The Medieval Church · c. 850–886
The Canons and Hymns
Joseph the Hymnographer · c. 816 – 886
What it is
A Sicilian who was captured by pirates on the way to Rome, spent years enslaved on Crete, and on returning wrote hymns for very nearly every day of the Byzantine year — several hundred canons, more than any other author.
Why it lasted
More of the Orthodox service books are his work than anyone else's, so an ordinary weekday office in the Eastern churches is largely sung in words he wrote. Sheer volume made him invisible: almost nobody who sings them knows the name.
Scripture it works from
Where to read it
This work is in the public domain and can be read in full, free, at the archives below.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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