St. Romanos the Melodist: First Kontakion on the Nativity

 Introduction

St. Romanos (d. 6th century) is one of the most famous figures in Byzantine hymnody.  Though the majority of the Byzantine liturgical hymns are ascribed to St. John of Damascus (675-749) and his foster-brother St. Cosmas the Hymnographer (8th c.), St. Romanos' works are a foundational element of Byzantine hymnody.  Specifically, he is considered the Greek popularizer of the kontakion format, a long hymn consisting of metrically-identical stanzas (oikoi) preceded by a distinct introductory stanza (prooimoion or koukoulion), with an identical refrain shared by both types of stanza.  The full hymns used to be used in the liturgy: now all that usually remains is the koukoulion (renamed "kontakion") and the first oikos.  The Akathist Hymn is a memorable example of a full kontakion still in use.  (The Akathist is often attributed to St. Romanos, but scholars typically think it is a later imitation of his work.)

Legend states that St. Romanos was a bumbling lector whose incompetence forced him to be replaced during the chanting of Psalms during the Vigil of the Nativity.  While he slept that night, the Theotokos came to him bearing a scroll, and she commanded him to eat it, which he did.  The next day, the Feast of the Nativity, he received a blessing from the Patriarch and, without any preparation, recited the following Kontakion.  His hymn-writing ability remained past that singular instance, and he wrote an enormous number of kontakia: tradition claims he wrote over a thousand hymns.  A modern critical edition gives him 59 surviving genuine hymns, as well as a number of dubious ones.

The following translation aims to balance accuracy with a bit of poetic élan, though I have let accuracy trump matching metrical forms.

First Kontakion on the Nativity

St. Romanos the Melodist

Today the Virgin bears the One exceeding essence,
    and earth a cave brings to the Unapproachable:
the angels with the shepherds sing in glory,
    the magi with the star now make their way:
for for us has been begotten
    a new-born child, God before the ages.

I

Bethlehem has opened Eden; come let us see:
    delight in hiding we have found, come let us grasp
    the things of Paradise within the cave:
here was revealed unwatered root blossoming forgiveness,
    here was found unexcavated well,
    from which to drink David before had yearned:
here the Virgin, giving birth unto an Infant,
    quenched at once the thirst of Adam and of David:
therefore, towards this, let us approach, where there was born
    a new-born child, God before the ages.

II

The Father of the mother became Son by will;
    the Savior of infants, as infant, in a manger lay:
    contemplating Whom, she who gave birth said:
“Tell me, Son, how were You sown, how grown in me?
    I see You, swaddled, and I am astounded,
    for I give milk, and I have never been a bride:
and now I see You with the swaddling bands,
    but my virginity exactly sealed I find:
for, guarding this, You were begotten, while well-pleased,
    a new-born child, God before the ages.

III

"Exalted King, what is between You and the poor?
   Heaven’s Master, why to earthly have You come?
   A cave have You desired, or to manger turned?
Behold, Your handmaid has no place in upper room:
    'no place' I say, but not [no] 'cave,'
    for that and this are differing:
and though to Sarah, giving birth unto an infant,
    was given lot of many lands, to me, not a hole:
I had need of a den where You would dwell by will,
    a new-born child, God before the ages.”

IV

Sayings such as these in speechless manner saying
    and knowledge of the things unseen in earnest pleading,
    she hears the magi seeking for the Infant:
at once to them, “Who are you?” the maiden cried:
    but they to her, “And you, from whence have you descended,
    that to such a One you’ve given birth?
Who is your father, who the woman bearing,
    that you’ve become the fatherless Son’s mother and nurse,
to Whom, seeing the star, we’ve come, for He’s appeared,
    a new-born child, God before the ages.

V

“For Balaam precisely handed down to us
    the meaning of the sayings which he’d prophesied,
    saying that a star was to arise,
a star quenching all sooth-sayings and auguries:
    a star unloosing parables and sages,
    their utterances and their enigmas:
a star come from that star which shines
    much more exceeding radiant, as all stars’ Maker,
about which he forewrote, that out of Jacob arises
    a new-born child, God before the ages.”

VI

As sayings paradoxical she—Maryam—heard,
    the One out of her bowels, bowing, she venerated,
    and crying out, she said, “Great for me, Child,
great all the things You’ve done through my own purity:
    for, behold, the magi from afar seek You,
    those reigning over eastern lands:
Your face they come to seek,
    and they beseech to see the riches of Your people:
for truly they’re Your people, to whom You were made known,
    a new-born child, God before the ages. 

VII

“Since this is Your people, Child, therefore, command
    that beneath Your roof they be, that they may see
    the wealthy wretchedness, the precious poverty:
You I have for glory and boast: thus I’m not ashamed:
    You Yourself are grace and comeliness
    of tent for me: nod that they may come:
nothing of paltriness troubles me:
    for I hold as treasure You, Whom kings come to see,
the kings and magi knowing that You had appeared
    a new-born child, God before the ages.”

