THE THEOTOKARION OF ST. NEKTARIOS ... ODE 2
Holy
one, Virgin, Queen Mother,
Pure one, Mother of God.
Virgin, Mother, Queen,
And wholly dewy fleece.
Higher than the heavens,
Brighter than the stars,
Joy of choirs of virgins,
Higher than the angels.
Brighter than the heavens,
Purer than light,
Holier than all
the hosts of Heaven.
The hope of the forefathers,
The joy of the prophets,
The strength of the ascetics,
Chariot of the divine Word.
Exultation of virgins,
Joy of mothers,
Adornment of chastity,
Purity of souls.
Protector of sinners,
Harbor of the storm-tossed,
Savior of the sick and the suffering,
Hope of the hopeless.
O Mother who bore Christ,
Bulwark of chastity,
Staff which produced the flower,
Vessel of joy.
Protection of orphans,
Consolation of widows,
Help of the suffering,
Prosperity of the poor.
O Maiden, holy and pure,
Most holy Queen Mother:
hear me, pure Queen
of all the world.
I call upon you fervently,
consecrated temple.
I choose you as my mediatress,
to deliver me, O Virgin.
ENDNOTES FOR THE
CIRCUMSPECT
Dedications. I
must first express my heart-felt gratitude to dear friends for graciously
buying St. Nektarios’ Theotokarion in Greece. Telling someone going
abroad to spend time and energy to find books which they do not need and then
load up their bags with unnecessary weight takes a lot of nerve, which I guess
I have. Please pray for the servants of God, the subdeacon Bilyan
and his wife, Emily! May St. Nekatrios pray for them, too!
It is worth
observing that most of this ode is a list of the titles of the Mother of
God. There are few verbs, nor predicates
so organized as to imply a substantive verb.
The commas in the Greek merely close out each line, which is a clue that
this is not a typical troparion, which has to have about the same number of
syllables as the irmos, which here is lacking.
Also, remember that we have an odd rhyme—apparently the echo- or near-rhyme—which
does not occur in ordinary Greek poetry of any sort.
1. “Pure” (Ἁγνὴ). According to
Kittel, this word
orig. meant “that which awakens religious awe.”
In the pagan phase, it could mean “ritually clean,” but in the NT it tends
towards more elevated conceptions.
Abbott-Smith reports such elevated conceptions as holy, sacred,
venerable and
pure, chaste, undefiled, guiltless. Kittel reports that in the NT it is a matter
of “moral purity and sincerity,” “innocence” or “chastity” (esp. as “an
wholehearted, inward dedication to Christ”).
Slater reports simply holy.
Lampe reports chaste and pure. It seems best to render as pure, though we
should remember as notes holy, sacred, venerable. In the Perseus corpus not unranked, though
towards the low end at 3002nd most frequent word. In GLT September, 33 times, mostly as titles
of the Mother of God. It occurs only 11
times in the LXX. This word appears to
be a weaker version of that striking phenomenon of words uncommon in Classical
literature attaining to stupendous importance in ecclesiastical hymns. When I am backed into a corner by synonomia,
I can, as here, translate ἁγνός as holy and
let another synonym be translated as pure.
“Pure” (Ἄχραντε). Logeion reports that this word appears fewer
than 50 times in its corpus and so is unranked.
Great Scott reports undefiled, immaculate for ἄχραντος. Kyriakides reports spotless, immaculate. As Kittel reports, words like this seem to be
cultic or ritualistic in origin but given “new religious and moral content” in
Christian literature (Kittel). As such,
the hymnographers are all saying of the Mother of God that she is pure, which
means chaste in one direction and holy in another. The hymnographers multiply the synonyms for pure
effortlessly because Greek is not as much a language as it is an uneasy
coalition of dialects spreading from India to Spain and from Mycenaean times to
the present. If we try to translate all
the synonyms in such a way as to preserve the nuances of each, we will find
ourselves saying many odd things while losing sight of the main fact, that the
Mother of God is pure, chaste and holy. A search of the Great Scott at the wonderful Perseus Digital
Library shows that Greek has 113 synonyms for pure. The hymnographers tend to restrict themselves
to only a sample of this treasure-trove of synonyms, but even that sample
exceeds by far anything English has to offer.
