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Holy Catechism
Nikolaos Voulgaris, tr. Daniel, 1893
Concerning the Daily Service
1. Ex. And what is this preparation which the priests undergo, that they may be worthy celebrants and ministers, as you say, of the divine and holy Mysteries?
C. First of all the priest must confess frequently. Secondly, he must read all his office. Thirdly, he must have ready the sacred vessels that he has need of. Fourthly, he must keep his mind orthodox and faithful.
2. Ex. And supposing the priest do not confess as he ought, and appears in the actual ordinance of the Holy Liturgy, does he celebrate a Mystery or no?
C. Certainly, he celebrates a Mystery since he has, as we said, the seal of the Mystery of the Priesthood, and the stamp indelibly, and the Mysteries entirely take place through the grace of the All-holy Spirit, and the Blood of endless power which was shed from Christ’s side, that is through the supernatural power which Christ gave of the Mysteries being effected every day unto the end of the age. And this all the theologians in common assert, saying that the Mysteries do not proceed as from the agent, or as from the priest who celebrates them, but as from that which is performed, namely, as from the Mystery celebrated.
Nevertheless, if the priest celebrate without confession and with mortal sin, he adds sin to sin, and is punished eternally; since, as we saw in the beginning, if “he who eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment unto himself,” as the Apostle says; how much rather, says Symeon the Thessalonian, he who celebrates unworthily?
3. Ex. Besides confession, what else ought the priest to do before he begin the divine Initiation?
C. We said that he ought also to read all his service, although all priests, from the time that they receive the stamp of divine Ordination, whether they celebrate or do not, promise and are bound to read each day the whole of the service to the end of their life, and if they neglect it, fall into deadly sin.
4. Ex. What is this Service?
C. Vespers, After Supper [Compline], Midnight Office, Mattins, Prime, Terce, Sext, and None,—altogether seven times a day. “Pay your vows,” writes S. Clement in the 8th book of the Apostolical Constitutions, c. 34, “in the morning, and at the third hour, and at the sixth and ninth, and in the evening, and at cock-crowing,” which last is midnight. With the morning he includes also Prime.
5. Ex. And why is the priest obliged to pray seven times a day?
C. The priests represent those living creatures of the Revelation, which S. John saw in the 4th chapter, and without ever stopping, they cried continually, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Omnipotent. Howbeit because of the weakness of human nature the Church has received agreeably with the Prophet that saying, “Seven times a day have I praised Thee for the judgments of Thy righteousness;” so she decreed for the great God to be praised seven times a day by those in holy orders.
6. Ex. And why at such hours and not at others has the Church arranged the priests’ service?
C. All day long, and every hour God must be praised. “For if we offer to Thee, O holy King, songs equalling the sand in number, we pay nothing worthy of what Thou hast given us.” Nevertheless the Church has reasonably arranged the service at these particular hours; forasmuch as the Midnight Office signifies that night in which with lanterns and torches and weapons the Jews seized the Master Christ.
Mattins signifies that dawn, in which He was insulted and so mocked.
At the first hour of the day they delivered Him to the Gentiles.
Between the third and sixth, sentence was given for His death by the Cross, and He was crucified.
At the ninth hour He gave up the ghost.
Towards the hour of Vespers they took Him down from the Cross.
But at even, when the hour for After Supper is, they prepared Him for burial.
Others adduce likewise other reasons; the line of reasons however which we have mentioned appears most Christian, and to be suitable.1
The Psalms which are recited at every service, differ according to the season, and so also the subject of prayer.
The lections of Holy Scripture are most ancient, and these we have in Dionysius’s work on the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy.
The Synaxaries2 themselves too are ancient.
The Troparia and the Canons the Church has received from later saints and other wise men, who have rendered sacred Hymnody so glorious.
7. Ex. And can you mention them all by name?
C. Certainly; so far as I have been able to inquire, they are as follows,3—
The Patriarch Anatolius.
Athanasius.
Andrew of the fire.
Andrew of Crete.
Anthimus.
The Monk Arsenius.
The Monk Basil.
Basil Pegoriotes.
Byzantius.
Gabriel.
Germanus Patriarch.
George of Nicomedia.
George of Sicily.
George of Skylitza.
David.4
Demetrius.
The Monk Dorotheus.
Emmanuel Palæologus.
