The Supplicatory Canon to the Holy Prophet Zechariah by St. Gerasimos, Monk of Little Anne Skete

Ode 1.  Irmos.  I will open my mouth, and it will be filled with the Spirit, and I will utter a speech to the Queen Mother, and I will be seen keeping festival brightly, and I will sing joyfully of the wonders of her nativity.

With the brilliant rays of the Spirit, illumine my mind by your intercessions, Zechariah, so that I may hymn your glorious life, and sing to you, O saint, a fitting hymn.

After you saw the archangel in the temple standing before you and received the good news, O prophet, you begot in your old age the Forerunner of the Lord by his divine will.

As you received the blameless Virgin when she was brought to the temple, you joyfully led her into the Holy of Holies, where she would be raised in the divine abode of the almighty God.

Let me celebrate in song the temple full of the light of the Creator of all creation, the living throne of the almighty God, the only Mother of God, for she bore Christ, who renews the world.

 

Ode III.

Irmos.  Hymn Christ our God, who protected the hymn-singing youths in the furnace, and transformed the roaring furnace into dew, and exalt him above all for ever.

Guiding the movements of your mind wisely by the commandments of God, divinely chosen high priest, O Zechariah, you appeared as an inspired prophet of the King of creation.

You served the almighty God faithfully as a priest full of heavenly light and you received the beginnings of the glory of Christ, who was incarnate on account of his mercy.

Having disbelieved the divine words of the angel, you resigned yourself to silence and, after your mouth was opened, you praised God in song, when in your old age your wife bore a son.

As the prophets said, illuminated by the divine Spirit, you were the mountain of God above all mountains, rich and overshadowed with the virtues, pure Virgin.

 

Prayer following Ode III.

Preserve your servants from all kinds of dangers, O High Priest, for they hope in you as a great servant of God. 

 

The Kathisma.

All-holy prophet and sacred minister, let us reverently celebrate and radiantly acclaim your memory as a flower most fragrant; do not let the unholy enemy devour us.

 

Ode IV.

Irmos.  The prophet Habakkuk, perceiving the inscrutable and divine counsel of the incarnation of the Most High from the Virgin, cried out:  “Glory to your power, O Lord.”

O Zechariah, you blessed the Creator with your mouth, when Elizabeth bore John, and cried out, “Blessed are you, O Lord, who does new and marvelous things.”

You wore the sacred robe of the high priesthood of the law and you offered the sacrifices to God in accordance with the law, blessed one, with a humble spirit.

After you received miraculous power in old age, holy Zechariah, you begot a son who was the mightiest of all the saints, after the barrenness of your wife was ended by divine assent.

You were more excellent than all creatures, visible and invisible, having borne the Creator of all, wherefore cause even me to be higher than the inferior one.

 

Ode V. 

Irmos.  All things are amazed at your divine glory, for you, unwedded Virgin, had in your womb the God who is over all things, and bore his timeless Son, who grants salvation to all who hymn you.

When you saw him who is more than divine born in the flesh from the immaculate Virgin, you recognized the end of the law, O holy one, and you were initiated into the principles of the new covenant, as one who was full of divine light.

Your mind was radiant by its inclinations toward the divine.  When you withdrew into its hidden recesses, you were initiated into the awesome mystery of the dispensation of Christ, blessed and holy Zechariah, though which we were saved from deception.

You formerly served, O holy one, in the symbols and shadow of the law, Zechariah, but now you are standing directly before God:  intercede ever for us who praise you as a servant of the Lord.

The crafty enemy of old removed me far from the better way of life, but, having borne the Lord of all, you led me back up again, pure Virgin, to the incorruptible glory, for which I glorify you.

 

Ode VI. 

Irmos.  Come, ye pious, celebrating this sacred and most honorable feast of the Mother of God, let us clap our hands, glorifying God, who was borne from her.

When you saw that which the righteous formerly longed to see, O prophet Zechariah, you glorified Christ, who had become a little child of the pure Virgin for the sake of his kindness.

You were filled with joy when you saw John the Forerunner born and, laying aside your silence, O prophet Zechariah, you blessed the Almighty.

We ask you, O Zechariah, constantly to entreat, together with John and Elizabeth, Christ the Lord, to give us the forgiveness of our sins.

You were a rod with a divine blossom, as a flower unwatered, yet bringing forth Christ the Lord, wholly pure and divine Mother, wherefore I ask you to pluck up the sprouts of my passions.

 

The Kontakion.

Today the prophet and priest of the Most High and the father of the Forerunner, Zechariah, has offered on the occasion of his memorial a table which nourishes the faithful and has mixed for them a drink of righteousness, wherefore we honor him as the sacred teacher of the mysteries of the grace of God.

 

Ode VII. 

Irmos.  You who preserved the sons of Abraham in the fire and destroyed the Chaldeans, who had unjustly laid a snare for the just—O supremely exalted Lord, the God of our fathers, blessed are you.
You were a model of the priesthood of the law and were manifestly initiated into the mysteries of grace, crying out, “O Lord, worthy of supreme praise, blessed are you, the God of our fathers.” 

