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CYRIL AND METHODIUS: BYZANTIUM AND THE WORLD OF THE SLAVS (THESSALONIKI 2015): pp. 465-470

Saint Cyril’s Poem for Saint Gregory the Theologian:

a Byzantine Epigram

Evelina Mineva, Ioannis Polemis

The verse encomium to Saint Gregory the Theologian in the third chapter of the Long vita of Saint Cyril has been studied carefully by numerous scholars. We shall present the most important results and conclusions of this research thus far. First, the Rus­

sian linguist Trubetzkoj1 noted and distinguished the extract as a poetic text which stands out from the prose used in the Vita. It is to him that we owe the identification of its structure as aseven-line isosyllabic poem whose lines consist of 17 or 16 syllables. Later, another Russian linguist, Jakobson1 2, made some useful corrections to the Old Slavonic text as published by Trubetzkoj and produced an outstanding analysis of its metre and poetics. Pursuing a similar line of enquiry, the Bulgarian Byzantinist Iv. Dujcev3 and the Greek scholar Kolaklidis4 each -reposed a reconstruction of the Byzantine original of the seven-line poem. At much the

me time, the Italian Slavist Pichhio5 examined it from the perspective of his own theory

1 N. Trubetzkoj, “Ein altkirchenslavisches Gedicht”, Zeitschrift fur Slavische Philologie, XI ,1934, 52-54.2 R. Jakobson, “Похвала Константина Философа Григорию Богослову”, Slavia, XXXIX, 1970= Jakob-

n, R. Selected Writings, Vol. 6, P. 1: Comparative Slavic Studies. The Cyrillo-Methodian Tradition, Mouton -bl. 1985,207-239.

I Iv. Dujcev, “Constantino Filosofo nella storia della letteratura Bizantina”, Studi in onore di E. Lo Gatto e G. 'aver, Roma, 1962= Medioevo Bizantino-Slavo, Storia e Letteratura 102, Vol. I I , Roma 1965, 101.

4 Κολακλίδης, Π., “O Roman Jakobson και το Εγκώμιο του Γρηγορίου του Θεολόγου”, Εκήβολος ,7, 1981, 503-525 = Μελέτες. Ελληνική γραμματεία και γλώσσα, Τόμ. Α \ Ηράκειο 2006, 99.5 R. Picchio, “Strutture isocoliche e poesia slava medievale: A proposito dei capitoli III е XIII della Vita

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EVELINA MINE VA, IOANNIS POLEMIS: SAINT CYRIL’S POEM FOR SAINT GREGORY THE THEOLOGIAN: A BYZANTINE EPKjR !

of isocolles structures in Old Slavonic prose, in accordance with which analysis of this son should not be based on the contrast between “poetic parentheses” and “prose context”. Hi proposed a mid-poem caesura which had not featured in the earlier analysis.

It is self-evident that one can only accept a reconstruction of the original text if one first | accepts that it was initially written in Greek. On the provision that the poem is the work of [ Constantine and not an invention of the author of the vita of Saint Cyril6, sholars h a v e now dismissed the doubts and differing viewpoints of the past7 and accepted that the poem hada I Greek original that was subsequently translated into Slavonic.s This hypothesis is supported by the fact that Methodius is believed to have contributed to the writing of his brother’s Life j on the basis of his own memories, his experiences9 and, of course, of the works of Saint Cyril, even the most juvenile, which were in his possession. In addition, there can be no d o u b t that' the students themselves were familiar with most of their teacher’s works. Moreover, it is un­thinkable that such an outstanding Byzantine scholar, a teacher in the imperial capital and an envoy entrusted diplomatic and intellectual missions by the Byzantine Emperor should not have authored a number of works in Greek. As Dujcev notes, given that traces and fragments o f these works have come down to us in Old Slavonic translations alone10, it is both desirable and essential that we search for them among the earliest works of Old Slavonic scholarship, and in the Old Slavonic sources that refer to his life, given that the Byzantine literary and historical tradition seems to have treated them so sparingly, even unfairly.

