The Dramatic Structure of Tetraodion for Holy Saturday by Kassia the Nun

This article presents Kassia’s canon for Holy Saturday in terms of its dramatic structure. The content of the work is Christ’s descent into hell, which, according to tradition, took place after His death and before the Resurrection. This theme provided opportunities for the poet to introduce various speaking characters, such as prophets, and in addition to the praise section, there are mini-scenes with dialogues in the canon. This study analyses the relationship of the stanzas of the canon to the biblical canticles, and shows the poet’s creative arrangements in the construction of the odes of the canon, as well as in their number. Kassia introduces many different speaking subjects in the work, making the structure of the canon, intended to be sung during services in monasteries, very dramatic and reminiscent of an older type of liturgical poetry, namely kontakia. The dramatic dimension also applies to the actualisation of the liturgy.