After the Polyeleos,
nine odes from Holy Scripture are sung, in which Old Testament saints expressed
their hope in a Saviour and their readiness to receive Him. To these odes are
added the nine odes of the Canon. The word “canon” signifies “rule,” “order,”
and the name is given to a collection of verses (troparia) in honor of
the event or person commemorated, composed after one definite rule, namely:
Each canon is divided into nine parts called odes, each of which consists of
several short verses or troparia. The simultaneous singing of the
scriptural odes and the odes of the canon proceeds after the following established
order: First a verse from an Old Testament ode is chanted, then a troparion
of the canon; after that the next verse and the second troparion, and so
forth to the end. As the first troparion of every canonic ode serves as
a link between an Old Testament ode and a New Testament ode, its contents are
always taken from the former. Either the event celebrated in the Old Testament
ode is shown to be the prototype of that of the New Testament, or else single
expressions are borrowed from the Old Testament. Hence the first troparion
of each canonic ode is called Eirmos (i.e., “link”). The following
verses of the canonic ode are called troparia (i.e., “verses that
turn”), because, by their meter and tone, they turn towards their eirmos
and conform to it. After, each ode of the canon coupled with the Old Testament
ode, the eirmos is chanted again by two choirs, which, for that purpose,
come out into the middle of the church. From this manner of singing, this eirmos
is called the Katavásia (i.e., “descent” from the soleas
where the choirs are placed).
In order to shorten the
service, it is usual to sing only the odes of the canon, omitting the Old
Testament odes, except the ninth, since their contents are found in the eirmos
of the canon. In these odes, refrains are introduced between the troparia
of the canon — petitions or praises addressed to the person in whose honor the
canon is composed.
The first Old Testament
ode is the song in which Moses gave thanks after the passage of the Red Sea, and the submersion of
Pharaoh’s army. With this ode is coupled the eirmos of the first ode of
the canon, in which this passage is presented as the prototype of our salvation
from sin through the waters of baptism, and Jesus is glorified, Who led us out
of death into life, saving us from the abyss of sin, from the slough of
iniquity.
The second Old
Testament ode is the song in which Moses exhorted the people before his death.
It is sung only in Great Lent.
The third Old Testament
ode is the song of Hannah (Anna), the mother of the Prophet Samuel, in which
she gave thanks to God for having taken from her the disgrace of barrenness and
given her a son. The eirmos of the third ode of the canon points to this
event as a type of men who, having been tainted with sin, but having become
Christians, were given the strength to bring forth rich fruits of good works,
and glorifies God in Hannah’s words.
The fourth Old
Testament ode is the song of the Prophet Habakkuk (Abbachum), who, under the
guise of the blazing sun rising from behind the forest-clad mountain, symbolizes
the coming of Christ. The eirmos of this fourth ode of the canon celebrates
the Incarnation of Christ from the Virgin Mary in the words of the Prophet
Habakkuk.
The fifth Old Testament
ode is that of the Prophet Isaiah which symbolizes the glorious coming of the
Saviour as the all-vivifying light which raises the dead to life. The eirmos
of the fifth ode of the canon celebrates Christ as the Light which delivers us
from the darkness of sin.
The sixth Old Testament
ode is the song of the Prophet Jonah, who was swallowed by the whale,
expressing his hope to be saved by God. In the eirmos of the sixth ode
of the canon the Prophet Jonah is represented now as the prototype of Christ,
risen from the dead on the third day, now as a symbol of the human race,
swallowed by the spiritual Beast — the devil, drowning in the sea of life, in
the tempest of sins, and finding in the Saviour alone a peaceful harbor, in
which mankind is secure from the deep of evil.
The seventh and eighth
Old Testament odes are the songs of the three youths, cast by Nebuchadnezzar
into the burning fiery furnace. In these songs they first besought God to
forgive their transgressions, then glorified Him for
their miraculous preservation. In the eirmoi of the corresponding odes
of the canon, the deliverance of the three youths is made to symbolize the
miraculous incarnation of Christ, and the Saviour is glorified in their words.
The ninth ode is from
the New Testament. It is the song of the Virgin Mary, in which she expresses
her joy at her meeting with Elizabeth after the Annunciation: “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my
spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.” This ode is coupled with that of
Zachariah on the birth of his son John the Forerunner. When this ode is sung,
the verses are separated by the chant: “More honorable than the Cherubim, and
beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim, who without corruption gavest
birth to God the Word, the very Theotokos, thee do we magnify.” — The Virgin’s
song is never omitted, except in the great Twelve Feast days, when various
other texts are substituted for it. The eirmos of the ninth ode of the
canon celebrates the Mother of God and the Incarnation of Christ.
In this manner the eirmoi
of the canon celebrate the coming of Christ in the words of the Old Testament
saints who awaited it, while the troparia glorify the Lord in connection
with the event or the Saint in whose honor the canon is composed. The canon is
sung with the Royal Gates closed, because New Testament events are celebrated
therein under cover of the Old Testament.
The chanting of the
canon is divided into three parts by reciting the Small Ectenia, after
the third, sixth and ninth odes. With the canon ends that part of the service
which is devoted to commemorating the special features of the day.
Note. — These ecteniæ are
distinguished by differences in the Exclamations uttered by the priest. The
first celebrates God as the Creator and Divine Providence: — “For Thou art our
God”; the second — as the Saviour: “For Thou art the King of peace and the
Saviour of our souls”; the third — as King of the whole world, visible and
invisible, “For all the hosts of Heaven praise Thee.”