Vigiliae Christianae 24 (1970) 189-196; © North-Holland Publishing Company @QE IAAPON ANCIENT HYMN AND MODERN ENIGMA* BY ANTONIA TRIPOLITIS In 1927, H.J.M. Milne published his Catalogue of Literary Papyri in the British Museum. Included among the devotional and liturgical items is a small unidentified scrap of a hymn, numbered as 244 (p. Lond. Inv. 2037B). The fragment is part of two lines from the top of a document and is described as a “strip of papyrus, 3 cm x 13.8 cm. It is written along the fibres in a sloping uncial hand of Coptic type. On the verso are the remains of a ‘Byzantine’ protocol.” It is dated to the sixth or seventh century. The piece was later identified by J. Sykutris in his review of the Catalogue in Deutsche Literatur-Zeitung 49 (1928), col. 1508. Sykutris however, did not provide a reconstruction of the fragment, which would be as reproduced below. Mr. T.C.Skeat, Keeper of Manuscripts at the British Museum, has kindly checked the papyrus fragment for me and has confirmed the follow- ing readings where they differ from the transcription in Milne’s catalogue. The hymn is usually found in this reconstructed form, but there are a few known variants which are noted in the apparatus. 1, [@axc tAapdv ayiag 86nI¢ Joyous light of the holy glory 40avérov Tatpds odpaviov Gyifov péxapos “Incod Xproté']/ 2. [ERbvtec ent mv Aion SéJoty, IBovtes (dg Eoneptvov, Sulvotpev Tarépa, Ytov xai] [éytov Hvedua, @cdv./ 3. [ARt6v oe év naiot Karpotc] [bpvetoGar povats alciars,] [Yt G06, Conv 6 B1800¢')] [818 6 Kdop0¢ o& Sok Gbet.]/ of the immortal Father, heavenly, holy, blessed Jesus Christ; Having come to the sun’s setting (and) beholding the evening light, we praise God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Itis fitting at all times that you should be praised with auspicious voices, Son of God, Giver of Life: Wherefore the world glorifies You. * The author is grateful to Dr. Robert A. Kraft of the University of Pennsylvania, for reading the manuscript and making valuable suggestions.190 ANTONIA TRIPOLITIS. Line 1: Xpitob (for Xpiaté) and &MOSveog (for éAG6vtec) in the Codex Monacencis (n. 320), written around the 12th c. oo Line 2: 200 ihiow oat (for TAY HAiov Boat) in the Psalter Oxonian 40 written circa 1336 (noted by T. Smith, see note 11 below). alvoduev (for opvodpev) in Basil's De Spiritu Sancto (see note 12 below). Tlarépa xai Yidv (for Tarépa, Ytdv) in Basil’s work and in the Psalter Oxonian, Gyiov Tvedpa Ocod (for éyov Mvetpa Oedv) in Basil and the Psalter Oxonian. Line 3: Gog el (for &&iSv oc) in the Codex Monacensis (n. 320), and the Psalter Oxonian. Sciaig (for aiciaic) and 81’ Sv 6 Kdopo¢ Soprdter (for 81d 6 Koopo¢ oé SE MLEr) in the Psalter Oxonian, There are many views concerning the origin and development of this hymn. This article attempts to survey the scholarly discussions concerning its background and early usage. The 4c ‘Thapdv or "EmAdxviog sbyaptotia (Lamplighting Hymn of Thanksgiving), as the hymn is called, is considered among the earliest hymns of the Christian Church. It is an exclamation (4vag@vqoic) over the artificial light and a hymn of praise to Christ who is the true light which shines in the darkness and gives life and light to all men. In early times the hymn was recited or sung at the Avyvixév or lamplighting service which was held at sunset when lamps were lit to give light and for symbolic reasons. It was incorporated by the Byzantine Fathers into the Eastern Orthodox evening service (4xoAov0ia tod éonepwod), and in the Presanctified Liturgy (Iponytacpévn).? Today it is still sung in the first part of the Eastern Orthodox Vespers, where it holds the same position as the Magnificat occupies with respect to the Latin Vespers, and in the Presanctified Liturgy. The custom of exclaiming at the sight of the artificial light is not original to the early Christians. According to Varro, in his De Lingua