An article by Mikhail Skaballanovich, Ph.D. (Church History)
Although St Andrew of Crete calls the Nativity (nativitas) of the Most Holy Theotokos the “Beginning of All Feasts,” it was likely the last of the twelve major Christian holidays to appear in the calendar.
As a rule, holidays dedicated to the Mother of God
appear later than the ones dedicated to the Lord. Although the first report of
the holiday of the Nativity of the Mother of God dates back to the 5th
century, viz., the homilies of Proclus, Patriarch of Constantinople (439-446)
in the East and Sacramentarium of Pope Gelasius (492-496) in the West, these
accounts are not fully reliable: the authenticity of Proclus’s words is
contested, while the earliest copies of the Sacramentarium of Pope Gelasius
date to a much later time (8th century). A recently discovered
Syrian menologion (AD 412) does not mention the Nativity of Theotokos and, for
that matter, neither does it mention any of the other Marian holidays; it
mentions only two of the holidays dedicated to Jesus Christ, i.e. the Nativity
of Christ and Theophany. This menologion commemorates “Presbyter Faustus and
Ammonius and 20 martyrs with them” on September 8 (O.S.).
This holiday apparently originated in the Greek Church
and soon spread to Rome and its affiliated churches. It is noteworthy that this
holiday is celebrated by Nestorians (the Nativity of Our Lady Mary) as well as
by Jacobites, on September 8 (with the exception of several ancient Coptic
menologions, where this holiday is celebrated on April 26). It may mean that
this holiday appeared in the Eastern Church before these heretics parted ways
with the Church, i.e. in the 5th century.
St Andrew of Crete († ca. 712) wrote two homilies and a canon for this holiday.
He already considered this holiday as a solemnity. He insists in his canon that
all creation must rejoice (Ode 1); the heaven must be glad and
the earth must be joyful (Ode 4);
barren women and mothers must join the chorus (Ode 6). St Andrew
probably wanted to put this holiday on par with other Marian feasts. If you
read his canon, full of deep emotion and admiration, you will surely see that a
7th-century Christian like St Andrew, who died in the early 8th
century, perceived the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos as a day when his
heart trembled in awe and his soul was overflowing with exalted feelings.
St Andrew of Crete († ca. 712) wrote two homilies and a canon for this holiday.
Only a person who had been reared in veneration of
this day and maybe heard enthusiastic hymns composed by earlier authors could
have the inspiration to write such masterpieces as the 2nd Canon for
the Nativity of Theotokos. This holiday is highlighted in a 7th-century
Jerusalem Book of Canons, and a Georgian version refers to it as significantly
different from other days. This feast is also referred to by name in the
Festive Gospel, which Emperor Theodosius III (715 – 717) gave as a present to
St Catherine Monastery on Mt Sinai. This Gospel was written with golden letters
and apparently contained readings only for the most important holidays of the
ecclesiastical year (it contains readings only for 21 days of the year: aside
from the current twelve major feasts – with the exception of Palm Sunday, which
might have been omitted by mistake – there are readings for September 1,
December 24, January 5, February 7, March 9, April 23, May 8 and 10, June 29).
In the West, this holiday is first mentioned in the
Roman Pseudo-Hieronymus Martyrology (7th century), in the statutes
of Bishop Sonnatius of Rheims (614 – 631) as one of the 13 days of the year when public
affairs are forbidden, and in the Martyrology of St Bede the Venerable (†735). Holy Pope Sergius (687-701) is said by
Anastasius the Librarian (9th century) to have appointed a litany (a
procession) from St Mary Church to St Adrian Church on this day. The rules of
St Boniface (8th century) name this feast as one of the holidays
that merit special honor (sabbatizandae a populis cum singulari devotione). King
Charles the Bald mentions this holiday in one of his charters (on distribution
of monastery lands). An 8th-century Anglo-Saxon Pontifical contains
a bishop’s blessings for this feast.
Although it took a long time to become commonly known
and celebrated in the West, this holiday took even longer to become as solemnly
celebrated as it is nowadays. The most ancient calendar of Corbie Abbey (8th
– 9th centuries) contains the following note on September 8:
“Memory (natale) of St Adrian and of the Nativity of Blessed Virgin Mary.”
