INNOGRAFIA

HYMNOGRAPHY. — By a hymn is meant a lyric poem sung in honor of God, the Virgin, or the saints. In the early Church, the fundamental religious poetry consisted of the Psalms and scriptural canticles. It is undeniable, however, that there flourished canticles of an eucharistic or eucharistic character, used in liturgical celebrations or for private devotion, often in their early stages of charismatic improvisation, with the characteristic movements of the psalm (idiotic psalms) or composed in popular poetic styles; all without artistic pretensions.

I. Christian-Latin

Two main factors contributed to bringing Latin Christian hymnody to artistic perfection and maturity. Heretics (Gnostics, Arians, Donatists) readily resorted to religious songs, sung by the people, as a means of spreading their ideas. To counter such propaganda, St. Ephrem the Syrian (d. 373), endowed with magnificent poetic qualities, composed his hymns, full of innocence, feeling, lyrical exaltation, and symbolic power; he found imitators in the Greek-speaking Churches and later also in the West. With the Peace of Constantine and the subsequent triumph of the Church, the number of educated people who adhered to the Gospel increased. Their aesthetic demands were not satisfied by the primitive Christian poems; they could find no satisfaction in them. The first representatives of the classicizing poetic school were Commodian, Juvencus, and Faltonia Proba: the first employed classical meter but exempted it from the rules of prosody and expressed himself in popular language; the second, using the language and technique of Virgil, rewrote the Gospel of St. Matthew; the third employed the cento genre. Their poetic value was slight, and their lyrical sense was absent. St. Hilary of Poitiers (d. 367) was the first to attempt the path of Latin religious lyric poetry, but with little success. The three fragmentary hymns in the Ambrosian meter, part of his *Liber hymnorum*, found in the Arezzo Codex and published by Gamurrini (1887), show him to be a theologian of grand conceptions, but an involved and ineffective versifier. The glory of being the father of Western hymnody belongs entirely to St. Ambrose. St. Augustine recalls how his mother witnessed the birth of Ambrose’s poetry, which arose during the most threatening phase of the anti-Arian struggle, when the bishop and the people of Milan were confined in the Basilica Porzia, besieged by the henchmen of Justina: “On that occasion, the custom of singing hymns and psalms, as practiced in the East, was introduced so that the people might not be consumed by sadness and weariness” (*Conf.*, IX, 7). The poetic form chosen by Ambrose for his hymns was that of the acatalectic iambic dimeter, which he called the Ambrosian meter; it is simple, flowing, and musical. What is its origin? It is ruled out that this should be traced to the East. From the Orientals, the great bishop derived the use of antiphonal singing and perhaps also the melodic mode. Inspired by popular themes and crafted with artistic care, accurate in meter, Ambrose’s poetry is full of elegance, Roman gravity, and manly tenderness in the effusion of Christian piety; it is a great model that would have more imitators than any other. The following are generally accepted as authentic hymns of Ambrose: *Aeternae rerum Conditor*; *Iam surgit hora tertia*; *Deus creator omnium*; *Intende qui regis Israël*; *Splendor paternae gloriae*; *Inimicus altissimus*; *Apostolorum supparem*; *Victor, Nabor, Felix pii*; *Apostolorum passio*; *Hic est dies verus Dei*; *Agnes beatae Virginis*; *Amore Christi nobilis*; *Aeterna Christi munera*; *Grates tibi, Iesu, novas*.

Aurelius Prudentius (d. at the beginning of the 5th century), whose poetic activity arose as Ambrose’s declined, adopted the versification scheme of the latter in some of his hymns. Of a lyric nature are those of the *Cathemerinon*, 12 hymns in 9 different meters written for the various times of prayer. They display lavish imagination, vivacity of enthusiasm, frequent recourse to symbolism, and prolixity. The purpose of these hymns is the simple edification and private spiritual uplift of the faithful. However, the following have been introduced into the Roman liturgy through the juxtaposition of strophes from broader hymns: *Ales diei nuntius*; *Audit tyrannus anxius*; *Salvete, flores martyrum*; *Lux ergo surgit aurea*; *Lux et tenebrae et lumina*; *O sola magnarum urbium*; *Quicumque Christum quaeritis*.

