The Supplicatory Canon to the Holy
Prophet Daniel
by Archimandrite Nikodemos Aeraki
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.
By the power of the Spirit, O Daniel, you were anointed as a
prophet and an instructor of things to come.
By your intercessions enlighten me, so that I may hymn your contest.
O Daniel, treasure of chastity, beseech the Word to deliver us
from temptations, for we honor you in faith, O blessed one, and meditate upon
your ordeals.
O Daniel, model of fasting, fortify us all for spiritual exercises
and the keeping of the divine commandments, so that we may gain the fatherland
above.
O Mother of God, give me the strength to hymn my Savior, Jesus, in
a manner pleasing to God, for beyond expectation you bore him who redeems
mortals from corruption.
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 clement Lord.
You were deemed worthy to foresee things to come, O Daniel, and to
strengthen the people and their leaders with faith. Wherefore, by your
intercessions, protect the faith of the Orthodox from error and heresies.
Daniel was a servant of the truth, saving the chaste Susannah from
an unjust death; my soul, imitate him and receive temperance by Daniel’s
intercessions with the merciful Lord.
Having been furnished with wings by the power of the Spirit,
Daniel solves the puzzles of the king and saves all the wise men of Persia from
unjustifiable death, and he proclaims that the Lord alone is clement.
I am unable to speak piously, O Queen, and worthily proclaim your
wonders, wherefore I offer you with a humble heart my poor praises, which I beg
you to accept, immaculate Virgin.
Prayers between Odes 3 and 4.
Preserve us from the snares of him who hates and envies us, for
you, O Daniel, are a great prophet of the living God and our mediator with the
Lord.
Kathisma. Tone 2.
O prophet of God and herald of the divine faith, star of the just,
example for rulers, all-praiseworthy Daniel, you closed the mouths of the lions
and with the prophets in Zion you intercede unceasingly on behalf of us all.
Ode IV
Irmos. I have heard, O Lord, the mystery of your
dispensation; I have meditated on your works and glorified your divinity.
Your prophet, O Lord, is an unsleeping intercessor for the
Orthodox; by his prayers send down upon us who honor him the Comforter.
Earnestly entreat the light-giving Lord, O Prophet Daniel, to
deliver those who honor you from the passions and the deception of godlessness.
The love of your creator, Prophet Daniel, proclaimed you also to
be the confident patron of those who long to be chaste in the Spirit.
By your intercessions, O Queen, send down the grace of your Son on
us, so that we may all escape the destructive sweetness of the passions.
Ode V
Irmos. Illumine us with your commandments, O Lord, and by
your lofty arm grant us your peace, O merciful God.
Open the eye of my soul by your grace, so that even I may perceive
the life of God, O Daniel, though I am a wretched sinner and lie asleep in the
darkness of spirit.
Raise even me, Daniel, to a pious life and to the virtuous life of
God, so that I may gain the mercy of my Savior.
Fortify us, Daniel, with the divine teachings and statutes of
Christ our God, so that we may be saved from the teeth of the abysmal dragon.
You prevailed against the man-hating tempter, sacred Virgin,
keeping yourself chaste, wherefore you received him in your womb who cannot be
contained.
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.
Blessed one, when you were in the pit of the lions, you closed
their mouths, for God fought on your behalf and humbled the impiety of your
enemies; I beg you, O Daniel, to preserve me from the malice of the demons.
You are the boast of the prophets, Daniel, and the exemplar of the
spiritual champions, for you were adorned by many virtues and you renounced the
mutability of the passions: Deem us all
worthy to become your imitators, O thrice-blessed one.
O Lord, strengthen by your grace those who honor the divinely-inspired prophet Daniel, for we are all tempted terribly by the destroyer of man, who is the
enemy of the good; we beg you to preserve us from him by your grace.
The church is brightly adorned, O Queen, pondering the wealth of
your wonders, for in you God was made flesh, and we mortals have been delivered
through him, but you have gone to Heaven, where you are second to the Trinity.
