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.
You were a wondrous field of Mt. Athos,
producing sweet fruits, divine Father Paisius, and a new defence of ascetics.
O Father, you taught your sons to guard their thoughts against wicked
mischief and constantly to have in mind noble thoughts of Christ.
With streams of tears you intercede with Christ, O Father, for all those
in need, Paisius, and for all who entreat you in your cell.
In manner transcending nature, Paisius the new truly saw with his eyes your divine form, Mary, on Athos in the last times, ever-virgin Mother of God.
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.
The grace of Christ revealed you as a victor, Father Paisius, for you
wholly humbled the possessed man—Little George—who had been trained in Tibet by
the destroyer of man.
Inspired Father, the Lord of the whole world long ago showed his
likeness to you on Mt. Athos for the sake of the benefit of men, and you were
filled with great grace, O Paisius.
The mind of men is at a loss to know how in reality you received in your
cell, O blessed one, the greatly hymned megalomartyr and wondrous Euphemia,
holy Paisius, boast of the Fathers.
We who are all worn out
by diseases of the body, Mother, know you to be a well of healings and the noblest
physician; therefore, we ask you in faith for your divine help, Bride of God.
Irmos. I
have heard, O Lord, the mystery of your dispensation; I have meditated on your
works and glorified your divinity.
The assemblies of those who approach you, Paisius, confessed that you
were the patron of their salvation by your instructions, saintly monk.
You were the noble healer of the two sick boys, O saint, at the supplication of their physician father, O honorable Paisios.
In a wonderful fashion, O Paisios, you often shed the light of Christ during
prayer and you chanted hymns and melodies from your heart.
O Bride of God, grant light to my darkened soul, for you bore the Lord of the universe and the inaccessible light of men.
Ode V
Raise your hands constantly to the Lord on behalf of those who seek your
miraculous power and on behalf of youths who have fallen into sins, O Paisius.
By your intercession with the Lord, wise
Paisios, you dispel the atheism of many young people who come to your hut and
break their fetters.
With assistance from above, most holy saint,
you guide many young men to the course of Christ and you show them the noblest
things of life.
By your birth-giving you have been recognized as a wall that cannot be broken and the unshaken foundation and protection of the faithful, all-pure Mother of God.
Your venerable hut, Paisios, truly rests in the monastery of Souroti as the
source of its happiness, O godly minded one, and supplies to the faithful
gifts, healings of diseases of soul and treatment of the wounds of the flesh.
We often had the splendor of your form, God-bearer, in the last days,
for you were recognized as a wise healer of those suffering from cancer, Paisios,
physician of the possessed and support of those exhausted by toil and
suffering.
The elated pride of the enemy is rocked by your holy might, all-blessed
saint, for you came as one living from your tomb, and you freed the possessed
youngster from slavery to the enemy and from his malice.
I have not acquired the gift of tears to bewail the multitude of my sins, and I am deprived of compunction and of soul-saving groaning of heart, O Mother; wherefore, by your intercessions with Christ crush my terrible dissoluteness.
You were subject to the Lord, a strenuous faster and a lover of prayer, a
teacher of the young, a most attentive physician of the sick and the suffering
in these last days, O Paisios.
Discreetly and justly you completed your life in Athos and other places,
God-bearer, and you received the gift of discernment in abundance, guiding the
faithful on the paths of salvation.
You illumine with your words the young who had fallen amid the tumults
of Belial, showing them the deeds they must do as enjoined upon them by Christ,
all-blessed one, and explaining to them the will of the Lord.
Enable us all to see by your intercessions the form of your Son, for we honor you, Maiden, and venerate with affection your holy icon, for you are the divine protection of us all.
Irmos. The
king of Heaven whom the hosts of angels hymn, hymn and exalt him above all
forever.
Your divine tomb in Souroti was, godly-minded one, shown to be a meadow
of spiritual gifts and of healings of various diseases.
Wholeheartedly we praise your honorable memory, God-bearer, and beg for
your grace, Father Paisios.
The most wicked serpent, Father, creeps stealthily to strike down my
miserable soul, but I have confidence in and rely on your power.
You were seen to be the protector of men, most-holy Virgin, as you virginally bore the Word of the Father, Christ the life-giver.
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 seen your grace and the healings, which you, O admirable one, do every
day, we hymn together your life, Father Paisios.
Your tomb became a stream of gifts in Souroti, Paisios, giving
healing to the ailing in both body and soul.
They honor your divine memory gladly in Konitsa, Athos, Souroti and in all
the church, Father Paisios.
I worship your Son, Mother of God, and I celebrate with hymns the beauty
of your countenance, ever-blessed Mother.
