The Day Of Resurrection
The Day of Resurrection
The day of resurrection!
Earth, tell it out abroad;
The passover of gladness,
The passover of God.
From death to life eternal,
From earth unto the sky,
Our Christ hath brought us over
With hymns of victory.
Our hearts be pure from evil,
That we may see aright
The Lord in rays eternal
Of resurrection light;
And listening to His accents,
May hear, so calm and plain,
His own “All hail!” and, hearing,
May raise the victor strain.
Now let the heavens be joyful!
Let earth her song begin!
Let the round world keep triumph,
And all that is therein!
Let all things seen and unseen
Their notes in gladness blend,
For Christ the Lord hath risen,
Our joy that hath no end.
Translated by John Mason Neale (1818–1866)
IT IS SAID that John of Damascus started his hymnwriting career with a funeral hymn for a fellow monk. The monk wasn’t dead yet, but everyone thought death was near. So John prepared his song and was singing it loudly in his room, testing it out. Suddenly the monk for whom it was written burst into the room and scolded John for raising such a racket. Tradition says that John was expelled from the monastery briefly for causing this disturbance, but then the Lord told the abbot that John would be doing great things with music, so the abbot welcomed John back.
And John did some great things, collecting and organizing the great hymns of the Greek-speaking church. His major accomplishment was the writing of the Golden Canon, an Easter liturgy still used in the Orthodox Church and from which this hymn is taken. Scholars have called his text the finest sacred poetry in the Greek language.
And [Jesus] said, “Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day. It was also written that this message would be proclaimed . . . : ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’ ”
Luke 24:46-47
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