POETRY

POETRY. The Orthodox Church has seen a number of poets. Gregory of Nazianzus (q.v.) was noted for his poetry, though it is little known nowadays. Gregory’s contemporary, Ephrem of Syria (q.v.), on the other hand, is treasured by the Syrian Church and his hymns are still sung in their churches. Jacob of Seroug (d. 521) is another well-known poet in Syriac, and his near contemporary, Romanos the Melodist, was in Greek the fountainhead of Byzantine liturgical poetry. Other noted composers of liturgical hymnody were: Joh n of Damascus, Andrew of Crete, Cosmas of Maiouma, and Theodore of the Studion (qq.v.). Symeon the New Theologian (q.v.) is perhaps the greatest of Church poets in the latter part of the Byzantine era (q.v.). The creation of liturgical poetry and music (q.v.) continues in the Orthodox Church today along the lines set down by these writers. Poetry of a religious nature, and often reflecting the experience of the Orthodox liturgy (q.v.), can be found in the modern literature (q.v.) of Orthodox lands; for example the Russian poets Pushkin, Tyutchev, Pasternak, Mandelstam, Ahmatova, or the Greeks Diamantes, Palamas, Seferis, and even Cavafy make occasional reference to Orthodox worship.