Hymns of the Eastern Church: S. John Damascene: S. Thomas's Sunday, Ode IV
Hymns of the Eastern Church, by J.M. Neale, [1884]
"S. Thomas's Sunday"
by S. John Damascene.
μέγα τὸ μυστήριον.
"'Christ, we turn our eyes to Thee,
"'And this mighty mystery!'
"Habakkuk exclaimed of old,
"In the Holy Spirit bold:
"'Thou shalt come in time appointed,
"For the help of Thine anointed!"
Taste of myrrh He deign’d to know,
Who redeemed the source of woe:
Now He bids all sickness cease
Through the honey-comb of peace:
And to this world deigns to give
That sweet food by which we live.
Patient Lord! with loving eye
Thou invitest Thomas nigh,
Showing Him that Wounded Side:
While the world is certified,
Flow the third day, from the grave,
Jesus Christ arose to save.
Blest, O Didymus, the tongue
Where that first confession hung:
First the Saviour to proclaim
First the Lord of Life to name:
Such the graces it supplied,
—That dear touch of Jesu's side!
Catavasia. "Stand on thy watch-tower, Habakkuk the Seer." (p. 98.)