Canon to St. George the Victorious (Bishop of Argyroupolis, Seraphim of Byzantium)

  

Ode I.

Irmos.  After crossing the sea as if it were dry ground and escaping the wickedness of Egypt, the Israelite cried out:  Let us sing to our redeemer and God.

Blessed George, having contended for victory in your divine struggle, you were deemed worthy to attain to heavenly joy, interceding for your servants before the Lord.

You conquered the tyrannical decree by your inspired struggles, but I ask, O spiritual champion, by your intercessions to pity me, for I am always brought low by diseases.

As a temple of the Creator of all, by your prayers, blessed George, show those who reverently approach your icon to be habitations of the Spirit.

You are, pure Virgin, the strength and hope of my miserable soul.  You are the unsetting light of my darkened heart, wholly pure one.

 

Ode III.

Irmos.  You covered the vault of the sky with a roof, O Lord, and built the church; confirm me in your love, O summit of desires, support of the faithful and only compassionate Lord.

Great-martyr of the Lord, defend us now–whether we are sleeping at home or walking on the road–guiding into pastures established by God those who always flee to your divine protection.

Fellow of the martyrs, companion of angels, and peaceful harbor of all afflicted souls:  deem us now worthy of joy who hymn you with affection, victorious and admirable saint.

By your fervent intercessions deliver from all kinds of diseases and afflictions of the soul, O martyr of the Lord, those who honor you and now flee to you undoubtingly, O martyr George.

Entreat the kindly Lord on our behalf, that we be delivered from every distress and misfortune, Virgin, Mother of Christ and Queen of us all; preserve us unharmed who honor you.

 

Prayers following Ode III.

Preserve by your intercessions, great-martyr of the Lord, those who run to your intercession in faith and honor you, victorious George.

Κathisma. Tone 2.  Seeking things above.

Your suppliant knows that you, George, are a fervent defender and great protector:  visit him speedily, then, and raise him from his bed and deliver him from pain and disease.

 

Ode IV. 

Irmos.  I have heard, O Lord, the mystery of your dispensation; I have meditated on your works and glorified your divinity.

I am a wretch ever afflicted by infirmities and numerous dangers, O George; help me as one condemned, I beseech you.

Being bound for the sake of the Lord, you have destroyed every evil work of Beliar, for which reason preserve all those who faithfully hymn you, O George.

Deliver us from diseases and afflictions and from every kind of hardship, O very blessed George, by your intercessions with our Savior.

Give me strength, wholly pure Virgin, and preserve me from cruel dangers and raise your unprofitable servant up from the dunghill of the passions by your intercessions.

 

Ode V

Irmos.  Enlighten us with your commandments, O Lord, and by your lofty arm grant us your peace, O merciful God.

Inasmuch as you received the spiritual light in your heart, O George, with the divine light make bright the darkness of our soul.

O George, gazing on the souls of your servants, illumine us with the splendors of grace, for we have been darkened by our transgressions.

Heal and blot out the troublesome passions of our souls, O George, by your prayers to our Creator, we entreat you.

Pure Virgin, lead us up out of the abyss of despair and guide your suppliants to the haven of true repentance.

 

Ode VI

Irmos.  I will pour out my supplication to the Lord and to him will I declare my afflictions, for my soul has been filled with troubles and my life has approached Hades, so like Jonah I pray:  Raise me up from death, O God.

Lull to sleep the commotions of the passions of soul, mind and heart, for my life has been filled with sins, great-martyr of the Lord, George, and I ask that, as wretched as I am, you deliver me from all kinds of dangers.

O George, having accomplished great things and having contested as an angel on earth, also free our life from all misfortunes, dangers and diseases; defend our life completely from temptations.

Alleviate now the pains of souls and bodies of those who look only to your intercession, great-martyr of the Lord; fill our hearts with joy and dissolve the fog of cruel despondency.

Illumine with the heavenly light my pitiful soul, Mother of God, and hallow my mind and heart, always bringing healing to our life, so that our life may be filled with joy, O Virgin.

 

Kontakion in Tone 2.  Protection of Christians.

Ever having in you our fervent defender and invincible wall, we approach you and cry out with groans:  wholly venerable George, come quickly and free us from passions and afflictions by your divine intercessions with the Savior.

 

Ikos in Tone 6.  Having laid all hope.
Having renounced all of life’s tyranny and all of its pleasures, the holy George, O beginningless God, ran after you, and destroyed its  indissoluble chain as if it were a spider’s web.  He therefore also attained to your kingdom, O invisible God.  By his prayers, therefore, grant me pardon for my trespasses, O merciful one, and raise me above the passions which ever trouble my soul, Master.

 

No one who has recourse to you goes away ashamed, O wise and thrice-blessed George, but he asks for the favor and receives through you the gift profitable to his request.

You improve the lot of the afflicted and the deliver the sick, O victor of the Lord; save all those who take refuge in you, great-martyr, for you are the peace of the embattled and the direct patron of the faithful.

 

Ode VII

Irmos.  The youths from Judea, having come to Babylon of old, by their faith in the Trinity trampled down the flame of the furnace, chanting, O God of our fathers, blessed are you.

O George, by your prayers preserve me from worldly snares and the disgrace of the passions and from every affliction, and grant that I may always sing, “Blessed are you, O God of our fathers.”

Save me by your intercesions from wicked indifference and from fearful sin, for I have recourse in faith to your fervent assistance, so that I may honor you faithfully for all ages.

O blessed George, do not disregard me, buffeted by the difficulties of life, but pity me by your prayers and preserve me, for I chant, “Blessed are you, O God of our fathers.”

Having spent the short time of my life in utter indifference, Virgin, I fall down and cry out to you, “Awaken me and save me, for I cry out to your Son, ‘Blessed are you, O God of our fathers.’”

 

Ode VIII

Irmos.  The king of Heaven whom the hosts of angels hymn, hymn and exalt him above all forever.

