Ode 1. Irmos. I will open my mouth, and it
will be filled with the Spirit, and I will utter a speech to the Queen Mother,
and I will be seen keeping festival brightly, and I will sing joyfully of the
wonders of her nativity.
With the brilliant rays of the Spirit, illumine my mind
by your intercessions, Zechariah, so that I may hymn your glorious life, and
sing to you, O saint, a fitting hymn.
After you saw the archangel in the temple standing before
you and received the good news, O prophet, you begot in your old age the Forerunner
of the Lord by his divine will.
As you received the blameless Virgin when she was brought
to the temple, you joyfully led her into the Holy of Holies, where she would be
raised in the divine abode of the almighty God.
Let me celebrate in song the temple full of the light of
the Creator of all creation, the living throne of the almighty God, the only
Mother of God, for she bore Christ, who renews the world.
Ode III.
Irmos. Hymn Christ our
God, who protected the hymn-singing youths in the furnace, and transformed the roaring
furnace into dew, and exalt him above all for ever.
Guiding the movements of your
mind wisely by the commandments of God, divinely chosen high priest, O Zechariah,
you appeared as an inspired prophet of the King of creation.
You served the almighty God faithfully as a priest full
of heavenly light and you received the beginnings of the glory of Christ, who
was incarnate on account of his mercy.
Having disbelieved the divine words of the angel, you resigned
yourself to silence and, after your mouth was opened, you praised God in song,
when in your old age your wife bore a son.
As the prophets said, illuminated by the divine Spirit,
you were the mountain of God above all mountains, rich and overshadowed with
the virtues, pure Virgin.
Prayer
following Ode III.
Preserve your servants from all kinds of dangers, O High
Priest, for they hope in you as a great servant of God.
The Kathisma.
All-holy prophet and sacred minister, let us reverently
celebrate and radiantly acclaim your memory as a flower most fragrant; do not
let the unholy enemy devour us.
Ode IV.
Irmos. The
prophet Habakkuk, perceiving the inscrutable and divine
counsel of the incarnation of the Most High from the Virgin, cried out: “Glory to your power, O Lord.”
O Zechariah, you blessed
the Creator with your mouth, when Elizabeth bore John, and cried out, “Blessed
are you, O Lord, who does new and marvelous things.”
You wore the sacred robe of the high priesthood of the
law and you offered the sacrifices to God in accordance with the law, blessed
one, with a humble spirit.
After you received miraculous power in old age, holy Zechariah,
you begot a son who was the mightiest of all the saints, after the barrenness of
your wife was ended by divine assent.
You were more excellent than all creatures, visible and
invisible, having borne the Creator of all, wherefore cause even me to be
higher than the inferior one.
Ode V.
Irmos. All things are amazed at your divine glory, for you,
unwedded Virgin, had in your womb the God who
is over all
things, and bore his timeless Son, who grants salvation to all who hymn you.
When you saw him who is more than divine born in the
flesh from the immaculate Virgin, you recognized the end of the law, O holy
one, and you were initiated into the principles of the new covenant, as one who
was full of divine light.
Your mind was radiant by its inclinations toward the
divine. When you withdrew into its
hidden recesses, you were initiated into the awesome mystery of the
dispensation of Christ, blessed and holy Zechariah, though which we were saved
from deception.
You formerly served, O holy one, in the symbols and
shadow of the law, Zechariah, but now you are standing directly before God: intercede ever for us who praise you as a
servant of the Lord.
The crafty enemy of old removed me far from the better
way of life, but, having borne the Lord of all, you led me back up again, pure
Virgin, to the incorruptible glory, for which I glorify you.
Ode VI.
Irmos. Come, ye pious, celebrating this sacred and most
honorable feast of the Mother of God, let us clap our hands, glorifying God,
who was borne from her.
When you saw that
which the righteous formerly longed to
see, O prophet Zechariah, you glorified Christ, who had become a little child
of the pure Virgin for the sake of his kindness.
You were filled with joy when you saw John the Forerunner
born and, laying aside your silence, O prophet Zechariah, you blessed the
Almighty.
We ask you, O Zechariah, constantly to entreat, together with
John and Elizabeth, Christ the Lord, to give us the forgiveness of our sins.
You were a rod with a divine blossom, as a flower
unwatered, yet bringing forth Christ the Lord, wholly pure and divine Mother,
wherefore I ask you to pluck up the sprouts of my passions.
The Kontakion.
Today the prophet and priest of the Most High and the
father of the Forerunner, Zechariah, has offered on the occasion of his memorial
a table which nourishes the faithful and has mixed for them a drink of
righteousness, wherefore we honor him as the sacred teacher of the mysteries of
the grace of God.
Irmos. You who preserved the sons of Abraham in the
fire and destroyed the Chaldeans, who had unjustly laid a snare for the just—O supremely
exalted Lord, the God of our fathers, blessed are you.
You were a model of the priesthood of the law
and were manifestly initiated into the mysteries of grace, crying out, “O Lord,
worthy of supreme praise, blessed are you, the God of our fathers.”
O wise one, having shed your blood for the sake of the pure
Virgin, you were put to death between the temple and the altar, as it is
written, and you received the crown of martyrdom from the Lord, Zechariah.