ENDNOTES FOR THE CIRCUMSPECT
This canon is by Metropolitan Joel of Edessa. This canon is found on several sites on the Internet, including Fr. Christopher Klitou's website here. Any reader unacquainted with St. Paisius may avail himself of John Sanidopoulos's wonderful Saint Paisius the Athonite Resource Page. I thank Zoilus for proofing the Greek and I thank my eagle-eyed Aeteia, the Lawfully Wedded, for proofing the English. Any errors surviving their ministrations are purely my own.
Ode I.
“Were” (ὤφθης).
A plain vanilla translation of a tricky verb. It is the suppletory aorist passive of ὁράω (see). This form may be used to
mean appeared, seemed, were seen, proved to be. However, we have to remember that Pindar and
his imitators avoided the substantive verb (εἰμί) in preference for more
poetic substitutes. Among the
hymnographers, that substitute is often ὤφθην. In this canon, that word shows up four times.
“Defence” (παλλάδιον). According
to the Oxford Classical Dictionary, “miraculous guardian statues were common in
ancient cities, but none was more famous than the Trojan Palladium, a small wooden
image of armed Athena.” The reader may
note that παλλάδιον is not capitalized, so it has passed from being a proper
noun to a common noun. Classical lexica
know this word as a proper noun—παλλάδιον;
modern lexica know it as a common noun.
Of the modern lexica which I consult, only Alexandrou’s admits both the
proper (Palladium) and common definitions (shield, protection).
“Guard their thoughts.” The
meanings of λογισμός include calculation and reckoning (cf.
logistics) (Montanari), reasoning (Great Scott) and imagining
(Lampe). One thinks of a bad man
imagining how he could pull something off and defend himself if caught.
“Thoughts.” Ἐννοήμα also means concept, notion (Montanari) or even mental
concept (Lampe). Muraoka has “that
which results from pondering.”
Schrevelius adduces “reflection.”
One does not describe a bad man as being reflective or a good man as
calculating. The DGE cites Aristotle (τῆς ἐμπειρίας ἐννοήματα [pensamientos surgidos de
la experiencia]). It would appear from other texts using this word that these thoughts are
about Christ. We might say “good
reflections about Christ.”
“Entreat” (ἐξαιτουμένων . . . ποικίλα αἰτήματα). Lit., “ask (or beg) for various requests.” The problem is that words of entreaty in
English tend be selective about their arguments. E.g., we do not “ask for requests.” “Make various requests” carries connotations in
English (politely phrased command, e.g.) that don’t belong in a hymn. Entreat, however, is one of those
marsupial verbs, so to speak, for it carries within itself the object of
entreaty.
“Above nature” etc. This
troparion is a good example of how hymnographers shove as many distractions
into a single sentence as they possibly can.
Ode III.
“Little George” is apparently mentioned in Hieromonk Isaac’s Elder
Paisios of Mount Athos, trans. Hieromonk Alexis (Trader) and Fr. Peter
Heers, ed. Hieromonk Alexis (Trader), Fr. Evdokimos (Goranitis) and Philip Navarro
(Chalkidiki, Greece: Holy Monastery
“Saint Arsenios the Cappadocian,” 2012), 212-215.
Ode V.
“Raise . . . constantly” (ὕψεις σταθηράς)
presents some spelling issues. Ὕψεις appears to be a misspelling for ὕψοις, which is optative, and is therefore a
polite substitute for the imperative. σταθηράς seems to be a misspelling of σταθερώς (constantly). This is an unusual spelling error. Hymnographical misspellings typically involve
vowels whose pronunciation are the same.
E.g., ὕψοις and ὕψεις are pronounced the same, but σταθηράς and σταθερώς are not (to the best of my
knowledge) pronounced the same.
Ode VI.
“We often had the splendor of your form” (ἐμφάνειαν,
τῆς μορφῆς σου ἔσχομεν) may be a convoluted way of saying, “we often visited you,” but I
am not sure. Ἐμφάνεια is not a common noun.
“Dissoluteness” (ἀκρασίαν). Or incontinence,
intemperance (Alexandrou).
“Have confidence in and rely on” (θαρσοῦμαι καὶ ἐλπίζω). In modern Greek, θαρσοῦμαι means have confidence in or be hopeful of. Montie reports have courage, be
confident, confide. Similarly,
ἐλπίζω does not only mean hope but rely or trust. I selected the definitions which went together
most smoothly. There is no denying that
this line is pleonastic. Also, it is
curious that θαρσοῦμαι is middle/passive voice, but the only indication of a change in
meaning—found in Montie—does not seem appropriate (risk? dare?).
Ode VIII.
“Protector” (σώτειρα). Really, savior. Muraoka finds σωτήρ to be applied to God,
men, doctors, secular rulers in the LXX. In our language, of course, savior is uniquely construed. Montie reports
savior, protector, deliverer for σωτήρ. Pape reports Erhalterinn for σώτειρα, but
that is one uncommon German word.
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