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Hymn of Kassiani

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Hymn of Kassiani text
The '''Hymn of Kassiani''', also known as the ''Hymn of the Fallen Woman'', is a work classified as a [[Penitential Hymns|Penitential Hymn]] that is based on the Gospel reading for Holy Wednesday morning ([[Mary MagdaleneGospel of Matthew|Matthew]] <ref> 26:6-16), which speaks of a sinful woman who anoints Jesus' feet with costly ointment (distinguished from a similar incident with a different woman, St. [[Mary Magdalene is first introduced by the the Evangelist Luke in the Gospel according to Luke 7:36-50.</ref>]]). This hymn is chanted only once a year and considered a musical high-point of the [[Holy Week]], at the [[Matins]] and chantedPresanctified Liturgy of [[Holy Week|Holy Wednesday]], in the Plagal Fourth Plagal Tone <ref>A major scale with a frequently flatted seventh degree.</ref>, for the morning office of Holy Wednesday.
==TextHistory==''O LordOne story, related by Saint [[Theodora (9th century empress)|Theodora]] in The Great Synaxaristes of the woman who had fallen into many sinsOrthodox Church holds that Abbess Kassiani spent the afternoon in the garden composing this hymn. As she finished writing that verse which says, perceiving Thy divinity"I shall kiss Thine immaculate feet, took upon herself and wipe them again with the duty tresses of a myrrh-bearer; with lamentation my head," she bringeth Thee myrrh oils before Thine entombmentwas informed that Emperor Theophilos had arrived at the convent. "Woe unto meShe did not wish to see him," she saidand in her haste to conceal herself, "for night is become for me a frenzy of licentiousness, a gloomy left behind the scroll and moonless love of sinpen. Receive Theophilos, having entered the fountains of my tearsgarden, found her half-completed poem, O Thou Who dost gather into clouds and added the water of phrase, "those feet at whose sound Eve hid herself for fear when she heard Thee walking in Paradise in the seaafternoon." After he departed, Kassiani came out from hiding. Incline unto When she took up her composition, she beheld the sighings of my heart, O Thou Who didst bow phrase written in his handwriting. She retained it and went on to complete the heavens by Thine ineffable kenosis (self-emptying)poem.''
''== Hymn of Kassiani text ==<blockquote>O Lord God, the woman who had fallen into many sins,having perceived Thy divinityreceived the rank of ointment-bearer,offering Thee spices before Thy burialwailing and crying:"Woe is me, for the love of adultery and sinhath given me a dark and lightless night;accept the fountains of my tearsO Thou Who drawest the waters of the sea by the cloudsincline Thou to the sigh of my heartO Thou Who didst bend the heavensby Thine inapprehensible condescension;I shall will kiss Thine immaculate Thy pure feet, and I will wipe them again with my tresses.I will kiss Thy feet Whose treadwhen it fell on the tresses ears of my head, those feet at whose sound Eve hid in Paradisedismayed her so that she did hide herself for because of fear when she heard Thee walking in Paradise in .Who then shall examine the afternoon. The multitude of my sins sinand the abyss depth of Thy judgments, who can search them outjudgment?Wherefore, O my Saviour and the Deliverer of souls? Do my soulturn not disdain me, away from Thy handmaiden, O Thou Whose of boundless mercy is measureless".''</blockquote>
{{inprogress}}== See also ==* [[Kassiani the Hymnographer]] [[Category:Liturgics]] [[ro:Cântarea Casianei]]
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