ST. GERASIMOS' SUPPLICATORY CANON TO ST. DAVID OF EVIA

 

Ode I. 

Irmos.  Of old, the wonder-working staff of Moses submerged the charioteer of the Pharaoh, having struck the sea crosswise and divided it; but it saved fugitive Israel, who, travelling on foot, raised to God a hymn of praise.

Daring to praise in song your holy memory with a loud voice, I beg of you to shine your glorious grace on my mind and give me strength, so that I may worthily sing praise to you, David, blessed by all.

You brought forth a most luxuriant flower from a radiant root, Father, and from childhood you breathed forth a sweet fragrance stronger than an unbridled life, having dedicated yourself completely to the Savior from your youth, O Father with a heavenly mind.

With great joy were you deemed worthy of a vision of the Baptist, Father, and joyfully obeyed his voice; though in body you were not yet mature, yet you were mature in understanding.  And you stayed in his temple, O holy one, as though you were truly bodiless.

Father, your venerable father was astounded when he saw you in the holy temple wholly shining as with lightning before the icon of the renowned John, O saint, and was prepared for your future illumination by the Holy Spirit.

The race of mortals has been saved from the condemnation of first-formed Adam by your ineffable birth-giving, O all-pure Virgin; for having borne God beyond the confines of reason, you proved to be the patroness of joy for us; wherefore we duly praise you.

 

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.

As one who has loved God from childhood, O saint, you wisely left the love of your parents and you followed with an unhesitating heart and wise mind the footsteps of Christ.

Watered by the streams of the Scriptures, O Saint, and ever-nourished on the divinely inspired oracles, even in youth you appeared to be wholly and divinely wise, filled with great understanding.

Having divine strength in your soul, O saint, from youth you withdrew yourself from the deceit of the world; as an exile from your homeland, you dwelt with the Lord, taking up his sweetest yoke.

Following your divine calling from Heaven with great desire, O saint, you found the wise Acacius, who with loftier prudence directed you well to the course of your heavenly journey.

From your pure blood you bore marvelously the Creator of all, who became flesh to save mankind, which had fallen through deceit, O Lady, Mother of God and refuge of the world.

 

Kathisma.  Tone 8.  The Wisdom and Word.

You truly longed for the virtuous and pure life from childhood; as a chosen vessel full of wisdom and the calling from above, guarding your mind victorious over the nature of the world, O blessed one.  Wherefore receiving the schema of the monks in like fashion as men of old, you gave ear to the ascetics, our inspired Father.  Intercede with Christ our God that we who celebrate your holy memory with longing be granted the remission of our offences.

O Maiden, as his mother, entreat the Savior and Maker of all—whom you bore in a manner transcending nature and who delivers all men from harsh slavery—to save us from the madness of the serpent and from worldly snares and afflictions, only Mother of God, for we look only to you, and faithfully we seek your swift help, which ever saves us.  You always pray that those who celebrate you in song, O Virgin, attain to the future glory and splendor of the joy of your Son.

 

Ode IV. 

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

Smitten with divine longing, you were joyfully obedient, blessed David, to the divinely wise Acacius, being adorned by your humility.

You subdued the arrogant serpent, Father, by your humility, and, celebrated by all, you were exalted by your holy works.

As an inspired monk, Father, you came to Mt. Athos, where with divine you wiped clean love the ascetics who had fallen.

Cultivating zeal in all things like the monastic saints of old, St. David, you shared in their grace even in latter times.

O Maiden, you were a divinely blossoming shoot, having cultivated without cultivation a flower—the Lord of all—who filled the world with a divine fragrance.

 

Ode V.

Irmos.  Why have you thrust me from your presence, O light inaccessible?  And why has the alien darkness covered me, a wretched man?  But correct me and guide my ways to the light of your commandments, I pray.

Having been crucified by those who are in the world, you mortified, O Father, the presumption of the flesh and in all things you were a model of the virtuous life, hearkening entirely to your master, as one subject to the divine will.

