CANON TO ST. ANDREW THE FOOL FOR CHRIST

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.

Andrew, earthly monk and constant companion of the glorious 
angels in Heaven:  Deem me worthy of their joy, as I await your divine grace.

Having conquered the evil one, Andrew, by intense asceticism, humility and prayer, you have indicated to us who bless you the noblest road to tread.

You were justly deemed worthy of imperishable gifts, Andrew, for you completed your life in nakedness and hunger, so that you might save all who take refuge in you from devastating hunger.

Wipe away my tears, O Mary, with the cloth of your warm prayers to your only-begotten Son, whom you bore marvelously, Mother of God.

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.

Crowning you with spiritual eulogies, we receive the benefits of your supplications to God, so that we may quickly trample underfoot the crafty wiles of the enemy, ascetic beloved of God.

Comeliness of ascetics, as you mocked dispassionately the temporal life, Andrew, show to all of us who praise your achievements the best road that leads us to the ramparts of Heaven.

Having blossomed like a fragrant rose among the incorporeal angels of God, you have filled us all with fragrances, and we shout faithfully, “Rejoice, Andrew, fervent intercessor with the Lord for those who bless you.”

All-holy Virgin, healing of the sick and cure of the wounded:  With the medicine of your entreaties, quickly heal the pains of our souls and bodies, pure Mother of God.

[Prayer following Ode III.]
Inspired Andrew, being equal in zeal to the glorious angels, you took the road of the fool-for-Christ as a madman; deem us worthy of imperishable glory.

 

Kathisma

Tone 2.  Fervent Intercession.
O wise Andrew, by your pretended follies you made a fool of the hateful, false teacher of wickedness.  Keep us unsullied who are in the world and seek your protection, O blessed one.  Make us who honor you partakers of eternal joy.

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

Direct me, namesake of courage, to the most fragrant garden of prudence and understanding, wondrous Andrew, garden of grace.

Joyfully we cry out to you who attained to the divine height of revelations, “Strengthen your supplicants to attain to the fullness of the laws of the Most High.”

You received a calling from God, holy Andrew, to feign madness and the power to defend those who honor you with hymns.

Make those who bless you obediently in the battles of life to be strong, O Queen, and grant your gift of virtue to those who seek out your Son.

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

As you saw the Mother of God protecting the faithful in the august temple of Blachernae, so protect all who honor you, Andrew.

Holy man, as you lived side by side with dogs and suffered persecutions, draw me, Andrew, towards eternal life.

Enable those who faithfully celebrate you in song as a lamp of the knowledge of God to come to know the saving commandments of God.

Lead us up from Earth to the pasture of Heaven, for we cry, “Hail, Mother of God, protector of eternal joy.”

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.

Hearken to all who pray to you, inspired ascetic Andrew, for Anastasia the Anti-charmer and John the Theologian confirmed God’s pleasure in the folly of your strange ways.

As you adorned yourself, Andrew, with the splendors of the virtues and wisdom beyond speech, lived in the land of the meek and became one with the love of your Creator, unite us to the choirs of the friends of the Most High.

Drive away harsh diseases from those who honor you, divinely wise Andrew, and mitigate the sufferings of those who praise the ways of your folly, through which you truly received the prize of imperishable splendor.

We, the choirs of the faithful, bring to you a song, virgin Mother, for we take refuge in your firm protection and fervent intercession amid all the adversities, temptations and dangers of life, O Virgin that is hymned by all.

 

Kontakion
Let us sing the praises of Andrew, begging him with affection for his intercessions to the Lord, for he took up the cross of foolishness upon his shoulders and feigned folly, so that he might gain eternal life.

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.

Greatly honored vessel of the Comforter, Andrew, as you were able to announce beforehand the things to come and see mystical sights in the vault of Heaven, generously send us the mercies of the Most High.

Deem us worthy, Andrew, to enjoy everlasting joy, for we celebrate you in song as one who lived with the angels and conversed with the order of the saints, who were kept by Christ from true folly.

Make your suppliants speedily victorious against the enemy that hates the good, for they call on your divine intercessions with the merciful Lord, the light of whose all-holy form you enjoy.

