On Tuesday the 17th of November 2020, Bata Bardak conducted a zoom seminar for Spiritual Reading Group on the 9th-century Byzantine abbess Kassia, or Kassiani the Hymnographer. Here are the hymns and writings used during the seminar.
When
Augustus Reigned
When Augustus
reigned alone upon the earth
the many kingdoms
of men came to an end;
and since You were
made man of a pure Virgin
the many gods of
idols have been destroyed.
The cities have
come under one universal kingdom
and the nations
came to believe
in one divine
dominion.
The people were
registered by the decree of Caesar;
we, the faithful,
have been inscribed in the name of
Your divinity when
You our God were made man.
Great is Your
mercy, Lord; glory to you.
Eight
hymns on the Birth of Christ
I. When you appeared, Christ,
in Bethlehem of Judea
born from a Virgin
and wrapped in swaddling clothes as a new-born
and lying in a manger,
a company of angels from on high praised
your great concession towards mankind
who through the deepest compassion
put on a body
and deified the mortal being;
glory to you, Lord.
II. When you appeared, Christ,
made flesh from a woman
she who bore you,
astounded by your condescension,
tearfully said, Saviour;
how can I bear you as an infant who are eternal
how can I nourish with milk you who nourish
the whole of creation with your divine power?
who through the deepest compassion
put on a body
and deified the mortal body
glory to you, Lord.
III. When you appeared, Saviour,
who reigns through the ages,
you were worshipped by the Magi
having been led by a star to you, sun of glory;
they were astounded by your poverty
and offered to you lying in a manger,
gold, frankincense and myrrh
who through the deepest compassion
put on a body
and deified the mortal being;
glory to you, Lord.
IV. When you appeared, Christ,
to live among the people on earth
becoming poor, to the contrary
the whole creation added adornments to you as Lord
the people rejoicing offered a hymn of thanksgiving
to the one who bore you;
the earth offered the cave and the Magi the gifts;
to you who through the deepest
compassion put on a body
and deified the mortal being;
glory to you, Lord.
V. Angels present at the cave
sang hymns of praise to you, Lord,
born from a virgin as a man;
Magi and shepherds with them
worshipped you, Christ,
lying in a manger, newborn;
some were impressed by
your unusual poverty, O Logos;
others carried gifts to you,
gold and myrrh and frankincense,
joining them we cry aloud to you,
benefactor of all,
glory to you, Lord.
VI. The sun of glory
came forth from your radiant womb,
oh highly favoured all-blameless,
ordained to spread with its rays
the light of salvation;
you remained a virgin after the birth
as you were before it,
something unexplainable;
and you covered him with swaddling clothes
as a cloud, he who enlightens
those who cry out with faith,
benefactor of all,
glory to you, Lord.
VII. Creation was enlightened
by your birth on earth, Lord,
and the heavens praised you with fear
shepherds along with Magi
reverently glorified you
when they saw you, O Logos, being poor
and wearing swaddling clothes
through which, merciful one, you broke
all bands of sin
uniting life with immortality
for those who entreat you,
benefactor of all,
glory to you, lord.
VIII. Today God is made flesh
by a holy Virgin
and the Lord becomes poor
so that poverty might be made rich
which the serpent had debased;
now let us approach him
and be enlightened
for the light has shone upon those in darkness
and exalted the humble,
those who like the angels sing
glory to God in the highest
and on earth peace
with good will among men.
Three
hymns for the forefeast of the Theophany (Baptism of Christ)
I. When you appeared, Christ,
the Lord among the servants
approaching the waters of Jordan
and touched by the hand of your servant, the Forerunner
and baptized in the waters,
the host of angels were amazed seeing
your great condescension, benefactor,
who was baptized for us,
accepted a human body
and wiped clean the sins
of the mortals; glory to you, Lord.
II. Jesus the Christ
who enlightens those in darkness,
who brings about our spiritual
renewal, came to John asking
to be baptized, calling out to him:
wash me with these waters; with them
I shall regenerate
the whole of mankind
that is ensconced in corruption
and impiously enslaved by the serpent’s
cunning, glory to you, Lord.
III. Oh Creator, how shall I lay my hands upon
you;
who are the divine fire?
How will the waters of the river receive you
Who are regarded as a great sea of divinity
and the inexhaustible source of life?
How shall I baptize you who are not polluted
and who moreover takes away the sin of mankind
for which on our account you were born of a virgin,
said he who was born of a barren woman
I have need of your baptism,
Glory to you, Lord.
Hymn
for Holy Wednesday Vespers
The
Penitent Woman (commonly referred to as “The
Hymn of Kassiani”)
Lord, the woman fallen
Into many sins,
Recognizing your
Divinity,
Rises to the status of myrrh-bearer,
And mourning brings to
you myrrh
Before your burial.
Woe to me, she says,
For night holds for me
The ecstasy of intemperance
Gloomy and moonless
A desire for sin.
