Description of the ambo

BY THE SAME AUTHOR, AN EKPHRASIS OF THE AMBO, SPOKEN PRIVATELY AFTER THE FIRST GREAT ENTRANCE IN THE PATRIARCHATE

You have every hope, O emperor, having added what was lacking to the all-beautiful church. Therefore, most excellent ones, fittingly I too have now come, adding what is lacking to my book. For it would be a fine thing for words to join with the master in creating the church of the Word. Well done, O audience, well done for your eagerness for what is better; for I do not think you are now paying attention to me, but for the sake of the church there will be an audience and a festival again. Well done, O audience; for having called you together now three times and roused you from your usual labors, I have not yet seen anyone of you looking sullen, nor pleading a more pressing engagement. For nothing is small, not even if it were small, of the things of the greatest emperor and of the church which has created for us every grace of both long delight and pious festivals; which, having cast a solemn gladness into all, has moved every rational nightingale, just as when spring has appeared and winter has departed, then every branch nourishes the sweet-voiced melody of a varied echo. Therefore nothing of the church is by nature small; for it is truly a sight of all-bearing delight. Therefore I will approach the revered place, which the emperor, having recently fashioned it to be a most beautiful space for the books of the mystagogues, has consecrated with holy words.

God-fearing hymn-makers of Christ, by whose voice the oracle of the immaculate Spirit came among men, announcing the human birth of Christ; and all you who after the undefiled tomb, proclaiming to the nations of the earth the tokens of the risen God, brightened the whole face of the downcast world, scattering the blind cloud of smileless mist; you who gladly endured the sword, the life-destroying scourge, and the furnaces, and did not bow your necks to deaf idols, but stood firm in spirit for the martyred honor of the immaculate God; you to whom the grain-giving necessity of death was more pleasing than the sun, with ineffable hopes; whom Christ the king once crowned, bathed in their own gore instead of a strengthening bath, and with bloody streams cleansed the whole weal from the soul's veil; Come hither, form your choirs and with pure songs weave a harmonious melody with our choruses. For your space is sung of, where a great, pure echo is awakened by the divine books. There is a certain tower in the middle of the wide-passaged hall, delicate to behold and inclining somewhat more to the east, set apart for the unmixed characters of the books, †upright on its steps, accessible by twin paths, of which one stretches toward the night, the other toward the dawn. For they are opposite to one another, but both lead to one space, like a sweeping circle. For here a single stone winds a space like a circle; yet it is not everywhere equal to a sweeping compass, but narrows a little, until it lengthens the rim of the stone. And towards the west and the east, the neck of the stone circle, running forth, is lengthened, standing upon steps. And with silver metals up to the frieze the divine king has set up beautiful walls, like horns. For a silver slab does not wind silver in a circuit around the stone, unfolding an all-blessed circle; but in the middle, spreading out a straight, continuous wall, the skillful man opens passages for the stairway on either side. Nor does fear possess those descending on the unfenced edges of the holy steps, for art has fitted all-shining stone barriers; and it rose above the steps just so much as to straighten a mortal’s hand. Grasping these, one lightens the effort, climbing up the steep path. And the diagonal railing on either side, set upon the path, grows together with the middle steps and then ceases.

Descriptio ambonis

ΤΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΥ ΕΚΦΡΑΣΙΣ ΤΟΥ ΑΜΒΩΝΟΣ ΛΕΧΘΕΙΣΑ Ι∆ΙΑΖΟΝΤΩΣ ΜΕΤΑ ΤΗΝ ΠΡΩΤΗΝ ΠΑΡΟ∆ΟΝ ΤΗΝ ΜΕΓΑΛΗΝ ΕΝ ΤΩΙ ΠΑΤΡΙΑΡΧΕΙΩΙ

Ἔχεις ἅπασαν, ὦ βασιλεῦ, τὴν ἐλπίδα, προσθεὶς τὸ λεῖπον τῶι νεῶι τῶι

παγκάλωι. οὐκοῦν, ἄριστοι, προσφόρως καὶ νῦν ἐγὼ ἥκω τὸ λεῖπον προστιθεὶς τῶι βιβλίωι. καλὸν γὰρ ἂν εἴη τοὺς λόγους τῶι δεσπότηι συνδημιουργεῖν τὸν νεὼν τὸν τοῦ λόγου. εὖ γ' ὦ θέατρον, εὖ γε τῆς προθυμίας τῆς εἰς τὸ κρεῖττον· οὐ γὰρ οἶμαι νῦν ἐμοὶ τὸν νοῦν προσέχοντες, ἀλλὰ τοῦ νεὼ χάριν θέατρον ἔσται καὶ πανήγυρις πάλιν. εὖ γ' ὦ θέατρον· τρὶς γὰρ ἤδη συγκαλῶν καὶ τῶν συνήθων ἐξαναστήσας πόνων οὔπω σκυθρωπὸν εἶδον ὑμῶν οὐδένα, οὐκ ἀσχολίαν τιθέντα προυργιαιτέραν. ἔστιν γὰρ οὐδὲν μικρόν, οὐδ' εἰ μικρὸν ἦι, τῶν τοῦ μεγίστου βασιλέως καὶ τοῦ νεὼ τοῦ πᾶσαν ἡμῖν ἐμποήσαντος χάριν τρυφῆς τε μακρᾶς εὐσεβεῖς πανηγύρεις· ὃς πᾶσι σεμνὴν ἐμβαλὼν εὐθυμίαν πᾶσαν κεκίνηκε λογικὴν ἀηδόνα, ὥσπερ φανέντος ἔαρος, ἐξωιχηκότος χειμῶνος, ἤδη πᾶς τότε κλάδος τρέφει εὔφωνον ἠχοῦς ποικίλης μελωιδίαν. πέφυκε τοίνυν μικρὸν οὐδὲν τοῦ νεώ· ἔστι γὰρ ἀληθῶς παμφόρου τρυφῆς θέα. οὐκοῦν πρόσειμι τῶι σεβασμίωι τόπωι, ὃν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἔναγχος ἐξειργασμένος κάλλιστον εἶναι χωρίον τοῖς βιβλίοις τῶν μυσταγωγῶν ἱερούργηκεν λόγων.

