the mount Thou was (sic) transfigured, and Thy disciples, as much as they could bear, beheld Thy glory, O Christ God; so that when they should see Thee crucified, they would know Thy passion to be willing, and would preach to the world that Thou, in truth, art the Effulgence of the Father. Kontakion of the Sunday of the Prodigal Son (9th week before Easter, 2nd week of the triodion) The last example is not a model, but a kontakion-prosomoion which had been composed over the melody of Romanos the Melodist's Nativity kontakion in echos tritos. Having foolishly abandoned Thy paternal glory, I squandered on vices the wealth which Thou gavest me. Wherefore, I cry unto Thee with the voice of the Prodigal: I have sinned before Thee, O compassionate Father. Receive me as one repentant, and make me as one of Thy hired servants. Kontakion of the Departed Perhaps the kontakion which is best known in the west is the Kontakion of the Departed or the Kontakion of the Dead. The text is attributed to the "humble Anastasios", probably a Byzantine monk writing in the 6th or 7th century, although the exact date is a matter of debate. It was translated into English from Russian by William John Birkbeck, an English theologian and musicologist who studied Russian church music in Moscow in 1890. The traditional tune, known in English as the Kiev Melody, was edited by Birkbeck's close friend, Sir Walter Parratt, the organist of St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. Queen Victoria may have heard this kontakion in Russian at a memorial service in London for the death of Tsar Alexander III in 1894, where she noted that "a fine Russian hymn, always sung at funerals throughout the Greek Church, was sung without accompaniment, & was very impressive". She certainly heard Birkbeck's translation when it was sung at the funeral of Prince Henry of Battenberg in 1896. During the planning of Victoria's state funeral, her daughters asked that the kontakion be included in the service as it was a favourite of their mother's, a suggestion which was blocked by Bishop Randall Davidson with the support of King Edward VII, on the grounds that the text was not in keeping with Anglican teaching on prayers for the dead. Nevertheless, it was sung at the funeral of Queen Alexandra at Westminster Abbey in 1925. The Kontakion of the Departed with Parratt's