Canon to St. George the Victorious (Bishop of Argyroupolis, Seraphim of Byzantium)

  

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.

Blessed George, having contended for victory in your divine struggle, you were deemed worthy to attain to heavenly joy, interceding for your servants before the Lord.

You conquered the tyrannical decree by your inspired struggles, but I ask, O spiritual champion, by your intercessions to pity me, for I am always brought low by diseases.

As a temple of the Creator of all, by your prayers, blessed George, show those who reverently approach your icon to be habitations of the Spirit.

You are, pure Virgin, the strength and hope of my miserable soul.  You are the unsetting light of my darkened heart, wholly pure one.

 

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.

Great-martyr of the Lord, defend us now–whether we are sleeping at home or walking on the road–guiding into pastures established by God those who always flee to your divine protection.

Fellow of the martyrs, companion of angels, and peaceful harbor of all afflicted souls:  deem us now worthy of joy who hymn you with affection, victorious and admirable saint.

By your fervent intercessions deliver from all kinds of diseases and afflictions of the soul, O martyr of the Lord, those who honor you and now flee to you undoubtingly, O martyr George.

Entreat the kindly Lord on our behalf, that we be delivered from every distress and misfortune, Virgin, Mother of Christ and Queen of us all; preserve us unharmed who honor you.

 

Prayers following Ode III.

Preserve by your intercessions, great-martyr of the Lord, those who run to your intercession in faith and honor you, victorious George.

Κathisma. Tone 2.  Seeking things above.

Your suppliant knows that you, George, are a fervent defender and great protector:  visit him speedily, then, and raise him from his bed and deliver him from pain and disease.

 

Ode IV. 

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

I am a wretch ever afflicted by infirmities and numerous dangers, O George; help me as one condemned, I beseech you.

Being bound for the sake of the Lord, you have destroyed every evil work of Beliar, for which reason preserve all those who faithfully hymn you, O George.

Deliver us from diseases and afflictions and from every kind of hardship, O very blessed George, by your intercessions with our Savior.

Give me strength, wholly pure Virgin, and preserve me from cruel dangers and raise your unprofitable servant up from the dunghill of the passions by your intercessions.

 

Ode V

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

Inasmuch as you received the spiritual light in your heart, O George, with the divine light make bright the darkness of our soul.

O George, gazing on the souls of your servants, illumine us with the splendors of grace, for we have been darkened by our transgressions.

Heal and blot out the troublesome passions of our souls, O George, by your prayers to our Creator, we entreat you.

Pure Virgin, lead us up out of the abyss of despair and guide your suppliants to the haven of true repentance.

 

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.

Lull to sleep the commotions of the passions of soul, mind and heart, for my life has been filled with sins, great-martyr of the Lord, George, and I ask that, as wretched as I am, you deliver me from all kinds of dangers.

O George, having accomplished great things and having contested as an angel on earth, also free our life from all misfortunes, dangers and diseases; defend our life completely from temptations.

Alleviate now the pains of souls and bodies of those who look only to your intercession, great-martyr of the Lord; fill our hearts with joy and dissolve the fog of cruel despondency.

Illumine with the heavenly light my pitiful soul, Mother of God, and hallow my mind and heart, always bringing healing to our life, so that our life may be filled with joy, O Virgin.

 

Kontakion in Tone 2.  Protection of Christians.

Ever having in you our fervent defender and invincible wall, we approach you and cry out with groans:  wholly venerable George, come quickly and free us from passions and afflictions by your divine intercessions with the Savior.

 

Ikos in Tone 6.  Having laid all hope.
Having renounced all of life’s tyranny and all of its pleasures, the holy George, O beginningless God, ran after you, and destroyed its  indissoluble chain as if it were a spider’s web.  He therefore also attained to your kingdom, O invisible God.  By his prayers, therefore, grant me pardon for my trespasses, O merciful one, and raise me above the passions which ever trouble my soul, Master.

 

No one who has recourse to you goes away ashamed, O wise and thrice-blessed George, but he asks for the favor and receives through you the gift profitable to his request.

