„Anielskie moce, spieszcie” – stichery św. Romana Melodosa na przedświęcie Narodzenia Chrystusa

Abstract

The feast of the Nativity of Christ is in many ways similar to the feast of feasts – the Resurrection of Christ. One of the similarities is the extensive pre-Christmas period, the last days of which (December 20-24) resemble Holy Week. At matins, sticherions by St. Roman Melodos, with sublime content and its own solemn melody, are sung. The name of the whole cycle comes from the opening verse of the first song: „Angelic powers, now proceed”. The hymns introduce the faithful to the celebration of the Nativity of Christ and encourage them to consider the mystery in the light of dogmatic theology and spiritual life. This article is an analysis of the first twelve sticherions (from the first two days of the pre-Christmas period – December 20 and 21). The author proposed a Polish translation of each sticherion, and also commented on the texts.