The kontakion (
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
, plural , ''kontakia'') is a form of
hymn
A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...
performed in the
Orthodox
Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to:
Religion
* Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...
and the
Eastern Catholic
The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also called the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous (''sui iuris'') particular churches of ...
liturgical traditions.
The kontakion originated in the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
around the 6th century and is closely associated with Saint
Romanos the Melodist
Romanos the Melodist (; late 5th-century — after 555) was a Byzantine hymnographer and composer, who is a central early figure in the history of Byzantine music. Called "the Pindar of rhythmic poetry", he flourished during the sixth century ...
(d. 556).
It is divided into strophes (''oikoi'', stanzas) and begins with a prologue (the ''prooimoion'' or ''koukoulion''). A kontakion usually has a biblical theme, and often features dialogue between biblical characters. The only kontakion that is regularly celebrated in full length today is the
Akathist to the Theotokos.
Etymology
The word ''kontakion'' derives from the Greek κόνταξ (''kontax''), which means "rod" or "stick" and refers specifically to the pole around which a
scroll
A scroll (from the Old French ''escroe'' or ''escroue''), also known as a roll, is a roll of papyrus, parchment, or paper containing writing.
Structure
A scroll is usually partitioned into pages, which are sometimes separate sheets of papyrus ...
is wound.
While the genre dates to at least the 6th century, the word itself is attested only in the 9th century.
The motivation for the name is likely "the way in which the words on a scroll unfurl as it is read".
A hymn book containing ''kontakia'' is called ''kontakarion'' () (loaned into Slavonic as ''kondakar'', cu, Кондакар).
The ''kontakarion'' is not just a collection of kontakia: within the tradition of the Cathedral Rite (like the rite practiced at the
Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia ( 'Holy Wisdom'; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque ( tr, Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi), is a mosque and major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The cathedral was originally built as a Greek Ortho ...
of
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
) it became the name of the book of the prechanter or
lampadarios
A lampadarius, plural ''Lampadarii'', from the Latin ''lampada'', from Ancient Greek "lampas" λαμπάς (candle), was a slave who carried torches before consuls, emperors and other officials of high dignity both during the later Roman Repub ...
, also known as ''psaltikon'', which contained all the soloistic parts of hymns sung during the morning service and the Divine Liturgy. Because the ''kontakia'' were usually sung by protopsaltes during the morning services, the first part for the morning service with its
prokeimena
In the liturgical practice of the Orthodox Church and Byzantine Rite, a prokeimenon (Greek , plural ; sometimes /; lit. 'that which precedes') is a psalm or canticle refrain sung responsorially at certain specified points of the Divine Liturgy or ...
and ''kontakia'' was the most voluminous part, so it was simply called ''kontakarion''.
History
Originally the kontakion was a Syriac form of poetry, which became popular in Constantinople under
Romanos the Melodist
Romanos the Melodist (; late 5th-century — after 555) was a Byzantine hymnographer and composer, who is a central early figure in the history of Byzantine music. Called "the Pindar of rhythmic poetry", he flourished during the sixth century ...
, Anastasios and Kyriakos during the 6th century and was continued by
Sergius I of Constantinople
Sergius I ( el, Σέργιος Α΄, ''Sergios I'' ; d. 9 December 638 in Constantinople) was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 610 to 638. He is most famous for promoting Monothelite Christianity, especially through the ''Ecthesi ...
and
Sophronius of Jerusalem
Sophronius ( grc-gre, Σωφρόνιος; ar, صفرونيوس; c. 560 – March 11, 638), called Sophronius the Sophist, was the Patriarch of Jerusalem from 634 until his death. He is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Ch ...
during the 7th century.
Romanos' works had been widely acknowledged as a crucial contribution to
Byzantine hymnography, in some kontakia he also supported Emperor Justinian by writing state propaganda.
Romanos' kontakion ''On the Nativity of Christ'' was also mentioned in his vita. Until the twelfth century, it was sung every year at the imperial banquet on that feast by the joint choirs of
Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia ( 'Holy Wisdom'; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque ( tr, Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi), is a mosque and major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The cathedral was originally built as a Greek Ortho ...
and of the
Church of the Holy Apostles
The Church of the Holy Apostles ( el, , ''Agioi Apostoloi''; tr, Havariyyun Kilisesi), also known as the ''Imperial Polyándreion'' (imperial cemetery), was a Byzantine Eastern Orthodox church in Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman E ...
in Constantinople. Most of the poem takes the form of a dialogue between the Mother of God and the Magi.