Kontakion. Tone 2.
You have been proclaimed to
be the boast of the prophets, O Daniel, the prefiguration of the ascetic saints
and martyrs, most reverently confessing God in Persia, wherefore you have
received as your reward the Kingdom of God and inexpressible joy. By your intercessions, protect from all
temptations those who hymn your life reverently, O prophet glorified by God.
Prosomoion.
You loved God, having wisely despised all vanity, supremely
honorable and all-glorious Daniel; you received the wealth of the gifts of the
prophets to solve riddles; you stopped the mouths of terrifying lions by the
grace of God; you glorified the Lord and the repose of the saints was given to
you; wherefore on behalf of all who reverently honor your memory, entreat the
Redeemer as an intercessor acceptable to God.
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.
In faith we celebrate Daniel the Prophet,
earnestly entreating him to save the world from idols by his supplications, so
that we may joyfully chant, O God of our fathers, blessed are you.
Seeing the coming of the Lord and the judgement,
Daniel became a prince among all men, in the midst of the godless, and cried to
the Lord, O God of our fathers, blessed are you.
Since you were saved from the lions, Daniel,
save all men from the arrows of the adversary, confirm those who confess Christ
faithfully and with gratitude cry out, O God of our fathers, blessed are you.
Pure Mother of God, deliver all men from
drowsiness of heart and open the gate of repentance, O Virgin, to those who cry
to the Lord, O God of our fathers, blessed are you.
Ode VIII
Irmos. The king of
Heaven whom the hosts of angels hymn, hymn and exalt him above all forever.
Investigating Daniel’s way of life, let us
imitate him in our lives, hymning Christ forever.
Having conquered the madness of the impious,
Daniel cries with joy, Hymn God forever.
We confess with Daniel that Christ is the king
and judge of all, whom we supremely exalt forever.
Glorified Virgin, save those who hymn you from
various kinds of suffering and danger, so that we may hymn your son forever.
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 prudently abolished the law of the king,
you proclaimed in signs the living God; deem us worthy to magnify him in hymns.
Magnify Daniel in hymns, my soul, and entreat
him to plead with Christ on behalf of mortal men for their salvation and repentance.
Seeing the judgement of God, O Daniel, give wells
of tears to those who hymn you with affection, so that we may wash away the
sins of our life.
Hymning Christ your son, O Mother of God, we all
entreat you to give us release from debts and your great mercy.
ENDNOTES
Source of Greek text: https://www.proseyxi.com/paraklisi-eis-ton-profiti-danihl/.
Ode
1.
Instructor. Ὑφηγητής can mean guide, leader, teacher or master
(Liddell-Scott).
Contest.
Ἄθλησις can also mean struggle or trial.
Ode 3.
Φιλάνθρωπος
(philanthropos) can mean benevolent (Montanari), lenient, merciful
or clement (Lampe). David Alan
Parnell observes that the Byzantine notion of philanthropia has roots in the
Hellenistic conception of “active benevolence,” which might be revealed by
financial generosity (hence our word philanthropy), but also by “politeness” or
“kindness” (“Justinian’s Clemency and God’s Clemency.” Byzantina Symmeikta, 30, 11-30. DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/byzsym.20487).
Another important root of the Orthodox use of this word is the Roman
concept of imperial clemency—notably exercised in mildness towards one’s
opponents in battle or enemies in murderous politics. When Constantine made Byzantium the New Rome,
neither he nor his citizens forgot that they were Romans. Even in the 20th century the
Christians of Cappadocia referred to themselves as Romans (see Ascetics in
the World, vol. 1, St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite Publication Society, 2008). Whereas we like to distinguish Classical
Greek influences from Hellenistic Greek influences, and Roman influences from
Mediterranean and so on, to a Greek-speaking Roman of the eastern empire, all
Mediterranean civilizations from Crete to Constantinople were inseparably
blended. In the same way, all these
ingredients of philanthropia were rolled together. English-speakers parcel out the same ideas
differently, so it is hard to translate philanthropos in a natural-sounding
way. My feeling that is when God has
every right to destroy us in our sins but does not, it is a matter of clemency
(as in governor’s clemency); otherwise, one can say merciful or benevolent.