Later records assign one Mass to the Nativity of the Mother of God and another
Mass to the commemoration of St Adrian; then two Masses to the Nativity and one
to St Adrian; then St Adrian is left with only the early Mass; and then finally
St Adrian has only a commemoration (commemoratio). Bruno von Hildesheim is characterized
in a chronicle dated 1155 as “this most venerable prelate (praesul) was
God-loving: he shone with ardent reverence towards His Most Glorious Mother
Virgin Mary and diligently did whatever he could to venerate her. Among other
things, he was the only bishop who ordered an eight days long octave (apodosis)
of Her Nativity to be observed in his diocese, which was later adopted by the
entire Holy Mother Church.” Bishop Guido Autissiodensis (†1270) also made this
feast a solemn annual celebration in his diocese. Pope Innocent IV made the
eight days long octave of this holiday mandatory for the entire Western Church
during the Council of Lyon in 1245. Pope Gregory XI (1370-1378) determined a
vigil and a fast for this feast, as well as a special rite of mass.
It was in the West and around that time that an
explanation for the date of this holiday (September 8) was found. Durandus
(†1296) writes that a pious man heard joyful singing of Angels every year on
that day and he wondered why they were singing. It was revealed to him that the
Angels rejoiced because Virgin Mary had been born on this day; as soon as the
Pope learned about it, he ordered a celebration of the Nativity of the Holy
Virgin on earth like in the heaven.
* * *
Church chants dedicated to the holiday of the Nativity
of the Most Holy Theotokos must have appeared from its very beginning.
Unfortunately, our current service hardly retains any of the 5th or
7th century hymns dedicated to this feast. Liturgical manuscripts
that date back to 7th and 8th century (e.g., some
Georgian manuscripts) contain chants that are totally different from our
current ones.
We do not have a kontakion for the Nativity of
Theotokos composed by St Roman the Melodist who lived in the 6th
century and wrote many of our current kontakia for the twelve major feasts. It
is only the troparion Thy Nativity, O Theotokos Virgin that belongs to
these ancient times — the 5th – 7th centuries, given that
the same chant is a part of both the Roman Catholic mass and the Eastern
Orthodox liturgy, and that this is practically the sole case where worship
hymns in the Orthodox Church and the Roman Church coincide.
On the contrary, the 8th and the 9th
centuries were the time when a number of church hymns dedicated to the Nativity
of the Most Holy Theotokos appeared. Less than half of them made it into our
current rite of celebration of this feast and its eve. The majority of these
chants were introduced into the rite of worship by ancient rubrics but later
faded out of use. Currently, there are chants by the following authors used
during church services of the Nativity of the Mother of God: St Andrew of Crete
(† ca. 712) — the Second Canon of the feast; St John of
Damascus († ca. 780) — the First Canon of the feast; Patriarch Herman of Constantinople
(† 740) — the aposticha; Anatoly, bp. of Thessalonica (?) — several stichera
chanted during the litiya; Stephen and Sergius of the Holy City, i.e. monks of
St Sabbas Monastery in the Holy City (Jerusalem), fl. 9th century —
the Canon of the Eve of the feast. The following authors once had their chants
used in old times, e.g. according to the Hypotyposis of the Monastery of the
Theotokos Evergetis, Constantinople, but were later rejected by our current
Typikon: Emperor Leo VI († 916) — Canon, tone 4 I Shall Open My Mouth
(according to the Evergetis Hypotyposis, it was chanted during “pannikhida” of
the feast) and another canon with the same initial irmos (according to the same
document, it was chanted during “pannikhida” on September 11); George, bishop
of Nicomedia (?), fl. 9th century — Canon, tone 4 I Shall Open My
Mouth (the same Hypotyposis assigns this canon for the Matins on the Eve of the
feast) and Canon, tone 4, The Powerful Generals during the “pannikhida” on
September 10. The same Evergetis Hypotyposis requires (during the “pannikhida”
on September 9) another canon, tone 4, I Shall Sing To Thee, O Lord My God, by
John (of Damascus?). It is worth noting that St Cosmas of Maiuma did not leave
us a canon for this feast: nor did he leave canons for Easter, Ascension,
Annunciation, and Entrance of the Mother of God into the Temple.
