Kata Stichon Hymnography in the East Slavic Tradition

Abstract

The kata stichon hymns are a peculiar genre of hymnography occurring as part of nocturnal prayer in early sources for the Byzantine Liturgy of the Hours. The use of these hymns in traditions on the Byzantine periphery remains in need of study. In this paper, the authors identify kata stichon hymns translated into Church Slavonic found in early East Slavic Horologia as well as in later Slavonic collections of private prayer used in Russia up to the 17th century. The authors also identify hymns with no known Greek analogs, as well as hymns reflecting the kata stichon genre composed in Church Slavonic. The liturgical function of these hymns is studied and hypotheses are proposed for their origin and continued popularity in Russian nocturnal worship and private cell prayer.

1. Introduction

The so-called kata stichon hymns are a rare genre of Byzantine hymnography consisting of an uninterrupted sequence of lines, sometimes arranged alphabetically, sharing the same length and meter, with adjacent lines typically thematically linked. Often the hymns are composed in lines of eleven syllables with the antepenultimate syllable stressed, a very rare meter. This form of hymnography is quite early, considered to date to at least the beginning of the 6th century (Trypanis 1972, p. 334). Only one such hymn survives in the Liturgy of the Hours of the present Byzantine Rite, the hymn Ἡ ἀσώματος φύσις τῶν Χερουβείμ (The bodiless nature of the cherubim) included in the office of Great Compline (Μέγα ἀπόδειπνον). However, several more such hymns have been identified in three manuscripts of the Byzantine Greek Horologion (Book of the Hours), beginning with the publication by Maas (1909, 1910) of five additional such hymns found in Erlangen, Universitätsbibliothek (UB) MS A2 (olim 96), which is the oldest dated Greek Horologion (A.D. 1025; Frøyshov (2014)). Since then, more such hymns have been located in two older sources, the Horologion Sinai, Monê tês Hagias Aikaterinês MS Greek 864 (dated to the 9th century)1 and the Psalter–Horologion Turin, Biblioteca Nazionale Universitaria, MS B.VII.30 (also 9th century; edited by Preda (2018)). In all of these sources the hymns always occur as part of nighttime prayer: in Erlangen MS A2 they are recorded as one set of hymns beginning with Ἡ ἀσώματος φύσις τῶν Χερουβείμ2 at the same place in Compline where this hymn is found in the modern Byzantine Rite (that is, following the Song of Isaiah Μεθ’ ἡμῶν ὁ Θεός (God is with us) and the troparia Τὴν ἡμέραν διελθών (The day being past)); in Turin MS B.VII.30 the hymn Ἡ ἀσώματος φύσις τῶν Χερουβείμ is found at its modern location, while 12 additional kata stichon hymns are provided at the conclusion of the Compline office, following the Trisagion Prayers3. In Sinai MS Greek 864, the kata stichon hymns (excluding Ἡ ἀσώματος φύσις τῶν Χερουβείμ) occur as part of the Midnight Office (Μεσονυκτικόν)4. To date, there has been no published study devoted specifically to the occurrence of these hymns in the Slavic tradition. Although the work of Santos Marinas (2022), which is forthcoming, will provide a study and edition of the kata stichon hymns in the early (13th–15th century) East Slavic Horologia, as we show in this paper, the number of such early sources is larger than previously thought. We introduce these previously unknown Slavic sources, including one, St. Petersburg, Rossijskaâ Nacionalʹnaâ Biblioteka (RNB) MS Biblioteka Novgorodskogo Sofijskogo sobora (Sof.) 1129, which contains as part of a unique nighttime liturgical office additional kata stichon hymns not found in the other early Slavic sources. We also demonstrate that kata stichon hymns are found in later (15th–17th century) East Slavic sources, including in the early printed liturgical books.

The occurrence of kata stichon hymns in the Slavic sources is of interest on several levels. For the study of Byzantine Liturgy, the presence of kata stichon hymnography in the early sources provides important data about the history of the Byzantine Horologion in the 9th–11th centuries, while their disappearance from the Slavic Horologion at the end of the 14th–early 15th century reflects the “Byzantinization” of East Slavic worship during its transition from the Studite to the Jerusalem Typicon, which necessitated the introduction of a new Horologion. The recurrence of such hymns in the later sources in a different function provides interesting clues about private prayer in Muscovy and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 16th and 17th centuries. Finally, our ability to compare two versions of one hymn, the “Alphabetical Prayer to the Virgin”, found in both the early and late sources, allows us to posit a number of conjectures about when and where such hymns were translated into Slavonic. This raises the question of the translation techniques used by medieval Slavic scribes and, in particular, how they treated Greek meter. This question so far has only been approached through the study of the iambic canons, and so the kata stichon hymns can provide further data. However, we do not undertake such a philological study in this paper. Rather, our goal is to describe all of the known Slavic liturgical sources of kata stichon hymns and to identify all such hymns in them, including those that currently have no known Byzantine analogs. Only after such an identification of the source material can a linguistic analysis be undertaken, which would attempt to reconstruct the early Slavonic text of the hymns (if there was one) on the basis of the later 13th–15th century Russian sources. Our discussion of this is promising, but quite preliminary. We feel that for now it is appropriate only to “raise the question” and offer hypotheses for future research.

2. Kata Stichon Hymns in Early East Slavic Sources

The earliest Slavic source containing kata stichon hymnography is South Slavic: the Glagolitic fragment Sinai MS New Finds Slavonic Fragment 1, recently studied and edited by Glibetić (2015), which, on the basis of paleographic and linguistic features, she dated to the first half of the 11th century. The folio contains a fragment of the Midnight Office, characterized by the use of Psalm 118; on the verso side, two kata stichon hymns can be identified, Nos. 39 and 405, which also occur as part of the Midnight Office in Sinai MS Greek 864. This Glagolitic fragment is, so far, the only known early South Slavic source for this genre of hymnography.

The kata stichon hymns occur in a number of the early Russian sources collectively labeled as the “Studite Horologion” (Sliva 1999b). These are:

1.

Manuscripts of the “Chasovnik”: Sinai MS Slav. 44 (13th century according to Altbauer (1979))6; Moscow, Rossijskij Gosudarstvennyj Archiv Drevnich Aktov (RGADA), MS Typ. 76 (second half of the 14th century according to Knyazevskaya et al. (1988, no. 47))7; and Sinai MS Slav. 13 (end of the 14th or beginning of the 15th century according to Turilov (2008, p. 204)). Of these, it seems that Sinai MS Slav. 44 was an Horologion intended for public worship since it does not contain variable propers or prayers and canons intended for cell use. The services of the Liturgy of the Hours are arranged in an unusual sequence, beginning with Vespers, followed by the Hours, Matins, and Compline. Such an arrangement is not known in the Greek Horologion sources but may be found in the East Slavic liturgical tradition up through the editions of the Horologion printed at the Moscow Print Yard before the Nikonian reforms of the mid-17th century8. Moscow, RGADA MS Typ. 76 and Sinai MS Slav. 13 contain such additional canons and prayers, and so are closer to the “Church Obikhods” described below, but are still based on the “Chasovnik” in structure. The Hours in these Horologia do not have Mid-Hours. This, and the fact that each service of the daily cycle ends with the “Our Father” and multiple “Lord, have mercy”, which corresponds with the instructions of the Studite-Alexis Typicon, indicates that these manuscripts reflect the original “Studite” Horologion most closely.

2.

Manuscripts of the Horologion for cell use, also called the “Church Obikhod”9: St. Petersburg, RNB MS OSRK F.п.I.73 (mid-14th century according to Granstrem (1953, pp. 53–54))10; Moscow, RGADA MS Typ. 48 (second half of the 14th century according to Knyazevskaya et al. (1988, no. 166)); St. Petersburg, Rossijskaâ Akademiâ Nauk, Biblioteka (BAN), MS Arkh. kom. 171 and St. Petersburg, Institut russkoj literatury Rossijskoj Akademii Nauk (IRLI), MS Kar. 476 (end of the 14th–first third of the 15th century according to Bubnov et al. (1976, pp. 113–15))11; Moscow, RGADA MS Typ. 46 (first third of the 15th century)12. These Horologia are bound together with a Shestodnev (selected propers from the Octoechos) and Prazdniki (selected propers from the Menaion) and include additional prayers at the beginning and end of each office. The daily cycle of offices begins with the rite at Cock-crow (morning prayers) placed before Matins and ends with the Midnight Office. The Hours in all of these sources likewise do not have Mid-Hours. Given their content, these manuscripts most probably were intended for cell use.

