Sub tuum praesidium
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Sub tuum praesidium or, in English, Under your protection is the oldest hymn to the Theotokos (Blessed Virgin Mary)
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[edit] History
The hymn Sub Tuum Praesidium was first found in Greek in the the Coptic Orthodox Christmas Liturgy of the third century and dates approximately to 250 AD. It is used to this day in the Greek liturgical tradition. Versions of this prayer also occur in the Ambrosian rite, Roman, and Byzantine and Coptic liturgies of today and in numerous languages.
The three major textual recensions of this hymn are the Greek, the Slavonic and the Latin.
[edit] The Greek original
- Ὑπὸ τὴν σὴν εὐσπλαγχνίαν,
- καταφεύγομεν, Θεοτόκε,
- τὰς ἡμῶν ἱκεσίας,
- μὴ παρίδης ἐν περιστάσει,
- ἀλλ' ἐκ κινδύνων λύτρωσαι ἡμᾶς,
- μόνη ἁγνή, μόνη εὐλογημένη.
In English this is:
- Beneath your compassion,
- We take refuge, O Mother of God:
- do not despise our petitions in time of trouble:
- but rescue us from dangers,
- only pure, only blessed one.
Liturgically, in the Byzantine Rite (used by the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Greek-Catholic Churches) this occurs as the last hymn at the office of Vespers in Great Lent.
[edit] Church Slavonic versions
The earliest Church Slavonic manuscripts have the prayer in the following form:
- Подъ твою милость,
- прибѣгаемъ богородице дѣво,
- молитвъ нашихъ не презри в скорбѣхъ.
- но ѿ бѣдъ избави насъ,
- едина чистаѧ и благословеннаѧ.
-
- Beneath thy mercy,
- we take refuge, O Virgin Mother of God:
- disdain not our supplications in our distress,
- but deliver us from perils,
- O only pure and blessed one.
This version, fairly close to the Greek, continues to be used by the Old Believers today. In 1586, under the liturgical reforms of Patriarch Nikon of Moscow, the Russian Orthodox Church adopted a new translation:
- Подъ твое благоѹсробїе
- прибѣгаемъ Богородице,
- моленїѧ наша не презри во ωбстоѧнїй,
- но ѿ бѣдъ исбави ны,
- едина Чистаѧ, и Благословеннаѧ
-
- Beneath thy tenderness of heart
- we take refuge, O Mother of God,
- disdain not our supplications in our necessity,
- but deliver us from perils,
- O only pure and blessed one.
This second version continues in use today. The Slavonic version of the hymn is well-loved by Byzantine Christians, and in some places where it is sung outside of Great Lent, the triple invocation Пресвѧтаѧ Богородице спаси насъ (Most Holy Mother of God, save us) is added at the end. Perhaps the most famous setting of the hymn in Slavonic is by Dmytro Bortniansky.
[edit] The later Latin version
At some point, a Latin translation was produced in the West, possibly around the 11th Century, which reworks the Greek original slightly, producing:
- Sub tuum praesidium confugimus,
- Sancta Dei Genetrix.
- Nostras deprecationes ne despicias
- in necessitatibus nostris,
- sed a periculis cunctis
- libera nos semper,
- Virgo gloriosa et benedicta.
- Amen.
-
- We fly to your patronage,
- O holy Mother of God;
- despise not our petitions
- in our necessities,
- but from all dangers
- deliver us always,
- O glorious and blessed Virgin.
- Amen.
This Latin version, being short, has been set to music in the West many times, notably by Antonio Salieri and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
