Troparion
O Mother of God, you are our refuge, strength and the mighty help of the
world! By your intercessions, protect your slaves from every need, as you
alone are blessed.
Ode 1
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.
Most holy Mother of God, save us.
In your sympathy, heal me, O Maiden—for I am
desperately sick in body and soul—and ask for the forgiveness of my sins, for
you are the Mother of the compassionate God.
Most holy Mother of God, save us.
Worn out by never-ending misfortunes and grave
disease, I am cruelly distressed; I flee to you for relief, O
Mother of God.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
Heal my body’s pains and wounds with your fervent
and providential care, O Maiden, and give me, your suppliant, strength and
health, for I have been miserably humbled.
Now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
O glory and joy of the angels! Give me joy,
for I have been painfully distressed by bitter infirmities on account of the
multitude of my sins, O Mother of God.
Ode 3
Irmos. O Lord, who covered the vault of
the sky with a roof and built the church: confirm me in your love, O
summit of desires, support of the faithful and only merciful one.
Most holy Mother of God, save us.
Since you truly pour forth oceans of healings, heal
the disease of my soul and treat the sufferings of my body, most celebrated
Virgin, so that I may glorify you.
Most holy Mother of God, save us.
O Virgin, Mother and Maiden: in your sympathy
treat my distress and heal the most grievous wounds of my heart. Raise me
from my bed so that I may always walk according to the will of God.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
Utterly exhausted from painful sufferings, I have
been flung to the ground like a rag by my misfortunes, but, most celebrated
Maiden, remove from me the heavy burden of my toils and grant me joy-giving
strength.
Now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
Weakened by wickedness, I have fallen into bitter
disease, and my body is afflicted by many pains, O Maiden; offer me your hand
of help, pure Virgin, and deliver me from the hardship which torments me.
Ode 4.
Irmos. I have heard, O Lord, the mystery
of your dispensation; I have meditated on your works and glorified your
divinity.
Most holy Mother of God, save us.
Deliver my heart from agonizing pains, pure Virgin,
and heal my body, which suffers from the unbearable flame of fevers.
Most holy Mother of God, save us.
Having been crushed by sins, I have been afflicted
by many painful diseases; nevertheless, raise me up, O Maiden, and grant me
healing.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
With showers of divine kindness and with the
sweetness of your goodness, sweeten the bitterness of my heart, O beneficent
Maiden.
Now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
Most celebrated Queen, raise up my life, which is
distressed by sufferings, diseases and afflictions, and save me, a wretched
sinner.
Ode 5.
Irmos. Illumine us with your
commandments, O Lord, and by your lofty arm grant us your peace, O merciful
God.
Most holy Mother of God, save us.
Tormented by the greatest sufferings, I cry out to
you, O Mother of God, for you are the refuge of the sick: “Heal me, your
miserable suppliant.”
Most holy Mother of God, save us.
Look sympathetically on one who is wasting away in
diseases and hopes in you with all his soul, O Mother of God, and grant me
healing.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
I am exhausted, pure Virgin, and grow weak amid
torments caused by the bitter disease which has come upon me, but pity me, a wretch, and save me.
Now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
May I have true strength—your fervent protection—and
I will be delivered quickly from the sickness which has found me, wholly
pure Virgin.
Ode 6
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.
Most holy Mother of God, save us.
O Mother of God, you are the delight of angels and
the true joy of men. Heal my soul, which is afflicted by terrible
sickness and pain, and grant me joy as the beginning of eternal joy.
Most holy Mother of God, save us.
O Virgin, you have given birth to the physician and
savior of our bodies and souls, who pours forth streams of mercy. He
is the maker of all things and our Lord. Heal my life,
which suffers now from harsh trials.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
I have remained ill abed for a long time and waste
away from bitter sickness. I entreat you as the well-spring of mercy to
have mercy on me and heal me, O Queen, and grant me health of soul and of
body again.
Now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
My whole body is in pain and my soul is afflicted by
an unbearable stroke of calamity. As I finish my life with groans, I
cry to you from the uttermost depths of my heart: “Sympathetically
deliver me from the dangers which have found me, wholly pure Virgin.”
Ode 7
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.
Most holy Mother of God, save us.
Grant even me, a wretch, strength and consolation,
and give me health and the forgiveness of my many sins, for you are a fountain
of kindness, most holy Mother of God.
Most holy Mother of God, save us.
All my bones have been in pain from bitter
sufferings and unbearable diseases, and great distress troubles my life, but, O
pure Virgin, deliver me from my sufferings.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
My entire life has been filled with sufferings and
every grief, but behold from on high my affliction, pure Virgin, and in
your compassion give me healing.
Now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
Look with your compassionate eye upon your suppliant
in your mercy, for I am terribly ill, O Virgin, O Mother of God; give me
healing in body and peace to my soul.
Ode 8
Irmos. The king of Heaven whom the hosts
of angels hymn, hymn and exalt him above all forever.
