The Earliest Known Prayer to the Mother of God
Learn more about the earliest know hymn to the Theotokos in the Orthodox Church:
So far, the earliest known prayer to the Virgin Mary is known as “Beneath thy compassion” (Greek: Ὑπὸ τὴν σὴν εὐσπλαγχνίαν). The earliest text of this hymn was found in a Christmas liturgy of the third century. It is written in Greek and dates to approximately 250 A.D.
So far, the earliest known prayer to the Virgin Mary is known as “Beneath thy compassion” (Greek: Ὑπὸ τὴν σὴν εὐσπλαγχνίαν). The earliest text of this hymn was found in a Christmas liturgy of the third century. It is written in Greek and dates to approximately 250 A.D.
In 1917,
the John Rylands Library in Manchester acquired a large panel of Egyptian
papyrus including the 18 cm by 9.4 cm fragment shown at left, containing the
text of this prayer in Greek.
C.H.
Roberts published this document in 1938. His colleague E. Lobel, with whom he
collaborated in editing the Oxyrhynchus papyri, basing his arguments on
paleographic analysis, argued that the text could not possibly be older than
the third century, and most probably was written between 250 and 300. This hymn
thus precedes the “Hail Mary” in Christian prayer by several centuries.
On the
papyrus:
.ΠΟ
ΕΥCΠΑ
ΚΑΤΑΦΕ
ΘΕΟΤΟΚΕΤ
ΙΚΕCΙΑCΜΗΠΑ
ΕΙΔΗCΕΜΠΕΡΙCTAC
AΛΛΕΚΚΙΝΔΥΝΟΥ
…ΡΥCΑΙΗΜΑC
MONH
…HEΥΛΟΓ
|
Full
text:
Ὑπὸ τὴν σὴν
εὐσπλαγχνίαν
καταφεύγομεν
Θεοτὸκε· τὰς ἡμῶν
ἱκεσίας μὴ παρ-
ίδῃς ἐν
περιστάσει
ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ
κινδύνου
λύτρωσαι ἡμᾶς
μόνη ἁγνὴ
μόνη εὐλογημένη.
|
In
English:
Beneath your
compassion
we take refuge,
Theotokos! Our
prayers, do not despise
in necessities,
but from danger
deliver us,
only pure,
only blessed one.
|
Interestingly,
the hymn calls Mary Theotokos (“she who gave birth to God”) two centuries
before the Nestorian heresy arose. By the fourth century, the term was already
popular in the area of Alexandria (St. Alexander of Alexandria, St. Athanasius,
St. Serapion of Thmuis, Didymus the Blind), and also in Arabia (Titus of
Bostra), in Palestine (Eusebius of Caesarea, St. Cyril of Jerusalem),
Cappadocia (St. Basil of Caesarea, Gregory Nazianzen, Severian of Gabala.)
The term
Theotokos may be encountered during the previous century as well in the work of
the Alexandrian school. According to the testimony of the ecclesiastical
historian Socrates (Hist. Eccl. VII, 32 – PG 67, 812 B), Origen used it in his
commentary on the Epistle to the Romans. This commentary is unfortunately now
lost, but Origen’s disciple, Bishop Dionysius of Alexandria, also used the term
Theotokos around the year 250 in an extant epistle to Paul of Samosata. It is
interesting to note that the term did not remain a mere theological concept,
but was actively and popularly used in public services of prayer.
Of course
this hymn is familiar to Orthodox Christians, who still sing it at the end of
nearly every Vespers (evening prayer) service during the fasting season of
Lent. It is also found prominently in the liturgies of the Oriental churches
and in Roman Catholic worship.
By Fr. Silouan
Thompson
Source: http://silouanthompson.net/2014/03/oldest-hymn-to-the-theotokos/