Having perceived with a pure mind the mystery of the
incarnation of God from the holy Virgin fulfilled ineffably, you proclaim, O
blessed one, that the wholly pure Mother of God has borne him.
In the worldly temple, as a holy high priest, Zechariah joyfully
submitted to you, O Mother of God, crying to you, “Hail, all-holy Queen, the
most pure temple of the master.”
Ode
VII. Irmos.
All-powerful
Savior of all, you refreshed with dew in the midst of the flame those who lived
reverently, having descended together with them into the
furnace, you taught them to sing: All ye
works, bless and hymn the Lord.
O blessed one, you brightened your holy robe with the holy streams of blood and
you joyfully departed to the heavenly temple, Zacharias, interceding on behalf
of all men with the Lord.
You completed your life blamelessly, as the most pious
prophet of God, and you were deemed worthy to perceive the incarnation of
Christ, high priest Zechariah and inspired martyr.
You prophetically foretold to your son, “Holy child, you
will be called a prophet and forerunner of the Most High, for you will go
before him to prepare his ways and make them into a straight path.”
Wholly pure Virgin, who inexpressibly bore Jesus, our Savior
and Lord, deliver me from the dominion of the revolted tyrant, I entreat you,
leading me to the path of salvation.
Ode
IX.
Irmos. The stone which was not cut by human hands
was cut from you, the unhewn mountain, O Virgin, to be the corner-stone, which
is Christ, who joined together the separate natures. Wherefore exultantly we glorify you, O Mother
of God.
Initiate of the mystical spectacles, as a
prophet of the Lord and God-bearing high priest you also were a martyr by your
own blood, wherefore we bless you, all-blessed Zechariah.
Receiving now the whole, brilliant splendor of the Holy
Trinity and deemed worthy of joy beyond imagining, O Zechariah, prophet and
martyr, intercede for us who praise you.
We honor you with hymns and odes and cry out to you, O
prophet: with John the Baptist and your
spouse Elizabeth, unceasingly entreat God to give us his divine mercy.
Cause the water of incorruption to gush forth on me, as a
fountain of the streams of life, most highly-favored Virgin, and quench the
coals of my passions, so that I may hymn, most celebrated Virgin, the greatness
of your kindness.
ENDNOTES FOR THE CIRCUMSPECT
Another great work by St. Gerasimos of Little Anne
Skete. May his prayers avail for us.
Source: https://www.proseyxi.com/paraklisi-eis-ton-agio-profiti-zaxaria/.
I thank Zoilus Junior for his critical comments. I look forward to adhering to the strictures
levelled by Aeteia, the Lawfully-Wedded.
The reader who points out errors and mishaps in the translation may
advise me on Facebook (Orthodox Canons to the Saints).
Ode I.
“Your glorious life” (λαμπρότητα τοῦ βίου). Lit., “the brightness of your life.” Great Scott reports that brightness is
fig. for splendor, renown.
Bailly adds honneur. Lampe
reports glory. Once again, all
these definitions are simultaneously available to a student of Greek; only
translation requires us to pick one. I
am taking this as an attributed genitive (Wallace).
“Standing” (ἐφεστῶτα). The exact
same word is found in Amos 9:1 (εἶδον τὸν Κύριον ἐφεστῶτα ἐπὶ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου).
“Blameless” (ἄμωμον). Is this word to be understood as “moral and
religious” or “ritual and cultic” (Kittel)?
Most translators go straight to the “ritual and cultic.” Yet, as Kittel reports, “in the NT ἄμωμος is used of the perfect moral and religious piety of
Christians.” I break ranks with my
fellow translators by opting for the “moral and religious.” I have silently adjusted similar
ritual/cultic terms throughout.
“Led” (ὡδήγησας). An interesting choice of words. Logeion tells us that ὁδηγέω is unranked.
Hymnographers tend to avoid common words; since ἄγω is the 117th most common word, it was out
of the question. It is also possible that our hymnographer was
(unconsciously?) thinking of one of her most popular titles, Οδηγήτρια (guide).
“Bear” (ἐκύησε).
Montie reports that κυέω means carry in the womb, be pregnant, conceive
in the active, but to give birth to in the middle. Shrevelius reports bear in the active,
meaning carry in the womb.
English bear is equivocal.
“Let me celebrate” (ἀνυμνείσθω μοι). The
Greek seems awkward; the collocation is common enough in hymnography.
Ode III.
“Hymn-singing” (ὑμνολόγους). Awkward.
The alternatives are worse.
“Roaring” (βροντῶσαν). Usu. “thundering,” but Mr. K. adds “roaring.”
“The glory of Christ” (τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ λαμπρότητος). See note on Ode I.
“Were” (ἐδείχθης). Lit., “you were shown to be.”
Prayer
following Ode III.
“High priest” (ἱεράρχα). At first I translated as hierarch. Montie reports in an uncharacteristically
stuffy vein one who presides over an aspect of the sacred. Stephanus however reports the same definition
(qui sacris praeest) more briefly.
Fortunately, Mr. K. reports “high priest,” a title also ascribed to
Melchisedek.
