{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/hec/hec56.htm","path":"chr/hec/hec56.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/hec/hec56.htm","text":"Hymns of the Eastern Church, by J.M. Neale, [1884]\nby Theodore of the Studium\nThe first Sunday in Lent is kept in memory: primarily, of the final triumph of the Church over the Iconoclasts in 842; and, incidentally, of her victory over all other heresies. It has a kind of comminution appropriate to itself alone. The fallowing Canon is ascribed to S. Theodore of the Studium, though Baronius has thought that it cannot be his, because it implies that peace was restored to the Church, whereas that hymnographer died while the persecution still continued. Very possibly, however, it was written en the temporary victory of the Church, which did occur in the time of S. Theodore; and then, in 842, may have been lengthened and adapted to\nthe then state of things, perhaps by Naucratius, the favourite disciple of S. Theodore. It is, perhaps, the most spirited of all the Canons, though many of its expressions savour too much of bitterness and personal feeling to be well defended, and the reader must constantly bear in mind that the poet feels the cause, not so much of Icons, as of the Incarnation itself, to be at stake. I have only given about one-third of the poem. The stanzas are these: Ode I. Tropar. I, 2; III. 6; IV. 1, 2, 3; V. 1, 3, 4, 5; VI. 1; IX. 2, 3, 4, 5.\n\u03a7\u03b1\u03c1\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03ae\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd \u1fa0\u03b4\u03ae\u03bd.\nA song, a song of gladness!\n \u00a0\u00a0A song of thanks and praise\n The horn of our salvation\n Hath God vouchsafed to raise! p. 186\n A monarch true and faithful,\n And glorious in her might,\n To champion Christ's own quarrel,\n \u00a0\u00a0And Orthodoxy's right!\nNow manifest is glory;\n \u00a0\u00a0Now grace and virtue shine:\n Now joys the Church regaining\n \u00a0\u00a0Her ornaments divine:\n And girds them on in gladness,\n \u00a0\u00a0As fits a festal day,\n After long months of struggle,\n \u00a0\u00a0Long years of disarray.\nNow cries the blood for vengeance,\n \u00a0\u00a0By persecutors poured,\n Of them that died defending\n \u00a0\u00a0The likeness of the Lord: p. 187\n The likeness, as a mortal\n \u00a0\u00a0That He vouchsaf\u2019d to take,\n Long years ago, in Bethlem,\n \u00a0\u00a0Incarnate for our sake.\nAwake, O Church, and triumph\n \u00a0\u00a0Exult, each realm and land!\n And open let the houses,\n \u00a0\u00a0The ascetic houses stand!\n And let the holy virgins\n \u00a0\u00a0With joy and song take in\n Their relics and their Icons,\n \u00a0\u00a0Who died this day to win!\nAssemble ye together\n \u00a0\u00a0So joyous and so bold,\n The ascetic troops, and pen them\n \u00a0\u00a0Once more within the fold! p. 188\n If strength again he gather,\u00a0*\n \u00a0\u00a0Again the foe shall fall:\n If counsel he shall counsel,\n \u00a0\u00a0Our God shall scatter all.\nThe Lord, the Lord hath triumphed:\n \u00a0\u00a0Let all the world rejoice!\n Hush\u2019d is the turmoil, silent\n \u00a0\u00a0His servants\u2019 tearful voice: p. 189\n And the One Faith, the True Faith,\n \u00a0\u00a0Goes forth from East to West,\n Enfolding, in its beauty,\n \u00a0\u00a0The earth as with a vest.\nThey rise, the sleepless watchmen\n \u00a0\u00a0Upon the Church's wall;\n With yearning supplication\n \u00a0\u00a0On God the Lord they call:\n And He, though long time silent,\n \u00a0\u00a0Bow'd down a gracious ear,\n His people's earnest crying\n \u00a0\u00a0And long complaint to hear.\nSing, sing for joy, each desert!\n \u00a0\u00a0Exult, each realm of earth\n Ye mountains, drop down sweetness!\n \u00a0\u00a0Ye hillocks, leap for mirth! p. 190\n For Christ the Word, bestowing\n \u00a0\u00a0His blessed peace on men,\n In Faith's most holy union\n \u00a0\u00a0Hath knit His Church again.\nThe God of vengeance rises:\n \u00a0\u00a0And Christ attacks the foe,\n And makes His servants mighty\n \u00a0\u00a0The wicked to o\u2019erthrow:\n And now Thy condescension\n \u00a0\u00a0In boldness may we hymn,\n And now in peace and safety\n \u00a0\u00a0Thy sacred Image limn.\nO Lord of loving kindness,\n \u00a0\u00a0How wondrous are Thy ways!\n What tongue of man suffices\n \u00a0\u00a0Thy gentleness to praise? p. 191\n Because of Thy dear Image\n \u00a0\u00a0Men dared Thy Saints to kill,\n Yet didst Thou not consume them,\n \u00a0\u00a0But bear\u2019st their insults still.\nThou Who has fixed unshaken\n \u00a0\u00a0Thy Church's mighty frame,\n So that hell-gates shall never\n \u00a0\u00a0Prevail against the same;\u2014\n Bestow upon Thy people\n \u00a0\u00a0Thy peace, that we may bring\n One voice, one hymn, one spirit,\n \u00a0\u00a0To glorify our King!\n188:* This is from the magnificent Emmanuel Ode sung at Great Compline on high festivals.\n\"Having become mighty, ye have been subdued.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"For God is with us.\n\"And if ye shall again become mighty, again ye shall be subdued.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"For God is with us.\n\"And if ye shall devise any device, the\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Lord shall scatter it,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"For God is with us.\"","title":"Hymns of the Eastern Church: Theodore of the Studium: Orthodoxy Sunday","type":"page"}