The Latest Christian Hymn Outside Scripture

Okay, I admit that this is probably not THE latest hymn. That was clickbait. However, this topical tune was brought to my attention during a Facebook conversation about Father Antonio Spadaro, SJ's assertion that in theology 2 +2 may = 5.  As we all fell about tearing our hair and rending our garments, I asked if "God of Surprises" is an approved devotion.

In response, a kindly Jesuit priest (not  Fr. Spadaro) sent me the following link:

God of Surprises

The hymn is the second on the list. Click and have a listen. It was published in 2008. Note particularly the rhymes. Do not stop listening before the children's choir bursts in.

When you are done, please click the video below. This hymn (lyrics from the 6th century) was sung on Christmas Day in my church by a three man schola. Lyrics for the whole hymn below.

Christe, Redemptor omnium,    
ex Patre, Patris unice,
solus ante principium
natus ineffabiliter,

Tu lumen, tu splendor Patris,
tu spes perennis omnium,
intende quas fundunt preces
tui per orbem servuli.

Salutis auctor, recole
quod nostri quondam corporis,
ex illibata Virgine
nascendo, formam sumpseris.

Hic praesens testatur dies,
currens per anni circulum,
quod a solus sede Patris
mundi salus adveneris;

Hunc caelum, terra, hunc mare,
hunc omne quod in eis est,
auctorem adventus tui
laudat exsultans cantico.

Nos quoque, qui sancto tuo
redempti sumus sanguine,
ob diem natalis tui
hymnum novum concinimus.

Iesu, tibi sit gloria,
qui natus es de Virgine,
cum Patre et almo Spiritu,
in sempiterna saecula. 

One English version of the above:

1  JESU, the Father's only Son,
whose death for all redemption won,
before the worlds, of God most high,
begotten all ineffably.¹
2  The Father's Light and Splendour Thou
their endless Hope to Thee that bow:
accept the prayers and praise today
that through the world Thy servants pay.
3  Salvation's author, call to mind
how, taking the form of humankind,
born of a Virgin undefiled,
Thou in man's flesh becamest a Child.
4  Thus testifies the present day
Through every year in long array,
that Thou, salvation's source alone
proceedest from the Father's Throne.
5  Whence sky, and stars, and sea's abyss,
and earth, and all that therein is,
shall still, with laud and carol meet,
the Author of thine Advent greet.
6  And we who, by Thy precious Blood
from sin redeemed, are marked for God,
on this, the day that saw Thy Birth,
sing the new song of ransomed earth.
7  All honour, laud, and glory be,
O Iesu, Virgin-born, to Thee;
whom with the Father we adore,
and Holy Ghost forevermore. Amen.

(John Mason Neale, 1818-1866)

The Earliest Christian Hymn Outside Scripture

A happy Christmas to those whose Christmas today is. By the traditional Latin calendar it is Epiphany, so happy Epiphany, the Latins. I must find where B.A, has hidden the Three Wise Men and put them in the créche before the sitting-room hearth.

When I took my first Latin course, there was a ritual exchange between Sister W and us her young charges. It went like this:

"Salvete, puellae"

"Sal-VE, so-ror [Wah-DEEE-DAAAA]."

"Oremus." 

(She begins the prayer.)

I was strongly reminded of this yesterday as I listened to the first dialogue of my new Assimil Grec Ancien, for it was basically the same thing: "Hello, child." "Hello, teacher." "Hello, children!"  Not surprisingly, it did not end in the Greek for "Oremus" and a prayer.

However, I think it a good thing to begin classes for Catholics with prayer---thanks entirely to Sister W I have known the Salve Regina for most of my life---and so I went on a hunt for an early Greek hymn. Of course the Hellenic Mediterranean world of the first century was 400-500 years removed from Classical Attic Greek, so naturally anything Christian is going to be in the Koine Greek so beloved of Evangelical theology schools. 

I did a bit of Google searching and found that "Phos Hilaron", i.e. "O Gladsome Light", still used today by the Greek Orthodox Church as a vesper hymn, appeared in the late 3rd or early 4th century AD. 