Caelius Sedulius (an Italian, active in the second half of the 5th century in Arcadia) was a genuine and sensitive poet. Of the two hymns in honor of Christ, one in distichs and the other in iambic dimeters, the latter is the better: it is alphabetical and consists of 23 strophes. The Ambrosian meter used in it becomes more musical: coincidence of metrical ictus with rhythmic-tonic sonority, endings with trisyllabic words, and occasional assonances and rhymes. Two passages from this hymn have entered the Christmas liturgy: *A solis ortus cardine* and *Hostis Herodes impie*.

The hymns of Ennodius of Pavia (d. 521), artificial and labyrinthine, some entered the Mozarabic Breviary, but none into the Roman. Venantius Fortunatus (d. 600), chaplain of the monastery of Holy Cross at Poitiers and later bishop of that city, was an elegant, austere poet who reveals high theological thought expressed through vigorous antitheses, particularly in those hymns from his *Carmina* or *Miscellanea* that entered liturgical use: *O Redemptor, sume carmen*; *Pange lingua, gloriosi proelium certaminis*; *Quem terra, pontus, aethera*; *Vexilla regis prodeunt*.

As for St. Gregory the Great (d. 604), although he is known to have composed hymns, no poem can be attributed to him with certainty; the same applies to St. Bede the Venerable (d. 735), who in the *Index suorum operum* expressly declares himself the author of a book of hymns.

Until 700, quantitative meter dominated artistic-religious poetry. From this time until the Carolingian era (768–887), accentual meter prevailed, though the other was never entirely abandoned. The principles of its composition are the isochrony of syllables, homophony (assonances and rhymes), and tonic sonority. It is precisely the latter that constitutes the strongest innovative element. Rhythmic accentuation allows for a better expression of the movement of passions, reflects innocence and spontaneity, and suits the language of prayer. The various schemes employed here are both popular and classical, though the latter lose their assonance and are enriched by sporadic and more systematic rhymes. The meters used here are the most musical and popular: the iambic tetrapody used by St. Ambrose; the trochaic tetrapody derived from the rhythm of the *ioci triumphales* that marked the step of Roman legions (e.g., *De Germania, non de Gallis, Duo triumphant consules*); the dactylic tetrameter (*O Roma nobilis orbis et domina*).

It should be noted that the introduction of hymns into the liturgy of the Western Churches occurred gradually. It began in Milan. The Rule of St. Benedict, by prescribing the recitation or singing of a hymn at every canonical hour, greatly contributed to this spread, which is especially noted in France, Germany, and Ireland. In Spain, destined to become the land of hymns, their use flourished after the Fourth Council of Toledo (633). Rome followed the example only in the second half of the 12th century, borrowing them from the Mozarabic Breviary. From 600 to the Carolingian era, the hymnographic literature of the Irish-Scottish monks stands out, both in their island monasteries and on the European continent, where many emigrated.

Alongside rhythmic and quantitative poetry, there are, in greater numbers, those that do not concern themselves with regular accent or prosody but instead with rhyme and assonance.