Most holy Mother of God, save us.
Deliver me from the pollution of my soul, O Mother
of God, and heal my weak body with the salvific medicines of your benevolence.
Most holy Mother of God, save us.
Having been led astray by foul deeds, I have become
defiled and have grieved Christ, my benefactor; therefore, give me repentance,
O Mother of God.
I fall down with a contrite heart and wretchedly cry
out to you, O Mother of God: “Heal the hardship incurred by my base
life.”
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
O Maiden, as the fountain of compassion, pardon the
measureless sins I have committed in my life and heal me in soul and body.
Now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
Stained in my soul by sins, I am afflicted by
illness in body, but, O Mother of God, do not disregard me forever.
Ode 9
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.
Most holy Mother of God, save us.
By your invigorating intercession, deliver me from
the harsh pain of infirmity and heal my soul, which suffers from the passions.
Most holy Mother of God, save us.
I ignore the way of God and suffer from desperate
sicknesses, O Virgin, but I will be healed by your kindness.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
Look down from above, O Maiden, upon the pain which
scourges my life harshly, and deem me worthy of your sympathy and healing.
Now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
I will not cease to hymn you with my unprofitable
mouth, O Virgin, for you are the guardian of my life, and from you I receive
the dew of healing.
ENDNOTES FOR THE CIRCUMSPECT
I thank my esteemed editor, Zoilus, for checking the rectitude of my Greek
and eagle-eyed Aeteia, my lawfully-wedded, for proofing the English with
her incisive insights. All other mistakes may be legitimately attributed
to me.
This canon was composed by the greatest hymnographer of the 20th century, St. Gerasimos of Little Anne Skete. The Greek text was marred by numerous misspellings and solecisms, which were silently corrected.
Revised on 1/9/25 to make much needed changes and to add preventative notes.
Ode 1.
“Our redeemer and God.” This is a good example of
hendiadys, the “expression of a complex idea by two words connected
with and” (The Oxford Concise Dictionary [6th ed.,
1976]). Some translators, sensing the awkwardness of hendiadys in
English, render “God, our redeemer.”
αίτει: Although Great Scott includes beg, BGAD does
not. The verb is present tense, which implies that we are asking the
Mother of God to keep on asking, not ask just once.
τε και: Montie reports both . . . and, with
emphasis on the second member. However, the τε might
have been tossed in to top off the number of syllables. September and
October exhibit no such collocation.
“Sins” (πταισμάτων), which Great Scott defines
as stumble, trip, false step, mistake, error and misfortune,
adding that it is also a euphemism for defeat. Muraoka says
that the word is only used euphemistically for defeat in the battle in I Sm.
6:4. The word is not used in the NT or in the Apostolic Fathers.
Lampe says that it is synonymous with ἁμάρτημα (failure, fault in
Great Scott). Lampe defines ἁμάρτημα under ἁμαρτία as slip, error, sin.
He says that the difference between them is that ἁμάρτημα refers
to ”the individual act” of sin, whereas ἁμαρτία refers to
“sin in the abstract.”
Summing up, it seems that two positions are possible. The first is
that πταῖσμα is
simply a synonym used to break up the monotony of saying ἁμαρτία/ἁμάρτημα. The
second is that πταῖσμα refers
to the kind of sin that arises out of a mistake or misstep, as opposed to
malice.
“For” (οιάπερ). Stricto sensu, “(just) as.” This
canon is interesting for the synonyms of ως,
including οἷα and ώσπερ.
ατρώτοις (invincible). Unranked. Stephanus
remarks that ατρώτος
significat . . . invictus, indomitus, ut ἄτρυτος, which (as Great Scott
reports) means unabating, limitless, etc. ἄτρυτος is also
unranked.
Ode III.
The Greek of this canon numbers this ode as the second, which is typically
reserved for Lenten canons.
“Virgin-Mother and Maiden.” A good example of the hymnographic
tendency to stack the titles of the Mother of God (schesis onomaton).
“Most celebrated” renders Πανύμνητε, which is usually translated as all-hymned,
which is meaningless. See my discussion on
the first ode of St. Nektarios' Theotokarion.
“Distress, trouble” (συντριβήν). Lampe
reporting.
“Joy-giving” (ευφρόσυνον), as reported by Pring, is my best
bet.
“Hardship . . . torments” (συνεχούσης . . . θλίψεως). Mr. K.
reports trouble, grief, sorrow, affliction, distress. Zerwick
reports hardship, affliction.
“Torments” (συνεχούσης). Schrevelius reporting.
Ode IV.
“Queen” (Δέσποινα). For a discussion, see note 2 on the first ode of St. Nektarios' Theotokarion.
“Heal” (ίασαι). This verb does not govern the
genitive, but του σώματος
can only
be accounted for if it does.
“Beneficent” (φιλάγαθος). Tricky word. Schrevelius
reports virtuous.