Deliver your servants, O blessed George, from dangers, hardships and diseases by your intercessions with the Savior.

Confirm all men, O martyr George, in faith and divine love, and deliver them by your prayers from the malice of Belial.

Fleeing to you, O martyr, as our defender and protector, we ask that you deliver us quickly from diseases and dangers by your prayers.

Heal, O Maiden, those wasting away under the burden of diseases by your prayers to our Creator, and free your servants quickly from all kinds of dangers.

 

Ode IX

Irmos.  O Mother of God, we who have been saved through you fittingly confess you, and with the incorporeal choirs magnify you, O pure Virgin.

You have been appointed as a champion to deliver the sick and the sailing and those in dangers, for you are the perfection of spiritual champions, martyr George.

You have been joined to the choirs of all the martyrs, with whom beseech God, O George, that your servants be freed from terrible dangers.

As the guardian of the Orthodox and pious, and the glory of martyrs, George, beseech the Savior fervently on our behalf.

Mary, drench with the drops of your mercy my pitiable soul, enervated by the flame of sin and save me, all-holy Virgin.

 

ENDNOTES FOR THE CIRCUMSPECT

SOURCE:  Among others, https://www.proseyxi.com/paraklisi-eis-ton-agio-georgio-ton-tropaioforo/, where it is one of five canons to the saint.  This canon is apparently by the Bishop of Argyroupolis, Seraphim of Byzantium, about whom I could find nothing.

I thank Zoilus Secundus for proofing the Greek.

 

Ode I. 

“Spiritual champion” (ἀθλητά).  For my policy on translating ἀθλητά, see note on Ode V of the canon to Sts. Raphael, Nicholas and Irene. 

“Inspired” (ἐνθέοις) could also be divine, inspired by God etc.

“As” (χρηματίσας).  χρηματίζω can mean negotiate, deliberate, but also be called (Great Scott) or just be (Kyriakides). 

“Almighty” (παντουργοῦ).  The learned tell us that παντουργός = 
πανοῦργος.  App. the inserted τ is an example of excrescence (like Latin humilis/English humble).

“Approach” (προσπελάζοντας).  September and October do not know this word.

Ode III.

“Defend” (πε­ρι­φρού­ρη­σον).  Unranked.  App. means to keep watch all around, in the sense of besiege, blockade (Montie reporting).  Is this what is really intended here?  Certainly the hymnographers’ use of this word anticipates the modern Greek meaning of defend, keep safe, guard on all sides (Mr. K. reporting).  September and October find 13 instances of this verb.  Nicoll’s observation on “the tendency of late Greek to substitute compound for simple forms without a substantial change of sense” makes it reasonable to translate compounded forms as if they were simple.  (“Late Greek” here means Biblical Greek.)  Nicoll does not speculate about the cause of this tendency.  In the case of Biblical texts, we may suppose that it is a matter of changing preference, or that there is something about vernacular Greek that exerts this baneful influence (cf. our own compounds, like super-special) etc.  One also thinks of Spenser’s attempt to archaize verbs by dropping prefixes, so that fall can mean befall.  However, in canons, we have to remember that in Greek every troparion has to have (almost) exactly the same number of syllables as the irmos, so the compounded form must be regarded as a possible attempt to fill out the syllable count.  Finally, when I examine the frequency of the vocabulary of the hymns, I find that our hymnographers employ rare words whenever possible.  For instance,  φρουρέωis endowed with a generous range of meanings in the lexicon and is 1781st most frequent word in the Perseus corpus.  By contrast, there are a mere three occurrences of πε­ριφρουρέω in the Perseus corpus.  This makes me think that our hymnographers may be dipping into compounded forms as a way of avoiding monotony.

“Fellow” (σύσκηνε).  Unranked.  Montie defines σύσκηνος as tentmate, messmate.  Stephanos says collega (partner, colleague, associate, companion, fellow) and  contubernalis (comrade, companion, mate, attendant [of general]).  This word is evidently a kenning.  It seems tricky to find a non-colloquial translation of σύσκηνος, as connotations make most equivalents problematic.  Clearly, St. George is not a comrade (now mostly an ironic survival of a bygone age), a (business) partner, a colleague (at the office) etc.  I go with fellow, even though that word is encumbered with academic and colloquial connotations.  Companion might do just as well, but see next entry.

“Companion” (συνόμιλε).  Another unranked kenning.  Synonymia at work, since Great Scott reports companion, living with, associate; Pape reports mit Einem umgehend, Gesellschafter; LMPG reports compañero.

“Undoubtingly” (ἐν ἀκλινεῖ διανοίᾳ), lit. “with a steadfast mind.”  An alternative to the usual asseverations (ἐν πίστει, πίστει and πιστῶς)?

“Virgin, Mother of Christ and Queen of us all” (Παρθένε μήτηρ Χριστοῦ καί Κυρία ἡμῶν πάντων).  A terrific dose of synonymia.

 

Prayers following Ode III.

“Wholly venerable” (παν­σέ­βα­στε).  Omnino venerandus (Stephanus).  Not to be confused with πάνσεμνος (valde venerandus) or πάνσεπτος (omnino venerandus) (both Hederich).  How to translate?  Keeping in mind that late Greek likes to pile on prefixes—presumably to put some color into words suffering from semantic bleaching—it seems reasonable to discard the intensifying prefixes.  Another point to consider is that English is inimical to such intensifiers—the English, that is, of the home, office and street.  When people say things like “super-special,” there is no intensity of emotion in anyone’s heart.  As bold as it may be to say so, we may wish to consider letting translations cater to the simplicity of English and simply say “pure,” not “all-pure” or “wholly pure.” 