The Carolingian Renaissance brought with it an intense poetic output, due to the reassertion of classicism, predominantly in metrical forms (hexameters, distichs, Sapphic stanzas). The poets were numerous and honored at the Carolingian court, which was later rivaled in the cultivation of Latin poetry by episcopal sees and abbeys (Liège, Trier, Metz, Speyer, Bamberg, Regensburg, St. Gall, Naples, Monte Cassino, etc.). The principal poets who achieved the glory of composing hymns that entered liturgical use were: Paul the Deacon (d. 798), Paulinus of Aquileia (d. 802), Theodulf of Orléans (d. 798), and Rabanus Maurus (d. 836). Paul the Deacon composed the two hymns to St. John the Baptist, *Deus tuorum militum* and *Ut queant laxis resonare fibris*, which provided Guido d’Arezzo with the nomenclature of the musical scale. Paulinus of Aquileia is the author of the hymn to the holy Apostles Peter and Paul (*O Roma felix, quae tantorum principum*). Theodulf, called the Pindar of his age, composed the distichs for Palm Sunday processions, *Gloria, laus et honor*, in which the glorification of Christ the King is exquisitely veiled by lamentation for His Passion. Rabanus Maurus composed two hymns for the feast of All Saints, already much beloved and widely used: *Christe, redemptor omnium* and *Iesu, salvator saeculi*. To this period also belongs the composition of *Veni Creator Spiritus*, attributed to Charlemagne. In the ninth century, the translation of relics was frequent and the cult of the saints intensified. Consequently, for processions and feast days, there arose a flourishing of hymns with an epic flavor. Rhymes appear regular and carefully crafted; in Sapphic stanzas, they occur at the end of the line and even after the caesura: *O veneranda Trinitas laudanda*. From this age also dates the poem *Christe rex regum*, which represents the almost orgiastic triumph of rhyme.

With the rise of the mendicant orders, the Franciscans and Dominicans, and particularly through their efforts, Latin hymnody received a new, warm, and innovative impulse, which developed and fostered private prayer. Rhyme was esteemed and diligently sought; from the mid-twelfth century, the feminine bisyllabic rhyme predominated. Among those to be mentioned are Jacopone da Todi, Adam of St. Victor, Alfanus of Salerno, and John Pecham. For the Office of Corpus Christi, introduced by Urban IV (1264), St. Thomas Aquinas composed the widely resonant hymns, grand in form and expression, rhythmic and rhymed: *Pange lingua, gloriosi*; *Verbum supernum prodiens*; *Sacris solemniis*. Of inferior quality but deeply felt are the hymns attributed to St. Bonaventure, in wide use: *In passione Domini*; *Imperatrix clementiae*; and *O gloriosa Domina quae tua cruciamina*. From 1300 to 1500, a decline in hymnody is noticeable. Compositions are numerous but inferior in expression, marked by puerile wordplay and disregard for the laws of accentuation. Some stand out for poetic gifts: Thomas à Kempis (d. 1471), John of Jenstein (d. 1400), and the anonymous author of the rhythmic *jubilus*, which is essentially Bernardian in substance, *Iesus dulcis memoria*. In the fifteenth century, the cult of St. Joseph arose, and hymns in his honor were composed. More widely known and diffused than that of Simon Gerson (d. 1429) is the hymn *O veneranda Trinitas—Iesus, Ioseph et Maria*, and another anonymous hymn, *Plude caelestis curia*.

The seventy or seventy-five hymns of the Breviary represent but a small part of the thirty thousand that have been discovered and published, a veritable poetic forest of the Middle Ages, largely owing to the Platonic-Augustinian direction of theological thought. The hymns of the Breviary, in which are reflected the two poetic tendencies proper to Christian Latin literature—metrical and rhythmic—underwent, at the initiative of Urban VIII (1623–44), a revision that reduced them to almost complete metrical uniformity: a victory of Humanist classicism. The Pope, himself a Latin poet, was assisted in this reform by the Latinists Strada, Galluzzi, Petrucci, and Sarbiewski. Zealous for the purity of classical prosody and meter, they found a thousand “errors,” but corrected only 952. They were fairly respectful of the more ancient poets, such as St. Ambrose, Prudentius, Sedulius, and Venantius Fortunatus, but were merciless toward many of the later ones; some they subjected to radical treatment: thus, two hymns, *Tibi, Christe, splendor Patris* for the feast of St. Michael and *Urbs beata Ierusalem* for the dedication of a church, were recast and rewritten in new meters; the hymns of St. Thomas Aquinas were left untouched. This reform of hymnody was approved by the Sacred Congregation of Rites in 1629. It was harshly judged by some, to the point that it was said: “Latinitas accussit et pietas recessit.”