The extant sources do not allow us to say anything
definitive about the kind of service and the hymns and readings that the
holiday of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos had before the 7th
century. Luckily, we have a 7th-century source that sheds light on
the rite of this service: a translation into the Georgian language of the so
called Jerusalem Canonarium, that is, a collection of liturgical instructions, or
rather an index of readings during worship in the Church of Jerusalem. We read,
“The Nativity of Theotokos. Troparion, tone 1: Thy Nativity, O Theotokos
Virgin. Prokeimenon, tone 1: Thou Hast Sanctified Thy Dwelling; verse: God Is
Our Refuge and Strength.” This note is followed by a list of readings, viz., 1.
The Wisdom of Solomon 8:2-4 (mistakenly cited as Proverbs); 2. Isaiah 11:1 ff.;
and an unnumbered reading of Hebrews 8:7-9,10. Hallelujah, tone 8: Hear O
Daughter. Gospel Luke 11:27-32. Washing of hands, tone 1, “Thy Nativity, O Most
Pure Virgin.” Apparently, these are the instructions for the Liturgy only; more
important feasts have rubrics for the Vespers and the Matins, too. Perhaps, the
Vespers and the Matins of this feast did not differ too much from everyday
services. We see Old Testament readings during the Liturgy and a special
troparion “on washing of hands”, which might have been a substitute of the
Cherubic Song. Remarkably, the Gospel reading in this source begins with “And
it came to pass, as he spake these things…”, i.e. with the last words of the
current Gospel reading. The second earliest source that contains liturgical
instructions for this feast is the so called Canonarium of Mt Sinai, i.e. a
similar book, which was meant to be used in a certain Church (maybe the Church
of Constantinople), found alongside a Gospel book in St Catherine Monastery on
Mt Sinai and attributed to the 9th century. The Vespers prokeimenon
in this book is “Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God” and the
verse is God loves the Gates of Zion. The OT readings, the troparion, the
Epistle and Gospel readings, and the Koinonikon are already the same as today.
The information about the order of the services on the
Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos is available to us since the 11th
century, when this service was already very close to the current one. We will
mention only the few differences between the known ancient manuscripts and the
current Typikon.
Thus, the manuscript of a Georgian translation of the Typikon (the 11th -century Synaxarion of Iveron Monastery on Mt Athos) requires a special prokeimenon on the Vespers of this feast: “The holy place of the tabernacles of the most High, God is in the midst of her” and the verse was God Is Our Refuge. There was no litiya during the Vespers according to this book; it stipulated current stichera for Lord I Cried during the Aposticha (this book does not determine stichera for Lord I Cried; the same is true for all other great feasts); the troparion is the current one but in the first tone; the usual Matins kathisma is replaced with Psalms 43, 44, and 132; the Antiphons during the Liturgy are It Is Good — apparently the usual weekday ones — with the following refrains: 1). By the Prayers of Theotokos, 2). and 3). Save Us, O Son of God Born of a Virgin, For We Sing Thee: Hallelujah.