The Monk Euthymius.
Ephraim of Caria.
Zonaras.
The Emperor Theophilus.
Theophanes.
Theodore the Studite.
Theodore Syceotes.5
John of Damascus.
John the Euchaite.6
Archbishop John.
John Stauracius.
Ignatius.
The Monk Hierotheus.
Justin Decadion.
Joseph the Studite.
Cassiana.
Cosmas.
Clement.
The Monk Cyprian.
Constantine Porphyrogennetus.
The Emperor Leo.
Leo the Teacher.7
Leo the Peganian.
Mauroleo.
The Monk Mark.
The Patriarch Methodius.
Methodius of Patara.8
Metrophanes.
Michael the Stammerer.
Nicetas of Heraclea.
Nicolaus.
Xanthopulus.
Paul Ammonius.
Procopius, Keeper of the Archives.
Romanus.
Sergius Hagiopolites.
Stephen Hagiopolites.
Stephen Sabbaïtes.
Symeon, the Chancellor.
Symeon Thaumastoreites.
Sophronius of Jerusalem.
Timocles.
The Patriarch Philotheus.
Philip.
The Patriarch Photius.
The Monk Photius.
Christopher the Chief Secretary.
Here we see, and every Christian rejoices in the fact, that even those most august Emperors, moved with divine zeal, composed hymns and canons to the glory of God and the Saints. Tradition particularly says that as Singers of Troparia, our pious Emperors used moreover to sing in the Temple of God, like any other psalm-singers of sacred harmony. And Cedrenus, in the Synopsis of his Histories, writes about the Emperor Theophilus, “He studied also to be a singer: whence likewise when he was composing certain hymns and modulating Stichera, he was urged to sing them. Among these, having transposed the part of the fourth voice to the octave in ‘Hear, O maiden,’ and having supplied another melody, he determined to sing it audibly in the church of God.9 An account too is given how out of love for music, he would join splendid congregations in the Great Church, and did not refuse to conduct the singers; and the Sticheron for Palm Sunday, ‘Come forth, ye nations, come forth, ye peoples,’ they say is the product of his soul.” How great piety a heretic like Theophilus had towards God! Any one could judge from this the absurdity which passes current in our day.
8. Ex. I would desire you to tell us about the Troparia and the Canons, whence they have been thus named? and why the odes are only nine? why the second is omitted? What is the Dismissal? What the Session (Cathisma)? What the Contacion? What the House? What the Despatch (Exapostellarion)? What are the Praises? What is the Hearkening (Hypacoë)? And what the Hirmus?
C. Of Troparia we have various etymologies. Some will have them so called from Tropos, character, as declaring the character and the virtues of the Saints. Others from Tropæum, a trophy, since they sing in these the contests and the victories of God and the Saints. Others from trepo, I turn, since according to the variation of the Troparia, the singers give their voices a different turn. Others from trepomai, I turn about, because during the singing of the Troparia, the ruler of the Canon turns himself this way and that, from one part of the choir namely to another. Others because it is turned towards the Hirmus, and beckons to it, and has this as it were for its exemplification and completion.
The Canon is so named, because it holds the metre defined and outlined, being completed in nine Odes. The etymology is given by Zonaras in the Commentary he wrote on the Ecclesiastical Hymns, who further explains that “the Odes are nine, since they are patterns of the heavenly Hierarchy and hymnody. And from another consideration, there are nine Odes from their being symbolically typical of the Holy Trinity, and being composed in honour thereof; for if you mentioned the Three thrice, you would make the number nine; for this number as containing a triple Trinity, and composed thereof they appointed for the hymn itself of the Holy Trinity.” “But the second ode is omitted, because it is not a hymn to God, but a testimony to the Jews, and a threat and protest against their wickedness, and a foretelling of the evils which should overtake them. It is called an Ode however, as a prophecy of the evils to be brought upon the Israelites because of their wickedness and ill doing, and a declaration of the excessive miseries which make a tragedy.” For this cause the second ode is sung in order only in the Holy and Great Quadragesima for the threatening and correction of sinners.
The Dismissal is so called as being sung at the hour when the dismissal of the people draws near, as the Session is so called since at the time when it is sung all sit down for a brief refreshment.
