Hagiography of Saint Kassianh


 

 

 

SAINT  KASSIANH  of  CONSTANTINOPLE,  (approx 810)

 

The earliest record of Kassianh, born in Constantinople prior to 805CE, is that of Symeon the Logothete. Romantic legends surrounding her life have been perpetuated in Balkan and Modern Greek folklore and literature, and she is to be found on all lists of Byzantine liturgical poets.  The first known list, that of hymnographer Nicephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos (+1335), mentions Cassia the Nun (the only woman mentioned)on a list of the eleven most distinguished melodists. Her works are the only compositions by females included in the ecclesiastical books. She is also the only woman included in the frontpiece of a Triodion, printed in Venice in 1601. In recent years, Kassianh has begun to attract attention of scholars interested in the history and thought of both the Greek and Latin Middle Ages and modern writers and critics interested in the development of Greek literature.

 

Her father was an aristocrat with a position at the imperial court and her parents ensured that she received an education including both secular knowledge (she became skilled in classical Greek) and the study of Scriptures.  From childhood she was inspired to a life with Christand considered becoming a nun.

 

With the death of Michael of Amorion (829), Theophilos succeeded as Emperor (829-842), and with his step-mother Evfrosyne, began to look for a bride (830).  His search was narrowed down to six, of which Kassianh was one.  To express his choice, Evfrosyne had Theophilos use the ancient custom of presenting a golden apple to his future Empress. 

 

Legend has it that the maidens, with Kassianh publicly acknowledged as the best candidate, were lined up and interviewed. Theophilos was both impressed with Kassianh's beauty and aware of her wisdom and knowledge.  To test her he said, From woman flowed corruption (referring to Eve’s role in The Fall).  Undaunted, Kassianh, boldly replied to the Emperor, saying, But also from woman sprung forth what is superior (referring to the Theotokos, Mother of Christ).  Theophilos was taken aback at Kassianh’s bold demeanour and instead approached the modest Theodora with the apple, as a symbol of his choice. 

 

Popular legend has that the Emperor was so vexed at losing this verbal joust to a woman that he forced Kassianh to enter the convent as punishment. The non-secular version holds that Kassianh never desired to be Empress and chose to pursue a monastic life of intellectual and spiritual scholarship.  Whichever account holds more truth, there were at that time few places other that a convent where an intellectual woman could pursue her life.   The existence  of the legend of the verbal skirmish shows her reputation for intellect and wit.  What is certain is that Kassia is the most significant female composer of Byzantine church music. She was a highly educated lady-in-waiting who belonged to the circle of women from whom the emperor Theophilos was to choose his wife. It is likely that, upon realising she was his equal if not superior in intelligence and wisdom, he repudiated her, causing her to spend the rest of her life in a convent.  A total of 49 liturgical chants (30 of which are currently used in the Eastern Orthodox liturgy). 47 are troparia or short ecclesiastical hymns of praise, and 2 are canons (hymn-cycles of 8 odes).; Many of the melodies of the hymns are extant, but they may have been changed over the centuries.  A number of secular, moralising songs have been attributed to her. She also wrote 261 epigrams and gnomic verses (single-line maxims). A reading of the two styles of poetry is requiredc to bring out th voice of the person behind them.

 

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When Kassia was a young adult, the iconoclasm issue arose again in the court and soon became  enravelled in politics and intrigue. Tradition says that Kassia was at one point beaten for helping iconodule exiles and imprisoned monks.  It is documented that she was in contact with one of the chief iconodules, the monk Theodore of Studium. A  letter written to her by him indicates that by c826 she was already sharing her writings with others.

 

Theophilos, an iconoclast, enforced a religious policy against veneration of the icons.  Kassianh, an iconodule, publicly defied imperial policy against the sacred images.  In defense of the icons, she was subject to persecution and was once scourged.  Undaunted, she persisted in resisting the iconoclasts.  She often visited banished monks in prison and would support and comfort them by her letters and gifts.  She was known as a sharp observer of human frailties, and expressed her opinion of those that lacked courage and commitment, when she said, I hate silence, when it is time to speak!

 

Of Kassianh's life between the date of the Emperor’s marriage in 830 and the date of the founding of her Monastary in 843, nothing is known.  It is not known is she ever married or had children. Her hymns are generally believed to come from the monastic period of her life.  It is believed that her secular verse had been written earlier as some of the contents were too concerned with the worldly life and her own emotions.  It is accepted that Kassianh, upon renouncing the world and seeing to the construction of a convent on the Xerolophos (a hill in the capital Constantinople) was tonsured a nun.  As its first abbess, she composed music for the services, wrote liturgical (and possibly at this time also composed secular verses).  In this manner she led the sisterhood in a life of the spirit and the mind.

 

 

    

 

 

 

During this time when the Church was embattled, Kassianh, , pursued her diverse literary and musical interests.  Her works may be found under the names Cassia, Cassian, Kessia, Kessiane, Kassianh, Cassias the Nun, or  Ikasias.    As a God-gifted composer, she wrote music for her spiritual poems.  Abbess Kassianh provided many new hymns for the services conducted in her convent.  In time, Kassianh established herself as a hymnographer.  Her ecclesiastical music drew the attention of the Church fathers, who recognized her unique gift.  She was encouraged to compose hymns for the various feasts.  Her reputation is such that she is Orthodoxy's only female hymnographer of distinction.  According to J. Savas, Hymnology of the Eastern Orthodox Church, she was an "exceptional and rare phenomenon" for contemporary poetical competition.  As Byzantium's best known woman composer, twenty-three genuine hymns ascribed to her exhibit her attention to the many facets of Orthodox liturgical cycles. Among the services she provided to the convent, her canon for the reposed is her longest hymn.  This piece contains 32 strophes which were chanted in the convent cemetery for their weekly Saturday memorial services.