The translator faces two evil choices:
finding synonyms for pure that are not compromised by distracting
associations or simply dully repeating our only word over and over. I have gone with dull repetition. The usual cast of synonyms—unstained,
immaculate, untainted, undefiled, spotless etc. etc.—have associations in
English that are at best questionable and at worst repugnant to faith and
art. I am not going to produce
translations that will boost the heretical dogma of the immaculate conception,
for example. I also refuse to apply
unfitting epithets to the Mother of God.
English translators are on the whole prey to the literalism of all
first-year foreign language students, so they cannot grasp that the essential
point of the hymnographers is purity, not freedom from physical blots. Further, they do not know enough Greek to
understand that purity itself is in Greek the next-door neighbor of holiness,
so it is not even clear that purity is always the main point. E.g., Montie reports that αγνός can mean pure, holy, sacred,
chaste. There is no question in
my mind that St. Nektarios wants this word to mean all of these things. I tend to translate it as pure, but I
suspect purity is simply a front for holiness in our hymns, not a certification
of compliance of a sacrificial animal with the Mosaic requirements.
“Virgin”
(Παρθένε). On the subject of synonymia,
St. Nektarios is in this troparion not using two different words for virgin
but one—Παρθένε.
“Queen” (ἄνασσα).
Applied to goddesses and mortal women from Homer on. Lampe reports queen, lady, and
adds that it is applied to the church and to the Mother of God. Montie reports that it can be used to mean patroness
or any woman who leads or guides.
“Lady” (Κυρία). Lampe reports
that this title is used “in gen. as title of address.” E.g., Thayer points out that this is the
title used by St. John (II John 1). He
adds that according to Epictetus this title is addressed to girls from 14 years
of age. Kyriakides reports madam,
Mrs. However, κόσμου παντὸς Κυρία is a far cry from “lady of the house.”
4. “Of the ascetics”
(ἐναθλούντων). Logeion
reports that it is unranked. Muraoka
reports “enter a contest” for this verb, which appears only in 4 Macc. Lust reports “struggle bravely in.” Schrevelius reports “exercise in
[something],” Lampe “suffer bravely” and Konstantinidou “endure as an
athlete.” The GLT September shows 8
hits. It is possible that St. Nektarios
has in mind those who suffer in general.
However, it is less of a jump from forefathers and prophets to ascetics
than it is to people who suffer in general. The parallelism and synonymia of
our hymnographers are sometimes helpful in fixing the meaning of words.
5. “Exultation” (ἀγαλλίαμα). Montie reports
“transport of joy, exultation, happiness.”
6. Great Scott
reports that χειμάζω can be literal in the passive (to be exposed to
the winter cold. Montie reports to
be hit by a winter storm), or (metaphorically) to be distressed, suffer
grievously. St. Nektarios’ portrayal
of the Mother of God as a harbor naturally makes the nautical metaphor more
fitting.
“Savior” (ρύστις, f.). In our
literature, at any rate, σωτήρ is reserved for Christ; the other words for savior
are used for the saints, of which ρύστις is one example.
7. Great Scott
reports that this unranked word means “prop, stay,
support,” with which Mr. K concurs.
Slater reports that ἔρεισμα is
“met., bulwark.” (COD reports that
a bulwark is a “rampart, earthwork etc.; mole, breakwater; person, principle
etc. that acts as a defence.”)
“Chastity” (σωφροσύνης ). This word can
mean soundness of mind, prudence, discretion, sanity,
moderation in sensual desires, self-control or temperance
(Great Scott), or simply chastity (Lampe, Moulton-Milligan).
“Vessel” (δοχεῖον). An unranked word
with 16 hits in September and 22 in October.
