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The Lament of the Virgin in Byzantine Literature and Modern Greek Folk-Song

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2016

Margaret Alexiou
Margaret Alexiou*
Affiliation:
University of Birmingham
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Extract

The lament of the Virgin at the Crucifixion of Christ is a theme which can be traced throughout Greek tradition, from at least the sixth century to the present day. It is also found in a wide variety of sources: in the hymns and liturgy of the Orthodox Church, in prose homilies, in learned and vernacular poetry, and in modern folk songs from most areas of the Greekspeaking world. We therefore have an opportunity to examine how different writers and poets responded to a single theme over a period of nearly fifteen centuries.

Type
Research Article
Information
Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies , Volume 1 , 1975 , pp. 111 - 140
Copyright
Copyright © The Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, University of Birmingham 1975

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References

1. Martino, E. de, Morte e pianto rituale nel mondo antico. Dal lamento pagano al pianto di Maria (Turin, 1958), pp. 334–44 Google Scholar.

2. See Basil, , De gratiarum actione, MPG, XXXI, 232 Google Scholar.

3. A lament for Isaac, which Abraham might have uttered if he had not been a just man, is mentioned in several early homilies. See Gregory of Nyssa, De deitate filii etspiritus sancii, MPG, XLVI, 553-76, and Mercati, S. I., 5. Ephraem Syri Opera (Rome, 1915), I, p. 4 Google Scholar, for a complete list of references. Gregory’s, planam is closely based on a poetic homily which is attributed to Ephraem, Mercati, op. cit., pp. 43–83 Google Scholar, but probably of Greek and not of Syriac origin. For Romanos’ kontakion on the same theme, see Melode, Romanos le, Hymnes, I, pp. 138–65 Google Scholar, ed. J. Grosdidier de Matons (Sources Chrétiennes, 99, Paris, 1964).

4. See Alexiou, M. and Dronke, P., ‘The lament of Jephtha’s daughter: themes, traditions, originality’, Studi Medievali, XII, 2 (1971), 819–63 Google Scholar.

5. Texts are listed by Beck, H.-G., Geschichte der byzantinischen Volksliteratur (Munich, 1971), pp. 189–90 Google Scholar.

6. John 19:25-7, cf. 20:11.

7. Luke 22:87-8.

8. Romanos, Hymnes, ed. Grosdidier de Matons, IV, pp. 158-87.

9. For a more detailed analysis of the structure of this hymn, see Alexiou, M., The Ritual Lament in Greek Tradition (Cambridge, 1974), pp. 142–5 Google Scholar.

10. Ephraem, , Lamentationes gloriosissimae Virginis super Passione Domini, ed. Assemani, J. S., S. Ephraem Syri, Opera Omnia (Venice, 1755), I, pp. 568–9 Google Scholar. The passages common to Romanos are as follows: … Salvatoremque in ea (sc. Cruce) suspensum cernens,”… magno cum planctu, lamentisque dolore plenis exclamabat, dicens: Mi fili dulcissime, fili mi carissime, quo modo Crucem istam portas? Mi fili, et mi Deus … Mortuos ad vitam revocasti, paralyticum consolidasti,… Lazarum a monumento suscitasti foetidum,… lumen meum obscuratum est. The fact remains, however, that this text has much more in common with the later hymns than with Romanos. According to Dr. S. P. Brock, for whose advice on this and the Abraham and Isaac homily I am greatly indebted, it is unlikely that his piece is genuine Ephraem, nor can we assume that a Syriac original ever existed.

11.

Other common themes include the ingratitude of the Jews, the appeal to all to join in praise and lamentation, the salvation of Adam (hymns), Mary’s reference to Christ’s miracles, Christ’s appeal to Mary not to weep, and the confusion of the elements at the Crucifixion. The fact that the closest verbal similarities occur in strophes α′-β′ suggests that these were the most familiar. For the tendency of the later kontakaria to include only the proem and the first few strophes, see Romanos, Hymnes, ed. Grosdidier de Matons, I, pp. 23-32.

