This book explores the liturgical experience of emotions in Byzantium through the hymns of Romanos the Melodist, Andrew of Crete and Kassia. It reimagines the performance of their hymns during Great Lent and Holy Week in Constantinople. In doing so, it understands compunction as a liturgical emotion, intertwined with paradisal nostalgia, a desire for repentance and a wellspring of tears. For the faithful, liturgical emotions were embodied experiences that were enacted through sacred song and mystagogy. The three hymnographers chosen for this study span a period of nearly four centuries and had an important connection to Constantinople, which forms the topographical and liturgical nexus of the study. Their work also covers three distinct genres of hymnography: kontakion, kanon and sticheron idiomelon. Through these lenses of period, place and genre this study examines the affective performativity hymns and the Byzantine experience of compunction.
By:
Andrew Mellas Imprint: Cambridge University Press Country of Publication: United Kingdom Edition: New edition Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Spine: 12mm
Weight: 302g ISBN:9781108720670 ISBN 10: 1108720676 Pages: 218 Publication Date:10 March 2022 Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format:Paperback Publisher's Status: Active
Acknowledgments; Abbreviations; 1. Introduction; 2. The liturgical world of compunction; 3. Romanos the melodist; 4. Andrew of crete; 5. Kassia; Conclusion; Glossary; Bibliography; Index.
Andrew Mellas is a Lecturer in Byzantine Studies at St Andrew's Theological College and an Honorary Associate of the Medieval and Early Modern Centre at the University of Sydney.