Latina (6,4),® written between 47 and 45 B.C.E., the ancient Greeks had a Practice of exclaiming, “Goodly Light® (ac dya06v) when a light was brought in. It seems that the early Christian lamplighting service and use of this hymn might be a continuation and elaboration of this ancient * According to the Eastern tradition, this liturgy is the most ancient in form and content. It was an evening service attended after a full day's fast. Part of it was for the initiates and part for those preparing for baptism. Both of them joined the faithful, those already baptised, in singing the 4x {kap6v. Today itis celebrated in the Eastern Church every Wednesday and Friday of Easter lent, and the first three days of Holy Easter Week. * R.G.Kent, Varro, De Lingua Latina, with an English Translation, vol. 1 (London 1928) p. 176.a @NE IAAPON 191 custom. Ussher already suggested this connection in his Diatriba de Symbolis, where he states: “Just as the Greeks (according to Varro) were accustomed to say, ‘Goodly Light’ when a light was brought in, so the Christians used to recite [or sing] their ‘Joyful Light of the Holy Glory’ in praise of him who is ‘the reflection of the glory’ [Hebrews 1,3] of God and of the Father.”* Délger and Smothers‘ however, believe that Varro’s short allusion to the ®4c éya86v is much too vague to be con- sidered as the source of the hymn. With regard to the authorship of the hymn, there is little unanimity. In the Venice manuscript Marcianus 59 (Class i 49), written about 1010 C.E., the hymn is introduced with the heading, “By the holy Sophronios of Jerusalem”.® The rubrics of many early editions of the Horologion® (e.g., Venice 1646, 1714), also call the hymn a poem of Sophronios, Patriarch of Jerusalem during the years 634-638.’ Most of the Horologia of the 19th century, the editions pf Bartholomew Koutloumousianis,® claim that the hymn was composed by the Martyr Athenogenes,” but is attributed to St. Sophronios because it is believed that he had added to it. 4 J.Ussher, Works, vol. 8 (London 1641) p. 330: Ut quemadmodum Graeci (apud Varronem) cum lumen adferretur, dicere fuerunt soliti, &¢ dya86v; ita et Christiani suum 6 Oapdv éyiag 36Eng, in laudem illius qui est dxadyaoua tig 36Eng Dei et Patris, canere consueverint. « F.J.Délger, Der christliche Abendhymnus ac ikapév, Antike und Christentum 5 (1936), p. 12; and E.R. Smothers, @QE IAAPON, Recherches de Science Religieuse 19 (1929), p. 272. 5 J,Mearns, The Canticles of the Christian Church Eastern and Western in Early and Medieval Times (Cambridge 1914) p. 16. * An office book of the Greek Church, which contains the daily hours of prayer and certain other forms. It corresponds in some ways, although with a number of im- Portant differences, to the Latin breviary. The first printed Horologion was issued in Venice in 1509. * Cf. J.Neale, History of the Holy Eastern Church, vol. 1, pt. 2 (London 1850) pp. 899-900 (chapter on Eastern Orthodox Vespers); also T.Smith, Am Account of the Greek Church (London 1680) p. 230. * Koutloumousianis (1772-1851) was an Eastern Church Historian from Imbris (TuBpic) who by order of the Ecumenical Patriarch Gregory VI amended and edited many Greek Orthodox ecclesiastical texts among which was the Horologion. Nedtepov Eyeurdonaisixdv Actixéy vol. 8 (Athens 1960) p. 43. * Athenogenes, according to Eastern tradition, served as bishop of Sebasteia, a Province of Armenia, during the reign of the Emperor Diocletian (284-305), and was martyred by being burnt at the stake about the year 290. Many Western Church his- torians however, consider Athenogenes to have been a contemporary of Clement of Alexandria, and list his date of martyrdom as 196. Cf. W.Smith, H. Wace, Dictionary of Christian Biography (London 1877) p. 207.192 ANTONIA TRIPOLITIS What part St. Sophronios is supposed to have added is not described. The earliest known mention of Athenogenes as the author of the DA¢ tAapév is found in the Paris Bibl. Nat. manuscript Grec n 2408, a mélange of documents, dated to the 13th century, a page of which is devoted toa brief note on the ®dc fAapév.!