Hymns of the Eastern Church: Metrophanes of Smyrna: O Unity of Threefold Light
Hymns of the Eastern Church, by J.M. Neale, [1884]
by Metrophanes of Smyrna
From the Canon for Sunday of the Second Tone.
τριφεγγὴς Μονὰς θεαρχική.
O Unity of Threefold Light,
Send out Thy loveliest ray,
And scatter our transgressions' night,
And turn it into day;
Make us those temples pure and fair,
Thy glory loveth well,
The spotless tabernacles, where
Thou may’st vouchsafe to dwell!
The glorious hosts of peerless might
That ever see Thy Face, p. 235
Thou mak’st the mirrors of Thy Light,
The vessels of Thy grace:
Thou, when their wond'rous strain they weave,
Hast pleasure in the lay:
Deign thus our praises to receive,
Albeit from lips of clay!
And yet Thyself they cannot know,
Nor pierce the veil of light
That hides Thee from the Thrones below,
As in profoundest night:
How then can mortal accents frame
Due tribute to the King?
Thou, only, while we praise Thy Name,
Forgive us as we sing!
Beyond Metrophanes, it will not be necessary to carry our translations. The following names may, however, be mentioned.