A kontakion is a poetic form frequently encountered in Byzantine hymnography. It was probably based on Syriac hymnographical traditions, which were transformed and developed in Greek-speaking Byzantium. It was a homiletic genre and could be best described as a "sermon in verse accompanied by music". In character it is similar to the early Byzantine festival sermons in prose — a genre developed by
Ephrem the Syrian — but meter and music have greatly heightened the drama and rhetorical beauty of the speaker's often profound and very rich meditation.
Medieval manuscripts preserved about 750 kontakia since the 9th century, about two thirds had been composed since the 10th century, but they were rather liturgical compositions with about two or six oikoi, each one concluded by a refrain identical to the introduction (prooimion). Longer compositions were the Slavic Akafist which were inspired by an acrostic kontakion whose 24 stanzas started with each letter of the alphabet (
Akathist
An Akathist Hymn ( el, Ἀκάθιστος Ὕμνος, "unseated hymn") is a type of hymn usually recited by Eastern Orthodox or Eastern Catholic Christians, dedicated to a saint, holy event, or one of the persons of the Holy Trinity. The ...
).
Within the cathedral rite developed a truncated which reduced the kontakion to one oikos or just to the prooimion, while the music was elaborated to a melismatic style. The classical repertoire consisted of 42 kontakia-idiomela, and 44 kontakia-prosomoia made about a limited number of model stanzas consisting of fourteen prooimia-idiomela and thirteen okoi-idiomela which could be combined independently.
This classical repertoire was dominated by classical composers of the 6th and 7th centuries.
Form
The form generally consists of 18 to 24 metrically identical stanzas called ' ("houses"), preceded, in a different meter, by a short prelude, called a ' (cowl) or '. The first letters of each of the stanzas form an
acrostic, which frequently includes the name of the poet. For example, Romanos' poems often include the acrostic "Of the Humble Romanos" or "The Poem of the Humble Romanos".
The last line of the prelude introduces a
refrain
A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in poetry — the "chorus" of a song. Poetic fixed forms that feature refrains include the vi ...
called "", which is repeated at the end of all the stanzas.
The main body of a kontakion was chanted from the
ambo by a cleric (often a
deacon
A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...
; otherwise a
reader
A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to:
Computing and technology
* Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader
* Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application
* A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...
) after the reading of the
Gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...
, while a
choir
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...
, or even the whole congregation, joined in the refrain. The length of many kontakia — indeed, the epic character of some — suggest that the majority of the text must have been delivered in a kind of
recitative
Recitative (, also known by its Italian name "''recitativo''" ()) is a style of delivery (much used in operas, oratorios, and cantatas) in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms and delivery of ordinary speech. Recitative does not repea ...
, but unfortunately, the original music which accompanied the kontakia has now been lost.
The liturgical place of the kontakion
Within the cathedral rite, the ritual context of the long kontakion was the ''pannychis'' during solemn occasions (a festive night vigil) and was usually celebrated at the
Blachernae Chapel. Assumptions that kontakia replaced canon poetry or vice versa that the Stoudites replaced the kontakia with Hagiopolitan canon poetry, always remained controversial. The Patriarch
Germanus I of Constantinople
Germanus I (c. 634 – 733 or 740) was the Patriarch of Constantinople from 715 to 730. He is regarded as a saint, by both the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches, with a feast day of 12 May. He had been ecumenically preceded by Patriarch Jo ...
established an own local school earlier (even if it is no longer present in the modern books), while the Stoudites embraced the genre kontakion with own new compositions. The only explanation is that different customs must have existed simultaneously, the truncated and the long kontakion, but also the ritual context of both customs.
The truncated form consisted only of the first stanza called "koukoulion" (now referred to as "the kontakion") and the first oikos, while the other oikoi became omitted. Within the
Orthros
''Orthros'' ( Greek: , meaning "early dawn" or "daybreak") or ''Oútrenya'' ( Slavonic Оўтреня), in the Byzantine Rite of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches, is the last of the four night offices (church service ...
for the kontakion and oikos is after the sixth ode of the canon; however, if the
typikon
A typikon (or ''typicon'', ''typica''; gr, , "that of the prescribed form"; Church Slavonic, Slavonic: Тvпико́нъ ''Typikonə'' or Оуставъ, ''ustavə'') is a liturgical book which contains instructions about the order of the By ...
for the day calls for more than one kontakion at matins, the kontakion and oikos of the more significant feast is sung after the sixth ode, while those of the less significant feast are transferred to the place following the third ode, before the
kathismata
A kathisma (Greek: κάθισμα; Slavonic: каѳисма, ''kai-isma''), literally, "seat", is a division of the Psalter, used in the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Rite Catholic churches. The word may also describe a hymn sung at Matins, a s ...
