Supplicatory Canon to the Holy Priest Nicholas of Planas ... Rev. 1.10.25

THE SUPPLICATORY CANON TO ST. NICHOLAS PLANAS

BY HIEROMONK ATHANASIUS

Ode I. 
Irmos.  Of old, the wonder-working staff of Moses submerged the charioteer of the Pharoah, having as a prefiguration of the Cross struck and divided the sea, but saved fugitive Israel, travelling on foot, who raised to God a hymn of praise.

Yearning for liturgical splendor, Father Nicholas, you stand before Christ like the angels in imitation of your patron, the hierarch of Myra, with whom ever intercede for those who faithfully ask you.

In the midst of the turbulent world, O saint, you exhibited the life of the ancient ascetics, lifting up your mind and fortifying your heart with Christ-loving simplicity, which we ask you to bestow on us.

Despising the pleasures of the body, you possessed as your only pleasure, thrice blessed one, that of staying like a devout sparrow in the house of the Lord, praying constantly with affection and delighting in your Master.

O Virgin blessed by God, on behalf of those who ask for your fervent intercession, entreat your Son in a conciliatory fashion to be merciful to us and freely bestow upon us humility and purity of life, as he granted them to your servant Nicholas, O Lady.

 

Ode III.

Irmos.  O Lord, O builder of the vault of the sky and founder of the church:  Confirm me in your love, O summit of desires, support of the faithful and only compassionate one.

You received widowhood as a gift from Christ, wherefore you chose purity, Father Nicholas, through which you attracted the Spirit that loves virginal purity, which we ask you to grant to all who entreat you.

Having the holy purpose of the priesthood in mind, O Saint, you joyfully donned the robe thereof, and you served the Lord seraphically.  Render him merciful to me by your divine intercessions.

You were shown to be a Christ-bearing priest, O holy one, as one who sacrificed and consumed the Lamb of God daily; wherefore restore him to my soul by your prayers, mortifying my innumerable passions.

O Lady, deliver from every snare of the evil one those who call upon your life-giving name, and save them like sparrows from a trap, so that we may magnify you, wholly pure Virgin.

 

Prayers following Ode III.

Preserve your suppliants from all kinds of dangers, Father Nicholas, O splendor of the priests, and join us with Christ by your holy intercessions.

Fervent Intercession in Tone 2.

You were shown to be the very best exemplar of the good shepherd and a great man of prayer for the people; wherefore, Father Nicholas, fervently beseech the compassionate Christ, by whom you stand, even now, on our behalf.

 

Ode IV.

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

Angelical priest, remember all your fellow priests, transforming their souls and minds by your intercessions with the Master.

Stand steadfastly, Father, before the Lord and entreat him to deliver from the gloom of deception those who are misled by the troubles of life.

Take away the covetousness of my soul, Father Nicholas, granting me moderation and dependence on divine providence.

You revealed Nicholas, your suppliant, to be a starry heaven, Mother, having adorned his heart with the virtues on account of his purity.

 

Ode V.

Irmos.  Illumine us with your commandments, O Lord, and by your lofty arm grant us your peace, O merciful God.

You used to hymn God in your all-night vigils, most holy Nicholas; beseech him now on behalf of your children.

Grant us by your prayers the triumph which you achieved in Christ, O Nicholas, by which you subjected the world and its lord to yourself.

Guide the souls of those who honor you, O blessed one, to the way of holiness, confirming them by your unceasing supplications.

Beautify, pure Virgin, my dark heart, for you bore the exceedingly beautiful and light-giving Jesus, who disperses our darkness.

 

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.

You had a heavenly citizenship as a priest of the company above; wherefore, as one divinely winged, Father, you flew beyond Earth by serving Christ.  Deem us worthy, therefore, always to be raised above earthly things.

Serving the Master, O holy one, with all your heart and your whole mind, you participated in the holy mysteries which the eye cannot see; open, therefore, our mind, too, to the knowledge of the divine will.

The Master of heavenly beings sent you angels as attendants, rewarding your spiritual work which you performed unceasingly, O Nicholas; deem us worthy to share in this work and to occupy ourselves with it within.

I have grieved my noble Lord, being an impudent and unprofitable slave; wherefore, pure Virgin, I, having no boldness, set you before myself as my mediatrix again, so that he may reveal his fatherly compassion and to grant me the pardon of my offenses.

 

Prayers following Ode VI.

Preserve your suppliants from all kinds of dangers, O Father Nicholas, splendor of priests, and unite us to Christ by your holy intercessions.

