Saint David the Dendrite of Thessaloniki

Saint David the Dendrite of Thessaloniki (Feast Day - June 26)

By John Sanidopoulos

Verses

With David of old art thou now united, O new David; 
For thou didst kill the carnal passions like Goliath. 
On the twenty-sixth, David passed through the gates of life.

The earliest written chronicle of the life of Saint David comes from his contemporary, Saint John Moschos, in his Leimonarion (or Spiritual Meadow). Saint John together with his disciple and companion Saint Sophronios the Sophist travelled to Egypt in order to record the great deeds and wise sayings of the Desert Fathers from the monastic authorities of the desert of the late 6th or early 7th century. He records how he met Abba Palladios in Alexandria and tells us the following:

We went to the same Abba Palladios with this request: "Of your charity, tell us, father, where you came from, and how it came about that you embraced the monastic life". He was from Thessalonika, he said, and then he told us this: "In my home country, about three stadia beyond the city wall, there was a recluse, a native of Mesopotamia whose name was David. He was a man of outstanding virtue, merciful and continent. He spent about twenty years in his place of confinement. Now at this time, because of the barbarians, the walls of the city were patrolled at night by soldiers. One night those who were on guard-duty at that stretch of the city-walls nearest to where the elder's place of confinement was located, saw fire pouring from the windows of the recluse's cell. The soldiers thought the barbarians must have set the elder's cell on fire; but when they went out in the morning, to their amazement, they found the elder unharmed and his cell unburned. Again the following night they saw fire, the same way as before, in the elder's cell - and this went on for a long time. The occurrence became known to all the city and throughout the countryside. Many people would come and keep vigil at the wall all night long in order to see the fire, which continued to appear until the elder died. As this phenomenon did not merely appear once or twice but was often seen, I said to myself: 'If God so glorifies his servants in this world, how much more so in the world to come when He shines upon their face like the sun?' This, my children, is why I embraced the monastic life."

Abba Palladios goes on to speak of another monk from Mesopotamia known as Adolas the Recluse. Saint John writes:

The elder also told us this: that after Abba David, there came to Thessalonika another monk, also from Mesopotamia, whose name was Adolas. He confined himself in a hollow plane tree in another part of the city. He made a little window in the tree through which he could talk with people who came to see him. When the barbarians came and laid waste all the countryside, they happened to pass by that place. One of the barbarians noticed the elder looking down at them. He drew his sword and raised his arm to strike the elder, but he remained there rooted to the spot with his hand stuck up in the air. When the rest of the barbarians saw this, they were amazed and, falling down before him, they besought the elder [to restore their comrad]. The elder offered a prayer and healed him and thus he dismissed them in peace.

From what we can tell from all the historical sources, including his biography written by an anonymous author of Thessaloniki between 715-720, Saint David was probably born in Mesopotamia around the year 450 AD and died in Thessaloniki sometime between 535 and 541. We don't know why either David or Adolas traveled from Mesopotamia to Thessaloniki, but both the Synaxarion of Constantinople and the Menologion of Emperor Basil II assure us that he did come from somewhere in the "east".

In Thessaloniki David became a monk at the Monastery of Sts. Theodore and Mercurius, otherwise known as Koukouliaton (Κουκουλιατῶν) Monastery, at a young age between the years 465-470. It was known as Koukouliaton because the monks wore cloaks for which it was known and which is depicted in the icons of the Saint. In fact in January of 1944 a marble slab was found in the Jewish cemetery that depicted an icon of Saint David dating back to the 10th century in which he is wearing a cloak with the hood hanging off his shoulders.



