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| Akathistos by Nick Bicât - Performed by Cantata Dramatica with dancers from Middlesex University |
Akathistos is based on the Akathist Hymn, recited by the Eastern Orthodox Church. Akathist means without sitting – (members of the congregation had to stand during the chanting of the hymn). The most famous Akathist hymn is addressed to the Theotokos; the ‘God Bearer’ or ‘Mother of God’. The four sections of the hymn relate to the themes of the Annunciation, Nativity, Christ and the Theotokos herself; making our performance of Akathistos at the end of Epiphanytide seemingly appropriate – although the original is sung in Lent (to coincide with the Feast of the Annunciation).
The original work has been attributed to St Romanos the Melodist who is said to have received his melodic voice after the Theotokos appeared to him, gave him a scroll and commanded him to eat it. However, some claim that the hymn was written by Pulcheria, Melania and Eudocia; a view which found favour with composer Nick Bicât and his librettist and brother, Tony. Their contemporary reworking of the hymn brought together soloists and chorus as well as accompaniment selected not to create a period performance but to evoke to our hearing the sounds of Byzantium, with harp, bouzouki and percussion.
The three noble women – all later canonised – who opened the performance lived at a time when the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire was plagued by raids on its borders from all sides. One dramatic invasion of the Barbarians, attacking Constantinople by sea, is announced in the music by a strong percussion section and enhanced by dancers from Middlesex University choreographed by Siân Hopkins; the climax of the piece is the realisation that it was the intervention of Theotokos that saved the city from destruction.
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| The Trier Ivory, representing a procession with royal figures thought to depict Theodosius II and Pulcheria. |
Pulcheria, Eudocia and Melania lived through a time of great theological as well as military battles. Ecumenical Councils were called, often by the Emperor, to settle controversies. The Council of Ephesus was held in 431 to consider the claims of the Nestorians that Jesus Christ had two distinct or separate natures (human and divine). Nestorius was appointed as Archbishop of Constantinople by Pulcheria’s brother (and Eudocia’s husband) the Emperor Theodosius II (who ruled from the age of seven – his sister, only a few years older, acting as Regent until his marriage). Nestorius argued against the use of the term Theotokos to describe the Mother of God, preferring the term Christotokos (Christ-bearer) based on his belief that Mary did not give birth to God, but a human person (Christ) who was later united to the Divine.
Pulcheria is said to have had a significant involvement behind the scenes at the Council of Ephesus, siding with Cyril of Alexandria, a leading opponent of Nestorianism. With her sisters, Pulcheria had taken a vow of celibacy and the imperial palace is said to have operated like the home of a religious order (Pulcheria went on to establish a number of religious communities). She was a conspicuous devotee of Mary, building three churches dedicated to her honour and acquiring several relics.
Seeking to discredit her, Nestorius is said to have stated in no uncertain terms that Pulcheria was not a virgin – and refused to remember her in prayers as the bride of Christ. He even defaced her image which he had removed from above the altar of a church in Constantinople. Some scholars have suggested that Pulcheria took the attacks on the Theotokos as personally as Nestorius’s attacks on her. But any merging of her identity with that of the Augusta (Empress) and the Virgin Mary did not occur solely in her own mind but in the public consciousness too. After Nestorius failed to argue his case convincingly and the First Council of Ephesus ruled against him, Pulcheria was singled out for praise by a large crowd gathered at the Great Church of Constantinople who shouted; “Mary the Virgin has deposed Nestorius. Many years to Pulcheria! She is the one who has strengthened the faith!”
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| Aelia Eudocia Augusta (Saint Eudocia) |
Eudocia’s support of Monophysitism may have been a factor behind her friendship with Melania the Younger, the third saint whose voice introduced Bicât’s Akathistos. Her visit to Melania in Palestine (a stronghold of the monophysites) may also account for Eudocia’s devotion to St Stephen. Much of what is known of the life of St Melania comes from a hagiography written by a priest named Gerontius. Despite claiming that Melania and her husband Pinian were so poor that when they arrived in Jerusalem they considered enrolling themselves on the lists of the church’s poor, Gerontius explains that Melania was able to acquire a number of important relics, including those of St Stephen, for the monasteries that she founded. It was at the point at which a new martyrium was to be opened for St Stephen’s relics that Eudocia is said to have visited Melania in Jerusalem.
The writings of those who are sympathetic to Melania and those who favour Eudocia differ over the exact reasons for Eudocia’s visit to Jerusalem and whether she knew about Melania’s martyrium in advance or not. However the injury of Eudocia’s foot at some point during the visit is an area of agreement. An inscription in a church dedicated to St Stephen states that it holds a relic of St Stephen’s foot which was given to Eudocia by Melania to cure her foot pain. Other accounts suggest Eudocia was in possession of a number of other relics of St Stephen after her visit to Jerusalem; some say she bought them from Melania, some say they were a gift. In the pro-Eudocia accounts, the martyrium in Jerusalem was built by Eudocia (not Melania) and the ceremony to deposit St Stephen’s relics was overseen by Cyril of Alexandria. Melania’s involvement is overlooked entirely - each account using the relics of St Stephen as symbols of power and prestige over the other.
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| Melania the Younger (St Melania) |
Records suggest that Eudocia was buried in a tomb she had constructed for herself next to St Stephen’s Basilica in 460. Pulcheria had already deposited other relics that Eudocia had acquired in her own church of St Lawrence in Constantinople. It is not known precisely where Melania was laid to rest.
Whether they were friends or rivals (or friendly rivals) in life, it seemed appropriate that as Nick Bicât’s reimagining of the hymn to Theotokos came to a close with a final ‘rejoice’ that the three saints should be standing reunited at the altar of a church dedicated to St Stephen.
Cantata Dramatica return to St Stephen Walbrook with another production in January 2020.
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