Here is the music, followed by the Wikipedia lyrics and translation. 

Φῶς ἱλαρὸν ἁγίας δόξης ἀθανάτου Πατρός,

οὐρανίου, ἁγίου, μάκαρος, Ἰησοῦ Χριστέ,

ἐλθόντες ἐπὶ τὴν ἡλίου δύσιν, ἰδόντες φῶς ἑσπερινόν,

ὑμνοῦμεν Πατέρα, Υἱόν, καὶ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα, Θεόν.

Ἄξιόν σε ἐν πᾶσι καιροῖς ὑμνεῖσθαι φωναῖς αἰσίαις,

Υἱὲ Θεοῦ, ζωὴν ὁ διδούς· διὸ ὁ κόσμος σὲ δοξάζει.

A classical pronunciation of above:

Phôs hilaròn hagías dóxēs, athanátou Patrós,

ouraníou, hagíou, mákaros, Iēsoû Christé,

elthóntes epì tḕn hēlíou dýsin, idóntes phôs hesperinón,

hymnoûmen Patéra, Hyión, kaì Hágion Pneûma, Theón.

Áxión se en pâsi kairoîs hymneîsthai phōnaîs aisíais,

Hyiè Theoû, zoḕn ho didoús, diò ho kósmos sè doxázei.

Literal translation:

O Light gladsome of the holy glory of the Immortal Father,

the Heavenly, the Holy, the Blessed, O Jesus Christ,

having come upon the setting of the sun, having seen the light of the evening,

we praise the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: God.

Worthy it is at all times to praise Thee in joyful voices,

O Son of God, Giver of Life, for which the world glorifies Thee.

Is that not lovely? You can find much slower version on Youtube, but they are more suitable for church than for class. 

Many biblical scholars think that there are traces of hymns in the New Testament itself, but I want to give my pupils something entirely new to them. It would interesting to find Septuagint psalms to sing, of course.

A Love Letter

From a critic:

Some of your commentators (lewis,deSouza, mclean) think they are better theologians than the atlantic bishops. The same ones think Pope Francis is virtually a heretic, Latin mass is the only "good" mass, middle ages church music the only "good" music, and Catholicism should be a state religion. 

Respondeo:

1. I can't even name the Atlantic Bishops, so I wouldn't hazard a guess as to whether or not they are better theologians than I. One would hope so, as they are bishops and I am a lowly M.Div/STB. On the other hand, I haven't been accused of offering the last rites to people about to commit suicide.

2. I am confused by the expression "virtually a heretic." Either you are a heretic, or you are not.  To be considered a heretic, a Christian has to cling with "pertinacious adhesion to a doctrine contradictory to a point of faith clearly defined by the Church." That's a serious charge to make of a Roman pontiff. Let me see if  such a magistral figure as Cardinal Burke has... No, he hasn't.

It is odd that this stranger claims to know my thoughts regarding Pope Francis'  adhesion to doctrine--unless my advice to readers to burn whole sections of Amoris Laetitia disturbed him. While there are passages of Amoris Laetitia that fail the sniff test, I strongly doubt Pope Francis wrote them himself. I prefer to think that Pope Francis is poorly advised.

3. I certainly do not believe that Latin mass is the only "good" mass. The Ukrainians, for example, have a beautiful liturgy. I imagine many other Eastern Rite Catholic communities do, too.

4. Ah, middle ages music. Some people kick up a fuss about polyphony, but I for one think Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) was a genius. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791) also wrote liturgical music worthy of the Latin Rite. Many Germans and Englishmen, among others, wrote wonderful stuff until about 1962. Meanwhile, there's nothing like a 19th century Polish folk hymn, and in my younger days I occasionally turned up at a Praise & Worship service and bounced around in the pew.

I am also fond of Indie Rock and Roll and German Techno, but not at church.

5. Since the only political philosophy I have read in depth has been Polish capitalist anarchism, I'm  wobbly on whether or not there should be a state. Thus I don't know enough to make any pronouncements on state religions, other than that I hope the state ceases to interfere with my religion. Meanwhile, people I trust say I ought to support the Social Kingship of Christ, so I am willing to state that the Social Kingship of Christ is a good thing.

