This chapter examines the compunctious hymns of Romanos the Melodist. It explores the genre of his compositions (kontakion) and their liturgical context, reimagining the performance of his hymns during the Lenten period. It does so according to three themes: compunction and repentance; biblical exemplars of compunction; and compunction in the face of eschatological judgment. By framing the approach of this chapter with these three themes, the most relevant elements of compunction in Romanos’ oeuvre are examined. The chapter shows how Romanos’ kontakia, by retelling and amplifying the sacred stories that defined the Byzantines, sought to frame and shape an emotional and liturgical community in Constantinople.

This chapter examines the significance of compunction for Christianity in Late Antiquity and Byzantium. It argues that the feeling of compunction was intertwined with the experience of paradisal nostalgia and an outpouring of tears. After briefly considering the portrayal of the emotions in patristic literature and the emergence of compunction in the Psalms, this chapter introduces the history of emotions as a field of research, arguing that the performativity of hymns paves the way to understanding emotions in Byzantium as embodied and liturgical phenomena. Finally, it foreshadows how this book will show that hymnody evoked scriptural stories, inviting the faithful to enter into the sacred drama of salvation unfolding before them and feel liturgically.

This chapter moves to ninth-century Byzantium and the hymnographer Kassia, who is the only known female author of hymns appearing in the liturgical books of the Byzantine tradition. Exploring the liturgical performance of Kassia’s hymn On the Sinful Woman during Holy Week, this chapter examines the genre of this hymn (sticheron idiomelon) and its manuscript tradition. The tears of Kassia’s protagonist and how they evoke the mystery of compunction and repentance in Byzantium are investigated. On the Sinful Woman was chanted a few days before Christ’s Passion, evoking the existential abyss created by the absence of the divine from the life of the faithful and unveiling how tears of compunction could bridge this chasm. This chapter concludes with a few brief remarks on the sacred music of Kassia’s hymn and reflections on the relationship between chant and compunction.

This chapter explores the liturgical world of compunction – the sacred space of the Byzantine liturgy. It focuses on the cathedral of Hagia Sophia, which was the epicentre of worship in Constantinople, and investigates the liturgical significance of Novella 137, the sixth-century edict of Emperor Justinian that betokened the compunctious character of the Byzantine Eucharist. It also examines the liturgical commentaries of Dionysius the Areopagite, Maximus the Confessor and Germanos of Constantinople for further evidence of experiencing sacred song in Byzantium, before briefly touching upon affective mysticism and its significance for Byzantine hymnody. Finally, it probes the liturgical and hermeneutical framework for compunction in Byzantium – Great Lent and the Triodion.

This chapter explores the liturgical performance of Andrew of Crete’s Great Kanon. It examines the genre of this hymn (kanon), its liturgical context and its manuscript tradition, investigating how its performance sought to arouse compunction in the faithful. Given there is no critical edition of the Great Kanon currently available, three of the earliest manuscripts of the Triodion where this hymn appears are cited: Sinai Graecus 734–735, Vaticanus Graecus 771 and Grottaferrata Δβ I.This approach, together with an examination of rubrics and other relevant sources, assists in reimagining how the Great Kanon was performed in Byzantium. For the Byzantines, the singing of the Great Kanon became a liturgical act that could mirror, shape and transform the passions of the singer’s soul.

The performance of hymns that sought to arouse and embody compunction were momentous events in the history of Byzantine emotions. Compunction became more than a personal feeling of remorse arising from the consciousness of one’s own sinfulness and a desire for forgiveness through repentance; it became a liturgical emotion and a collective feeling. Hymnody collapsed the distinctions between singer and scriptural characters, between temporality and the biblical narrative of salvation. Emotions were an embodied experience, enacted through sacred song and liturgical mysticism. Compunction was an emotion intertwined with paradisal nostalgia, a desire for repentance and a wellspring of tears.