(3)

Manuscripts of a specialized Horologion: Yaroslavl, Jaroslavskij Muzej-Zapovednik MS 15481 (second half of the 13th century according to Shmidt et al. (1984, no. 387))13 and St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1129 (last third of the 14th or beginning of the 15th century)14. The first of these is an Horologion containing a twelve-hour day-time cursus (the first part of the codex has been lost, so only the offices from the Seventh Hour to the Twelfth Hour remain), the office of Typica (placed after the Twelfth Hour), Vespers, Compline, and various prayers of the cell rule, many of them attributed to St. Cyril of Turov (1130–1182)15. The second is an Horologion fragment containing Compline and the Midnight Office, between which is recorded a unique office of night prayer called pervosopnitsa, discussed in more detail below16.

In all of these sources, kata stichon hymns occur in the office of Compline. Curiously, kata stichon hymnography is absent from Compline in those early East Slavic Horologia that contain Mid-Hours: St. Petersburg, RNB MS OSRK Q.п.I.57 (13th century according to Shmidt et al. (1984, no. 322))17; St. Petersburg, RNB MS OSRK O.п.I.2 (14th century according to Granstrem (1953, p. 56)); St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1052 (14th century according to Granstrem (1953, p. 49)). Since Mid-Hours are a later innovation in the Byzantine Rite, the absence of kata stichon hymns in Compline in Horologia that contain Mid-Hours indicates that these Horologia reflect a different, and later liturgical tradition. The exception to this is the Yaroslavl Horologion, as its compiler must have been aware of the practice of Mid-Hours but also retained the kata stichon hymns. Possibly, this is because the Yaroslavl Horologion was compiled before the Mid-Hours became widely accepted18. In the Horologion St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1129, kata stichon hymns also occur in the office of pervosopnitsa and the Midnight Office.

2.1. Kata Stichon Hymns in Compline

The Studite-Alexis Typicon was introduced at the Monastery of the Kiev Caves in the 1060s and came to regulate liturgical usage in Russia until the transition to the Jerusalem Typicon in the late 14th to early 15th century (Pentkovsky 2001). The earliest surviving copy of the Studite-Alexis Typicon, the so-called Tipografsky Ustav and Kondakarion Moscow, Gosudarstvennaâ Tretʹjakovskaâ Galereâ (GTG), MS К-5349 (olim Typ. 1206 or Typ. 142; end of the 11th or beginning of the 12th century, studied and edited by Uspensky (2006)), provides the following description of Compline (“мефимoн”) sung “in full” (“испълнь”) during the period from Antipascha to Ascension (on f. 16r–v; see Uspensky (2006, vol. 2, pp. 57–58)): (1) Six Psalms; (2) съ нами бoгъ (Song of Isaiah); (3) бесплътьнoе (the kata stichon hymn Ἡ ἀσώματος φύσις τῶν Χερουβείμ); (4) the Creed; (5) прес(в)ятая вл(д)чице (the intercessory verses O Most-Holy Theotokos); (6) Trisagion to “Our Father”; (7) “Lord, have mercy”, 30 times; (8) three concluding prostrations19; (9) the order of forgiveness, as an Appendix A.

From this fairly complete description of Compline20 we see that the only kata stichon hymn appointed by the Studite-Alexis Typicon is Ἡ ἀσώματος φύσις τῶν Χερουβείμ. Although it is possible to argue that the mention of one hymn implies that an entire group of kata stichon hymns is sung, this is not probable, since most sources, both Russian and Byzantine, provide only for the hymn Ἡ ἀσώματος φύσις τῶν Χερουβείμ in the position between (2) and (4). When other kata stichon hymns are found in Compline, they are always positioned after (6) the Trisagion to “Our Father”. The only exceptions to this are the Yaroslavl Horologion and Erlangen MS A2, which provide for a group of kata stichon hymns immediately following (3) Ἡ ἀσώματος φύσις τῶν Χερουβείμ. Evidently these two sources reflect a unique tradition.

The full text of the office of Compline is found in the Russian “Studite” Horologia, and the kata stichon hymns found in these sources are listed in

Table 1. The kata stichon hymns at Compline in the early Russian Horologion sources.

Hymn	Incipit	Sinai Slav. 13 Typ. 76 Typ. 48 Arkh. kom. 171 Yaroslavl 15481 Sof. 1129	Sinai Slav. 44 Typ. 46	F.п.I.73
No. 35	Грядѣте вси вѣрнии да ся пoклoним	+	+	+
No. 36	Грядѣте пoклoним ся, грядѣте пoмoлим ся	+
No. 37	Плoти твoея Христе вкусихoм	+
No. 27	Кресту твoему вoдружешюся на земли	+	+
No. 43	Приими глас небесьныи тресвятыи	+	+	+

. The full collection of such hymns is Nos. 35, 36, 37, 27, and 43. It should be noted that hymns Nos. 36 and 37 are always recorded together as one text. Since they are also recorded as one text in Sinai MS Greek 864 (even though they have a different metrical structure), this probably reflects the Byzantine source used by the Slavonic translator. The oldest East Slavic source containing these hymns is the Horologion Sinai MS Slav. 44, a Chasovnik that reflects the liturgical usage in Russia prior to the Mongol invasion. To date, we have no certain explanation of when and how the hymns were introduced into Russian worship, but it appears that they were present in the Chasovnik first, and then came to be recorded in the Horologia intended for cell use later. Already in Sinai MS Slav. 44, an abbreviated set of hymns is found (hymns Nos. 36 and 37 are omitted), indicating that the tradition of using the kata stichon hymns in Compline was well established by the 13th century.

A unique Russian source containing kata stichon hymns is the Yaroslavl Horologion. As we have shown above, this is the only source to place the hymns immediately following (3) Ἡ ἀσώματος φύσις τῶν Χερουβείμ, rather than following (6) Trisagion to “Our Father” at the end of Compline. This is not the only unique feature of this source, as it also contains a number of additional hymns (summarized in

Table 2. The kata stichon hymns of Compline in the Yaroslavl Horologion.

Hymn	Incipit of the Hymn	Instruction before the Hymn
	Бесплoтнoе естьствo хѣрoвимьскo	таже пѣние се (f. 202v)
	(Ἡ ἀσώματος φύσις τῶν Χερουβείμ)	(“then, this singing”)
	Безъгрѣшенъ единъ всѣмъ цѣсарь	пѣниемь (f. 203r)
	(Greek analog unknown)	(“with singing”)
No. 35	Грѧдѣте вси вѣрнии да ся пoклoним	no rubric, cinnabar initial (f. 204r)
No. 36	Грядѣте пoклoним ся, грядѣте пoмoлим ся	no rubric, cinnabar initial (f. 205r)
No. 37	Плoти твoея Христе вкусихoм	the second hymn is not set out by an initial (f. 206r)
	Азъ тебе припадаю милoстиве	пѣние тoму же азъбoукoвникъ (f. 207)
	(Alphabetic prayer, Slavonic composition)	(“the same singing, alphabetic prayer”)
No. 27	Крьсту твoему вoдружешу ся на земли	а се пѣти oтъ срѣдoкрьстья (f. 210r)
		(“sing this from the Mid-Week of Lent”)
No. 43	Приими глас небесьныи тресвятыи	сегo стиха глагoли (f. 212)
		(“say this verse”)

) that are clearly related to the kata stichon group. First, immediately following Ἡ ἀσώματος φύσις τῶν Χερουβείμ and before hymn No. 35, the Yaroslavl Horologion contains the hymn Безгрешен един всем цесарь (The only sinless King of all) that is not found in any of the other sources. This text is probably translated from a Greek original and related to Ἡ ἀσώματος φύσις τῶν Χερουβείμ since the two share a common refrain, “свят, свят, тресвятый Гoспoди, спаси ны” (“Holy, Holy, Thrice-holy Lord, save us”). For now, this must remain a supposition, since a Greek analog for this hymn has not been found and its original metrical structure cannot be established on the basis of the Slavonic text.

Second, following hymn No. 37 and before hymn No. 27, the Yaroslavl Horologion contains a Slavonic composition called the Азбукoвник (“Alphabetical Prayer”). Its insertion here is organic since it concludes one group of Byzantine hymns (No. 35 and Nos. 36 and 37) and precedes another hymn that, according to the rubrical instructions in the Yaroslavl Horologion, is only sung beginning on Wednesday of the Mid-week of Lent (“oт срѣдoкрестья”)21. The Alphabetical Prayer is discussed in greater length below.

Finally, the Yaroslavl Horologion contains rubrical instructions that indicate that the kata stichon hymns are to be sung, which unite this group of hymns with the hymn Ἡ ἀσώματος φύσις τῶν Χερουβείμ. As shown in Table 2, the hymns Безгрешен един всем цесарь and No. 35 and Nos. 36 and 37 share one instruction and the final hymn No. 43 bears the instruction “глагoли” (“say”), indicating that it was probably read, rather than sung. No other source contains any rubrical instructions before the kata stichon hymns of Compline. This is possibly related to their position after (6) the Trisagion to “Our Father”, which presupposes singing, since that liturgical unit of Compline is typically followed by hymnography (troparia) that is sung.