8. “Help” (ἐπίσκεψις). An unranked
word. It does not appear in the
September or October Menaia or the NT, but does in the LXX. Muraoka reports that it is a verbal noun of ἐπισκέπτω, which he does not include in his lexicon. He seems to have meant ἐπισκέπτομαι, which does have meanings that are relevant to
this passage. According to Thayer, ἐπισκέπτομαι means to visit, especially “the poor
and afflicted,” and “the sick,” and “Hebraistically, to look upon in order to
help or to benefit,” which is reasonable extension of the core meaning. BGAD reports “look after.” So we may define ἐπίσκεψις as visitation or care.
9. “Pure” (ἄσπιλον). This unranked is yet another epithet
illustrating how “the NT gives new religious and moral
content to originally cultic concepts” (Kittel). Great Scott reports stainless, faultless,
without blemish. Montie reports blameless,
immaculate. Lampe reports spotless,
undefiled. This word occurs 4 times in the NT, where Kittel reports
that it is used there to describe “the sinlessness of Christ” and the moral
purity of believers. In September (13 times), this adj. typically
describes martyrs “as lambs, as sinless lambs” (ὡς ἄρνες, ὡς ἄσπιλοι ἀμνάδες). Note the synonymia in this latter citation,
which is only made possible by calling another unranked word out of retirement
(ἀμνάς). Also, the Mother of
God is described as a “blameless abode” (τὴν ἄσπιλον μόνην).
“Most holy” (παναγία). Muraoka reports that this unranked word
occurs once in the LXX ( 4 Ma. 7.4) and means very holy. Lampe reports all-holy, the standard
translation. Montie reports most holy. Giles reports perfectly holy or perfectly
pure. Donnegan reports “perfectly
chaste, innocent or pure.” For reasons
not clear to me, I went with most holy.
This word occurs 16 times in September to and 41 times in October;
mostly to describe the Mother of God.
“Consecrated” (ἡγιασμένος).
Sanctified? Consecrated? Hallowed? So Lampe.
No hits in the September or October menaia. Since the Mother of God is being addressed as
a temple, I chose consecrated.
Holy
one, Virgin, Queen Mother,
Pure one, Mother of God.
Virgin, Mother, Queen,
And wholly dewy fleece.
Higher than the heavens,
Brighter than the stars,
Joy of choirs of virgins,
Higher than the angels.
Brighter than the heavens,
Purer than light,
Holier than all
the hosts of Heaven.
The hope of the forefathers,
The joy of the prophets,
The strength of the ascetics,
Chariot of the divine Word.
Exultation of virgins,
Joy of mothers,
Adornment of chastity,
Purity of souls.
Protector of sinners,
Harbor of the storm-tossed,
Savior of the sick and the suffering,
Hope of the hopeless.
O Mother who bore Christ,
Bulwark of chastity,
Staff which produced the flower,
Vessel of joy.
Protection of orphans,
Consolation of widows,
Help of the suffering,
Prosperity of the poor.
O Maiden, holy and pure,
Most holy Queen Mother:
hear me, pure Queen
of all the world.
I call upon you fervently,
consecrated temple.
I choose you as my mediatress,
to deliver me, O Virgin.
ENDNOTES FOR THE CIRCUMSPECT
Dedications. I
must first express my heart-felt gratitude to dear friends for graciously
buying St. Nektarios’ Theotokarion in Greece. Telling someone going
abroad to spend time and energy to find books which they do not need and then
load up their bags with unnecessary weight takes a lot of nerve, which I guess
I have. Please pray for the servants of God, the subdeacon Bilyan
and his wife, Emily! May St. Nekatrios pray for them, too!
It is worth observing that most of this ode is a list of the titles of the Mother of God. There are few verbs, nor predicates so organized as to imply a substantive verb. The commas in the Greek merely close out each line, which is a clue that this is not a typical troparion, which has to have about the same number of syllables as the irmos, which here is lacking. Also, remember that we have an odd rhyme—apparently the echo- or near-rhyme—which does not occur in ordinary Greek poetry of any sort.
