Priest Mikhail Zheltov
The canon is the central hymn of one of the main church services, Matins1. And at Easter Matins, at which there are neither most of the usual psalms nor the reading of the Gospel, the canon is clearly the center of attention. If you serve strictly according to the rules, the lion's share of the time at Easter Matins will be devoted to the singing of the canon (and it is not small, it must also be performed with numerous repetitions), as well as to the reading of the 45th Word of St. Gregory the Theologian, on Holy Pascha2, a rather lengthy text.
The word of St. Gregory, written in the 4th century, and the Easter canon of St. John of Damascus, created approximately three and a half centuries later, are closely related. The canon contains several literal quotations from St. Gregory, so a true understanding of the canon is impossible without familiarity with the Easter words of the Great Cappadocian.
The Easter canon has a traditional structure: it has 8 cantos3, numbered from 1 to 9 (the 2nd canto is missing); each hymn opens with an irmos4, which should set the melody for the troparions5. In the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th and 9th cantos there are two troparions each, in the 4th, 7th and 8th there are three. There are no Theotokos6 in the canon, but later hymnographers - Theophan and Joseph - added a set of Theotokos to the Easter canon; according to the modern charter, on the first day of Easter they are not sung, but on the following days both are sung (thus, after each song two Theotokos are added).
Irmos of the canons usually contain retellings or references to biblical songs - poetic passages from the Old and New Testaments that underlie the structure of the canon7. The Easter canon is no exception, but here each of the themes of the biblical songs is linked to the Resurrection of Christ:
Irmos of the 1st song: “... from death to life, and from earth to Heaven, Christ God has led us, singing in victory” - just as the Israelites were brought out of Egypt and sang a song of victory after crossing the Red Sea (= 1st biblical song, Ex. 15: 1-19), so we are translated by Christ from death to life.
Irmos of the 3rd canto: “Come, let us drink new beer [that is, drink], not from the barren stone the miracle that works, but from the incorruptible source, from the tomb who brought forth Christ...” - here is an ancient miracle, when during the Israelites’ wandering in the desert God, through the prayer of Moses, brought water out of the rock - “the barren stone” (Ex. 17: 1-7) - is compared with how from the stone tomb of Christ flows out like rain, the source of incorruptibility. It is worth noting that, generally speaking, the themes of rain and wandering in the desert correspond not to the 3rd, but to the 2nd canto of the Bible (Deut. 32:1-43)8.
Irmos of the 4th song: “On divine watch, may the God-speaking Habakkuk stand with us and show a luminous angel, clearly saying: Today... Christ is risen...”, directly refers to the prophet Habakkuk, the author of the 4th biblical song (Hab.3: 2-19). Wed. Hab.2:1: “I stood on my watch and, standing on the tower, watched what He would say in me...” The prophetic vision of Habakkuk is attributed in the irmos to the angel announcing the news of the Resurrection of Christ.
Irmos of the 5th hymn: “Let us morning the deep morning, and instead of peace we will bring a song to the Lady, and we will see Christ, the Sun of Truth...”, contains a paraphrase of the 5th biblical hymn, the prophet Isaiah (Is. 26:9-19): “From the night my spirit will morningen to Thee, O God...” The Slavic word “mornevati” literally means “to gaze intently [during pre-dawn twilight]". Thus, the nightly performance of the Easter canon (according to the strict rules, Matins must always be served at night, before dawn) correlates with how the myrrh-bearing women hurried to the tomb of Christ early in the morning: “instead of peace we will bring a song.”
Irmos of the 6th canto: “Thou hast descended into the nether regions of the earth... and thou hast risen for three days, as from the whale Jonah...” - mentions the prophet Jonah, since the 6th biblical canticle belongs to him (Jon. 2: 3-10). According to the Holy Scriptures, Jonah sang it while deep underwater in the belly of a whale. The Easter canon correlates Jonah's immersion to the bottom of the sea with Christ's descent into hell, and his release from the belly of the whale three days later - with the three-day Resurrection of Christ.