 

She also composed hymns honoring the saints in the Menaia, twelve liturgical volumes, one for each month of the year, which provide a unique Vespers and Matins service dedicated to the saint or event commemorated on that day.  Her contributions include hymns for Saints Samonas, Gurias and Abibus, Saints Evstratios, Avxentios, Evgenios, Mardarios and Orestes, and  St. John the Forerunner, to mention a few.  For the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Flesh, Cassia the Nun composed this Vespers hymn, a doxastikon:

 

When Augustus reigned alone upon earth,

the many kingdoms of men came to an end

And when Thou wast made man of the pure Virgin,

the many gods of idolatry were destroyed.

The cities of the world passed under one single rule;

and the nations came to believe in one sovereign Godhead.

The peoples were enrolled by the decree of Caesar;

and we, the faithful,were enrolled in the name of the Godhead,

when Thou, our God, wast made man.

Great is Thy mercy:  Glory to Thee.

 

The abbess and poetess is also credited with the Eirmoi (the first stanza of an ode serving as the model for the structure and rhythm of the succeeding stanzas or troparia) of the Matins Canon  chanted on Great and Holy Thursday, in Tone Plagal of Second, which begins:

 

He Who in ancient times hid the pursuing tyrant beneath the earth

by the children of those Whom once He saved.

But as the maidens, let us sing unto the Lord, for He is greatly glorified.

 

 The most famous poem and musical composition of the saint from the Triodion (a liturgical book containing the variable parts for the daily services of Great Lent and Holy Week) is the Doxastikon Idiomelon (verses sung in a majestic manner which contain their own modulation) of the Aposticha  (a series of poetical stanzas of hynmnography, separated by selected psalm verses) of Great and Holy Wednesday.  This work is generally known as the Troparion of Kassianh or The Fallen Woman    It is a penitential hymn based on Mary Magdalene, the sinful woman who is introduced by the Evangelist Luke in his Gospel [7:36-50]. In this hymn, which is considered a musical high-point of Holy Week by modern Greek Orthodox Christians, Kassianh speaks vividly in the voice of the sinful woman whose annointing of Christ's feet with precious fragrances.  Kassianh also contrasts the sinful woman with Eve's fall [Gen. 3:8-11], and with characteristic feminine insight and sympathy embellishes this familiar story.  This compassionate and moving hymn, in Tone Plagal Fourth, (essentially the major scale with a frequently flatted seventh degree) is chanted for the morning office of Holy Wednesday.  The music mirrors the emotions expressed in the text in its modulations, changes of texture and wide vocal range.

 

O Lord, the woman who had fallen into many sins,

perceiving Thy divinity, took

upon herself the duty of a myrrh-bearer; with

lamentation she bringeth Thee myrrh oils

before Thine entombment.  "Woe unto me,"

she said, "for night is become for me a frenzy

of licentiousness, a gloomy and moonless love

of sin.  Receive the fountains of my tears, O

Thou Who dost gather into clouds the water of

the sea.  Incline unto the sighings of my heart,

O Thou Who didst bow the heavens by Thine

ineffable kenosis (self-emptying).

I shall kiss Thine immaculate feet,

and wipe them again with the tresses of my head,

those feet at whose sound Eve hid

herself for fear when she heard Thee walking

in Paradise in the afternoon.

The multitude of

my sins and the abyss of Thy judgments, who

can search them out, O my Saviour of souls?

Do not disdain me, Thy handmaiden, O Thou

Whose mercy is measureless.

 

 

One story, related by Saint Theodora in The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church holds that Abbess Kassianh spent the afternoon in the garden composing this hymn.  As she finished writing that verse which says, I shall kiss Thine immaculate feet, and wipe them again with the tresses of my head. she was informed that Emperor Theophilos had arrived at the convent.  She did not wish to see him, and in her haste to conceal herself,  left behind the scroll and pen.  Theophilos, having entered the garden, found her half-completed poem, and added the phrase, those feet at whose sound Eve hid herself for fear when she heard Thee walking in Paradise in the Afternoon. After he departed, Kassianh came out from hiding.  When she took up her composition, she beheld the phrase written in his handwriting.  She retained it and went on to complete the poem.

 

Kassianh is represented in the well-known Icon of the Sunday of Orthodoxy, commemorating the restoration of the icons which occurred after the death of Emperor Theophilos.  Empress Theodora had been designated as a regent for their son Michael III and she ended the iconoclastic madness and restored veneration of the icons.  The Icon of the Sunday of Orthodoxy presents St. Methodios the Patriarch.  According to Fourna’s The Painter's Manual of Dionysius  Methodious is garbed in bishop's robes,and depicted as either holding a crosier or Gospel.  Other bishops behind him are holding icons and Gospels.  In front of him are portrayed either two deacons or two angels holding the Hodegitria Icon of the Christ Child and Virgin. Opposite the Patriarch are the Empress Theodora and her son Michael, a small boy, who are either holding icons or scepters.  Behind them may be seen priests with censers and lamps.  We may also see the ascetics, Saints John, Arsacios, and Isaias with a crowd of other monks.  Near them is the holy woman Kassianh, holding an Icon, standing with a crowd of female solitaries.  There may also be seen other laity, men, women, and children holding crosses and lamps.

 

One biographer, George the Sinner (as recounted in Savas, The Treasury of Orthodox Hymnology.. comments, She lived only for God, to the end of her life.  According to The Lives of the Spiritual Mothers  Kassianh reposed in the Lord (c867), after dedicating her life to Christ and the Church, and (being) adorned with the chaplet of virginity, and the crowns of a confessor, an ascetic, and a hymnographer. Footnotes....