on Saturday, to the martyrs and the dead.

Other ninth-century writers whose work is found in the Triodion are St. Theophanes Graptos (778—84^), St. Joseph the Hymnographer (c. 816-c. 886), the Emperor Leo VI the Wise (reigned 886—912), and the poetess Kassia or Kassiani, who spoilt her chances of marrying the Emperor Theophilos (829-42) through the pertness of her repartee, and subsequently became a nun.50 She is the authoress of a celebrated hymn at Mattins on Great Wednesday, ‘The woman who had fallen into many sins. . . ’ . (3) Further additions (tenth—fifteenth centuries). Although the basic structure of the Triodion was completed in the ninth century, many further additions were made during the five subsequent cen­ turies, yet without altering the general pattern articulated by the

Kontakion. Perhaps this Kontakion, and the Akathistos Hymn itself,

glory, He will come as our judge. ‘ Behold the goodness and severity of God’ (Rom. 1 1 : 22). Such is the message of Lent to each of u s: turn back while there is still time, repent before the End comes. In the words of the Great Canon:

53 Canticle Four, troparion 2.

Studite redactors. Manuscript Triodia surviving from the eleventh century show that there was at that time a wide variety of local usages, but from the twelfth century onwards there is growing uni­ formity. Among the more notable writers from this third stratum are Simeon the Logothete, known as ‘ the Translator' (tenth century), author of the Lamentation of the Theotokos used at Com­ pline on Good Friday; John Mavropous, Metropolitan of Euchaita (eleventh century), author of the two Canons to St. Theodore on

the Nika riots. On such a hypothesis the Kontakion could be contemporary with

Yet thou dost not care or make ready.

tinople (fourteenth century), author of the office in honour of St. Gregory Palamas on the second Sunday. Surprisingly, some o f the best loved elements in the Triodion are also the most recent in date. The three troparia sung at Sunday

sense of the continuing bond of mutual love that links together all

the members of the Church, whether alive or dead. For those who

believe in the risen Christ, death does not constitute an impassable barrier, since all are alive in H im ; the departed are still our breth­ ren, members of the same family with us, and so we are conscious of the need to pray insistently on their behalf. (e) The Sunday of the Last Judgement (Gospel reading: Matthew 2 ^ :3 1- 4 6 ) . The two past Sundays spoke to us of God’s patience and limitless compassion, of His readiness to accept every sinner who re­ turns to Him. On this third Sunday, we are powerfully reminded of a complementary truth: no one is so patient and so merciful as God, but even He does not forgive those who do not repent. The God of love is also a God of righteousness, and when Christ comes again in

The end draws near, my soul, the end draws near;

The time grows short, rise u p : the Judge is at the door.

The days of our life pass swiftly, as a dream, as a flower.53

This Sunday sets before us the ‘ eschatological’ dimension of Lent:

the Great Fast is a preparation for the Second Coming of the Saviour,

for the eternal Passover in the Age to Come. (This is a theme that w ill be taken up in the first three days of Holy W eek.) Nor is the judgement merely in the future. Here and now, each day and each

communion on weekdays in Lent —for in the ancient Church it was normal to communicate frequently, and in some places even daily the order of the Presanctified Liturgy was devised. Many moments in the Presanctified Liturgy recall the period when Lent was a time of final training before the reception of Baptism,

the sacrament of light or ‘ ilhimination’ . Thus between the two Old

Testament lessons, the priest, holding the censer and a lighted candle, blesses the congregation, saying: ‘The light of Christ shines upon a lP ; and, following the Litany for the Catechumens and their dismissal, there is during the second half of Lent an additional Litany ‘for those who are ready for ilhimination’ . Each time we take part in the Liturgy of the Presanctified, we should ask our­ selves : In a world that is increasingly alienated from Christ, what have I done since last Lent to spread the light of the Gospel? And where are the catechumens in our Orthodox churches today? On Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent, as indeed throughout the year, the normal hymns to the Mother of God known as ‘Theotokia’

are replaced by ‘ Stavrotheotokia’ , that is, hymns referring both to

the Cross and to the Theotokos, and describing the Mother’s grief

as she stands beside the Cross of her Son. Through these hymns, we are made conscious of the Blessed Virgin’s participation in our ob­ servance of Lent. Let us now consider the sequence of the forty days in greater detail. (a)

the Mother of God. One of the greatest marvels of Greek religious

poetry, with a richness of imagery that is the despair of any trans­ lator, the Akathistos Hymn has twenty-four main stanzas, alterna­ tively long and short: each long stanza bears the title ‘ ikos’ and ends with the refrain ‘ Hail, Bride without bridegroom’ , while each short stanza is termed ‘ kontakion’ and ends with the refrain ‘Alleluia’ .

