guide his flock. Here again the sequence of Oikoi from the Akathistos is interrupted by the singing of the Prooemium, and a monostrophic chant with inserted doxology; followed by the singing of the 4th, 5th, and 6th Odes of the Kanon with inserted Troparia and the repetition of the Prooemium. The fourth and last section of the Akathistos is of homiletic character: 19) All men must praise the Incarnation; above all, the virgins shall praise God and the Theotokos. 20) But earthly chant is incapable of giving praise to such a miracle. 21) Let us praise the Virgin as Bearer of the light which gave us life. 22) And He who has taken upon Him the sins of all the mortals brought us redemption. 23) Let us praise, therefore, His Mother, the tabernacle of God and of His work, and let us sing: 24) O Mother, worthy of all praise, who hast born the most Holy Word. Alleluia. Now the first stanza "AyyEXoo and wrpcoroo-ra'Tn7 the Prooemium are repeated and the 7th to the 9th Odes of the Kanon with inserted Troparia are sung and, after the 9th Ode the Exaposteilarion, the closing Troparion of the Kanon. The Office of Lauds follows without interruption. It consists of Ps. 148, 149 and 150 and their Stichera, the Doxology, the Trisagion, and ends with the repeated Apolytikion To rrpocraXOE'v /.vaxrTKWo. This survey of the Office of the Akathistos gives only the framework without taking into consideration its coincidence with other feasts. But

158

EGON WELLESZ

even from this outline one may gatherhow impossibleit is to separatethe words from the music. Even more than in the West music is an essential part of the liturgy. It ranges from ekphoneticreading,and cantillationof the psalms, syllabic Heirmoi and slightly embellishedStichera,to richly ornamentedliturgical Chant. Thus, the Office of the Akathistoscan be understood if only in its highly elaboratestructure, one follows its dramatic building-upuntil the momentis reachedwhen the Soloistintones the first stanza and fills the Churchwith the singing of the hymn which can be of regardedas an expression the essence of Christian piety. What do we know about the music of the Akathistos? Even the earliestmanuscripts the hymnwith musicalsignswhichhave of come down to us, are, so far as we can tell, of a relativelylate date, namely the secondhalf of the thirteenthand the firsthalf of the fourteenthcentury. in Thereis, however,a shortfragmentfrom the Akathistos the twelfthCodexCoislin220 of the Bibl.Nat.in Paris to which, centuryHeirmologion for from fol. 288 onwards,a groupof Stichera,Prosomoia Lent, and Theotokia is attached. The place of the fragmentis after the SticheronAEvrE, which begins a7ravres rL-roifor the Vespersof the Sabbathof Sexagesima, on fol. 261'; the rest, six lines, is on fol. 262r. The largerpart of the folio is left empty, but in the middle of it the first words of the Akathistos,i.e. , (An Angel of the firstrank) are writtenwith superTrpwooraTrr 'AyyeXos imposedmusicalsigns. The scriptdiffersfromthat of the Stichera,and one may imagine that a scribe used the empty space - which ought to have of Prosomoion Lent - to copy froma Kontakarion been filledin with another There as the firstwords of the Akathistos, a reminderfor the protopsaltes. since on was no otherplace for him to insertthe referenceto the Akathistos anotherset of Sticherabegins, the SticheraDogmathe next page, fol. 262v, tika. Though the fragmentis short, it reveals the importantfact that the but melody had alreadyits melismaticcharacter, that here, unlike in later is MSS.,the ornamentation not spreadoverall the syllablesof the two words, but is confinedto the accentuatedthirdsyllableof TrpcororTarq. Moreover, date of the melody. The the fragmentrevealsanotherfact, relatingto the notationcontainsa sign which occursonly in the first stages of Early Bywhich occurs twice: on the last sylzantine notation,i.e. the Katabasma, lable of "AyyeXosand on the seventha of irpwro-rar77.
3

7 I owe the reference to the fragmentto ProfessorOliver Strunk,who also kindly sent me a handwrittencopy of it. ProfessorCarstenH0eg supplied me with his own photographsof the whole section of Codex Coislin 220 containingthe Prosomoiafor Lent.