“Have recourse to” (προστρέχοντας).  Abbott-Smith reports that this word is used literally three times in the NT.  The September score is 14; the October score is 30.  Zoilus Primus originally opined that “perhaps the metaphorical ‘those who join you/those who side with you’ works here.”  His suggestion was prescient, as this verb, says Kent, is used by Plutarch to describe how clients attach themselves to their patron.  I had always wondered at how much running there was in the canons.  Muraoka seems to corroborate this when he reports that the person so running is of a “relatively lowly situation.”  Mr. K. reports to run to, to have recourse to.  Lampe also reports to have recourse to.  Since in English there is no convenient fashion by which we announce that we are attaching ourselves to a patron, it seemed best to settle on to have recourse to, even though εν πίστει appears to corroborate the patronal interpretation.  Kent reports that πίστις is “the outstanding quality of a successful patron-client relationship.”

“Victorious” (ἀθλοφόρε).  For years I used to look at icons of St. George, wondering when he would ever be depicted with his trophy; finally, I realized that trophy-bearer (τροπαιοφόρος) is simply a kenning for victorious. 

 

Ode IV. 

“Very blessed” renders πανεύφημε on Montie’s authority.  Much better than the usual “all-praiseworthy,” which is a genuine article of translationese—the kind of expression no one would ever use except when translating texts unidiomatically.

Ode V.

“Darkness” (ζοφότητα).  A guess on my part.  No lexicon exhibits this word.  It is found here and there.  It resembles an unranked word generally admitted by the lexicographers—ζοφώδης (dark).  Was ζοφώδης worked into ζοφότης?

“Gazing on” (καταυγαζόμενος).  In the active this verb means to shine upon (see the Theotokion of Ode VI) but in the middle gaze on.

“Splendors” (μαρμαρυγή).  Unranked. 

 

Ode VI. 

“Deliver” (λύτρωσε).  Appears to be modern Greek form.

“Misfortunes” (κα­κῶν).  Usually “evils” or “sins.”  Taken with “dangers and diseases,” we might take it in the modern Greek sense, which, as Mr. K. reports, could be evil, wrong-doing, harm, injury, mischief, misfortune or adversity. 

“Defend our life etc.” is in the original δε­ό­με­νος ἐκ πει­ρα­σμῶν, τήν ζω­ήν πε­ρι­φρού­ρι­σον.  I omitted δε­ό­με­νος, since I could not see how to fit this present participle into the sentence.  Literally, “requesting from trials, protect [our] life.”  Note also the reappearance of περιφρουρέω.

 

Prayers following Ode VI.

“Pardon” (ἱ­λα­σμόν) or “forgiveness.”  Unranked.  In the Perseus corpus, we find this word twice in the NT and six times in Plutarch.  September and October exhibit 33 instances.  A great deal of the meaning of ἱ­λα­σμός depends upon how one interprets the Old Testament.  Kittel says that our word masks two meanings.  One is propitiation (“an offering to appease (satisfy) an angry, offended party” [Strong]).  The other is expiation (“the covering of sin by means of sacrifice” [Cremer]).  Kittel, relying in effect on Cremer, develops the meaning of ἱ­λα­σμός as representing “God’s forgiveness,” which is the meaning (he says) that it has when used in the NT (twice:  1 John 2:2 and 4:10), where it “refers to the purpose which God Himself has fulfilled by sending the Son.  Hence it rests on the fact that God is gracious.”  St. Justin Popovich in his commentary on 1 John 4:10 seems to elaborate on this point:  Christ is “complete mercy, complete compassion and complete sympathy.”  (The translator of St. Justin unfortunately uses propitiation to render ἱ­λα­σμός.)  Keeping this in mind, we can understand why Abbott-Smith, referring particularly to the LXX, defines ἱ­λα­σμός as forgiveness, Montie as pardon, Lampe as “favor of God, obtained by prayer.”  For a Christian to ask for the propitiation of his sins is wrong-headed.  Most people do not understand either propitiation itself or the semantic broadening to which this word underwent.

“Holy” (σε­πτός).  See the relevant notes on σε­πτός in the canon to St. Porphyrios.

“Having renounced all of life’s tyranny” (ὅλην ἀ­πο­θέ­με­νος, βι­ω­τι­κὴν τυ­ραν­νί­δα.  This ikos begins with the words taken from the model melody.  What is interesting about this ikos is that it takes the words of the model melody, which may be translated as “having laid up all hope in Heaven” and used a totally different meaning of ἀ­πο­θέ­με­νος to drive home a different point altogether.  For the few monks who could understand the Greek of this text, it must come as a bit of a shock, sounding almost like a parody of possibly the most common ikos in the hymns.

“Has recourse to you” (προστρέχων ἐπὶ σοί).  See my discussion of this verb above in Prayers Following Ode III.

καταισχύνω does not simply mean put to shame, but dishonor and disgrace—there are apparently social consequences attached to having appealed to a mediator who fails to deliver. 

“The direct patron” (ὁ ἄμεσος προστάτης).  Zoilus Secundus thinks that this means his clients have immediate access to him.

Ode VII.

“In faith . . . faithfully.”  Here again Greek boldly repeats itself, this time ἐν πίστει and πιστῶς.  We could I suppose render ἐν πίστει as with fidelity.  I have never so put it and hesitate to do so now merely to avoid making obvious a rhetorical flourish prized by the hymnographers.

“Indifference” (ραθυμίας) might also be translated as “desire, lust,” but modern Greek seems to tip the scales towards indifference.

 

Ode IX.

“As the guardian of the Orthodox and pious” (ὡς φύλαξ ὀρθοδόξων, καὶ τῆς εὐσεβείας).  Actually, the hymnographer went for an abstraction (“of piety”).  However, English conjunctions prefer for the words joined to be as similar as possible.  “Of the Orthodox and of piety” is therefore jarring.

“Enervated” (ἐκτακείσαν) or “melting away.”

THE PASCHAL CANON

Ode I. 