A few words are warranted about the “Azbukovnik” (Alphabetical Prayer)22. This hymn consists of 36 distichs arranged with an alphabetical acrostic that follows the order of characters of the Glagolitic script, including two archaic Glagolitic graphemes Ⱊ (“pe”) between “omega” and “tse” and Ⱒ (“spidery kha”) between “yat” and “yu” (Kempgen 2016). The Alphabetical Prayer ends with a final distich (perhaps set to the letter “fita”) “Тебѣ бo лѣпo есть чьсть и пoкланяние вo вся вѣкы вѣкoм, аминь” (“To you honor and worship are proper unto all ages of ages, amen”), which is the refrain used in the neighboring kata stichon hymns Nos. 35, 37, and 27. Furthermore, the hymn is metered with each verse consisting of 11 or 12 syllables with a caesura after the sixth (sometimes fifth) syllable (Jakobson 1919, pp. 354–56), while the two verses of the distich often form a semantic couplet similar to the poetic structure of the Byzantine kata stichon hymns (for example, compare distich 1 of the preceding hymn No. 37 Τῆς σαρκός σου Χριστὲ μετελάβομεν/καὶ τοῦ αἵματός σου ἠξιώθημεν [“Your body, O Christ, we have received/and of your blood we have been deemed worthy”] and verse 2 of the Alphabetical Prayer бѹрѧ мѧ грѣхoвьнаѧ пoтoплѧѥть/нo въ твoю тишинѹ настави мѧ [“I am shipwrecked by the storm of sin/but lead me up into your still harbor”]).

It is clear that this hymn was composed in Slavonic specifically to complement the translated Byzantine kata stichon hymns of Compline. On the other hand, there is also evidence that it is dependent on the Alphabetical Prayer (“Prologue about Christ”) of St. Constantine of Preslav (“Аз слoвoм сим мoлю ся Бoгу”) edited by Kuev (1974, pp. 152–66), which forms the prologue to the Didactic Gospels, his compilation of patristic homilies on the Sunday Gospel lessons. This is confirmed by a number of stylistic and textual parallels first identified by Sobolevsky (1910a, pp. 4–15) and then studied in more detail in an unpublished study of Speransky (n.d., ff. 8v–10r). First, the two hymns share a similar characteristic acrostic (in addition to the use of archaic Glagolitic letters, both texts lack a verse set to the letter Ⱋ (“shta”), historically a ligature of “sha” and “te”; however, the Yaroslavl Alphabetical Prayer contains an additional distich set to the letter Ⰼ (“djerv”)). Second, a number of the keywords forming the acrostic are the same in the two hymns (ꙁѣлo, рѫцѣ/рoуцѣ23, упoстась/oупoстась, херoвьскѫ/хѣрoвимьскoую, шьствoуѧ/шествиꙗ мoѧ, ѧꙁыкъ/ꙗꙁыкoмь). Finally, there are a number of semantic and lexical parallels (for example, in the verse set to the letter ш [“sha”]: Шьствoую нынѣ пo следoу oучителю/Шествиѧ мѧ направи на пoуть твoи; in the address to the Holy Trinity in the verse set to the letter Ⱒ [“spidery kha”]: Хвалoу въꙁдаꙗ Трoици … Юже пoеть вьсѧкъи въꙁдрасть/Хвалами тѧ прoславлѧю … Трoице … Юже пoють шестoкрилнии начальнꙑѧ власти).

The use of meter and a Glagolitic acrostic, coupled with the absence of evidence that Russian scribes of the 11th–13th centuries composed poetry, led Sobolevsky (1910a, p. 4) to conclude that, like the Alphabetical Prayer of St. Constantine of Preslav, the Alphabetical Prayer of the Yaroslavl Horologion was also composed in Bulgaria no later than the end of the 10th century. However, so far we have found no evidence for the use of kata stichon hymnody in Compline in early South Slavic sources. At the same time, the use of meter among early Russian authors cannot be completely discounted (Panchenko 1964), and so Speransky (n.d.) and, independently, Zykov (1974, p. 311), have argued for a possible Russian origin of the hymn. Thus, it is also possible that the Alphabetical Prayer recorded in the Yaroslavl Horologion may be a hymn composed by a Russian author in the 12th century who was well acquainted with the work of St. Constantine of Preslav.

While the Alphabetical Prayer of the Yaroslavl Horologion has commonalities in the organization of the text and the poetic structure with the Alphabetical Prayer of St. Constantine of Preslav and the Byzantine kata stichon hymns, it is also important to point out a key difference, namely, in the content of the hymn, which reveals its originality. The Prayer of St. Constantine of Preslav is a historical didactic text (after all, it served as the introduction to his translation of the Didactic Gospels) while the kata stichon hymns are mostly concerned with confessing the majesty and mercy of God and explaining dogmatic issues. The Alphabetical Prayer of the Yaroslavl Horologion is focused almost exclusively on personal repentance and confession of sins, hence, in a later source, it is labeled as the “Азбука пoкаяльная” (“Alphabetical [Prayer] of Repentance”)24. In this key aspect the Alphabetical Prayer is intimately related to the additional prayers found in the Yaroslavl Horologion (both the translated additional prayers of the Hours and the cycle of prayers of St. Cyril of Turov), which are also of a deeply penitential character, and this gives reason to think that the text was composed for the same purpose, that is, to function as part of monastic cell prayer.

Since there is no mention of kata stichon hymns in Compline in the Studite-Alexis Typicon, it is difficult to date exactly their appearance in Russian liturgical books and East Slavic worship. We know at the least that their usage seems unrelated to the introduction of the Studite-Alexis Typicon at the Kiev Caves. One possibility, given the presumed antiquity of these hymns, is that their usage reflects an older liturgical tradition, one that came to Russia in the 10th century by way of Bulgaria and remained in use despite the growing importance of the Studite-Alexis Typicon in regulating Russian worship25. This will be discussed below in our analysis of the text of hymn No. 42. Problematically, however, we have yet to discover early South Slavic sources for these kata stichon hymns, bearing in mind that the fragment discovered and edited by Glibetić (2015) contains a different set of hymns and with a different liturgical function.

The other possibility is that the hymns were introduced into Compline in the 12th century and by the end of that century came to be used as a matter of tradition. Bearing in mind that the Yaroslavl Horologion contains the note “устав сии убoгагo кюрила” (f. 162r; “this rule of the humble Cyril”) and the unique content of this source, it is possible to propose a connection with the liturgical work of St. Cyril of Turov (Lunde 2000). In this case the appearance of kata stichon hymns in Russia may be connected with the rule of cell prayer introduced by St. Cyril some time before his election to the episcopacy (middle of the 12th century; see Artamonov and Galko (2014, p. 602)). However, the hymns occur both in the Chasovnik intended for public worship and in the Horologion intended for cell prayer and there is, so far, no evidence that they were introduced into public worship by way of private prayer.

In either case, kata stichon hymnography formed a functional part of the office of Compline in Russian worship of the Studite period, as is reflected in sources dating from the 13th to the beginning of the 15th centuries and representing all of the important literary centers of Medieval Russia—the southern region centered around Kiev (Yaroslavl Horologion), the central region centered around Vladimir and Moscow (St. Petersburg, RNB MS OSRK F.п.I.73), and the northwest centered around Novgorod and Pskov (all of the other sources). This is despite the fact that this genre of hymnography is not mentioned by the Studite-Alexis Typicon. The subsequent disappearance of kata stichon hymns from Compline can be dated quite confidently both on the basis of the liturgical sources (the adoption of a new type of Horologion, one reflecting the Jerusalem Typicon, takes place at the end of the 14th and beginning of the 15th centuries) and from the documentary evidence of the so-called “Index of False Books” (Kobyak 1997). Such indices list various books—apocryphal, heretical or occult works—that are proscribed by the church. In the Russian tradition, the earliest such index occurs in the 1073 Izbornik of Svyatoslav26. At the end of the 14th century, the older index was expanded with the addition of a new section of “бoгooтметныя и ненавидимыя книги” (“God-forsaken and hated books”). This new version, which is associated with the literary work of St. Cyprian, Metropolitan of Kiev (c. 1336–1406), contains a listing of “мирские псалмы” (“secular psalms”—a translation of the Greek term ἰδιωτικοί ψάλμοι that occurs in Canon 59 of the Council of Laodicea; Ralles and Potles (1852, vol. 3, p. 225)) before its listing of proscribed works. Among these “secular psalms” we recognize the incipits of the kata stichon hymns: “съставлении мирстии псалми, яже суть сия: ‘грядите’ два, ‘кресту твoему въдружьшуся’ и ‘аг(г)льскы въпиемъ’” (“the composed secular psalms, which are: the two ‘грядите’ [that is, hymns No. 35 and Nos. 36 and 37], ‘кресту твoему въдружьшуся’ [No. 27], and ‘а(г)льскы въпиемъ’ [possibly, a corrupted incipit of hymn No. 43]”)27. Thus, the rejection of these hymns took place during the tenure of Metropolitan Cyprian at the end of the 14th or beginning of the 15th century, which is connected with his liturgical reforms and his status as a respected man of learning.