The title ‘ Akathistos’ means literally ‘not sitting’ , the Hymn being

so called because all remain standing while it is sung. The greater part of the Hymn is made up of praises addressed to the Holy Virgin, each beginning with the salutation o f the Archangel Gabriel, ‘ Hail’ or ‘ Rejoice’ (Luke i : 28). The Hymn passes in review the main events connected with Christ’ s Incarnation, starting with the An­ nunciation (first ikos) and ending with the Flight into Egypt (sixth ikos) and the Presentation in the Temple (seventh kontakion).

The Akathistos Hymn, so it seems, was originally composed at an

epoch when the Annunciation was still celebrated together with Christmas and had not yet become a separate festival.69 Perhaps at one time it was sung on 26 December, the Synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos. It was probably during the reign of the Emperor Justinian (527-65) that the Annunciation first began to be cele­ brated on 25 March; and either when this happened or else soon after - and in any case not later than 7 1 8 - the Akathistos Hymn was also appointed to be sung on 25 March. More recently, perhaps during the period of the Turcocratia after the fall of Constantinople (14 5 3), the Hymn was transferred from the fixed to the movable calendar, and instead of being sung on 2^ March it was appointed

for Saturday in the fifth week. The custom of singing a portion of the 68 The Life of St. Mary of Egypt (not included in this volume) may be found in the translations of the Great Canon by Archimandrite Lazarus and by Sisters Kather­ ine and Thelda (see below, p. 66). 69 See R. A . Fletcher, ‘Three Early Byzantine Hymns and their Place in the

Liturgy of the Church of Constantinople’ , Byzantinische Zeitschrift li (19 5 8 ), pp.

5*3—65·; J. Grosdidier de Matons, Romanos le Melode: Hymnes, vol. ii (Sources chretiennes n o : Paris, 19 6 5 ), pp. 1 5 - 1 6 .

Hymn at Compline on the first four Fridays of Lent is more recent still: while found among the Greeks, such a practice is not part of

the Slav use.

The link between the Akathistos Hymn and the Feast of the An­

nunciation still continues to be much in evidence: for example, most of the texts at Friday Vespers before the Vigil o f the Akathistos are taken directly from the office for ι ς March.70 The Annunciation almost always falls within the period of the Great Fast,71 and that is why this special office of praise to the Mother of God has found a place in the Lenten Triodion. At the beginning of the Akathistos Hymn, there is sung a Kontakion greatly loved by the Orthodox people, ‘ To thee, our leader in battle and defender. . . ’ , celebrating the deliverance of the city of Constantinople from its enemies through the aid of the Mother'of God. It seems that this Kontakion was not originally part of the

Akathistos Hymn, for in the Hymn itself there is nowhere any allusion to such a deliverance. Most probably the Kontakion was written by Patriarch Sergios to celebrate the escape of the Byzantine capital from the attack of the Persians and Avars in 626 ; 72 in that case, the Akathistos Hymn is almost certainly more ancient than the

were also sung at the thanksgiving celebrations after other deliver­ ances of Constantinople: from the Arabs in the mid-67os, from the Arabs again in 7 17 - 1 8 , and from the Russians (not yet converted to Orthodoxy) in 860. Understood in a broader sense, the Kontakion expresses, in the conscience of the Orthodox faithful, their sense of continuing dependence on the protecting intercession of the Holy Virgin at all moments of crisis and peril. 70 See below, pp. 4 2 0 - 1 , and compare The Festal Menaion, pp. 4 3 9 -4 0 , 460. 71 According to the Typikon of St. Sabas, the earliest point in the movable calendar at which the Feast of the Annunciation can occur is Thursday in the third week of L e n t; the latest point, Wednesday in Bright W eek (Wednesday after Easter).

The Typikon of St. Sabas also specifies that the Feast of the Annunciation shall

never be transferred, even if it falls on Great Friday. These regulations are modi­ fied in the present-day Greek practice (see The Festal Menaion, p. 4 3 £, n. 1). 72 See the Synaxarion in Triodion Katanyktikon (ed. Apostoliki Diakonia), pp. 3 0 2 -3 . It has also been suggested that the Kontakion ‘To thee, our leader in battle and defender. . . ’ was written in 5*3 2, to celebrate the safe escape o f the city from

the rest of the Akathistos Hymn, and might even be the work of Romanos. But

the Synaxarion says nothing of the Nika riots.

(h) The Fifth Sunday. This corresponds closely to the preceding