We are told that the Monastery of Sts. Theodore and Mercurius was next to the walls of the city at the gate known as Aproiton. We are further informed that there was another monastery next to this one known as Aproiton Monastery, though it is possible it could have been another name for the same monastery. The word "Aproiton" probably indicates the austere rule of the monasteries, since it implies that the monks were not allowed to leave their monastery. This gate was probably located along the northern wall of the city to the west of the Acropolis which the Turks called during Ottoman times Eski Delik. It is believed that outside this gate along the wall was the Monastery of Sts. Theodore and Mercurius where Saint David lived a monastic life. Others say the monastery was northeast of the Acropolis in an area known as the Garden of the Sheep, but this seems implausible since the Aproiton is too far west for this to be considered. However we still are not sure where the gate known as Aproiton was actually located for sure. To complicate matters further in locating the actual place of this monastery, one biography tells us that the monastery could be seen from the sea. If this is true, then the monastery would most likely have to be within the city walls to the west of the Acropolis along the northern wall.

At the Monastery of Sts. Theodore and Mercurius Saint David lived a life of prayer, fasting, vigils, humility, study of the sacred Scriptures and the cultivation of all the virtues. When the abbot of the monastery passed away, the monks of the monastery found David alone worthy to replace him due to his spiritual gifts. David however refused this honor, and instead decided to live his ascetic ordeals by climbing up an almond tree to the right of the main church (the katholikon of the monastery) and living up there for three years. One source tells us that this tree was in between two churches within the monastery. For three years this Saint endured the most extreme trials like the Stylite Saints (some say he endured more because the tree offered him no rest due to its constant swaying in the high winds), enduring the bitter cold of the winter and the burning heat of the summer and fully exposed to all the elements of the weather.

It should be noted that although Saint David was the first ascetic known as a "dendrite" (one who lives in trees) in Thessaloniki followed by Adolas (for whom there is no other historical source other than John Moschos), this type of asceticism was practiced in places like Syria and Mesopotamia from which both David and Adolas came from (see the life of Saint Maro the Dendrite celebrated February 4th; interesting studies concerning dendrites can be read here and here). The latest dendrite I know of was Elder Joseph the Hesychast who in the 1920's lived in Athens and would pray sitting in a tree in imitation of the Saints. Furthermore, an interesting comparison of trees was depicted in the Church of Chora in Constantinople in the fourteenth century in which Saint David is shown at the entrance to the funeral chapel, and is positioned equidistant between Christ calling Zacchaeus (who had climbed a tree in order to see Christ as he passed through Jericho) and Moses before the Burning Bush. In each, we witness an encounter with the divine in three periods – Old Testament, New Testament, Roman Empire.

When those three difficult years passed, after instruction was given to him by an angel of the Lord to live in silence in a cell and he was foretold by this same angel that he would "accomplish one other act of love" before he died, Saint David came down from the almond tree and entered a cell that had been prepared by his disciples. Saint David entered his cell in the presence of Archbishop Dorotheos of Thessaloniki (c.497-c.520) along with many pious clergy and faithful who gathered to see this momentous event when the news had spread. John Moschos informs us that this cell existed outside the walls of the city "about three stadia beyond the city wall", that is, a little more than 555 meters beyond the wall no doubt very near his monastery. From the fact that Archbishop Dorotheos was present at this event, we can ascertain that Saint David entered his cell sometime within the first two decades of the sixth century.

Living as a recluse in his cell and for his unparalleled ascetic feats, this Saint was considered as an angel of God by the people. Many people came to seek his prayers and many healings of demonic possession, diseases and suffering are reported. We can assume it was during this time that the extraordinary events reported by John Moschos took place.

One such miracle that is reported bears an amazing resemblance to the account of John Moschos. We are told a certain youth had a demon and he came to the cell of the Venerable David crying out: "Release me, O David, thou servant of the eternal God, for fire comes forth from your cell and burns me." Upon hearing this, David reached out his hand from his cell through a small window and held the youth, saying: "Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, commands you to go forth from His creature, O unclean spirit!" After doing the sign of the Cross over the youth, the demon was immediately released and all marvelled, glorifying God who glorifies those who please Him with God-pleasing works.

Saint David's silence was interrupted sometime after 520 when Archbishop Dorotheos died. His successor, Archbishop Aristeides, together with a multitude of clergy and faithful came to the Saint's cell pleading that he travel to Constantinople so as to entreat Emperor Justinian (527-565) regarding the establishment of Justiniana Prima as the new capital of the Prefecture of Illyricum, replacing Thessaloniki. Archbishop Aristeides was against this, since it would demote the status of Thessaloniki and divide Illyricum. Aristeides could not travel to Constantinople because he did not want to leave the city shepherdless with the impending threats of the barbarians.