The new interpretation of the poetic encomium to Saint Gregory the Theologian proposed in this paper, relates primarily to the poem’s metrical structure and literary genre. N one of the scholars who have studied the poem to date have suggested that the poem be included in a given Byzantine literary genre. In our opinion, it is a Byzantine epigram written in Byz­antine twelve-syllable verse. Two facts support the choice of this metre: Firstly, it was the most common and widespread metre in Byzantium and was practiced and employed even by Byzantine schoolchildren. And it should be noted at this point that Constantine c o m p o s e d tie poem when he was still a schoolboy and before he began his higher education in C onstantino­ple. In addition, it would have been hard for him to compose at this age a relatively complex poem in another meter (unless he reworked it later), given that the author of the L ife note

Constantinf’, Ricerche Slavistiche, XVIII-XIX, 1970-72, 419-443.6 Б. Ангелов, Xp. Кодов, Климент Охридски. Събрани съчинения, Т. III: Пространни жития на Кири и Методий, София 1973, 5-6.7 Ангелов, Кодов, Пространни жития на Кирил и Методий, 5-6.8 О Jakobson, Comparative Slavic Studies. The Cyrillo-Methodian Tradition, 208 actually assumes it was translated by Methodius himself; Dujcev, Medioevo Bizantino-Slavo, 98-99.9 Ангелов, Кодов, Пространни жития на Кирил и Методий, 6.10 Dujcev, Medioevo Bizantino-Slavo , 98-99.

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CYRIL AND METHODIUS: BYZANTIUM AND THE WORLD OF THE SLAVS (THESSALONIKI 2015): pp. 465-470

immediately after the poem that Constantine found it hard to understand many of the writ­ings of Gregory Nazianzenos: Бъшьдь же въ μηιλιγβι бсседм н оумь велш не μογβι рл^оумжтн гльвннь, въ оуньшк велико въплде.I 11- “Making his way through many works and unable to comprehend the profundity of this great mind, he fell into despondency.” Secondly, it is cer- lainly not without import that the other poem which is generally accepted to be the work of Saint Cyril, the “Prologue to the Gospels”, is also written in Byzantine twelve-syllable verse. Indeed, it is precisely this aspect of the work that Jakobson chooses to analyze12. Moreover, that the great scholar’s students, who continued his work in Bulgaria, would subsequently rate other poems in this metre— including, for instance, Constantine of Preslav’s Alphabeti­cal prayer and “Good verses” and the Encomium to King Symeon—is proof that the first Slav poets were both adept with twelve-syllable verse and considered it a familiar and easy-to-use means of poetic expression.13The reconstmcted Byzantine epigram presented here is based on the version of the text

proposed by Trubetzkoj and Jakobson14:IV Грнгорне, т-пломь υλοβ-βυο, л доушеи; лнкеле,

та бо, τελομβ υλοβ-вкъ cbih, а н ш ъ έβη сд,

ψΤΑ ЕО ТВОЕ, еко ОДННЪ ОТЪ серлфнмъ,

КОГА ПрОСЛЛВЛЕВКТЪ Н ВЬСЬ МН(1Ъ просвЕцтлвктъ

првъ1А bejtm кл^лнншь, тем ь же н мене

пртдлтрь кл тобе лювъвжж н в-вровк,

прннмн н бждн мн просв-втнтель Η оуунтель.

Needless to say, the attempted reconstruction of the original Greek text takes for granted icceptance of our view that the text was written in Byzantine twelve-syllable verse. It should, cfcourse, be taken to be a first draft:lima βροτός σύ, πνεύμα ό ’ άγγέλων έχεις, θψος γάρ όφθείς, Γρηγόριε, σαρκίψ, ύιιςάληθώς τών νόων ίσος, πάτερ.Ай σιόμα σόν, Σ ερα φ είμ όντω ς στόμα,

θεόνμέν αινεί, λα μπρύνει δ ’ο ικουμένην

ιαίςσαϊς όιόαχαϊς ορθοδόξω ν δογμάτω ν.