Chanting to the pure Mother of God that is blessed by all, who is the queen of the dwellings of glory and is higher than the heavens, we reverently cry, “O Mother of God, you are the protector of Christians.”

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

Hymning you, God-bearing Andrew, as an ever-flowing spring of mercy, we seek your fervent prayers to our Creator.

Strengthened by the power of the Cross, you dissolved the deceits of the most hateful Devil, divinely shining Andrew, our divine healer.

Guide us to the salvific pastures, O blessed Andrew, for you by your folly directed yourself to the divine dwellings.

Pure Mother of God, enable us who hymn and praise your immaculate Son to prevail over the passions of the flesh.

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.

Having made a fool of the false teacher of evil, Andrew, by your pretenses to folly, make your suppliants wise, teaching us the more advantageous things.

Equal in zeal to the martyrs and equal in honor to all saints, inspired Andrew:  Pray that our Creator, who is very merciful to all, be gracious to us.

As you are above terrestrial and mutable things, Andrew, show us who hymn you to be disdainful of every material possession and vain attachment.

Never stop entreating your Son, O Virgin highly favored by God, with the all-revered Andrew, on behalf of those who bless you with euphonious songs of praise.

 

ENDNOTES FOR THE CIRCUMSPECT

I thank my esteemed editor, Zoilus, for proofing my Greek and I thank Aeteia, my lawfully-wedded, for proofing the English.  Any errors surviving their ministrations are purely my own.

Title
“Fool for Christ.”  See a synaxarion for the background to St. Andrew the Fool for Christ (October 2) or go the Mystagogy Resource Center and read up on St. Andrew (https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/search?q=andrew+fool).

Ode I.

“Earthly monk” (επίγειε άσκητά) could be “earthly ascetic.”  As Lampe notes, άσκητής is a technical term for “monk.”

“Constant companion” (συνόμιλε).  Grammatici certant.  “Associate” is too businesslike.  Lampe’s “consorting with” definitely does not work; “constant companion” is bull’s-eye.  Schrevellius’ Latin translation confabulator (“converser with”) is suggestive; sodalis (Batman’s “chum,” almost “fraternity pal”) is hardly appropriate for liturgical English.

“Glorious.”  Lit. “of the glory of the angels.” This appears to be a case of hendiadys.  Hendiadys takes an adjective describing a noun (“joyful glee”) and turns it into another noun, then links the two either by a conjunction (“joy and glee”) or (as here) by the genitive.  In the prayer behind the ambo, one modern translation has us praying for “the complement of the church,” which not only retains hendiadys when we most desire an attributive adjective but also mistranslates πλήρωμα.  The proper translation is “the entire church.”

“Divine grace.”  These are fighting words in Western Christendom.  Anyone reading St. Paul with the view that grace is “a supernatural help of God for salutary acts granted in consideration of the merits of Christ” (Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911) is bound to misread St. Paul and to suppose that our hymnographer wants us to think that St. Andrew is sending us “supernatural help . . . for salutary acts,” putatively “granted in consideration of the merits of” the saint, since grace can only come from God.  BRIEFLY:  The word grace does not have such a limited meaning either in antiquity (where it had a wide range of meanings), or in St. Paul (who uses most of the anciently available range of meaning), or in this canon (which probably relies upon the epinician poets for its use of the word).  AT LENGTH:  St. Paul did not avail himself of the Augustinian revival of the early modern era but of the χάρις of his Greco-Roman context.  The reader is directed to James R. Harrison’s book—Paul's Language of Grace in its Graeco-Roman Context (Mohr Siebeck, 2003; Wipf & Stock, 2017)—for details.  If that book is too much, the reader will be delighted that merely by reading the epinician poets (e.g., Pindar, Bacchylides, Simonides), he will be better equipped to understand St. Paul’s use of the word than if he had studied old-school Augustinians.  As for the poets, Chris Eckerman notes that "scholars generally assume that χάρις, in epinician poetry, has a broad semantic range that includes splendor, glory, charm, favor, ode, grace, gratitude, and service" ("Χάρις in the Epinician Odes of Pindar and Bacchylides").  Turning now to St. Paul, Harrison notes that grace must be understood as part of a culture to which St. Paul appealed to make his arguments for the faith.  He adds in his epistles that grace must also be regarded within a constellation of themes:  glory, wealth/abundance, mystery, power.   

