Byzantine devotion to the Theotokos was more than an expression of popular piety, it was an affective encounter with the mystery of the incarnation. Perhaps the most poetic and theological expression of the relationship between the Logos and the Virgin is the Akathistos Hymn. This hymn portrayed Mary as the bridge uniting heaven and earth, as the dawn of the mystical day, and the womb containing and giving flesh to the divinity of Christ. In singing the refrain of this sacred song—“rejoice unwedded bride”—the faithful could become interlocutors in the liturgical enactment of the biblical story of salvation, harmonising their voices with that of the archangel Gabriel. Similarly, the poetry of Romanos the Melodist invited the congregation to enter the story song of his hymns. Thomas Arentzen's The Virgin in Song is a wonderful exploration of how the faithful of Constantinople experienced three of the most poignant moments in Mary's life—the annunciation, the nativity, and the crucifixion—through the liturgical performance of Romanos's hymns. It probes the paradox of the Virgin by examining how Romanos imagined the figure of Mary in these salvific moments.

Chapter 1 transports the reader to sixth-century Constantinople, introducing Romanos the Melodist and his poetry. Romanos straddled the worlds of antiquity and Byzantium, fusing the classical rhetoric of Greece, the Syriac poetry of Ephrem and the Christian discourse of the Cappadocian Fathers. Arentzen investigates the rhetorical, performative and liturgical strategies of the Melodist but also the audiences that experienced his hymns. He also considers the Marian devotion and doctrine that framed Romanos's poetic universe. After all, the “evolving Mariocentricity” (43) in the sacred rituals of Constantinople emerged well before the advent of Iconoclasm in Byzantium. Arentzen's introductory chapter sets out his approach to Romanos's hymns and their context, preparing the reader for the chapters that will follow.

In the second chapter, the image of Mary as a young and beautiful maiden is brought to life in a provocative way by Romanos's hymn, On the Annunciation. The angelic visitation leaves Mary feeling afraid and vulnerable, but she also laughs and blushes with excitement. After Gabriel departs, Joseph enters, and Mary rebukes him for not guarding her virginity. However, Arentzen encourages the reader to suspend any modern sensibility that may cloud discernment and consider how Christian discourse interpreted the erotic subtext of the hymn. If Byzantine hymns were tinctured with passion, they often echoed the eroticism of the Song of Songs, which paved the way for a transfiguration of the passions in patristic literature. Arentzen shows how Romanos embeds the sublimity of the miracle of the Incarnation in poetry and song through the foil of a “deeply erotic encounter” (68). Although her virginity is untouched by desire, Mary becomes more than “a mere incarnational symbol” (86) for the faithful. Romanos's poetry transforms her into a complex heroine that is married yet virginal, wedded yet monastic.

Chapter 3 reflects on the paradox of Mary suckling God and the image of milk flowing from the breasts of a virgin who remained a virgin after the birth of Jesus. Romanos's hymn On the Nativity asks the faithful to explore the person of Mary as they approach the mystery of the Theotokos. Arentzen looks at how the poetry of Romanos invites the congregation to consider how the mundane and corporeal collide with the wondrous and divine. The “mystical cave” of the nativity, “the womb of the earth” becomes a “cosmic landscape” that reveals Mary as a spiritual paradise, as the embodiment of Eden (95). Arentzen shows how the image of Virgin suckling Jesus unveils the theandricity of Christ who cannot be divided into a baby that needed nourishment and a Logos that sustained all of creation. The suckling Christ and tenderly kissing Mary reveal a dynamic interplay between a god who desires his creation and a humanity that yearns for salvation.

Chapter 4 takes the reader on a journey to Golgotha, showing how Romanos entreated the congregation to walk alongside Mary and Jesus on the way to the crucifixion and encounter the characters of the scriptural story. It not only examines how Romanos weaves Mary into the mystery of the cross, but also how the Melodist turned listeners into spectators and spectators into protagonists by drawing his audience into the sacred drama unfolding before them. Mary's voice comes to life in Romanos's hymns in a way that reimagines the pregnant silences throughout the gospels. She comforts and teaches the faithful, guiding them as they experience the Passion with Christ and singing with them as they pray for the resurrection. Arentzen is circumspect in his exploration of the events of Holy Friday, juxtaposing Romanos's hymn On Mary at the Cross with the Melodist's lesser-known hymn On the Holy Nativity. In the latter hymn, the history that divides and orders the narrative of salvation and its scriptural characters is suspended as time and place are blurred. Mary warbles a sweet song of praise to her child that is heard by Eve and the slumbering Adam. The first-created humans shed tears at the feet of Theotokos who feels compassion and entreats her child to give Adam and Eve life. It is only then that Christ reveals to the Virgin his desire from eternity for the Passion. As Arentzen notes, Mary's voice of compassion in Romanos's hymns performs a dialogue between humanity and divinity that becomes the faithful's dialogue with crucified love.

The author concludes that Romanos's hymns recast the virginity of Mary, transforming her otherness into a source of joy and wonder for the congregation. In the annunciation she is an icon of human freedom, in the nativity she becomes the doorway of salvation and in the crucifixion she is a compassionate mediatrix. Arentzen writes perspicaciously, showing the reader how Romanos imagined the complex figure of Mary and how he taught the faithful to relate to her. She is unique, and yet she is an exemplar, embodying our universal humanity and bidding us to travel with her as a companion. Arentzen's book underscores how Byzantine hymnography has emerged in recent times as an exciting and ripe field of research for scholars. Pioneering monographs such as Derek Krueger's Liturgical Subjects (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014), Damaskinos Olkinuora's Byzantine Hymnography for the Feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos (Suomen patristen seura, 2015) and Sarah Gador-Whyte's Theology and Poetry in Early Byzantium (Cambridge University Press, 2017) have studied the Byzantine self, metaesthetics and Christian theology through the lens of hymnography. The Virgin in Song deserves a place alongside these fine books.