Great Scott reports that this adjective is used “as
an honorary epithet in inscrr. of religious associations.” Hederich
reports benignus (beneficent, kind). Cremer provides the most
thorough survey of this puzzling word. This quality refers to someone “who
devotes himself in earnest to right doing.” He adds that in “ecclesiastical
Greek . . . we find the word mostly used in the particular sense of one who
likes to be kind, who likes to do good.”
Ode V.
“Exhausted” (Κέκμηκα). Schrevelius reporting.
“Grow weak” (εκλείπω). Donnegan reports also faint and fail.
“Amid torments” (ὀδυνόμενος). For ὀδυνώμενος we find in this
canon ὀδυνόμενος.
Ode VI.
“Make . . . joyful” (χαροποίησον). Unranked. When
I tried to find the Perseus statistics on χαροποιέω, I was rebuffed (“Sorry, we
didn't recognize the form”). Montie reports that it occurs in the
Symmachus at Ps. 20:7, but Rahlfs denies it. Chrysostom uses this
word, though, and it shows up in recent hymnography. Lampe reports
no first-tier sources for this word.
“Beginning.” The word υπόθεσις has many
different kinds of meanings: basis, foundation, hypothesis, starting
point, book etc.
“Trials” (ετασμοίς). Unranked. When I tried to find
the Perseus statistics on χαροποιέω, I was rebuffed (“Sorry, we didn't
recognize the form”). Similar in reporting to χαροποίησον.
Montie and Muraoka cite a handful of verses in the LXX. Great Scott and
Montie did not define but referred the reader to the foregoing word, ἔτασις (Great
Scott reporting trial, affliction). To add insult
to injury, Pape did not define ἔτασις but referred the interested
to ἐξέτασις (ranked
4644th), for which Great Scott reports close examination, scrutiny, test;
Mr. K. adds darkly that this word is used to mean inquisition (as
in The Inquisition).
“O Virgin, have given birth etc.” A good example of how convoluted our
hymnographers can be. In morphologically rich languages like Latin and
Serbian, word-order is much more flexible than English. The tendency of
English to collapse under the weight of too many subordinate clauses is well
known; Dr. Johnson’s achievement in writing euphonious English
in the periodic style is truly underrated. Another problem is the
multitude of associations packed into the space of a single troparion. I
did some violence to the Greek to make the English comprehensible. One thinks of Schopenhauer’s censure of
contemporary authors in 19th-century Germany who “say what they have to
say in long sentences that wind about in a forced and unnatural way; they coin
new words and write prolix periods which go round and round the thought and
wrap it up in a sort of disguise.” Having read such German, I sympathize
with him. I have seen Latin, too, which fits his description—Martianus
Capella and St. Faustus of Riez come to mind. St. Gerasimos does not meet
Schopenhauer’s standards but occasionally comes close in obscurity and
complexity of expression, probably due to the influence of Pindar. It would unfair to pretend there is no other position. Skelton (1463-1529) praised poets
whyche full craftely
Under as coverte termes as coude be,
Can touche a troughte and cloke it subtylly
Wyth fresshe utteraunce full sentencyously.
“The fountain of mercy to have mercy.” Our hymnographers are often, as here, unapologetically
repetitive.
Ode VII.
“Give me healing.” I expanded κατ΄ άμφω (“in both of them”) into “in body
and soul,” as this sort of brevity is typical of St. Gerasimos’
style. However, I omitted “to my soul” at the end since in English
the indirect object is implicit and the repetition of the word soul is
overwhelming.
Ode VIII.
“Heart” (διανοία). Pape reports that this word is used “in
LXX chiefly for לָבַב,” which Blue Letter Bible reports is translated in
the KJV as “heart (231x), . . . , mind (4x), understanding (3x).” Lambertsen
translates a similar phrase as “with a contrite mind.” I normally
think of a heart as contrite, not a mind.
“Pardon.” Ίλαθι, when transitive can mean make propitious,
make kind, propitiate, placate, make
favorable, expiate or pardon
(Montie). If Great Scott is right to make appease the
original definition, then the extended meaning of pardon follows
naturally from the notion that if the angry feelings of a god are soothed, he
will evidently pardon the culprits. Montie cites the OT for the
meaning of pardon. Lust et al. report that ἱλάσκομαι means to
pardon something (not someone!) in the middle voice but to be
merciful or propitious in the passive. Cunliffe
reports, “Lend a gracious ear.” Sapiens reports that “it is
important to translate it in a way to indicate good disposition. After all, ilaomai/
ilaskomai has the root of ilarion as in Phos ilarion (‘gladsome light’).
So I would say, in the non-causative, ‘be gracious, be merciful.’ And
in the causative form ilaomai/ilaskomai would be make gracious/merciful, turn
to mercy, or something of the sort . . . I also agree that propitiate is awful.”
Ode IX.
“Suffer” (ετάζομαι). Note that this word has the same root
as ἔτασις.
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