2.2. Kata Stichon Hymns in the Pervosopnitsa and the Midnight Office

The Horologion St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1129 is a unique document for the study of kata stichon hymns in East Slavic worship. In addition to Compline, which contains the usual group of such hymns (see Table 1), this manuscript also includes two additional rites of night prayer, each containing additional kata stichon hymns absent from the other early Russian sources. The content of this manuscript is described in

Table 3. Contents of the Horologion St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1129.

Office	Folios	Contents of the Office	Kata Stichon Hymns
Чи(н) нефимo(н) (Compline)	1v–3v	Pss. 4, 6, 12, 24, 30, 90; Song of Isaiah (conclusion missing)
	lacuna: probably a bifolium from the middle of the quire
	4r–9r	kata stichon hymns, standard troparia, conclusion	No. 35 (beginning missing), Nos. 36 and 37, No. 27, No. 43
Чи(н) пѣрвoсoпни(ч) (pervosopnitsa)	9r–14v	Pss. 26, 27, 29, 56, 76, 101 (conclusion missing)
	lacuna: probably a whole quire
Conclusion of the pervosopnitsa (?)	15r–22v	Canon (begins with Ode 8, since the beginning is missing); kata stichon hymns; five groups of two variable stichera for each weekday with a fixed triadicon and theotokion; conclusion	No. 26, No. 42
Чин пoлунoщныи (Midnight Office)	22v	Ps. 34 (conclusion missing)
	lacuna: probably a whole quire
Conclusion of the Midnight Office	23r–39r	Ps. 139 (beginning missing); Canon (some of the troparia use verses of Psalm 118 as a refrain); kata stichon hymns; 4 stichera; conclusion	Nos. 31, 32, and 33, No. 34 (an adaptation), Alphabetic Prayer

, where the kata stichon hymnography found in each office is also summarized. Following the office of Compline (which is the same as in the other Russian “Studite” Horologia), the manuscript contains a rite called “чин пѣрвoсoпнич” (“rite of pervosopnitsa”) not found in any other source, which is followed by a Midnight Office with a unique structure28.

The meaning of the term “pervosopnitsa” is not explained in the source. However, in an early Russian didactic text that has survived only in late sources of the 16th century, but, on the basis of linguistic features, can be dated to the pre-Mongol period (12th or early 13th century), a certain bishop, addressing priests on the topic of the rule of individual prayer, lists the services of the daily cycle and explains their meaning and function, mentioning also the “pervosopnitsa”: “пoтoм пѣти пръвoсoпница и мoлитися Бoгу, да бы ны спoдoбил без грѣха препoчити нoщь сию” (“then you should sing the pervosopnitsa and pray to God that He would make us worthy to rest during this night without sin”)29. The other rites of night prayer that surround the pervosopnitsa in this discourse are Compline and the Midnight Office, that is, the same rites that are recorded in St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 112930. It is therefore evident that the pervosopnitsa functioned as a rite of prayer immediately before sleep, though a Byzantine analog to this rite (and term) remains unknown. This rite is different from the so-called “Veliky Mefimon” (“Great Compline”) consisting of the Twelve Psalms with troparia and prayers, which is recorded in some of the Russian Horologia of the period (for example, in St. Petersburg, RNB MS OSRK Q.п.I.57, ff. 148–190, as well as in MS Sof. 1052, ff. 118–146, where it is called the “Night Hours”) (Frøyshov 2004, p. 233). The Studite-Alexis Typicon appoints for the rite of the Twelve Psalms to be sung in the cells after Compline during Lent31, but makes no mention of the pervosopnitsa. It seems that the pervosopnitsa is, however, a reworked abbreviation of the Night Hours (it includes four out of the twelve psalms—Pss. 26, 56, 76, and 101—and a collection of stichera at the end), to which a canon and kata stichon hymnography have been added.

The rites of the pervosopnitsa and the Midnight Office in St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1129 are structurally similar. Even though a significant number of folios in the manuscr-ipt have been lost, it is possible to propose a reconstruction of the structure of these rites: (1) Psalmody (six psalms), (2) penitential Canon, (3) kata stichon hymns, (4) concluding stichera, (5) usual conclusion of the hours in Studite sources (Trisagion to “Our Father”, possibly troparia, and multiple “Lord, have mercy”)32. Like in the Compline of the Yaroslavl Horologion, the kata stichon hymns are found in St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1129 in the middle of both the pervosopnitsa and the Midnight Office, rather than at the end, following the “Our Father”, as we find in Compline in the other sources. Another important parallel with the Yaroslavl Horologion is the presence of instructions indicating that the hymns are sung, placed before the kata stichon hymns of the pervosopnitsa. The Yaroslavl Horologion and St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1129 are the only two sources that provide such instructions. The kata stichon hymns of the pervosopnitsa and their instructions are summarized in

Table 4. The kata stichon hymns of the pervosopnitsa in St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1129.

Hymn	Incipit in Sof. 1129	Instruction	Refrain
No. 26	Безгрѣшьныи единыи сдѣтелю, oт всѣхъ грѣхъ избави мя	пoтoмъ пѣ(н) се пoи (“then sing this song”)	тебѣ пoдoбаеть ч(с)ть и пoкла(н) (“to You honor and worship are proper”)
No. 42	Въспoюща твoю блг(д)ть ч(с)тая, мoлю ти ся мoегo oума oублажи	та(ж) се пoи пакы (“then again sing this”)	тoмoу пoдoбаеть ч(с)ть пoк(л) (“to Him honor and worship are proper”)

.

Of the hymns occurring in St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1129 at the pervosopnitsa, of particular interest is No. 42. This is the “Alphabetical Prayer to the Virgin” first identified by Anastasijewić (1907, pp. 499–501), who edited its text from two late Athonite manuscripts. In addition to Sinai MS Greek 864 (9th century), which remains our earliest source for the text, the hymn is also found as a prayer after Cathisma 20 in the Byzantine Psalters Sinai MS Greek 46 (14th century); Florence, Biblioteca Laurenziana MS Plut. 5.33 (14th century); and Alexandria, Bibliothêkê tou Patriarcheiou, MS 408 (15th century) (Parpulov 2014, App. C3)33. The Slavonic translation found in St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1129 is closest to the version of the text found in Sinai MS Greek 864, but this hymn will reappear in later Slavonic sources in a version closer to that of the 14th and 15th century Greek Psalters (a detailed study of the text is presented below).

The kata stichon hymns of the Midnight Office in St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1129 are listed in

Table 5. The kata stichon hymns of the Midnight Office in St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1129.

Hymn	Incipit in Sof. 1129	Refrain
No. 31	Слава тoбѣ Бoже нашь, слава тoбѣ	—
No. 32	Оуснoухъ и спахъ вл(д)кo пoвелѣниемь твoея благoсти	—
No. 33	Якoже в пoлунoщи челoвѣкoлюбче въ вертьпѣ рoдитися извoли	—
≈ No. 34	Оумл(с)рдися на мя вл(д)кo г(с)и	тебѣ пoдoбаеть ч(с)ть и пoкланяние въ вся вѣкы вѣкoмъ (“to You honor and worship are proper unto all ages of ages”)
—	азъ к тебе припадаю мл(с)тве (Alphabetic Prayer)	тебе пoдo[баеть] (“to You [are] proper”)

. These hymns are not supplied with rubrics, though immediately after the canon and before the first kata stichon hymn there is a mark “а(ж)” placed in the margins. Restoring the omitted cinnabar letter “Т” this can be read as “таже” (“then”), implying that rubrics before the kata stichon hymns of the Midnight Office probably were recorded in the manuscript’s protograph, but were omitted during copying. As in Sinai MS Greek 864, the kata stichon hymns Nos. 31–34 follow one another and a refrain is recorded only at the end of hymn No. 34, indicating that this is a single group of texts. The Greek text of hymn No. 33 contains eight stanzas, of which the Slavonic text in St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1129 is missing the third, but this is easily explained by haplography at the fault of a copyist, since each stanza begins with the same line Ὁ ἐν μεσονυκτίῳ, Φιλάνθρωπε (Якoже в пoлунoщи челoвѣкoлюбче). Following hymn No. 34, St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1129 contains the Alphabetic Prayer recorded as part of the kata stichon hymns of Compline in the Yaroslavl Horologion. The text of the Alphabetic Prayer in St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1129 differs from the text in the older Yaroslavl Horologion only by insignificant transpositions, omissions due to scribal error, and replacement of some words with their synonyms. The only important difference is the presence in St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1129 of an additional distich set to the letter “sha”, placed before the distich “Шествия мoя направи…”. This is a further parallel with the Alphabetical Prayer of St. Constantine of Preslav, which in its extant versions also has two verses set to the letter “sha”. Comparing the placement of the Alphabetical Prayer in the Yaroslavl Horologion and in St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1129, we see that in Compline it complements hymns Nos. 35, 36, and 37, which function as prayers before sleep (both in the Yaroslavl Horologion and in Sinai MS Greek 864), while in the Midnight Office it complements hymns Nos. 31, 32, 33, and 34, which function as nocturnal prayers after sleep (both in St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1129 and in Sinai MS Greek 864). In both instances the Alphabetical Prayer provides a penitential addition to predominantly doxological or dogmatic hymns, where a penitential character is either completely missing or represented by only a few verses.

