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111-533: Autocephaly and canonicity recognized by Constantinople and 3 other autocephalous Churches: Spiritual independence recognized by Georgian Orthodox Church: Semi-Autonomous: A kontakion ( Greek κοντάκιον , kondákion , plural κοντάκια, kondákia ) is a form of hymn in the Byzantine liturgical tradition. The kontakion form originated in the Byzantine Empire around the 6th century and

222-623: A stress accent system , and the monophthongization of several diphthongs: The Koine-period Greek in the table is taken from a reconstruction by Benjamin Kantor of New Testament Judeo-Palestinian Koine Greek. The realizations of most phonemes reflect general changes around the Greek-speaking world, including vowel isochrony and monophthongization, but certain sound values differ from other Koine varieties such as Attic, Egyptian and Anatolian. More general Koine phonological developments include

333-606: A Byzantine monk writing in the 6th or 7th century, although the exact date is a matter of debate. In Russian Orthodox churches, the kontakion is traditionally sung during funerals and memorial services, and on Parents’ Sabbath (Russian Misplaced Pages article) when the departed are commemorated. It was translated into English from Russian by William John Birkbeck , an English theologian and musicologist who studied Russian church music in Moscow in 1890. The traditional tune, known in English as

444-466: A complex kind of acrostic. In the manuscript, some letters are capitalized and written extra-large, non-italic, and in red, and the lines are shifted left or right and internally spaced out as necessary to position the red letters within three crosses that extend through all the lines of the poem. The letters within each cross spell out a verse from the New Testament : The " INRI " at the top of

555-440: A devotional hymn at any time. The current practice treats the kontakion as a proper troparion, based on the text of the prooimion, dedicated to a particular feast of the menaion or the moveable cycle. The examples chosen here are only the introduction ( prooimion, koukoulion ) and they belong to the old core repertoire of 86 kontakia which had been all known as part of the cathedral rite. Thus, they can be found with notation in

666-508: A form of constrained writing , an acrostic can be used as a mnemonic device to aid memory retrieval. When the last letter of each new line (or other recurring feature) forms a word it is called a telestich ; the combination of an acrostic and a telestich in the same composition is called a double acrostic (e.g. the first-century Latin Sator Square ). Acrostics are common in medieval literature, where they usually serve to highlight

777-473: A kind of para-liturgical genre. In the modern practice it is reduced to heirmologic melos which allowed the celebration of the whole Akathist on the morning service of the fourth Sunday of Great Lent. This Akathist was traditionally ascribed to Romanos , but recent scholarship has disapproved it. In Slavic hymnography the so-called Akafist became a genre of its own which was dedicated to various saints; while not part of any prescribed service, these may be prayed as

888-450: A more open pronunciation than other Koine dialects, distinguished as open-mid /ɛ/ vs. close-mid /e/ , rather than as true-mid /e̞/ vs. close-mid /e̝/ as has been suggested for other varieties such as Egyptian. This is evidenced on the basis of Hebrew transcriptions of ε with pataḥ/qamets /a/ and not tsere/segol /e/ . Additionally, it is posited that α perhaps had a back vowel pronunciation as /ɑ/ , dragged backwards due to

999-511: A passage describing the return of the peace-loving king Numa Pompilius to Rome. Odes 4.2, which starts with the word Pindarum '(the poet) Pindar' has next to it the truncated acrostic PIN in a gamma formation. In the first poem of Horace's Epodes (which were also known as Iambi 'iambics'), the first two lines begin ibis ... amice , and it has been suggested that these words were deliberately chosen so that their initial letters IBI ... AM could be rearranged to read IAMBI. Towards

1110-460: A pseudo-Sibylline prophecy has recently been noticed in the syllables DE CA TE (i.e. Greek δεκάτη ' tenth ' ) in Eclogue 4 , 9–11, with the same DEC A TE repeated cryptically both forwards and backwards in line 11. In another pseudo-Sibylline prophecy in poem 5 of Tibullus book 2 the words AVDI ME ‘hear me!’ are picked out in the first letters of alternate lines at the beginning of

1221-507: A repeating pattern ( equidistant letter sequences ), or even concealing the message by starting at the end of the text and working backwards. A well-known acrostic in Greek is for the phrase JESUS CHRIST, GOD’S SON, SAVIOUR , the initial letters of which spell ΙΧΘΥΣ ( ICHTHYS ), which means fish : According to Cicero , acrostics were a regular feature of Sibylline prophecies (which were written in Greek hexameters . The type of acrostic

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1332-477: A single acrostic psalm together, but the length assigned to each letter is unequal and five of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet are not represented and the sequence of two letters is reversed. In Psalm 25 one Hebrew letter is not represented, the following letter ( Resh ) repeated. In Psalm 34 the current final verse, 23, does fit verse 22 in content, but adds an additional line to the poem. In Psalms 37 and 111

1443-436: A truncated which reduced the kontakion to one oikos or just to the prooimion, while the music was elaborated to a melismatic style. The classical repertoire consisted of 42 kontakia-idiomela, and 44 kontakia-prosomoia made about a limited number of model stanzas consisting of fourteen prooimia-idiomela and thirteen okoi-idiomela which could be combined independently. This classical repertoire was dominated by classical composers of

1554-460: A very important source of information on the ancient Koine is the modern Greek language with all its dialects and its own Koine form, which have preserved some of the ancient language's oral linguistic details which the written tradition has lost. For example, Pontic and Cappadocian Greek preserved the ancient pronunciation of η as ε ( νύφε, συνέλικος, τίμεσον, πεγάδι for standard Modern Greek νύφη, συνήλικος, τίμησον, πηγάδι etc.), while

1665-480: A way that the relationship between the key letters is less obvious. These are referred to as null ciphers in steganography, using the first letter of each word to form a hidden message in an otherwise innocuous text. Using letters to hide a message, as in acrostic ciphers, was popular during the Renaissance , and could employ various methods of enciphering, such as selecting other letters than initials based on

