Christian Hymns of the First Three Centuries Part 4

Let your heart be your wisdom.[73]

The second source is a pa.s.sage from a sermon on _The Soul and Body_, written by Melito of Sardis, a bishop and philosopher who was martyred in 170. The author pictures all creation aghast at the crucifixion of Jesus, saying,

What new mystery then is this?

The Judge is judged and holds his peace; The Invisible one is seen and is not ashamed; . . .

The Celestial is laid in the grave, and endureth!

What new mystery is this?[74]

Whether admissible as a hymn or not, this pa.s.sage blends, in a most striking way, oriental and Greek elements employed in the expression of Christian belief.

Authentic Greek hymnody begins with Clement of Alexandria, 170-220. He is the author of a work of instruction for catechumens, the _Paedagogus_, to which is appended a _Hymn to Christ the Savior_, {Hymnos tou soteros Christou}, beginning, {Stomion polon}. It is a hymn of praise and thanksgiving on the part of those newly received into the Church. Christ is addressed in the familiar oriental imagery of the guide and shepherd, but the theme is rendered in a poetic style, which, by the use of short lines and the anapest, heightens the effect of ecstatic devotion.

Bridle of colts untamed, Over our wills presiding; Flight of unwandering birds, Our flight securely guiding,-- -- -- --[75]

The modern adaptation of Clement's hymn, _Shepherd of Tender Youth_, by Henry M. Dexter, 1846, while preserving in a measure the spirit of this piece, in no way reproduces the original. The {Stomion polon} of Clement is representative of a theme which pervades Christian hymnody in all ages, the joy and enthusiasm of the initiate or the admonition and encouragement addressed to the Christian who stands upon the threshold of a new life. The _Odes of Solomon_ have been interpreted in these terms.[76] Again, the theme is preserved in the so-called Amherst papyrus, which consists of a hymn of twenty-five tripart.i.te lines, a catechism or liturgy for the newly baptized. Originating in the third century, it appears in fragmentary form but sufficiently complete to make clear its language and purport, as ill.u.s.trated in the following:[77]

That thou mayest receive life eternal Thou hast escaped the hard law of the unjust ...

Seek to live with the saints, seek to receive life, Seek to escape the fire.

Hold the hope that thou hast learnt. The day that the master has appointed for thee is known to no man.

Tell the glad tidings unto children saying: the poor have received the kingdom, the children are the inheritors.[78]

The Amherst papyrus is a part of the new store of knowledge from antiquity which has been opened up within recent years by the discovery and study of papyri. This branch of archaeology and palaeography has made available new fields of research in the study of early Christianity hitherto unfamiliar. In 1920, among the Oxyrhynchus papyri was discovered a fragment of a Christian hymn. It appears on the back of a strip which records a grain account of the first half of the third century. The hymn has a musical setting, the earliest example of Christian church music extant. The fragment consists of the conclusion only, so that the length and subject matter of the hymn as a whole are unknown. Creation is enjoined to praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost, in the form of a doxology.

The meter is anapestic and purely quant.i.tative.[79]

The _Hymn of Thekla_, {Anothen parthenoi}, appears in the _Banquet of the Ten Virgins_, a work of Methodius, Bishop of Olympus and Patara in Lydia, who was martyred at Chalcis in 312. It is a hymn of twenty-four stanzas sung by Thekla, each followed by a refrain sung by the chorus,

I keep myself pure for Thee, O Bridegroom, and holding a lighted torch I go to meet Thee.[80]

Once more, a traditional theme in Christian hymnody is set forth, familiar from biblical as well as cla.s.sical connotations and perpetuated either in the praise of virginity or in the form of the mystic union of Christ and the Church.

It is customary in presenting the subject of Greek hymn writers to pa.s.s from Clement of Alexandria to Gregory of Nanzianzus and Synesius of Cyrene, poets of the fourth century who mark the beginning of a new era beyond the limits of this study. They are mentioned here only as a reminder of the long succession of great poets who created and maintained Greek hymnody throughout the ancient and medieval centuries.

Contemporary with the development of Greek hymns, the literature of the Church was moving toward its destination in Latin culture. As Latin became a liturgical language the service hymns, already cited, appeared in their Latin form. Perhaps this is one reason why the production of original Latin hymns was so long postponed. It was not until the middle of the fourth century that the hymns of Hilary of Poitiers, the first Latin hymn writer, appeared. His authentic hymns are three in number:

O Thou who dost exist before time

is a hymn of seventy verses in honor of the Trinity,

The Incarnate Word hath deceived thee, (Death)

an Easter hymn, and

In the person of the Heavenly Adam,

a hymn on the theme of the temptation of Jesus.[81] Hilary, like his Greek contemporaries, stands at the beginning of a new era, but it was Ambrose, and not he, who inaugurated the tradition of the medieval Latin hymn.

So far no mention has been made of the fact that the early period of Christian history was characterized by persecution. As a rule sporadic and intermittent, it was periodically severe. At all times Christians, if not actually persecuted, were objects of suspicion to the Roman government. We owe to the official zeal of Pliny the Younger, who was a proconsul in Bithynia in 112, our first glimpse of Christian wors.h.i.+p from the point of view of the outsider. In a letter to the Emperor Trajan on the subject of the Christians, he says that, as a part of their service at sunrise, they chanted a hymn, antiphonally, to Christ as a G.o.d.[82]

Speculation as to the ident.i.ty of this hymn has never ceased among students. Leclercq summarizes the theories as follows: It is a morning hymn later attributed to Hilary. It is the morning hymn of the Greek liturgy. It is the morning hymn of the _Apostolic Const.i.tutions_. It is the Great Doxology.[83] Since they are all unsatisfactory as identifications, we remain in ignorance on this point. A recent study of Pliny's letter by Casper J. Kraemer, a cla.s.sicist, proposes the translation of the words _carmen dicere_, "to chant a psalm."[84] This most interesting suggestion is in thorough harmony with our knowledge of the continuity of the use of the psalms in public wors.h.i.+p at this time.

