St. Romanos the Melodist

Romanos was born to a Jewish family in Syria in the 5th century. He was baptized into the Church as a young boy. As an adult, he moved to Beirut and was ordained a deacon. He later moved to Constantinople and served as a sacristan in the Hagia Sophia.

Legend says that he was not a talented reader or singer. Around 518, he was assigned to read the psalter during an all-night vigil. He read so poorly that another reader had to take over. Humiliated and weary, he fell asleep in the choir stall. There, Mary appeared to him with a scroll in her hand and told him to eat it. Romanos awoke, went to the pulpit, and beautifully chanted a hymn on the Nativity. According to tradition, this was the very first hymn, or kontakion, ever sung.

Romanos is known for writing hymns—beautiful and theologically rich. They used bold imagery and metaphors. He is said to have composed more than 1,000 hymns covering various liturgical feasts, theological subjects, and saints’ feasts. The Orthodox Church still uses some of these in their Divine Liturgy, especially the original Kontakion of the Nativity.

He spent the last years of his life at the Monastery of Kyros. He died sometime after 555.

Sources for Romanos mainly come from the Orthodox liturgical book, or menaion, used for the propers for October. His feast day is Oct. 1. In the Orthodox Church, he is the patron saint of music.