1776-706: Is Attic. In other words, Koine Greek can be regarded as Attic with the admixture of elements especially from Ionic, but also from other dialects. The degree of importance of the non-Attic linguistic elements on Koine can vary depending on the region of the Hellenistic world. In that respect, the varieties of Koine spoken in the Ionian colonies of Anatolia (e.g. Pontus , cf. Pontic Greek ) would have more intense Ionic characteristics than others and those of Laconia and Cyprus would preserve some Doric and Arcadocypriot characteristics, respectively. The literary Koine of

1887-463: Is a poem or other word composition in which the first letter (or syllable, or word) of each new line (or paragraph , or other recurring feature in the text) spells out a word, message or the alphabet. The term comes from the French acrostiche from post-classical Latin acrostichis , from Koine Greek ἀκροστιχίς , from Ancient Greek ἄκρος "highest, topmost" and στίχος "verse". As

1998-503: Is a horses ass. In October 2009, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger sent a note to assemblyman Tom Ammiano in which the first letters of lines 3-9 spell "Fuck You"; Schwarzenegger claimed that the acrostic message was coincidental, which mathematicians Stephen Devlin and Philip Stark disputed as statistically implausible. In January 2010, Jonathan I. Schwartz , the CEO of Sun Microsystems , sent an email to Sun employees on

2109-520: Is a term used for present tense verbs that are used in some narrative sections of the New Testament to describe events that are in the past with respect to the speaker. This is seen more in works attributed to Mark and John than Luke . It is used 151 times in the Gospel of Mark in passages where a reader might expect a past tense verb. Scholars have presented various explanations for this; in

2220-553: Is called a kontakarion ( κοντακάριον ; loaned into Slavonic as kondakar , Church Slavonic : кондакарь ), but a kontakarion is not just a collection of kontakia: in the tradition of the Cathedral Rite (like that practiced at the Hagia Sophia of Constantinople ) this became the name of the book of the prechanter or lampadarios , also known as psaltikon , which contained all the soloistic parts of hymns sung during

2331-615: Is closely associated with Saint Romanos the Melodist (d. 556). Kontakions have a number of strophes ( oikoi or ikoi , stanzas; singular oikos or ikos ) and begin with a prologue (the prooimoion or koukoulion ). A kontakion sometimes has a biblical theme and may feature a dialogue between biblical characters. The only kontakion that is used in full length today is the Akathist to the Theotokos . The word kontakion derives from

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2442-620: Is derived from the Koine Greek term ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος ( hē koinḕ diálektos ), meaning "the common dialect". The Greek word κοινή ( koinḗ ) itself means "common". The word is pronounced / k ɔɪ ˈ n eɪ / , / ˈ k ɔɪ n eɪ / , or / k iː ˈ n iː / in US English and / ˈ k ɔɪ n iː / in UK English. The pronunciation of the word koine itself gradually changed from [koinéː] (close to

2553-592: Is found first backwards at 103–107, then forwards at 142–146, at the beginning and end of a speech by Sinon persuading the Trojans to bring the wooden horse into the city. The discoverer of this acrostic, Neil Adkin, points out that the same word πείθει occurs at more or less exactly the same line-numbers in a repeated line describing how Odysseus’ wife Penelope deceived the suitors in Odyssey 2.106 and 24.141. Another transliterated Greek word used as an acrostic in

2664-855: Is in the published version and is included in a cross-stitch sampler of the poem from 1793. ) Behold, O God! In rivers of my tears I come to thee! bow down thy blessed ears To hear my Plaint; and let thine eyes which keep Continual watch behold a Sinner weep: Let not, O God my God my Sins, tho' great, And numberless, between thy Mercy's-Seat And my poor Soul have place; since we are taught, [Thou] Lord, remember'st thyne, if Thou art sought. I come not, Lord, with any other merit Than what I by my Saviour Christ inherit: Be then his wounds my balm— his stripes my Bliss; His thorns my crown; my death be blest in his. And thou, my blest Redeemer, Saviour, God, Quit my accounts, withhold thy vengeful rod! O beg for me, my hopes on Thee are set; And Christ forgive me, since thou'st paid my debt The living font,

2775-500: Is rendered in a reconstructed pronunciation representing a hypothetical conservative variety of mainland Greek Koiné in the early Roman period. The transcription shows raising of η to /eː/ , partial (pre-consonantal/word-final) raising of ῃ and ει to /iː/ , retention of pitch accent, and retention of word-initial /h/ (the rough breathing ). περὶ peri ὧν hoːn Θισ[β]εῖς tʰizbîːs λόγους lóɡuːs ἐποιήσαντο· epojéːsanto; Acrostic An acrostic

2886-834: Is sometimes used for the Greek written by the Greek Church Fathers , the Early Christian theologians in late antiquity. Christian writers in the earliest time tended to use a simple register of Koiné, relatively close to the spoken language of their time, following the model of the Bible. After the 4th century, when Christianity became the state church of the Roman Empire , more learned registers of Koiné also came to be used. Koine period Greek differs from Classical Greek in many ways: grammar , word formation , vocabulary and phonology (sound system). During

2997-472: Is that different customs must have existed simultaneously, the truncated and the long kontakion, but also the ritual context of both customs. The truncated form consists only of the first stanza called "koukoulion" (now referred to as simply "the kontakion") and the first oikos, while the other oikoi became omitted. Within the Orthros for the kontakion and oikos is after the sixth ode of the canon; however, if

3108-405: Is that known as a “gamma acrostic” (from the shape of the Greek letter Γ ), where the same words are found both horizontally and vertically. Cicero refers to an acrostic in this passage using the Greek word ἀκροστιχίς . The 3rd-century BC didactic poet Aratus , who was much admired and imitated by Cicero, Virgil and other Latin writers, appears to have been fond of using acrostics. One example