The Contacion is so called according to the explanation of Nicephorus Xanthopulus upon the question being put to him, Whence are the Despatches so named? whence the House? the Hearkening, and the rest? “Because thus in brief it contains the whole story of the Festival or Saint, whether it be a life, or a martyrdom, or any other eulogy.” And more simply George Coresius says, “The Contacion got its name since in few and short (κόντα) words it contains the praises of God and the Saints.” Particularly we have it on the authority of the same Nicephorus that the first Contacion which was made in the Church is, “To-day the Virgin,” and the first inventor of the Contacion was S. Romanus.10
Of the House he offers us at the same question two explanations. The first explanation is that “as a house contains just the belongings of its owner, so also the House contains in brief and exhibits the account of the Saint and the Festival.” A second explanation is this: “Others allege the reason of the name is because of the homes amid the stars; for those are called houses round the stars in which they are fixed or abide, or go round and move, and this the Saints do in heaven. But forasmuch as the Church of God is a spiritual firmament, and the Saints are reckoned for stars, it is needful for them, like the others, suitably to the figure to have houses likewise, by means of which they have a fixed place, and are seen to be in motion in it.”11
“The Despatches,” he writes, “were first increased and enlarged by Leo the Wise; and they were so called and were arranged in the places they now occupy, because before they were invented, just after the Canon was finished, the day now dawning, what are called Photagogica (light-bringers) used to be sung: these run thus, ‘Send forth, O Lord, Thy light, &c.’ So discontinuing the saying of the latter, they substituted these; and that this might be known, they named them by the old title,” that is to say because of “Send forth,” &c. Others are of opinion that the Despatches were so named because after the Resurrection Christ sent forth the women with ointment to the Apostles, and these in turn He despatched to the Gentiles. Such is the interpretation of the same Xanthopulus, who writes also concerning the Hearkening that the name gets its significance “in place of the disobedience of Adam and our first mother because of the Ointment-bringing Marys or rather the Mother of God having arrived at the tomb of Christ. For as she by disobeying the command to Adam, drove us too out of Paradise, so after seeing Christ and hearkening to Him, that is the new Adam, in the garden, they (or rather the Mother of God) both now as well as before, have received their joy which countervailed the curse, and filled up what was lacking to Eve by reason of the disobedience. Or else because of the obedience of the new Adam, which even drew the first Adam likewise to his original state.”12
The Praises are so called because then are sung with the Troparia the verses of Psalms cxlviii. and cl., which begin with the words “Praise ye.”
The Hirmus is described by Zonaras in the Commentary on the Hymns of the Church “as giving a connexion of song and harmonies to the Troparia which succeed: for they too are suited to the melody of the Hirmi, and by reference to the Hirmus they are adapted and sung and follow the harmony of its music.”
We have moreover the Morning Hymns, the Megalynaria, the great Doxology, the Supplication, the Compassionate, and the Bread-breaking, which are clear. About the Megalynaria, I only point out that they are sung at the ninth hour; because as this is the end and conclusion of the Canons, so Christ is the fulfilment of the Law and the Prophets, Who at this hour, like His Mother the Virgin, is by the Megalynaria glorified and magnified.
Notes
- In the Apostolical Constitutions, in the place above quoted, the following reasons are adduced. “At morning time, because we give thanks that the Lord hath sent us light, making the night to pass, and bringing day upon us; at the third hour, because then the Lord received His sentence under Pilate; at the sixth, because then He was crucified; at the ninth, because the world shook, when the Master was crucified, trembling at the boldness of the impious Jews, not enduring the insult offered to the Lord; at evening, because we give thanks that He hath given us rest from daily toils during the night: at cockcrow, because the hour brings the glad message of the coming of day for working the deeds of the light.” And these are the true reasons, saving that the Prayer of the Third Hour is offered also because of the descent of the Holy Ghost on the Apostles at the third hour of the day, as appears from the Psalms, Prayers, and Troparia for this hour. Concerning these and others in the rest of the Service, see Symeon of Thessalonica, and the Interpretation of the Church’s Service by S. Mark of Ephesus, published with Symeon; and further, The Holy Ritual turned into Greek by our Eugenius.
- [These are lections in the Daily Offices from the Lives of the Saints.—Ed.]
