John Mauropous: "On the Holy Birth of Christ"

"On the Holy Birth of Christ"

By John Mauropous (c. 1000 - 1070s)

Introduction

John Mauropous was born in the region of Paphlagonia (in north-central Turkey), before moving to Constantinople, where he became a poet and scholar. While acting as court orator for Constantine IX Monomachos (r. 1042-1055), Byzantine Emperor, he was also a teacher, whose most famous pupil was the many-faceted Byzantine writer Michael Psellos (1017 - c. 1078). Around 1050, though, John fell from favor, and became Metropolitan of Euchaita (modern Avhat, Turkey), which he considered as exile. After prodding his friends, particularly Psellos, he returned to Constantinople near the end of his life, spending his last years in the Monastery of Agia Petra.

John's writings include a number of poems of various sorts (including autobiographical poems and funeral orations in verse) as well as letters, sermons, and canons (a style of Byzantine liturgical poetry). He seems to have prepared his own "Collected Works" while alive, of which a close copy has come down to us. As with many Byzantines of his day, he sought to combine Christianity with classical culture, continuing a tradition from the early East, such as Origen and St. Clement of Alexandria, among others. The poem below is included as Poem 2 in what seems to be John's Collected Works. It focuses on the shepherds at the Nativity; in the last few lines, the "old man" is St. Joseph, considered--in most of Christian tradition--to have been substantially older than Mary, and often viewed as a widower.

 

"On the Holy Birth of Christ"

What is this? Light shone, as from the ether,
the air full of musical symphony;
let us hark as we learn. O mystery;
some great encampment of angels cries out,
saying, “Glory to God, the Enfleshed One!”
“And how is God flesh? Whither wonder, whence?
Whither the wonder?” Walk with the shepherds;
for there, as you see, with them approaching,
there occurred a contempt for cattle;
by their gathering they bring me yearning.
Behold you the cave, the cave forgotten;
in which is a manger, Infant, and virgin.
Your God abides here, a babe in the arms.
“God is wretched? Homeless? Wrapped in cheap rags?
Coming to light now? O, what do you say?”
Nothing is false, but the truth you will learn;
and witness the heavenly star you see,
revealing to you the Babe dwelling here,
and these, as if towards the Master racing,
the delightful song of the prophecies
singing with them, lest you think it unfit;
since, for your benefits, all these occur—
God made mortal, your nature divining;
impoverished for you, showing you wealthy;
angels applauding, acclaiming in hope;
a mother unmanned; child-bearing virgin;
Magi’s radiant gifts; shepherds’ running;
everything full of joy and desire.
Therefore, with all these, rejoice and bow down.
Her eyes are downcast before this old man;
for she shows in him suffering concealed.
Awaking he comes to a little release,
and in pleasure applauds with us all.

Source: Johannes Bollig and Paulus de Lagarde, ed., Iohannis Euchaitorum Metropolitae Quae in Codice Vaticano Graeco 676 Supersunt (Göttingen: Dieterich'schen Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1882), 2-3.

Translation ©2017 Brandon P. Otto.  Licensed via CC BY-NC.  Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long as credit is given to the translator.

Originally published at https://bpotto.github.io/Undusted-Texts/poems/mauropous.html