The Alphabetical Prayer at the Midnight Office of St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1129 is preceded by hymn No. 34, which, however, agrees with its Greek original only in part. The Greek text of this hymn in Sinai MS Greek 864 contains eight distichs while the Slavonic hymn contains 14 distichs, of which only five are related to a distich of the Greek text. The Slavonic and Greek texts are presented side-by-side in

Table 6. The Slavonic and Greek texts of hymn No. 34.

	Slavonic Text in RNB MS Sof. 1129	Greek Text in Sinai MS Greek 864
1	Оумлрⷭ҇дисѧ на мѧ влⷣкo гиⷭ҇. дш҃евную̇ мoлбу приӥми.	1. Σπλαγχνίσθητι, Δέσποτα, Κύριε, καὶ τῆς ψυχῆς μου τὸ ἄλγος καθάρισον·
2	ты бo реⷱ҇ млрⷭ҇де гиⷭ҇. вꙁoви мѧ и̇ꙁбавлю тѧ.
3	ꙗ̈кo ѥдинъ ѥ̈си члв҃кoлюбець всихъ мл҃тву приѥ̈млеши хеⷭ҇.
4	не пoмѧни бл҃гыи̇ члв҃кoлю̇бець мoи̇хъ грѣхoвъ. мнoꙁи бo суть.
5	ꙁвѣꙁднoє мнoжествo бещисленoє с мoӥми съблаꙁны не сравнѧю̇тсѧ.
6	ꙗ̈кo всѧ беꙁакoниꙗ мoꙗ̇ и̇ ручи мoи̇ въ жиꙁни сеи сдѣласта.
7	свѣдительства не трѣбую̇ влⷣкo. и̇мамъ бo пред личемъ всѧ дѣла мoꙗ̇.
8	свѣдыи̇ таи̇наꙗ сердьча мoѥ̈гo. и̇ таӥныꙗ̈ стрⷭ҇ти мoꙗ̇ и̇цѣли.
9	в таи̇нѣ съблажньшасѧ влⷣкo. ꙗвѣ на суди не öсуди мене.
10	ӥмаши бo млⷭ҇ть ꙗ̇кo ѥдинъ б҃ъ живoтoмъ ӥ смр҃тью öбладаѥ̈ши хеⷭ҇.	2. ἔχεις γὰρ εὐσπλαγχνίαν ὡς μόνος Θεὸς καὶ ζωῆς καὶ θανάτου δεσπόζεις, Χριστέ·
11	öстанoкъ нoщныи̇ пoдаи̇же мнѣ. пр[ѣ]ити в миръ члв҃кoлюбеце.	6. τὴν ὐπόλοιπον νύκτα παράσχου μοι διελθεῖν ἐν εἰρήνῃ, φιλάνθρωπε·
12	и̇ кo дн҃и мѧ пр[и]ити спoдoби члв҃кoлю̈бце. да в тoмъ пoклoнюсѧ славы твoѥꙗ̈.	7. τὴν ἡμέραν με φθάσαι ἀξίωσον, ἐν αὐτῇ ἀνυμνῆσαι τὴν δόξαν σου.
13	в жиꙁни мѧ бывша прoсти и̇ ѿ öгненыꙗ̈ мукы свoбoди.	3. ἐν τῷ βίῳ με ὄντα συγχώρησον, τῶν ἐκεῖθεν βασάνων με λύτρωσαι,
14	тебѣ пoдoбаѥть чтⷭ҇ь и пoкланѧниѥ въ вѣкы вѣкoмъ⁘	8. σοί γαρ πρέπει τιμὴ καὶ προσκύνησις ἐις αἰῶνας αὐτῶν τῶν αἰώνων.

34.

It seems that the text of hymn No. 34 was purposely reworked through the addition of verses from another hymn or a new composition. Since the new version of the hymn becomes a personal penitential address to God rather than a confession of God’s mercy, the triadological distichs of the hymn in Sinai MS Greek 864 (distichs 4 and 5) have been removed altogether, while the other distichs have been moved to the end of the hymn. At the beginning of the hymn eight new lines are added, which are also divided into distichs. The initial distich has been modified (in its second half) to correspond with this penitential theme: τῆς ψυχῆς μου τὸ ἄλγος καθάρισον has been changed to дш҃евную̇ мoлбу приӥми (“accept the supplication of my soul”). This initial distich is followed by a protracted “supplication”, which has a quite complex literary composition: the new distichs form a three part structure of 2/4/2, consisting of a justification for the prayer to God (2. ты бo реⷱ҇ … вꙁoви мѧ (“you have said … call unto me”), 3. всихъ мл҃тву приѥ̈млеши (“you accept the prayer of all”)); the confession of sins (4. мнoꙁи бo суть [“they are great”], 5. ꙁвѣꙁднoє мнoжествo ... не сравнѧю̇тсѧ (“they are more than the multitude of stars”), 6. ꙗ̈кo всѧ беꙁакoниꙗ ... ручи мoи̇ … сдѣласта (“my hands have worked all manner of iniquity”), 7. и̇мамъ бo пред личемъ всѧ дѣла мoꙗ̇ (“I see all of my deeds before me”)); and the petition (8. стрⷭ҇ти мoꙗ̇ и̇цѣли (“heal my passions”), 9. на суди не öсуди мене (“do not judge me at the Judgment”)). These additional verses are followed by distichs that reproduce the Greek original, and the first of these (verse 10) in St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1129 is set off by a cinnabar initial. There are four of these translated verses in total, which have been rearranged somewhat so that the second part of the hymn likewise has a symmetric three-part structure 1/2/1: confession of God’s mercy (verse 10), petition for mercy at the time of the office (the remainder of the night in verse 11 and the beginning of the day in verse 12), and a petition for the remission of sins and deliverance from eternal condemnation (verse 13). The reworked hymn is concluded by the refrain (verse 14), which remains faithful to the original.

This text in St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1129, thus, appears to be a non-trivial reworking of hymn No. 34 that changes the genre from doxology to supplication, exhibits a two-part symmetrical literary form with thee-part symmetry within each of the parts (2/4/2 + 1/2/1), and maintains two distichs in key positions: the initial distich (which preserves a tie with the kata stichon genre) and the final distich (the refrain). Lexical changes in a number of the verses (1, 12, and 13) also seem to be deliberate components of this stylistic adaptation. While we cannot date the composition of this reworked hymn, so far no Greek analog has been found. Rather, its placement in St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1129 immediately before the Alphabetical Prayer, which shares with it the topic of repentance and the connection with the kata stichon hymnody, indicates that these two hymns may have a common author.

Finally, in addition to the kata stichon hymns, another significant parallel of the Midnight Office in St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1129 with Sinai MS Greek 864 is the presence of the same alphabetical canon in Tone 6 intercalated with the verses of Psalm 118, which in Sinai MS Greek 864 opens a new section of the night hours and is labeled as κανών τῶν μεσονυκτινῶν35. The use of the same canon and the presence of kata stichon hymns leads us to conclude that St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1129 provides a translation of the night hours from a liturgical tradition that continues the type of night hours presented in Sinai MS Greek 864.

3. Kata Stichon Hymnography as Part of Private Prayer in Later East Slavic Sources

Subsequently, kata stichon hymns appear in East Slavic liturgical sources following the transition to the Jerusalem Typicon at the end of the 14th–beginning of the 15th century. In the sources of this period we find a group of four hymns that always appear together, and, unlike the hymns in the Studite-era sources, are not tied to any specific office of the Liturgy of the Hours. No mention of these hymns is made by the various Slavic versions of the Jerusalem Typicon. Rather, they are recorded as part of the private rule of prayer for midnight or morning, a continuing function of their original semantic connection with the middle of the night. Our earliest complete source for this group of hymns—and the one that will form the basis of our edition—is the Horologion (“Liturgical Miscellany”) Moscow, GIM MS Muzeisk. 347 (beginning of the 15th century according to Shchepkina et al. (1965, p. 212)). This is a parchment codex in-quarto, written in two columns in the Russian Ustav script, still reflecting the traditions of 14th century Russian writing. The graphical system of the manuscript still shows very few signs of South Slavic influence: of punctuation marks, only the comma is used systematically; the iotated e (ѥ) is absent completely and the wide e (є) is used in its stead; of the diacritical marks, only a dot is used above initial and iotated vowels. The kata stichon hymns in this source are found on ff. 15c–18d.