Kontakion in Tone 2.  Protection of Christians.

Most holy priest of Christ and most zealous intercessor of the faithful, open the spiritual ears of your heart to the supplicatory voices of those who ask you faithfully and need your intercessions as quickly as possible; prevail over our every affliction, grant us deliverance from diseases and salvation to our souls, wholly blessed Nicholas.

 

Prosomoion in Tone 6.  Having laid all hope.

You crossed the stormy sea of the world dry-shod, having all your desire for heavenly things, for you lived like an angel; serving the Lord as a fiery minister, you keep vigil in the longed-for tabernacles, Father Nicholas, with your children, having acquired purity, and attracting the favor of God; wherefore, having received in abundance a succession of gifts, become the unsleeping intercessor of those who faithfully honor you.

 

Ode VII.
Irmos.  The Hebrew youths trampled underfoot the flame in the oven courageously and they changed the fire into dew, crying out, “Blessed are you, O Lord, our God unto the ages.”

A light used to descend upon you, showing your virtuous way of life, wherefore, renowned father, as you participate now in the divine light, send forth its rays to those who honor you with affection.

Angels and saints worked with you in every difficulty; beseech them, venerable priest, to come to me as allies and unconquerable defenders in my life.

You calmed an ungovernable horse by your prayer, thrice-blessed Nicholas; wherefore, lay to rest the passions of souls and give the peace of the Spirit to my perverse soul.

We wretches have no other hope amid the afflictions of life but you, O Queen, for you are the joy of the despairing and you disperse the clouds which disturb the eye of the soul.

 

Ode VIII.

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

O Father, you brought low the arrogant mind, for you wore the tunic of humility; wherefore, humble also my haughtiness, so that I may wear the vesture of the Lord.

You were shown to be a defender of the poor, as one who had acquired heart-felt love and you comforted them in afflictions, Father, with your sweet words, by which also sweeten me.

You were like your Master, O Father, conducting yourself with simplicity of heart; wherefore, we who honor you cry faithfully, “Give this simplicity to us as a key to the kingdom.”

My soul, O Mother of God, has become wholly leprous and the wounds of my offences have burst, wherefore I cry vehemently, “With Nicholas, entreat your compassionate Son.” 

 

Ode IX.

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

Your name has been exalted in an amazing way, and the story of your life has reached the ends of the earth, O priest, Christ-like in humility, wondrous Nicholas.  As you were a vessel of the virtues here in the body, so in Heaven be our intercessor, O blessed one.

A choir of intercessors of the heavenly Zion very joyfully showed your soul to be as that of a fellow celebrant with an angelic mind; wherefore, Father Nicholas, remember your servants fervently, and show them to be fellow-heirs of the divine kingdom, who honor your manner of living.

No longer does your weak body prevent you from praying, Father Nicholas, or from contemplating Jesus, but you see more clearly what you longed for on Earth; wherefore, we entreat you, “Deem us worthy to be gathered with you in the tabernacles of Eden.”

Incline your ear secretly, O ornament of the priests of the Lord, and benevolently receive the requests of your suppliants, and always bring them to your beloved Jesus, so that he may grant grace and mercy to as many as celebrate your divine memory.

By your maternal entreaties, O Lady, present my soul, which is paralyzed by the passions, to your Son.  Ask him, wholly pure Virgin, with the wondrous Nicholas, to raise it up to the keeping of his commandments and show it to be sound.

 

 

 

 

 

ENDNOTES FOR THE CIRCUMSPECT

This canon is by , by the Hieromonk Athanasius of Simonopetra, Hymnographer of the Great Church of Christ.  It may be found at https://stostavrodromitiskardias.blogspot.com/2022/03/blog-post.html and https://www.proseyxi.com/paraklisi-eis-ton-agio-nikolao-planan/.  

I thank Zoilus Secundus for patiently proofing my translation.  Any errors surviving his ministrations are purely my own.  Amendments are doubtless forthcoming.

On 1/10/24 I refurbished this fine canon.

 

Ode I. 

"In imitation of the angels" (ἀγγελομιμήτως).  Cf. ἀγγελόνοε and ἀγγελονόου, ἀγγελόβιε.  On the subject of compounds, note χριστοταπείνωτε in Ode IX.

“Ask” (αἰτουμένων) is definitely middle, so ask for oneself. “To do so” is interpolated to complete the meaning.  To say entreat misreads and churchifies the Greek.  However, I admit to exactly this churchification in various canons; sometimes it seems just perfect for the sentence and the sense.