O wise one, having shed your blood for the sake of the pure Virgin, you were put to death between the temple and the altar, as it is written, and you received the crown of martyrdom from the Lord, Zechariah.

Having perceived with a pure mind the mystery of the incarnation of God from the holy Virgin fulfilled ineffably, you proclaim, O blessed one, that the wholly pure Mother of God has borne him.

In the worldly temple, as a holy high priest, Zechariah joyfully submitted to you, O Mother of God, crying to you, “Hail, all-holy Queen, the most pure temple of the master.” 

 

Ode VII.  Irmos.

All-powerful Savior of all, you refreshed with dew in the midst of the flame those who lived reverently, having descended together with them into the furnace, you taught them to sing:  All ye works, bless and hymn the Lord.
O blessed one, you brightened your holy robe with the holy streams of blood and you joyfully departed to the heavenly temple, Zacharias, interceding on behalf of all men with the Lord.

You completed your life blamelessly, as the most pious prophet of God, and you were deemed worthy to perceive the incarnation of Christ, high priest Zechariah and inspired martyr.

You prophetically foretold to your son, “Holy child, you will be called a prophet and forerunner of the Most High, for you will go before him to prepare his ways and make them into a straight path.”

Wholly pure Virgin, who inexpressibly bore Jesus, our Savior and Lord, deliver me from the dominion of the revolted tyrant, I entreat you, leading me to the path of salvation.

 

Ode IX. 

Irmos.  The stone which was not cut by human hands was cut from you, the unhewn mountain, O Virgin, to be the corner-stone, which is Christ, who joined together the separate natures.  Wherefore exultantly we glorify you, O Mother of God.
Initiate of the mystical spectacles, as a prophet of the Lord and God-bearing high priest you also were a martyr by your own blood, wherefore we bless you, all-blessed Zechariah.

Receiving now the whole, brilliant splendor of the Holy Trinity and deemed worthy of joy beyond imagining, O Zechariah, prophet and martyr, intercede for us who praise you.

We honor you with hymns and odes and cry out to you, O prophet:  with John the Baptist and your spouse Elizabeth, unceasingly entreat God to give us his divine mercy.

Cause the water of incorruption to gush forth on me, as a fountain of the streams of life, most highly-favored Virgin, and quench the coals of my passions, so that I may hymn, most celebrated Virgin, the greatness of your kindness.

 

ENDNOTES FOR THE CIRCUMSPECT

Another great work by St. Gerasimos of Little Anne Skete.  May his prayers avail for us.

Source:  https://www.proseyxi.com/paraklisi-eis-ton-agio-profiti-zaxaria/.

I thank Zoilus Junior for his critical comments.  I look forward to adhering to the strictures levelled by Aeteia, the Lawfully-Wedded.  The reader who points out errors and mishaps in the translation may advise me on Facebook (Orthodox Canons to the Saints).

 

Ode I. 

“Your glorious life” (λαμπρότητα τοῦ βίου).  Lit., “the brightness of your life.”  Great Scott reports that brightness is fig. for splendor, renown.  Bailly adds honneur.  Lampe reports glory.  Once again, all these definitions are simultaneously available to a student of Greek; only translation requires us to pick one.  I am taking this as an attributed genitive (Wallace). 

“Standing” (ἐφεστῶτα).  The exact same word is found in Amos 9:1 (εἶδον τὸν Κύριον ἐφεστῶτα ἐπὶ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου).

“Blameless” (ἄμωμον).  Is this word to be understood as “moral and religious” or “ritual and cultic” (Kittel)?  Most translators go straight to the “ritual and cultic.”  Yet, as Kittel reports, “in the NT ἄμωμος is used of the perfect moral and religious piety of Christians.”  I break ranks with my fellow translators by opting for the “moral and religious.”  I have silently adjusted similar ritual/cultic terms throughout.

“Led” (ὡδήγησας).  An interesting choice of words.  Logeion tells us that ὁδηγέω is unranked.  Hymnographers tend to avoid common words; since ἄγω is the 117^th most common word, it was out of the question.  It is also possible that our hymnographer was (unconsciously?) thinking of one of her most popular titles, Οδηγήτρια (guide).

“Bear” (ἐκύησε).  Montie reports that κυέω means carry in the womb, be pregnant, conceive in the active, but to give birth to in the middle.  Shrevelius reports bear in the active, meaning carry in the womb.  English bear is equivocal. 

“Let me celebrate” (ἀνυμνείσθω μοι).  The Greek seems awkward; the collocation is common enough in hymnography.

 

Ode III.

“Hymn-singing” (ὑμνολόγους).  Awkward.  The alternatives are worse.

“Roaring” (βροντῶσαν).  Usu. “thundering,” but Mr. K. adds “roaring.”
“The glory of Christ” (τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ λαμπρότητος).  See note on Ode I.

“Were” (ἐδείχθης).  Lit., “you were shown to be.” 

 

Prayer following Ode III.

“High priest” (ἱεράρχα).  At first I translated as hierarch.  Montie reports in an uncharacteristically stuffy vein one who presides over an aspect of the sacred.  Stephanus however reports the same definition (qui sacris praeest) more briefly.  Fortunately, Mr. K. reports “high priest,” a title also ascribed to Melchisedek.

