Return to the index of "Other Women's Voices."
Updated 10-03-07
Kassia /Kassiane
/-ni /Casia /Icasia (c.810-bef.867)
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"I HATE SILENCE WHEN IT IS A TIME FOR SPEAKING."
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Kassia was probably born and was certainly raised in Constantinople; her family was aristocratic, her father served in the emperor's court. We don't know how she was educated, but she became skilled in classical Greek.
The early part of her life was affected by a controversy that had started a hundred years before her birth. In the early 700s some of the Greek clergy became concerned that devotion paid to the images --- pictures, statues --- of Christ and the saints were replacing devotion to the persons whom the images represented. In 726 the emperor ordered that the images of Christ in his palace be destroyed; others followed suit with a wholesale destruction of images ("iconoclasm," literally, breaking of images) throughout the empire. What had begun as a doctrinal dispute soon became entangled in court intrigue and rivalry between the church in Constantinople and that in Rome. The iconoclasts controlled the emperor's court, so people were imprisoned, exiled, or even executed for supporting the veneration of images ("iconodulia").
There was a brief respite at the end of the 700s, but the
controversy erupted again when Kassia was in her teens. Tradition
says that Kassia was at one point beaten for helping iconodule
exiles and imprisoned monks; that may be merely a legend, but
we do know that she was in contact with one of the chief iconodules,
the monk Theodore of Studium (d.826). We have three letters he
wrote to her (see one online, which lets us know that she was
already sharing her writings with others).
Another tradition has Kassia being considered as a wife by the
Emperor Theophilis in 830 and being rejected because she spoke
up for women (see Edward Gibbon's account online); again, the
story may be untrue, but its existence shows her reputation for
wit. Theodora, the woman who became Theophilis' bride, apparently
shared Kassia's view on iconoclasm; when she became regent on
her husband's death in 843, she was able to permanently reinstate
the veneration of images.
We know nothing of Kassia's life between 830 and 843, whether she married, had children. The next we hear is that sometime after 843, she founded a monastery in Constantinople and became its first abbess. Her hymns are generally believed to come from this period; some believe that her secular verse had been written earlier, on the grounds that it would have been "improper" for a nun to write, for example, a list of the kinds of people she hated. However, we simply don't know when the the secular verse was written.
Of Kassia's writings we have 49 attributed hymns (of which about 30 are currently used in the Eastern Orthodox liturgy): 47 are troparia (short praise hymns) and 2 are canons (hymn-cycles of 8 odes); many of the melodies of the hymns are extant, but they may have been changed over the centuries. She also wrote 261 epigrams and gnomic verses (maxims, some of only one line). Reading both kinds of her poetry lets us hear Kassia's full voice.
On this page you'll find:
Links to helpful sites online.
Excerpts from translations in print.
Information about secondary sources.
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1. Translations:
(a) In a biography of Kassia, translations of two complete hymns, "When Augustus reigned alone upon earth" and "Mary Magdalene" (the first translated by Antonia Tripolitis), and lines from another.
(b) In a article by Natalie Bennett "Kassia: The 'Byzantine Hildegard of Bingen,'" several of the secular verses, translated by Anna M. Silvas (for information on Silvas' 2006 essay from which they are taken, see below, under "Secondary sources").
2. The hymn "Mary Magdalene" in the original Greek. (This is Kassia's most famous hymn and remains part of the Holy Week liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox Church.)
3. Essays (some with translations):
(a) Kassia is the chief focus of Diane Touliatos' essay, "Women Composers of Medieval Byzantine Chant." Touliatos lists 49 Kassia compositions (some certain, some attributed) and analyzes three: "When Augustus became monarch upon earth," "The five-stringed lute and fivefold lamp," and "Lord, the woman fallen in many sins" (for each, the musical notation and H.J.W. Tillyard's translation is given).
(b) Another essay by Touliatos, "Woman Composers in Byzantium," places Kassia against the background of other known Byzantine composers. (For information on a 2000 study by Touliatos on the musical settings of 13 Kassia hymns, see "Secondary sources.")
(c) A 2004 essay by the composer Christos Hatzis on The Troparion of Kassiani, his setting for soprano and choir of "Mary Magdalene"; at the end the hymn is given in transliterated Greek and in translation.
(d) "A Time to Speak," a 1992 essay on Kassia by Eva Catafygiotu Topping (for information on an earlier article by Topping, see "Secondary sources").
4. At the bottom of the page, Theodore of Studium's c.826 letter to the young Kassia, translated by Alice Gardner.
5. At Chapter 48 of Edward Gibbon's 1778-88 Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, go to "Icasia" for Gibbon's story of her answer to the emperor's observation about women being the cause of much evil. As you will see, Gibbon did not approve of Kassia's "affectation of unseasonable wit."
