Hymn-Writer Romanus
Hymn-Writer Romanus [1]
Romanus (9), St., a celebrated hymn writer of the Eastern church, who is said to have written more than 1,000 hymns, of the kind called κοντάκια , a form which he probably invented. It perhaps derives its some what disputed name from the legend as to its origin, found in the Synaxasion of St. Romanus's day ( Menaea, Oct. 1), which says that the Blessed Virgin appeared to him, and commanded him to eat a roll ( κοντάκιον ) which she gave him, and that, obeying, he found himself endowed with the power of composing hymns. If he was the first who wrote κοντάκια , it is an argument in favour of placing him (as do Pitra and the Bollandists) in the reign of Anastasius I. (491–518) rather than of Anastasius Ii. (713–719).
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