VIII

Jesus the Christ, truly being our God,
    the innards of His mother touched, unseen,
    while saying, “Introduce those I have led by word:
for My word, which lightened those who hope in me,
    is at once a star in its appearance,
    and a certain power to intelligence:
it travelled with the magi as My minister
    and still it stands, its ministry fulfilling
and showing, by its rays, the place where there was born
    a new-born child, God before the ages. 

IX

"Now, then, receive, August one, receive those who’ve received Me:
    for in them I am, as in your cradling arms:
    and, without having left you, I have come with them.”
She then opens the door and receives the magi’s court:
    she opens the door, the never-opened
    gate (cf. Ez 44:2-3), through which Christ alone has passed:
she opens the door, she who opened
    and has never closed purity’s treasury:
she has opened the door, through whose door was born
    a new-born child, God before the ages. 

X

The magi, then, at once, entered the inner room
    and, seeing Christ, they shuddered, for they saw
    this One’s mother, and that one’s betrothed:
and said, in fear, “This is the genealogy-less Son (cf. Heb 7:3):
    and how, O Virgin, a man who’s been betrothed
    do we now see, within your very home?
Your pregnancy has not a spot:
    let dwelling not be false, Joseph being with you:
you have a horde of envious, seeking where was born
    a new-born child, God before the ages.”

XI

“I shall remind you,” Mary said unto the magi,
    “for what reason I took Joseph into my home:
    as a condemnation of all the back-biters:
for he will say what he has heard about my child:
    for, sleeping, he a holy angel saw
    saying to him from whence I had conceived:
a fiery sight the thorny bush
    filled full at night, around those putting it to grief:
wherefore Joseph is with me, revealing how He is
    a new-born child, God before the ages.

XII

"He plainly speaks in public of all he has heard:
    he announces clearly what he has beheld
    amidst the heavenly and midst the earthly:
of shepherds’ tales, how with the clay-born flamed ones hymned:
    of you, the magi, since we ran before
    the star enlightening and guiding you:
therefore, leaving the things uttered before,
    now describe to us what has occurred with you:
whence have you come, and how’d you know that there appeared
    a new-born child, God before the ages?”

XIII

And as these things to them the light-filled one had said,
    they, the lights out of the East, now said to her:
    “You wish to know, from whence we have come unto here?
From Chaldees’ land, where they don’t say, ‘The God of gods is Lord,’
    out of Babylon, where they don’t know
    who’s the Maker of the things they worship:
from there it came, and it led us forth,
    the spark of your Child, from the Persian flame:
all-eating flame we left, bedewing flame we saw,
    a new-born child, God before the ages.

XIV

"Vanity of vanities are all things,
    but none among us is there found who thinks them such:
    for some do go astray and some are led astray:
Virgin, thus, thanks to your Birth, through which we’re freed
    not just from error, but also from distress
    suffered in all the towns through which we passed,
from nations unperceived and tongues unknown,
    going about the earth and strict examining it
with the light of the Star, seeking where was born
    a new-born child, God before the ages.

XV

“But as, of yet, we still had it, this light,
    though all Jerusalem we wandered about,
    willingly fulfilling, then, things of prophecy:
for we had heard that God threatened to study her,
    and, with the Light, we went all about,
    working to find the great justification:
but it was not found there, for it had been removed,
    her ark, with all it held before, calling out:
‘the old has passed away, and all He has renewed—
    a new-born child, God before the ages.’”

XVI

"Truly,” she said, said Mary to those faithful magi,
    “all Jerusalem have you wandered about,
    that very city, the prophet-slaying one (cf. Mt 23:37)?
And how have you, griefless, passed through her who slanders all?
    Again, unharmed, how did you pass by Herod
    who, instead of laws, breathes simply slaughters?”
Then they unto her did say, “O Virgin,
    we did not sneak past him, instead, we tricked him:
we were there, asking all where there was born
    a new-born child, God before the ages.”

XVII

When to these, their words, the Theotokos hearkened,
    then she said to them, “What did he ask of you,
    Herod the ruling lord, and all the Pharisees?”
“First Herod, then, as you have said, the first ones among your nation,
    about the time in which there now appeared
    the star to us, earnestly inquired:
and, knowing this, as those who do not learn,
    they wanted not to see Him of Whom they had sought to learn,
for to the seekers, it behooves to contemplate
    a new-born child, God before the ages.

XVIII

"The senseless ones considered us as thoughtless ones,
    and, asking said, ‘From whence and when did you come here?’
    How the unillumined paths have you traversed?’
Then we, about what they had known, asked them back:
    ‘How did you, in times long past, traverse
    the desert vast through which you passed?’”
The One Who guided them from Egypt
    now also guided those from Chaldee unto Him,
then, by a fiery pillar, but now, by star which shows
    a new-born child, God before the ages.

XIX

"The star it was which went before us everywhere,
    as Moses went, bearing the staff, for you,
    shining about the light of Godly knowledge:
of old the manna fed you and the stone gave drink:
    us the hope of Him fulfilled:
    fed and nourished by His grace
so that to Persia we would not return
    along the untrod way we had to pass in mind,
yearning to behold, worship, and glorify
    a new-born child, God before the ages."