Irmos of the 7th canto: “He who delivered the youths from the furnace, having become a man, suffers as if mortal, and with the passion of death he clothes the mortal in incorruptibility with beauty...” - refers to the story of three Jewish youths who were thrown into a fiery furnace by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, but were saved by God. The story of this event, the prayer and song of the youths make up the 7th biblical song (Dan. 3: 26-56). The Irmos emphasizes that the One who once saved the youths from imminent death, Himself accepted suffering in order to clothe mortal nature with the beauty of incorruptibility (“he will clothe beauty in incorruption”).
Irmos of the 8th canto: “This is the appointed and holy day, one is the Sabbath King and Lord, the feast of feasts, and the triumph is the triumph...”, turning to the theme of the 8th biblical canto (Dan. 3: 57-88) only at the very end: “... in this let us bless Christ forever,” - otherwise it is built around a quote from St. Gregory the Theologian: “Easter! She is our holiday feast and the triumph of celebrations” (Or. 45. 2).
Irmos of the 9th canto: “Shine, shine, new Jerusalem: for the glory of the Lord has risen upon you, rejoice now, and rejoice, O Zion! But You, Pure One, rejoice, O Theotokos, at the rise of Your Nativity,” glorifying the Mother of God, thereby referring to the Song of the Theotokos (Luke 1:46-55), which is the first part of the 9th biblical canto.
The troparia of the canon, together with the irmos, reveal several independent theological themes. Some are obviously connected with the celebration of Christian Easter:
the rejoicing of all creation during the Resurrection of Christ (2nd troparion of the 1st canto: “Let the heavens rejoice with dignity, and let the earth rejoice...”; 1st troparion of the 3rd canto: “... let all creation rejoice...");
the rush of the myrrh-bearers to the tomb of the Savior (irmos of the 5th canto; 1st troparion of the 7th canto: “Women from the world of the godly wise follow Your progress...”) and the appearance of an angel proclaiming the Resurrection of Christ (irmos of the 4th canto);
the descent of Christ into hell (irmos of the 6th canto), the subsequent destruction of hell (2nd troparion of the 7th canto: “We celebrate the mortification of death, the destruction of hell, another beginning of eternal life...”) and the liberation of the prisoners who were there - the souls of dead people (1st troparion of the 5th canto: “... in the bonds of hell... I went to the light, Christ, cheerful feet").
Others correlate Christian Easter with Old Testament prototypes:
various prophecies (cf. what was said above about the correlation of irmos with biblical songs);
the rejoicing of the king and prophet David at the transfer of the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem (3rd troparion of the 4th canto: “David, the father of God, was galloping before the ark of hay, but the holy people of God, seeing the images of the event, rejoiced ...”, cf. 2 Samuel 6: 3-14: “And they set the ark of God on a new chariot ... And David and all the children of Israel played before the Lord on all sorts of musical instruments...David rode with all his might before the Lord");
the main prototype of the Sacrifice of Christ - the Paschal lamb: “[Christ] is the male sex... The Lamb was called, without blemish... our Passover...”, “Like a lamb of one year... Christ was willingly slain for all, a cleansing Passover...” (1st and 2nd troparia of the 4th canto; cf. Ex. 12:5: “You must have a lamb without defect, male, annual").
The theme of the light of the Resurrection of Christ is especially spelled out in the canon, which became a foreshadowing of the brilliant day of the general resurrection from the dead (3rd troparion of the 7th canto: “... this saving night and luminous, luminous day of the rising of beings is the herald ...”). We can say that light permeates the entire canon and is mentioned in one way or another in all of its cantos, except the 6th: “Now everything is filled with light...” (1st troparion of the 3rd canto), “Shine, shine...” (irmos of the 9th canto), etc. But to contemplate this light, it is necessary to make an effort on oneself: “Let us purify the senses, and we will see Christ, shining with an impregnable light resurrection..." (1st troparion of the 1st canto, word order changed). Thus, the true celebration of Easter is possible only through “purification of the senses,” that is, repentance, a virtuous life and ascetic deed. This is also hinted at by the image of those carrying lamps towards the Bridegroom: “Let us come, O luminaries, as Christ proceeds from the tomb as the Bridegroom...” (2nd Troparion of the 5th Song), referring to the Gospel parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25:1-13).