6. Go to "Kassia" for the publisher's description of Tripolitis' 1992 translation, Kassia: The Legend, the Woman, and Her Work (for excerpts from the book, see under "In print").
7. An incomplete but partially annotated 2000 bibliography /discography.
8. For historical background, more on the iconoclastic
controversy that affected much of Kassia's life.
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[Antonia Tripolitis gives both the Greek original and translations of 49 of Kassia's hymns and all of her secular poems, with a detailed introduction and useful notes:]
Kassia: the legend, the woman, and her work / edited and translated
by Antonia Tripolitis (Garland library of medieval literature;
v. 84. Series A). New York: Garland, 1992. (xxviii, 153 p.)
LC#: PA5319.K295 A27 1992; ISBN: 0824029909
Includes bibliographical references (p. xxv-xxviii) and indexes.
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"The bodiless servant was sent to the living city and the
spiritual gate...."
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[A hymn for the feast of the annunciation, celebrating Mary's being told of the coming birth of Jesus:]
The angel Gabriel
was sent from heaven by God
to an undefiled virgin,
to a city of Galilee, Nazareth,
to announce to her the strange manner of her conception.
The bodiless servant was sent
to the living city and the spiritual gate
to make known the descent of of the master's presence.
The heavenly soldier was sent
to the spotless palace of glory
to prepare the everlasting dwelling for the creator.
And coming before her he proclaimed:
"Hail, fiery throne
more glorious by far than the fourfold-form living beings.
Hail, heavenly royal seat,
Hail, unhewn mountain,
most honored vessel.
For in you has come to dwell bodily
the fullness of the Godhead,
by the good will of the everlasting Father
and with the joint cooperation of the Holy Spirit.
Hail, you who are favored
The Lord is with you." [p.47]
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"How can I hold you as a child, you who hold everything
together?"
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[And parts of longer hymns. This is from a hymn for the feast of the presentation of the infant Jesus in the temple by Mary and Joseph:]
"How can I hold you as a child,
you who hold everything together?
"How do I bring you to the temple, who is beyond goodness?
How do I deliver you to the arms of the elder,
who sits in the bosom of the Father?
"How do you endure purification,
you who purifies the whole corrupt nature?"
So said the Virgin
the temple who contained God
marveling at your great condescension, Christ. [part
3; p.41]
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"When you called those who had died before to rise up, I
came to life."
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[From a canon for Holy Saturday, the day between Jesus' death and his resurrection, when tradition said he freed the "faithful" from hell. This hymn is an official part of the Eastern Orthodox Holy Week liturgy. Tripolitis cites a commentator of the 1100s as saying that Kassia couldn't possibly be the author because "a hymn for a major religious holiday could not be attributed to a woman" (p.81):]
He who once
Hid the pursuing tyrant
In the waves of the sea,
Was hidden beneath the earth
By the children of those he had saved.
But let us, as the maidens,
Sing unto the Lord,
For he is greatly glorified.
Senseless, old,
Insatiable, gaping
Hell, receive
The life of all mankind.
For you will be sick devouring
the souls of the righteous that you had swallowed down;
The Lord will strike you down
Because He is glorified....
To all those shackled
With the indestructible chains of hell
The Lord shouted:
"Those in bondage burst forth,
Those in darkness be free."
Our King is delivering
Those in the earth....
By means of the cross, O benefactor,
You mortified the pride of the soul-destroyer;
Descending into hell, you crushed its barriers
And, as God, raised the forefather;
And by your death granted to the faithful
Peace and life and exultation.
You who breathed life into mortals
Lived with those in hell.
Those in darkness you told to come out
And those in bonds to be released,
To the destruction of the enemy.
And when you called those who had died before
To rise up,
I came to life. [ll.1-15,
39-45, 75-90; p.81-87]
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"Don't judge with reason, but let your goodness prevail."
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[From a canon for the dead:]
Most impartial judge,
when you weigh
our deeds,
don't judge with reason,
but let your goodness prevail;
and add weight to the scale, Lord,
when the evil deeds tip it the other way....
We pray, O Deliverer,
that you mix the terrible cup
of unmixed drink in your hand
with gentleness,
and save those of your servants
whom you have already taken from the earth,
from this sediment, and place them
in the land of the meek, Merciful One,
to praise and bless you forever....
Ever-remembered fathers, brothers, and sisters,
relatives, friends, and my soul-mates,
who have already taken the terrible road,
instead of a contribution
accept a gift of this hymn by me.
And as many of you as are fortunate
to gain the bliss of heaven,
earnestly entreat the Creator on my behalf.... [ll.163-171,
201-210, 229-236; pp.89-105]
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"I hate the one who conforms to all ways."
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[Some of Kassia's "secular" poems. From "Metre of Kassia in Iambic Verse":]
I hate a murderer condemning the hot-tempered.
I hate the adulterer when he judges the fornicator.