O holy Father, being as pure as can be, you became a priest of the mysteries of God and his august minister and servant; wherefore, someone saw a divine light circling you, revealing the radiance of your glory.

Guided by the Holy Spirit, father, as a genuine friend of the God of all, you halted in Steiria, O inspired one, subjecting yourself to greater troubles, not caring for the flesh.

On behalf of your neighbor, as a most inspired imitator of Christ, out of true love you joyfully subjected yourself, St. David, to harsh punishments after you were unjustly denounced, for you were full of kindness and goodwill.

 

Having borne ineffably the Creator of all things and Lord, O highly favored Mother of God and pure ever-virgin, deliver my soul from its captivity to the passions and illumine me with the light of repentance.

 

Ode VI.    

Irmos.  Be merciful to me, O Savior, for many are my transgressions, and lead me up from the abyss of sins, I pray—for I have cried out to you—and hear me, O God of my salvation.

Beautified with marvelous understanding, divinely wise one, and shining from your ascetic labors, O blessed one, you halted in Euboea, St. David, like an angel with divine foresight.

As a spiritual sanctuary of grace, Father, you raised an august temple on the mountain to the transfigured and deified man, Christ, wholly blessed David.

As one who has purged his soul, you entered in the Spirit into the divine darkness of the ineffable illumination, O wise one; then you received, Father, in your heart the divine and resplendent light.

As a guide and teacher of the virtuous life, you had a venerable company of disciples, O saint inspired by God, which formed the divine training grounds for those who were imitating your daily life, holy David.

As you have borne, pure Virgin, the wisdom of God, the hypostasis and co-enthroned Word of the Father, in the likeness of the flesh, deliver my soul from the tricks of the avenging spirit.

 

Kontakion.  Tone 4. Today you have appeared.
You have appeared as a most bright star in the world, shining down on all who approach you in faith, O David, boast of the Fathers.

 

Ikos

Let us, the faithful, all send up a hymn to God, who gave strength to his servant David to contend honorably in the noblest struggle for virtue.  For, though he appeared in the last times as an ever-shining star of divine radiance, he had the same zeal as the saints of old long ago, having the same character in his life as they did and partaking in their ways.  He was their partner, equally renowned in the glorious splendors of his achievements.  After struggling in a great number of places, with divine approval, he arrived at the island of Euboea.  Then he built a church dedicated to the transfigured Savior on Tabor and founded a holy monastery as a harbor of salvation.  He showed kindness to all with divine gifts of healing of soul and body.

 

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.

With the streams of your divine teachings, as an inspired servant of the Lord, you soak the fields of souls, inspired one, for a greater and eternal fruitfulness of salvation.

Your monastery, wholly blessed one, observes your feast day, having acquired your body as august gold, through which it rescues men from all kinds of soul-destroying afflictions.

Let Euboea leap for joy today and hymn brightly with psalms and odes David the renowned, since she has acquired him as her protector and champion, defender and great fame.

You raised a church to the Lord of all dedicated to the Transfiguration on Mt. Tabor where you, O divinely wise David, received in your heart divine illuminations.

Heal, O Maiden, my soul, diseased incurably by sin, and give me strength, O pure Virgin, against deception, as you have driven out, O Queen, its dread madness.

 

Ode VIII. 

Irmos.  Hymn the Lord, who was glorified on the holy mountain, and made known to Moses the mystery of the Ever-virgin in the burning bush, and exalt him above all forever.

The Creator who received your prayers from Heaven and glorified your holy life, O David, wished to deliver those troubled terribly by the scourge of mosquitoes in Disto, Father.

Though you founded a lofty commonwealth, you were manifestly humble, virtuous, sympathetic and an imitator of Christ, O David.  You also gave alms generously and provided relief to all men, near and far.

