Venerable Romanos the Melodist (+c. 556)

The Venerable Romanos the Melodist was born in the Syrian city of Emesa in the fifth century. From Emesa the blessed one moved to Constantinople and began to serve as sacristan in the church of Hagia Sophia. The saint was unlettered and could neither read in church nor sing, but he lived a wonderfully devout life. Because of this he won the attention and favour of Patriarch Euthymius, which filled the other clergy with envy. Once, on Christmas Eve, when the emperor too was in the church, the singers forced Romanos up into the ambo and made him sing, and then laughed at him. Of course Saint Romanos’s singing was not pleasant to hear, and this hurt the saint himself most of all. At the end of the service Saint Romanos fell down sobbing before the icon of the Mother of God and prayed fervently. That same night the All-holy Mother of God appeared to the blessed one in his sleep, handed him a scroll (in Greek, kontakion) and told him to eat it. So he was granted from on high understanding and the gift of composing and singing hymns. That same day, at the Vigil, the saint sang in a wonderful voice his first hymn from the kontakion given him in revelation by the Mother of God: “Today the Virgin gives birth to the Transcendent.” Romanos’s other hymns too were called kontakia. The first ikoi also belong to the blessed one: hymns he composed during his vigils in his room (in Greek, oikos).

For his unwearying labours the Lord’s chosen one was ordained deacon and appointed a teacher of singing. He composed about a thousand hymns, many of which are still included in the services today. The Venerable Romanos the Melodist died in 556.