‘Your virginity shines' – The Attraction of the Virgin in the Annunciation Hymn by Romanos

Summary, in English

The sixth century liturgical poet Romanos Melodos composed dramatic hymns for the great feasts in Constantinople. His career coincides with an important phase in the history of Mariology: In the wake of the Ephesus council Marian devotion starts to make historical footprints throughout the Church of the Empire; sources reveal a growing interest in the person of the Theotokos, especially in the capital. Recent studies have focused on images of the Virgin in texts like the Akathistos and the homilies of Proclus. Through an analysis of Romanos’s Hymn on the Annunciation (XXXVI in the Oxford edition) this presentation explores the Marian image in texts that belong to a later part of the post-Ephesian phase and which present a much broader image of her. The focus of the analysis is the function of virginity; what does this symbol symbolize? What role does the virginity of Mary play in hymns intended for a civic audience?



I suggest that in this hymn Marian virginity has little to do with asceticism; she does not renounce anything. The text, on the contrary, uses her virginity to exalt her as attractive and an object of desire, one to whom the congregation may turn.

• Författare: Thomas Arentzen
• Redaktör: Markus Vinzent
• Avdelning/ar: Kyrko- och missionsstudier
• Publiceringsår: 2013
• Språk: Engelska
• Sidor: 125-132
• Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie: Studia Patristica
• Volym: XVI
• Issue: 68
• Dokumenttyp: Konferensbidrag
• Förlag: Peeters Publishers
• Ämne: Religious Studies
• Nyckelord: mariology; virginity; erotics; Romanos Melodos
• Conference name: The Sixteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies
• Conference date: 2011-08-08 - 2011-08-12
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt: ISBN: 978-90-429-3001-8