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.