12. MMB, V, pp. 165-206, nos. 1-29. The hymns are not now in use.

13. MPG, CV, 1345-49.

14. The type of question ‘How shall the tomb contain you?’ occurs in later laments, and also in the folk songs lamenting the death of Digenis. Cf. Germ. Patr., MPG, XCVIII, 269C: .

15. —Joseph Hymn., MPG, CV, 1345D: ; cf. MMB, nos. 3, 6, 10, 20, 26; [footnote continued overleaf].

16. D. Palias, Passion and Bestattung Christi (Miscellanea Byzantina Monacensia II, Munich, 1965), pp. 55ff.; cf. N. Tomadakis, (3rd ed., Athens, 1965), II, pp. 76-9; E. Pantelakis, XI (1936), 224-50, 310-29; Th. Xydis, III (Thessaloniki, 1957, 277-87). I am indebted to Mr. G. Rakintzakis for several of the above references.

17. Its tone and imagery have influenced Varnalis’ poem, (3rd ed., Athens, 1945), although the interpretation of Christ is totally different. The bereaved motfier in Ritsos’ (Athens, 1936) mourns her son in terms similar to Mary. The structure and much of the content of the Good Friday liturgy is used by Elytis in his (Athens, 1960), while in Sikelianos’ poem Bíbç, III, Athens, 1947), the pagan, Christian, and contemporary associations of the theme are deliberately and explicitly fused.

18. MPG, C, 1476A-77B (1473D). There is an elaborate piece of rhetoric on what Christ meant by his last words, partly addressed to his audience, and partly in the form of a direct reply from Christ to Mary.

19. MPG, XCVIII, 269B-77B (272B). Cf. Sym. Met., MPG, CXIV, 213C (wish for burial with Christ), Georg. Nicomed., MPG, C, 1472B (wish to endure pain in his stead).

20. Cf. Eustathios Makrembolites, De Hysmines et Hysminiae amoribus, ed. P. le Bas in G. Hirschig, Erotici Scriptores (Paris, 1856), X, 381-2 : .

21. See Alexiou, The Ritual Lament, pp. 165-77.

22. See A. Doering, De tragoedia Christiana, quae inscribitur (Barmen, 1864); K. Krumbacher, Geschichte der byzantinischen Literatur (2nd ed., Munich, 1897), p. 749; I. Hilberg, Wiener Studien, VIII (1886), 282-314; K. Horna, Hermes, LXIV (1929), 429-31; F. Dölger, Die byzantinische Dichtung in der Reinsprache (Berlin, 1948), p. 16.

23. V. Cottas, Le théâtre à Byzance (Paris, 1931), pp. 244-9.

24. A. Tuilier, Grégoire de Nazianze: La Passion de Christ, tragédie (Sources Chrétiennes 149, Paris, 1969), pp. 11-64.

25. Acta Pilati, p. 885: For her complaint that she has no family [Christos Paschon, 756-8), cf. Sym. Met., MPG, CXIV, 213B: 11. 74-6: Ephraem p. 568 : Non alius mihi superest cognatus pater vel mater, frater aut soror, qui animum mihi reddant.

26. See Protevangelium lacobi, 13-16, ed. Tischendorf, pp. 24-30.

27. See Tischendorf, Evangelia Apokrypha, pp. LXXII-LXXIII: Venetus Marcianus class. II, cod. CLI (A), copied at Mt. Sinai, date unknown but probably late; Paris. Nat. 808 (B); Ven. Marc, class. II, cod. LXXXVII (C), origins unknown but both fifteenth century.

28. G. Millet, Recherches sur l’iconographie de l’évangile aux XIV, XV et XVI siècles, d’après les monuments de Mistra, de la Macedonie et du Mt.-Athos (Paris, 1960), pp. 48gff; N. Livadaras in N. Tomadakis, (Athens, 1954), II, p. 154; D. Pallas, Passion und Bestattung Christi, p. 52. A. C. Mahr, in his reconstruction of the fragmentary Cypriot Passion Play (c. 1270), actually interpolates the text of the apocryphal laments into the play, where a lament is indicated by the stage instructions, but no text is given; Mahr, The Cyprus Passion Cycle (Notre Dame, Ind., 1947), pp. 34, 194, 198, 202.