THE AKATHISTOS

159

-rp 6p

T aL* > Ic p Xca /,,,"O'-p ,4a -9

O u

50US1W(u,

f4
a arrxJ*P t O O

u vr6 'a Ot6 Joo *n ts i

&

LH

J?? J UL I.'/eT -

? ~

-^ *opI

4.

r
,

t Cr & L LIJ N t-T

e i co9 '
(
TV v

ICmAJA,

pTUr
OO

aWO LL

A X 0 LLAuo EaUh

-u

rfyeA^or

eo 1op

d IA?a e

no

. ? ,A.o,. -P.,

d.'Iu

V 1, 4 rt

Example 1, Coislin 220, fol. 262'

I therefore venture to suggest that the scribe copied the notation from a tenth or eleventh century Kontakarion,if not from one of the ninth century, which was at hand for use in Lent. Thus, by a fortunate chance, we know that the melismatic character of the Akathistos is not, as in so many other hymns, the work of late Byzantine musicians, the so-called "Maestores,"but an integral element of the style of the "Melodoi"who wrote Kontakia, and that this stylistic element can be traced back to the time from which we have the earliest documents of Byzantine notation. Taking into account the conservative character of Byzantine Chant, this takes us back to the days of the Iconoclastic controversy and confirms our view that the liturgical chant proper was of an originally melismatic character. There is, however, a manuscript, written in the late Middle Byzantine notation, in clearly legible script and notation on large sheets of parchment, which contains the Prooemium and all the twenty-four stanzas with their melodies; it is the famous Codex AshburnhamL 64 of the Laurentiana in Florence of which a Facsimile Edition and the transcription of the Akathistos will be published in the Monumenta Musicae Byzantinae. The MS.

160

EGON WELLESZ

dates fromthe secondhalf of the thirteenthcenturyand was written,as the on subscription fol. 44rshows,by the scribe Symeonat Grottaferrata. a the The manuscript, largerpart of which is a Kontakarion, collection of Kontakiafor all the feasts of the ecclesiasticalyear, is incomplete,from which is at the beginning,the firstfolios are missing.On fol. the Akathistos, 1 is the second stanza B'. But fortunatelythe ProoemiumT1j ;rrep,paXc
c-rparrjyw

and the first stanza "AyyEXo 1rpoTroo-rcadrcan be found as "Kon-

of and takion" "Oikos" the feast of the Annunciation (foll. 108r112v). Thus the Codex containsall the stanzaswith their melodies,apartfrom the two The and refrains"Hail,Brideunbrided" "Alleluia." omissionof the refrains were sung showsthat the bookwas intendedfor use by a Soloist;the refrains the use of the by the Choirand were thereforenot includedin a Codexfor "Singerof the Kontakia." In his subscription, Symeon the scribe imploresOur Saviourfor XvO(wV
a.L7rTXaK7lLarT(c), "forgiveness for his

faults." His faults as a scribe were indeed

many. Almost every stanza has mistakes,and it was not easy to decide work had to begin, since there was no other exactlywhere the corrector's It availablewith which the text of the musiccould be collated.38 manuscript did not help either,to discoverthat the Oikoiare all basedin generalon the samemelodicphrases,becauseeven in the case of identicalmelodicphrases, slight divergenciesoccur which cannot be neglected; as can be seen from the followingtable (Example2). These are the Initialphrasesof the firstgroupof stanzasfrom A'-Z'.At first glance one cannot see any differencesbetween them; only after close scrutinyof words and music does one discoverthe reasonfor the minute of introduction passingnotes. in divergencies rhythmand the occasional
3 After this study had gone to the printer I found, in the Library, during my visit to in Grottaferrata September 1955, the palimpsest MS. of an early thirteenth-centuryKontakarion, Codex CryptensisE. /3. VII, which contains on foll. 135-212 another complete copy of the Akathistoswith musical notation. The Codex, however, has suffered severely through the use of chemicals by scholarswho, in the second half of the nineteenth century, wanted to over decipher the underlying Latin text. Some pages look as if blue ink had been poured and the them, and the parchmenthas become so brittle that the Codex had to be taken apart, single sheets put into folders. By holding the sheets up before the light I was able to decipher most of the musical signs which otherwise were illegible. I wish again to express here my thanks to ProfessorOliver Strunk who drew my attention to this MS., and also to the Librarian,Dom MarcoPetta, who helped me to study the MS. Dom M. Petta provided me also with a microfilmof the Akathistosof which I now possess an enlargedpositive. The Akathistos in Cod. Crypt. E. ,f. VII shows a slightly less melismaticstructurethan that in Cod. Ashburnforthham, and some other importantdivergencies, which will be treated more fully in my edition in the Monumenta Musicae Byzantinae. Here I should like to mention only coming that the examinationof stanza A' of the Cod. Crypt. E. /3. VII version helped me to correct some of the mistakes which the scribe of Cod. Ashburn.had made. Further help came from contain the photographic copies of Codd. r.y. III and E. /f. III of Grottaferratawhich Prooemiumand the first stanza.