Ode IV.

“More excellent” (ὑπερτέρα) or superior. 

“The inferior one” (τοῦ χείρονος) or worse.  Appears to be another title for the devil.

 

Ode V. 
Zoilus Junior suggested reading Κόρη as Κόρης, which saved the troparion.

 

Kontakion

I greatly acknowledge that the final translation of this kontakion benefitted greatly from discussions with Zoilus Junior and from Isaac Lambertsen’s translation of the same.

“Teacher of the mysteries” (μύστην), as Shrevelius reports.  Stephanos reports mysteriorum peritus, conerning which Lampe mentions that this word is used by Paul the Silentiary to describe priests as opposed to the choir.  Peritus leads naturally to my translation, since, as Stephanos reports, μύστης means non solum discipulus et conscius mysteriorum, sed etiam μυσταγωγός ap[ud] Dionys[ium] Areop[agiten].  Stephanus, however, disagrees with Bude, who claimed that μύστης generally means μυσταγωγός.  [Joseph, can you check my understanding of the Latin of Stephanus s.v. μύστης?]  Donnegan reports that μύστης means μυσταγωγός among “late authors.”  Perhaps Donnegan’s proviso resolves the disagreement.  

 

Ode VI.

Irmos.  Τὴν θείαν στάσιν. This irmos stem is not in the GLT irmologion or any place else on the Internet.  Probably it is a scribal error for Τὴν θείαν ταύτην, which is an irmos found in the irmologion in a Greek Orthodox website.

 

Ode VIII

“Prepare his ways [and make them] into a straight path” (προπορεύσῃ γὰρ τούτου, τοῦ ἐτοιμάσαι, τὰς ὁδοὺς εἰς εὐθεῖαν ἐπίβασιν).  Our hymnographer seems to be rephrasing St. Mark:  ὃς κατασκευάσει τὴν ὁδόν σου· φωνὴ βοῶντος ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ· Ἑτοιμάσατε τὴν ὁδὸν κυρίου, εὐθείας ποιεῖτε τὰς τρίβους αὐτοῦ.  The reader may at his leisure decide whether the poet was successful in his attempt.

 

Ode IX. 

Irmos.  The translation of one of the canons for mid-Pentecost as found on the website of the Parish of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in Cardiff, Wales, was extremely helpful in touching up my translation of this irmos.

 

 

Excursus on κόρη in the Greek hymns.

Throughout the hymns of the church we find references to the Mother of God as maiden.  Why is that?

Let’s examine the evidence of the lexicographers.

Great Scott lists girl, maiden (“with respect to virginity”), bride, daughter. 

Schrevelius lists virgin, handsome woman.

Donnegan reports virgin.

Giles reports virgin, daughter, bride.

Which of these several definitions should we understand in our hymns? 

Let’s take a randomly chosen line from the menaion for the conception of the Forerunner—χαῖρε, ἀκήρατε Κόρη—and apply each of the several definitions in turn:

(1)  Hail, pure girl. 

We can strike this one out, as the Mother of God is not a girl in the NT. 

(2)  Hail, pure handsome-woman.

We can strike this one out without further comment. 

(3)  Hail, pure bride.

We need to provide more evidence on bride before we dismiss it.  Montie reports that it means married or wooed daughter.  Clearly this sense does not fit any context in which this word is used in or texts.  Option (4) is dismissed together with (3).

(5)  Hail, pure maiden.

This is the option of most translators.

(6)  Hail, pure virgin.

No one seems to use this one.

 

Let’s take a closer look at (5).  COED defines maiden as “girl, young (unmarried) woman, virgin, spinster.”  Returning to χαῖρε ἀκήρατε Κόρη, we get the following possibilities.

(7)  Hail, pure girl.

(8)  Hail, pure young (unmarried) woman.

(9)  Hail, pure virgin.

(10)  Hail, pure spinster.

We can dismiss (7) and (10) immediately.  It takes a moment of thought to realize that since the Mother of God appears in the Gospel as already betrothed, she cannot be counted as a young (unmarried) woman.  This leaves us with virgin.

Another fact to consider is that if we translate κόρη as virgin in any hymn of the church, we will always get a true statement.  If we translate it as maiden in any hymn of the church, we will never get a statement consistent with the facts which we accept, for she is not a girl, an unmarried young woman or a spinster. 

Two questions remain:  why is the word used at all in our hymns and what does our conclusion mean for translating our hymns?

As to the former, our hymnographers rely on synonymia heavily.  This word allows the hymnographer to invoke the saint twice in a troparion—as always—without using the same  name or title. However, this device translates badly into English—it really breaks up the flow of thought and creates syntactical nightmares.  I propose to simply omit the κόρη if both appear, as metrical convenience is not something we worry about in English and double invocations are a mere artifice.  Arguably the doubled and tripled invocations heighten the emotional intensity—at least in Greek, though no one has ever mentioned it—but such an expedient to intensify one’s emotions is not even on the map of an Anglophone hymnographer.  There is in the translations from the Slavonic a tendency to avoid this device—among others.  When κόρη appears alone, I translate it as virgin.