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An ancient Christian hymn with Musical Notation (P.Oxy.1786)
P.Oxy.1786, as it is known to scholars, is the only example of pre-Gregorian Christian music whose notation has survived (see Cosgrove, 2011). The original Christian hymn, unearthed from a rubbish dump in Oxyrhynchus, Egypt and published in 1922, originates in the late third century. The remains of the hymn score were found on the back of an account of grain deliveries. It is likely the musician who composed (or at least owned) the...
Clement of Alexandria (Titus Flavius Clemens). b. Athens, ca. 150; d. Caesarea, Cappadocia, ca. 215/220. What little is known of Clement's life is found in the writings of Eusebius of Caesarea (ca. 260/265- ca. 339/340). Clement was born at Athens and educated there, becoming familiar with Greek literature and culture. He acquired a remarkable knowledge of Plato and of other philosophers such as Philo of Alexandria. After some travelling he settled in Alexandria, where he became a renowned...
The word 'Copt' comes from the Greek word 'Aigyptios' ('Egyptian') and was disfigured by the Arabs to 'Copt'. The Greek word is the name of the sanctuary near Memphis 'Het-Ka-Ptah' ('The dwelling of the 'Ghost'(ka) of Ptah'). Hence this word is used to designate the Egyptian people. The Egyptians used the Egyptian Language (Hieroglyphic and later Coptic) until the conquest of Alexander the Great, when Greek was used. After the Arab conquest, Arabic was imposed.
According to the Gospel of...
EPHREM the Syrian (Syriac: AFREM). b. Nisibis, ca. 306; d. Edessa, 9 June 373. Ephrem was born at Nisibis (today Nusaybin). He received his religious instruction in Nisibis, where he was also appointed to work as a teacher (malfanā) and he was possibly ordained as a deacon as well. In 363, when Roman-ruled Nisibis was handed over to the Persians, he fled together with a part of the Christian community to Amid (today Diyarbakır) and later to Edessa (today Sanlıurfa). Ephrem spent the rest of his...
GREGORIOS PROTOPSALTES b. 1777/78?; d. 23 December 1821. Gregorios is said to have been born on the day of Petros Peloponnesios*'s death, and to have taught himself to sing and speak Armenian. His father sent him to the Monastery of St Catherine on Mount Sinai so as to be instructed in Greek grammar and music. Later on Gregorios was taught Byzantine music by Iakobos Peloponnesios*, Georgios of Crete* and Petros Byzantios* as well as Arabian-Persian music by the Ottoman composer Ismail Dede...
NAREKATSI, Grigor (St Gregory of Narek), b. ca. 951; d. 1003. Grigor Narekatsi is the author of Matean voghbergut'ean ('Book of Lamentations'), the most recognised work in Armenian literature. This is a book of devotion and spiritual consolation second only to the Bible. Mischa Kudian, in his foreword to his English translation of the first 25 elegies from Matean voghbergut'ean calls Narekatsi 'the most outstanding figure in the whole of Armenian literature', and he deserves to be known as one...
DAMASCENE, John, St (John Chrysorrhoas, John of Damascus). b. ca. 655; d. ca. 745. John received a good literary and philosophical education in his native Damascus, and became renowned in Constantinople as the author of liturgical hymns. Eventually he became a monk, probably at Jerusalem Cathedral rather than at the monastery of St Sabas, as has traditionally been believed (see Conticello, 2000, Louth, 2002). He became the theological advisor of Patriarch John V of Jerusalem, who ordained him...
KOSMAS of Maiouma, St (The Hagiopolite, the Jerusalemite, the Melode, the Monk, the Poet). b. ca. 675; d. 752/754. He was born in the patriarchate of Jerusalem, probably in Jerusalem itself. According to later hagiography Kosmas lived as a monk at Saint Sabas, but according to recent research it is more likely that he served at the Resurrection Cathedral at Jerusalem. He was elected bishop of Maiouma in Phoenicia, ca. 743, at the age of nearly 70.
Together with St John Damascene*, Kosmas was...
History
The Maronite Church is an Eastern Antiochene Church whose liturgy uses mainly the Syriac language. It owes its name to a 4th-century saint called Maron, who lived in the north of Syria. After his death in about 410, his tomb became an important place of pilgrimage, and his followers built there the famous Monastery of Saint Maron. It was in this monastery that the Maronite Church was born. Following the Council of Ephesus in 431, condemning the Nestorian heresy, and that of Chalcedon...
The liturgical rite of Jerusalem, as the name indicates, developed and was practised primarily in the Holy City itself. The physical and organising centre of this rite was the Cathedral of Jerusalem, a complex of churches built around the cross and the tomb of Christ. Festal offices were celebrated in the Martyrium basilica (or other churches of the city) and daily offices in the Anastasis rotonda (the Church of the Resurrection, also called the Church of the Holy Sepulchre). In addition,...
ROMANOS the Melodist. fl. 6th century. Little is known about his life, and even the century in which he lived has long been hotly disputed. It is likely that he was born in Syria, in the city of Emesa, and that he was of Jewish origin. As a young man he served as deacon at the Church of the Resurrection in Beirut, before coming to Constantinople during the reign of Anastasius I (491-518), where he was attached to the Church of the Virgin in the Kyros quarter of the city.
After his death he was...
SOPHRONIOS of Jerusalem. b. Damascus, ca. 560; d. 11 March 638. Born in Damascus, he became a monk at the cenobitic monastery of St. Theodosios in the Judean desert. From 578 onwards he undertook several travels in the Mediterranean region. He was patriarch of Jerusalem from 634 till his death, a year after the Arabic occupation of Jerusalem. St. Sophronios grew up within the Antiochian liturgical rite, but became familiar with that of Palestine at St Theodosios; at this time, these rites may...
SYNESIUS of Cyrene. b. Cyrene, ca. 370; d. Ptolemais, ca. 414. Born at Cyrene, of a distinguished family (Gibbon, in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ed. J.B. Bury, II. 324, has some amusement at their claim to have been descended from Hercules). He was educated at Alexandria as a pupil of the famous neo-Platonist Hypatia, whom he described as 'a mother, a sister, and a teacher'. After a period as a soldier, and studying at home, he was sent on a mission to plead for remission of taxes...
History of the Syrian Church
Syriac Christianity has grown out of the Aramaic speaking population of Mesopotamia and its environs which, around the beginning of the Christian Era, was divided into two empires: the Roman-Byzantine Empire in the West and the Parthian-Persian Empire in the East. It had its early centre in Edessa in the West, a relatively independent kingdom, where the majority of the population spoke Aramaic. Edessa was christianised from Antioch as early as the 2nd century. The...