29. M. R. James, The Apocryphal New Testament (Oxford, 1924), pp. 94, 115.

30. E. Henneke and W. Schneemelcher, New Testament Apocrypha (London, 1963). I. PP. 448-9.

31. Acta Pilati, p. 285: cf. Ephraem, pp. 568–9: Tu mihi, jam Crux sanctissima, lignumque benedictum, decumbe: ut dilettissimi filii mei, ac Dei mei plagas exosculer, … ut filii mei corpus amplectar; In western tradition the motif may be traced to Venantius Fortunatus (d. 610), Hymn to the Holy Cross, ed. C. Blume and G. M. Dreves, Analecta Hymnica Medii Aevi, L (Leipzig, 1902), p. 71, no. 66, v. 9: Flecte ramos, arbor alta./tensa laxa viscera. … It also occurs, in a form remarkably close to the Greek examples, in the thirteenth-century Laus de Passione Iesu de cruce, cited by S. Sticca, The Latin Passion Play: its origins and development (New York, 1970), p. 151. I am grateful to Peter Dronke for his advice on the western material.

32. Acta Piloti, p. 282: cf. O. Cremaschi, ‘“Planctus Mariae”: Nuovi testi inediti’, Aevum, XXIX (1955), 432: in terra cecidi,/in terra corrui./propter magnitudinem angustie; W. Lipphardt, ‘Studien zu den Marienklagen: Marienklagen und germanische Totenklage’, Beitrâge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur, LVIII (1934), 419. The gesture of swooning in association with lamentation is considered to be medieval in origin by K. Gierden, Das altfranzôsische Alexiuslied der Handschrift L: eine Interpretation unter dem Gesichtspunkt von Trauer und Freude (Untersuchungen zur romanischen Philologie, I [Meisenheim am Gian, 1967]), pp. 53-4.

33. Morphology: third person plural endings of the present tense in -ouv instead of (Athens, 1905), I, pp. 35-8. Third person plural endings of the aorist in p. 283. This phenomenon goes back to the late Hellenistic koine. See G. Hadzidakis, Einleitung in die neugriechische Grammatik (Leipzig, 1892), p. 112. Syntax: use of masculine forms of participle and of certain adjectives for feminine: p. 285, p. 292. This feature is common in the language of Romanos, and began in the koine. See K. Mitsakis, The Language of Romanos the Melodist (Munich, 1967), p. 306. Use of genitive instead of dative, and of accusative instead of genitive: p. 293. See Mitsakis, p. 140. Lexicology: p. 285: the verb is medieval, and is not found in classical, NT, or patristic léxica. See D. C. Hesseling and H. Pernot, Poèmes Prodromiques en grec vulgaire (Amsterdam, 1910), Index, s.v., and H. Stephanus, Thesaurus Graecae Linguae (repr. Graz, 1954), p. 285: this expression is found in the late medieval and in Renaissance Cretan texts; see S. Xanthoudidis, (Iraklion, 1915), p. 729. These linguistic forms, although impossible to date precisely, are typical of the medieval vernacular. I am indebted to Dr. D. W. Holton for advice on several points.

34. A. Mingana, ‘Christian documents in Syriac, Arabic and Garshüni’ (Woodbrooke Studies, IV [Cambridge, 1928]), II, pp. 163-93. I owe this reference to Dr. S. P. Brock.

35. XI (1934), 2 25, 48-50.

36. Edited and unedited texts are listed by Manousakas, Mélanges Merlier, II (1956), 51, n. 1.

37. Ibid., p. 64, n. 2.

38. See above, notes 11 and 15.

39. Address to Christ, ‘Howcanyou suffer thus?’(hymns), 7-17;address to Jews, past miracles (Romanos, hymns), 18-38; Christ’s lost beauty, nature’s suffering (Epitaph. Threnos, homilies), 40-9; address to Gabriel (hymns), 50-8; address to Symeon (hymns), 59–64; lament and address to Christ (homilies, Christos Paschon, Acta Piloti), 65-80; invocation to women to weep with her and prayer to Cross to bend (Acta Pilati), 81-96; praise of Christ (hymns), 97-111. For a few examples of lines adapted from earlier texts to fit the metre, see above, notes 11, 15, 25 and 31; and for line 42: and Ephraem, p. 568: Sol suum obscuravit lumen, et a se alius factus est. Our threnos shows closer parallels, both in motifs and phrases, to Ephraem’s planctus than to any other single text.

