CHRISTÓS PÁSCHON

CHRISTÓS PÁSCHON. — In Latin, Christianes Patiens, is a bizarre cento of tragic motifs on the Passion of Jesus, once attributed to St. Gregory Nazianzen and, according to recent research, dated to the 11th century. It follows the structure of Greek tragedy with choruses and dialogues imitated from Aeschylus, Euripides, etc., from whom entire lines and half-lines are reproduced. The result is a pagan atmosphere that strangely contrasts with the sacred subject. The Virgin Mary, so sorrowful and human in Jacopone’s Lament and the Stabat Mater, is here almost profaned by a language that echoes the dark grief of Hecuba and the frenzied madness of Medea.