You were truly a great champion to those beaten down amid terrible dangers and the best physician of all to those in sicknesses.  To those who were afflicted, O wonder-working David, you appeared as a sweet comforter.

Having ascended the height of perfection of miracles, O wise one, you have gained grace, and you have gone through numerous places, Father, granting profit of souls and bodies as a receptacle of the Spirit.

You fearfully received the flame of Godhead, even Christ, without being burnt; you bore him two-fold in nature, one in hypostasis, unchangeable and unmixed for the salvation of the world.

 

Ode IX. 

Irmos.  Heaven was amazed at this and the ends of the Earth were astounded, for God appeared bodily to men and your womb became more vast than Heaven; wherefore, Mother of God, the orders of angles and men glorify you.

Having cleansed your heart of earthly thoughts with your severe asceticism, Father David, you were filled with the noetic light; wherefore you also prophesied clearly to your disciples your departure to God, to whom you also entrusted divine covenants filled with grace.

You went up to the glory of Heaven after you completed your holy struggle, Father David, and you immediately rejoiced mystically in the tree of life, having been reckoned a citizen in the lands of the saints; to us your children, you have left your divine body as a divine consolation.

O truly highly honored treasury of the grace of the Spirit, your divine and wonderful head has been brought to light, Father David, always fragrant and gladdening the souls of the faithful, furnishing strength and health to those who take refuge in you with reverence.

O great protector of Euboea, O holy and wholly blessed David, protect your monastery from every plot; watch over your present island and preserve it unharmed, and direct even me to the path of salvation, for I have newly composed this hymn to you.

O brilliant, golden lamp, radiant and illustrious temple in which Christ, the Creator of all, dwelt and rendered us vessels of divine activity and beauty! O Virgin Mother of God, with the light of your intercession illumine my darkened mind.

 

ENDNOTES FOR THE CIRCUMSPECT

Source:  This canon appears to be another one by St. Gerasimos of Little Anne Skete to the saint.  One fine copy, among others, may be found here or here.  I thank Zoilus for proofing the Greek and I thank Aeteia, my lawfully wedded, for proofing the English.  Any errors surviving their ministrations are purely my own. 

 

Ode I. 
“Renowned” (τοῦ πάνυ).  A perfect example of why it pays to look at the end of the lexical entry and not at the beginning.  A contemporary translation of a canon to St. Nicephorus the Leper simply omitted τοῦ πάνυ—probably because the adverbial definitions (totally, completely, quite etc.) did not make sense.  πάνυ is the word in Greek for our colloquial assents (“Totally!”, “Absolutely!” etc.

“Father . . . father” (Πάτερ . . . γεννήτωρ).  An awkward line, but progenitor (the “definition” provided by Montanari) is a word that survives only in the lexical ossuaries of the learned.

“Patroness” (πρόξενος).  The Greek typically means patron, protector, intermediary. Lampe has agent. 

 

Ode III.

“Even in youth” (ἐν νεανίαις τελῶν).  This puzzling construction of τελέω features an intransitive use of a verb which is more commonly used transitively (bring to completion, finish, complete, etc.).  Several hours of frustrating research came to an end with the PGM version of St. Gregory Palamas, in which ἐν τοῖς γέρουσι τελῶν was rendered as inter senes vivens.  It is odd that a verb normally employed as a circumlocution for dying should be used to mean living.  Better to render as “belonging to the monastery” (since as per Coptic a monk is an old man).  My final translation of ἐν νεανίαις τελῶν reflects the English preference for the abstract youth over the concrete young men.

“Withdrew” (ἀπέστης).  The verb can have more kick than that—it can mean renounce or even rebel.

“Dwelt” (προσῳκειώθης).  As Zoilus observes, this can be rendered as “resettled with” after “the addressee has relocated from his homeland.” 

“O Lady, Mother of God and refuge of the world” is a good example of one of the hymnographers’ favorite rhetorical devices—the figure of fullness.