From 318-379 Sirmium was capital of the Prefecture of Illyricum which encompassed Pannonia, Noricum, Crete, and the whole Balkan peninsula except Thrace. Since 379 Thessaloniki became the capital of the Prefecture of Illyricum. Justiniana Prima was built in 535 in Serbia at the place of Justinian's birth. Justinian's novel 11 announced the imminent transfer of the Illyrian prefecture to Justiniana Prima and the establishment of an archbishopric there making it the metropolis of Illyricum. Thus Eastern Illyricum was to be divided into two ecclesiastical regions under Justinian's law: the southern part belonged to the Archbishop of Thessaloniki and the northern was given autocephalous status under the Archbishop of Justiniana Prima. This was done in order to better protect the northern territories against the barbarians on the other side of the Danube.

David submitted to the pleadings of the Archbishop and the people of Thessaloniki in order to fulfill the prophesy of the angel that appeared to him while on the tree and out of obedience to the bishop and the love of the people of Thessaloniki. After many years of seclusion he emerged from his cell and saw the sun for the first time in many years. His appearance had changed as well. His hair had grown to his lower back and his beard fell all the way down to his feet. Together with his two disciples, Theodore and Demetrios, they left during the night for Constantinople.

The Archbishop pleads with David to see the Emperor

When they arrived in Constantinople his fame preceded him and he was received with much reverence by the people of Byzantium and was especially well received with much respect and reverence by Empress Theodora, who had him escorted into the palace and given hospitality as if he was an angel in the flesh. Justinian was occupied with other matters when he arrived, but was awe-struck at his holy appearance when he finally saw him the next day and listened to his case before the Senate. Before David spoke however the following miracle occurred leaving everyone astonished: David took a piece of live coal with incense in his bare hands and together with his disciples censed the Emperor and the entire Senate and his hand did not burn, though he was praying and blessing for about an hour. After this David pleaded the case of Archbishop Aristeides, and Justinian submitted to his wishes so that the status of Thessaloniki remained uninterrupted. Though historians mention the fact that this division of Illyricum never actually took place, they tend to leave out the fact that this was because of the great impression Saint David had on Emperor Justinian.

St. David's miraculous censing before the Emperor and Senate

The Saint returned by ship from Constantinople to Thessaloniki. However, when he arrived at Thermes at a place called Emvolos (about 126 stadia from the Saint's cell), he gave up his spirit to the Lord after making his request known to his disciples that he be buried at his monastery. The ship continued on to the port of Thessaloniki, but a strong wind escorted them as if by divine providence and landed at the spot where Sts. Theodoulos and Agathopodus were martyred on the west side of the city. Upon hearing the news of his falling asleep, the Archbishop with a large crowd gathered to pay their last respects and by procession led him up to the Monastery of Sts. Theodore and Mercurius where his relics were enshrined in a wooden coffin according to his wishes.

About 150 years after the Saint's death, in 685-690, the abbot of the monastery Demetrios opened his tomb in order to receive a portion of his relics. In doing so however, the plaque on the tomb fell and broke into many pieces. This was seen by the abbot as a sign that it was not the wishes of Saint David for his relics to be portioned. A monk under Demetrios by the name of Sergius eventually became Archbishop of Thessaloniki. He was present when as a monk they had tried opening the tomb of the Saint. Honoring this occurrence, Sergius opened the tomb which emitted a beautiful fragrance from the incorrupt relics and took care to only remove some hair from the beard and head of the Saint in order to distribute to the faithful to increase their faith and help aid in their salvation.

