Hymns of the Eastern Church: S. Cosmas: Transfiguration
Hymns of the Eastern Church, by J.M. Neale, [1884]
by S. Cosmas
I shall, perhaps, render the following Canon more acceptable to most readers if, instead of translating the Odes in detail, I make a cento from the more remarkable Troparia.
They are principally from the first four Odes.
χορὸς Ἰσραήλ.
The choirs of ransomed Israel,
The Red Sea’s passage o’er,
Uprais’d the hymn of triumph
Upon the further shore:
And shouted, as the foeman
Was whelm’d beneath the sea,—
'Sing we to Judah's Saviour,
For glorified is He!'
Amongst His Twelve Apostles
Christ spake the Words of Life,
And show’d a realm of beauty
Beyond a world of strife:
'When all My Father's glory
Shall shine expressed in Me,
Then praise Him, then exalt Him,
For magnified is He!'
Upon the Mount of Tabor
The promise was made good;
When, baring all the Godhead,
In light itself He stood:
And they, in awe beholding,
The Apostolic Three,
Sang out to God their Saviour,
For magnified was He!
In days of old, on Sinai,
The Lord of Sabaoth came, p. 152
In majesty of terror,
In thunder-cloud and flame:
On Tabor, with the glory
Of sunniest light for vest,
The excellence of beauty
In Jesus was express’d.
All hours and days inclin’d there,
And did Thee worship meet,
The sun himself adored Thee,
And bow’d him at Thy feet:
White Moses and Elias,
Upon the Holy Mount,
The co-eternal glory
Of Christ our God recount.
O holy, wonderous Vision!
But what, when this life past,
The beauty of Mount Tabor
Shall end in Heav’n at last? p. 153
But what, when all the glory
Of uncreated light
Shall be the promis’d guerdon
Of them that win the fight?
[No. 5 in Mr. Sedding's book.]