The 11th-century practice of celebration of the feast of the
Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos in the Evergetis Monastery in
Constantinople as recorded in a 12th-century manuscript has the
following differences from the current practice. Only three initial stichera
are chanted during the Lord I Cried at Vespers: the first and the second ones
are repeated three times, and the third sticheron is repeated twice. There was
no litiya during Vespers according to this Typikon. The Aposticha had the
following verses: 1) Lord, remember David, and all his afflictions: how he
sware unto the Lord, and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob; 2) The Lord hath
sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it;Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne. Only two first stichera of the Aposticha coincide with the current ones, while the third one, Thy Most Honorable Nativity, is now the last during the Vespers; the fourth, Today the Barren Gate, is currently the fourth sung at Lord I Cried. The troparion is in tone 1. The first kathisma at the Matins was the usual one, and the second was a special one, appropriate for the feast, i.e. the sixth kathisma, O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath. The sessional hymn after the first kathisma is the one which is now read after the second kathisma; the sessional hymn after the second kathisma is the one that is read after the third ode of the canon today; the sessional hymn after the polieley is the one that is now read after the first kathisma. Canons: First Canon has irmoses repeated twice, troparia by 4, the 2nd by six (no mention of irmoses here); consequently, the canon itself is read by 12 (today by 16). The current 1st sessional hymn after the polieley is read after Ode 3 of the canon; the exapostilarion Holy is the Lord our God is read after Ode 9, like on other, mainly medium-importance feasts and, “optionally, another exapostilarion, sung to the tune of Hearken O Women: The ends of earth rejoice.” The Lauds included six stichera but the book names only two of them (probably the first two of the current ones), Glory: Now: the sixth one currently at Lord I Cried, Today the Barren Anna. The Beatitudes during the Liturgy are unique to this feast, in tone 8 “Remember us” — a troparion, a troichen and a theotokion. The following readings from the “Book of Praises to the Theotokos” were incorporated into the service according to this book of rubrics: the First Homily of St John of Damascus, beginning with Come All Nations, during the panikhida; the Second and the Third Homilies of St John of Damascus during the Matins after the First and the Second Kathisma, beginning with the following words, “If the Earth is measured by cubits” and “Various other subjects of feasts”; a homily by St Andrew of Crete “This feast is the beginning of all feasts” after the polieley; a “historical account by St James in his Metaphrastos” after Ode 3 of the Canon (currently, there remain the following readings: the Second Homily by St John of Damascus, referred to as the Homily by St Andrew of Crete; the First Homily by St John of Damascus after the 2nd Kathisma; a homily by Gregory the Hieromonk; and an unspecified “reading of the feast” after the 1st Kathisma).
We see that the service according to that Typikon is
different from our current one in just a few ways, such as lack of several
stichera (e.g. stichera during the litiya), another order of stichera and
sessional hymns, and an abridged canon. The Hypotyposis of Evergetis Monastery
is an important document in the history of liturgy because it recorded the
practice of worship, which was the middle ground between the so call Studite
and Jerusalemite Typika. The Hypotyposis of Evergetis is closer to the Studite Typikon
in its earliest form, which we cannot find in the full copies that exist today,
due to the fact that these remaining copies date back to the 12th-13th
centuries and are very close to the Jerusalem (the present) Typikon; they
are much closer to it than the Hypotyposis of Evergetis.
According to these copies of the Studite Typikon, which are a Slavonic-Russian edition of this Typikon made in 12th or 13th centuries, the worship on this feast has the following differences from the current one. There are six verses for the stichera on Lord I Cried, and the stichera are the current first three ones; there is no litiya during Vespers according to this Typikon; the Aposticha stichera go in the following order: the 1st Sticheron is the same as today; the 2nd Sticheron is the same as the 3rd Sticheron now; the 4th Sticheron is the same as the 4th Sticheron on Lord I Cried today. Glory: Now: tone 2, to the tune of House of Ephratha, unspecified text — possibly the current aposticha sticheron from the Small Vespers; troparion, tone 1. The prokeimenon Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, which was sung after the Gospel at Matins during other feasts, was likewise sung after the Gospel at Matins of this day. The canons were chanted as follows: the First Canon had irmoses read once and verses repeated twice in Odes 1, 3, 4 and 6; both irmoses and verses were repeated twice in Odes 5, 7, 8, and 9 (because the first odes contained three verses, while the last odes contained just two verses each); the Second Canon had irmoses and verses recited once: all verses were by 12; there was the exclamation Holy Is The Lord Our God after Ode 9. The current three stichera at the Lauds were chanted twice each, then Glory: Now, followed by the first one of them. This Typikon always required Aposticha, too: Matins aposticha in tone 2, to the tune of House of Ephratha (unspecified), Glory: Now: One of those. Liturgy had “designated Psalms and they sing canons in tone 2, odes 3 and 5 with irmoses, during the Beatitudes.”
