Romanus the Melodist looms large from his lifetime in the sixth century. Today he is much sung and little known—at least with certainty. Beautiful legends have filled in the cracks of his biography. According to one, he was tone-deaf and non-musical when heaven granted him the gifts of composition and vocal performance. He went on to compose many verse homilies, kontakia, which are still sung in the Eastern churches today. Having lived in Homs, and then Beirut and Constantinople, he introduced Syriac forms and methods into Byzantine liturgical music.

 

 

LINKS

Romanus the Melodist page at Hymnary.org https://hymnary.org/person/Romanus1?tab=texts

Pope Benedict XVI on Romanus the Melodist https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=8216

Romanus on the Resurrection, sung performance https://youtu.be/XT-igWEsIh4

Mike Aquilina’s website https://fathersofthechurch.com

Mike Aquilina’s books https://catholicbooksdirect.com/writer/mike-aquilina/

Theme music: Gaudeamus (Introit for the Feast of All Saints), sung by Jeff Ostrowski. Courtesy of Corpus Christi Watershed http://www.ccwatershed.org

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