Kassia the Nun c.810-c.865: An Appreciation

Abstract

Kassia, Cassia, Kasia, Kassiane, Eikasia or Ikasia, as her name is variously recorded, was a nun of ninth-century Constantinople and the outstanding poet of the Middle Byzantine period. Among the hundreds of hymnographers in the Eastern Church, only four women are positively identified: Theodosia, Thekla, Kassia and Palaiologina (Topping 1982/83). and of these, only one had her works admitted into the liturgical books: Kassia. She is unique. Moreover, she composed a body of non-liturgical verse, in which she comments on the social life of her times. Furthermore, three letters to her from St Theodore the Studite have survived, giving us a precious glimpse into her early life and character. Lastly, there was the tradition of her appearance in an imperial 'bride-show', which became the stuff of folklore in the following centuries, while the character portrayed in her most famous hymn (treated later in this paper) was applied to her, so that it was thought that she herself had been a 'fallen woman', a misconception corrected by Topping (1981). By revisiting these sources, this paper hopes to present a fresh appreciation of the person of Kassia. How did the spirited, educated, highly gifted woman steer her way in the mid-Byzantine era which she lived? What is the character of her spiritual doctrine? What is her 'theology' of woman?