Update: B.A. threatened to sit both me and a Polish capitalist anarchist on the sofa and read to us from the Catechism on the necessity and importance of the state. Then he couldn't wait for a Polish capitalist anarchist to come by, so he got the Catechism and read it to me at once.

War time Humour 2017

The  BBC comedy sketch "Real Housewives of Isis"  is being condemned as absolutely tasteless, but I thought it was funny, topical and a lot less offensive to pious ears than the lyrics of "Colonel Bogey" (which, if you don't know, describe the anatomy of various leaders of the Nazi high command).

I hope it is seen by a hundred thousand British schoolgirls. Mocking murderous thugs (and their female enablers) is an enduring part of freedom-loving British culture.

Update: I am not sure how people assert with intellectual honesty that the sketch mocks ISIS's victims. These girls are clearly from England. One even mentions Birmingham.

ASSIMILate & "The Frogs" (No Pun Intended)

My kind papa has sent me the Assimil Ancient Greek (or, rather, grec ancien) program via Amazon.fr, so I shall be listening to that as I prepare my charges for their Greek GCSEs (i.e. exams called the O-Levels before 1988).

It joins my growing collection of Greek textbooks, which includes my twenty-year-plus-old old Reading Greek textbooks. The important thing about Assimil is that it provides four CDs. Ancient Greek is not spoken anywhere except among Classics professors and hobbyists, but I am convinced by the arguments of the "Restructured"school that pronunciation is more important than the GCSE handbook would have me believe.

Indeed, when I search my memory for the remnants of my Classics courses, what comes to my tongue most readily is part of The Frogs. I studied Classics at the University of Toronto at the same time as the celebrated (and polyglot) Greg Robic, and eventually he turned the department's annual play for "Visiting High School Students Day" into off-Broadway musicals.

I cannot remember if I have Greg to thank for this, but I have at least a verse of "Βρεκεκεκὲξ κοὰξ κοάξ" (Brek-kek-kek-kek koax koax) jammed into my brain. This was not thanks to my Greek classes but to a performance of The Frogs.  I played the unhelpful corpse but sang along with the frogs. I suspect Greg was already at least a co-author as well as an actor, for the insult lobbed at my character was "frigid b*tch"-- a very Robician joke.

Looking at the text of The Frogs now (for the first time in over 20 years, if we were even given the proper text then, as we learned it by rote), I see that these are the sections I still remember:

βρεκεκεκὲξ κοὰξ κοάξ.
210βρεκεκεκὲξ κοὰξ κοάξ. 
λιμναῖα κρηνῶν τέκνα, 
ξύναυλον ὕμνων βοὰν 
φθεγξώμεθ᾽, εὔγηρυν ἐμὰν ἀοιδάν, 
κοὰξ κοάξ...

εἰκότως γ᾽ ὦ πολλὰ πράττων. 
ἐμὲ γὰρ ἔστερξαν εὔλυροί τε Μοῦσαι 230καὶ κεροβάτας Πὰν...  
 
235βρεκεκεκὲξ κοάξ κοάξ.

I conclude that I owe it to my students to drill them in their lessons until they know them so well they will be able to repeat them well into middle age and beyond.

Catholics at Scottish Universities

Here is my article about Catholics at Scottish universities for the Scottish Catholic Observer. Critics may shout that it is too focused on "the Central Belt" (i.e. Glasgow and Edinburgh), but I tried other universities and they didn't get back to me.

This is part of a series I am doing on the different faith communities within the Catholic Church in Scotland. I began with the Ukrainians, and then spoke to university students. Next I interviewed a very kind Syro-Malabar priest about his community, and then I talked to some Poles.

Next up are the traddies, and I would like to emphasize that most of these are all very overlapping groups. For example, there are Poles in Scottish university chaplaincy, and there are Polish trads, and Poles go to English Mass, and there are trads beside me who go to Polish Mass and also to English Mass on occasion.