Eirmos.  It is the day of the Resurrection!  Let us be radiant, ye peoples!  It is Pascha—the Lord’s Pascha!  For Christ our God has led us from death to life and from Earth to Heaven, as we sing the song of victory.

Let us purify our senses and by the unapproachable light of the Resurrection we will see Christ flashing as with lightning, and we will clearly hear him greet us as we sing the song of victory.

Let Heaven deservedly be glad and let Earth rejoice; let all the world, visible and invisible, keep festival; for Christ, our eternal joy, has risen.

 

Ode III. 

Eirmos.  Come, let us drink a new drink, not miraculously pouring from the barren rock but from the fountain of incorruption, from the tomb of Christ, by whom we are strengthened.

Now all things are filled with light—Heaven and Earth and under the Earth.  Indeed, let all creation keep the festival of the resurrection of Christ, by whom we are strengthened.
Yesterday I was buried with you, O Christ; today I rise with your resurrection; yesterday I was crucified with you; glorify me yourself, O Savior, in your kingdom.

 

Hypakoe (Tone 4)
Before the break of day, those who were with Mary found the stone rolled away from the tomb and heard from the angel, “Why do you seek among the dead as a man him who is in everlasting light?  Look at the shroud!  Run and proclaim to the world that the Lord has risen and has put death to death, for he is the Son of God, who saves the race of men.

 

Ode IV.

Eirmos.  Let the divinely inspired Habbakuk stand with us on divine watch and make known a light-bearing angel saying loudly, “Today has salvation come to the world, for Christ has risen as almighty.”

Christ appeared as a first-born male offspring; but as food, he is called a blameless lamb; as one who is without stain, he is called our Pascha; and as true God, he is said to be perfect.

As a yearling lamb, the blessed one, our kind crown, has voluntarily been sacrificed for all as a purifying Pascha, and again he shone on us from the grave as the beautiful sun of righteousness.

David, the ancestor of God, danced animatedly before the foreshadowing ark; let us, the holy people of God, seeing the fulfilment of the symbols, rejoice divinely, for Christ has risen as almighty.

 

Ode V.

Eirmos.  Let us rise very early in the morning and instead of myrrh, let us bring to the Master our hymn, and we will see Christ, the sun of righteousness, causing life to appear to all.

Those who were held by the chains of death have clearly perceived your boundless compassion and hurried to the light, O Christ, with a joyful step, celebrating the eternal Pascha.

Let us with our torches approach Christ as he comes from the tomb like a bridegroom, and together let us celebrate in feast-loving ranks the saving Pascha of God.

 

Ode VI.

Eirmos.  You descended into the lowest parts of the Earth and shattered the eternal bars which held the prisoners, O Christ, and on the third day, like Jonah from the whale, you rose from the tomb.

Having preserved the seals intact, O Christ, you rose from the tomb and did not harm the bolts of the Virgin by your birth, and you have opened to us the gates of Paradise. 

My Savior, the living and unsacrificeable victim, as God you voluntarily offered yourself to the Father and made Adam and his whole race rise when you rose from the tomb.

 

Kontakion.  Tone 8.

Although you descended into the tomb, immortal one, nevertheless you destroyed the power of Hades and rose as conqueror, Christ our God, saying “Hail!” to the myrrh-bearing women, granting peace to your apostles and granting resurrection to the fallen.

 

Ikos.

The myrrh-bearing maidens came before sunrise, seeking you out as the day and as the sun which existed before the sun, yet lately sunk in the tomb.  They cried to each other, “O friends, come!  Let us anoint with spices the life-bearing body and buried flesh, which has raised up fallen Adam, who lay in the tomb!  Let us go, let us hasten as the magi to worship him, and offer sweet oils as gifts to him who is not in swaddling clothes but wrapped in linen, and let us weep and cry out:  “O Master, who grants resurrection to the fallen, awaken!”

Having beheld the resurrection of Christ, let us worship the holy Lord Jesus, the only sinless one.  We worship your Cross, O Christ, and we hymn and glorify your holy resurrection.  For you are our God—we know no other than you—and we call upon your name.  Come, all ye faithful, let us worship the holy resurrection of Christ.  For behold!  Through the Cross joy has come into all the world.  Ever blessing the Lord, we hymn his resurrection; for having endured the Cross for our sake, he has destroyed death by his death (3x).

Jesus, having risen from the tomb as he foretold, has given us eternal life and great mercy (3x).

 

Ode VII. 

Eirmos.  He who delivered the youths from the furnace, having become man, suffers as one mortal, and because of his human suffering puts on the comeliness of incorruption; he alone is the blessed and glorious God of our Fathers.

The pious women with myrrh ran after you, but though they sought you with tears as mortal, they worshipped you joyfully as the living God and proclaimed the mystical Pascha, O Christ, to your disciples.

We celebrate the death of death, the destruction of Hades, the first fruits of another life—one that is eternal—and jumping for joy we hymn the cause of all these blessings—the only blessed and supremely glorious God of our fathers.

How truly sacred and solemnly festive is this saving night and precursor of the shining, white-clad day of the Resurrection, on which the timeless light has shone forth bodily from the tomb on all men.

 

Ode VIII. 

Eirmos.  This is the welcome and holy day, the first Sabbath, the queen and lady, the feast of feasts, and the festival of festivals, on which we bless Christ forever.

Come, on this beneficial day of the resurrection, let us participate in the fruit of the new vine, in his divine joy and in the kingdom of Christ, hymning him as God forever.

Lift up your eyes, O Zion, look around you, for behold!  your children have come, shedding divine light like stars, from the west and north and the sea and the east, blessing Christ in you forever.

Father almighty and Word and Spirit, united nature in three hypostases, above being and beyond divinity:  In you were we baptized and we bless you forever.

 

Ode IX.

Eirmos.  Shine, shine, O new Jerusalem, for the glory of the Lord has risen on you.  Dance now and exult, O Zion!  And you, pure Mother of God, rejoice in the resurrection of your son.