3219-632: Is the famous passage in Phaenomena 783–7 where the word λεπτή ' slender, subtle ' occurs as a gamma acrostic and also twice in the text, as well as diagonally in the text and even cryptically taking the initial letters of certain words in lines 2 and 1: Several acrostics have recently been discovered in Roman poets, especially in Virgil . Among others, in Eclogue 9 the acrostic VNDIS ' in

3330-559: Is the long Psalm 119 , which typically is printed in subsections named after the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet , each section consisting of 8 verses, each of which begins with the same letter of the alphabet and the entire psalm consisting of 22 x 8 = 176 verses; and Psalm 145 , which is recited three times a day in the Jewish services . Some acrostic psalms are technically imperfect. For example, Psalm 9 and Psalm 10 appear to constitute

3441-523: Is the most certain author ' , the double-letter reverse acrostic MA VE PV (i.e. Publius Vergilius Maro) is found on alternate lines. In Eclogue 6 , 13–24 Virgil uses a double acrostic, with the same word LAESIS ' for those who have been harmed ' going both upwards and downwards starting from the same letter L in line 19. Another double acrostic is found in Aeneid 2 , where the word PITHI (i.e. πείθει , Greek for he ‘persuades’ or ‘he deceives’)

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3552-626: The Right Ginza , a Mandaic text , are acrostic hymns, with each stanza ordered according to a letter of the Mandaic alphabet . There is an acrostic secreted in the Dutch national anthem Wilhelmus ( William ): the first letters of its fifteen stanzas spell WILLEM VAN NASSOV. This was one of the hereditary titles of William of Orange ( William the Silent ), who introduces himself in the poem to

3663-551: The Blachernae Chapel . Assumptions that kontakia replaced canon poetry or vice versa that the Stoudites replaced the kontakia with Hagiopolitan canon poetry, always remained controversial. The Patriarch Germanus I of Constantinople established an own local school earlier (even if it is no longer present in the modern books), while the Stoudites embraced the genre kontakion with own new compositions. The only explanation

3774-577: The Church Fathers . In this context, Koine Greek is also known as "Biblical", "New Testament", "ecclesiastical", or "patristic" Greek. The Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote his private thoughts in Koine Greek in a work that is now known as Meditations . Koine Greek continues to be used as the liturgical language of services in the Greek Orthodox Church and in some Greek Catholic churches . The English-language name Koine

3885-591: The Classical Attic pronunciation [koi̯.nɛ̌ː] ) to [cyˈni] (close to the Modern Greek [ciˈni] ). In Modern Greek, the language is referred to as Ελληνιστική Κοινή , "Hellenistic Koiné", in the sense of "Hellenistic supraregional language "). Ancient scholars used the term koine in several different senses. Scholars such as Apollonius Dyscolus (second century AD) and Aelius Herodianus (second century AD) maintained

3996-634: The Kiev Melody, was edited by Birkbeck's close friend, Sir Walter Parratt , the organist of St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle . Queen Victoria may have heard this kontakion in Russian at a memorial service in London for the death of Tsar Alexander III in 1894, where she noted that "a fine Russian hymn, always sung at funerals throughout the Greek Church, was sung without accompaniment, &

4107-538: The Septuagint . Some, like O Palmer Robertson, see the acrostic Psalms of book 1 and book 5 of Psalms as teaching and memory devices as well as transitions between subjects in the structure of the Psalms. Often the ease of detectability of an acrostic can depend on the intention of its creator. In some cases an author may desire an acrostic to have a better chance of being perceived by an observant reader, such as

4218-541: The Tsakonian language preserved the long α instead of η ( ἁμέρα, ἀστραπά, λίμνα, χοά etc.) and the other local characteristics of Doric Greek . Dialects from the southern part of the Greek-speaking regions ( Dodecanese , Cyprus , etc.), preserve the pronunciation of the double similar consonants ( ἄλ-λος, Ἑλ-λάδα, θάλασ-σα ), while others pronounce in many words υ as ου or preserve ancient double forms ( κρόμμυον – κρεμ-μυον, ράξ – ρώξ etc.). Linguistic phenomena like

4329-575: The Unite the Right rally incident in Charlottesville, Virginia. The members' letter of resignation contained the acrostic "RESIST" formed from the first letter of each paragraph. On 23 August 2017, University of California, Berkeley energy professor Daniel Kammen resigned from his position as a State Department science envoy with a resignation letter in which the word "IMPEACH" was spelled out by

4440-438: The grave , O Immortal One, yet didst Thou destroy the power of Hades , and didst arise as victory, O Christ God, calling to the myrrh-bearing women : Rejoice! and giving peace unto Thine apostles,    Thou Who dost grant resurrection to the fallen. Another example composed in the same echos is the Akathist hymn , originally provided for the feast of Annunciation (nine months before Nativity). Kontakion of

4551-615: The nightingale S weetly as ever tunes her Daulian strain. A nd over Tenedos the flagship burns. H ow shall men loiter when the great moon shines O paque upon the sail, and Argive seas R ear like blue dolphins their cerulean curves? S amos is fallen, Lesbos streams with fire, E tna in rage, Canopus cold in hate, S ummon the Orphic bard to stranger dreams. A nd so for us who raise Athene 's torch. S ufficient to her message in this hour: S ons of Columbia , awake, arise! Acrostic : Nicholas Murray Butler

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4662-722: The papyri , for being two kinds of texts which have authentic content and can be studied directly. Other significant sources are the Septuagint , the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible , and the Greek New Testament . The teaching of these texts was aimed at the most common people, and for that reason, they use the most popular language of the era. Other sources can be based on random findings such as inscriptions on vases written by popular painters, mistakes made by Atticists due to their imperfect knowledge of Attic Greek or even some surviving Greco-Latin glossaries of