1. “Pure” (Ἁγνὴ). According to
Kittel, this word
orig. meant “that which awakens religious awe.”
In the pagan phase, it could mean “ritually clean,” but in the NT it tends
towards more elevated conceptions.
Abbott-Smith reports such elevated conceptions as holy, sacred,
venerable and
pure, chaste, undefiled, guiltless. Kittel reports that in the NT it is a matter
of “moral purity and sincerity,” “innocence” or “chastity” (esp. as “an
wholehearted, inward dedication to Christ”).
Slater reports simply holy.
Lampe reports chaste and pure. It seems best to render as pure, though we
should remember as notes holy, sacred, venerable. In the Perseus corpus not unranked, though
towards the low end at 3002nd most frequent word. In GLT September, 33 times, mostly as titles
of the Mother of God. It occurs only 11
times in the LXX. This word appears to
be a weaker version of that striking phenomenon of words uncommon in Classical
literature attaining to stupendous importance in ecclesiastical hymns. When I am backed into a corner by synonomia,
I can, as here, translate ἁγνός as holy and
let another synonym be translated as pure.
“Pure” (Ἄχραντε). Logeion reports that this word appears fewer
than 50 times in its corpus and so is unranked.
Great Scott reports undefiled, immaculate for ἄχραντος. Kyriakides reports spotless, immaculate. As Kittel reports, words like this seem to be
cultic or ritualistic in origin but given “new religious and moral content” in
Christian literature (Kittel). As such,
the hymnographers are all saying of the Mother of God that she is pure, which
means chaste in one direction and holy in another. The hymnographers multiply the synonyms for pure
effortlessly because Greek is not as much a language as it is an uneasy
coalition of dialects spreading from India to Spain and from Mycenaean times to
the present. If we try to translate all
the synonyms in such a way as to preserve the nuances of each, we will find
ourselves saying many odd things while losing sight of the main fact, that the
Mother of God is pure, chaste and holy. A search of the Great Scott at the wonderful Perseus Digital
Library shows that Greek has 113 synonyms for pure. The hymnographers tend to restrict themselves
to only a sample of this treasure-trove of synonyms, but even that sample
exceeds by far anything English has to offer.
The translator faces two evil choices:
finding synonyms for pure that are not compromised by distracting
associations or simply dully repeating our only word over and over. I have gone with dull repetition. The usual cast of synonyms—unstained,
immaculate, untainted, undefiled, spotless etc. etc.—have associations in
English that are at best questionable and at worst repugnant to faith and
art. I am not going to produce
translations that will boost the heretical dogma of the immaculate conception,
for example. I also refuse to apply
unfitting epithets to the Mother of God.
English translators are on the whole prey to the literalism of all
first-year foreign language students, so they cannot grasp that the essential
point of the hymnographers is purity, not freedom from physical blots. Further, they do not know enough Greek to
understand that purity itself is in Greek the next-door neighbor of holiness,
so it is not even clear that purity is always the main point. E.g., Montie reports that αγνός can mean pure, holy, sacred,
chaste. There is no question in
my mind that St. Nektarios wants this word to mean all of these things. I tend to translate it as pure, but I
suspect purity is simply a front for holiness in our hymns, not a certification
of compliance of a sacrificial animal with the Mosaic requirements.
“Virgin”
(Παρθένε). On the subject of synonymia,
St. Nektarios is in this troparion not using two different words for virgin
but one—Παρθένε.
“Queen” (ἄνασσα).
Applied to goddesses and mortal women from Homer on. Lampe reports queen, lady, and
adds that it is applied to the church and to the Mother of God. Montie reports that it can be used to mean patroness
or any woman who leads or guides.
“Lady” (Κυρία). Lampe reports
that this title is used “in gen. as title of address.” E.g., Thayer points out that this is the
title used by St. John (II John 1). He
adds that according to Epictetus this title is addressed to girls from 14 years
of age. Kyriakides reports madam,
Mrs. However, κόσμου παντὸς Κυρία is a far cry from “lady of the house.”
