“From Adam to Moses”: the Typology of the Old Testament Characters from the Kontakia of Romanos the Melodist and its Assessment on the Great Canon of Andrew of Crete

The subject of the typological images within the kontakia of Romanos the Melodist, the Byzantine Hymnographer who, through his quill pen, fascinated the entire Byzantine Empire in the sixth century, was developed in several topic-related studies. What in fact is the aim of the present study? It tries, on the one hand, to identify those parts within the kontakia of Romanos that speak directly about the typology of the Old Testament characters (including the chronological period from Adam to Moses), and secondly, to examine how Andrew of Crete, (re)known in the Christian hymnography as the “inventor” of the canon, reflects these typological images approximately two centuries after the death of Romanos. In other words, we are concerned with how the typology is present in the new hymnographic production of the eighth century, known under the title of canon, and how the transition from the typology existing in the kontakion to the one in the canon was achieved.