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Hymnography, Byzantine
LEENA MARI PELTOMAA

Byzantine hymnography is ecclesiastical

poetry on scriptural themes, intended to be
sung during church services by priests, choirs,
and laity. Hymn writing in a genuine Byzantine
style is related to two great poetic forms, the
kontakion and the kanon, enrichments of
models already present in the Byzantine literary tradition. Hymnography developed during
the evolution and formation of liturgical services of the church, in response to the needs of
the rite, e.g., as new feasts in the churchs
calendar demanded adequate musical expression. Since hymnography was created to express
the churchs faith, which ecclesiastical and
imperial authorities controlled, the theology
it contains is dogmatic and orthodox. Furthermore, hymns for liturgical use had to be based
on the scriptures, a stricture that can be traced
back to the councils of Laodikeia (ca. 363) and
Braga (668), to circumstances where it was felt
necessary to check the dissemination of heretical ideas and to prevent hymnographers from
expressing personal worship. Lack of individual religious expression is typical of Byzantine
ecclesiastical poetry. Other qualities derive
from the public character of ecclesiastical ceremonial, which followed the liturgical cycles of
the churchs year: elevated diction, metrical
variety, and elaborate structures influenced by
the high rhetoric of festal sermons. The essence
of Byzantine hymnography is praise and
prayer, carried to God in his glory by the
church and its intercessors. Despite the limits
imposed by dogma and the requirements of the
liturgy, Byzantine ecclesiastic poetry at its
best does justice to the very Byzantine view
that the hymns sung in the liturgy are a
heavenly reflection of the praise of angels.
The anonymous Akathistos, a rhetorical
masterpiece of twenty-four strophes linked by

the Greek alphabet, is considered the greatest

achievement of early Byzantine religious poetry.
This famous Incarnation hymn is a composition
in praise of the Theotokos. It is unique because
of its series of salutations to Mary. The period
in which ecclesiastical poetry flourished most
was dominated by the kontakion (a sermon in
verse), reaching its highest level in the works of
ROMANOS THE MELODE in the sixth century. A fully
developed kontakion consists of eighteen to
thirty strophes, all structurally alike, following
the pattern of the first strophe. A metrically
independent strophe, the prooemium, precedes
the hymn, providing a summary of the
sermons contents as well as the refrain
repeated in each strophe. An acrostic gives
the composers name. As a form with greater
structural variety and length, the genre of
kanon replaced the kontakion toward the
end of the seventh century. From the literary
point of view, kanones are less attractive than
kontakia. The great names associated with the
kanon are Andrew of Crete (d. 740) and JOHN OF
DAMASCUS (d. 749).
The liturgical books of the Eastern
Orthodox Church are filled with hymns;
one of the most important for the study of
Byzantine hymnography is the Oktoechos
(Parakletike).
SEE ALSO: Literature and poetry, Byzantine;
Liturgy, Byzantine; Rhetoric, Byzantine;
Theotokos (Virgin Mary).

REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS

Peltomaa, L. M. (2001) The image of the Virgin
Mary in the Akathistos Hymn. Leiden.
Szoverffy, J. (1978) A guide to Byzantine
hymnography: a classified bibliography of texts and
studies 1. Leiden.
Taft, R. F. (1992) The Byzantine rite: a short history.
Collegeville, MN.
Wellesz, E. (1962) A history of Byzantine music
and hymnography, 2nd ed. Oxford.

The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, First Edition. Edited by Roger S. Bagnall, Kai Brodersen, Craige B. Champion, Andrew Erskine,
and Sabine R. Huebner, print page 3363.
2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah03117