{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/213/2130248.htm","path":"chr/ecf/213/2130248.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/213/2130248.htm","text":"Hymns for the Feast of the Epiphany.\nResp.\u2014To Thee be praise from Thy flock in the day of Thy Epiphany!\n1. The heavens He has renewed, for that fools worshipped all the luminaries:\u2014He has renewed the earth, for that in Adam it was wasted. 509 \u2014That which He fashioned has become new by His spittle:\u2014and the All-Sufficing has restored bodies with souls.\n2. Gather yourselves again ye\u2014sheep and without labour receive cleansing!\u2014for one needs not as Elisha\u2014to bathe seven times in the river, nor again to be wearied as the priests are wearied with sprinklings.\n3. Seven times Elisha purified himself in a mystery of the seven spirits;\u2014and the hyssop and blood are a mighty symbol.\u2014There is no room for division;\u2014He is not divided from the Lord of all Who is Son of the Lord of all.\n4. Moses sweetened in Marah the waters that were bitter,\u2014because the People complained and murmured:\u2014Thus he gave a sign of baptism,\u2014wherein the Lord of life makes sweet them that were bitter.\n5. The cloud overshadowed and kept off the burning heat from the camp;\u2014it showed a symbol of the Holy Spirit, which overshadows you in baptism\u2014tempering the flaming fire that it harm not your bodies.\n6. Through the sea the People then passed, and showed a symbol\u2014of the baptism wherein ye were washed. The People passed through that and believed not:\u2014the Gentiles were baptized in this and believed and received the Holy Ghost.\n7. The Word sent the Voice to proclaim before His Coming,\u2014to prepare for Him the way by which He came,\u2014and to betroth the Bride till He should come,\u2014that she might be ready when He should come and take her from the water.\n8. The voice of prophecy stirred the son of the barren woman,\u2014and he went forth wandering in the desert and crying,\u2014\u201cLo! the Son of the Kingdom comes!\u2014prepare ye the way that He may enter and abide in your dwellings!\u201d\n9. John cried, \u201cWho comes after me, He is before me:\u2014I am the Voice but not the Word;\u2014I am the torch but not the Light;\u2014the Star that rises before the Sun of Righteousness.\u201d\n10. In the wilderness this John had cried and had said,\u2014\u201cRepent ye sinners of your evils,\u2014and offer the fruits of repentance;\u2014for lo! He comes that winnows the wheat from the tares.\u201d\n11. The Lightgiver has prevailed and marked a mystery, by the degrees he ascended:\u2014Lo! there are twelve days since he ascended,\u2014and to-day this is the thirteenth:\u2014a perfect mystery of Him, the Son, and His twelve!\np. 266 12. Darkness was overcome to make it manifest that Satan was overcome;\u2014and the Light prevailed that he should proclaim\u2014that the Firstborn triumphs: darkness was overcome\u2014with the Dark Spirit, and our Light prevailed with the Lightgiver.\n13. In the Height and the Depth the Son had two heralds.\u2014The star of light proclaimed Him from above;\u2014John likewise preached Him from beneath:\u2014two heralds, the earthly and the heavenly.\n14. The star of light, contrary to nature, shone forth of a sudden;\u2014less than the sun yet greater than the sun.\u2014Less was it than he in manifest light;\u2014and greater than he in secret might because of its mystery.\n15. The star of light shed its rays among them that were in darkness,\u2014and guided them as though they were blind;\u2014so that they came and met the great Light:\u2014they gave offerings and received life and adored and departed.\n16. The herald from above showed His Nature to be from the Most High;\u2014likewise he that was from beneath showed His Body to be from humankind, mighty marvel!\u2014that His Godhead and His Manhood by them were proclaimed!\n17. Thus whoso reckons Him as of earth, the star of light\u2014will convince him that He is of Heaven: and whoso reckons Him as of spirit,\u2014this John will convince him that He is also bodily.\n18. John drew near with his parents and worshipped the Sun,\u2014and brightness rested on His Face.\u2014He was not moved as when in the womb.\u2014Mighty marvel! that here he worships and there he leaped!\n19. The whole creation became for Him as one mouth and cried out concerning Him.\u2014The Magi cry out in their gifts;\u2014the barren cry out with their children;\u2014the star of light, lo! it cries out in the air, \u201cBehold the Son of the King!\u201d\n20. The heavens are opened, the waters break forth, the dove is in glory!\u2014The voice of the Father is stronger than thunder,\u2014as it utters the word, \u201cThis is My Beloved\u201d;\u2014the Watchers brought the tidings, the children acclaimed Him in their Hosannas.","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. XIII: Selections from the Hymns and Homilies of Ephraim the Syrian and from the Demonstrations of Aphrahat the Persian Sage.: Hymn I","type":"page"}