Acrostic

ACROSTIC. - It is a figured poetic composition in which the initial or final letters (in the latter case it is more properly called telestich) of the verses, read vertically, yield a meaning. The origin of this ingenuity or frivolity was attributed to Epicharmus or even to the Sibyls, in whose poems it was much used. Indeed, the first Christian acrostic is found among the poems attributed to the Erythraean Sibyl (Orac. Sibyll., VIII, 217 SGR., mentioned also by Constantine in his discourse to the fathers of Nicaea), where thirty-four verses give the motto Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς Θεοῦ Τίος Σωτὴρ Σταυρός, and the initials of these same words give the mystic word ΙΧΘΥC (v.), which then appears many other times in acrostics. It seems that this acrostic was composed in Alexandria (2nd century). It has been believed that the figure of the fish, as a symbol of Christ, should be connected with it, but this is a hypothesis without foundation. Suffice it to recall the expression of Tertullian: «nos pisciculi, secundum Ἰχθὼν nostrum Iesum Christum, in aqua nascimur» (De Baptismo, 1).

Of the aforementioned acrostic we now give the Greek text (J. Geffcken, Die Oracula Sibyllina: CB, VIII, Berlin 1902, pp. 153-57) followed by the translation:

Ι δρώσει δὲ χθὼν, κρίσεως σημεῖον ὅτ' ἔσται.
Η ξει δ' οὐρανόθεν βασιλεὺς αἰῶσιν ὁ μέλλον
Σ' ἄρκα παρὼν πᾶσαν κρίναι καὶ κόσμον ἅπαντα.
Ο φονταί δὲ θεὸν μέροπες πιστοί καὶ ἀπιστοί
Υ φιστοὶ μετὰ τῶν ἁγίων ἐπὶ τέρμα χρόνου.
Σ' ἀρχοφόρων δ' ἀνδρῶν ψυχὰς ἐπὶ βήματι κρίνει,
Χ' ἔσας ὅταν ποτὲ κόσμος ὅλος καὶ ἄκανθα γένηται.
Ρ' ἔφουσιν δ' εἰδῶλα βροτοί καὶ πλοῦτον ἅπαντα,
Ε' κακύσει δὲ τὸ πῦρ γῆν οὐρανὸν ἠδὲ θάλασσαν
Ι' χνεῦον, ῥῆξει τε πύλας εἰρκτῆς· Λίδα.
Σ' ἄρξ τότε πᾶσα νεκρῶν ἐς ἐλευθέριον φάος ἦξει
Τ' ὧν ἁγίων ἀνόμους δὲ τὸ πῦρ αἰῶσιν ἐλέγξει.
Ο ππόσα τις πράξας ἔλαθεν, τότε πάντα λαλήσει·
Σ' τήθεα γὰρ ξοφάντα θεὸς φωστήριον ἀνοίξει.
Θ' ῥήνος δ' ἐκ πάντων ἔσται καὶ βρυγμὸς ὀδόντων.
Ε' κλείφει σέλας ἠελίου ἀστρῶν τε χορεῖαι.
Ο ὑρανὸν εἰλίζει μήνης δὲ τε φέγγος ὀλεῖται.
Υ' φώσει δὲ φάραγγας, ὀλεῖ δ' ὕψοματα βουνῶν,
Υ' φῶς δ' οὐκέτι λυγρὸν ἐν ἀνθρώποιαι φανεῖται.
Ι' σα δ' ὄρη πεδίοις ἔσται καὶ πᾶσα θάλασσα
Ο ὑκέτι πλοῦν ἔξει, γῆ γὰρ φρυγθεῖσα τότε ἔσται
Σ' ὧν πηγαῖς, ποταμοί τε καχλάζοντες λείψουσιν.
Σ' ἀλπινῇ δ' οὐρανόθεν φωνὴν πολύθρηνον ἀφήσει
Ο ρόουσα μύσος μελέων καὶ πήματα κόσμου.
Τ' ἀρτάρεον δὲ χάος δείξει τότε γαῖα χάνοῦσα.
Η ξουσιν δ' ἐπὶ βήμα θεοῦ βασιλῆος ἅπαντες.
Ρ' εὔσει δ' οὐρανόθεν ποταμὸς πυρὸς ἠδὲ θεοίον.
Σ' ἦμα δὲ τοι τότε πᾶσι βροτοῖς, σφηγὶς ἐπίσημος
Τ' ὁ ξύλον ἐν πιστοῖς, τὸ κέρας τὸ ποθοῦμενον ἔσται,
Α' νδρῶν εὐσεβέων ζωῇ, πρόσκομμα δὲ κόσμου,
Υ' ἄσαι φωτίζων κλητοὺς ἐν δώδεκα πηγαῖς.
Ρ' ἄβδος ποιμαίνουσα σιδηρεῖν γε κρατήσει.
Ο ὕτος ὁ νῦν προγραφεῖς ἐν ἀκροστιχίοις θεὸς ἡμῶν
Σ' ὠτήρ ἀθάνατος βασιλεύς, ὁ παθὼν ἐνεχήμῳ.