O!  Your divine, beloved, sweetest voice!  For truly you promised to be with us to the end of the age, O Christ; holding fast to this as an anchor of hope, we the faithful exult.

O great Pascha and most holy Christ!  O Wisdom and Word of God and his Power!  Grant us to partake more manifestly in the unending day of your kingdom.

Katabasia.  The angel cried to the highly favored lady, “Pure Virgin, hail!  And again I will say, Hail!  Your son has risen from the tomb on the third day.”

 

Ode 9 (long).

Magnify, O my soul, him who voluntarily suffered and was buried and rose from the tomb on the third day.

Shine, shine, O new Jerusalem, for the glory of the Lord has risen on you.  Dance now and exult, O Zion!  And you, pure Mother of God, rejoice in the resurrection of your son.

Magnify, O my soul, Christ, the giver of life, who rose from the tomb on the third day.

Shine, shine, O new Jerusalem, for the glory of the Lord has risen on you.  Dance, now, and exult, O Sion!  And you, pure Mother of God, rejoice in the resurrection of your son.

An angel, flashing as with lightning, cried to the women:  Stop crying, for Christ has risen!

O!  Your divine, beloved, sweetest voice!  For truly you promised to be with us to the end of the age, O Christ; holding fast to this as an anchor of hope, we the faithful exult.

Because Christ has risen, plundered death and raised the dead, rejoice, ye peoples!  

O great Pascha and most holy Christ!  O Wisdom and Word of God and his Power!  Grant to us to partake more manifestly in the unending day of your kingdom.

Glory. 

Magnify, O my soul, the power of the tri-hypostatic and indivisible Deity.

We, the faithful, harmoniously bless you, O Virgin!  Hail, gate of the Lord!  Hail, animate city!  Hail, through whom has shone forth upon us today the light of the resurrection of him whom you bore.

Both.  Amen.

Hail, Virgin, hail!  Hail, blessed one!  Hail, glorified one, for your son has risen from the tomb on the third day!

Rejoice, exult, O sacred gate of light!  For he who set in the tomb, Jesus, has risen, having shone brighter than the sun and illuminating all the faithful, O highly favored Lady.

Katabasia.  The angel cried to the highly favored lady, “Pure Virgin, hail!  And again I will say, Hail!  Your son has risen from the tomb on the third day.”

 

ENDNOTES FOR THE CIRCUMSPECT

The canon by St. John of Damascus.  The short version of Ode IX is given first and in accordance with the remarks of Fr. Ephrem (Lash).  The long version of Ode IX follows.  The PDF of Fr. Ephrem’s annotated translation is available here.  It is indispensable.  After I finished translating, I consulted two other translations—a German one (here) and a Spanish one (here).  For ease of reference, I have throughout referred to the German translator as Karl and the Spanish translator as Carlos.

 

Ode I.

“Let us be radiant” (λαμπρυνθῶμεν).  Elevated diction does not do justice to this verb.  In its vestimentary sense, it could be rendered vulgarly as “dress fit to kill” or “put on the dog.”  Carlos has resplandezcamos de alegría (let us shine with joy/happiness), which deftly avoids the temptation to which certain Anglophone translators have succumbed (“let us be illuminated”).

¡Nosotros que Le cantamos el cántico de victoria y de triunfo (ἐπινίκιον ᾄδοντας).  Carlos turned the pesky circumstantial participle into a jussive clause (let us sing to him the song of victory and of triumph).

“Greet [us]” (Χαίρετε).  Montie reports hello, good day, welcome, goodbye, farewell, even cheer up.  Definitely not rejoice as a greeting, though every other Anglophone translator takes it that way.  Of the definitions given here, Kyriakides reports that only goodbye, farewell are current (in the later 19^th century).  My translation is an attempt to get around the awkwardness of saying hail in the 21^st century. 

“Deservedly” (ἐπαξίως).  I followed Carlos (merecidamente).  It could also be worthily (dignamente).  Fr. Ephrem has “as is meet.”  I am tempted to render as “let Heaven and Earth rejoice worthily,” since the verbs in question are synonyms.

“Has risen” (ἐγήγερται).  In the act. voice, raise; in the mid. or pass., be raised or rise.  Churchified English preserves the Old English meaning of arise as rise.  As Fowler observes, nowadays arise means “to come into existence or notice.”

Χριστὸς γὰρ ἐγήγερται, εὐφροσύνη αἰώνιος.  Karl did not realize that εὐφροσύνη αἰώνιος is in apposition to Χριστὸς, and so he detached the apposite phrase and made it stand alone, presumably as an exclamation:  Ewige Freude!  Carlos inexplicably took εὐφροσύνη αἰώνιος as the direct object of ἐγήγερται, and so got resucitó al gozo eterno (he raised eternal joy). 

 

Ode III.
“From barren rock” (ἐκ πέτρας ἀγόνου) oddly becomes muda roca (silent rock) in Carlos.
“Strengthened” (στερεούμεθα).  Cf. Divine Liturgy:  Στερεώσαι (“make firm”) Κύριος ο Θεός την αγίαν και αμώμητον πίστιν των ευσεβών και ορθοδόξων Χριστιανών, συν τη αγία Εκκλησία και κώμη ταύτη εις αιώνας αιώνων. Αμήν.  “Established” and “confirmed” are also used.  As the late Fr. Ephrem (Lash) observes, this word is reminiscent of the Song of Anna (1 Samuel 2), where στερεόω appears as a misreading or a variant reading for what in Hebrew is rejoice (עָלַץ [exult]).  Thus, where the LXX reads, “my heart is established in the Lord,” the Masoretic reads, “my heart rejoices in the Lord.”  The Qumran version agrees with the MT.  I suppose that one might say, “in whom we rejoice,” which, honestly, agrees better with the sentiments expressed in the context.  Carlos has nos hemos fortalecido (strengthened) and Karl wir gegründet sind (established).

