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 20^th 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.”