KASSIA

:''This article concerns the Byzantine hymnographer. For the plant ''Cinnamomum aromaticum'', see Cassia''.
'Kassia' (also 'Kassiane', 'Kassiani', 'Casia'', 'Ikasia', or 'Eikasia'; between 805 and 810 - bef. 867) was a Greek-Byzantine poet, composer, and . She is one of the first medieval composers whose scores are both extant and able to be interpreted by modern scholars and musicians. Approximately fifty of her hymns are extant and twenty-three are included in Orthodox Church liturgical books. The exact number is difficult to assess, as many hymns are ascribed to different authors in different manuscripts and are often identified as anonymous.
In addition, some 261 of her non-liturgical verses survive. Many are epigrams or aphorisms called "gnomic verse". An example:

I hate the rich man moaning as if he were poor.

She was born between 805 and 810 in Constantinople into an aristocratic family. Three Byzantine chroniclers--Pseudo-Symeon the Logothete, George the Monk (a.k.a. George the Sinner) and Leo the Grammarian--claim that she was a participant in the "bride show" (the means by which Byzantine princes/emperors sometimes chose a bride, by giving a golden apple to his choice) organized for Theophilus by his mother (rather, stepmother) Euphrosyne. Smitten by Kassia's beauty the young emperor Theophilus approached her and said, "Through a woman trickled forth the baser things [referring to the passions coming as a result of Eve's transgression]." Kassia responded by saying, "But through a woman came the better things [referring to the blessings resulting from the Incarnation of Christ]." His pride wounded, Theophilos chose another bride, Theodora.
She founded a convent in 843 in the west of Constantinople near the walls of Constantine and became its first abbess. Although many scholars attribute this to bitterness at having failed to marry Theophilos, a letter from Theodore the Studite indicates that she had other motivations for wanting a monastic life. It had a close relationship with the nearby monastery of Stoudios, which was to play a central role in re-editing the Byzantine liturgical books in the 9th century and the 10th century, so were important in ensuring the survival of her work.
She wrote many hymns for the Christian liturgy; the most famous being the ''Hymn of Cassiani'' which is sung every Holy Tuesday.
Tradition says that later Emperor Theophilus who was still in love with her wished to see her one more time before he died so he rode to the monastery where she resided. Kassiani was writing her ''Hymn'' when she heard the Emperor looking for her.
She was still in love with him but now she was devoted to God and she hid away because she did not want to let her passion overcome her religious feelings, but she left her unfinished ''Hymn'' on the table. Theophilus found her cell and entered it alone. He looked for her but she was not there; she was hiding in a closet, watching him. Theophilus felt very sad, cried, and regretted that for a moment of pride he rejected such a beautiful and intellectual woman; then he noticed the papers on the table and he read them.
When he was done reading he sat on the chair and finished the ''Hymn'' which Kassiani had started writing and then he left.
Legend says that as he was leaving he noticed Kassiani in the closet but he did not speak to her; he just left. Kassiani emerged when Theophilus was gone and he read what he had written and she cried.
The ''Hymn of Kassiani''; chanted during Holy Week on Great and Holy Wednesday:
:Sensing Thy divinity, O Lord,
:a woman of many sins,
:takes it upon herself
:to become a myrrh-bearer
:and in deep mourning
:brings before Thee fragrant oil
:in anticipation of Thy burial; crying:
:"Woe to me! What night falls on me,
:what dark and moonless madness
:of wild-desire, this lust for sin.
:Take my spring of tears
:Thou Who drawest water from the clouds,
:bend to me, to the sighing of my heart,
:Thou who bendedst down the heavens
:in Thy secret Incarnation,
:I will wash Thine immaculate feet with kisses
:and wipe them dry with the locks of my hair;
:those very feet whose sound Eve heard
:at the dusk in Paradise and hid herself in terror.
:Who shall count the multitude of my sins
:or the depth of Thy judgment,
:O Saviour of my soul?
:Do not ignore Thy handmaiden,
:O Thou whose mercy is endless".

Contents

See also

References

See also

★ Byzantine music

References

★ Diane Touliatos. "Kassia", ''Grove Music Online'', ed. L. Macy (accessed February 12 2006), grovemusic.com (subscription access).

★ Anna M. Silvas, "Kassia the Nun," in Lynda Garland (ed) ''Byzantine Women: Varieties of Experience 800-1200'', Ashgate, 2006.