This hymn, by the Roman poet Marcus Aurelius Clemens Prudentius (348-413) is an ancient confession of faith. Prudentius was born in a Roman province in what is now Spain. He was a lawyer, judge, and scholar; and a prolific writer. He is considered the greatest Christian poet of his time. At the age of 57, he retired from public life and devoted himself to prayer and writing. The Hymnal 1982 contains one other Prudentius hymn, Earth Has Many A Noble City, H1982 No. 127, which we will also sing during the Epiphany season.
There are two English translations of this month’s hymn. In our Hymnal 1982, the translation by John Mason Neale (1818-1866) [stanzas 1-3] and Henry Williams Baker (1821-1877) [stanza 4], is called Of the Father’s Love Begotten. We are heavily indebted to Neale for his many translations, and it would be hard to make it through the liturgical year without them. Our Hymnal 1982 contains 28 Neale hymn translations. We will be singing another of his translations, O Wondrous Type! O Vision Fair, H1982 Nos. 136 and 137, during the Epiphany season. Baker is perhaps best known for his hymn The King of Love My Shepherd Is, H1982 645 and 646. Cambridge scholar Robert Furley Davis (1866-1937) made another translation, called Of the Father’s Heart Begotten. It is found in The English Hymnal and is the one the Choir will sing as an anthem on January 11.
Even though the second stanza is the only part of the hymn with a specific Christmas connection, we think of it as a Christmas hymn, and it is in the Christmas section of our Hymnal 1982. Indeed, the entire hymn fits nicely into the overarching Christmas story. As Fr. Guimond reminded us in his sermon on Christmas Day, Christmas Eve is about an event, whereas Christmas Day is about God’s love for all of time and eternity. The Gospel for Christmas Day is from John 1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. [We heard this John 1 passage again in our First Sunday after Christmas Service of Lessons and Carols.]
Its strong Christmas connections notwithstanding, this hymn was written for another purpose entirely. At the time it was written, the Church was involved in a great controversy over the nature of Jesus. Some people, led by Arius, thought he was created by God, thus had a beginning, and was not of the same essence as God. Others, led by Athanasius, held that he was coeternal with and of the same substance as God. This controversy bitterly divided Christians and also threatened the stability of the Roman Empire. Wanting this resolved, Emperor Constantine convened the Council of Nicaea in 325. The Council came down on the side of Athanasius and formulated the Nicene Creed, which affirms that position: We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. That creed, with some amendments, is the one we still recite today. Yet the controversy continued over a hundred years after the promulgation of the Nicene Creed. This hymn was written in that post Council of Nicaea time period to promote and reaffirm the position of the Nicene Creed, and it tracks the Nicene Creed nicely.
Just read the hymn, slowly, a phrase at a time, and let it sink in. It will take your breath away! So much is packed into even the first stanza. It all begins with the love of God. Christ is eternal, the source of everything, from before time through eternity. Even the poetry demonstrates that. Notice that the line “He is Alpha and Omega, He the source, the ending, He,” literally begins and ends with the word “He.”
The music is more modern, relatively speaking; it is a medieval plainchant melody, Divinum mysterium, from the 11th or 12th century. The earliest written record of this melody is a 13th century manuscript in the Abbey of St. Gall in Switzerland. [St. Gall is also the name of an award winning cheese.] Divinum mysterium began as a Sanctus trope. A trope is a musical and/or textual add-on to an established chant to embellish and interpolate the chant text. A verse of the trope would be sung after each phrase of the chant. For example: Sanctus (Holy) [verse], Sanctus (Holy) [verse], Sanctus (Holy) [verse], Domine Deus Sabaoth (God of power and might) [verse] etc. It seems odd, and it certainly would have made for very long chants, and consequently very long church services. The verses of this trope were taken out of the Sanctus, and put together into what became the eucharistic hymn Divinum mysterium. It was only much later that Prudentius’ text got paired with this tune in The Hymnal Noted (1854).
The first stanza deals with the creation:
Genesis 1:1-2 (In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void.)
Psalm 2:7 (Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.)
John 1:1-2 (In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.)
Revelation 1:8 (I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning, and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.)
The second stanza deals with the birth of Christ, drawing on the Gospel tellings of his birth, in Matthew 1 and 2 and Luke 1 and 2.
The third stanza calls for all creatures to praise him. Colossians 3:16 tells us to sing his praises (teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.). For me, the best line in the hymn is, Let no tongue on earth be silent, every voice in concert ring, evermore and evermore! It seems to be a paraphrase of Psalm 150:6 (Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord!).
The fourth stanza paraphrases the Gloria Patri (Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.)
The recurring evermore and evermore! [note the exclamation mark!] at the end of each stanza reminds us so beautifully that God is eternal, and that his people praise him forever. Not part of Prudentius’s original poem, this phrase was added probably in the 11th century. Its original Latin words are saeculorum saeculis, which Neale chose to translate as “evermore and evermore.” These are the same words as in the Latin version of our familiar Gloria Patri, et in saecula saeculorum (which is often translated as “ages upon ages” or “forever and ever”). Neale’s “evermore and evermore” seems more poetic and also more descriptive, not to mention, more in line with the traditional (and much more poetic) translation of our Gloria Patri, “world without end.” So it really is a shorthand version of the Gloria Patri.
Stanza four also draws on many scriptural references. For example,
Psalm 113:2 (Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and for evermore.)
Psalm 145:1 (I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever.)
Psalm 113:2 (Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and for evermore.)
Romans 16:27 (To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever.) [This reminds us of another hymn, Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise, H1982 No. 423.]
Revelation 1:5-6 (Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.)
Revelation 5:13 (And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.)
Revelation 7:11-12 (They fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.)
— Carolyn Parmenter, Music Director