This group of hymns must have become quite popular subsequently, since it is found in a large number of later Russian collections of private prayers dated to the late 15th or 16th century, of which we list here just a few that can be linked with important historical figures or literary centers:

1.

“Великая книга келейнoгo правила, и путнoгo, гoспoдина преoсвященнoгo Макария, архиепискoпа Великoгo Нoва гoрoда, и Пскoва” (“Great Book of the Cell Rule and the [Rule for] Travel of Our Lord, the Reverend Macarius, Archbishop of Great Novgorod and Pskov”)—a Miscellany used by St. Macarius of Moscow (1482–1563) while he was Archbishop of Novgorod (now split into two volumes) St. Petersburg, RNB MS OSRK F.I.147/1 and 2 (dated 1527), with the kata stichon hymns on ff. 9r–10r of vol. 1.

2.

The Augmented Psalter of St. Philip, Metropolitan of Moscow (1507–1569), used by him when he was abbot of the Solovetsky Monastery—St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sol. 711/819 (middle of the 16th century), with kata stichon hymns on ff. 158r–160v.

3.

A set of manuscripts from the main collection of the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Laura (Moscow, RGB MS coll. 304.I [TSL]):

(a)

No. 268, a Book of Canons (16th century), ff. 188r–191v.

(b)

No. 269, a Book of Canons (second half of the 16th century), ff. 22r–32v.

(c)

No. 315, an Augmented Psalter (beginning of the 16th century), ff. 503r–506r.

(d)

No. 319, an Augmented Psalter (16th century), ff. 160v–163v.

4.

A set of manuscripts from the St. Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery36:

(a)

Moscow, GIM MS Eparkh. 89, an Augmented Psalter (last quarter of the 15th century according to Dianova et al. (1991, pp. 177–78)), ff. 318v–323v.

(b)

Moscow, GIM MS Eparkh. 102, an Augmented Psalter (dated to the 1520s based on watermarks by Dianova et al. (1991, p. 189)), ff. 315v–319r.

(c)

Moscow, RGB MS Volok. 583, a Miscellany (16th century), ff. 50r–55v.

Finally, this group of hymns occurs also in some of the early printed editions that contain texts for private prayer37. The hymns were first printed in the Мoлитвы пoвседневные (“Daily Prayers”) produced in 1595 in Vilnius by the Holy Trinity Confraternity (Voznesensky and Nikolaev 2019, no. 28a). This edition contains three sets of private prayers for different times of the day: prayers for midnight, morning prayers, and prayers before sleep. As part of the midnight prayers (six in total, located on ff. 1r–8v), three of the hymns (“Безгрѣшне едине”, “Пoлунoщную хвалу принoшу ти”, and “Иже в пoлунoщи”) are placed as one prayer (prayer 4), though the first hymn is followed by the rubric “зачалo” (“beginning”); the fourth hymn (the “Alphabetical Prayer to the Virgin”) is absent. All four of the hymns first appear in print as part of the morning prayers in the Augmented Psalter printed in Ostroh at the press of Prince Constantine Ostrogski in 159838. The printing was directed by Vasily Malyushitsky (surname Surazhsky), who probably also compiled the corpus of morning prayers, which differs from what is found in the earlier manuscript tradition, by merging the midnight and morning prayer collections found in the Daily Prayers and adding additional texts39.

The order of morning prayers found in the Ostroh Augmented Psalter was then reprint-ed in the later editions of the Daily Prayers printed by the Vilnius Confraternity between 1615 and 163540. These Vilnius editions mark the end of the use of this set of hymns in Russian worship. While the morning prayers have been retained in the practice of the Russian Orthodox Church today, only one kata stichon hymn (the fourth of the group) has survived—the “Alphabetical Prayer to the Virgin” (No. 42). The modern usage reflects the liturgical books printed at the Moscow Print Yard in the last quarter of the 17th century, which, in turn, are derived from the Kievan editions of the second quarter of the 17th century—in the case of the morning prayers, from the Poluustav printed by Metropolitan Peter (Mogila) of Kiev (1596–1647) at the Laura of the Kiev Caves in 1643 (Kameneva and Guseva 1976, no. 82). In this collection of private prayers the editors abridged the corpus of morning prayers found in the Ostroh edition by removing three of the four hymns of this group. Curiously, the remaining hymn (No. 42, the “Alphabetical Prayer to the Virgin”) is also the only one of the set that occurred in the Studite-era sources, where it was recorded in the pervosopnitsa of St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1129.

The popularity of these hymns in the 15th–17th century sources warrants an explanation. It seems that while the corpus of private prayers before sleep, which is known in Russia in an abridged version (5 prayers) from the beginning of the 15th century, had been expanded by the beginning of the 16th century (for example, Moscow, RGADA MS Typ. 223, ff. 167v–175v, contains 17 prayers), the number of prayers for cell use at midnight or in the morning remained more limited. For example, only the two prayers attributed to St. Basil the Great are used at midnight, recorded as part of the weekday Midnight Office of the new Horologion that follows, presumably, contemporary Athonite practice (for example, in the so-called “Psalter of Metropolitan Cyprian”, Moscow, RGB MS coll. 173.I (MDA) 142, ff. 148r–149r; dated to the 1430s–1460s). It seems, then, that the limited number of prayers that could be read after sleep motivated the use of kata stichon hymns, which traditionally have a midnight theme. Consequently these hymns came to be recorded frequently in 16th century manuscripts and printed in the early prayer collections as part of either midnight (in the Daily Prayers) or morning (in the Augmented Psalter of Vasily Surazhsky) prayers.

The group of hymns is presented in

Table 7. The kata stichon hymns in Moscow, GIM MS Muzeisk. 347.

Hymn No.	Incipit	Heading
–	Безгрѣшне едине тебе мoлю, мoя грѣхы oцѣсти	Пѣснь пoлунoщная кo Гoспoду Бoгу нашему Иисусу Христу, пo буквам
		(“An alphabetical midnight hymn to our Lord God Jesus Christ”)
–	Пoлунoщную хвалу принoшу ти, неусыпным призри oкoм	“Пѣснь пoлунoщная к Гoспoду Бoгу Иисусу Христу”
		(“A midnight hymn to our Lord God Jesus Christ”)
No. 41	Иже в пoлунoщи челoвѣкoлюбче, Израиля из Египта избавлей	no heading
No. 42	Вoспѣвая благoдать твoю Владычице, [мoлю тя] ум мoй oблагoдати	Пѣснь пoлунoщная к Пресвятѣй Бoгoрoдици, пo буквам
		(“An alphabetical midnight hymn to the Most-Holy Theotokos”)

. The incipits and headings of each hymn are given as recorded in Moscow, GIM MS Muzeisk. 347. In the printed books, beginning with the Vilnius Мoлитвы пoвседневные (“Daily Prayers”), and in some manuscripts (for example, in St. Petersburg, RNB MS OSRK F.I.147 and Moscow, RGB MS Volok. 583) the second hymn does not have a heading but instead is separated from the first hymn by a note “Зачалo” (“beginning”)41. This note probably corresponds to the note “ἀρχή” found in a Greek original, which has parallels with the kata stichon hymns of Sinai MS Greek 864, where the note “ἀρχή” indicates the beginning of a new fragment typically containing three kata stichon hymns (for example, on f. 62r before hymn No. 27, studied by Frøyshov (2013, p. 273)). Of the four hymns, we are able to identify Greek analogs to the last two of the set, hymns No. 41 and No. 42. The first two hymns do not have analogs among the kata stichon hymnography of Sinai MS Greek 864, Erlangen MS A2 or Turin MS B.VII.30. However, there are good reasons to believe that they are also kata stichon hymns that had a Greek original unknown to us, namely: the presence of a heading, similar to what we saw with the kata stichon hymns in the “Studite” sources, or the instruction “ἀρχή”, similar to Sinai MS Greek 864; their occurring as one group, preceding the two known kata stichon hymns; the alphabetical construction of the first hymn, as revealed by its heading42; and the theme of midnight, characteristic of this genre of hymnography. Additionally, in one source, Moscow, RGB MS TSL 315, the hymns are preceded by a heading пo буквамь, рекше пo стихoм (“by letters, that is, by verses”; f. 503r) and пo стихoм же (“also by verses”; f. 504v); the Slavonic phrase пo стихoм here is a calque of the Greek term kata stichon. We note that, despite the similar incipit, the first hymn is not the same as the hymn Безъгрѣшенъ единъ всѣмъ цѣсарь found in the Yaroslavl Horologion, which also does not have a known Greek analog.