THE AKATHISTOS
A) - .. :2.
C
>.

161
IF

J
7ye - Xos
Ae-

I
-

2
....... ? ? VRVV
,.,....,

~ ~u~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ,F ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ F
,

&i
"A rpw - T 0ra -

I
T S . ? ..

2 BXM
C

7rov- a
A

.. ..

? ??

17

3
rFv
-atv

yvw- arov

yvw

X
4p
-V v . o -

jJ^-j
-i
r

cj.
I?
.. -

JL^J
vai .....

-"

_1. rI
Au 0 * ..

J~

*
TO

_
t/

I I

va - /.ts

>

I,

0.701)..... qTOU

"E

Xov- a .....*...x.

E - o

x -.?~~~ \h~~~~

Xov . V

-j,
Za

Iq

J^

^JJ
X/VP
Xtp'

-'

^J.

. x>-F0
Ozv 8o - ? ?

6 om

efL2J

'4'~I50EI

g rr;J-

-J vvvv

V/
xw -

Example2, Codex Ashburham. Florence, Laur. L 64

162

EGON WELLESZ

It is, however,in the Chairetismoi the musicianshowshis craftmanthat the ship at its best. He transfers melodicphrasesfromone place in a stanza to another; phraseswhich are long in one stanzain anotherare compressed; tensionis createdby the repetitionof a phrase.He workswith a subtletyunsurpassedeven in modernmusic.But all that only touchesthe surface;it is merelythe work of the musicianwho adaptedthe versionhanded down to us in Codex Ashburnham. Howeverbehind the richly ornamentedflow of the melodiesone findsa solidly constructed melodicschemewhich is proof of the musicalgenius of the composer. The melodiesfrom the HeirmThis statementneeds some explanation. are ologium and Sticherarium composedof a numberof formulaecharacThe is, terizingeach of the eight modes.39 formulatechniqueof composition fundamental the as I showed firstin my study on the SerbianOctoechos,40 the Near and MiddleEast, it can be tracedfrom in principleof composition basin. The task of the ByzanIndia to the countriesof the Mediterranean tine composers consistedin settingthe formulaeof a mode to the wordsand in linkingthe formulaetogetherby "bridge-passages." in in of The rich ornamentation the Kontakia Codex Ashburnham general and the Akathistosin particular,covers the same structural principle, which shows as can be seen from the table on the next page (Example3)
the variations of three Xaipe formulae.41

There are, further, the stereotyped half cadences (a-b-g-) and full cadences (g-b-g-)42 which occur at the end of each line. These cadences may not belong to the original pattern of melodic construction, but must have been introduced at a very early date. They so much resemble those in the ninth century Franconian Sequence Alleluia. Concelebramus, modthat the theory of the influence of elled on the Alleluia Levita Laurentius,43 Byzantine hymnody, particularly the Kontakion, upon the origin and form of the Sequence gains another strong argument. Before the transcriptionof the first stanza is given a few words must be said about its lay-out and the relation of words and music.
" I have given tables of formulaeof Heirmoi and Stichera in my book A History of Byz. Musicand Hymnogr.,pp. 320-9, and a table of the cadences and their embellishedformsin my VI Die Musikforschung, (1953) p. 203. article "Das Prooemiumdes Akathistos," 0Cf. E. Wellesz, "Die Struktur d. serbischen Oktoechos," Zeitschr. f. Musikwiss., II (1919-20) pp. 140-8. " The Roman figures indicate the number of the stanza, the Arabic figuresthe line. "2 The b is natural. 3Cf. Handschin, "tber Estampie und Sequenz II," Zeitschr. f. Musikwiss.,XIII (1930) 123 and E. Wellesz, "EasternElements in Western Chant,"Mon. Mus. Byz., Amer. Ser. I p. (1947) pp. 169-74.