Ode IV.
“More excellent” (ὑπερτέρα)
or superior.
“The inferior one” (τοῦ χείρονος) or worse. Appears to be another title for the devil.
Ode V.
Zoilus Junior suggested reading Κόρη
as Κόρης, which saved the troparion.
Kontakion
I greatly acknowledge that the final translation of this
kontakion benefitted greatly from discussions with Zoilus Junior and from Isaac
Lambertsen’s translation of the same.
“Teacher of the mysteries” (μύστην), as Shrevelius reports. Stephanos reports mysteriorum peritus,
conerning which Lampe mentions that this word is used by Paul the Silentiary to
describe priests as opposed to the choir.
Peritus leads naturally to my translation, since, as Stephanos reports,
μύστης means non solum discipulus et conscius mysteriorum, sed etiam
μυσταγωγός ap[ud] Dionys[ium] Areop[agiten]. Stephanus, however, disagrees with Bude, who
claimed that μύστης generally means μυσταγωγός.
[Joseph, can you check my understanding of the Latin of Stephanus s.v.
μύστης?] Donnegan reports
that μύστης means μυσταγωγός among “late authors.” Perhaps Donnegan’s proviso resolves the
disagreement.
Ode VI.
Irmos. Τὴν θείαν στάσιν. This irmos stem is not in the GLT irmologion
or any place else on the Internet.
Probably it is a scribal error for Τὴν
θείαν ταύτην, which is an irmos found in the irmologion in a Greek Orthodox
website.
Ode VIII
“Prepare his ways [and make them] into a
straight path” (προπορεύσῃ γὰρ τούτου, τοῦ ἐτοιμάσαι, τὰς ὁδοὺς εἰς εὐθεῖαν ἐπίβασιν). Our hymnographer seems to be rephrasing St.
Mark: ὃς
κατασκευάσει τὴν ὁδόν σου· φωνὴ βοῶντος ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ· Ἑτοιμάσατε τὴν ὁδὸν κυρίου, εὐθείας
ποιεῖτε τὰς τρίβους αὐτοῦ. The reader may
at his leisure decide whether the poet was successful in his attempt.
Ode IX.
Irmos. The
translation of one of the canons for mid-Pentecost as found on the website of
the Parish of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in Cardiff, Wales, was
extremely helpful in touching up my translation of this irmos.
Excursus on κόρη in the Greek
hymns.
Throughout the
hymns of the church we find references to the Mother of God as maiden. Why is that?
Let’s examine the
evidence of the lexicographers.
Great Scott lists girl,
maiden (“with respect to virginity”), bride, daughter.
Schrevelius lists virgin,
handsome woman.
Donnegan reports virgin.
Giles reports virgin,
daughter, bride.
Which of these
several definitions should we understand in our hymns?
Let’s take a
randomly chosen line from the menaion for the conception of the Forerunner—χαῖρε, ἀκήρατε Κόρη—and
apply each of the several definitions in turn:
(1) Hail, pure girl.
We can strike this
one out, as the Mother of God is not a girl in the NT.
(2) Hail, pure handsome-woman.
We can strike this
one out without further comment.
(3) Hail, pure bride.
We need to provide
more evidence on bride before we dismiss it. Montie reports that it means married or
wooed daughter. Clearly this sense
does not fit any context in which this word is used in or texts. Option (4) is dismissed together with (3).
(5) Hail, pure maiden.
This is the option
of most translators.
(6) Hail, pure virgin.
No one seems to use
this one.
Let’s take a closer
look at (5). COED defines maiden
as “girl, young (unmarried) woman, virgin, spinster.” Returning to χαῖρε ἀκήρατε Κόρη, we get the following
possibilities.
(7) Hail,
pure girl.
(8) Hail,
pure young (unmarried) woman.
(9) Hail,
pure virgin.
(10) Hail,
pure spinster.
We can dismiss (7) and (10) immediately. It takes a moment of thought to realize that
since the Mother of God appears
in the Gospel as already betrothed, she cannot be counted as a young
(unmarried) woman. This leaves us
with virgin.
Another fact to
consider is that if we translate κόρη as virgin in any hymn of the church, we will
always get a true statement. If we
translate it as maiden in any hymn of the church, we will never get a
statement consistent with the facts which we accept, for she is not a girl, an
unmarried young woman or a spinster.
Two questions
remain: why is the word used at all in
our hymns and what does our conclusion mean for translating our hymns?
As to the former,
our hymnographers rely on synonymia heavily.
This word allows the hymnographer to invoke the saint twice in a
troparion—as always—without using the same
name or title. However, this device translates badly into English—it
really breaks up the flow of thought and creates syntactical nightmares. I propose to simply omit the κόρη if both appear, as metrical convenience is not something
we worry about in English and double invocations are a mere artifice. Arguably the doubled and tripled invocations
heighten the emotional intensity—at least in Greek, though no one has ever
mentioned it—but such an expedient to intensify one’s emotions is not even on
the map of an Anglophone hymnographer.
There is in the translations from the Slavonic a tendency to avoid this
device—among others. When κόρη appears alone, I translate it as virgin.