II. IN THE GREEK CHURCH

Little or nothing is known of the origins of hymnody in the Greek Church: the earliest notices, which come from a pagan, Libanius the Younger (Ep., X, 97), refer not so much to the content as to the manner of performance of the entire musical complex. Antiphonal chant predominated in the early centuries of Christianity: it was an alternation between two choirs in which the verses of a psalm were sung in turn by each side (proper antiphons) or commented upon by a refrain (responsory) or by a simple formula independent of the text (alleluia, amen, kyrie eleison, etc.), which later received various names according to its development and usage (ὑπακόη, ὑπόγαλμα, ἀκροστίχιον, ἐφύμνιον).

The canon became the center of the Divine Office and notably of Matins; the kontakion suffered the consequences: it was not excluded, but reduced to its proemium and a single stanza (the first), inserted between the sixth and seventh odes, while inserted among the preceding odes were the kalysma, the katavasia, and the synaxarion. From this liturgical norm it follows that very often the author of the canon is the same as that of the kontakion and the intervening troparia.

Toward the end of the seventh century, a new hymnographic genre arose, the *syntomon*: a concise hymn of seven-syllable verses and pentastich strophes. Its author was Cyprian, and the prototype (*ὁλόκληρον τοῦ Ἐξαποστειλάριου*) was borrowed from the Damascene, Germanus, Joseph the Hymnographer, Stephen the Italo-Greek (11th c.), and, down to later centuries, by many other hymnographers, unfortunately anonymous.

After the 8th century, the melodes become noticeably fewer: less prolific, yet continuators of the glorious tradition, are the poetess Cassia, Photius, the emperors Leo the Wise and Constantine Porphyrogenitus. The decline of hymnody becomes ever more pronounced after the 10th century: poetry grows increasingly clumsy with bombastic phrases and insipid with commonplaces. Nevertheless, mention should be made of John Mauropous, John Zonaras, and Nicephorus Blemmydes; while among the Italo-Greeks, the cryptensian hymnographers Nilus, Bartholomew, Paul, and Stephen.

It is customary, though with exceptions, for the author to place his name in the hymns, preceded, if the compilation allows, by a phrase. Both are expressed by the initial letters of the troparia (acrostic). Sometimes these initials yield neither phrase nor name, but the orderly sequence of the letters of the alphabet is the so-called *alódgánchoi*.

The meter is not based on quantity, but on the number of syllables and the accent of the word; and in the strophes of the same compilation, the verses strictly correspond in isosyllabism and homotony. The sense of long and short in the Greek language had long been lost, and the learned attempt by Gregory Nazianzen, Synesius, and a few others to adopt classical meter was doomed to remain fruitless.

### III. IN THE ARMENIAN RITE.
The hymns used in the Armenian liturgy are very numerous. The Hymnal or *Šarakan* (q.V. ARMENIA), which contains almost all of them, lists 116 hymns. They may be divided into three groups: those called “canons,” which are intended for the office of a fixed day (the feasts of the Lord and of the great saints); those that form a series of hymns not tied to a fixed day but regulated according to one of the eight prescribed tones for that day (Sundays, the commemoration of the saints, the Lenten ferias); and finally, hymns that are almost isolated, in honor of a saint or for some particular purpose.

To be complete, the “canon” or “series” must comprise eight hymns, distributed as follows: the first is added to the canticle of Exodus 15:1-21 at the Midnight Office; the second, third, fourth, and fifth are added to the hymn of the Three Children (Benedictus), the Magnificat, Psalm 50 (Miserere), and the psalm of Lauds at Matins; the sixth is sung before the Trisagion at the Divine Liturgy and is the proper hymn of the day; the seventh is sung at Vespers to Psalm 120 (Levavi); and the eighth at Matins to Psalm 102 (Laudate pueri). The central core consists of the second, fourth, and fifth hymns; often the third is missing, more often still the sixth, and the seventh is rarely found; the missing ones are replaced by hymns taken from similar canons.