.....

THE AKATHISTOS
Stanzas I, III, V, VII, IX,XI

163

A ^

n
8

.
c

XIII
A I

XV
A >

XaLZ I, III, etc. 9

Xaa

p6 Xa

..

pe

Fr
n

>?

:
B

r
(pe)

Xat I, III, V, VII, IX, XI 20 Xa

CI

......
Pe . . . . .

X a't

21

-H

r|
Xa't

'

f/ G I '

rr r , f 9 "T '
_-

' I

I |

rf
'

>

J
A

,
..

Pe.

C
XIX, XXI I, III, V, Vll

Xa ---

pe

XaZ

pe c

I, III, V, etc. 12 14 i ----I XaI I, III, VII, IX

16? 8S

i --

,Y XaZ

aU -L

..

r -

i 2 SF '
pe . . .

Florence, Laur. L 64 Example 3, Codex Ashburnham.

164

EGON WELLESZ

A Byzantine ecclesiastical hymn is composed, as already mentioned, in one of the eight modes, of which there are four authentic modes and four plagal modes.44The Akathistos is composed in the fourth plagal mode. The hymn is preceded by a long Intonation formula sung to veayLE. This word, the meaning of which is obscure, indicates the fourth plagal mode.45After almost every melodic phrase short Intonation-formulae occur, and often indications of modulations. These Intonation-formulae were sung by the singer of the Kontakion, probably in a subdued voice. They are printed in the transcription in a smaller type in order to distinguish them from the melodic phrases of the stanza.46 Byzantine musical notation indicates rhythmical and dynamic nuances with great accuracy; in that respect Byzantine neumatic notation is far superior to Plainsong notation. Glancing at the neumatic signs in the Kontakaria and, in particular, at the neums of the Akathistos, one is surprised at their abundance. There is hardly a note which is not marked by an agogic, dynamic or rhythmical sign, and in addition to these signs others are added which indicate the manner of singing a group of notes. follows the rules which the The transcription of 'AXXeyo 7Trpo)rocrrarrg editors of the Monumenta Musicae Byzantinae agreed upon in 1931; in some cases, however, for the sake of clarity, simplified signs have had to be introduced; for example a small horizontal stroke on top of a note (-) for sfz (sforzando), and c for cito or celeriter. The text of the Akathistos in Codex Ashburnham differs in many respects from that published by W. Christ, Pitra, de Meester and del Grande. It represents, as far as can be seen, a version which was the traditional one in Grottaferrataand probably in South Italy in general. This can be seen from the text of the hymn in the eleventh-century Codex Vindob. suppl. gr. 96 of South Italian provenience, which is identical with that in Codex Ashburnham. But the South Italian version can be traced further back. There exists, as P. v. Winterfeld 47 discovered in 1903, a Latin version of the Synaxar, the Prooemium and the beginning of the first stanza in a St. Gall MS., Codex C. 78 of the Zurich Library, dating from the ninth century. The title refers to S. Germanos as author of the hymn. Recently Dom M. Huglo of Solesmes found a complete
H. J. W. Tillyard, "Handbook of the Middle Byzantine Musical Notation," Mon. Mus. Byz., Subsidia I, 2, pp. 30 sqq. 4 Cf. O. Strunk, "Intonations and Signatures of the Byzantine Modes," The Musical Quarterly, 31 (1945) pp. 339-55. " The small type of the Intonation-formulae are the only editorial markings in the text and music of the stanza A'. I must refer the reader, for further information about the correction of mistakes, to the forthcoming edition of the Akathistos in Mon. Mus. Byz. Series: Transcripta. 7 P. v. Winterfeld, "Ein abendlindisches Zeugnis fiber den Ymnos Akathistos d. griech.
4 Cf.