4773-586: The state funeral of Ronald Reagan in 2004 and the state funeral of Gerald Ford in 2006. In 1971, British composer Benjamin Britten used the Kiev Melody as one of four themes in his Cello Suite No. 3 , which he wrote as a present for Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich . The American hymnologist , Carl P. Daw Jr. , wrote a paraphrase of this kontakion in 1982, Christ the victorious, give to your servants , intended for congregational singing and set to

4884-597: The typikon for the day calls for more than one kontakion at matins, the kontakion and oikos of the more significant feast is sung after the sixth ode, while those of the less significant feast are transferred to the place following the third ode, before the kathismata . Since the late 13th century, when the Court and the Patriarchate returned from exile in Nikaia, the former cathedral rite was not continued and thus, also

4995-415: The 6th and 7th centuries. The form generally consists of 18 to 24 metrically identical stanzas called oikoi (lit. "houses"), preceded, in a different meter, by a short prelude called a koukoulion (cowl) or prooimoion . The first letters of each of the stanzas often form an acrostic , which frequently includes the name of the poet. For example, Romanos' poems often include the acrostic "Of

5106-458: The 6th century, and then under Sergius I of Constantinople and Sophronius of Jerusalem in the 7th century. Romanos' works had been widely acknowledged as a crucial contribution to Byzantine hymnography , in some kontakia he also supported Emperor Justinian by writing state propaganda. Romanos' kontakion On the Nativity of Christ was also mentioned in his vita. Until the twelfth century, it

5217-487: The 9th century, about two thirds had been composed since the 10th century, but they were rather liturgical compositions with about two or six oikoi, each one concluded by a refrain identical to the introduction (prooimion). Longer compositions were the Slavic Akafist which were inspired by an acrostic kontakion whose 24 stanzas started with each letter of the alphabet ( Akathist ). Within the cathedral rite developed

5328-688: The Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos (25 March) Τῇ ὑπερμάχῳ στρατηγῷ τὰ νικητήρια, ὡς λυτρωθεῖσα τῶν δεινῶν εὐχαριστήρια, ἀναγράφω σοι ἡ πόλις σου, Θεοτόκε· ἀλλʹ ὡς ἔχουσα τὸ κράτος απροσμάχητον, ἐκ παντοίων με κινδύνων ἐλευθέρωσον, ἵνα κράζω σοί∙    Χαῖρε Νύμφη ἀνύμφευτε. Възбраньнѹмѹ воѥводѣ побѣдьнаꙗ ꙗко избывъ ѿ зълъ благодарениꙗ въсписаѥть ти градъ твои богородице нъ ꙗко имѹщи дьржавѹ непобѣдимѹ ѿ вьсѣхъ мѧ бѣдъ свободи и да зовѹ ти    радѹи сѧ невѣсто неневѣстьнаꙗ. To thee,

5439-594: The Champion Leader, we thy servants dedicate a feast of victory and of thanksgiving as ones rescued out of sufferings, O Theotokos; but as thou art one with might which is invincible, from all dangers that can be do thou deliver us, that we may cry to thee:    Rejoice, thou Bride Unwedded. Kontakion of the Transfiguration of the Lord (6 August) This kontakion-idiomelon by Romanos

5550-692: The Common Greek dialect had been unclear since ancient times. During the Hellenistic period , most scholars thought of Koine as the result of the mixture of the four main Ancient Greek dialects, " ἡ ἐκ τῶν τεττάρων συνεστῶσα " (the composition of the Four). This view was supported in the early twentieth century by Paul Kretschmer in his book Die Entstehung der Koine (1901), while Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff and Antoine Meillet , based on

5661-486: The Creator and Maker of man; and we are mortal, formed of the earth, and unto earth shall we return; for so thou didst ordain when thou createdst me, saying: 'Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.' All we go down to the dust, and, weeping o'er the grave we make our song: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. Koine Greek Koine Greek ( ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος , hē koinḕ diálektos , lit.   '

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5772-626: The Dutch people. This title also returned in the 2010 speech from the throne , during the Dutch State Opening of Parliament , whose first 15 lines also formed WILLEM VAN NASSOV. Vladimir Nabokov 's short story " The Vane Sisters " is known for its acrostic final paragraph, which contains a message from beyond the grave. In 1829, Edgar Allan Poe wrote an acrostic and simply titled it An Acrostic , possibly dedicated to her cousin Elizabeth Rebecca Herring (though

5883-587: The Great in the fourth century BC, and served as the lingua franca of much of the Mediterranean region and the Middle East during the following centuries. It was based mainly on Attic and related Ionic speech forms, with various admixtures brought about through dialect levelling with other varieties. Koine Greek included styles ranging from conservative literary forms to the spoken vernaculars of

5994-452: The Greek κόνταξ ( kóntax ), which means "rod" or "stick" and refers specifically to the rod around which a scroll is wound. While the genre dates to at least the 6th century, the word itself is attested only in the 9th century. The name is likely a reference to the fact that kontakions tend to be lengthy and have a large number of stanzas, thus metaphorically or literally requiring a great deal of "scrolling". A hymn book containing kontakia

6105-570: The Hellenistic age resembles Attic in such a degree that it is often mentioned as Common Attic . The first scholars who studied Koine, both in Alexandrian and Early Modern times, were classicists whose prototype had been the literary Attic Greek of the Classical period and frowned upon any other variety of Ancient Greek . Koine Greek was therefore considered a decayed form of Greek which was not worthy of attention. The reconsideration on

6216-555: The Humble Romanos" or "The Poem of the Humble Romanos". The last line of the prelude introduces a refrain called " ephymnion ", which is repeated at the end of all the stanzas. The main body of a kontakion was chanted from the ambo by a cleric (often a deacon ; otherwise a reader ) after the reading of the Gospel , while a choir , or even the whole congregation, joined in the refrain. The length of many kontakia — indeed,