° The claim that the hymn was composed by St. Athenogenes, seems to be based on a reference to the hymn found in St. Basil’s treatise on the Holy Spirit, dedicated to St. Amphilochius, in which Basil attempts to clear up all doubt concerning the Holy Spirit. This tradition was known and discussed by Thomas Smith in the 17th century. In his Miscellanies,!! Smith states that it is erroneous of the Greeks to ascribe the "EmtAoxviov edyapiotiav to Athenogenes, and just as erroneous to ascribe it to Patriarch Sophronios. Smith however, does not identify the Greek sources known to him which claim Atheno- genes as author of the ®&v tAapov. Basil’s passage in question reads as follows:1* It seemed fitting to our fathers “Eboke tolg narpéctv Adv not to receive the gift of HA cont thy xapw tod the evening light in silence, Eonspwod gards Séxe0a1, but to give thanks immediately AW edOdg Qavévtos upon its appearance. And who ebgaptoteiv. Kai doug was the father of the words hav 6 xanip tOv pnétov of the lamplighting prayer axeivov tig émAvzvion of thanksgiving we do not know. edyaptotiag, etnetv obx Exopev™ The people, however, utter 6 pévtor Aads dpxatav the ancient form, pina tiv gaviy, and those kai ob8evi nénots doeBetv who said, évopic®noay ol Aéyovtes: “We praise Father and Son, “Alvoduev Havépa, xai Ytov and God’s Holy Spirit,’ were xai éyiov veda @co0.” never considered impious by anyone. ‘And if anyone also knows Et 86 tig Kai tov duvov the hymn of Athenogenes, *Abnvoyevouc Eyva, which he bequeathed as a farewell gift!* Sv dhonep 11 £Evrhpiov® to his friends while he was already tol ovvotaw adr xara- hastening to his end by fire, Aéhowney dps fiSn mpog also knows the opinion that miy 814 mpdc tedefoowv, the martyrs held concerning olde Kai thy tov papropav the Spirit. ‘yOuny Snac etxov repi rob [vebpatos. ¥%* E.R. Smothers (see note 4, above), p. 275. 4. T.Smith, Miscellanies (London 1686) p. 153. 18 Basil, De Spiritu Sancto (Migne, P.G. 29, 73). * "Some MSS read éAeEnthptov (amulet or charm), which Migne prints in the text. This however, seems less natural then the variant Eithpiov (farewell gift), which Thave adopted. ‘‘QE IAAPON, 193 It is obvious that Basil does not attribute the hymn to Athenogenes, but considers it an old hymn of unknown authorship. What Basil attributes to the Martyr Athenogenes is another hymn (note, et 5& t1¢ xai tov Savov AOnvoyévous Eyva ... olde Kai tiv ... YvapNv) in which the Holy Spirit is also mentioned as part of the Holy Trinity. The more recent editions of the Horologion (e.g., Rome, 1937; Athens, 1952) introduce the hymn simply as a very old poem and make no mention of its authorship. Similarly, H. Daniel,1° W. Christ,“* Dom Cabrol,” and J. Quasten’® describe the hymn as one of the earliest and most celebrated hymns of the Christian Church, of unknown authorship. Concerning the use of the hymn, Bingham,’ assumes that the lamp- lighting hymn was a private hymn to be used by Christians only privately as a hymn of praise to Christ. Bingham bases his supposition on his failure to find the hymn mentioned as employed in the public offices, either by the author of the Apostolic Constitutions, or by Basil or by any other. Bingham’s impression however, is incorrect since a version of the hymn does appear in the lamplighting service of the Ethiopic version of the Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus, formerly called the Egyptian Church Order (Botte 25; Easton 26: 18 ff):?