Ode 4.
Shameless. ’Aκαταίσχυντος is easily misunderstood, because Classical lexicographers like to
put the core or etymological meaning first in the entry, then list the ways the
word is used in different contexts.
Lampe therefore defines this word first as “that cannot be put to shame,”
then follows up with its more useful definition: “confident.”
Patron. Προστάτης can mean supplicant, leader, guide,
custodian, protector, defender, patron (Montanari), champion, supporter,
protector (Lampe). If I have to choose
one of these several shades of meaning, it is not because all the rest of them
are “wrong.” My choice was guided by the
consideration that patron and client form the basic building block of Byzantine
society. The Romans did not believe in
what we call the self-made man; they believed in social access. Orthodoxy hymnographers accepted this basic
fact of life; they made the saints our patrons.
The reason προστάτης has so many definitions is because being a
patron is busy work: he must intercede
for his clients, protect them from enemies, defend them in court etc.
Ode
6.
Champions. An ἀθλητής is a champion (as in “the breakfast of
champions,” not as in “to champion a cause”) or combatant. The modern-day analogue might be Olympic
contestants. The translation “spiritual
athlete” is evidence that the metaphor is tricky to convey in English. “Spiritual champion” is my attempt to capture
the long-term, aggressive nature of ascetic endeavors—one must fight oneself,
the world and the demons.
Tablet. The word πυξίον is a puzzling one. The word comes from πυξίς,
which means “box made of box-wood” (Liddell-Scott). It can mean a tablet
made of box-wood or a list (Montanari).
Is ἀθλητῶν τὸ πυξίον “the tablet of spiritual champions”?
In a Theotokion found in a service to St. Symeon the New Theologian, the
Mother of God is described as “the golden and most eminent πυξίον of Habakkuk”
(πυξίον κροκόλευκον Ἀββακοὺμ
καὶ τὸ ἔξοχον). This latter reference refers to Hab. 2:2, in
which God instructs the prophet to write a vision clearly on a tablet (γράψον ὅρασιν καὶ σαφῶς εἰς πυξίον).
It may be useful to remember that in
the canon for the Forefeast of the Annunciation, the Mother of God is described
as “the divine scroll” which “will be written in by the finger of the Father,”
namely, the Word (Τόμος ὁ θεῖος, εὐτρεπίζου· Πατρὸς τῷ δακτύλῳ γάρ, ἐγγραφήσεται ἐν σοί, ὁ θεῖος Λόγος σαρκούμενος, τὴν ἐξ ἀλογίας μου, λύων παράβασιν). This image of the finger
of God refers to Exodus 31:18, where we read that “the two tablets of
testimony” (τὰς δύο πλάκας τοῦ μαρτυρίου) were “written by the finger of God” (γεγραμμένας τῷ δακτύλῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ).
I suppose that the Theotokion in question has combined ingredients
from Exodus and Habakkuk to link to medium of the tablet both divine revelation
and its public propagation. This may be
underwhelming for us, because we live in an age of instant mapping utilities and
online news, so we cannot easily appreciate the importance of monuments and
signs in the ancient world. E.g., the
Twelve Tablets of Roman law, which were supposed to remain in public view, were
in theory the only deterrent to judicial abuse.
The Ten Commandments played a similar role not only in ancient Israel
but even as recently as 20th century America. In Don Quijote, we find the worthy knight reflecting that his "famous deeds" would "be worthy of being cast in bronze, sculpted in marble and painted on tablets" (I.2).