 

Kathisma. 

“Victorious over the nature [or form]” (σχέσεως ἀνώτερον).  Only the DGE preserves this useful definition of ἀνώτερος.

 

Ode IV.

“Adorned” (σεμνυνόμενος).  I conjecture that our hymnographer confused σεμνύνω (honor, celebrate in the active; have a modest demeanor in the middle; be arrogant in the passive) with σεμνόω (embellish, adorn) (Montanari).  In our case, the verb is plainly middle-passive.  However, it is worth noting that Great Scott defines σεμνόω as exalt, magnify in the active and give oneself airs in the middle.  Schrevelius defines σεμνύνω as to make venerable and majestic, extol, set off, exalt, exaggerate, σεμνόω as to make venerable or splendid, set off, embellish, extol mightily, exaggerate.  Kontopoulos defines the active of σεμνύνω as to render venerable, the middle as to pride in, glory in.  A number of lexica omit σεμνόω (e.g., Great Scott and Stephanos).  My hunch is that our hymnographers, due to their epinician roots, are always looking for a way to work in adornments and embellishments.  “Made venerable by your humility” is another possibility; “extolled by your humility” or “glorying in your humility” seem less likely.

“Were exalted, etc.”  The translation of περίβλεπτος ἐν πράξεσιν ὤφθης ταῖς ὁσίαις ἀνυψούμενος is tentative.

“You wiped clean etc.” (ἀπομάττων . . . τὰ παλαίσματα).  Literally, “wiping clean the falls of the ascetics.”  This compressed expression sounds odd in English.  Similarly, in the Iliad, we find Ἀλεξάνδρου ἕνεκ᾽ ἀρχῆς (Γ 100).  This simple line sounds odd in English, too:  “on account of the beginning of Alexander.”  Anthon generously expands it to read "on account of the conduct of Alexander, which gave a beginning to the whole war."     

“Ascetics” (ὁσίων).  Presbyteros notes that ὅσιος is Byzantine jargon for ascetic.

“Falls” (παλαίσματα).  The Greek refers to falling in the context of wrestling.  Over and over again, the hymnographers underscore the similarities of the struggles of athletes to win their contests and those of monastics to win theirs.

 

Ode V

“Submitting” (καθυπακούων).  Stephanos quotes Dindorf as remarking that this exceedingly rare verb is a figura inepta pro ὑποβάλλω (“a clumsy way of saying submit”).

 

Ode VI.

“Shining from your ascetic labors” (πόνοις ἀσκητικοῖς, ἐκλάμπων).  As Zoilus notes, “Pindar often uses light as a metaphor for victory. The victor is often depicted as "bright" because of all the πόνοις he has undertaken in athletic training and contest.”

“Being a spiritual, etc.”  This short troparion is problematic.  St. David is referred to as father, saint, David and wholly blessed.  I opted to drop “saint” in order to make the troparion work in English.  If anyone wants to put “saint” back in, he may add it wherever he likes.  Then I added “Christ” in order to make it clear to whom the temple was dedicated. 

“Training grounds” (σκάμματα).  Another athletic metaphor.

“Tricks” (σοφισμάτων) could also be “specious arguments.”

 

Kontakion.
“Boast of the fathers” (πατέρων τὸ καύχημα) is followed by a truly puzzling τῶν ἰαμάτων τοῖς θείοις χαρίσματι (“of the healings by the divine with a gift”?).  It is not until the end of the ikos that the solution is found:  There we find exactly the same phrase.  Whereas in the kontakion it makes no sense, in the ikos it makes perfect sense.

“Favors” (ἰαμάτων).  Or gifts, graces. 

 

Ode VIII. 

“Without being burnt” (μὴ φλεχθεῖσα τὴν ἄχραντον νηδύν σου).  Literally, “not having kindled your immaculate womb,” which in English is grotesque.

 

Ode IX. 
“The tree of life” is Christ.