18 Facts About Kassia

Kassia holds a unique place in Byzantine music as the only known woman whose music appears in the Byzantine liturgy.

Kassia was an abbess of a convent in the west of Constantinople.

Kassia is notable as one of at least two women in the middle Byzantine period known to have written in their own names, the other being Anna Comnena.

Kassia's name is a feminine Greek form of the Latin name Cassius.

Kassia was born between 805 and 810 in Constantinople into a wealthy family and grew to be exceptionally beautiful and intelligent.

Kassia promptly responded, "And through a woman [came forth] the better [things]," referring to the hope of salvation resulting from the Incarnation of Christ through the Virgin Mary.

Kassia traveled to Italy briefly, but eventually settled on the Greek Island of Kasos, where she died sometime between 867 and 890.

Kassia became known to the great Theodore the Studite, while she was still a young girl, and he was impressed by her learning and literary style.

Kassia is regarded as an "exceptional and rare phenomenon" among composers of her day At least twenty-three genuine hymns are ascribed to her.

The most famous of her compositions is the eponymous Hymn of Kassia, which is chanted each year for Great and Holy Wednesday as a doxastichon occurring at the end of the aposticha of orthros and the lamp-lighting psalms of the Presanctified Liturgy.

Kassia was alone in her cell, writing her Hymn when she realized that the commotion she heard was because the imperial retinue had arrived.

Kassia was still in love with him but was now devoted to God and hid away because she did not want to let her old passion overcome her monastic vow.

Kassia looked for her but she was not there; she was hiding in a closet, watching him.

Kassia emerged when the emperor was gone, read what he had written and finished the hymn.

Kassia abandoned typical themes found in Greek prosody, preferring to discuss more individual and personal issues.

Kassia's epigrams are particularly reminiscent of similar works by her colleague Theodore the Studite, and are characterized by a concise and straight forward presentation, often including witty or humorous elements.

Kassia is often depicted on the icon of the Sunday of Orthodoxy, because of her strong defence of the veneration of icons.

In 2022, Kassia was officially added to the Episcopal Church liturgical calendar with a feast day on 7 September.