If we examine a random collection of largely hymnographical
sources employing the image of the πυξίον, we can see how the tablet is seen as
depicting divine news, as it were, for the benefit of all Christians.
Our first quote comes from the same service
(but not the same Theotokion) to St. Symeon, in which we are told that he is τῶν
ἀποκαλύψεων τὸ πυξίον
τὸ σεπτόν
(“the august πυξίον of revelations”).
In an Akathist
hymn to the Mother of God in connection with the Resurrection, we read that she
is “the πυξίον of the invisible
God” (τοῦ
ἀθεάτου Θεοῦ τὸ πυξίον). Here it seems that as a figurative tablet she
compensates for the invisibility of God.
In
a service to St. Sisois, we read that he is the “πυξίον of
the divine Spirit.”
In a contemporary Akathist to St.
Symeon the New Theologian, we are told that he is “the πυξίον of august
priests.” Here the tablet seems to come
close to the notion of exemplar.
Similarly, in another contemporary service to St. Matrona, the saint is
hailed as “the πυξίον of wisdom and virtue.”
In a
canon to St. Irene Chrysovalantou, we read that St. Irene is “the steadfast πυξίον”
(τὸ πυξίον τὸ ἀσφαλές). Perhaps this means that her life will always
glorify God. One would think that a
tablet is by nature steadfast; is it possible that the composer had in the back
of his mind the word σαφῶς from Habakkuk and reached for a
similar-sounding word, namely, ἀσφαλές? τὸ πυξίον τὸ σαφές would make more sense.
In a homily by St. Gregory of Nyssa,
we read that a pure heart becomes a “πυξίον of the divine law.” Presumably a living tablet (cf. II Corinthians
3:3, which also references Exodus 31:18).
Two other details need to be
considered for a better view of the whole matter.
First, in view of the fact that πυξίον comes from πυξίς (small bottle [Montanari]), whence we
get pyx and box, it is possible that some
hymnographers thought πυξίον
meant a vessel of some sort. In a service to the saints in Kastoria, we
read St. Nicanor is “a vessel of grace [and] the πυξίον of wonders.” Similarly, in the akathist to the Mother of
God the Kykkiotissa, the Mother of God is hailed
first as “the treasury of mercy” and then as the “πυξίον of compassion.” This clustering of vessels may not be an
accident.
Second,
according to the Lexikon zur byzantinischen
Gräzität, πυξίον
can mean book. This may seem puzzling, but in English itself
the word book comes from the word for beech in Old English and in Latin
the word liber originally meant bark. Although everyone admires the clay tablets
and stone monuments of the Sumerians and Egyptians, the nations of Europe
settled on wood as a cheaper and more manageable medium for durable
inscriptions. Therefore, it is possible
that some hymnographers understood πυξίον
to mean book.
To
sum it up, we cannot expect this word to mean only one thing in Greek, anymore than a word like book can mean only one thing in English. However, it seems that when the prophet Daniel is called “the tablet of the spiritual champions,” he is being cast as a standing record
of divine revelations available to all who are engaged in spiritual combat—a
permanent must-read announcement from Heaven.
Update. I am now convinced that πυξίον (tablet, vessel) is used as a synonym for τύπος (image or model), along with ἐκτύπωμα, ὑπόδειγμα etc. My theory about certain tricky words in the hymns is that hymnographers are constantly looking for synonyms—even fairly remote ones—to break up the monotony of certain recurring words (miracles, vessel, exemplar, splendor/splendid, deliver/rescue, reverent, icon etc.).
The destroyer. That is, the devil.
Ode 8.
Way of life. In Greek, way of life and life
are different words (πορεία [lit. “journey”] vs. βιός). In English, the sense of the second word is brought out more clearly by making it plural.
Ode
9.
Release from debts. In
Aramaic, debt is used figuratively of sin (so Zerwick; cf. Mt. 6:12 and Lk. 11:4), so we may
understand this to mean “forgive us our sins.”
