Theodore of the Studium.
+ A.D. 826.
Theodore of the Studium, by his sufferings and his influence, did more,
perhaps, in the cause of Icons than any other man. His uncle, S. Plato,
and himself, had been cruelly persecuted by Constantine, for refusing to
communicate with him after his illicit marriage with Theodora, at a time
when, as we have seen, the firmness of even the Patriarch Tarasius gave
way. Raised subsequently to be Hegumen of the great abbey of the Studium,
the first at Constantinople, and probably the most influential that ever
existed in the world, Theodore exhibited more doubtful
conduct in the schism which regarded the readmission to communion of Joseph,
the priest who had give the nuptial benediction to Constantine: but he
suffered imprisonment on this account with the greatest firmness. When the
Iconoclastic persecution again broke out under Leo the Armenian, Theodore
was one of the first sufferers: he was exiled, imprisoned, scourged, and
left for dead. Under Michael Curopalata he enjoyed greater liberty; but
he died in banishment, Nov. 11th,
A.D. 826. His Hymns are,
in my judgment, superior to those of S. Theophanes,--and nearly, if
not quite, equal to the works of S. Cosmas. In those (comparatively few)
which he has left for the Festivals of Saints, he does not appear to
advantage: it is in his Lent Canons in the Triodion, that his great
excellency lies. The contrast there presented between the rigid,
unbending, unyielding character
of the man in his outward history, and the fervent gush of penitence and
love which his inward life, as revealed by these compositions, manifests,
is very striking;--it forms a remarkable parallel to the characters
of S. Gregory VII., Innocent III., and other holy men of the Western Church,
whom the world, judging from a superficial view of their characters, has
branded with unbending haughtiness, and the merest formality in religion,
while their most secret writings show them to have been clinging to the
Cross in an ecstasy of love and sorrow.
CANON FOR APOCREOS.
Apocreos is our Sexagesima, and is so called, because meat is
not eaten beyond it. The Synaxarion (which will explain the following
poem) begins thus:
"ON THIS DAY, WE COMMEMORATE THE SECOND AND
IMPARTIAL COMING
of our LORD JESUS CHRIST.
| Stichos. |
|
When He, the Judge of all things, sits to doom,
Oh grant that I may hear his joyful 'Come!'
|
|
This commemoration the most Divine Fathers set after the "two
parables" (i.e., the Gospels of
the two preceding Sundays, The Pharisee and Publican, and the Prodigal
Son) "lest any one, learning from them the mercy of G
OD, should
live carelessly, and say, 'God is merciful, and whenever I wish to
relinquish sin, it will be in my power to accomplish my purpose.' They
therefore here commemorated that fearful day, that, by the consideration of
death, and the expectation of the dreadful things that shall hereafter be,
they might terrify men of negligent life, and bring them back again to virtue,
and might teach them not simply to put confidence in G
OD's
mercy, considered by itself, but to remember also that the judge is just, and
will render to every man according to his works." As the Eastern Church
has no such season as Advent, this commemoration becomes more peculiarly
appropriate.
The Canon that follows is unfortunate in provoking a comparison with
the unapproachable
majesty of the
Dies Irae. Yet during the four hundred years by
which it anticipated that sequence, it was undoubtedly the grandest
judgment-hymn of the Church. Its faults are those of most of the
class: it eddies round and round the subject, without making way,--its
different portions have no very close connexion with each other,--and
its length is accompanied by considerable tautology. Yet, in spite of these
defects, it is impossible to deny that the great common-places of
Death and judgment are very nobly set forth in this poem. On account of
its length, I give the first three and last Odes only.