You improve the lot of the afflicted and the deliver the sick, O victor of the Lord; save all those who take refuge in you, great-martyr, for you are the peace of the embattled and the direct patron of the faithful.

 

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.

O George, by your prayers preserve me from worldly snares and the disgrace of the passions and from every affliction, and grant that I may always sing, “Blessed are you, O God of our fathers.”

Save me by your intercesions from wicked indifference and from fearful sin, for I have recourse in faith to your fervent assistance, so that I may honor you faithfully for all ages.

O blessed George, do not disregard me, buffeted by the difficulties of life, but pity me by your prayers and preserve me, for I chant, “Blessed are you, O God of our fathers.”

Having spent the short time of my life in utter indifference, Virgin, I fall down and cry out to you, “Awaken me and save me, for I cry out to your Son, ‘Blessed are you, O God of our fathers.’”

 

Ode VIII

Irmos.  The king of Heaven whom the hosts of angels hymn, hymn and exalt him above all forever.

Deliver your servants, O blessed George, from dangers, hardships and diseases by your intercessions with the Savior.

Confirm all men, O martyr George, in faith and divine love, and deliver them by your prayers from the malice of Belial.

Fleeing to you, O martyr, as our defender and protector, we ask that you deliver us quickly from diseases and dangers by your prayers.

Heal, O Maiden, those wasting away under the burden of diseases by your prayers to our Creator, and free your servants quickly from all kinds of dangers.

 

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.

You have been appointed as a champion to deliver the sick and the sailing and those in dangers, for you are the perfection of spiritual champions, martyr George.

You have been joined to the choirs of all the martyrs, with whom beseech God, O George, that your servants be freed from terrible dangers.

As the guardian of the Orthodox and pious, and the glory of martyrs, George, beseech the Savior fervently on our behalf.

Mary, drench with the drops of your mercy my pitiable soul, enervated by the flame of sin and save me, all-holy Virgin.

 

ENDNOTES FOR THE CIRCUMSPECT

SOURCE:  Among others, https://www.proseyxi.com/paraklisi-eis-ton-agio-georgio-ton-tropaioforo/, where it is one of five canons to the saint.  This canon is apparently by the Bishop of Argyroupolis, Seraphim of Byzantium, about whom I could find nothing.

I thank Zoilus Secundus for proofing the Greek.

 

Ode I. 

“Spiritual champion” (ἀθλητά).  For my policy on translating ἀθλητά, see note on Ode V of the canon to Sts. Raphael, Nicholas and Irene. 

“Inspired” (ἐνθέοις) could also be divine, inspired by God etc.

“As” (χρηματίσας).  χρηματίζω can mean negotiate, deliberate, but also be called (Great Scott) or just be (Kyriakides). 

“Almighty” (παντουργοῦ).  The learned tell us that παντουργός = 
πανοῦργος.  App. the inserted τ is an example of excrescence (like Latin humilis/English humble).

“Approach” (προσπελάζοντας).  September and October do not know this word.

Ode III.

“Defend” (πε­ρι­φρού­ρη­σον).  Unranked.  App. means to keep watch all around, in the sense of besiege, blockade (Montie reporting).  Is this what is really intended here?  Certainly the hymnographers’ use of this word anticipates the modern Greek meaning of defend, keep safe, guard on all sides (Mr. K. reporting).  September and October find 13 instances of this verb.  Nicoll’s observation on “the tendency of late Greek to substitute compound for simple forms without a substantial change of sense” makes it reasonable to translate compounded forms as if they were simple.  (“Late Greek” here means Biblical Greek.)  Nicoll does not speculate about the cause of this tendency.  In the case of Biblical texts, we may suppose that it is a matter of changing preference, or that there is something about vernacular Greek that exerts this baneful influence (cf. our own compounds, like super-special) etc.  One also thinks of Spenser’s attempt to archaize verbs by dropping prefixes, so that fall can mean befall.  However, in canons, we have to remember that in Greek every troparion has to have (almost) exactly the same number of syllables as the irmos, so the compounded form must be regarded as a possible attempt to fill out the syllable count.  Finally, when I examine the frequency of the vocabulary of the hymns, I find that our hymnographers employ rare words whenever possible.  For instance,  φρουρέωis endowed with a generous range of meanings in the lexicon and is 1781st most frequent word in the Perseus corpus.  By contrast, there are a mere three occurrences of πε­ριφρουρέω in the Perseus corpus.  This makes me think that our hymnographers may be dipping into compounded forms as a way of avoiding monotony.

