Saint Kassiani

(805/810 - before 865) was an Eastern Roman abbess, poet, composer, and hymnographer. Her name is a feminine Greek form of the Latin name Cassius. She is one of the first medieval composers whose scores are both extant and able to be interpreted by modern scholars and musicians. Approximately fifty of her hymns are extant and twenty-three are included in Orthodox Church liturgical books. The exact number is difficult to assess, as many hymns are ascribed to different authors in different manuscripts and are often identified as anonymous. In addition, some 789 of her non-liturgical verses survive. Many are epigrams or aphorisms called "gnomic verse", for example, "I hate the rich man moaning as if he were poor." Kassia is notable as one of only two Eastern Roman women known to have written in their own names during the Middle Ages, the other being Anna Comnena.