1000 Songs/Save the world, O Savior (Romanus)

Save the world, O Savior (Romanus)

1000 Songs

Author
St. Romanus

Editor's Choice
Save the world, O Saviour. This is why you have come. Straighten your whole universe. This is what you have shone on me and on the priests and on all creation. See the priest, whom you have shown the light of your face, fall down before you and offer you gifts, useful, upright, and yearning to see you. For I have need of them, since I am about to run to Egypt and flee with you and for you, my Lord, my Guide, my Maker, my Redeemer, a little Child, God before the ages.

Romanus wrote over 1,000 hymns (kontakion) consisting of 18 to 24 metrical stanzas (verses). This text comes from the 24th verse of his work known as the Nativity of Christ

Author biography
Very little is known about Romulus (also known as "Romulus the Melodist" or "Romulus the Singer"). He lived throughout the 6th Century, was born a Syrian, and served as a deacon in the church of Beirut.

Author's circumstances
Romanus was known as a poor reader. One night as he was sleeping in the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos (Mary, Mother of God), he saw the Most Holy Theotokos in his dream. She handed him a scroll and said "take the paper and eat it." In his dream, Romanus took the scroll, ate it, and when he woke up he immediately began chanting his famous Kontakion of the Nativity of Christ.

Historical setting
Romulus lived during the reign of Emperor Anastasius I and possibly Emperor Justinian. Durring the reign of Anastasius I, Romulus moved to Constanople, which was one of the largest cities in Eastern Rome after Constantine moved the Capital of Rome from the city of Rome to Constantinople. However, this was a rather flux period for Rome after the alleged "fall of Rome" in 476, filled with many influences and invasions from Germanic tribes.