On Romanus the Melodist

Zenit News Agency ^ | May 21, 2008 | Benedict XVI

[ELS]

Hundreds of faithful take pictures as Pope Benedict XVI arrives in San Peter's Basilica during his weekly general audience at the Vatican May 21, 2008. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi (VATICAN)

Pope Benedict XVI waves at faithful as he arrives at the Paul VI hall in the Vatican for his weekly general audience, Wednesday May 21, 2008. In the background from left, American bishop James Harvey and the pontiff's personal secretary Monsignor Georg Gaenswein. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

Pope Benedict XVI, next to American bishop James Harvey, blesses faithful during his weekly general audience at the Paul VI hall in the Vatican, Wednesday May 21, 2008. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

[ELS]

Previous catecheses on the Early Church Fathers:
On St. Clement of Rome -The Church Has a Sacramental, Not Political Structure (March 7, 2007)
Truly a Doctor of Unity (St. Ignatius of Antioch) (March 14, 2007)
St. Justin Martyr: He Considered Christianity the "True Philosophy" (March 21, 2007)
St. Irenaeus of Lyons: The First Great Theologian of the Church (March 28, 2007)
St. Clement of Alexandria: One of the Great Promoters of Dialogue Between Faith and Reason (April 18, 2007)
On Origen of Alexandria: He Was a True Teacher (April 25, 2007)
Origen: The Privileged Path to Knowing God Is Love (May 2, 2007)
Tertullian: Accomplished a Great Step in the Development of the Trinitarian Dogma (May 30, 2007)
St. Cyprian: His Book on the 'Our Father' Has Helped Me to Pray Better (June 6, 2007)
On Eusebius of Caesarea (June 13, 2007)
On St. Athanasius (June 20, 2007)
On St. Cyril of Jerusalem (June 27, 2007)
On St. Basil (July 4, 2007)
St. Basil (August 1, 2007)
St. Gregory of Nazianzen (August 8, 2007)
St. Gregory Nazianzen's Teachings (August 22, 2007)
St. Gregory of Nyssa - A Pillar of Orthodoxy (August 29, 2007)
Gregory of Nyssa on Perfection (September 5, 2007)
On St. John Chrysostom's Antioch Years (September 19, 2007)
On Chrysostom's Social Doctrine (September 26, 2007)
St. Cyril of Alexandria (October 3, 2007)
On Hilary of Poitiers (October 10, 2007)
On St. Eusebius of Vercelli (October 17, 2007)
On St. Ambrose of Milan (October 24, 2007)
On St. Maximus of Turin (October 31, 2007)
On St. Jerome (November 7, 2007)
St. Jerome on the Bible (November 14, 2007)
On the Teachings of Aphraates (November 21, 2007)
On St. Ephrem the Syrian (November 28, 2007)
On St. Chromatius of Aquileia (December 5, 2007)
On St. Paulinus of Nola (December 12, 2007)
On St. Augustine (January 9, 2008)
St. Augustine's Last Days (January 16, 2008)
On St. Augustine's Search for Truth (January 30, 2008)
On the Writings of St. Augustine (February 20, 2008)
On St. Augustine's Conversion (February 27, 2008)
On St. Leo the Great (March 5, 2008)
On Boethius and Cassiodorus (March 12, 2008)
On St. Benedict of Norcia (April 9, 2008)
On Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (May 14, 2008)

[ELS]

Weekly audience ping!

Please let me know if you want to be on or off this ping list.

[livius]

Kontakion ping!

[Kolokotronis]

Apolytikion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone

The image of God, was faithfully preserved in you, O Father. For you took up the Cross and followed Christ. By Your actions you taught us to look beyond the flesh for it passes, rather to be concerned about the soul which is immortal. Wherefore, O Holy Romanos, your soul rejoices with the angels.

Kontakion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone

As a harmonious harp of lofty wisdom from on high and an expounder of things seen in God-inspired ascents, we extol thee, Father Romanos, and we hymn thee. As a trumpet of the gifts that pass the mind of man, do thou rouse us to divine and saving watchfulness, as we cry to thee: Rejoice, O Father elect of God.

[Kolokotronis]

“in fact the concepts of the councils came from popular piety and the knowledge of the Christian heart, and in this way Romanus underlined that Christ is true man and true God, and being true man-God, is only one person, the synthesis of creation and Creator, in whose human words we hear the voice of the Word of God himself.”

This is elegantly Orthodox!

Here’s a link to a site with kontakia by +Romanos the Melodist. We still chant these kontakia on the great feasts to which they are appropriate.

http://www.anastasis.org.uk/romanos.htm

[NYer]

Another beautiful catechesis. Just wow!

Caught the end of yesterday's audience. Among the bishops who presented themselves to the Holy Father afterwards, was a bishop from the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church.

And, pinging Kolokotronis, can you recognize the priestly garb of this individual?

[Kolokotronis]

” And, pinging Kolokotronis, can you recognize the priestly garb of this individual?”

Looks like a Greek Orthodox archimandrite or even possibly a bishop, though he’s more likely an archimandrite.

[ELS]

Thank you for that link.

[Pyro7480]

One would guess that Eastern Catholic archimandrites also dress that way.

[Kolokotronis]

“One would guess that Eastern Catholic archimandrites also dress that way.”

Not as a general proposition, no. The hat is the giveaway. It was imposed on the clergy by the Turks but perhaps this could be a Melkite priest. By the way, the fellow in the picture might as likely be a married priest. It looks like he might be wearing a cross or an icon which made me think hierarch or archimandrite, but a priest might wear one too. Archimandrites, BTW, also usually (but not always) would have a sort of veil coming down the sides and back of the hat which this fellow doesn’t.

[Pyro7480]

Neither is great music -- the Gregorian chant, Bach or Mozart -- something of the past, rather it lives in the vitality of the liturgy and our faith.

Bach and Mozart being mentioned by Pope Benedict XVI? You don't say? ;-)

Cardinal Ratzinger plays the piano

[ELS]

Cardinal Ratzinger plays the piano

Do you know what the narrator is saying? The Cardinal is concentrating so intently while playing, but then at the end there is his beautiful, radiant smile.

[Pyro7480]

No sprechen se Deutsche. ;-)

[Pyro7480]

That’s probably bad German too.

[ELS]

Maybe we can get AnAmericanMother to translate for us?

[AnAmericanMother]

Gosh, it's late and I'm tired (and I don't listen to German as well as I used to -- use it or lose it!)

But so far as I can decipher the voice over, it says that the Cardinal doesn't have as much personal time as he would like, but even though it seems a bit of a contradiction (given his line of work at the time, I suppose) the art of music is very important to him, even when the performance is not letter perfect (that's when he bobbles the sharped note and mutters to himself!) - art to the Cardinal has a "God-dimension" to it.

That's more of an educated-guess translation on the fly than anything else! We need somebody who has been listening to German on a more regular basis than I have!

It's the Bach C minor lute prelude, btw, BWV 999.

[ELS]

Thank you.

use it or lose it!

I lost the grasp of Spanish that I used to have by not using it. When I learned it in high school, the U.S. hadn't been run over by Spanish speaking folk, yet.

[AnAmericanMother]

And all the Germans around here want to practice their English! But if I wanted to and had the time, I could join the Goethe-Institut and get plenty of conversation. It's just not high on my list!

My daughter's Spanish comes in such handy, because we certainly have a lot of Hispanic immigrants around Atlanta, not just Mexican but Nicaraguan, Costa Rican, Cuban, etc. etc.