Kirche,"Zeitschr.f. deutsches Altertumu. deutsche Litteratur,47 (1904) pp. 81-88.

THE AKATHISTOS

165

copy of the hymn, preceded by the Synaxar, in Codex Paris Bibl. Mazarine 693, dating from the beginning of the twelfth or the end of the eleventh century.48 The comparison of the ancient Latin version with that of Codex Ashburnham and the Vienna Cod. suppl. gr. 96 shows that the Latin monk must have translated from a text which had all the peculiarities of the South Italian version. The Latin version, therefore, provides conclusive evidence: was added before the end (1) that the Prooemium Tfi vlrep/adX o-rTparT7yc of the eighth century, and that the Photios hypothesis is untenable; (2) that the text of Codex Ashburnham must also have acquired all its divergent readings before the end of the century. The comparison of the text deriving from Byzantine monasteries and that used in Southern Italy shows the superiority of the Byzantine versions; but we have no authority to correct the text of Codex Ashburnham, since all its peculiarities and divergencies from the original text can be found in a Latin MS. which was written six hundred years earlier. We now give the text of the first stanza according to the South Italian version of Codex Ashburnham L 64 and its translation,49 followed by the of the music of the first stanza (folios 109r-112V)into modern transcription staff notation, and by a few remarkson the setting of the words to the music. For the analysis of the structure of the melodic phrases, for the discussion of the variants and the free treatment of them by the composer or singer, when he repeated the same melodic phrase in the following stanzas, we must again refer the reader to the forthcoming publication of the Akathistos
8 M. Huglo, "L'ancienne version latine de l'hymne acathiste," Museon, 64 (1951) 27-61. Dom Huglo in his masterly study gives all the divergencies of the Latin text from pp. the version published by Pitra. Following up a line of investigationfrom the opposite direction I have succeeded in finding the identity of the ancient Latin with the South Italian version. Dom Huglo is certainly right in assuming that the text of the Akathistosin the Paris Codex must derive from an eighth-centuryoriginal. The result of his critical examinationof the text needs no support on palaeographicalgrounds.There are no indicationsin the ductus that the scribe of Codex 693 was influenced by an early ninth- or late eighth-centuryMS. which he copied. I showed a photographof the Latin versionof the Akathistosin the Paris Codex to Professor E. A. Lowe who said that the round ligature of ti does not indicate the copying of the ductus of an eighth-centuryMS., but that the curved form of t regularlyoccurredwhere the syllable ti was pronouncedin Medieval Latin as ci, as in auditio, resurrectio,etc. 9 Cf. Wellesz, A Hist. of Byz. Mus., p. 165. The text printed in Pitra, Analecta Sacra

instead I, has line 10: davaKXAo-?L of avaorao-v, and line 23 /pc<ovpye-rat instead of 7rpoaKvvEdTat

o 7rAaa'rr/.-At the Symposium of 1954 Mr. Basil Papadakis sang the Prooemium TW
I T7rpuJX(w aUTrpaTn7y. decided, however, to present the first stanza in the Dumbarton Oaks

Papers, because its melodic structureserves as a model for all the stanzas of the hymn and, furthermore,contains the Chairetismoi.I have added in brackets ( ) the refrain from the Prooemiumwhere, I suppose, it was sung firstby the Soloist, and repeated by the Choir.

166

EGON WELLESZ

in volume IX of the Series Transcripta of the Monumenta Musicae Byzantinae.

"AyyeXos rTpcroTora'rrd
CIre'txQ8r] o,pavoev T?' OeOTO'KKO XaLpe. TO E7TEWT

Kal Orvv fqlacrw/x.tary bcwOv KvpLE, o'ILeaTov1JEvvOeE OECopWv,

e^icrraroKcalorraTo,
KpavydaoJv rrpob av'rrv rotavra Xa?pe, 81' '7 d ns Xaipe, 8t r'
Xa^ZpE, 'e
e

