Adam's Lament

The anonymous Kontakion on Adam’s Lament is one of the earliest we possess and is probably of the fifth century and pre-dates those of St Romanos. It is still used in the office of Matins for the Sunday before Lent, where the Proemium is followed not, as is usual, by the first stanza of the hymn only, but by four, numbers 1 to 3 and 7. The text in the Triodion differs in places from that of the critical edition, notably in the refrain, which is in the first person, ’Have mercy on me who have fallen’. In the third line of stanza 7 the Triodion has, ’Implore God for the one who has fallen’, which does not scan.

The last four stanzas, which correspond to the word ADAM in the acrostic, are almost certainly spurious, though they occur in all but one of the MSS. Stanza 18, which begins, ’Now therefore, Saviour’ forms a concluding prayer, which is feature of the classic kontakion and the following stanzas are not really about Adam at all, but are simply a series of commonplaces of inferior quality.

Guide of wisdom, giver of prudence,
          Teacher of the foolish and defender of the poor,
          Establish, give understanding to my heart, Master;
Give me a word, Word of the Father;
          For see, my lips I shall not restrain from crying to you:
                    O Merciful, have mercy on the fallen.

Then Adam sat and wept opposite[1]
          The delight of Paradise beating his eyes with his hands
          And he said:
                    O Merciful, have mercy on the one who has fallen.

As Adam saw the Angel pushing and shutting
          The door of God’s garden he groaned aloud
          And said:
                    O Merciful, have mercy on the one who has fallen.

Share in the pain, O Paradise, of your beggared master
          And with the sound of your leaves implore the creator
          Not to shut you:
                    O Merciful, have mercy on the one who has fallen.

Bend down your trees like living beings and fall before
          Him who holds the key, that thus you may remain open
          For one who cries:
                    O Merciful, have mercy on the one who has fallen.

I breathe the fragrance   of your beauty   and I melt   as I recall
          How I delighted there   from the sweet scent
          Of the flowers:
                    O Merciful, have mercy on the one who has fallen.

Now I have learnt   what I suffered,   now I have understood   what God
          Said to me in Paradise,   ‘In taking Eve
          You steal away from me’:
                    O Merciful, have mercy on the one who has fallen.

Paradise,   all virtue,   all holiness,   all happiness,
          Planted because of Adam,   shut because of Eve,
          How shall I lament for you?
                    O Merciful, have mercy on the one who has fallen.

I am polluted,   I am ruined,   I am enslaved   to my slaves;
          For reptiles and wild beats,   whom I subjected by fear,
          Now make me tremble;
                    O Merciful, have mercy on the one who has fallen.

No longer   do the flowers   offer me   pleasure,
          But thorns and thistles [2] the earth raises for me,
          Not produce:
                    O Merciful, have mercy on the one who has fallen.

The table   without toil   I overthrew   by my own will;
          And now   in the sweat   of my brow   I eat
          My bread:[3]
                    O Merciful, have mercy on the one who has fallen.

My throat,   which holy   waters   had made sweet,
          Has become bitter from the multitude   of my groans,
          As I cry out:
                    O Merciful, have mercy on the one who has fallen.

How have I fallen?   Where have I arrived?   From a pedestal   to the ground;
          From a divine admonition   to a wretched existence
          I have been reduced:
                    O Merciful, have mercy on the one who has fallen.

Now Satan   rejoices   having stripped me   of my glory;
          But this gives him no joy;   for see, my God
          Clothes me:
                    O Merciful, have mercy on the one who has fallen.

God himself   pitied me,   clothes   my nakedness;
          By this he shows me   that he too cares
          For me, the transgressor:
                    O Merciful, have mercy on the one who has fallen.

The clothing   signifies for me   the state   that is to come,
          For the one who has now clothed me   in a little while wears me
          And saves me:
                    O Merciful, have mercy on the one who has fallen.

‘Swiftly Adam   you have understood   the wish   of my compassion;
          Therefore I do not deprive you   of this your hope
          As you cry:
                    O Merciful, have mercy on the one who has fallen.

I do not wish   nor do I will   the death   of the one I fashioned;
          But having chastened him enough   I will glorify eternally
          The one who cries:
                    O Merciful, have mercy on the one who has fallen.’

Now therefore, Saviour,   save me also   who seek for you   with longing;
          I do not wish to take you in,   but I wish to be taken in by you[4]
          And to cry to you:
                    O Merciful, have mercy on the one who has fallen.

[O incomparable,   all-holy,   all-immaculate   look down
          From heaven as compassionate   and save me as unworthily
          I shout:
                    O Merciful, have mercy on the one who has fallen.

Rouse    my mind to   praise,   raise up
          The one who lies sick in bed,   who unworthily, Saviour,
          Cries to you:
                    O Merciful, have mercy on the one who has fallen.

Raise up   make firm,   O Lover of mankind,   the one who has now
          Stumbled as a profligate in life;   draw near me, Saviour,
          As I cry:
                    O Merciful, have mercy on the one who has fallen.

Unity, Trinity   undivided   unseparated,   at the prayers
          Of the Mother of God take pity on me   and overlook the sins
          Of those who cry:
                    O Merciful, have mercy on the one who has fallen.]

[1] Cf. Gen. 3:25 (LXX). The first line of Stanza 1 echoes the LXX text of Genesis 3:24, which reads ’And [God] settled Adam opposite the Paradise of pleasure and set in place the Cherubim’. This rendering has influenced both the liturgical and the iconographic traditions. The Hebrew has only one verb, ’And [God] settled east of the garden of Eden the Cherubim’. The Catholic New American Bible has adopted the LXX reading as the correct one.

[2] Cf. Gen. 3:18.

[3] Cf. Gen. 3:20.

[4] The trope in the second line of Stanza 18 is almost impossible to translate. The verb I have translated ’take in’ in both clauses is the same, and means both ’cheat’ and ’steal’.

[5] These stanzas, 19-22, are considered spurious by the editor, though they are present in all but one ms. 18 forms a final prayer, which is feature of the classic kontakion, and the final stanzas, which form the word ADAM in the acrostic seem to be an unnecessary addition. They are not really about Adam at all and greatly inferior in quality, being simply a collection of commonplaces.