These hymns generally have from three to five strophes, but may have as many as ten. Some are in prose, others in measured prose, others again with assonances, and finally some with full rhymes. The system of versification is similar to that of the Greeks, and the length of a strophe is similar to that of a troparion of the Greeks. Besides the *Šarakan*, there are still hymns in the *Khordaketr* (= Missal): the one at the beginning, “Mystery Profound,” is well known; then the incensation hymn, the Introit, the *agrologia* after the lessons, then the hymn during the kiss of peace, after the consecration three hymns respectively to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and finally the Communion hymn. Almost all of these chants are not hymns in the strict sense of the word, because they consist of a single strophe.

Other hymns are found in the *Mafiotz* (= Ritual) in the rites of Baptism and Matrimony, but especially in those of the various degrees of Ordination. These hymns are sung at the beginning, when the procession enters, or on the occasion of a procession, or even at the end, e.g., after the tradition of the instruments or the vesting of the newly ordained (cf. H. Denzinger, *Ritus Orientalium*, Würzburg 1853; F. C. Conybeare, *Rituale Armenorum*, Oxford 1905).

Finally, the *Žamagirkʿ* (this book contains the fixed parts of the Divine Office) provides, besides the hymns of the minor hours also contained in the *Šarakan*, three hymns by Nerses the Graceful at Nocturns, and in Vespers the ancient hymn *Φῶς ἰλαθόν* (a text quite different from the Greek; cf. *Breviarium Armenium*, Venice 1908).

Against the overly skeptical thesis of Ter-Mikaēlian, it may be believed that some hymns were composed already in the 5th century, and while others were lost or not admitted into the Hymnal, new ones were written up to the 15th century; but one should not credit the attributions of many hymns to this or that author, since it seems that these attributions were established only in the 11th century. Without doubt, the richest, most elegant, and most representative author is St. Nerses the Graceful (1102–72). Many of these hymns excel in simplicity of form, clarity of content, originality of imagery, and solemnity of tone; but this criterion is not sufficient to distinguish between ancient and more recent hymns.

IV. IN THE ETHIOPIC RITE

The Ethiopic liturgy has not yet been sufficiently studied to determine to what extent the hymns of the Coptic rite were adopted into the Ethiopic rite and translated into Ge'ez. The three most important Ethiopic hymns remain unpublished: the Deguà, a collection of hymns for feasts, Lent, and the time after Easter (cf. C. Conti Rossini, Aethiopica II, in Riv. Studi orient., 10 [1923-25], pp. 515-16); the Me'eraf, a collection of hymns for the feasts of the year; and the Mavcàse'et, an antiphonary for the entire year. Also unpublished is the Esgai'abher nagsa, containing hymns in honor of the saints, arranged according to the Synaxarion. However, there exists an edition of the Weddàsè Màrjàm, corresponding to the Coptic Theotokia (ed. with German translation by K. Fries, Leipzig 1892; the beginning of the seven parts is translated into French by S. Grébaud, Manuscrits éthiopiens appartenant à M. N. Bergey, in Rev. Or. chrétien, 22 [1920-21], pp. 426-38), and of the Weddàsè wa-genàj, a paraphrase of the Theotokia for Sunday (cf. Grébaud, ibid., pp. 438-42). The most beautiful and profound Marian hymns are the Argànona Weddàsè, divided into seven canticles (ed. and German translation with notes by S. Euringer, Die Marienhafte, in Or. Christ., 3rd series, 2 [1927], pp. 120-45), and the Màlhèta segé, consisting of 156 strophes, sung from June 26 to September 26 (ed. and German translation with notes by A. Grohmann, Aethiopische Marienhymnen, Leipzig 1919, pp. 47-32). These hymns have no mere prosodic structure but only rhyme; the strophe generally consists of five lines.

V.

I. SIRA IN THE SYRO-WESTERN RITE

The first Christian hymns in the Syriac language are attributed to Bardesanes, who used such songs to spread his heretical ideas. To employ the same means of propaganda, the deacon St. Ephrem directed a choir of young people who performed his compositions. His hymns belong to various kinds of poetry.

