Cosmas of Maiuma
| Saint Cosmas of Maiuma | |
|---|---|
| Hagiopolites | |
| Born | 8th century, Jerusalem |
| Died | 8th century, Maiuma, Gaza |
| Venerated in | Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Catholic Churches |
| Feast | October 14 |
| Patronage | Hymnographers |
 |
|
Saint Cosmas of Maiuma, also called Cosmas Hagiopolites ("of the Holy City"), Cosmas of Jerusalem, or Cosmas the Melodist (d. 773 or 794),[1] was a bishop and hymnographer (writer of hymns) of the Eastern Church.
Life
Saint Cosmas (Greek: Κοσμας) was born in Jerusalem, but was orphaned at a young age. He became the foster-brother of Saint
John of Damascus (ca. 676 – 749). The teacher of the two boys was an elderly Sicilian monk, also named Cosmas
(known as "Cosmas the Monk" to distinguish him), who had been freed from slavery to the
Cosmas, however, left the monastery in 743, when he was appointed Bishop of Maiuma, the port of ancient Gaza on the southern coast of Phoenicia. He outlived St. John by many years and died in great old age.
Works
The Eastern Orthodox Church observes his feast on 14 October. As a learned prose-author, Cosmas wrote commentaries, or scholia, on the poems of St. Gregory of Nazianzus. He is regarded with great admiration as a poet. St. Cosmas and St. John of Damascus are considered to be the best representatives of the later Greek classical hymnography, the most characteristic examples of which are the artistic liturgical chants known as "canons". They worked together on developing the Octoechos.
Saint Cosmas has been called "a vessel of divine grace" and "the glory of the Church."[2] He composed the solemn canon for Matins of Palm Sunday, the Triodes (canons with only three Canticles) which are chanted during Holy Week, and the first canon of the Nativity (based on a Nativity sermon by St. Gregory the Theologian). Altogether, fourteen canons are attributed to him in the liturgical book of the Orthodox Church.[3] His most well-known composition is "More honourable than the cherubim…" (which is included in the Axion Estin), sung regurlary at Matins, the Divine Liturgy and other services.
The hymns of St. Cosmas were originally intended for the Divine Services of the Church of Jerusalem, but through the influence of Constantinople their use became universal in the Orthodox Church. It is not certain, however, that all the hymns ascribed to Cosmas in the liturgical books were really his compositions, especially as his teacher of the same name was also a hymn writer.
Notes
- ^ Other sources give the dates of his life as ca. 675 - ca. 751. Kathryn Tsai, A Timeline of Eastern Church History (Divine Ascent Press, Point Reyes Station, CA, 2004), p. 144.
- ^ Alexander A. Bogolepov, The hymns of the Orthodox Church, Orthodox Hymns of Christmas, Holy Week and Easter. Accessed 2007-04-02.
- ^ Tsai, op. cit.
Bibliography
- Collections of hymns, varying in number, are attributed to Cosmas, and may be found in Jacques-Paul Migne, Patrologia Graecae (P.G.), XCVIII, 459-524, and in Christ-Paranikas, Anthologia graeca carminum christianorum (Leipzig, 1871), 161-204.
- For the above-mentioned scholia on the poems of Gregory of Nazianzus, see Cardinal Angelo Mai, Spicilegium Romanum, II, Pt. II, 1-375, and Migne, P.G., XXXVIII, 339-679.
- In general, see Krumbacher, Gesch. der byzantinischen Literatur (2d ed., Munich, 1896), 674 sqq.
See also
- Sts. Cosmas and Damian, 3rd century martyrs
External links
- Cosmas the Hymnographer article from Orthodox Wiki (with icon)
- Kosmas the Hagiopolite Icon and brief life
- Cosmas article in Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913.
This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.
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