.
Since the late 13th century, when the Court and the Patriarchate returned from exile in Nikaia, the former cathedral rite was not continued and thus, also the former celebration of kontakion changed. The only entire kontakion celebrated was the
Akathist hymn
An Akathist Hymn ( el, Ἀκάθιστος Ὕμνος, "unseated hymn") is a type of hymn usually recited by Eastern Orthodox or Eastern Catholic Christians, dedicated to a saint, holy event, or one of the persons of the Holy Trinity. The ...
. Its original place was within the
menaion
The Menaion ( el, Μηναῖον; Slavonic: Минїѧ, ''Miniya'', "of the month") is the liturgical book used by the Eastern Orthodox Churchand those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite containing the propers for fixed ...
the feast of Annunciation (25 March). In later kontakaria and oikemataria which treated all 24 oikoi in a kalophonic way, the Akathist was written as part of the
triodion
The Triodion ( el, Τριῴδιον, ; cu, Постнаѧ Трїωдь, ; ro, Triodul, sq, Triod/Triodi), also called the Lenten Triodion (, ), is a liturgical book used by the Eastern Orthodox Church. The book contains the propers for t ...
, within the oikematarion the complete kontakion filled half the volume of the whole book. As such it could only be performed in short sections throughout
Great Lent and became a kind of para-liturgical genre. In the modern practice it is reduced to heirmologic melos which allowed the celebration of the whole Akathist on the morning service of the fourth Sunday of Great Lent. This Akathist was traditionally ascribed to
Romanos, but recent scholarship has disapproved it. In Slavic hymnography the so-called Akafist became a genre of its own which was dedicated to various saints; while not part of any prescribed service, these may be prayed as a devotional hymn at any time.
The current practice treats the kontakion as a proper troparion, based on the text of the prooimion, dedicated to a particular feast of the menaion or the moveable cycle.
Prooimia of 4 classical kontakia
The examples chosen here are only the introduction () and they belong to the old core repertoire of 86 kontakia which had been all known as part of the cathedral rite. Thus, they can be found with notation in the kontakarion-psaltikon.
[See the edition by Constantin Floros (]2015
File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
).
According to the melodic system of the cathedral rite, certain
kontakia-idiomela served as melodic models which had been used to compose other kontakia. The kontakion for Easter for instance was used to compose an Old Church Slavonic kondak in honour of the local saints
Boris and Gleb
Boris and Gleb ( orv, Борисъ и Глѣбъ, ''Borisŭ i Glěbŭ''; russian: Борис и Глеб, ''Boris i Gleb''; ua, Борис і Гліб, ''Borys i Hlib''), Christian names Roman and David, respectively ( orv, Романъ, Да ...
, two martyre princes of the
Kievan Rus
Kievan Rusʹ, also known as Kyivan Rusʹ ( orv, , Rusĭ, or , , ; Old Norse: ''Garðaríki''), was a state in Eastern Europe, Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Hist ...
. The concluding verse called "" () was repeated like a refrain after each oikos and its melody was used in all kontakia composed in the .
Kontakion of Pascha (Easter)
The Slavic kondakar has the old gestic notation which referred (in the first row) to the hand signs used by the choirleaders to coordinate the singers. Except for the ephymnion the whole prooimion and the oikoi were recited by a soloist called "monophonaris" (the hand sign were not so important than during the ephymnion). The Middle Byzantine notation used in the Greek kontakarion-psaltikon rather showed the melismatic melos behind these signs.
Though Thou didst descend into the grave
A grave is a location where a dead body (typically that of a human, although sometimes that of an animal) is buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as grave ...
, O Immortal One,
yet didst Thou destroy the power of Hades
Hades (; grc-gre, ᾍδης, Háidēs; ), in the ancient Greek religion and myth, is the god of the dead and the king of the underworld, with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea, although this also ...