Τρισμάκαρ (“thrice blessed one”) has been dropped from the first troparion.  Why drop it?  First, St. Nicholas has already been addressed (“O saint”).  Second, the use of τρισμάκαρ simultaneously interrupts and complicates an already long and complex troparion.  Third, it is likely that τρισμάκαρ is (in Glušac’s theory) a poetic vocative, i.e., a vocative whose presence is forced by required “by requirements of rhyme and sound.”  It is possible that a vocative is (again, in Glušac’s theory) emotive, meaning that it “indicates the speaker's emotional state,” although the hymnographer might believe he will thereby put his audience in the proper “emotional state.”  As such, the vocative, Glušac adds, can be used to mark different feelings such as compassion, love, endearment.  (Zoilus adds that scholars used to suppose that Homer’s epithets were metrical padding, but now realize that they were chosen deliberately to serve loftier purposes.)  Any reader who wishes can restore it to the text.  I would suggest putting “thrice blessed saint” between “Nicholas” and “you” to minimize the damage.  Τρισμάκαρ also shows up in the next troparion. 

“Which we ask you to bestow on us” (ἣν τοῖς δεομένοις σου δώρησαι).  Lit., “which bestow on those who ask you,” a charming rendition that is now a confusing archaism.

“In a conciliatory fashion” (ἱλαστικῶς).  App. a neologism.  The German lexicographers define ἱλαστικός as versöhnend (propitiating) or Versöhner (conciliator).  My translation is clunky because we have no handy adverb.  The OED, which countenances conciliatoriness and conciliatrix, disdains conciliatorily. 

“O Lady” (Δέσποινα).  This troparion seems to end in such a way as to secure epanalepsis (i.e., by addressing the Mother of God at the beginning and the end, but varying the epithet) via antonomasia (substituting an epithet for a proper name [COED]).  In reality, I assume that Δέσποινα is there to conclude the tone properly.  This figure of repetition is fairly harmless, since the substance of the troparion has been securely communicated. 

 

Ode III.

“Robe” (ποδήρη).  Stephanus quotes St. Jerome as saying that this garment “was one of the eight of a priest, which in Latin is the talaris, since it reaches to the feet.”  The robe is apparently a kind of synecdoche for office.

“Intercede” (πρεσβεύοις).  Athanasius uses the more polite optative in place of the imperative.
“To grant” (παράσχοις).  The verb is really an optative, forming a polite request. 

“Wherefore” (ὅθεν).  Metropolitan Athanasius uses this word nine times in this canon.  A similar word, διὸ, is used five times and another less similar word, οὖν, is used twice.  Definitely fillers for the syllable count.

“That loves virginal purity” (φιλοπάρθενον) is a word for word translation of a modern Greek dictionary (αυτός που αγαπά την παρθενική αγνότητα). 
“To grant” (παράσχοις).  The verb is really an optative, forming a polite request.

“Holy” (ἁγιότροπον) literally means que vive una vida santa (“who lives a holy life” [DGE]).  Either the Metropolitan thought it was a synonym of holy or he confused it with ἁγιόπρεπης (“holy,” “worthy of a saint”).  In any case, we cannot say “having a who lives a holy life thought.”

“Render . . . to be merciful” (ἐξιλεώσαις > ἐξιλεόω).  ἐξιλεόω is a flexible verb: appease, propitiate, expiate, purge from guilt (Lampe, LSJ) at one end and make favorable (Montie), render merciful (Lambertsen) at the other.  Somewhere in between lies conciliate, make inclined (Pape).  The appeasement-cluster seems to be a sort of echo of ἐξιλάσκομαι, which is thoroughly at home in the cultic world of the LXX.  However, Muraoka reports deal forgivingly in a few cases, which parallels the Montie-Lambertsen cluster.  There seems to be no question that this verb is intended to be a high-heels substitute for the semantically bleached ἱλάσκομαι (be forgiving, be favorably disposed [Muraoka]).  If we keep in mind the transition made in the case of ἱ­λα­σμός from expiation to forgiveness, pardon favorable or friendly attitude, we seem justified to vote with Montie and Lambertsen.  In general, we may make it a rule to assume that cultic terminology is intended to be understood as conciliatory language.  My translation is based on an assumption and analogy.  The assumption is that ἐξιλεόω—a verb particularly favored by 20th century hymnographers—is just a synonym for ἐξιλάσκομαι.  The analogy is that just as ἐξιλάσκομαι even in the OT could mean make gracious (Kittel reporting) as well as deal forgivingly with (Muraoka reporting), so also ἐξιλεόω may be regarded as similarly inclined and intended.