The madràsâ (plur. madràsè) consists of a series of strophes sung by the soloist and separated by a refrain or 'àulâ performed by the choir; the strophes have a variable number of lines, from four to ten, often arranged in pairs to form a bajà (≈ strophe); each bajà conveys a complete meaning; homotony, sometimes isosyllabism, is the rule, though with many exceptions. St. Ephrem is said to have composed three hundred madràsè.

The second kind is the sàgità, composed of several strophes linked by an acrostic alphabetical arrangement. After a brief introduction, it unfolds in dialogue, one strophe answering another; this element of vivid dramatic quality characterizes it, and here, at least in part, one must seek the origin of the Greek kontákion. Among the poetic works of St. Ephrem V. especially Th. J. Lamy, S. Ephraem Syri hymni et sermones (3 vols., Malines 1882-89; text and Latin translation); Hymns to the Virgin by St. Ephrem the Syrian, complete translation by G. Ricciotti (Rome 1925).

To these two kinds of liturgical poetry must be added a genre of rhythmic prose, the mémra, an instructive homily, intended not for singing but for reading; it can be very long (in the case of James of Serugh sometimes more than a thousand lines). After St. Ephrem, this genre had other cultivators: Bálaj, Cyrillonas (v.), but especially Giacomo of Serugh (v.), called “the flute of the Holy Spirit” and “the harp of the Orthodox Church.”

To Rabbûlâ (v.) are attributed hymns, performed with melismatic singing, called takkefâtâ; today they are sung in the Night Office and during the Holy Mass at Communion.

In the 6th century, other kinds of hymns appear in the liturgy. First, the hymns contained in the so-called Octoechos of Severus of Antioch, translated into Syriac first by Paul of Edessa and later more perfectly by James of Edessa. Each of these songs is called ma'ntâ; it is a very long strophe that can be compared to the Latin antiphon and is sung in the same way, alternating with the verses of a psalm (cf. ed. with translation by E. W. Brooks, The hymns of Severus...: PO 6, 1-179; 7, 595-802).

Another genre, more popular and therefore more successful, is the qâlâ, created by the genius of a deacon, Simeon of Jesus, a humble vassal, whence the name of qâqâjâ sometimes given to this genre. It consists of a series of identical strophes (cf. examples in the rite of Baptism in H. Denzinger, Ritus Orientalium, I, Würzburg 1873, p. 270).

In the same 6th century, a third kind of hymn arose, the ba'ntâ (plur. ba'ntâ), which was cultivated more intensively from the 9th century onward. The word means “supplication.” It is divided into strophes and uses a refrain like the madrâsâ, but generally has longer lines and a strongly accented rhythm like the mémra. According to the number of syllables in each line, 7, 5, or 12, it is called of the meter of Ephrem (effremitic), of Bálaj (balaitic), or of Giacomo of Serugh (jacobitic). Examples of the baptismal and marriage rites are in Denzinger, op. cit., I, p. 287; II, pp. 390-399, 400, 404, etc.

As a final kind of hymn, there is the 'enjânâ. Here the biblical canticle or psalm is the primary element, the poetic strophe is secondary; the soloist sings the psalm, the choir responds with the refrain, according to the ancient responsorial manner. Among the Syrians in the Syriac language, it first appears in Psalm 50, in the Lauds psalms (like the strygâz of the Byzantines), and in the scriptural canticles of Vespers, Nocturns, and Matins. They were called “ancient canons” when, in the 9th century, the canons of the Greeks began to be translated into Syriac; when the Greeks completely detached the strophes of the nine odes of their “canons” from the biblical singing, the Syrians continued to sing this recto tono, though giving the poetic strophe varied melodies. An example is Psalm 50 in the baptismal rite (cf. Denzinger, op. cit., I, pp. 295, 302. See also the special studies by O. Heiming, Die 'Enjânêhymmen der Berliner Handschr. Sachau 349, in Or. Christ., 3rd series, 5 [1930], pp. 19-55; id., Syrische 'Enjânê und griechische Kanones, Münster 1932).

It is understandable that the appearance of ever new kinds of liturgical poetry has largely caused the disappearance of older compositions or led to the use of pieces from them being incorporated into the new genre. Today, the qâlâ and the ba'wâtâ predominate in the liturgical books over the other kinds of hymns.