xapa ?K\(ifJ^? * Xapa E'KXeL/.tEL ,KXEIELt , paiN,

T7)r Ev'as 71 XVTpoxcY

10

XaLpe, roi rEo-vrov 'Adal r7 avacrrcarcr

XaZpe, rTav saKpvoiv

Xa^pe, vio09 SvcravaBa'Tov dvOp(o7rivot9XoyL,uo.oil 15 XaZpe, /3adOo SvcrOe'0pr7rov KalT ayyeXcov 6o^aXLot^ Xaipe, 0ot v'aPXEL'
/3aoLXE'(t KaOeSpa ? XaZpe, o'rL Baorra?ctEt

rov /3acTa't4ovTa ravTra 20 XaLpe, acr'r-p e'ia4tvwv

XaZpe, &s3 T3 vEovpyELTat
XaZpe, 81 7 7rpocrOvvelaiLL

rov rX'tov.
7) KTLOS
C

o XaLpe, yacr-rTp EvOeov crapcKwOreCs

o rTd,XarT7r's

Xa'pe,

advISbevre. vv'JLVrl

(An angel of the first rank was sent from heaven to say to the Virgin 'Hail', and seeing Thee, Lord, become corporeal at the incorporealvoice, he was amazed and stood still and cried out to her: 'Hail, thou through whom joy will shine forth. Hail, thou through whom the curse will be lifted. Hail, Resurrectionof the fallen Adam. Hail, Redemptionof the tears of Eve. Hail, Summitinaccessibleto human minds. Hail, Depth invisible even to angels' eyes. Hail, because thou art the seat of the King. Hail, because thou bearest the Bearer of all. Hail, Star who makest visible the Sun. Hail, Womb of the divine Incarnation.Hail, thou through whom the creation is regenerated.Hail, thou through whom the Creator is worshipped. Hail, unwedded bride.')

THE AKATHISTOS

167

_a

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_Music

OF AKATHISTOS

Example 4, Codex Ashbuham.

Florence, Laur. L 64

.....

Ku

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MUSIC OF AKATHISTOS

Example 4, Codex Ashburnham.Florence, Laur. L 64

168

EGON WELLESZ

.....

(6)

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. TO KCl

.a

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(9) XaT
Example 4, Codex Ashburnham. Florence,

THE AKATHISTOS
c

169

UTcL -

p. (

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r

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Example

'jS "E - uS
Florence,

cIr^

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rr

4, Codex Ashburnham.

Laur. L 64

17( )

EGON WELLESZ
A
-

-0

~ cc . _ CM a:i r ..A ' -- ! 1 r . lULL-tfm 1? I

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Example 4, Code Ashbuham. Florence, Laur. L 64 Pp.

-

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5" (15) Kal t" (15) X. .-A .o P .c

. . .. .. ..... .........

Example 4, Codex Ashburnham.Florence, Laur. L 64

THE AKATHISTOS
>C c, c

171

6aX uots ... .

..-....

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err i? cn^>C

p j> fltr^O'c.^ r

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t.
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chr

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ra ....'

UF J

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6" (20) Xa---.a pe ..... Example 4, Codex Ashburnham.Florence, Laur. L 64

172

EGON B ELLESZ
:.
-

I-

C
=

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E.td-al
A >JX >
o

Vy

rOV *...
> >

. .^=^_ ^> ' C I

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ov * *?r"(21)Xat

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.'. . . v - Oe

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ws ...

t L

(22) Xa

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......

r i c.r F 'l4 r
J

r
's . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

r KT.

cA

>

^" (23)

Xat

pe *

s 77

. . . . . . . . ..

V(K TprO-aKV P -

Tat

An> C2 n

^
cTrls:

n (Chorus)

7rXa

(24)

Xat

pe

. vv

je

vbur 4,

. F

. e, Laur L 6

Laur.L 64 Florence, 4, Example CodexAshburnham.