The Gk. reads ἐν ᾗ (by which) not ἐν ᾧ (by whom), which runs contrary to the usual translation.  Fr. Ephrem discusses St. Nikodemus’ preference for the latter.  Carlos has en quien and Karl in dem.

The Greek συνεγείρομαι σήμερον ἀναστάντι σοι is a little tricky.  We have heute bin ich auferweckt mit Dir, dem Auferstandenen, hoy resucito contigo, con Tu Resurrección.  Fr. Ephrem has “today I rise with you as you arise.”  Karl allows the tense of the main verb to be drawn to the tense of the participle, as I have done; Fr. Ephrem allows the tense of the participle to be drawn to that of the main verb.  Carlos dodges the problem by making the participle a noun.  I have adopted Carlos’ dodge.

 

Hypokoe

“Before the break of day, those who were with Mary” (προλαβοῦσαι τὸν ὄρθρον etc.).  Carlos, like Fr. Ephrem, omits materials between odes.  I do not remember if I came to the same conclusion as Karl or simply copied him (die Frauen um Maria kamen dem Tagesanbruch zuvor).  The usual translation (“forestalling the dawn”) may be discarded as archaizing or hyperliteral. 
"Look at" (βλέπετε).  Karl has seht.  St. Tikhon's prayer-book has "behold," which is better than see.  The Greek word ὁράω means see, with notes of understanding, perception, caution, while βλέπω means see, look at and has notes of discovery, consideration, examination.  The angel is inviting the women to draw their own conclusions from the evidence of their sight.
“Grave clothes” (σπάργανα).  Zoilus comments that while “‘grave-clothes’ makes sense, . . . the word literally refers to swaddling-clothes for infants. The word was commonly employed in Classical drama to mean ‘objects left with an exposed child, the marks by which a personʼs true birth and family are identified.’  I wonder if the hymnographer knew that and, therefore, whether it would be too much of a stretch that this word was employed in that sense.”  In fact, in the ikos below, ἐν σπαργάνοις is translated as “in swaddling clothes” (where Karl has in Grablinnen, which is none of my dictionaries, but is all over the Internet used in the stock expression Das Grablinnen von Turin).  Also, the burial of Christ is foreshadowed in the icon of his nativity by the swaddling-clothes themselves—the Christkind is wrapped like a corpse.  Zoilus’ hunch is therefore confirmed.

Ode IV. 

“Make known” (δεικνύτω).  Could also be point out, reveal, show forth etc. 

“Without” (ἄγευστος).  Stephanos alone reports this definition of a word which Classically means untasted or tasteless.

“Sin” (κηλῖδος).  This word shows up in the LXX but not in the NT.  Lampe reports moral stain.  Thayer reports taint of guilt.  Montie reports stain, guilt.  Even if he has in mind the ὡς ἀμνοῦ ἀμώμου καὶ ἀσπίλου Χριστοῦ of, say, I Peter 1:19, the cultic reference still makes the point that Christ is sinless.      

“First-born, male offspring” (Ἄρσεν μέν, ὡς διανοῖξαν . . . νηδύν).  In order to understand this troparion, we must first compare it with its source (Ex. 13:12):  καὶ ἀφελεῖς πᾶν διανοῖγον μήτραν, τὰ ἀρσενικά, τῷ Κυρίῳ· πᾶν διανοῖγον μήτραν ἐκ βουκολίων ἢ ἐν τοῖς κτήνεσί σου, ὅσα ἐὰν γένηταί σοι, τὰ ἀρσενικὰ ἁγιάσεις τῷ Κυρίῳ (that thou shalt set apart every [offspring] opening the womb, the males to the Lord, every one that opens the womb out of the herds or among thy cattle, as many as thou shalt have:  thou shalt sanctify the males to the Lord [Brenton]).  Crucial to understanding this verse is that the LXX translator rendered פֶטֶר literally as “that which opens” and not by its extended meaning and evidently intended meaning, “first-born” (Brown-Driver-Briggs).  When we turn back to St. John’s Greek, we can see that ἄρσεν and διανοῖξαν are clearly borrowed from this verse, but what about νηδύν?  This word is not a popular word among the lexicographers; nor does it show up in Pindar, the NT or in the LXX.  However, Homer and the dramatists use it.  This may be important, as the hymnographers tend to use vocabulary from the LXX, Pindar and the Greek NT, not Homer, Herodotus (the most poetic of the historians) or the dramatists.  Nηδύς mostly means belly or (lower) abdomen, less often womb.  (For the record, Homer uses it to mean belly twice and womb once.)  My guess is that St. John was trying to avoid using the more common words for womb to soften the explicitness of the expression.  English does not allow us to be so delicate.  We cannot, e.g., say “which opened the virginal belly.”  What we can do is take פֶטֶר in its extended sense as first-born, and so I have done.       

“As food” (ὡς βρωτὸς).  Fr. Ephraim Lash of blessed memory says that βρωτὸς (food) is a corruption of βροτός (mortal), which, as he remarks, is normally what we say in English.  “The point of the Passover Lamb was that it was eaten.”  I am not savvy enough to contradict him. 

This troparion is so rough that it is worth citing the translations of Carlos, Karl and the Jordanville prayerbook in full.

Cristo nuestra Pascua, dejando intacto el seno Virginal, se reveló hombre, y como sustento se llamó Cordero; y siendo exento de pecado se llamó Inmaculado, y siendo Dios ha sido declarado perfecto.  I read this as “Christ, our Pascha, leaving intact the womb of the Virgin, revealed himself as a man, and as food he is called the Lamb; and being free of sin is called immaculate, and being God has been declared to be perfect.” 

