School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Theses
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ItemRhetoric and ideas in the Kontakia of Romanos the Melodist( 2011)The sixth-century deacon Romanos the Melodist is renowned for his compositions of verse sermons, later called kontakia. These sung poems explore biblical and non-biblical themes through creative reworking of the stories, drawing on literary devices and rhetorical techniques to make the kontakia vibrant and engaging. Romanos is often considered to be the greatest exponent of the kontakion genre, and his works widely held to be gems of the Byzantine era. Despite this apparently high opinion of him and his poetic compositions, much of the previous scholarship has focused on the genesis of the kontakion and Romanos’ literary debts. Moving away from this trend, this thesis investigates Romanos’ ideas. I argue that the central facets of his thought are three interconnected theological ideas: recapitulation, new creation, and participation. According to Romanos, God recapitulated human existence in himself, when he became human in the person of Jesus Christ. He did this to correct human sin and restore humanity to eternal life with him. God’s entrance into the world inaugurated a new creation. Romanos looks for the second coming and the final consummation of the eschaton. In preparation for this consummation, Romanos believes that Christians are called to participate proleptically in the new reality. These three ideas are all supported and performed by the rhetoric which Romanos uses to argue for them. Allegory, comparison and metaphor enact the concept of recapitulation; paradox and allegory embody the new creation; and ethopoeia, ekphrasis and apostrophe facilitate participation. I thus assert that rhetoric is inextricably linked with ideas in Romanos’ compositions, and in fact that understanding his use of rhetoric helps us to understand his ideas and vice versa. Rhetoric is not empty or deceptive in the kontakia, but is a tool Romanos uses to teach the truth, embody his ideas and make his theology convincing.