Die Hymnographie der Orthodoxen Kirche

Abstract

The Commemorative Year of Hymnographers can provide the impetus for 21st century theologians to recover, promote and value this priceless treasure of Eastern Orthodox spirituality that is hymnography. Hymnography appeared relatively late as an object of study in theology, although it was an object of research for foreign Catholic and Protestant scholars who saw in Eastern hymn poetry a real treasure to be exploited, promoted and used. In contemporaneity, Eastern hymnography has been studied at the highest level by Western theologians who converted to Orthodoxy, among whom Karl Christian Felmy takes a place of honour. Byzantine hymnography, inextricably linked to the melodic element, went through several phases of development and consolidation in the history of Orthodox worship: Hymnography of the apostolic period; covers the first three centuries of Christianity, the second period, which stretches between the 4th - 8th centuries, in which the Christian Church had to face the great challenges of the Christological heresies and in which the Ecumenical Councils met which approved the Orthodox teaching about the Second and Third Person of the Holy Trinity, but also the teaching about the Virgin Mary as the Mother of God. The third period stretches from the 8th to the 10th century and was marked by the great work of the greatest Orthodox hymnographer, John Damascene (died 749), to whom the organization and systematization of the Octoih is attributed.