ABSTRACT
This chapter, which is indebted to Mullett’s work in this field, focuses on two liturgical texts that were composed for the celebration of Christ’s Presentation or ‘Meeting’ (or ‘Hypapante’) in the Temple, one by the 6th-century hymnographer Romanos the Melodist, and the other by the 8th-century monk, Kosmas. It intends to compare the structure and content of each work in relation to its particular liturgical setting: such analysis reveals the rhetorical techniques which each author adopted in order to capture the attention of his intended audience. The chapter shows how the performance of each hymn within the physical space of contemporary churches may have affected its structure and style. The performative nature of these works, which were both composed in response to a dramatic biblical encounter between the incarnate God and the rest of humanity, conveyed powerful theological messages to congregations in early Byzantine Palestine and Constantinople.
