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+circ. A.D. 910.
He was Bishop of that See towards the close of the ninth century, and is principally famous for his Canons in honour of the Blessed TRINITY,-- eight in number, one to each Tone. They are sung at Matins on Sundays: and if the writer has not always been able to fuse his learning and orthodoxy into poetry, nor yet to escape the tautology of his brother bards, these compositions are stately and striking. Metrophanes was a vigorous supporter of S. Ignatius; and the partisan of Rome in her contest with Photius.
It would be impossible, without wearying the reader, to translate the whole of one of the Triadic Canons; but a Cento from one of them may not be unacceptable.
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From the Canon for Sunday of the Second Tone.
8,6,8,6
trifegghV MonaV qearcikh.
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O Unity of Threefold Light, Send out Thy loveliest ray, And scatter our transgressions' night, And turn it into day; Make us those temples pure and fair, Thy glory loveth well, The spotless tabernacles, where Thou may'st vouchsafe to dwell! | |
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The glorious hosts of peerless might That ever see Thy Face,
Thou mak'st the mirrors of Thy Light, The vessels of Thy grace: Thou, when their wondrous strain they weave, Hast pleasure in the lay: Deign thus our praises to receive, Albeit from lips of clay! | |
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And yet Thyself they cannot know, Nor pierce the veil of light That hides Thee from the Thrones below, As in profoundest night: How then can mortal accents frame Due tribute to the King? Thou, only, while we praise Thy Name, Forgive us as we sing! |