VII. Conclusion

Reviewing the total pagan influence, both Greek and Latin, upon Christian hymnody, it must be understood that, in comparison with Semitic pressure in its wider implication, as well as the strictly Hebraic, pagan influence was relatively slight. It was a matter of centuries before the Hebrew psalms were permitted any rivals whatever in the usage of wors.h.i.+p, except other biblical citations or such poems as might be produced by unquestioned churchmen. Even these were sparingly used, for _psalmi idiotici_, as the novel and original compositions were called, were forbidden by the Church and a new hymnody was thus stifled at its very birth. In a period of confusion marked by the rival use of hymns on the part of the orthodox and non-orthodox, it was felt that wors.h.i.+p must be safeguarded. Only after the appearance of the modern vernacular languages in Europe in the period of the ninth century, when the liturgy had been set apart in the Latin tongue, was any real freedom permitted in the composition of new hymns. By that time the clergy were the poets and Latin their chosen medium of expression.[85]

By the time of Ambrose in the fourth century, however, Greek and oriental elements had long since merged in other aspects of civilization and, in the course of time, Christian hymns felt the effect of a universal development. There was a certain departure from biblical models and an emanc.i.p.ation from the old poetic forms in favor of the trend toward accent and rhyme. After all, a new religion had come into existence which demanded an authentic expression of a spiritual aspiration beyond that of the Old Testament models, just as Isaac Watts in the eighteenth century turned from the tradition of psalmody to an original presentment of the new revelation in Christ.

Are we to suppose that the Christians in the Mediterranean world of the first three centuries, representing the average inhabitant of these lands, had no hymns except those cited above? Or others like them? If they had, we are unacquainted with them. It is fair to a.s.sume that secular poetry and music eventually exerted an influence upon hymnody. At least the beginning of such influence was apparent in the adoption of popular meters by heretical poets, as well as by the orthodox.[86] Later, Ambrose perpetuated aspects of popular verse and perhaps music as well.[87] But there is no evidence at hand to support the a.s.sumption of a popular hymnody enjoyed either in connection with wors.h.i.+p or independently of it.

The problem of music is outside the province of this paper but is involved in any serious study of hymnology at any period of its development. Here the student is almost totally at a loss for ma.n.u.script evidence bearing musical notation from the primitive period. The Oxyrhynchus hymn is a solitary example.[88] This does not mean that the subject is altogether obscure. Many statements about Christian practice, inspired by biblical precedent, are found in patristic literature. The traditions both of Hebrew music and of the early Church are well known.

It seems clear that melody only was employed and that it was, for the most part, unaccompanied. Instrumentation was opposed and forbidden in public wors.h.i.+p of a liturgical nature.[89]

No student can leave the consideration of early Christian hymnology without a sense of defeat. The past cannot be forced to yield the hidden knowledge of which it is the custodian. Sources are very scanty, especially in proportion to other literary remains of early Christianity.

Specifically, there is no collection of hymns in existence which might correspond to a modern hymnary. On the contrary, isolated examples or groups appear from place to place and from time to time in varied forms.

But in one respect our evidence is sure, if not complete. Springing from the culture and the vicissitudes of the age, Christian hymns of the early Church, as in every other stage of its development, not only express the spiritual aspiration of the time but also respond to the challenge of a new day.

[1]H. LeClercq, "Hymnes," _Dictionnaire D' Archeologie Chretienne, etc._ (Paris, Letouzey, 1925), vol. 16, 2826-2928; Part I, _Hymnographie des trois premiers siecles_, 2826-2859.

[2]C. S. Phillips, _Hymnody, Past and Present_ (London, S. P. C. K., 1937).

[3]J. Kroll, "Die Hymnendichtung des fruhen Christentums," _Die Antike_, 2 (1926), 258-281.

[4]J. Mearns, _Canticles of the Christian Church_ (Cambridge, Un. Press, 1914), 1; F. Cabrol, "Cantiques," _Dictionnaire D' Archeologie Chretienne, etc._, vol. 2 (2), 1976.

[5]All biblical pa.s.sages quoted in this paper are given in the _King James Version_ of the English Bible.

[6]R. H. Charles, _The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament_ (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1913), vol. I, 627-629.

[7]J. Mearns, _op. cit._ (see note 4), 1.

[8]F. Cabrol, _op. cit._ (see note 4), 1976-1977.

[9]J. Julian, _Dictionary of Hymnology_ (London, John Murray, 1892), "Canons," 461, 463.

[10]Quotations from the Psalms are not included in this paper.

[11]C. H. Toy, _Quotations in the New Testament_ (New York, Scribners, 1884), 199-200.

[12]E. F. Scott, _The Pastoral Epistles_ (New York, Harper, no date), 14.

[13]J. Kroll, _op. cit._ (see note 3), 264.

[14]M. Dibelius, _A Fresh Approach to the New Testament and Early Christian Literature_ (New York, Scribners, 1936), 247.