ACATISTO. — Hymn of the Greek liturgy celebrating the mystery of the Incarnation. Its primary meaning, from ἀκάθιστος (ἀκαθίζομαι), indicates that one stands during its singing. According to others, the word alludes to the nocturnal vigil that accompanied its performance in the imperial palace of Constantinople. It belongs to ancient Byzantine hymnody, specifically to the group of the κοντάκια (from κοντός = scroll), and consists, like the other kontakia, of a stanza serving as a proem (προσίμων, also called κονεώλων) and a further 24 stanzas, each of which begins with a letter of the alphabet. The stanzas end alternately with the refrain: χάβε, Νόμψη ἀνόμμεντε.
Its principal theme is the Gospel narrative of the Annunciation (Lc. 1, 26-36). The first 12 stanzas provide a gloss on it, with an abundance of poetic figures; in the following 12, the benefits of the Incarnation are enumerated through the co-redemptive and co-restorative role of the Madonna. In an era difficult to determine (perhaps with the replacement of the original proem), the a. was used to give thanks to the Virgin for having freed Constantinople from the siege of Ghezia.
The author of the a. is unknown, and many claim its authorship. Sergius of Constantinople (610-638), G. Pisides, a. Giovanni Damasceno (8th cent.), the poet Casiana (9th cent.), and the patriarch Photius (810-898). It seems, however, that the true author was Romano il Melode, who lived under Anastasius I (491-518), or at most one of his disciples or imitators (Byzant. Zeitschrift, 16 [1907], p. 406; S. Eustratiades, Ρωμανός o Μελωδός καί o Ἀνάθιστος, Thessaloniki 1917, and Θεολογία, 7 [1919], pp. 257-81).
At present the a. is sung in four parts during the first four Fridays of Lent and during apodipno (Compline), and in its entirety on Friday evening or on the morning of the fifth Saturday. It is also sung in church at the request of the faithful and in cases of public calamity. There is no Christian in the East who does not know it by heart, and it may be said to represent the popular counterpart of the rosary of Western Christians.
BBL.: P. De Meester, L'Inno A., Studio storico letterario, in Bessarino, 2nd ser. 6 (1904) and 7 (1905); id., testo e versione italiana con tutta l'ufficienza della Lesta, Rome 1903. After 1905, the controversy between A. Papadopoulos-Kerameus and M. Theavric, in Échos d'Orient, 7 (1904), pp. 293-300; 8 (1905), pp. 164-66; G. Cammelli, Romano il Melode, Florence 1930. Editions of the works of Giorgio di Pisidia: PG 92, 1335-48, and Greek texts relating to the hymn: 1347-72; ed. Pitra, in Analecta Sacra, 1 (1876), pp. 250-64; list of manuscripts and complete bibliography by P. F. Krypiakiewicz, De hymni acathistici autore, in Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 18 (1906), pp. 357-82; P. Mass and A. Baumstark, ibid., 14 (1905), p. 644; 15 (1906), p. 10; 16 (1907), pp. 656-88; C. Del Grande, L'inno a., Florence 1948.
Pacido De Meester