Accept the springs of my
tears,
You who with clouds
spread out
The water of the sea:
Bend down to me
To the lamentations of my heart,
You who made the heavens
incline
By your ineffable humiliation.
I will tenderly kiss your
sacred feet,
I will wipe them again
With the hair of my head;
The feet whose sound
Eve heard in Paradise
In the afternoon,
And hid in fear,
Who can delineate
The multitude of my sins
And the depths of your
judgement’
My Redeemer, saviour of souls?
Do not disregard me, your
servant
You, whose mercy is infinite.
Three
hymns for the feast of the Meeting (the Presentation of Christ in the Temple)
I. When you appeared Christ,
in the arms of her who bore you
as in a pair of tongs (ref.
Isaiah 6:6-7)
you were given to Simeon the Elder a perfect child,
a coal perceived not burning; (ref. Isaiah
6:1-12)
when he held you in his arms
he rejoiced full of youthful spirit
and asked for release, “Saviour,” he cried out to you,
“now release me, your servant, (cf. Luke 2:29-30)
from this world to eternal life,
according to your word,
for I have seen you in human form.”
II. The undefiled Virgin
carrying in her arms
him whom she embodied
delivers him to the holy elder, saying
“Receive him whom the teachings
of the prophets proclaimed,
the child who because of compassion is now summoned
and as the holy lawgiver fulfils the law”;
and he cried out to him;
“You have come who will release me
from this world to eternal life;
glory to you, Lord.”
III. “How can I hold you as a child,
you who holds everything together?
How do I bring you to the temple, who is beyond goodness?
How do I deliver you to the arms of the elder
who sits in the bosom of the Father?
How do you endure purification,
you who purifies the whole corrupt nature?”
So said the Virgin
the temple who contained God
marvelling at your great condescension,
Christ.
Hymn
commemorating the Birth of St John the Baptist, at Vespers
Now the voice of Isaiah
the prophet
this day has been
fulfilled
by the conception of one
greater than the prophet, John.
For behold, he said, I
will send my messenger before your countenance,
who shall prepare your
way.
He then, as soldier and
forerunner of the Heavenly King,
truly made straight the
paths of our God,
being a man by nature,
but an angel in his life.
For he embraced complete
chastity and self-restraint,
he held to that which was
according to nature,
but avoided that which
was contrary to nature.
Let us all, the faithful,
imitate him in virtue,
implore him to plead on
our behalf
for the saving of our
souls.
Hymn
in honour of Mary the Egyptian
You severed the
temptations of the soul
and the passions of the
body
with the sword of
temperance;
the crimes of the mind
you choked with the
silence of spiritual discipline,
and with streams of your
tears
you watered the entire desert,
and made to grow in us
the seeds of repentance:
therefore we celebrate
your memory, holy one.
Selections
from the Canon for the Dead
From Ode Six
Christ, when you conclude
our lives and deeds here on earth
and begin the scrutiny
of all our deeds,
do not cross examine, Lord,
the transgressions of those
you have already received.
From Ode Seven
Long-suffering one,
since you have a boundless
measure of love for mankind,
during the trial of those who have already departed to
you,
do not place all their transgressions before them,
but forgive them
and save them, Oh Christ.
Most impartial judge,
when you weigh
our deeds,
do not judge with reason,
but let your goodness prevail
and add weight
to the scale, Lord,
when the evil deeds
tip it the other way.
__________________________________________________________________________
Selections
from the Secular Epigrams and Gnomic Verses
I hate one that conforms
to all ways.
I hate silence when it is
time to speak.
I hate the
verbose in an unsuitable time.
I hate the rich man
moaning as if he were poor.
I hate the
poor man boasting as if in wealth.
I hate the
one who does not encourage everyone with words.
I hate one
who speaks before examining.
I hate the
one who teaches knowing nothing.
Knowledge in a stupid
person is a bell on a pig’s snout.
There is absolutely no
cure for stupidity.
I hate a
murderer condemning the hot-tempered.
I hate the
adulterer when he judges the fornicator.
I hate the
leper who drives out the leprous.
I hate a
debtor who sleeps unconcernedly.
It is better
to possess grace from the Lord, than beauty and wealth that does not gain grace
A little is the most, if
the friend is grateful, but to the ungrateful the most is the least.
Selection
from ‘Stupidity’
Woe, oh Lord, if a stupid
person attempts to be clever;
Where does one flee,
where does one turn, how does one endure?
A stupid person is always
inclined to overdo:
Putting on a pair of
shoes he runs everywhere.
It is better if a stupid
person is never born
but if born, may not walk
on the earth
but soon afterwards be
sent to Hades.
An association between a
sensible person and a stupid one cannot endure;
for it will weaken by
their antithesis.
How can it overcome their
impudence?
It is better to be poor
with sensible people
than to be rich with
stupid and ignorant ones
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