° ‘When evening has come and the bishop is present, the deacon shall bring in a lamp. Then the bishop, standing in the midst of the believers, before giving thanks shall first give the salutation: ‘The Lord be with you all. And the people shall say: [And] with thy spirit. And the bishop shall say: Let us give thanks to the Lord. And the people shalll say: It is proper and right: Majesty, exaltation and glory are due to Him. But they shall not say “Lift up your hearts”, for that belongs to the oblation. And he 1 This was also recognized by J. Kroll on pp. 26ff. of his very helpful study, Die christliche Hymnodik bis zu Klemens yon Alexandreia (Darmstadt 1968 reprint of a 1921-22 article), which came to my attention after this article was written. 1H, Daniel, Thesaurus Hymnologicus, vol. 3 (Lipsiae 1846) pp. 4-5. ‘iy W.Christ, M.Paranikas, Anthologia Graeca Carminum Christianorum (Lipsiae p. 40. " F.Cabrol, Dictionnaire d’Archéologie Chrétienne et de Liturgie, vol. 2 (Paris 1910) cols. 1976-77. 4” J,Quasten, Patrology, vol. 1 (Westminster [Md] 1950) p. 159. This opinion is also reflected in the Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 2 (Buffalo 1885) p. 298. . J.Bingham, Antiquities of the Christian Church, vol. 1 (London 1815) 13, 11. B. Botte, La Tradition Apostolique de Saint Hippolyte (Miinster, 1963) pp. 64-67; and B, Easton, The Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus (Ann Arbor 1934) pp. 58-59.194 ANTONIA TRIPOLITIS prays thus, saying: ‘ ‘We give aais to you O God, because you have enlightened us by revealing the incorruptible light. So we, having come to the end of the day, and having come to the beginning of tae night, satisfied with the light of the day that you have created for our satisfaction; and now, since by your grace we do not lack a light for the evening, we sanctify and glorify you. Through your only Son our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom be to you with him glory and might and honour with [the] Holy Spirit, now and forever through the ages of ages. Amen. This passage is lacking from the parallel section of the Latin, Coptic and Arabic version, and thus is considered by many to be an interpolation into the work of Hippolytus.** Botte however, in his recent investigation of the Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus,* claims that the above passage is not an invention of the Ethiopic Church but original to Hippolytus (ca. 215). He cites as evidence parallel material in the secondary witnesses as follows: (Q) Apostolic Constitutions 8,37: ‘You who have led us through the length of the day, and have brought us to the be- ginning of the night ... ) Testament of Our Lord 2,11: Let the lamp be brought in the temple by the deacon, who shall say: “The grace of our Lord with you all”, and let all the people respond: “And with your spirit”. 6 diayayav fds td ilKog tig fwépac Kai yaya eri tag Gpxds thig vortos ... Offeratur lucerna in templo a diacono; qui dicet “Gratia Domini nostri cum omnibus vobis”, et ‘omnis populus respondet “Et Let the young boys recite cum spiritu tuo”. Psalmos spiritual psalms and spirituales dicant pueruli, canticles at the lighting et cantica ad accensionem. of the lamp. lucernae, (3) Canons of Hippolytus 32,164-168:% If an agape (or supper) for Si agape fit vel coena 2B. Easton (see note 20, above), p. 31. 4B. Botte (see note 20, above), pp. XXX ff. » F.X.Funk, Didascalia et Constitutiones apostolorum, vol. 1 (Paderborn 1905) P. 544, R.Connolly in his text, The So-called Egyptian Church Order and Derived Documents (Cambridge 1916) pp. 112-115, also saw a literary connection between the words of the a {Aapéy, “Having come to the sun’s setting [and] beholding the evening light” (EXO6vees éni thy HAlov Svowv, l8évtes gibs oneprvéy ...), and this passage in the Apostolic Constitutions. He claims that the author of the Constitutions used these ee in his description of the evening services as an intentional echo of the dig v. * LRahmani, Testamentum Domini nostri Jesu Christi (Mainz 1899) pp. 133-135. 48H. Achelis, Die ditesten Quellen des orientalischen Kirchenrechtes - Die Canones Hippolyti, Texte und Untersuchungen VI (Leipzig, 1891) pp. 105-106.