4. “Of the ascetics”
(ἐναθλούντων). Logeion
reports that it is unranked. Muraoka
reports “enter a contest” for this verb, which appears only in 4 Macc. Lust reports “struggle bravely in.” Schrevelius reports “exercise in
[something],” Lampe “suffer bravely” and Konstantinidou “endure as an
athlete.” The GLT September shows 8
hits. It is possible that St. Nektarios
has in mind those who suffer in general.
However, it is less of a jump from forefathers and prophets to ascetics
than it is to people who suffer in general. The parallelism and synonymia of
our hymnographers are sometimes helpful in fixing the meaning of words.
5. “Exultation” (ἀγαλλίαμα). Montie reports “transport of joy, exultation, happiness.”
6. Great Scott
reports that χειμάζω can be literal in the passive (to be exposed to
the winter cold. Montie reports to
be hit by a winter storm), or (metaphorically) to be distressed, suffer
grievously. St. Nektarios’ portrayal
of the Mother of God as a harbor naturally makes the nautical metaphor more
fitting.
“Savior” (ρύστις, f.). In our
literature, at any rate, σωτήρ is reserved for Christ; the other words for savior
are used for the saints, of which ρύστις is one example.
7. Great Scott
reports that this unranked word means “prop, stay,
support,” with which Mr. K concurs.
Slater reports that ἔρεισμα is
“met., bulwark.” (COD reports that
a bulwark is a “rampart, earthwork etc.; mole, breakwater; person, principle
etc. that acts as a defence.”)
“Chastity” (σωφροσύνης ). This word can
mean soundness of mind, prudence, discretion, sanity,
moderation in sensual desires, self-control or temperance
(Great Scott), or simply chastity (Lampe, Moulton-Milligan).
“Vessel” (δοχεῖον). An unranked word
with 16 hits in September and 22 in October.
8. “Help” (ἐπίσκεψις). An unranked
word. It does not appear in the
September or October Menaia or the NT, but does in the LXX. Muraoka reports that it is a verbal noun of ἐπισκέπτω, which he does not include in his lexicon. He seems to have meant ἐπισκέπτομαι, which does have meanings that are relevant to
this passage. According to Thayer, ἐπισκέπτομαι means to visit, especially “the poor
and afflicted,” and “the sick,” and “Hebraistically, to look upon in order to
help or to benefit,” which is reasonable extension of the core meaning. BGAD reports “look after.” So we may define ἐπίσκεψις as visitation or care.
9. “Pure” (ἄσπιλον). This unranked is yet another epithet
illustrating how “the NT gives new religious and moral
content to originally cultic concepts” (Kittel). Great Scott reports stainless, faultless,
without blemish. Montie reports blameless,
immaculate. Lampe reports spotless,
undefiled. This word occurs 4 times in the NT, where Kittel reports
that it is used there to describe “the sinlessness of Christ” and the moral
purity of believers. In September (13 times), this adj. typically
describes martyrs “as lambs, as sinless lambs” (ὡς ἄρνες, ὡς ἄσπιλοι ἀμνάδες). Note the synonymia in this latter citation,
which is only made possible by calling another unranked word out of retirement
(ἀμνάς). Also, the Mother of
God is described as a “blameless abode” (τὴν ἄσπιλον μόνην).
“Most holy” (παναγία). Muraoka reports that this unranked word
occurs once in the LXX ( 4 Ma. 7.4) and means very holy. Lampe reports all-holy, the standard
translation. Montie reports most holy. Giles reports perfectly holy or perfectly
pure. Donnegan reports “perfectly
chaste, innocent or pure.” For reasons
not clear to me, I went with most holy.
This word occurs 16 times in September to and 41 times in October;
mostly to describe the Mother of God.
“Consecrated” (ἡγιασμένος). Sanctified? Consecrated? Hallowed? So Lampe. No hits in the September or October menaia. Since the Mother of God is being addressed as a temple, I chose consecrated.
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