International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Paraskevi Toma
University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus; 
[e-mail]
Narrative Identity? Remarks on the “I” in Canons by Joseph the Hymnographer
As a member of the Constantinopolitan intellectual elite and as a teacher in a wide circle 
of disciples, Joseph the Hymnographer had a considerable influence on the textual development 
of the canon. His oeuvre gives the impression of aiming at the formation of a firm liturgical life 
as a whole, rather than establishing the individual Christian subject. The first person perspective, 
which he often opted for his poems, was already present in the hymns of Romanus the Melodist 
and Andrew of Crete. The way Joseph decided to integrate these traditional expressive means into 
his poems reveals the literary inventory he had at his disposal. His ability, for instance, to make 
allusions constantly to the penitential “self” of the Old Testamental Psalms and selectively to the 
ascetic instructions of the Church Fathers demonstrates his tendency to a skilled imitatio, but does 
not signify a personal narrative identity. Furthermore, due to the fact that the canons were publicly 
chanted, the hymnographers systematically transformed the personal “I” into the liturgical “We”, 
willing to reduce the distance between them and the congregation. On the other hand, the references 
to consciousness (συνείδησις) in the hymns can lead the auditor to an inaccurate perception of a 
conscious “I”, as the term draws attention to the spiritual self-awareness. Nonetheless, this initial 
impression fades away after an in-depth examination of the accompanying adjectives, which derive 
mainly from Pauline Epistles. The tension between such stereotyped expressions and his inventive 
contextualization adds an implicit, though sensible, dynamic of appropriation. In other words, 
Joseph the Hymnographer achieved to versify the conventional poetic “I” by manipulating skillfully 
familiar language and by accommodating his carefully-worded phrases to the respective context.