ABSTRACT
A kanon is a type of Christian liturgical hymn that originated in Greek-speaking Chalcedonian circles in Palestine in the seventh and eighth centuries. Among the masters of the kanon were John of Damascus (d. 750), Kosmas of Maiouma (675-752), and Andrew of Crete (ca. 660-740). Apart from its beauty and complexity, the kanon had another characteristic: a penchant for crossing borders. Originating outside the Byzantine Empire, it nevertheless made its way from Palestine to Constantinople. In both regions it would come to take the place of the nine biblical canticles in the cathedral and monastic morning service.1 The kanon would cross another boundary, a linguistic one: Greek Chalcedonian kanons were translated into Syriac as early as the late eighth century.2 The focus of this chapter will be a third type of boundary the kanon crossed – a confessional one. Greek Chalcedonian kanons would eventually appear in the Syrian Orthodox – that is, Miaphysite – liturgy, in Syriac.3 Dozens of Chalcedonian kanons, in fact, originally written in Greek, show up in Miaphysite liturgical books. Nothing symbolizes the strangeness of this phenomenon quite as vividly, perhaps, as the fact that the Paschal Kanon, traditionally attributed to John of Damascus and one of the most famous hymns in the entire Chalcedonian tradition, appears in the Miaphysite liturgy.4 This striking situation offers an opportunity to explore how liturgy might be a source of commonality between confessions that, historically, have been rivals and even at times enemies.