,
and didst arise as victory, O Christ God,
calling to the myrrh-bearing women:
Rejoice! and giving peace unto Thine apostles,
''Thou Who dost grant resurrection to the fallen.''[Translation according to the ]Prayer Book
A prayer book is a book containing prayers and perhaps devotional readings, for private or communal use, or in some cases, outlining the liturgy of religious services. Books containing mainly orders of religious services, or readings for them are ...
published by Holy Trinity Monastery (Jordanville, New York)
Holy Trinity Monastery (russian: Свя́то-Тро́ицкий монасты́рь, ') is a male stavropegial monastery of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR), located near Jordanville, New York. Founded in 1930 by two Russi ...
.
Another example composed in the same echos is the
Akathist hymn
An Akathist Hymn ( el, Ἀκάθιστος Ὕμνος, "unseated hymn") is a type of hymn usually recited by Eastern Orthodox or Eastern Catholic Christians, dedicated to a saint, holy event, or one of the persons of the Holy Trinity. The ...
, originally provided for the feast of Annunciation (nine months before Nativity).
Kontakion of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos (25 March)
To thee, the Champion Leader,
we thy servants dedicate a feast of victory
and of thanksgiving as ones rescued out of sufferings, O Theotokos;
but as thou art one with might which is invincible,
from all dangers that can be do thou deliver us, that we may cry to thee:
''Rejoice, thou Bride Unwedded.''
Kontakion of the Transfiguration of the Lord (6 August)
This kontakion-idiomelon by Romanos the Melodist was composed in echos varys (the grave mode) and the prooimion was chosen as model for the prosomoion of the resurrection kontakion Ἐκ τῶν τοῦ ᾍδου πυλῶν in the same echos.
On the mount Thou was (sic) transfigured,
and Thy disciples, as much as they could bear,
beheld Thy glory, O Christ God;
so that when they should see Thee crucified,
they would know Thy passion to be willing,
and would preach to the world
''that Thou, in truth, art the Effulgence of the Father.''
Kontakion of the Sunday of the Prodigal Son (9th week before Easter, 2nd week of the triodion)
The last example is not a model, but a kontakion-prosomoion which had been composed over the melody of Romanos the Melodist's Nativity kontakion in echos tritos.
Having foolishly abandoned Thy paternal glory,
I squandered on vices the wealth which Thou gavest me.
Wherefore, I cry unto Thee with the voice of the Prodigal:
I have sinned before Thee, O compassionate Father.
''Receive me as one repentant, and make me as one of Thy hired servants.''
Kontakion of the Departed
Perhaps the kontakion which is best known in the west is the Kontakion of the Departed or the Kontakion of the Dead. The text is attributed to the "humble Anastasios", probably a Byzantine monk writing in the 6th or 7th century, although the exact date is a matter of debate. It was translated into English from Russian by
William John Birkbeck
William is a male given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norm ...
, an English theologian and musicologist who studied Russian church music in Moscow in 1890. The traditional tune, known in English as the
Kiev
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
Melody, was edited by Birkbeck's close friend, Sir
Walter Parratt
Sir Walter Parratt (10 February 184127 March 1924) was an English organist and composer.
Biography
Born in Huddersfield, son of a parish organist, Parratt began to play the pipe organ from an early age, and held posts as an organist while sti ...
, the organist of
St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle
St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in England is a castle chapel built in the late-medieval Perpendicular Gothic style. It is both a Royal Peculiar (a church under the direct jurisdiction of the monarch) and the Chapel of the Order of the Gar ...
.
[Skinner 2008, p. 194]
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
may have heard this kontakion in Russian at a memorial service in London for the death of
Tsar Alexander III
Alexander III ( rus, Алекса́ндр III Алекса́ндрович, r=Aleksandr III Aleksandrovich; 10 March 18451 November 1894) was Emperor of Russia, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland from 13 March 1881 until his death in 18 ...
in 1894, where she noted that "a fine Russian hymn, always sung at funerals throughout the Greek Church, was sung without accompaniment, & was very impressive". She certainly heard Birkbeck's translation when it was sung at the funeral of
Prince Henry of Battenberg
Prince Henry of Battenberg (Henry Maurice; 5 October 1858 – 20 January 1896) was a morganatic descendant of the Grand Ducal House of Hesse. He became a member of the British royal family by marriage to Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdo ...
in 1896. During the planning of
Victoria's state funeral, her daughters asked that the kontakion be included in the service as it was a favourite of their mother's, a suggestion which was blocked by Bishop
Randall Davidson with the support of King
Edward VII
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910.