THE AKATHISTOS

173

fromthatin all other of The treatment the wordsin this stanzadiffers stanza In else stanzas. Nowhere is a wordora phrase repeated. thisopening of the the musician so overcome the greatness his subject, mystery was by that of the Incarnation, he repeatedthreetimesthe wordsdepictingthe
archangel'sawe when he stood before the Blessed Virgin: eio"raro Kat the o-'raro; thirdrepetitionembellishingthe phrasewith a long melismaon of of The o-r'aro. repetition the phrasereflectsthe ecstaticcharacter the

of and also music.It findsexpression in the repetition syllables in the inserwhich do not belongto the word.This is a tion of vowelsand syllables in of whichone findsfrequently the chanting Alleluias and,at a practice in chants general. laterdate,in melismatic of mustbe madebetweenthe simplerepetition the vowels A distinction of whichdo not belongto of a wordandthe insertion vowelsandsyllables but whichhaveno meaning, have of it. The insertion vowelsandsyllables custom the Orient.50 in a of the function prolonging wordis a widespread of whichis a featurecharacteristic the of The repetition vowels,however, of of melismatic style,givesan explanation the manner singing Byzantine the beginningof a stanza,and If the melismas. one takes,for example, downthe wordsas the scribeof the CodexAshburnham themto writes put the music,one sees thatnevermorethanthreenotesare sung to a vowel or a syllable:

'A

a a y'yE

o o o

rT s Trp ro

aa

Trl 7

the and of at Taking together insertion therepetition vowelsonearrives the that wereregarded musical conclusion the melismas as phrases, consisting of of of a number smallgroups noteswhichhad to be sungslowlyandexin but It pressively, notas "coloraturas"onebreath. wouldbe wrongto sing chantin the bel cantomanner. wouldbe equally It Byzantine liturgical musicin the New-Greek manner. we knowfrom As wrongto singByzantine Mesarites' treatiseon the Churchof the Apostlesat Constantinople, the in liturgical chantbeganin earlychildhood, thatone couldfind so training
0I firstdrew attentionto this practice in an article "Problemed. musikal. Orientforschung," Jahrb.d. Musikbibl.Peters 1917 (Leipzig, 1918) pp. 15-18. Here, two examplesof Manichaean hymns in Pehlvi, written in Estrangelo script are given, dating from the ninth century. They were found in Turfan,in CentralAsia. The insertedvowels and syllables are: d, i, ygd. Similar insertions have been noted in Hungarian and Roumanian folksongs by Bela Bart6k. The second example of a Manichaean hymn is reproduced in my chapter on "Early Christian Music"in the New OxfordHist. of Music, II, pp. 11-13.

174

EGON WELLESZ

"boyswith young men just emergedfrom boyhood singing a well-shaped song."51 Singingin the Easternchurchesin the hey-day of the Empirecannot have been very differentfromthat in the West; otherwiseCharlemagne would not have listenedwith so much delight to the singingof the Mattins by the chanterswho came with a Byzantinedelegationto Aix-la-Chapelle that he orderedhis clericsto translatethem without delay into Latin.52 But here we must end, because furtherpursuit of the questionwould Elementsin WesternChant" open more vistas into the subjectof "Eastern which I have startedto discussin my book of that name;above all into the on questionof the influenceof strophichymnslike the Akathistos the origin and developmentof the Sequence,that formof Westernchantwhich, in its music,comesnearestto the Kontakion. chant It took manyyearsfor those who becameinterestedin Gregorian the end of the last centuryto realizeits beauty. Today, Plainsong towards is recognizedas a greatart;it is musicwith which one lives. With Byzantine were in the field musicwe are now in the same positionas our forerunners must of Plainsonga centuryago; and, of all Byzantinechant,the Akathistos be regardedas the most elaborateand exquisiteproduct. Music of that kind cannotbe fully appreciatedunless we have become familiarwith it. It may at firstappearas somethingwhich merely awakens our interest.But we shall soon find that it exercisesa spell over us. We are compelledto penetratedeeper into it, and finallythe music revealsits full the splendourand greatness.We begin to understand monkswho adorned the servicewith an unendingchain of hymns.We begin to understandthe in essenceof Byzantinepiety, whose spiritis expressed these hymns;in their wordsand in theirmusic. Oxoniae,Die 25. Martii1955 B. In Annuntiatione MariaeV.
1Cf. A. Heisenberg, Grabeskircheund Apostelkirche (1908) pp. 20-1, and Wellesz, A Hist. of Byz. Mus., p. 54. 6 Monachi SangallensisDe gestis Karoli? 7. Mon. Germ. Hist., Scriptares,II, p. 751.