6327-676: The Melodist was composed in echos varys (the grave mode) and the prooimion was chosen as model for the prosomoion of the resurrection kontakion Ἐκ τῶν τοῦ ᾍδου πυλῶν in the same echos. Ἐπὶ τοῦ ὄρους μετεμορφώθης, καὶ ὡς ἐχώρουν οἱ Μαθηταί σου, τὴν δόξαν σου Χριστὲ ὁ Θεὸς ἐθεάσαντο· ἵνα ὅταν σὲ ἴδωσι σταυρούμενον, τὸ μὲν πάθος νοήσωσιν ἑκούσιον, τῷ δὲ κόσμω κηρύξωσιν,   ὅτι σὺ ὑπάρχεις ἀληθῶς, τοῦ Πατρὸς τὸ ἀπαύγασμα. На горѣ прѣобрази сѧ и ꙗко въмѣщахѹ ѹченици твои славѹ твою христе боже видѣша да ѥгда тѧ ѹзьрѧть распинаѥма страсть ѹбо разѹмѣють вольнѹю мирѹ же провѣдѧть   ꙗко ты ѥси въ истинѹ отьче сиꙗниѥ On

6438-496: The New Testament , W.F. Howard argues that the heavy use of the historical present in Herodotus and Thucydides , compared with the relatively infrequent usage by Polybius and Xenophon was evidence that heavy use of this verb tense is a feature of vernacular Koine, but other scholars have argued that the historical present can be a literary form to "denote semantic shifts to more prominent material." The term patristic Greek

6549-449: The Roman period, e.g.: Καλήμερον, ἦλθες; Bono die, venisti? Good day, you came? Ἐὰν θέλεις, ἐλθὲ μεθ' ἡμῶν. Si vis, veni mecum . If you want, come with us. Ποῦ; Ubi? Where? Πρὸς φίλον ἡμέτερον Λύκιον. Ad amicum nostrum Lucium. To our friend Lucius. Τί γὰρ ἔχει; Quid enim habet? Indeed, what does he have? What is it with him? Ἀρρωστεῖ. Aegrotat. He's sick. Finally,

6660-660: The United States. It has been sung at the state and ceremonial funerals of Sir Winston Churchill , Philip, Duke of Edinburgh , and Queen Elizabeth II . The text of the kontakion is incorporated into the Funeral Service in the Book of Common Prayer (1979) , the liturgy currently used by the Episcopal Church in the United States. The words are spoken at state funerals in the United States , for example,

6771-612: The above imply that those characteristics survived within Koine, which in turn had countless variations in the Greek-speaking world. Biblical Koine refers to the varieties of Koine Greek used in Bible translations into Greek and related texts. Its main sources are: There has been some debate to what degree Biblical Greek represents the mainstream of contemporary spoken Koine and to what extent it contains specifically Semitic substratum features. These could have been induced either through

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6882-478: The acrostic contained in the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (where the key capital letters are decorated with ornate embellishments). However, acrostics may also be used as a form of steganography , where the author seeks to conceal the message rather than proclaim it. This might be achieved by making the key letters uniform in appearance with the surrounding text, or by aligning the words in such

6993-489: The acrostics are the same as far as they go, the published text is missing the last four lines, truncating the acrostics to "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kin", "O God, my God, why hast thou forsak", and "If thou art the Christ, save thyself". The manuscript text is printed below, first as normal poetry, then spaced and bolded to bring out the acrostics. The word "Thou" in line 8 is not visible in this photograph, but

7104-522: The common dialect ' ), also variously known as Hellenistic Greek , common Attic , the Alexandrian dialect , Biblical Greek , Septuagint Greek or New Testament Greek , was the common supra-regional form of Greek spoken and written during the Hellenistic period , the Roman Empire and the early Byzantine Empire . It evolved from the spread of Greek following the conquests of Alexander

7215-415: The completion of the acquisition of Sun by Oracle Corporation . The initial letters of the first seven paragraphs spelled "Beat IBM ". James May , former presenter on the BBC program Top Gear , was fired from the publication Autocar for spelling out a message using the large red initial at the beginning of each review in the publication's Road Test Yearbook Issue for 1992. Properly punctuated,

7326-401: The day-to-day vernacular . Others chose to refer to Koine as "the dialect of Alexandria " or "Alexandrian dialect" ( ἡ Ἀλεξανδρέων διάλεκτος ), or even the universal dialect of its time. Modern classicists have often used the former sense. Koine Greek arose as a common dialect within the armies of Alexander the Great . Under the leadership of Macedon , their newly formed common variety

7437-420: The early 20th century some scholars argued that the use of the historical present tense in Mark was due to the influence of Aramaic , but this theory fell out of favor in the 1960s. Another group of scholars believed the historical present tense was used to heighten the dramatic effect, and this interpretation was favored in the New American Bible translation. In Volume II of the 1929 edition of A Grammar of

7548-629: The end of the 2nd century AD a verse-summary of the plot was added to each of the plays of Plautus . Each of these has an acrostic of the name of the play, for example: The 3rd century AD poet Commodian wrote a series of 80 short poems on Christian themes called Instructiones . Each of these is fully acrostic (with the exception of poem 60, where the initial letters are in alphabetical order), starting with PRAEFATIO ‘preface’ and INDIGNATIO DEI ‘the wrath of God’. The initials of poem 80, read backwards, give COMMODIANUS MENDICUS CHRISTI ‘Commodian, Christ’s beggar’. Chapters 2–5 of Book 12 in