The theme of the sacrament of Baptism is mentioned twice: in the 2nd troparion of the 3rd canto (“Yesterday I was buried in You, Christ, today I am risen with You…”) and in the trinity of the 8th canto (“Father Almighty, and Word, and Soul… I am baptized in You”). In ancient times, they tried to time the Baptism of the catechumens to coincide with the evening before Easter, so that their church life would begin on the main holiday of the year. Therefore, the words “yesterday I was buried” can be understood either as a reference to the celebration of the sacrament of Baptism on Holy Saturday (cf. Rom. 6:4: “we were buried with Him through baptism”), or simply as an indication of the services of Holy Week preceding Easter.
Some attention is paid to the theme of Jerusalem as the focus of Easter rejoicing: “Lift up your eyes around, O Zion, and see: behold, I have come to you... from the west, and the north, and the sea, and the east...” (2nd troparion of the 8th song, the quote contains paraphrases of Is. 49:12, 60:4), “... rejoice now and be glad, O Zion...” (irmos) 9th song). The interest of the Palestinian author, St. John of Damascus, in this topic is quite understandable. But at the same time we are talking not only and not so much about earthly Jerusalem, but about Heavenly Jerusalem - the Church of Christ: “Shine, shine, new Jerusalem!..” (irmos of the 9th canto).
The theme of the Church is intimately present in many of the troparions of the canon - simply because it is presented in the first person plural. In the 3rd troparion of the 4th canto, the Church is called “the holy people of God” (“... the people of God are holy...”). But the mystical culmination of this theme can be called the 1st troparion of the 9th song of the canon, where imagery from the Book of Song of Songs is used (“Oh, divine! Oh, dear! Oh, your sweetest voice!..”, (cf. Song 2: 8, 14): “The voice of my beloved!.. let me hear your voice, because your voice sweet"), which at first glance describes the earthly love of a young man and a girl, but is traditionally understood as an allegory about God and the Church. In this case, such an interpretation is obvious from the following words of the same troparion: “...For thou hast truly promised to be with us, until the end of the age, O Christ...”, referring to the ending of the Gospel of Matthew, where Christ says: “Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19).
The author of the canon managed to weave into it references to other key Christian theological themes: about the Trinity of the Divine (trinity of the 8th canto), about the immaculate birth of the Lord Jesus Christ (1st troparion of the 6th canto: “...the keys of the Virgin are unharmed in Thy Nativity..."), about the universal nature of the Christian gospel (2nd troparion of the 6th canto: "...thou hast raised up all-begotten Adam..."), about the eschatological expectation of the coming of the Kingdom of God (1st troparion of the 8th canto: “Come, new birth of the vine, divine joy, in the deliberate days of the resurrection, let us partake of the Kingdom of Christ...”, cf. Matthew 26:29: “I tell you that from now on I will not drink from the fruit of this vine until the day when I drink new [wine] with you in the Kingdom of My Father”).
The choruses of the 9th song of the canon (when sung, the irmos and troparia of this song alternate with them) also contain simply general references to the Resurrection of Christ (“My soul magnifies Christ, the Giver of Life, who rose three days from the grave,” “Christ is risen, trampling death…”), and a description of general rejoicing (“Today every creature rejoices and rejoices, for Christ is risen”), and mentions of the myrrh-bearing women (“Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and, seeing Christ, asked like a gardener”, “An angel washed over the women crying: stop crying, for Christ is risen”), and the thought of Christ’s descent into hell (“Thou hast awakened, having fallen asleep, the dead from the ages ...”, “Christ is risen ... the dead having raised up...", "Today the Lord of the captivity of hell, who has raised up the captivity of the captivity, even from time immemorial the name of the fiercely possessed"), and comparison with the prototypes from the Old Testament ("Christ is the new Passover, the living Sacrifice, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world": cf. Is. 53:7, John 1:29; "Thou hast raised up, asleep, dead from eternity, roaring royally, like a lion from Judah": cf. Gen. 49:9), and other theological themes (about the Trinity: "My soul magnifies the Trinitarian and indivisible power of the Divine"; about the Annunciation, that is, the Incarnation of God: "Rejoice, Virgin, rejoice..."; in the most famous of the choruses: "Angel crying out with the Most Grace: Pure Virgin, rejoice!