“Restore” (ἐγκαίνισον) is a verb with very different senses.  Lampe alone notes “inaugurate, consecrate, celebrate, renew, invent.”  This verb typically not used as here with the dative.  My translation is conjectural.

“Mortifying” (θανατοῦντα).  The Greek makes it clear that Christ is the one who mortifies the passions, not St. Nicholas or one’s soul.

Prayers following Ode III.

“Man of prayer” is my work-around for εὐχέτης.  We can’t say as do the Germans something like Beter (prayerer?).

“Very best icon” (πανάριστον).  Every def. of πανάριστον seems to fall flat in English.  After all, what is the point of adding a superlative prefix to a superlative adjective?  That is like saying “the bestest” (cf. ἀγαθώτατος, which St. Joseph the Hymnographer used, and “firstest with the mostest”).  Here again one remembers Nicoll's comment on “the tendency of late Greek to substitute compound for simple forms without substantial change of sense.”
“Exemplar” (εἰκόνισμα).  The modern Greek def. of εικόνισμα ranges from “idol” and “sacred cow” to “icon.”  εἰκόνισμα joins the ranks of synonyms for exemplar.  

“You keep vigil” is my guess for ἐπηγρύπνεις, which seems to be a misspelling of ἐπαγρυπνέω.  How “his [spiritual?] children” keep watch with him is not clear.

 

Ode IV. 

“Angelically” (ἀγγελόνοε).  Lit., angelically-minded.  The LBG definition--mit der Gesinnung eines Engels—does not tell us anything we could not have guessed, but does date it to the early 14th century.  Even Stephanos turns up his nose at this word. 

 

Ode VIII.

Ἐξέζεσαν read for ἐξέζησαν (burst).

 

Ode VI.

“Priest” (πρεσβύτερος).  This canon contains four other words for priest:   ἱερεύς (the favored word), ἱερουργὸς (“sacrificing priest”), συνιερεύς (“fellow-priest”), λευίτης (“Levite”). 

“Company” (χορείας).  Usually translated as “choir, chorus,” but Lampe provides the definition used here.  An already ambiguous passage would become hopelessly muddled if we allowed St. Nicholas to be a member of a choir above while on Earth.

“Divinely winged” (θεόπτερος).  This word is used to describe the Forerunner as a “divinely winged dove” (16^th homily of St. Hesychius).

“Beings” (οὐσιῶν) or essences.  “Now the word ‘Essence’ or ‘Being’ (οὐσία) means almost invariably an individual existence; more especially a person, since such is the highest type that individual existence can in this world assume. And, in fact, like the English word ‘Being,’ it may without qualification be used to mean an angel” (C. E. Rolt).

“To pursue it within” (ἐργάζεσθαι ἔσωθεν) is a good example of how the target language creates trouble where none exists in the source language.

 

Ode VII.

“With affection” (ἐκ πόθου).  A reminder that we are still working within the patronage system, in which clients are required to show affection towards their patrons.

“Perverse” (δυστροπούσῃ).  LBG is the only pre-modern lexicon to admit δυστροπέω, and it equates this verb with δυστροπεύω.

 

Ode IX.

“Christ-like in humility” (χριστοταπείνωτε).  The word seems to be unattested.

“Invisibly” (μυστικόν).  Lit., “your mystical ear.”  What the hymnographer intends is that even though we cannot see him, St. Nicholas still listens to us, perhaps even in confidence (as Mr. K. proposes for μυστικῶς).
“By your maternal entreaties” (ἁμάξῃ μητρικῶν σου ἱκεσιῶν).  I cannot figure out how to make sense of ἁμάξῃ, which literally means “by [the] wagon,” so I am using a tried and true expression until something better comes along.  I refuse to say “by the wagon of your maternal entreaties.”  Note that this theotokion is illustratively busy—seven verbs to keep track of, though only one adverb. 

“To raise it up to keep his commandments and show it to be sound” (ταύτην ἐξαναστῆσαι, καὶ δείξῃ ὑγιῶσαν, εἰς ἐντολῶν Αὐτοῦ ἐκπλήρωσιν).  Lit., “to raise it up and show it to be sound, to the keeping of his commandments.”  “Raise it up” and “show it to be sound” are probably intended as synonymia, but as usual the hymnographers cannot help piling it on.  I have tidied up the syntax so that it flows a little more gently in English.