7659-657: The ephymnion). The Middle Byzantine notation used in the Greek kontakarion-psaltikon rather showed the melismatic melos behind these signs. Εἰ καὶ ἐν τάφῳ κατῆλθες ἀθάνατε, ἀλλὰ τοῦ ᾍδου καθεῖλες τὴν δύναμιν, καὶ ἀνέστης ὡς νικητής, Χριστὲ ὁ Θεός, γυναιξὶ Μυροφόροις φθεγξάμενος. Χαίρετε, καὶ τοῖς σοῖς Ἀποστόλοις εἰρήνην    δωρούμενος ὁ τοῖς πεσοῦσι παρέχων ἀνάστασιν. Аще и въ гробъ съниде бесъмьртьне нъ адѹ раздрѹши силѹ и въскрьсе ꙗко побѣдителъ христе боже женамъ мюроносицѧмъ радость провѣща и своимъ апостолѡмъ миръ дарова    падъшимъ подаꙗ въскрьсениѥ Though Thou didst descend into

7770-406: The epic character of some — suggest that the majority of the text must have been delivered in a kind of recitative rather than having music composed for every word, but unfortunately the original music to the kontakia has not survived. Within the cathedral rite, the ritual context of the long kontakion was the pannychis during solemn occasions (a festive night vigil) and was usually celebrated at

7881-443: The first letters of each paragraph. In the video game Zork the first letters of sentences in a prayer spelled " Odysseus " which was a possible solution to a Cyclops encounter in another room. On 4 May 2024, Noelia Voigt resigned as Miss USA 2023 with a resignation letter containing an acrostic spelling out "I am silenced". A double acrostic , may have words at the beginning and end of its lines, as in this example, on

7992-557: The former celebration of kontakion changed. The only entire kontakion celebrated was the Akathist hymn . Its original place was within the menaion the feast of Annunciation (25 March). In later kontakaria and oikemataria which treated all 24 oikoi in a kalophonic way, the Akathist was written as part of the triodion , within the oikematarion the complete kontakion filled half the volume of the whole book. As such it could only be performed in short sections throughout Great Lent and became

8103-457: The golden day R emember now no more the fading gold, A straea fled, Proserpina in hell ; Y ou searchers of the earth be reconciled! B ecause, through all the blight of human woe, U nder Robigo 's rust, and Clotho 's shears, T he mind of man still keeps its argosies, L acedaemonian Helen wakes her tower, E cho replies, and lamentation loud R everberates from Thrace to Delos Isle; I tylus grieves, for whom

8214-407: The historical and linguistic importance of Koine Greek began only in the early 19th century, where renowned scholars conducted a series of studies on the evolution of Koine throughout the entire Hellenistic period and Roman Empire . The sources used on the studies of Koine have been numerous and of unequal reliability. The most significant ones are the inscriptions of the post-Classical periods and

8325-457: The initial stage in the fortition of the second element in the αυ/ευ diphthongs) and the loss of vowel-timing distinctions are carried through. On the other hand, Kantor argues for certain vowel qualities differing from the rest of the Koine in the Judean dialect. Although it is impossible to know the exact realizations of vowels, it is tentatively argued that the mid-vowels ε / αι and η had

8436-399: The initials L.E.L. refer to Letitia Elizabeth Landon ): E lizabeth it is in vain you say " L ove not" — thou sayest it in so sweet a way: I n vain those words from thee or L.E.L. Z antippe's talents had enforced so well: A h! if that language from thy heart arise, B reath it less gently forth — and veil thine eyes. E ndymion, recollect, when Luna tried T o cure his love —

8547-477: The intense Ionic elements of the Koine – σσ instead of ττ and ρσ instead of ρρ ( θάλασσα – θάλαττα , 'sea'; ἀρσενικός – ἀρρενικός , 'potent, virile') – considered Koine to be a simplified form of Ionic . The view accepted by most scholars today was given by the Greek linguist Georgios Hatzidakis , who showed that despite the "composition of the Four", the "stable nucleus" of Koine Greek

8658-462: The kontakarion-psaltikon. According to the melodic system of the cathedral rite, certain kontakia-idiomela served as melodic models used to compose other kontakia. The kontakion for Easter for instance was used to compose an Old Church Slavonic kondak in honour of the local saints Boris and Gleb , two martyre princes of the Kievan Rus . The concluding verse called " ephymnion " ( ἐφύμνιον )

8769-497: The language. The passage into the next period, known as Medieval Greek , is sometimes dated from the foundation of Constantinople by Constantine the Great in 330 AD, but often only from the end of late antiquity . The post-Classical period of Greek thus refers to the creation and evolution of Koine Greek throughout the entire Hellenistic and Roman eras of history until the start of the Middle Ages. The linguistic roots of

8880-507: The letters of the alphabet in order; such an acrostic may be called an 'alphabetical acrostic' or abecedarius . These acrostics occur in the first four of the five chapters that make up the Book of Lamentations , in the praise of the good wife in Proverbs 31 :10-31 , and in Psalms 9-10, 25 , 34 , 37 , 111 , 112 , 119 and 145 of the Hebrew Bible . Notable among the acrostic Psalms

8991-711: The main of the Greek language. S. J. Thackeray, in A Grammar of the Old Testament in Greek According to the Septuagint (1909), wrote that only the five books of the Pentateuch , parts of the Book of Joshua and the Book of Isaiah may be considered "good Koine". One issue debated by scholars is whether and how much the translation of the Pentateuch influenced the rest of the Septuagint, including

9102-509: The message reads: "So you think it's really good, yeah? You should try making the bloody thing up; it's a real pain in the arse." In the 2012 third novel of his Caged Flower series, author Cullman Wallace used acrostics as a plot device. The parents of a protagonist send e-mails where the first letters of the lines reveal their situation in a concealed message. On 19 August 2017, the members of president Donald Trump 's Committee on Arts and Humanities resigned in protest over his response to