XX

By unerring magi were these things declared:
    and by the august Virgin all these things were sealed,
    the Infant ratifying what was said by both,
the One Who made His mother stainless after birth,
    and the One showing, after their coming,
    their minds to be untroubled as their steps:
for not a one of them suffered in toil,
    as Habbakuk untroubled stayed, coming to Daniel:
for He, revealed to prophets, revealed Himself to magi,
    a new-born child, God before the ages.

XXI

After all of these, their full accounts,
    the magi brought their gifts in hand and prostrate fell
    before the Gift of Gifts, before the Myrrh of Myrrhs:
then gold and myrrh and frankincense to Christ they gave
    crying out: “Receive the triple-mattered gift,
    as the Seraphim’s thrice-holy hymn:
turn not away from them as once from Cain’s,
    but embrace them tight, as Abel’s offering,
through her who bore You, through whom was born to us
    a new-born child, God before the ages.”

XXII

Now new and radiant things the spotless woman seeing,
    the magi bearing gifts in hand and falling down,
    the star revealing, and the shepherds hymning,
the Lord and Maker of all of these she pleaded, saying:
    “This triad of gifts, O child, receiving,
    give these three pleas to she who gave You birth:
for the winds I now beseech You
    and for the fruits of earth and those dwelling in her:
give all these in exchange, through me, for You were born
    a new-born child, God before the ages.

XXIII

"For I am not simply Your mother, compassioned Savior:
    not in vain do I give milk to milk’s Bestower,
    but on behalf of all I pray to You:
You have made me all my race’s mouth and boast:
    for me Your universe now holds
    as mighty shelter, as a wall and fortress:
me they see, those once cast out
    of paradise’s joy, for I shall turn them back
to grasp the sense of all for, through me, You were born
    a new-born child, God before the ages.

XXIV

 "Save the world, O Savior: for this cause You came:
    make firm all Yours: for for this cause You shone
    on me and on the magi and on all creation:
for, behold the magi, to whom Your face’s light You showed,
    falling down, they offer gifts to You,
    very good and sought-for implements:
for I have need of them, since I’m about
    to go to Egypt and to flee with You, because of You,
my Guide, my Son, my Maker, my Enricher,
    a new-born child, God before the ages.”

 

Notes

On III:4: This the best I can make out of the Greek phrase here: the intent seems to be that Mary is (as the next line declares) making a distinction between "place" (τόπον) and "cave" (σπήλαιον), so that when she says she has no "place," she is not thereby contradicting the fact that she has a "cave" in which to give birth.  The exact Greek is οὑ λέγω τόπον, ὰλλ´ οὑδὲ σπήλαιον.

On VII:6: The modern Italian editor of the Greek text, Maisano, uses a variant reading, making these lines read: “In You is grace and truth / of tent: and now: nod that they may come.”  As he rightfully notes, this variant more exactly references Jn 1:14, and perhaps the substitution of “truth” (αληθεια) for “comeliness” (ευπρεπεια) might fit better, by the “for me” (καμου) seems more needed for the sense than “and now” (και νυν).

On XV:4: The “her” in this strophe refers to Jerusalem, which is a feminine noun in Greek.

 On XX:8: In the story of Bel and the Dragon, at the end of the Book of Daniel, it recounts how Daniel was thrown into a lions’ den, and, to give him food, an angel of the Lord took Habbakuk the prophet from Judea to Babylon so that he would toss his breakfast to Daniel in the den.  Habbakuk was untroubled (though he questioned the angel at first, not knowing where Babylon or the lions’ den was), it seems, since he was not touched by the lions either, and since he was easily conveyed from Judea to Babylon and back by an angel grasping his head.

On XXI:3: More exactly, “Ointment of Ointments,” but this flows better, poetically.  The Greek word for ointment or perfumed oil (μυρον) is similar to the word for myrrh (σμυρνα), both having the sound “myr,” as found in the English “myrrh,” so they are frequently conflated in English translation: hence the “myrrh-bearers” who came to Christ’s tomb were more precisely “ointment-bearers” or “perfume-bearers."

On XXII:8: Probably a reference to the petitions commonly found in Greek liturgies; such petitions are worked into the main litanies.  Other traditions show this focus on agriculture more strongly, as in the Coptic tradition, where the rite of the Offering of Incense (somewhat equivalent to Matins and Vespers) ends with a special agricultural prayer keyed to the time of the year: prayer for seeds and herbs from October to January, prayer for winds and fruits from January to June, and prayer for the rivers’ water from June to October.  (Of course, these are keyed to the growing seasons in Egypt, and the prayer for the proper rising of the Nile is especially important there.)  See Service of the Deacons: Rites and Hymns of the Liturgies and Services of the Coptic Orthodox Church (Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States, 2010), 46-47.

On XXIV:6: It is worth noting that this is the same Greek phrase (καλα λιαν) used at the end of the first Creation Narrative (Gen 1:31).

Source: Sancti Romani Melodi Cantica: Cantica Genuina, ed. Paul Maas and C.A. Trypanis (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997 [1963]), 1-9.

Translation ©2023 Brandon P. Otto.  Licensed via CC BY-NC.  Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long as credit is given to the translator.