“Fellow” (σύσκηνε).  Unranked.  Montie defines σύσκηνος as tentmate, messmate.  Stephanos says collega (partner, colleague, associate, companion, fellow) and  contubernalis (comrade, companion, mate, attendant [of general]).  This word is evidently a kenning.  It seems tricky to find a non-colloquial translation of σύσκηνος, as connotations make most equivalents problematic.  Clearly, St. George is not a comrade (now mostly an ironic survival of a bygone age), a (business) partner, a colleague (at the office) etc.  I go with fellow, even though that word is encumbered with academic and colloquial connotations.  Companion might do just as well, but see next entry.

“Companion” (συνόμιλε).  Another unranked kenning.  Synonymia at work, since Great Scott reports companion, living with, associate; Pape reports mit Einem umgehend, Gesellschafter; LMPG reports compañero.

“Undoubtingly” (ἐν ἀκλινεῖ διανοίᾳ), lit. “with a steadfast mind.”  An alternative to the usual asseverations (ἐν πίστει, πίστει and πιστῶς)?

“Virgin, Mother of Christ and Queen of us all” (Παρθένε μήτηρ Χριστοῦ καί Κυρία ἡμῶν πάντων).  A terrific dose of synonymia.

 

Prayers following Ode III.

“Wholly venerable” (παν­σέ­βα­στε).  Omnino venerandus (Stephanus).  Not to be confused with πάνσεμνος (valde venerandus) or πάνσεπτος (omnino venerandus) (both Hederich).  How to translate?  Keeping in mind that late Greek likes to pile on prefixes—presumably to put some color into words suffering from semantic bleaching—it seems reasonable to discard the intensifying prefixes.  Another point to consider is that English is inimical to such intensifiers—the English, that is, of the home, office and street.  When people say things like “super-special,” there is no intensity of emotion in anyone’s heart.  As bold as it may be to say so, we may wish to consider letting translations cater to the simplicity of English and simply say “pure,” not “all-pure” or “wholly pure.” 

“Have recourse to” (προστρέχοντας).  Abbott-Smith reports that this word is used literally three times in the NT.  The September score is 14; the October score is 30.  Zoilus Primus originally opined that “perhaps the metaphorical ‘those who join you/those who side with you’ works here.”  His suggestion was prescient, as this verb, says Kent, is used by Plutarch to describe how clients attach themselves to their patron.  I had always wondered at how much running there was in the canons.  Muraoka seems to corroborate this when he reports that the person so running is of a “relatively lowly situation.”  Mr. K. reports to run to, to have recourse to.  Lampe also reports to have recourse to.  Since in English there is no convenient fashion by which we announce that we are attaching ourselves to a patron, it seemed best to settle on to have recourse to, even though εν πίστει appears to corroborate the patronal interpretation.  Kent reports that πίστις is “the outstanding quality of a successful patron-client relationship.”

“Victorious” (ἀθλοφόρε).  For years I used to look at icons of St. George, wondering when he would ever be depicted with his trophy; finally, I realized that trophy-bearer (τροπαιοφόρος) is simply a kenning for victorious. 

 

Ode IV. 

“Very blessed” renders πανεύφημε on Montie’s authority.  Much better than the usual “all-praiseworthy,” which is a genuine article of translationese—the kind of expression no one would ever use except when translating texts unidiomatically.

Ode V.

“Darkness” (ζοφότητα).  A guess on my part.  No lexicon exhibits this word.  It is found here and there.  It resembles an unranked word generally admitted by the lexicographers—ζοφώδης (dark).  Was ζοφώδης worked into ζοφότης?

“Gazing on” (καταυγαζόμενος).  In the active this verb means to shine upon (see the Theotokion of Ode VI) but in the middle gaze on.

“Splendors” (μαρμαρυγή).  Unranked. 

 

Ode VI. 