VII. IN THE SYRO-ORIENTAL (CHALDEAN) RITE

From the 4th to the 17th century, the Chaldean liturgy was continually enriched and renewed through the composition of new hymns and religious poetry. But two periods within that span show a remarkable flowering of poetic creations: the period of the formation of the rite itself, from the 4th to the 6th century, and a second flowering from the end of the 13th to the 16th century. It is the production of this latter period that still dominates today in the chants of the various liturgical offices of the Chaldean rite; the older poetry has either been supplanted or preserved only in part, or sometimes as a vestige from antiquity inserted into new creations, at times forming part of another kind of poetry.

During the formation period, St. Ephrem (v. above, Syro-Western rite) played a leading role. Of his works, mémra (in the Office of the Fast of Nineveh), madrâsâ (in the Marriage rite), qâlâ (in funerals), and tebêbâtâ (in the Morning Office) are preserved in today’s Office.

After him came Narsai, the founder of the School of Nisibis, who earned the title “the lute of the Holy Spirit.” He composed 360 poems arranged according to the twelve months of the year; these are mêmrê, which, because of the refrain placed at the head of each, belong to the madrâsâ (published without translation by A. Mingana, Narsai homiliae et carmina, 2 vols., Mosul 1905). Some fragments of his survive in today’s liturgical books, especially noteworthy being the pâsoqê in the funeral rite (partially edited and translated by M. Wolff in Oriens Christianus, new series, 12–14 [1925], pp. 1–29). The attribution of a series of sôgâtâ is disputed (published with a German translation by F. Feldmann, Syrische Wechsellieder von Narses, Leipzig 1896; in any case they are clear examples of that genre of dialogic poetry).

Among the poets of that period should be mentioned the catholicos Mâr Abâ and Bâbai of Nisibis, of whom numerous tebêbâtâ remain, a poetic genre cultivated in preference by monks before the Arab invasion. To John of Dêbêt Rabban (d. probably in 566–67) are attributed the sôgâlê dêvârdânâ found in the appendix to P. Bedjan’s Breviarium chaldaicum (anastatic ed., Rome 1938), forming an important part of the ferial nocturn office: a series of strophes, sometimes shorter, sometimes longer, of uniform metrical structure, preceded by a few words taken from some psalm; the final strophes are successively dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the saints, the Cross, the titular saint of the church or monastery, and the dead. Several of the qâlê have one or more fuhlâfê, i.e. substitute texts whose metrical structure is independent of that of the qâlâ itself (cf. Kirchendichtung, in Oriens Christianus, new series, 10–10 [1920–21], pp. 1–81).

From the following period noteworthy is Isôjâbh III, who arranged the choir book (Hûdrâ), the priest’s book (Euchologion), and the ordination book; to him are attributed some madrâsâ. Then there is Bâbai of Gêbîlâ, reformer of music and founder of music schools, author of many acrostic poems and of ‘onjâtâ dêhûsâjê.

In the 13th and 14th centuries ‘Abdîsô bar Bêrîkâ enjoyed great renown, followed by Givargîs Wardâ of Arbela, who collected many poems together with his own into a book called Wardâ (“Rose”); cf. I. Folkmann, Ausgewählte nestorianische Kirchenlieder über das Martyrium des hl. Georg von Givargîs Wardâ, Kirchhain 1896, and better H. Hilgenfeld, Ausgewählte Gesänge des Givargîs Wardâ von Arbela, Leipzig 1904. These songs mostly belong to the genre of ‘onjâtâ; but it must be noted that this ‘onjâtâ no longer preserves its primitive form, for having been influenced by the sôgâtâ it is composed of a series of strophes more or less long (often four lines of seven syllables), interrupted by a few words taken from one or another psalm (not the same one), which bear no relation to the poetic text that follows. The poetic text that follows the Gloria Patri, the Nunc et semper, and the Dicat populus: Amen et Amen sometimes grows to a long poem standing by itself and occupying, in exceptional cases, two or more pages (cf.