The earth will sweat, when the sign of judgment shall be: the King of the Ages will come from heaven, who is to judge in person all flesh and the whole world. Mortals, faithful and unfaithful, will see God most high with his saints at the end of time. And (He) will judge from his tribunal the souls of men clothed in flesh, when the whole world shall become arid land and thorns. Mortals will cast away their idols and all wealth, and fire will creep over the earth, the heaven and the sea, and will burn and break the gates of the prison of Hades. Then all flesh of the dead will come forth into the light of the freedom of the saints; while fire will punish the unjust for ages. All that one has done in secret, then he will reveal: God with his splendors will open the dark breasts. There will be weeping from all and gnashing of teeth. The light of the sun will cease and the dance of the stars: He will roll up the heaven and the ray of the moon will be extinguished. He will fill the ravines and make the tops of the hills disappear. No more among men will toilsome heights appear: the mountains will be equal to the plain: and all the sea will no longer be navigated: for the earth will then be burned and, together with the springs, the gurgling rivers will abandon it. A trumpet from heaven will send forth a mournful sound, roaring over the impurity of the wretched and over the evils of the world. The earth then, opening, will reveal the Tartarean abyss. All will come to the tribunal of God the King. A river of fire and sulfur will flow from heaven. A sign will then be for all mortals, and a distinguished seal, the cross for the faithful, the longed-for horn, life of pious men, but a scandal to the world, illuminating the faithful with the waters of twelve springs. An iron rod, as of a shepherd, will rule. This one now written at the beginning of the acrostics is our God, Savior, immortal King, who suffered for us.

It seems that the acrostic was invented and used at first to imprint as it were a seal of authenticity on the work, and for this reason it customarily reproduced the name of the author (for example, the oldest one so far discovered says ΕΥΔΟΞΟΥ ΤΕΧΝΗ, art of Eudoxus, the famous astronomer of Cnidus, of 193-190 B.C.), and another handed down to us by Cicero, De div. II, 11, said Q. Ennius fecit; the same is found done many times in ancient Western Christian inscriptions, especially Italian ones: for example, that of St. Eusebius of Vercelli gives Eusebius episcopus et martyr. Sometimes the poet himself expressly warns of the presence of the acrostic: revertere per capita versorum et invenies proprium nomen, or: nomina sanctorum lector si forte requiris, ex omni versu te littera prima docebit. Great use of acrostics complicated with telestichs and also mesostichs (in the middle of the verses) and other similar games was made by Commodian (v.), Porfirius Optatianus (v.), Venantius Fortunatus (v.) in their poems, and by other medieval poets; it is not unknown even to Italian poets such as Boccaccio.

Related to acrostics are abecedarian compositions (v. ABECEDARI).

Antonio Ferrua