“Deliver” (λύτρωσε).  Appears to be modern Greek form.

“Misfortunes” (κα­κῶν).  Usually “evils” or “sins.”  Taken with “dangers and diseases,” we might take it in the modern Greek sense, which, as Mr. K. reports, could be evil, wrong-doing, harm, injury, mischief, misfortune or adversity. 

“Defend our life etc.” is in the original δε­ό­με­νος ἐκ πει­ρα­σμῶν, τήν ζω­ήν πε­ρι­φρού­ρι­σον.  I omitted δε­ό­με­νος, since I could not see how to fit this present participle into the sentence.  Literally, “requesting from trials, protect [our] life.”  Note also the reappearance of περιφρουρέω.

 

Prayers following Ode VI.

“Pardon” (ἱ­λα­σμόν) or “forgiveness.”  Unranked.  In the Perseus corpus, we find this word twice in the NT and six times in Plutarch.  September and October exhibit 33 instances.  A great deal of the meaning of ἱ­λα­σμός depends upon how one interprets the Old Testament.  Kittel says that our word masks two meanings.  One is propitiation (“an offering to appease (satisfy) an angry, offended party” [Strong]).  The other is expiation (“the covering of sin by means of sacrifice” [Cremer]).  Kittel, relying in effect on Cremer, develops the meaning of ἱ­λα­σμός as representing “God’s forgiveness,” which is the meaning (he says) that it has when used in the NT (twice:  1 John 2:2 and 4:10), where it “refers to the purpose which God Himself has fulfilled by sending the Son.  Hence it rests on the fact that God is gracious.”  St. Justin Popovich in his commentary on 1 John 4:10 seems to elaborate on this point:  Christ is “complete mercy, complete compassion and complete sympathy.”  (The translator of St. Justin unfortunately uses propitiation to render ἱ­λα­σμός.)  Keeping this in mind, we can understand why Abbott-Smith, referring particularly to the LXX, defines ἱ­λα­σμός as forgiveness, Montie as pardon, Lampe as “favor of God, obtained by prayer.”  For a Christian to ask for the propitiation of his sins is wrong-headed.  Most people do not understand either propitiation itself or the semantic broadening to which this word underwent.

“Holy” (σε­πτός).  See the relevant notes on σε­πτός in the canon to St. Porphyrios.

“Having renounced all of life’s tyranny” (ὅλην ἀ­πο­θέ­με­νος, βι­ω­τι­κὴν τυ­ραν­νί­δα.  This ikos begins with the words taken from the model melody.  What is interesting about this ikos is that it takes the words of the model melody, which may be translated as “having laid up all hope in Heaven” and used a totally different meaning of ἀ­πο­θέ­με­νος to drive home a different point altogether.  For the few monks who could understand the Greek of this text, it must come as a bit of a shock, sounding almost like a parody of possibly the most common ikos in the hymns.

“Has recourse to you” (προστρέχων ἐπὶ σοί).  See my discussion of this verb above in Prayers Following Ode III.

καταισχύνω does not simply mean put to shame, but dishonor and disgrace—there are apparently social consequences attached to having appealed to a mediator who fails to deliver. 

“The direct patron” (ὁ ἄμεσος προστάτης).  Zoilus Secundus thinks that this means his clients have immediate access to him.

Ode VII.

“In faith . . . faithfully.”  Here again Greek boldly repeats itself, this time ἐν πίστει and πιστῶς.  We could I suppose render ἐν πίστει as with fidelity.  I have never so put it and hesitate to do so now merely to avoid making obvious a rhetorical flourish prized by the hymnographers.

“Indifference” (ραθυμίας) might also be translated as “desire, lust,” but modern Greek seems to tip the scales towards indifference.

 

Ode IX.

“As the guardian of the Orthodox and pious” (ὡς φύλαξ ὀρθοδόξων, καὶ τῆς εὐσεβείας).  Actually, the hymnographer went for an abstraction (“of piety”).  However, English conjunctions prefer for the words joined to be as similar as possible.  “Of the Orthodox and of piety” is therefore jarring.

“Enervated” (ἐκτακείσαν) or “melting away.”