Ὑμνοπόλοι Χριστοῖο θεουδέες, ὧν ὑπὸ φωνῆς πνεύματος ἀχράντοιο μετ' ἀνέρας ἤλυθεν ὀμφὴ ἀνδρομέην Χριστοῖο διαγγέλλουσα λοχείην· ἠδ' ὁπόσοι μετὰ τύμβον ἀκήρατον ἔθνεσι γαίης σύμβολα κηρύσσοντες ἀνεγρομένοιο θεοῖο πᾶσαν ἐφαιδρύνασθε κατηφέος ἄντυγα κόσμου, τυφλὸν ἀμειδήτοιο νέφος σκεδάσαντες ὀμίχλης· οἳ ξίφος, οἳ μάστιγα βιοφθόρον, οἵ τε καμίνους ἀσπασίως ἔτλητε, καὶ οὐκ ἐκλίνατε κωφοῖς αὐχένας εἰδώλοισι, βάσιν δ' ἐστήσατε θυμοῦ ἔμπεδον ἀχράντοιο θεοῦ περὶ μάρτυρι τιμῆι· οἷς πλέον ἠελίοιο μόρου ζείδωρος ἀνάγκη ἐλπίσιν ἀφράστοισιν ἐφήνδανεν· οὕς ποτε λύθροις λουσαμένους ἰδίοισι βιαρκέος ἀντὶ λοετροῦ Χριστὸς ἄναξ ἔστεψε, καὶ αἱμαλέοισι ῥεέθροις ψυχαίης ἐκάθηρεν ὅλην σμώδιγγα καλύπτρης· δεῦρο, χοροὺς στήσασθε καὶ εὐαγέεσσιν ἀοιδαῖς σύνθροον ἡμετέρηισι μέλος πλέξασθε χορείαις. ὑμέτερος γὰρ χῶρος ἀείδεται, ὁππόθι πολλὴ θεσπεσίαις βίβλοισιν ἀκήρατος ἔγρεται ἠχώ. Ἔστι τις εὐρυπόροιο κατ' ἔνδια μέσσα μελάθρου ἁβρὸς ἰδεῖν καὶ μᾶλλον ἐς ἀντολίην τι νενευκὼς πύργος, ἀκηρασίοισιν ἀπόκριτος ἤθεσι βίβλων, †ὄρθιος βάθροις, διδυμάοσιν ἀμβατὸς οἴμοις, ὧν μία μὲν ποτὶ νύκτα τιταίνεται, ἡ δὲ πρὸς ἠῶ. εἰσὶ γὰρ ἀλλήληισιν ἐναντίαι, ἀμφότεραι δὲ εἰς ἕνα χῶρον ἄγουσιν ἴσον περιηγέϊ κύκλωι. ἐνδάδε γὰρ κύκλωι μὲν ἐοικότα χῶρον ἑλίσσει λᾶας ἑείς· οὐ μὴν περιηγέϊ πάντοσε τόρνωι ἶσος ἔφυ, βαιὸν δὲ συνέρχεται, εἰσόκε πέτρου ἄντυγα μηκύνειε. πρὸς ἑσπερίην δὲ καὶ ἠῶ ἐκπροθέων κύκλοιο λίθου μηκύνεται αὐχήν, ἐμβεβαὼς βαθμοῖσιν. ὑπ' ἀργυρέοις δὲ μετάλλοις ἄχρις ἐπὶ ζωστῆρα καλοὺς ἱδρύσατο τοίχους θεῖος ἄναξ, κεράεσσιν ἐοικότας. οὐ γὰρ ἑλίσσει ἄργυρον ἐν λάϊγγι περίδρομον ἀργυρέη πλὰξ κύκλον ἀναπτύξασα πανόλβιον· ἀλλ' ἐνὶ μέσσωι τοῖχον ἀπιθύνοντα διαρκέα κύκλα πετάσσας ἴδρις ἀνὴρ ἑκάτερθε πόρους βαθμῖδος ἀνοίγει. οὐδὲ μὲν ἀφράκτοις ἱερῶν ἐπὶ χείλεσι βαθμῶν τάρβος ἔχει κατιόντας, ἐπήραρε δ' ἕρκεα τέχνη λάϊνα παμφανόωντα· τόσον δ' ὑπερέσχεθε βάθρων ὅσσον ἀπιθύνειν βροτέην χέρα. ταῦτα μεμαρπὼς μόχθον ἐλαφρίζει τις ἐς ὄρθιον οἶμον ἀνέρπων. λοξοτενεῖ δ' ἑκάτερθεν ἐφιδρυθέντα κελεύθωι βαθμοῖς μεσσατίοις συναέξεται ἠδ' ἀπολήγει.