What’s with all the Greek? We’re Copts!

Many of the Church hymns, especially in the season of Resurrection and the Holy 50 Days, are in the Greek language, and Tolitho is one of them.  What gives?!

There are 2 possible explanations for this, as there are not many reliable records of information from the time where rites were initially instilled:

• Many of the hymns of the Church which are written in Greek language precede the Council of Chalcedon, while the Church was still unified.  It was not uncommon then for there to be trade of hymns and songs of worship between Christians the world over, as the Church was one.

• Pope Kyrillos the 4th Abu-El-Islah (Father of Reform) who was Patriarch from 1854-1861, as an attempt to bring unity to the Eastern Orthodox Churches and Oriental Orthodox Churches, brought some of the hymns and rites of the Greek Church into the Coptic Church.

Today, the Greek Orthodox Church also chant this hymn during the Resurrection Liturgy while the priest processes through the Church while carrying the Gospel.

The Stone and the Seal

The stone and the seal have been subjects of heavy research since the time of the Resurrection until now.  Here’s what we know.  When the women carrying the spices were going to anoint the body of Jesus after the sabbath, early Sunday morning, they were concerned about how they would open the tomb because of the size of the stone.  The Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark speak about the immensity of this stone, and that it was hewn wholly out of a mountain.  Biblical scholars and historians have estimated that the stone weighed roughly 2 tons, which is approximately 4,400 pounds!  Its diameter is also approximated to be about 5 feet long.  Additionally, the Jews did not find this stone to be sufficient, despite its enormity.  They went to Pilate and asked not only for him to seal it with the Roman seal (whose breaking would be treated as treason to the Roman Empire, punishable by death on-site), but also to station soldiers at the foot of the tomb to ensure it remains closed. That adds up to 3 individually impenetrable defenses to the opening of the tomb:

• the stone, 

• the seal, and 

• the stationed soldiers.  

Yet this did not stop them from going.  They arrived at the tomb and found the stone already rolled away.  What a marvel that must have been to witness, which is what this hymn emphasizes.

The word “fragis-thentos” meaning ‘seal’ is a more linguistically complex term in Greek, than it is in English ‘seal’ or Arabic ‘khetm’.  It is hypothesized that the word itself is substantial in language and lettering as a signal of its significance in reality, to Greek-speakers, who were mostly Roman, at the time, and its importance in the Roman Empire.

The significance of chanting in motion (procession)

Chanting while processing was a pharaonic tradition which lives on through our Church generation after generation. Motion has its own character.  Music has its own character.  Words have their own character.  Chanting while moving creates a music-in-motion effect, which is what stereo sound technology attempts to recreate.  When we chant while moving, we are creating an atmosphere for ourselves and bringing the emotion of the hymns to reality.  We engage many of our senses while doing this: our eyes are looking up to the Cross and at the Icons. Our noses are smelling the sweet aroma of incense, our body is physically engaged in the motion of procession. Finally our ears are filled with a theatre-quality stereo sound from all directions as we move and chant.  Think of how we set up home theatre systems in modern time: we attempt to create an engulfing atmosphere that allows us to feel as if we are in the “action”.  Our ancestors and Coptic heritage has had that technology figured out long ago!

A Contemplation on the Musicality of the Hymn

The beginning of the hymn has simple, long, slow and drawn out tunes, perhaps to point to the long, difficult to move, cumbersome stone “litho” at the mouth of the tomb.  

The next stanza, which talks about the soldiers guarding the body, has a strong, repetitive beat, almost resembling the marching of soldiers.  Next, the sentence ‘You rose on the third day, O Savior’ would’ve been expected to be high in tune, strong in expression, but this is not the case.  Perhaps the holy father who tuned this hymn wanted to convey the message that the Lord’s Resurrection happened in complete stillness.  The stone had not been rolled away, the guards were at their station unaware of the historic event which took place.  Just as Christ entered the upper room while the doors were shut, and just as He was incarnate and born of St. Mary without blemishing her virginity, so too the Lord exited the tomb without breaking the seal of the tomb, while the stone kept it shut.  It’s as if to point to the occurrence of the Resurrection while no one felt or saw it; the hymn’s tune does not rise or reach an inflection point of joy as we would imagine it to, given the significance of the event it speaks of.  Where it does rise is in the next stanza, with the words expressing the crying out of the heavenly powers (‘zinamis ton oranon’) who rejoiced and glorified Christ’s Resurrection.

 Next, the hymn continues with 3 “doxa’s” – glorifying Christ’s Resurrection, His Glory, and His plan of salvation for us.  The tune of the hymn follows in humility and an expression of shock, as if in awe, bowing down to the Glory of God.  

Finally – the hymn ends with “you who alone are the Lover of Mankind”.  Not “You who trampled down death” or “You who destroyed the evil one’s hold on us” or “You gloriously rose from the dead” to declare God’s might and wonder of the Resurrection.  Not at all, rather it is a signal to Christ’s humility in saving us, which is why musically the hymn ladders down in notes.  Christ came down from Heaven, left the Throne, which is carried by the cherubim, was born and died in humility, to save us.  He alone was able to do this.  He alone is the Lover of Mankind.