I Ангелов, Кодов, Пространни жития на Кирил и Методий, 90.!R. Jakobson, “Saint Constantine’s Prologue to the Gospels”, St. Vladimir’s Seminary Quarterly VII, N o.l,

Selected Writings, Vol. 6, P. 1: Comparative Slavic Studies. The Cyrillo-Methodian Tradition, Mouton W.1985, 193-200.I! Kp. Станчев, Стилистика и жанрове на старобългарската литература, София 1995, 75.1 Jakobson, Comparative Slavic Studies. The Cyrillo-Methodian Tradition, 208-209.

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EVELINA M1NEVA. IOANNIS POLEMIS: SAINT CYRIL’S POEM FOR SAINT GREGORY THE THEOLOGIAN: A BYZANTINE EPIGRAM

Ό θεν δ έχο ν με, σοί κ λίνοντα νυ ν γό νυ

πίστει πόθω τε, δόγμ α α ι σοίς α νγά σ α ς .

In his poem, the young Constantine makes skilful use of the motif, common in many hymn; and hagiographic texts, of presenting the Saint as an angel made flesh. Searching the Byzan tine writings for similar passages in which Saint Gregory appears as an angel incarnate might prove futile. However, purely illustratively, we refer to the encomium composed for him by Nicetas the Paphlagonian not long after the death of Constantine-Cyril, which stresses that the great theologian succeeded, through his virtues, in attaining an angelic life ( a y y tb m x β ίο ν '5). The same is true of the light in which the Saint’s teachings bathed the faithful. Here, we include a parallel quotation, once again from Nicetas the Paphlagonian’s encomium: oic δ ’ άκτϊσι φ α νοτά τα ις τα ϊς ίερομύστοις α υτό ν δ ιδα χα ίς καταπυρσεύοντος'6. Another hagio­graphic standard is the motif of the Saint who praises God in the company of Seraphim. Nic­etas the Paphlagonian writes: μετά των Σ εραφείμ , ώ μάκαρ, τη άπροσίτω παρεατηκως τρίο καί τό τρ ισ ά γιον τώ τρισαγίω τρισαγίω ς ά να φ θ εγγό μ ενο ς μελώ δημα, εγγ ισ ο ν ήμίν τώ кщ

σου π ν ε ύ μ α τ ι... κα ι θεογνω σίας ένθεώ τερον πλήρω σον τον ήμέτερον νουν καί υψηλότεροι·

The comparison of the Saint with the Seraphim praising God and the image of the author ap­pealing to the Saint for his illumination in Constantine-Cyril’s epigram are also to be found in Nicetas the Paphlagonian’s text. They are clearly two variations on the same motif.

However, it is likely that young Constantine was also inspired to write the epigram by the texts of Gregory himself. In his long poem “On human nature”, for instance, Saint Gregor, having noted that Man is a combination of body and soul (Κ αί γά ρ διπλόος είμί, τό μέν M m : ένθεν έτύχθη ... ψ υχή δ ’ εστιν άημα Θ εοϋ), exclaims: Ως μ έγα ς έστί βροτός και άγγελοζ1' We are not, of course, arguing that the young scholar from Thessaloniki had these particulai verses in mind when writing his poem, and the idea is, in any case, also present elsewhere i: the writings of Nazianzenos. However, more extensive research into the subject may reveal passages more closely related to the epigram which would help document the Byzantine lite- ary underpinnings of the poem in question.

If one tries to apply the structure of Byzantine twelve-syllable verse, the Slavonic text car be divided into verses of 12, 11 and 10 syllables—with one problem, however: the last two words, h ovYHTCAb, do not fit, leaving five supernumerary syllables. But why did the Slavonic 15 16 17 18

15 The Encomium o f Gregory Nazianzen by Nicetas the Paphlagonian. Greek Text edited and translated b. J.J. Rizzo, Subsidia Hagiographica, 58, Bruxelles 1976, 27, 98.16 The Encomium o f Gregory Nazianzen by Nicetas the Paphlagonian, 64, 14-15.17 The Encomium o f Gregory Nazianzen by Nicetas the Paphlagonian, 79, 12-20.18 PG 37, 777A.

