Catavasia.

Declare, ye Angel Bands that dwell on high,

E

How saw ye Him, the Victor, drawing nigh?

What strange new visions burst upon your sight?

One in the Form of Man, That claims by right

The very throne of GOD, the unapproached

Light!

Exaposteilarion.

ternal! After Thine own will

Thou born in time would'st be:

After the self-same counsel still

Was Thine Epiphany:

Thou in our flesh didst yield Thy breath,

Immortal GOD, for man:

Thou by Thy death didst conquer Death,
Through Thine Almighty plan :

Thou, rising Victor to the sky,

Fill'st Heav'n and earth above:

And send'st the Promise from on high,
The SPIRIT of Thy Love!

Theoctistus of the Studium.

+ Circ. A.D. 890.

He is said to have been the friend of S. Joseph; but is only known to us by the "Suppliant Canon to JESUS," to be found at the end of the Paracletice. The following is a Cento formed from it.

Ἰησοῦ γλυκύτατε.

JESU, Name all names above,
JESU, best and dearest,
JESU, Fount of perfect love,

Holiest, tenderest, nearest ;

JESU, Source of grace completest,

JESU purest, JESU Sweetest,
JESU, Well of power Divine,

Make me, keep me, seal me Thine!

JESU, open me the gate

That of old he enter'd,

Who, in that most lost estate,

Wholly on Thee ventur'd;

Thou, Whose Wounds are ever pleading, And Thy Passion interceding,

From my misery let me rise

To a Home in Paradise!

Thou didst call the Prodigal :
Thou didst pardon Mary :
Thou Whose words can never fall,
Love can never vary:

ORD, to heal my lost condition
Give-for Thou can'st give-contrition;
Thou can'st pardon all mine ill
If Thou wilt: O say, "I will!"

Woe, that I have turned aside
After fleshly pleasure!

Woe, that I have never tried

For the Heavenly Treasure!
Treasure, safe in Homes supernal;
Incorruptible, eternal!

Treasure no less price hath won
Than the Passion of The SON!

JESU, crown'd with Thorns for me, Scourged for my transgression, Witnessing, through agony,

That Thy good confession! JESU, clad in purple raiment, For my evils making payment; Let not all Thy woe and pain, Let not Calvary, be in vain!

When I reach Death's bitter sea,
And its waves roll higher,

Help the more forsaking me

As the storm draws nigher :

JESU, leave me not to languish, Helpless, hopeless, full of anguish ! Tell me,-"Verily I say,

Thou shalt be with Me to-day!"

Metrophanes of Smyrna.

+Circ. A.D. 910.

He was Bishop of that See towards the close of the 9th century, and is principally famous for his Canons in honour of the Blessed TRINITY,-eight in number, one to each Tone. They are sung at Matins on Sundays and if the writer has not always been able to fuse his learning and orthodoxy into poetry, nor yet to escape the tautology of his brother bards, these compositions are stately and striking. Metrophanes was a vigorous supporter of S. Ignatius; and the partizan of Rome in her contest with Photius.

It would be impossible, without wearying the reader, to translate the whole of one of the Triadic Canons; but a Cento from them may not be unacceptable.