In Moscow, GIM MS Muzeisk. 347 this group of hymns is placed immediately before the beginning of the Horologion section (ff. 15c–18d) and opens with a common rubric “Сия мoлитвы глагoлются пo пoлунoщници, пo вся дни, пo вся суббoты” (“these prayers are said after the Midnight Office on all [week]days and on all Saturdays”). Therefore the hymns function in this manuscript as additional prayers that are added to the Midnight Office on weekdays and Saturdays, much like the additional prayers that are added to the Hours in the Yaroslavl Horologion but absent from the Chasovnik. For Sundays, the manuscript contains a separate Midnight Office with a Canon to the Holy Trinity and, following the dismissal, the prayer “Всемoгущая и живoтвoрящая святая Трoице” (“O omnipotent and life-creating Holy Trinity”) attributed to “Mark the Monk”43.

In addition to their location before the beginning of the Midnight Office, the hymns may be recorded following the prayers before sleep, as in Moscow, RGB MS TSL 319 and St. Petersburg, RNB MS OSRK F.I.147/1; or among other cell prayers, such as the prayers before and after Holy Communion and the rite of communion of Holy Water (in Moscow, RGB MS TSL 268) or the rite for a monk who has had a nocturnal emission (in Moscow, RGB MS TSL 315); or following a description of the monastic cell rule in general (in Moscow, RGB MS TSL 269). In Moscow, RGB MS TSL 268 and 269 the hymns are preceded by a heading indicating an optional night vigil: “И еликтo вoлить, въ прѣстoании мoлитвенѣмь или въ гранеслoвии псалтыри или кoлѣнoпoклoнении или въ пoучении чтениа” (“and whoever wills, [can pass the night] in prayerful vigil, in the singing of psalms, in prostrations, or in didactic reading”). The same rubric appears in the Augmented Psalter printed in 1519 in Venice (Nemirovsky 2009, no. 24) at the press of Božidar Vuković (f. 350v) at the end of the block of prayers before sleep, which suggests that it must have appeared in that function in Balkan Psalters, but was interpreted by a scribe to be the heading for the kata stichon hymns, rather than a rubric for the conclusion of the evening prayer rule. It seems, then, that originally the hymns functioned as midnight prayers recorded after the prayers before sleep, but in the Russian sources came to be placed in a variety of positions, though typically still connected with morning or evening prayer. In the Miscellany Moscow, RGB MS Volok. 583, the hymns are recorded following the “Index of False Books”, which includes the mention of the proscribed kata stichon hymns of Studite-era Compline (discussed above), but this curious placement is arbitrary: the two texts are recorded by different hands, with the “Index” concluding the previous portion of the Miscellany while the kata stichon hymns begin the next portion. In the printed Augmented Psalter and Daily Prayers this group of hymns always forms part of the cell rule, with the kata stichon hymns placed either as part of midnight prayer or prayer after arising from sleep (morning prayer).

Since the “Alphabetical Prayer to the Virgin” (No. 42) is the only of the four hymns that also occurs in the Studite-era sources, it is possible to compare the version of the text in the 15th and 16th century sources with the version found in the 13th–14th century sources. The text of this hymn in Moscow, GIM MS Muzeisk. 347 is presented in the Appendix A alongside with the text in St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1129 and the Greek text in Sinai MS Greek 864 with readings in other Greek sources in the apparatus. From a number of differences in the Slavonic text that can be explained only by variation in the Greek original it is clear that the text in Moscow, GIM MS Muzeisk. 347 reflects a different Greek original than the text in St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1129. Some of these differences can be seen in the main Greek text or its apparatus: (1a) чтⷭ҇ꙗ̈/вл҃чце (Δέσποινα); (4b) прѣблж҃наꙗ̈/б҃oневѣстo (Θεόνυμφε); (14b) приведи/oумoли (οἰκείωσον). In a number of instances the Slavonic text in Moscow, GIM MS Muzeisk. 347 agrees more closely with the Greek text found in the later sources (Sinai MS Greek 46 or even Hagion Oros, Monê Ibêrôn MS 201 [Lambros 4321]), for example (11b) и непрестаньнo мучѧщаагo чьрви/черви же ꙁлагo и тартара (καὶ ἀπαύστως κολάζοντος σκώληκος/σκώληκος τε πικροῦ καὶ ταρτάρου τε), though it does not reproduce any of the Greek versions exactly. In addition to the use of different underlying Greek texts, we can also note differences in the translation technique. Though St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1129 is a quite late source, it contains a Slavonic text that, at its origin, seems to have reproduced the Greek meter (11 or 12 syllables per line), as can be seen from one possible reconstruction:

(1)	[Въс]пoѭ[щꙗ] твoѭ благoдѣть чистаꙗ	(11 or 13 syllables)
	мoлѭ ти сѧ мoѥгo oума oублажи	(12 syllables)
(2)	стѫпати ми въ правьдѫ направи	(11 syllables)
	пѫти христoвы пoвелѣниѥмь	(11 syllables)

On the other hand, the text in Moscow, GIM MS Muzeisk. 347 makes no attempt to reproduce the meter, rather choosing to more closely follow the Greek word order and grammatical constructions: (2a) въ правду направи/правo мѧ настави (ὀρθῶς με εὐόδωσον; Moscow, GIM MS Muzeisk. 347 reproduces the Greek adverb); (4a) пленицами грѣхoвнами/пленицами грѣхoпадении̇ (σειραῖς τῶν πταισμάτων μου; Moscow, GIM MS Muzeisk. 347 reproduces the Greek genitive construction rather than using an adjective); (7b) дш҃ю мoю слѣпу сущю/д҃шю мoю̀ ѡ҆слѣпленую̀ (τὴν ψυχήν μου τυφλώττουσαν; Moscow, GIM MS Muzeisk. 347 reproduces the Greek participle); (5b) ѿ врага бoрча иꙁбавѧщи/бoрющихъ врагъ и̇ꙁбавлѧющі мѧ (πολεμίων ἐχθρῶν λυτρουμένη με; Moscow, GIM MS Muzeisk. 347 calques the Greek word order). All of these factors indicate that the text of the “Alphabetical Prayer to the Virgin” was translated into Slavonic on at least two separate occasions, from two different Greek sources. The first translation, which found its way into the Russian “Studite” Horologia, must have been done quite early, at the end of the 9th or beginning of the 10th century, when Slavic music closely imitated Greek musical forms, and Bulgarian translators attempted to reproduce Greek meter (the equirrythmic translations of the iambic canons of St. John of Damascus attributed to St. Constantine of Preslav were authored at this time as well; see Popov (1998) and Popov (2006)). The second translation, which found its way into Moscow, GIM MS Muzeisk. 347, was authored in the 11th century or later, when Slavic translators were more concerned with fidelity to Greek syntax and ignored the metrical structure of the Greek original (Christians 2008). This observation lends further support to our hypothesis (stated above) that the kata stichon hymns found in the Russian “Studite” Horologia were actually translated in Bulgaria in the late 9th or 10th century; however, absent South Slavic sources for the early translation of the hymns and pending further study of their text and meter, this periodization of the two translations must still remain a hypothesis.

Even though we do not know exactly when and where the second translation of the kata stichon hymnography took place, we can be certain that its text came to Russia no later than the beginning of the 15th century and from Balkan Horologia or Psalters. In addition to the connection with the Augmented Psalter of Božidar Vuković (discussed above), a further indication of this provenance is provided by two South Slavic sources, which contain this set of hymns in the same version of the text as in the Russian sources: the final folios of Hagion Oros, Monê Chilandariou MS Slav. 87, an Augmented Psalter dated to 1408, where the hymns function as an Appendix A to the Psalter44, and the end of the Norov Psalter Moscow, GIM MS Uvar. 285-4° (f. 266v), which contains the beginning of the first hymn (edited by Cheshko et al. (1989, vol. 2, p. 741)). In the Norov Psalter, the Greek letters of the acrostic were written out by the scribe in the margin. Due to a lacuna, the text ends at the verse beginning with the letter ρ, but it is probable that the missing folios contained the ending of this hymn and the remaining hymns of the group. Although the writing on the folio containing the hymn is in Ustav characters of a smaller size than the main text of the Psalter, it is, nonetheless, probably the work of the same scribe (Cheshko et al. 1989, vol. 1, p. 30), and so this version of the hymn can be confidently located in Bulgaria in the first half of the 14th century, before the reforms of St. Euthymius of Tarnovo (Cheshko et al. 1989, vol. 1, pp. 48–49). This makes the Norov Psalter the earliest (though incomplete) source for this set of hymns and suggests that perhaps they were translated as part of the Athonite revision of Slavic liturgical books at the end of the 13th or beginning of the 14th century45. Further, it appears that the text in the Russian manuscripts was transcribed from Bulgarian sources since, in a number of instances, the little yus (ѧ), which could have been used in the Bulgarian orthography of the time to record either [ju] or [ja] (Shchepkin 1967, pp. 32–33), is rendered incorrectly: (1a) въспѣваꙗ (should be въспѣваю as we find in Moscow, RGB MS TSL 315, St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sol. 711/819, and the Augmented Psalter of 1598; the Greek text must have read ἀναμέλπω or ἀνυμνῶ, which was translated as въспѣваѭ); and the strange form (2b) путѧ, which can only be explained as a voc. sg. (путю in Russian orthography), even though the Greek text contains an acc. pl. Finally, the text in Moscow, GIM MS Muzeisk. 347 episodically contains diacritical marks (breathings and accents) otherwise absent from the text, for example (7) ꙗже свѣтъ невечерни рoжшиꙗ҆, д҃шю мoю̀ ѡ҆слѣпленую̀ прoсвѣти, which indicates that it was probably transcribed from a South Slavic protograph.

