Γεώργιος Σάββας
Μέλος
presenting "an interesting unedited hymnographic text from codex Scorialensis graecus [403] X IV 8, f. 15v-19v2;" a seemingly unique text, not just as "a fine mixture of hymnography and rhetoric, but because it achieves a “marriage” between a liturgical text and a text for educational use, such as ethopoiia, which being a progymnasma is a preliminary exercise in rhetorical composition. In the rubric of the kanon (f. 15v-16), written on the celebration of the day after Christmas and devoted to the Adoration of the Magi (celebrated on December 26), we read the following lines (v. 1-9):
Kanon in the form of an ethopoiia which describes how the Magi saw the star and what they said when they saw it, how, because of it, they have understood that an incomparable king was born [5] and how they have rushed to its quest, how they have met and discussed with the Jews and Herod in Jerusalem and how, after having seen the son of God, who was born for us to give life to mortal people, with his wholly unblemished mother, they have worshiped him, having the acrostic: The Magi are coming to Christ following the star.
Κανὼν ἐν ἠθοποιΐας σχήματι διαλαμβάνων πῶς τε εἶδον οἱ μάγοι τὸν ἀστέρα καὶ ποίους λόγους ἔλεγον ἰδόντες αὐτὸν πῶς τε ἔγνωσαν δι’ αὐτοῦ ὅτι ἀσύγκριτος ἐτέχθη βασιλεὺς [5] καὶ πῶς εἰς τὴν τούτου ἐξῆλθον μετὰ σπουδῆς ζήτησιν [16] ὅπως τε τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις καὶ τῷ Ἡρώδῃ προσωμίλησαν ἐν | Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ ὅπως τὸν δι’ ἡμᾶς βροτωθέντα τοὺς βροτοὺς υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἰδόντες μετὰ τῆς πανασπίλου μητρὸς αὐτοῦ προσεκύνησαν, φέρων ἀκροστιχίδα: Δι’ ἀστέρος πρὸς Χριστὸν ἔρχονται μάγοι."
Kanon in the form of an ethopoiia which describes how the Magi saw the star and what they said when they saw it, how, because of it, they have understood that an incomparable king was born [5] and how they have rushed to its quest, how they have met and discussed with the Jews and Herod in Jerusalem and how, after having seen the son of God, who was born for us to give life to mortal people, with his wholly unblemished mother, they have worshiped him, having the acrostic: The Magi are coming to Christ following the star.
Κανὼν ἐν ἠθοποιΐας σχήματι διαλαμβάνων πῶς τε εἶδον οἱ μάγοι τὸν ἀστέρα καὶ ποίους λόγους ἔλεγον ἰδόντες αὐτὸν πῶς τε ἔγνωσαν δι’ αὐτοῦ ὅτι ἀσύγκριτος ἐτέχθη βασιλεὺς [5] καὶ πῶς εἰς τὴν τούτου ἐξῆλθον μετὰ σπουδῆς ζήτησιν [16] ὅπως τε τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις καὶ τῷ Ἡρώδῃ προσωμίλησαν ἐν | Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ ὅπως τὸν δι’ ἡμᾶς βροτωθέντα τοὺς βροτοὺς υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἰδόντες μετὰ τῆς πανασπίλου μητρὸς αὐτοῦ προσεκύνησαν, φέρων ἀκροστιχίδα: Δι’ ἀστέρος πρὸς Χριστὸν ἔρχονται μάγοι."
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