40. Manousakas, Mélanges Merlier, II, pp. 69-73: Diakrousis’ version has 246 lines, of which 1-174 are derived from lines 1-111 of the earlier threnos, the increase in number being due to the addition of a further line to complete the rhyming couplet. Lines 175–246 are an expansion of the concluding enkomion (112-24).

41. See M. Amarioti, II (1939), 313-23, and G. Amaryianakis, (1969), 185–22.

42. M. Manousakas, LXVIII(1965), 54-9.

43. Ibid., pp. 53-4.

44. see A. V. Vassiliev, Anecdota Graeco-byzantina, I (Moscow, 1893), pp. 133ff. A version in Cretan dialect has been edited by R.M. Dawkins, II (1948), 487-500.

45. XI (1934), 257 (AsiaMinor).

46. The text is discussed in detail by Manousakas, Mélanges Merlier, II, 51-60.

47. M. Manousakas and O. Parlangeli, VIII (1954), 109-19.

48. See, for example, the Montecassino Passion, the earliest extant western Passion Play (second half of the twelfth century), ed. D. M. Inguanez, ‘Un dramma della Passione del secolo XII’, Miscellanea Cassinese, XII (1936), 7-38, lines 7-18, where Judas tells the Jews mat Christ will convert die people away from their true faith, and promises to betray him for a suitable reward; and lines 34-45 for Judas’ betrayal of Christ by a kiss. For a comparable scene in a modern ballad from Thrace, see .

49. Mahr, The Cyprus Passion Cycle, introduction.

50. Inguanez, op. cit. See also Sticca, The Latin Passion Play, pp.39-121.

51. Ibid., pp. 154-5. Mahr discusses the relation of this scene to iconographical representations of the Crucifixion in the fifteenth century, pp. 63ff. and Chapter V.

52. A bibliography is given by E. Stamatouli in XI (1934), 253. Details of the versions I have referred to in the text are as follows: Rhodes—S. Baud-Bovy, Chansons du Dodecanese (Athens, 1935), I, pp. 47-58; Chios—K. Kanellakis, IV (1892), 722 α—δ Thrace—, XI (1934), 249-53; Pontos—, XV(1950), 131-2; Asia Minor [A]— IV (1948), 215-17; Asia Minor [B]— XI (1934), 254-7; Cyprus [A]—Sakellarios, (Athens, 1890-1), II, pp. 84-8; Cyprus [B]— , XXI (1963-4), 422-3.

53. Cyprus [A], 11. 7-100.

54. A similar formula is found in versions from Cyprus, Thrace, Rhodes, Pontos, and Asia Minor [A]. Cf. N. Politis, There is no reason to suppose the dependence of one song upon the other.

55. XI (1934), 250, 11. 33-8, cf. Politis, op. cit., p. 259, no. 4, 11.

56. See Politis, op. cit., no. 70, 11. 11-12: (Akritic), and no. 53, 11. 8-14(Kleftic).

57. See XI (1934), 250-1, 11. 2.

58. See K. Romaios, XIX (1954), 197-214; Politis, I (1909), 350, and J. C. Lawson, Modem Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion (Cambridge, 1909), p. 164.

59. Alexiou, The Ritual Lament, pp. 75-6, 78-82.

60. Romaios, op. cit., 216.

61. Cremaschi, Aevum, XXIX (1955), 425: cumque pervenissem usque ad templum./inveni portas clausas,/et intrare non potui;/stabam ergo foris plorans,/et eiulans,/in amaritudine cordis, cf. p. 443.

62. See M. Karpeles, ‘Definition of Folk Music’, Journal of the International Folk Music Council, VII (1955), 6, cf. 23.