Chapter 1 - Introduction

Summary

This chapter examines the significance of compunction for Christianity in Late Antiquity and Byzantium. It argues that the feeling of compunction was intertwined with the experience of paradisal nostalgia and an outpouring of tears. After briefly considering the portrayal of the emotions in patristic literature and the emergence of compunction in the Psalms, this chapter introduces the history of emotions as a field of research, arguing that the performativity of hymns paves the way to understanding emotions in Byzantium as embodied and liturgical phenomena. Finally, it foreshadows how this book will show that hymnody evoked scriptural stories, inviting the faithful to enter into the sacred drama of salvation unfolding before them and feel liturgically.