medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (3. April) is also the feast day of:
Joseph the Hymnographer (d. 886, perhaps). J. was a Greek-speaking
Sicilian who was still a child when his parents, fleeing the Muslim
invasion of Sicily, brought him to the Peloponnese. At the age of 15 he
had moved on to Thessalonike, where entered religion at the monastery of
the Holy Savior and later became a priest. St. Gregory the Decapolite
brought him to Constantinople and later sent him to Rome on a mission to
the pope. J. was captured by Muslim pirates and held on Crete for over
a year but ultimately returned to Constantinople, where he founded a
monastery dedicated to Bartholomew the Apostle. A partisan of the
patriarch Ignatius I, he was exiled after the latter was deposed in 858
and probably did not return to the city until Ignatius was restored in
867. After his return he was appointed to the diplomatically important
office of scevophylax of Hagia Sophia. J.'s date of death is now
usually given as 886 (formerly, 883). If the hymn to St. Theodora of
Thessalonike (d. 892) that goes under is name is really his, this is
surely too early. In Roman Rite churches he used to be celebrated on
14. June, but the latest revision of the RM lists him for today, which
puts it in line with some but not all Eastern churches. Slavic Orthodox
churches have a tradition of celebrating J. on 4. April; that is also
the date of his commemoration in the Melkite church.
As his byname indicates, J. is noted for his hymns. Both for their
quantity (over 250 are reasonably certain to be his) and for their
familiarity in Eastern-rite churches. J. is the chief contributor of
hymns to the Parakletike and some 200 of his canons exist in various
menaia. Some years ago a version of J. M. Neale's translation of his
_Phosteres tes ausias_ ("Stars of the Morning") was proffered to this
list. See:
http://tinyurl.com/z6kkc
or
http://tinyurl.com/k6936
A slightly different version will be found on the Web in various places,
e.g.:
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/s/t/starsotm.htm
http://www.ccel.org/a/anonymous/luth_hymnal/tlh255.htm
An English translation of J.'s Canon for the Akathistos will be found here:
http://www.bright.net/~palamas/CyberPsaltiri/Triodion/FriSalutations.htm
This canon is not as great a work as the Akathistos Hymn itself, but
it's by no
means unworthy.
Best,
John Dillon
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