I hate the leper who drives out the leprous....
I hate a rich man complaining as a poor man.
I hate the poor man boasting as in wealth.
I hate a debtor who sleeps unconcernedly....
I hate the verbose in an unsuitable time.
I hate silence when it is a time for speaking.
I hate the one who conforms to all ways....
I hate the one who does not encourage everyone with words.
I hate one who speaks before examining.
I hate the one who teaches knowing nothing.... [ll.1-3,
5-7, 17-19, 21-23; pp.111-113]
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"Just as it is impossible to bend a great pillar...."
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[On stupidity:]
There is absolutely no cure for stupidity
nor help except for death.
A stupid person when honored is arrogant towards everyone,
and when praised becomes even more over-confident.
Just as it is impossible to bend a great pillar,
so it is to change a stupid person. [p.125]
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"Monachos is having only yourself."
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[From "Concerning monachoi," one of Kassia's poems on the monastic life:]
Monachos is having only yourself.
Monachos is a single-thought life.
Monachos having worldly concerns has been called many names
but not monachos....
Monachos is a restrained tongue.
Monachos is a non-wandering eye.
Monachos is a completely shut door.
Monachos is a support of the unsupported.
Monachos is an established book
showing the model to be imitated
and teaching at the same time.... [ll.1-4,
10-16; p.137]
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"Beauty has its consolation."
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[From Kassia's "Epigrams":]
Don't seek wealth, or for that matter poverty;
for one inflates the mind and judgment,
the other brings unending grief. [p.119]
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It is moderately bad for a woman to have a radiant countenance,
yet beauty has its consolation;
but if a woman is ugly,
what misfortune, what bad luck. [p.121]
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Woe, oh lord, if a stupid person attempts to be clever;
where does one flee, where does one turn, how does one endure?
[p.125]
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Love everyone, but don't trust all.
[p.129]
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The possession of good is rare,
but on the other hand evil is very available.
[p.133]
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[This collection's essay by Anna M. Silvas, "Kassia
the Nun c.810-c.865: An Appreciation," is a good place to
start. Silvas gives her translations of a number of the epigrams
and gnomic verses and passages from the hymns, describing their
contemporary relevance and Kassia's theological view of women.
In an appendix are Silvas' translations of the three letters
written to the young Kassia by Theodore of Studium. (See
the book's table of contents online.) :]
Byzantine women: varieties of experience 800-1200 / edited by
Lynda Garland (Publications for the Centre for Hellenic Studies,
King's College, London; 8). Aldershot [England]; Burlington,
VT: Ashgate, c2006. (xix, 226 p.: ill.)
LC#: HQ1147.B98 B98 2006; ISBN: 075465737X
Includes bibliographical references (p. 193-213) and index
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[Diane Touliatos, who has discovered much of Kassia's music,
here transcribes the notation of the musical settings of 13 hymns,
with romanization of the Greek syllables. Touliatos also gives
the Greek original, Tripolitis' English translation, and a brief
introduction to each hymn:]
Thirteen hymns / Kassia; Diane Touliatos, editor. Bryn Mawr,
PA : Hildegard Pub. Co., c2000. ([xiii], 18 p. of music: facsim.;
28 cm)
LC#: M2160.73.K37 S73 2000x
Unaccompanied melodies. Preface and notes, including Greek texts
with English translations, on p. [i]-[xiii].
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[This first volume of a larger project includes an essay on Kassia
by Touliatos, which gives Tripolitis' translation of five of
the hymns and analyzes their extant musical settings; Touliatos'
bibliography is thorough:]
Women composers: music through the ages / edited by Martha
Furman Schleifer and Sylvia Glickman. New York: G.K. Hall, c1996-.
(1 score (vols.): facsims.; 29 cm)
LC#: M2 .W88 1996 v.1; ISBN: 0816109265 (v. 1)
" ...annotated, modern performance scores from the ninth
through the twentieth centuries also contain ... explanatory
essays ..." Includes bibliographical references and index.
Vol. 1. Composers born before 1599
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[Eva Catafygiotu Topping's article gives a close reading of the "Mary Magdalene" hymn; only the Greek original is given for quoted passages, but you can see English translations online:]
Topping, Eva Catafygiotu. The Psalmist, Luke, & Kassia
the nun. Byzantine Studies/ Etudes Byzantines, 9 (1982),
199-210.
LC#:DF503 .B86; ISSN: 0095-4608
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[H.J.W. Tillyard's 1911 article is an analysis of Kassia's music, which gives the score and Tillyard's translation of ten of her hymns (and the Greek original of four):]
Tillyard, H.J.W. A musical study of the hymns of Casia. Byzantinische
Zeitschrift, 20 (1911), 420-485.
LC#: PA5000 .B8; ISSN: 0007-7704
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Updated 10-03-07