I haven't met anyone so far who wanted to stay in his or her own little liturgical or national bubble. The Syro-Malabar priest spends half his day ministering to English-speaking Scots in the Latin Rite, and half ministering to his fellow Indian Syro-Malabars. One of the Ukrainian Catholics I interviewed was actually Latvian!

It's been a very interesting project so far, and all this diversity is a nice change from thinking about nationalism.

I should point out to everyone who is shocked senseless by my interest in nationalism that I am not a particularly obsessed with my own nation. I am of mixed ethnicity and from a city of which only 50% of inhabitants were born in Canada, let alone the city itself. My joy in being a fourth generation Torontonian is rather tempered by the ongoing physical destruction of the Toronto I grew up in, never mind the Toronto my British great-grandparents knew. This is one reason why it is quite nice to be married to someone whose identity is 100% Scottish and helps preserve Scottish architecture for the nation. The big drawback, however, is that he loves his country too much to emigrate to Canada. Well, I respect that.

Masons Despoil Fatima

Eventually anyone who goes to a traditional Mass on the Continent is going to come across talk of the Masonic Lodge. In the UK, we don't worry about the Masons quite so much, perhaps because the British (or Scottish) Masons, living in a Protestant country, don't  have the same anti-clerical zeal as the Continental types.

Or so I think. I am rather new to worries about Masonry. There are so many other groups to worry about. Thus I was absolutely staggered to discover today that Masons in Portugal despoiled the little oak tree of Fatima, set up a mocking museum and had a blasphemous procession with the captured relics.

This is from a book by Father John de Marchi, The True Story of Fatima, which can be found online through EWTN:

During the night of October 23 [1917], as duly recorded in the newspaper, Diario de Noticias, some gentlemen from Santarem (whose names, incidentally, are listed) joined with some other apostles of enlightenment from Vila Nova de Ourem, then continued on to the Cova da Iria. Here is part of the contemporary newspaper report:

With an axe they cut the tree²⁸ under which the three shepherd children stood during the famous phenomenon of the 13th of this month. They took away the tree, together with a table on which a modest altar had been arranged, and on which a religious image (of our Lady) had been placed. They also took a wooden arch, two tin lanterns, and two crosses, one made of wood and the other of bamboo-cane wrapped in tissue paper.

These prize exhibits, including, as a footnote explains, a bogus version of the tree, were placed on exhibit in a house not far from the Seminary at Santarem, and an entrance fee exacted from those who wished to enter and be entertained at the widely advertised religious farce. One disappointment to the sponsors was the fact that not everyone, even among the Church's active critics, agreed it was amusing. The profits from the exhibit were to be turned over to a local charity, but the beneficiaries said very politely, "Thank you; no." Later, in the evening, a blasphemous procession was held.

The parade was headed by two men thumping on drums (a newspaper account reveals), while just behind it came the famous tree on which the Lady is said to have appeared. Next came the wooden arch, with its lanterns alight, then the altar table and other objects which the faithful had placed upon it at the Cova da Iria. To the sound of blasphemous litanies, the procession passed through the principal streets of the city, returning to the Sa da Band Eira Square, at which point it broke up.

Further research discloses that many of the demonstrators, less than satisfied with the appeal to bigotry they had attained, reorganised on a street not far from Sa da Band Eira Square, and were about to start parading anew when a woman, from a window above them, dropped a pail of water on their heads. She succeeded, less willingly, in drenching a local policeman as well, and the commotion in the street was considerable. A more substantial force of police then came along and dispersed the gathering.

The affair was a disgrace (the newspaper concludes). How is it possible that the authorities tolerate such a thing while at the same time refusing permission for the processions of the Church to which nearly the whole population belongs and whose ceremonies in no way offend the religious convictions of others?

What amazes me is how very 21st century such insulting hijinks seem.

UPDATE (January 4): This is going viral getting me quadruple my daily allowance of hits. Why is this going viral getting me so many hits? I mention the Freemasons once in TEN YEARS of blogging, and it goes viral reintroduces me to a wider audience. Goodness me.