@OQE IAAPON 195 the poor is prepared by anyone on Sunday, at lamplighting time, in the presence of the bishop, let the deacon rise to light it. Let the bishop on the other hand pray over them and him, who invited them. And a thanksgiving is necessary for the poor which takes place at the begin- ning of the liturgy. But let him send them away, so that they may depart to their separate destinations, before darkness falls. Let them recite psalms before they depart. ab aliquo pauperibus paratur xupiaxq tempore accensus lucernae, praesente episcopo surgat diaconus ad accendendum, Episcopus autem oret super eos et eum, qui invitavit illos. Et necessaria est pauperibus edyapiotia, quae est in initio missae. Missos autem faciat eos, ut separatim recedant, antequam tenebrae oboriantur. Psalmos recitent, antequam recedant. The evidence does not seem capable of bearing the weight of Botte’s claim. Notice that the only characteristic similarity between the four passages is the reference to a lamplighting service. The three “secondary witnesses”, contain nothing of the text of the a> iAapdv. But whether the Ethiopic passage is an interpolation or original to Hippolytus, it shows that the Ethiopic Church did use a version of the lamplighting hymn. The hymn is also mentioned by Gregory of Nyssa (ca. 380), in his De Vita Macrinae. In one passage he refers to the hymn as a public prayer, “The voice of the singers calling to join in the Lamplighting Hymns of Thanksgiving, also called me forth to church” (| pov) tév yahhdviov mpdg tag EmtAvxvioug sdxyaprotiag &exaheito, Kdpe mpdg chy éxxAnotav éxnépyaca ...).2° while in another passage the hymn is used as a private prayer:*” And ... when evening had arrived and the lamp had been brought in she opened her eyes suddenly and looked at the light. ‘It was quite clear that she wished to say the Lamplighting Hymn of Thanksgiving, but since her yoice failed her, she fulfilled the offering with her heart and with the movement of her hands, while her lips moved in harmony with the pressure from within, Kal ... tig Bonépas émaBobons Kal patds eloxoptoBévtos, AOpbov TOV TOV SppdToOV diaoteiAaca KoKAov, ral mpdc tiv adyiv dmBotca, ExBn hog nav Fv pbéyEaobat tiv émbyviov edzapictiay mpo- Bvpovpévn, tig 58 avis ém- Aarnodong, 814 thi Kap5iag xal tig Ov yeIpOv Kivijseag &nAtipou Thy npOOeaty, Kat ta xethn mpdg TH EvEoRev Spuiy ovverwetto. ™ Gregory of Nyssa, De Vita Macrinae (Migne, P.G. 46, 981). "Ibid. 46, 985,196 ANTONIA TRIPOLITIS Perhaps Cyprian (ca. 252) also alludes to the hymn in his De Oratione Dominica:* Likewise at the setting of the sun and at the end of the day, it is necessary that we should again pray. For, since Christ is the true sun and the true day, when we pray as the sun and the day of the world recede, and petition that the light may come upon us again, we are asking for the advent of Christ, which will grant us the grace of eternal light. Recedente item sole ac die cessante necessario Tursus orandum est. Nam quia Christus sol verus est et dies verus, sole ac die saeculi recedente quando oramus et petimus, ut super nos lux denuo veniat, Christi precamur adventum lucis acternae gratiam praebiturum, In this treatise, as in the work of Gregory, the evening hymn seems to have been used both as a public and a private prayer. From the above discussion, it may be concluded that the b&c thapov is an old hymn, written sometime during the latter part of the second century or in the early part of the third century by an unknown author. It was used by the early Christians both publicly and privately, as a hymn of praise or exaltation to Jesus Christ, the true light of all men. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania ™ De Oratione Dominica 35, in Cypriani Opera Omnia, ed. W. Hartel, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 3.1 (Lipsiae 1868) p, 293, r