9213-483: The middle cross stands for Iēsus Nazarēnus , Rēx Iūdaeōrum , Latin for "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews" ( John 19:19 ). The three quotes represent the three figures crucified on Golgotha, as recorded in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. (The text of the manuscript shown differs significantly from the text usually published, including in the reference. Many of the lines have somewhat different wording; and while

9324-559: The morning service and the Divine Liturgy. Because the kontakia were usually sung by protopsaltes during the morning services, the first part for the morning service with its prokeimena and kontakia was the most voluminous part, and acquired the name kontakarion . Originally the kontakion was a Syriac form of poetry, achieving popularity in Constantinople first under Romanos the Melodist , Anastasios, and Kyriakos in

9435-629: The mount Thou was (sic) transfigured, and Thy disciples, as much as they could bear, beheld Thy glory, O Christ God; so that when they should see Thee crucified, they would know Thy passion to be willing, and would preach to the world    that Thou, in truth, art the Effulgence of the Father. Kontakion of the Sunday of the Prodigal Son (9th week before Easter, 2nd week of

9546-463: The name of Stroud , by Paul Hansford: The first letters make up the acrostic and the last letters the telestich; in this case they are identical. Another example of a double acrostic is the first-century Latin Sator Square . As well as being a double acrostic, the square contains several palindromes , and it can be read as a 25-letter palindromic sentence (of an obscure meaning). The poem Behold, O God! , by William Browne, can be considered

9657-553: The name of the poet or his patron, or to make a prayer to a saint. They are most frequent in verse works but can also appear in prose. The Middle High German poet Rudolf von Ems for example opens all his great works with an acrostic of his name, and his world chronicle marks the beginning of each age with an acrostic of the key figure (Moses, David, etc.). In chronicles, acrostics are common in German and English but rare in other languages. Relatively simple acrostics may merely spell out

9768-426: The notion of meeting and gathering of men, without any particular character. Therefore, etymologizing this word could be needless, or even misleading, when it could guide to false meanings, for example that ἐκκλησία is a name used for the people of God, Israel. The authors of the New Testament follow the Septuagint translations for over half their quotations from the Old Testament. The " historical present " tense

9879-480: The numbering of verses and the division into lines are interfering with each other; as a result in Psalm 37, for the letters Daleth and Kaph there is only one verse, and the letter Ayin is not represented. Psalm 111 and 112 have 22 lines, but 10 verses. Psalm 145 does not represent the letter Nun , having 21 one verses, but one Qumran manuscript of this Psalm does have that missing line, which agrees with

9990-457: The opening of ε . Influence of the Aramaic substrate could have also caused confusion between α and ο , providing further evidence for the back vowel realization. The following texts show differences from Attic Greek in all aspects – grammar, morphology, vocabulary and can be inferred to show differences in phonology. The following comments illustrate the phonological development within

10101-399: The period generally designated as Koine Greek, a great deal of phonological change occurred. At the start of the period, the pronunciation was virtually identical to Ancient Greek phonology , whereas in the end, it had much more in common with Modern Greek phonology . The three most significant changes were the loss of vowel length distinction, the replacement of the pitch accent system by

10212-534: The period of Koine. The phonetic transcriptions are tentative and are intended to illustrate two different stages in the reconstructed development, an early conservative variety still relatively close to Classical Attic, and a somewhat later, more progressive variety approaching Modern Greek in some respects. The following excerpt, from a decree of the Roman Senate to the town of Thisbae in Boeotia in 170 BC,

10323-505: The practice of translating closely from Biblical Hebrew or Aramaic originals, or through the influence of the regional non-standard Greek spoken by originally Aramaic-speaking Hellenized Jews . Some of the features discussed in this context are the Septuagint's normative absence of the particles μέν and δέ , and the use of ἐγένετο to denote "it came to pass". Some features of Biblical Greek which are thought to have originally been non-standard elements eventually found their way into

10434-575: The prophecy. Virgil’s friend Horace also made occasional use of acrostics, but apparently much less than Virgil. Examples are DISCE ‘learn!’ ( Odes 1.18.11–15) (forming a gamma acrostic with the word discernunt ' they discern ' in line 18) and OTIA ' leisure ' in Satires 1.2.7–10, which appears just after Horace has been advised to take a rest from writing satire. The acrostic OTIA also occurs in Ovid , Metamorphoses 15.478–81,

10545-429: The spirantization of Γ , with palatal allophone before front-vowels and a plosive allophone after nasals, and β . φ, θ and χ still preserve their ancient aspirated plosive values, while the unaspirated stops π, τ, κ have perhaps begun to develop voiced allophones after nasals. Initial aspiration has also likely become an optional sound for many speakers of the popular variety. Monophthongization (including

10656-460: The term koine to refer to the Proto-Greek language , while others used it to refer to any vernacular form of Greek speech which differed somewhat from the literary language. When Koine Greek became a language of literature by the first century BC, some people distinguished two forms: written as the literary post-classical form (which should not be confused with Atticism ), and vernacular as

10767-477: The text was not in keeping with Anglican teaching on prayers for the dead. Nevertheless, it was sung at the funeral of Queen Alexandra at Westminster Abbey in 1925. The Kontakion of the Departed with Parratt's arrangement was included in the first edition of The English Hymnal in 1906, and has since appeared in several other Anglican hymn books, including Hymns Ancient and Modern and The Hymnal in

10878-622: The time. As the dominant language of the Byzantine Empire, it developed further into Medieval Greek , which then turned into Modern Greek . Literary Koine was the medium of much post-classical Greek literary and scholarly writing, such as the works of Plutarch and Polybius . Koine is also the language of the Septuagint (the 3rd century BC Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible ), the Christian New Testament , and of most early Christian theological writing by

10989-427: The translation of Isaiah. Another point that scholars have debated is the use of ἐκκλησία ekklēsía as a translation for the Hebrew קָהָל qāhāl . Old Testament scholar James Barr has been critical of etymological arguments that ekklēsía refers to "the community called by God to constitute his People". Kyriakoula Papademetriou explains: He maintains that ἐκκλησία is merely used for designating