According to the earliest copies of the current
Jerusalem Typikon, the service of the Nativity of Theotokos is only slightly
different from the current (printed) Typikon. The two first stichera are
repeated at Lord I Cried. Some manuscripts require singing the Second Canon by
6 with just the troparia without irmoses; other (Slavonic) manuscripts note
that “we say its irmoses and troparia once, for they are plentiful.” The exapostilarion
of the feast is chanted twice. It is either not specified or the one that
Greeks use today. (Sessional hymns aren’t specified either, so we cannot be
certain if they are meant to be the same as today or not). The odes of the
Liturgy are taken only from the First Canon.
Finally, there are minor inconsistencies between our
current rubrics of that feast and the modern Greek or Old Rite rubrics. The
Greek rubrics have more differences, albeit insignificant. Thus, according to
the Greek Menaia, the first two stichera at Lord I Cried are read twice. The First
Sessional Hymn after the Polieley and the Sessional Hymn after Ode 3 of the
Canon are chanted one in the place of the other, and there is no second
sessional hymn after the polieley. The First Canon has irmoses by 8, the Second
Canon has troparia by 6. There is a kontakion and an ikos after the Sixth Ode,
together with a brief synaxarion (description) of the feast with preceding
verses. The Ninth Ode does not have any refrains. The exapostilaria we use nowadays
aren’t there; instead, they use one exapostilarion, mentioned in ancient books,
and sing it three times to the tune of Hearken O Women: “The ends of earth
today rejoice of Thy Nativity, O Virgin Theotokos Mary and the Unwedded Bride;
it is through it that thy parents’ woeful malediction of infecundity was
untied, as well as the curse of birth of Foremother Eve.”
According to the liturgical instructions used in the Patriarchate
of Constantinople for parish churches, this service has the following
differences from ours. They sing stichera by 6 at Lord I Cried; they do not have
a litiya during Vespers; the litiya accompanied with singing of a troparion
goes before Matins, which is served separately from the Vespers, similarly to
other great feasts. The Matins contains Psalter (kathismas) and a polieley to
Theotokos My heart
is inditing; then hypakoe (in
fact, it is a sessional hymn) after the Third Ode of the Canon. During the Liturgy,
they sing antiphons consisting of the verses of what is known to us as the select
Psalm for the Exaltation, viz., verses 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11 (see below),
with insertions of Ps. 132:17 between verses 7 and 8, and Psalm 132:14 between
verses 9 and 11. The chorus of the First Antiphon is By the Prayers of Theotokos; and of the Second Antiphon, Save Us O Son of God, Wondrous Art Thou In
Thy Saints…; of the Third Antiphon, a troparion. They sing Come Let Us Worship… Wondrous Art Thou in Thy
Saints during the Entrance.
According to the liturgical instructions used by Old Rite
believers, the second and the third stichera at Lord I Cried are sung twice;
they sing Today The Barren Gate sticheron
in tone 6 after the Gospel reading; they have no refrains after Ode 9; instead
they have a katavasia Mysterious Is The
Paradise. Instead of It Is Truly Meet
they sing Virginity Is Alien to Mothers
and repeat the Photogogikon (Svetilen) three times. Apparently, the
photogogikon is the same as in the Greek Menaia.
Our account of the history of the service in honor of this feast makes it clear how slowly and gradually this service was developed. Its authors were holy monks and confessors of the 8th and 9th centuries and this fact, coupled with high artistic qualities of their works, was the reason why their chants replaced earlier and doubtlessly simpler and less sophisticated hymns used in the 5th-7th centuries. Later, quite a few famous hymnographers brought the fruit of their inspiration to this feast, which came to be more and more venerated and honored by the Christian oikumena; however, the Church was so demanding that their works were not adopted for use during worship because they were found to be less brilliant than the former ones. It is also worth noting the care with which the liturgical instructions replaced certain hymns with others in the course of their centuries-long formation and development: texts formerly used at the Aposticha were then moved to Lord I Cried; texts originally chanted between odes of the canons were later moved to kathismas and the polieley. The rubrics were hesitant even in the seemingly unimportant issues, such as where to repeat a sticheron and which one to repeat; which number to sing canons by; whether to sing irmoses of the second canon or not. All this guarantees that the current rite of church service on this day is a harmoniously balanced single whole.
An article by Mikhail Skaballanovich, Ph.D. (Church
History)
Translated from: https://www.sedmitza.ru/lib/text/440413/
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