“Asceticism.”  According to Lampe, ασκήσις in general refers to spiritual exercise, training or discipline. In particular, it can mean the study of Scripture; the practice of piety, e.g., virtue; more generally, it can refer to the devout life or religious practice, including worship.  Finally, it can refer to the austere life, i.e., asceticism, “in general, involving restraint in food.”  St. Andrew went far beyond restraining his appetite, as his life makes clear.

Ode III.

“Spiritual eulogies.”  Lampe includes secret and sacred among the meanings of μυστικός.  According to my esteemed editor, Zoilus, this troparion alludes to the pagan practice of crowning athletes metaphorically with encomia. 

“Comeliness.”  Here again my editor remarks on the ancient Greek custom of praising victorious athletes for their beauty.

“Inspired” (πνευματοφόρε).  “Spirit-bearing” or “inspired”?  A kenning, acc. to the OED, is a periphrastic expression used instead of the simple name of a thing, esp. used in Old Teutonic poetry.  For example, Old English hordweard means literally “guardian of treasure,” but in Beowulf it means “dragon” (which is what dragons do in fairy-tales) or “king” (since a king can be his own Secretary of the Treasury).  “Spirit-bearing,” then, is a kenning for “inspired.”  In the same vein, we should never refer to St. George as the Trophy-bearer, but as Victorious (because it is the victor who bears the trophy).

“You mocked.” Mocking is, according to my esteemed editor, “regularly used to express superiority in physical (i.e., athletic) activities.”

 

Kathisma
“O wise Andrew.”  A good example of the challenges of translating these hymns.  The first part literally reads, “Wise Andrew, having made a fool of the hateful sophist of wickedness by your pretended follies.”  Our hymnographer liked this expression enough to use it again in the kontakion (μωράνας τής κακίας σοφιστήν, Ανδρέα, ταις σαις μωραις προσποιήσεσι).

 

Ode IV. 

“Obediently” (εύτάκτως).  Great Scott has regularly, Montanari has orderly, regularly, in good order and obediently.  Gorski persuades me with poslušan.  The reader may take his pick.

Ode V.

“Torch” (φανόν) could also be lamp.

Ode VI.  Φαρμακολυτρίας: “one who cures wounds; epithet of St. Anastasia” (Lampe).  Sophocles defines it as “anti-charmer.”  Since there is evidently no word in English which captures this Greek word, and the usual circumlocution—“deliverer from potions” is unbearably clunky—I voted for “anti-charmer.”  John Sanidopoulos transliterates the Greek as Pharmakolitria.

“The choirs of the friends of” could also be “the choirs of those who love.”

 

Ode VII.  
“Lived with.”  Liddell-Scott defines σύσκηνος as “one who lives in the same tent, messmate.”  Montanari adds tentmate.  Schrevellius defines σύσκηνος as contubernalis. This recalls Jn. 1.14 (ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν:  “he dwelt among us,” not “he encamped among us”), which led me to render σύσκηνον as a verb.  For good measure I did the same for the troublesome συνόμιλον (see n. 1).  Compare ὁμόσκηνος, which appears in a canon to St. Nicholas Planas.  It can mean messmate (LS), dwelling with, companion, comrade (L).  In fact, Stephanos seems to regard these two adjectives as synonyms.  He adds to our definitions of σύσκηνος collega (colleague, associate, fellow). 

“Protector” (προστάτις) or “patron.”  This word reaches deep into the culture of euergetism.  See my Facebook for some links to relevant articles.
 

Ode IX.  
“The more advantageous things.”  Tά κρείττονα can also mean things that are better, superior, preferable, higher, etc. (Montanari).  Lector eligiat (let the reader choose)!

“Merciful . . . gracious.”  Gracious could also be merciful.  The verb is ίλέωσαι, which is the aor. pass. impv. of ἱλάσκομαι, which in the active means appease or conciliate, but in the passive means be merciful, kind or gracious.