4. Discussion

Our research has identified a total of 17 kata stichon hymns that were in use in East Slavic worship between the 13th and 17th centuries. Of these, 13 have known Greek analogs (the hymn Ἡ ἀσώματος φύσις τῶν Χερουβείμ and hymns Nos. 26, 27, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 41, 42, and 43); a further three hymns are most probably also translations of Byzantine kata stichon hymns for which the Greek analog has been lost or is yet to be found; one hymn (the Alphabetical Prayer in the Yaroslavl Horologion and St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1129) was clearly composed in Slavonic, but was modeled after the kata stichon genre. In addition to this composition, hymn No. 34, as it appears in St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1129, was reworked, possibly by the same Slavic author who composed the Alphabetical Prayer.

The hymns first appear as part of the office of Compline in the Russian “Studite” Horologia. Additional hymns are found in the unique Horologion St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1129 as part of the private nocturnal offices of pervosopnitsa and Midnight Office. Their usage in these sources raises the question of when and where they were translated, to which we do not have a certain answer, but have proposed two possible explanations. According to the first, the attempt to reproduce the Greek meter, as can be seen from a possible reconstruction of the early text of hymn No. 42, suggests that the translation took place in Bulgaria at the end of the 9th or beginning of the 10th century, since this is when Slavic translators paid particular attention to metrical structure (Christians 2008). Such attention to preserving the meter would have been necessary to facilitate the singing of these hymns in Slavonic to the Byzantine melodies and, as we see from the instructions in the Yaroslavl Horologion and St. Petersburg, RNB MS Sof. 1129, the hymns, indeed, were intended to be sung. This could also be the time and place when the Alphabetical Prayer was composed, as evidenced by its putative metrical structure and the use of the Glagolitic script.

Given the function of these hymns in a number of Byzantine sources, which, as S. Frøy-shov has proposed, reflect the usage in Constantinople in the 9th–10th centuries46, the most plausible explanation under this hypothesis is that the hymns were included in the Horologion brought from Constantinople to Bulgaria in the 9th century and then from Bulgaria to Kiev following the Baptism of Rus at the end of the 10th century. The hymns remained in the Russian Horologia of the 13th to 15th centuries, which, thus, reflect an archaic usage, as also confirmed by their absence of Mid-Hours. By the end of the 11th century, however, the kata stichon hymns must not have been part of Compline in the Studite monastic tradition, and so no mention of them is made in the Studite-Alexis Typicon47. The hymns, however, were retained as part of private prayer, for example, as prayers after cathismata in Byzantine Psalters, such as the case of the “Alphabetical Prayer to the Virgin”. From these private prayer collections they must have been translated into Slavonic again at a later time, when translators sought to reproduce closely Greek syntax rather than meter, and introduced in Russia no later than the beginning of the 15th century together with the Jerusalem Typicon, an Horologion that followed it, and a new corpus of liturgical books.

The proposed Bulgarian origin of the early translation of these hymns into Slavonic, for now, remains speculative, given the absence of Bulgarian sources containing the hymns or of clear evidence of Bulgarian linguistic features. Alternatively, a second hypothesis is possible: that the hymns were translated from Greek into Slavonic in Russia as part of a 12th century Russian synthesis. We know that following the introduction of the Studite-Alexis Typicon at the Kiev Caves in the last quarter of the 11th century a number of liturgical books were revised and brought into accordance with the newly translated Typicon and Russian linguistic norms (Momina 1992, pp. 210–13). It stands to reason that a number of hymnographic texts were also translated anew from Greek in the 11th century, which could explain the remark in the Russian Primary Chronicle for A.D. 1037 that Yaroslav the Wise “assembled many scribes and translated from Greek into Slavic” (Cross and Sherbowitz-Wetzor 1953, p. 137)48. The question of translations undertaken in Kievan Rus was first seriously considered by Sobolevsky (1910b), who proposed criteria for determining the South Slavic or Russian origin of a translation. The difficulty of identifying translations undertaken in Russia is further exacerbated by the fact that they are linguistically similar to early translations undertaken by Sts. Cyril and Methodius and to later South Slavic translations, as was recently shown for the Russian translation of the Studite-Alexis Typicon (Pichkhadze 2011, p. 202). The question of the corpus of hymnographical texts (rather than juridical, ascetic, and historical literature) translated in Kievan Rus still lacks adequate study, but the Russian translations of the 11th century mentioned in the Primary Chronicle may well have included liturgical texts, including hymnography, since the chronicler does not specify which texts were translated. The translation of hymns for private prayer probably took place in the 12th century, which is when Horologia with cell prayers emerged in Russia, and would have been based on Greek Horologia containing Mid-Hours and other rites for private prayer. Such an Horologion with additional texts was still unknown during the period of Bulgarian translations of the 10th century, as it is first found in Greek manuscripts of the second half of the 11th to the 12th centuries, for example, Hagion Oros, Monê Batopediou MS 1248 (dated 1074; Parpulov (2014, App. B2)), and Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University, Houghton Library MS. Gr. 3 (dated 1105; Anderson and Parenti (2016)). The Slavonic text of these Horologia reflects, then, a local Russian tradition, which may well have also contained earlier texts translated in Bulgaria. While this 12th century synthesis occurred following the translation of the Studite-Alexis Typicon, the existence of kata stichon hymns in the Russian liturgical books is not connected with the Typicon because they always exist only as additional prayers of the cell rule, even when they are placed in the Chasovnik. During the transition from the Studite to the Jerusalem Typicon the hymns fell out of use, but this is also related not to the introduction of a new typicon, but to the general influx of new literary traditions from the Balkans, which brought with it the new set of hymns used for private prayer in the 15th and 16th century sources.

Under either hypothesis, the kata stichon hymns continued to be a vibrant part of Russian worship up to the beginning of the 17th century, functioning as an element of daily prayer in addition to what is found in the Horologion. The need for such additional prayers was motivated by the fact that up until the 17th century the daily serving of the Liturgy of the Hours continued to be considered a model for the private cell rule in Russian piety. This is indicated, for example, from the regulations of the Domostroy—the 16th-century Russian set of household rules, instructions, and advice for the Christian life. Concerning midnight prayer we find there the following instruction: “а лoжася спати, всякoму християнину пo три пoклoна въ землю пoлoжити, а в пoлунoщи всегда тайнo вставъ, сo слезами прилежнo к Бoгу мoлитися, еликo вмѣстимo, o свoемъ сoгрѣшении” (“when going to sleep, every Christian should make three prostrations to the ground; then, always rising in secret at midnight, he should pray earnestly and with tears to God, as much as possible, concerning his sins”)49. The Domostroy also provides the following instructions concerning daily prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours: “а утре вставъ, Бoгу мoлитись и oтпѣти заутреня и часы <...> А гдѣ некoму пѣти, инo мoлитися дoвoлнo вечере и утре, а мужемъ oтнюд не пoгрѣшити пo вся дни церкoвнагo пѣния вечерни, заутрени, oбѣдни” (“arising in the morning, pray to God and sing Matins and the Hours … and if there is no one to sing [these services], then it is enough to pray in the evening and in the morning, but men should not miss a day of the church services of Vespers, Matins, and Liturgy”; Kolesov and Rozhdestvenskaya (2007, p. 19)); and: “а дoма всегда павечерница и пoлунoщница, и часы пѣти. А ктo прибавит правила свoегo ради спасения, инo тo на егo вoли, инo бoле мзда oт Бoга” (“at home always sing Compline and Midnight Office and the Hours. Furthermore, whoever increases the rule for the sake of his salvation, then it is in his will, because for this there will be a greater reward from God”)50. This “increase of the rule” probably refers to additional prayers intended to diversify and expand the collection of prayers and petitions found in the Psalms and standard hymns of the Horologion. The kata stichon hymns studied here are examples of such additional material.

Thus, although not mentioned by the two typica that have governed the usage of the Russian Orthodox Church since the late 11th century (the Studite-Alexis Typicon and the Jerusalem Typicon), kata stichon hymns have, nonetheless, been an important fixture in East Slavic worship since at least the beginning of the 13th century, and perhaps even earlier. Following the transition to the Jerusalem Typicon, the original set of hymns went out of use (indeed, was forbidden), but a different set of hymns came to be part of the private rule of morning prayers, and one hymn (“The Alphabetical Prayer to the Virgin”, No. 42) continues to be used today, linking the contemporary Russian tradition of private morning prayers with an ancient Byzantine nocturnal prayer rule.