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.