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CYRIL AND METHODIUS: BYZANTIUM AND THE WORLD OF THE SLAVS (THESSALONIKI 2015): pp. 465-4701translator not retain the same metric structure? Grivec19 is perhaps alone among the enco­mium’s researchers in noting—aptly, though briefly, without further development—that one should bear in mind that the verses have, to some extent, lost their initial form in the transla­tion into Slavonic. This phenomenon is not, of course, restricted to this particular case, and can be observed in numerous translations of Byzantine hymnographic texts20. In the footnotes iohis edition of the Life, the Bulgarian philologist Kodov also expresses a degree of doubt ш relation to the significance of Jacobson’s critical reconstruction of the original Slavonic poem, given that is was originally written in Greek. He also stresses that the work should be etamined through the prism of the original’s Greekness.21 Of course, one should not deny that the best possible reconstruction of the Slavonic translation also helps achieve the correct ieverse translation/reconstruction of the Byzantine original. It may also be pertinent that the oldest dated manuscript containing the Life of Constantine is the Zagreb manuscript; given that this dates from 146922, almost six centuries had passed between the poem’s first transla­tion and the first definitely dated copy available to scholars. Given that Byzantine twelve- syllable verse fell into virtual disuse in Slavonic poetry after the 10th century23, and given that the scribers often simplified or modified texts, it is likely that the manuscript tradition did not stain the metrical structure of the Byzantine original over this considerable length of time. Turning to the content of the poem, it should be noted that although it is described as an

encomium, поукхль, the text is just as much a prayer. Given that the poem is included in that section of the Life which relates the Saint’s childhood and youth, it should be interpreted

i not just as the theologically and stylistically perfect encomium which Jakobson24 has so ably : shown it to be, but even more so as a powerful, spontaneous (demonstrated by the fact that, having conceived it, the author wanted to write it on the wall) and sincere prayer (its pre-

i catory nature hinted at by the cross the author includes at the start) of a young adult, little i more than a boy, seeking assistance and support with an education he is finding both difficult ! and dissatisfying. This interpretation emerges just as clearly from the context mentioned 1 above: from the difficulties Constantine was facing with scholarly texts in general and Saint Gregory’s works in particular, and his despondency at being unable to understand what he

I was reading and learning in a profound way25. This is why the printed text should not isolate

19 Fr. Grivec, Konstantin und Method. Lehrer der Slaven, Wiesbaden 1960, 22.20 J. von Gardner, Russian Church Singing, Vol. 1: Orthodox Worship and Hymnography, St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, New York 1980, 41-42, 65.21 Ангелов, Кодов, Пространни жития на Кирил и Методий, 143, п. 4.22 Ангелов, Кодов, Пространни жития на Кирил и Методий, 32.23 Станчев, Стилистика и жанрове на старобългарската литература, 76.2- Jakobson, Comparative Slavic Studies. The Cyrillo-Methodian Tradition, 207-239.25 Ангелов, Кодов, Пространни жития на Кирил и Методий, 90.

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EVELINA MINEVA, IOANNIS POLEM1S: SAINT CYRIL'S POEM FOR SAINT GREGORY THE THEOLOGIAN: A BYZANTINE EPIGRAM

the fragment including the epigram in a separate paragraph, as some editions have done since the sentence that follows it, and the tale of the foreign grammar teacher later on, sene to develop both the purpose and theme of the prayer which Saint Cyril offers up to the great theologian as a boy who loves learning and is entreating the Saint to assist with his intel­lectual development. From this vantage point, too, both the medium and the form he chose to express his entreaty correspond to his abilities at that age and to the current stage of his education: a Byzantine epigram in Byzantine twelve-syllable verse.

26 For example in Ангелов, Кодов, Пространни жития на Кирил и Методий, 90.

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