On this feast day of St. Kassiani, I have a few items to share with you. Kassiani was a Byzantine abbess, poet, composer, and hymnographer, born at the beginning of the 9th century in Constantinople. This short biography is a good introduction: “Kassiani the Hymnographer.” 

So is this five-minute video: “The Story of the Hymn of Kassiani.” In either of those tellings you will learn about how she wounded the pride of the young emperor Theophilus when she appeared before him in a “bride show.” He rejected her because, as some put it, she was “too clever.”

In the Orthodox Church that particular hymn is sung during Holy Week, and more than twenty others have been included in liturgical books over the centuries. Fifty of her compositions are extant.

One of my favorite renditions of the most famous composition is this pure and simple one from a parish in Utah: “The Hymn of Kassiani”

But if you like a professional choir, Cappella Romana’s singing of it in Greek is is beautiful:

This long-playing collection of Kassiani’s hymns is also lovely if you want to soak up medieval music for a while: “Kassia Byzantine Hymns”

And this last one is a choir of men with big voices, who sound like they are singing in a huge old church: “Troparian of Kassiani”

Enjoy!