The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria an ...
, on the grounds that the text was not in keeping with
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
teaching on prayers for the dead. Nevertheless, it was sung at the funeral of
Queen Alexandra
Alexandra of Denmark (Alexandra Caroline Marie Charlotte Louise Julia; 1 December 1844 – 20 November 1925) was List of British royal consorts, Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 22 January 1901 t ...
at
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
in 1925.
The Kontakion of the Departed with Parratt's arrangement was included in the first edition of ''
The English Hymnal
''The English Hymnal'' is a hymn book which was published in 1906 for the Church of England by Oxford University Press. It was edited by the clergyman and writer Percy Dearmer and the composer and music historian Ralph Vaughan Williams, and wa ...
'' in 1906,
and has since appeared in several other Anglican hymn books, including ''
Hymns Ancient and Modern
''Hymns Ancient and Modern'' is a hymnal in common use within the Church of England, a result of the efforts of the Oxford Movement. The hymnal was first published in 1861. The organization publishing it has now been formed into a charitabl ...
'' and ''
The Hymnal'' in the United States.
It has been sung at the
state and ceremonial funerals of
Sir Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1 ...
,
Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from E ...
, and Queen
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
.
In 1971, British composer
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...
used the Kiev Melody as one of four themes in his
Cello Suite No. 3, which he wrote as a present for Russian cellist
Mstislav Rostropovich. The American
hymnologist
Hymnology (from Greek ὕμνος ''hymnos'', "song of praise" and -λογία ''-logia'', "study of") is the scholarly study of religious song, or the hymn, in its many aspects, with particular focus on choral and congregational song. It may be m ...
,
Carl P. Daw Jr., wrote a paraphrase of this kontakion in 1982, ''Christ the victorious, give to your servants'', intended for congregational singing and set to the tune ''
Russian Hymn'' by
Alexei Lvov
Alexei Fyodorovich Lvov (Russian: ''Алексей Фёдорович Львов'') ( – ) was a Russian composer. He is known for his work — the composition of the Imperial Russian National Anthem ''Bozhe, tsarya khrani'' (also known as ...
.
Μετὰ τῶν ἁγίων ἀνάπαυσον, Χριστέ,
τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν δούλων σου ἔνθα οὐκ ἔστι πόνος, οὐ λύπη,
οὐ στεναγμός, ἀλλὰ ζωὴ ἀτελεύτητος: ἀλληλούϊα.
Со святыми упокой, Христе,
души раб Твоих, идеже несть болезнь, ни печаль,
ни воздыхание, но жизнь безконечная.
Сам Един еси Безсмертный, сотворивый и создавый человека:
земнии убо от земли создахомся, и в землю туюжде пойдем,
якоже повелел еси, Создавый мя и рекий ми:
яко земля еси и в землю отыдеши,
аможе вси человецы пойдем, надгробное рыдание творяще песнь:
Аллилуиа, Аллилуиа, Аллилуиа.
Give rest, O Christ,
to thy servant with thy saints,
where sorrow and pain are no more;
neither sighing, but life everlasting.
Thou only art immortal, the Creator and Maker of man;
and we are mortal, formed of the earth, and unto earth shall we return;
for so thou didst ordain when thou createdst me, saying:
'Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.'
All we go down to the dust, and, weeping o'er the grave we make our song:
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
See also
*
Akathist
An Akathist Hymn ( el, Ἀκάθιστος Ὕμνος, "unseated hymn") is a type of hymn usually recited by Eastern Orthodox or Eastern Catholic Christians, dedicated to a saint, holy event, or one of the persons of the Holy Trinity. The ...
*
Troparion
A troparion (Greek , plural: , ; Georgian: , ; Church Slavonic: , ) in Byzantine music and in the religious music of Eastern Orthodox Christianity is a short hymn of one stanza, or organised in more complex forms as series of stanzas.
The wi ...
*
Condaghe
A ''condaghe'' (also spelled as ''condache'' or ''condake'', ; also ''fundaghe''), from the medieval Sardinian term (from grc-x-byzant, κοντάκιον, kontákion, the pole around which a scroll is wound), was a kind of administrative docum ...
Notes
References
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External links
Kontakion on the Nativity of Christ
{{Byzantine music
Byzantine music
Genres of Byzantine music
Eastern Christian hymns
Eastern Orthodox liturgical music
Liturgy of the Hours
Christian prayer