11100-538: The triodion) The last example is not a model, but a kontakion-prosomoion which had been composed over the melody of Romanos the Melodist's Nativity kontakion Ἡ παρθένος σήμερον in echos tritos. Τῆς πατρῴας, δόξης σου, ἀποσκιρτήσας ἀφρόνως, ἐν κακοῖς ἐσκόρπισα, ὅν μοι παρέδωκας πλοῦτον· ὅθεν σοι τὴν τοῦ Ἀσώτου, φωνὴν κραυγάζω· Ἥμαρτον ἐνώπιόν σου Πάτερ οἰκτίρμον,    δέξαι με μετανοοῦντα, καὶ ποίησόν με, ὡς ἕνα τῶν μισθίων σου. Having foolishly abandoned Thy paternal glory, I squandered on vices

11211-772: The tune Russian Hymn by Alexei Lvov . Μετὰ τῶν ἁγίων ἀνάπαυσον, Χριστέ, τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν δούλων σου ἔνθα οὐκ ἔστι πόνος, οὐ λύπη, οὐ στεναγμός, ἀλλὰ ζωὴ ἀτελεύτητος: ἀλληλούϊα. Со святыми упокой, Христе, души раб Твоих, идеже несть болезнь, ни печаль, ни воздыхание, но жизнь безконечная. Сам Един еси Безсмертный, сотворивый и создавый человека: земнии убо от земли создахомся, и в землю туюжде пойдем, якоже повелел еси, Создавый мя и рекий ми: яко земля еси и в землю отыдеши, аможе вси человецы пойдем, надгробное рыдание творяще песнь: Аллилуиа, Аллилуиа, Аллилуиа. Give rest, O Christ, to thy servant with thy saints, where sorrow and pain are no more; neither sighing, but life everlasting. Thou only art immortal,

11322-419: The waves ' (lines 34–38) immediately precedes the words quis est nam ludus in undis? ' for what is your game in the waves?' ' , and DEA DIO (i.e. dea Dione ' the goddess Dione ' ) (lines 46–51) in a passage which mentions the goddess Dione (another name for Venus ). In Eclogue 8 , alongside a passage dedicating the poem to an unnamed person and asking him to accept it, Neil Adkin reads

11433-582: The wealth which Thou gavest me. Wherefore, I cry unto Thee with the voice of the Prodigal: I have sinned before Thee, O compassionate Father.    Receive me as one repentant, and make me as one of Thy hired servants. Perhaps the kontakion which is best known in the west is the Kontakion of the Departed or the Kontakion of the Dead . The text is attributed to the "humble Anastasios", probably

11544-455: The womb again, I onians bright and fair, to the chill stone; C haos in cry, Actaeon 's angry pack, H ounds of Molossus , shaggy wolves driven O ver Ampsanctus ' vale and Pentheus ' glade, L aelaps and Ladon , Dromas, Canace , A s these in fury harry brake and hill S o the great dogs of evil bay the world. M emory, Mother of Muses , be resigned U ntil King Saturn comes to rule again! R emember now no more

11655-483: The words TV SI ES ACI (i.e. accipe ) ( ' if you are the one, accept! ' ). In Aeneid 7.601–4, a passage which mentions Mars and war, describing the custom of opening the gates of the Temple of Janus , the name MARS (the god of war) appears in acrostic form as well as in the text as follows: In Georgics 1 429–433, next to a passage which contains the words namque is certissimus auctor ' for he

11766-460: Was a homiletic genre and could be best described as a "sermon in verse accompanied by music". In character it is similar to the early Byzantine festival sermons in prose — a genre developed by Ephrem the Syrian — but meter and music have greatly heightened the drama and rhetorical beauty of the speaker's often profound and very rich meditation. Medieval manuscripts preserved about 750 kontakia since

11877-519: Was cured of all beside — H is folly — pride — and passion — for he died. In 1939 Rolfe Humphries received a lifelong ban from contributing to Poetry magazine after he penned and attempted to publish "a poem containing a concealed scurrilous phrase aimed at a well-known person", namely Nicholas Murray Butler . The poem, entitled "An ode for a Phi Beta Kappa affair", was in unrhymed iambic pentameter , contained one classical reference per line, and ran as follows: N iobe 's daughters yearn to

11988-472: Was repeated like a refrain after each oikos and its melody was used in all kontakia composed in the ēchos plagios tetartos . Kontakion of Pascha (Easter) The Slavic kondakar has the old gestic notation which referred (in the first row) to the hand signs used by the choirleaders to coordinate the singers. Except for the ephymnion the whole prooimion and the oikoi were recited by a soloist called "monophonaris" (the hand sign were not so important than during

12099-628: Was spoken from the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt to the Seleucid Empire of Mesopotamia . It replaced existing ancient Greek dialects with an everyday form that people anywhere could understand. Though elements of Koine Greek took shape in Classical Greece , the post-Classical period of Greek is defined as beginning with the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, when cultures under Greek sway in turn began to influence

12210-802: Was sung every year at the imperial banquet on that feast by the joint choirs of Hagia Sophia and of the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople. Most of the poem takes the form of a dialogue between the Mother of God and the Magi. A kontakion is a poetic form frequently encountered in Byzantine hymnography. It was probably based on Syriac hymnographical traditions, which were transformed and developed in Greek-speaking Byzantium. It

12321-414: Was very impressive". She certainly heard Birkbeck's translation when it was sung at the funeral of Prince Henry of Battenberg in 1896. During the planning of Victoria's state funeral , her daughters asked that the kontakion be included in the service as it was a favourite of their mother's, a suggestion which was blocked by Bishop Randall Davidson with the support of King Edward VII , on the grounds that

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