The tomb of the Saint remained undisturbed until the Fourth Crusade in 1204. In 1236 it was taken by Crusaders to Pavia, Italy and from there transferred to Milan in 1967. Finally on September 16, 1978 through the efforts of Metropolitan Panteleimon of Thessaloniki, the sacred relics of Saint David were triumphantly returned to Thessaloniki and housed in the Basilica of Saint Demetrios the Great Martyr. To celebrate this feast a Service was written by the renowned hymnographer Elder Gerasimos Mikragiannanitis. Eventually the relics were transferred to the katholikon of the Monastery of Saint Theodora in the middle of Thessaloniki in a chapel surrounded by icons of the Saint's life.

The relics of Venerable David today

It should be pointed out here that the current Monastery of Hosios David in Thessaloniki has no association with the life of the Saint nor is it the site of the Monastery of Sts. Theodore and Mercurious. This is however the oldest monastery in Thessaloniki (only the katholikon currently exists) and in Roman times was known as the Monastery of the Prophet Ezekiel (some say Zachariah) though more popularly known as Latomou Monastery. The mosaics inside are the oldest in the city dating back to approximately the 5th-6th century, especially magnificent being the depiction of a beardless Christ flanked by the prophets Ezekiel and Hakkakuk along with a vision of Ezekiel of Christ surrounded by the symbols of the four Gospels (the angel, eagle, lion, and bull). This monastery was not named after Saint David until 1921 when it was returned to the Orthodox after serving as a mosque since 1430. Interestingly the faithful had the mosaic of the vision of the Prophet Ezekiel covered in mortar (some say the Turks simply white-washed it) all those centuries so that the Turks would not destroy it as was their custom. During the days of Iconoclasm it was covered in ox-skin to be protected. Its existence was lost to history after 1430 until discovered in 1921, which some believe was done in a divine manner.

For more on the Latomou Monastery as well as the sources for the life of Saint David, see here and here (Greek only). For the 8th century life of Saint David, see A. Vasiliev, ‘Life of David of Thessalonica’, Traditio: Studies in Ancient Medieval History, Thought and Religion 4 [1946], pp. 115-147.

Latomou Monastery, Thessaloniki

Mosaic depicting a vision of the Prophet Ezekiel in Latomou Monastery

Apolytikion in Plagal of the First Tone

O David, your love for God the Word gave you wings, and you lived an angelic life in a tree. You produced for us fruits of grace, and we partake of them spiritually, crying to you with faith: Pray for us to Christ our God to grant us His great mercy.

Kontakion in the Second Tone

An Angel on earth, and stranger to all earthly things, you made a tree your dwelling like an eagle's nest, whence, O David, you soared up to Heaven, where you found that Tree which in Eden we lost of old. Remember us all, who keep your memory.

The Historical Development of the Feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos

By Mikhail Skaballanovich, Ph.D.

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.

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.

However, this holiday was not common in the West even in the 7th – 9th centuries. There is no such holiday in the Gothic-Gallican Calendar (7th – 8th centuries), Calendarium Luxoviensis (7th century), the list of holidays found in the Acts of the Council of Mainz (813), in the 10th-century Toledo Calendar and ancient Mozarabic calendars, all of which mention the Assumption. 17th-century liturgics scholars even asserted that it was Fulbert of Chartres (†1028) who first popularized it; instead, he might have been instrumental in the expansion of this holiday to Northern France. The earliest Latin sermons on this feast belong to him, and the feast is characterized as a new one.

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.

Source

Venerable New Martyrs Akakios of Neochorion, Euthymios of Peloponnesos and Ignatios the New

Saints Akakios of Neochorion, Euthymios of Peloponnesos and Ignatios the New (Feast Day - May 1)

The Holy Mountain has for centuries been a source of Repentance and Salvation for thousands. During the difficult years of the Turkish yoke, many turned to the Monasteries for spiritual direction. This was most evident in the numerous Neomartyrs, many of whom converted to Islam, but having realized the gravity of their sin, repented, and sought a way to prove their love for Christ. Three of these New Martyrs, Sts. Euthymios, Ignatios and Akakios are commemorated together on May 1st, likely because they lived in similar times, abandoned Christ for Islam, but repented and lived in asceticism on the Holy Mountain (specifically the Skete of the Honorable Forerunner of Iveron Monastery), and finally witnessed for Christ in martyrdom.