Da Er, ein Knabe, den jungfräulichen Mutterschoß geöffnet, erschien Christus als Sterblicher. Als ein untadeliges Lamm erscheint Er, frei von jeder Befleckung, unser Pascha, wahrer Gott ist Er, der Vollkommene.  I translate this as “When he, a boy, opened the virginal womb, Christ appeared as a mortal.  As an immaculate lamb he appears, free of every taint, our Pascha, he is true God, the perfect.”  Notice that the translator gave up on trying to make the translation grammatical.

The Jordanville translation is “Christ was seen to be of the male sex when He opened the Virgin's womb, and as man He is called the Lamb. Without blemish, also, is our Passover, for He tasted no defilement; and as true God He is called perfect.”  Notice that the translator was trying to turn ἄγευστος to good account in English, while preserving the core concept. 

“Danced animatedly” (ἥλατο σκιρτῶν).  Neither verb seems to mean dance in the lexica.  St. John seems to preserve the facts recorded in the Hebrew of 2 Samuel 6:14, though the Greek is different (καὶ ἐγένετο τῆς κιβωτοῦ παραγινομένης ἕως πόλεως Δαυὶδ καὶ Μελχὸλ ἡ θυγάτηρ Σαοὺλ διέκυπτε διὰ τῆς θυρίδος καὶ εἶδε τὸν βασιλέα Δαυὶδ ὀρχούμενον καὶ ἀνακρουόμενον ἐνώπιον Κυρίου καὶ ἐξουδένωσεν αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτῆς.)  “Leaping leaped” makes me think of the infinitive absolute construction of Hebrew, where the participle strengthens the action of the verb.  Zoilus remarks, “that’s what I was thinking too, although it’s odd that two different verbs are used rather than just repeating the same one in the participle. But it does seem to be an imitation of the infinitive absolute, so I think ‘danced energetically’ would work (I certainly don’t think it would go against the spirit of the passage).”  I wonder if St. John is trying to steer the Forefather clear of violating an ancient Roman taboo—dancing by oneself.  In fact, Cicero had to defend a client against that charge in an ancient Roman episode of lawfare.  Fr. Ephrem renders as “dancing, leaped etc.”  Carlos has saltó de gozo (leaped joyfully), which I rather like.  Karl sticks to the Hebrew with tanzte, though he does not try to capture the effect of the infinitive absolute.  Zerwick discusses the infinitive absolute in the context of the NT (§60) and notes a similar disagreement of verbs in Eph. 5:5 (§61).  Funk (AGOTNTAOECL) notes that Classical analogues to the absolute infinitive may be found (like γάμῳ γαμεῖν, to marry in lawful wedlock) (§198).  This question is so interesting that it is worth quoting Robertson (AGOTGNTITLOHR) at length:  "There is one usage in the N.T. that has caused some trouble. It is called 'Hebraic' by some of the grammarians.  The instances are rather numerous in the N. T., though nothing like so common as in the LX X.2. Conybeare and Stock quote Plato to show that it is, however, an idiom in accordance with the genius of the Greek language. Thus λόγῳ λέγειν, φεύγων φυγῇ, φύσει πεφυκυῖαν, etc. They call it the ‘cognate dative.' That will do if instrumental is inserted in the place of dative. Moulton admits
that this idiom, like the participle βλέποντες βλέψετε, is an example of “‘translation Greek,” but thinks that a phrase like ἐξολεθρεῦσα οὐκ 
ἐξωλέθρευσαν (Josh. 17:13) is much more like the Hebrew infinitive absolute which is reproduced by this Greek instrumental or participle. Blass‘ insists that the classical parallels γάμῳ γαμεῖν, φυγῇ φεύγειν are not true illustrations, but merely accidentally similar, an overrefinement in the great grammarian, I conceive. The Latin has the idiom also, like curro curriculo. Here are some of the important NT instances: ἀκοῇ 
ἀκούσετε (Mt. 13:14), ἀναθέματι ἀνεθεματίσαμεν (Ac. 3:14), ἐπιθυμίᾳ 
ἐνυπνίοις ἐνυπνιασθήσονται (Ac. 2:17), ἐπιθυμίᾳ ἐπεθύμησα (Lu. 22:15), θανάτῳ τελευτάτω (Mt. 15:4), ὅρκῳ ὦμοσεν (Ac. 2:80), ἐξέστησαν ἐκστάσει μεγάλῃ (ΜΚ. 5:42), παραγγελίᾳ παρηγγείλαμεν (Ac. 5:28), προσευχῇ 
προσηύξατο (Jas.5:17), χαρᾷ χαίρει (Jo. 8: 29; cf. 1 Pet. 1:8). Cf. also σημαίνων ποίῳ θανάτῳ ἤμελλεν ἀποθνήσκειν (Jo. 18:32) and σημαίνων ποίῳ θανάτῳ δοξάσει τὸν θεόν (Jo. 21:19), where the idiom seems more normal. Blass observes that this usage 'intensifies the verb in so far as it indicates that the action is to be understood as taking place in the fullest sense.' In Ro. 8:24 we more likely shows that in the Pentateuch the Hebrew infinitive absolute was more frequently rendered by the instr. case, while in the Books of Samuel and Kings the participle is the more usual. In the LXX as a whole the two methods are about equal." 

Ode V.

“With a joyous step” (ἀγαλλομένῳ ποδί)—so Lambertsen felicitously translates it.  Fr. Ephrem renders “with joyful steps.”  Carlos says se apresuraron alborozados (they hurried jubilantly).  Karl says sie eilten
. . . freudigen Fußes.  Presumably freudigen Fußes is equivalent to mit freudigen Schritten (from an aria by Bach).  The expression does not merely occur in Ode 7 of a canon sung on November 1 in the Menaion, as Roelli seems to imply; it is one of the twelve eirmoi which can be used when Ode 7 of any canon is sung in Tone 8. 