- A fuller catalogue of the holy singers is given by Fabricius, (Bibl. Gr. t. k. p.,) who however, as the wise Œconomus points out, (On the Seventy, Vol. iv. p. 763, note,) makes some odd distinctions, quoting separately Joseph the Studite and Joseph the Thessalonian, and again the Monk Mark, the poet of the first four hymns of the Canon of the Great Sabbath, and Mark of Idrus. One of those omitted by Bulgaris is Joseph named by way of eminence the Hymn-writer,* who composed the greater part of the Canons in the Menæa and the Paracletic,† (although Fabricius appears to attribute those of the Paracletic to a different Joseph,) and the universally known Canon of the Unseated.‡ And we must note that we read in the Treatise of Allatius, “Concerning the Ecclesiastical Books” of the Greeks, (from Fabricius, Vol. v.,) the same names which are given by Bulgaris, with the same titles, except a few insignificant differences, with the same forgetfulness as regards the name of John of the Euchaites, (see the following note,) and with the same omission of the Hymn-writer; only that in Allatius five other singers besides are mentioned, (one of them the Emperor Theodorus Lascaris§ is erroneously read Theodosius.) For this reason, and because Bulgaris clearly translated his catalogue from the Latin, (vid. note i. p. 31,) I suppose that our author took the names here from the above-named treatise of Allatius, setting them in alphabetical order, and omitting the five perhaps through inadvertence.
* [Joseph the Hymn-writer, c. A.D. 838. Commemorated April 4.—Ed.]
† [An Office book containing the Troparia of the Ferial Office.—Ed.]
‡ [The Acathist is a Troparion and Contacion to the Virgin, sung on the Eve of the Fifth Sunday in Lent, during which it is customary for all to stand in remembrance of the deliverance of Constantinople from the barbarians at the intercession of the Blessed Virgin.—Ed.]
§ [Theodorus Lascaris, Emperor, 1206—1222.—Ed.] - This David is missing from the catalogue in Fabricius. He made the Canon to S. George the Great Martyr, sung on April 23, beginning, “I David celebrate thee George with longing, for it is right.”
- In Fabricius wrongly written Theodosius. The Church commemorates this Saint Theodore on April 22.
- So also in Allatius, John Euchaita. Correctly, John of the Euchaites, i.e., Metropolitan surnamed Mauropous [Blackfoot—Ed.] To him belongs the Service of the three Hierarchs,* and the Canon in the Horologium to the Guardian Angel; and as I suppose also the Canon in the Euchology to the Most Holy Mother of God in expectation of war.
* [Jan. 30. Basil the Great, Gregory Theologus and John Chrysostom.—Ed.] - Correctly Maïstor, for so the first of orators was called. Vid. Ducange s. Rhetor. From this I conclude that Bulgaris turned the names above from Latin into Greek, and mistaking the word Magister, rendered it καθηγητὴς, Teacher.
- Wanting in Fabricius. Nor indeed do I find any holy songs referred to in the compositions of this holy martyr.
- From this passage some have supposed that Theophilus composed “Hear, O maiden.” But Cedrenus does not assert this, but that Theophilus gave it a fresh accompaniment. “Hear, O maiden,” which is the Hirmus of the 8th Ode of the Canon of the Glad Tidings, [Feast of the Annunciation,] is the work of S. John of Damascus.
- The above-mentioned Nicephorus narrates that Saint Romanus being found at the Christmas Vigil near the ambo, fell into a brief sleep whilst the 6th ode was singing, and in a dream he saw the Mother of God giving him a roll or book, and telling him to swallow it. And when he had swallowed it, he woke up and mounted the ambo, (S. Romanus was a deacon,) and began singing, “To-day the Virgin bears the Supreme,” &c. (See also Synax. Oct. 1.) Since moreover a roll is also called contacion from contos (contarion), a pole, staff, round which the parchment was rolled, for this reason “To-day the Virgin,” and any other songs made in imitation of it for the other feasts and memorials of the Saints were called Contacia. This is also the explanation of S. Mark of Ephesus.
- The same Mark of Ephesus says that the Houses were so named because S. Romanus, who is the inventor of the Houses, used to sing them in those holy houses where he was accustomed to keep vigil.
- The holy Ritual explains the word differently: “The Hearkening signifies listening with more earnest attention: and the troparion is so called, as inserted for the purpose of stirring up the bystanders to listen without distraction to the reading which is to follow next after the Antiphons.”