Early medieval (6th century)
Feast: October 1
He couldn't sing. He was so bad the other deacons mocked him. Then the Theotokos appeared to him in a dream, and he woke up composing the greatest hymns in Eastern Christianity.
Romanos was a Jewish convert from Emesa in Syria who served as a deacon in Constantinople. He could not carry a tune. During one Christmas vigil, he was required to sing before the congregation, and the other clergy laughed at him openly. Humiliated, he went to the church of the Theotokos at Blachernae and prayed through the night. He dreamed that the Virgin Mary appeared to him, handed him a scroll, and told him to swallow it. He did. When he woke, he went to the ambon — the raised platform in the center of the church — and began singing his Christmas kontakion: 'Today the Virgin gives birth to him who is above all being...' The congregation was stunned. He never stopped composing after that. Scholars attribute about eighty surviving kontakia to him, though he may have written hundreds more. A kontakion is a sung sermon — part poetry, part theological argument, part drama. Romanos gave biblical characters voices: Mary argues with the Magi, Judas debates with himself, the thief on the cross interrupts Christ's conversation. His language is vivid, emotional, and sometimes funny. He preferred dialogue to description. His work shaped how the Eastern Church worships to this day. The liturgical tradition calls him 'the Melodist,' which is ironic for someone who started out unable to sing a note.