“Celebrated the eternal Pascha” (Πάσχα κροτοῦντες αἰώνιον).  Carlos:  celebrando.  The verb κροτοῦντες gives translators no end of trouble.  In the Classical language, χεῖρας κροτοῦντες πιστῶς means “faithfully striking the hands,” i.e., applauding.  In our literature, it is used in a fossilized phrase like θείαν αἴνεσιν ὕμνοις ἐνθέοις κροτοῦντες (“striking up a song of praise with inspired hymns”).  The third usage is found in Anacreon (the only Classical author whom I found outside the dictionary who did not appear to use the verb to mean “clap”):  μέγα τὸν θεὸν κροτοῦντες ἐπιληνίοισιν ὕμνοις (y a la deidad la celebran con canciones vendimiales).  The structure of this line agrees with our fossilized phrase, so it is possible that this line is the template for the hymnographical collocations.  Celebrar can mean applause, celebrate, praise.  It appears that κροτέω followed the same semantic development as celebrar.  Bishop Kallistos of blessed memory rendered κροτοῦντες ἐν ᾄσμασι θείοις πιστοί ἀλαλάξωμεν Θεῷ τὸν Σταυρὸν τοῦ Κυρίου as “O ye faithful, let us cry aloud with joy and sing triumphantly to God.”  The Spanish translator of the same line is more precise:  “Let us, the faithful, cry out to God, celebrating the Cross of the Lord with divine songs.”  “Praising,” however, would do just as well as “celebrating.”
"Chains" (σειραῖς).  An unranked noun.  Occurs once in the NT (2 Peter 2:4).  In the LXX, Muraoka reports that it refers to a "long, thin object used for catching or tying."  In the LXX, it can therefore be rendered as cord, though it can also mean a lock (of hair).  

"Death" (τοῦ ᾍδου).  Zoilus Senior caught me being literal.  Great Scott corroborates by observing that after Homer ᾍδης means the grave, death.  

 

Ode VI.

“The bolts” (ὁ τὰς κλεῖς). Apparently working out an analogy with Jonah, though Fr. Ephrem refers us to Ez. 44:2:  καὶ εἶπε Κύριος πρός με· ἡ πύλη αὕτη κεκλεισμένη ἔσται, οὐκ ἀνοιχθήσεται, καὶ οὐδεὶς μὴ διέλθῃ δι’ αὐτῆς, ὅτι Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ᾿Ισραὴλ εἰσελεύσεται δι’ αὐτῆς, καὶ ἔσται κεκλεισμένη.  I suppose that κεκλεισμένη provides a premise for κλεῖς.  The Spanish version reads las puertas, which undoes the analogy with Christ not breaking the seal of the tomb.  The German translation reflects a German delicacy on these matters:  das Schloss der Jungfrauschaft (“the lock of virginity”) renders τὰς κλεῖς τῆς Παρθένου.  One nice English rendition is (with some context) “as at thy birth the Virgin's womb remained unharmed.”  I still recall vividly—40+ years later—my German tutor’s horror when I did not find the proper euphemism for what I now know should have been phrased along the lines of lady of the night.  Frau Nitsch must have known immediately in a trice what a troublesome student I would be.

“Unsacrificeable” (ἄθυτον).  According to Fr. Ephrem, St. Gregory the Theologian says that Christ is in his first nature an unsacrificeable Victim.

 

Oikos.

“Having come before” (Τὸν πρὸ ἡλίου Ἥλιον, δύναντα ποτὲ ἐν τάφῳ, προέφθασαν πρὸς ὄρθρον, ἐκζητοῦσαι ὡς ἡμέραν, Μυροφόροι κόραι, καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλας ἐβόων).  When ποτὲ refers to the past, it means once, one time, already.  Karl:  einst (once, at one time, formerly).  Carlos:  temporalmente (temporarily).  The Old Orthodox Prayer Book translates the Old Church Slavonic as if there were no such adverb of time in the text.  Ditto for the St. Tikhon's Monastery prayer book.  Sophocles starts with quondam and goes on to suggest late (as in, “my late brother”).  This prompted me to settle on “lately.”

 

Ode VII. 

“White-clad” (λαμπροφόρου).  Montie reports splendidly robed; Lampe reports brilliantly arrayed; Kyriakides reports “splendidly costumed.”  Pape reports glänzende, weiße Kleider tragend—potentially relevant since at Pascha newly baptized Christians wear white.  Stephanos reports splendidam sive candidam gerens vestem and lucernam gerens.  In short, the lexicographers cannot agree on their story.  I went with “white-clad” as I cannot imagine that St. John could overlook the vestimentary demands of the neophytes, although he could equally have been referring to the fact that this feast involves carrying candles and lamps.  The Spanish translation settles for brillante (bright, shining).

 

Ode VIII.

“Welcome” (κλητὴ).  Lampe reports called, invited, welcome, famous.  In the LXX, Muraoka summoned, appointee, invited (guest).  Shrevelius reports desired.  Karl says hehre (noble, sublime, exalted).  These entries suggest a correction of hard-line, predestinarian assumptions.  The reader may choose any definition he wishes, including the standard “chosen.”  I wonder if “special” might not do.

“Honorable” (εὐσήμῳ) (Lampe).  Montie adds famous.  Muraoka reports that Ps. 80:4 uses this word of a festival, too, where it is supposed to mean auspicious.  Karl says segenbringenden (beneficial) and Carlos says insigne (distinguished).

 

Ode IX. 

“O!  Your divine, beloved, sweetest voice!” (῍Ω θείας! ὢ φίλης! ὢ γλυκυτάτης σου φωνῆς).  A remarkable string of genitives of exclamation.

“Having plundered death” (τὸν θάνατον πατήσας) might with an equal claim be rendered “having mauled and robbed death” (Pape mißhandeln und berauben; also plündern [loot, sack, pillage]), except that the following clause makes it awkward.  Contemporary translations say “despoil” and even “spoil” (both meaning plunder [COED]) without anyone in the building knowing why one would want to pamper death or let it sit out too long.