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Theophanes, the Confessor

759 - 818 Person Name: Theophanes Meter: Irregular Author of "Adam's Complaint" in Hymns of the Eastern Church (5th ed.) Theophanes, St. The third in rank among the Greek ecclesiastical poets called Melodists, circa 800-850. He was a son of pious parents, and a native of Jerusalem. He may have been educated, as his elder brother Theodore was, in the Laura of St. Sabas, and thence have imbibed his taste for the composition of hymns. He was sent, with his brother, by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, to Constantinople, to remonstrate with the Emperor Leo the Armenian (reg. 813-820), against iconoclasm. They were scourged and banished from Constantinople. After the murder of Leo they were allowed to return, but were again banished. In the reign of Theophilus (reg. 829-842) they were again at Constantinople, and were then branded on their faces with some opprobrious Iambic verses (from which they were afterwards known as "Grapti"), and a third time banished. After 842 Theophanes was recalled, on the triumph of the defenders of the Icons at the accession of Theodora, and was made Archbishop of Mida, where he died. The brothers are commemorated in the Greek calendar on Dec. 27. The sketch here given will be found quite different from that prefixed to the translations from Theophanes in Neale's Hymns of the Eastern Church. Dr. Neale mistook the poet for an earlier saint, Theophanes of Syngriana, who continued the Chronicon of George Syncellus. The identification of the poet with Theophanes Graptus is however universally attested by the Greek writers, and the Canon of Theophanes of Syngriana is written by Theophanes Graptus. [Rev. H. Leigh Bennett, M.A.] -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

John Brownlie

1857 - 1925 Meter: Irregular Translator of "Behold the Bridegroom cometh" in Hymns of the Russian Church Brownlie, John, was born at Glasgow, Aug. 6, 1857, and was educated at Glasgow University, and at the Free Church College in the same city. In 1884 he was licensed by the Presbytery of Glasgow; in 1885 he became Assistant Minister of the Free Church, Portpatrick, and on the death of the Senior Minister in 1890 he entered upon the full charge of the Church there. He has interested himself in educational matters, became a Member of the local School Board in 1888, a governor of Stranraer High School in 1897, and Chairman of the governors in 1901. His hymnological works are:— 1. The Hymns and Hymnwriters of the [Scottish] Church Hymnary, 1899. This is a biographical, historical, and critical companion to that hymnal, and is well done and accurate. 2. Hymns of Our Pilgrimage, 1889; Zionward; Hymns of the Pilgrim Life, 1890; and Pilgrim Songs, 1892. These are original hymns. The Rest of God, 1894, a poem in three parts. 3. Hymns of the Early Church, Being Translations from the Poetry of the Latin Church, arranged in the Order of the Christian Year . . . 1896. 4. Hymns from East and West, Being Translations from the Poetry of the Latin and Greek Churches . . . 1898. 5. Hymns of the Greek Church, Translated with Introduction and Notes, 1900. Second Series: Hymns of the Holy Eastern Church, Translated from the Service Books, with Introductory Chapters on the History, Doctrine and Worship of the Church, 1902. Third Series: Hymns from the Greek Office Books, Together with Centos and Suggestions, 1904. Fourth Series: Hymns from the East, Being Centos and Suggestions from the Office Books of the Holy Eastern Church, 1906. Of Mr. Brownlie's original hymns the following have come into common use:— 1. Ever onward, ever upward. Aspiration. From Pilgrim Songs, 3rd Series, 1892, p. 11. 2. Girt with heavenly armour. The Armour of God. Pilgrim Songs, 3rd Series, 1892, p. 49. 3. Hark! the voice of angels. Praise. Pilgrim Songs, 3rd Series, 1892, p. 57. 4. O bind me with Thy bonds, my Lord. The Divine Yoke. From Hymns of our Pilgrimage, 1889, p. 27. 5. O God, Thy glory gilds the sun. Adoration. From Zionward, &c, 1890, p. 33. 6. Spake my heart by sorrow smitten. Seeking God. From Pilgrim Songs, 3rd series, 1892, p. 25. 7. The flowers have closed their eyes. Evening Pilgrim Songs, 3rd series, 1892, p. 6tf. 8. There is a song which the angels sing. The Angels' Song. A cento from the poem The Best of God, 1894, p. 36. 9. Thou art my Portion, saith my soul. God, the Portion of His People. From Pilgrim Songs, 1892, p. 45. 10. Close beside the heart that loves me. Resting in God. This is one of the author's "Suggestions " based upon the spirit rather than the words of portions of the Greek Offices. It was given in Hymns of the Holy Eastern Church, 1902, p. 128. Mr. Brownlie's translations from the Latin have been adopted in the hymnals to a limited extent only, mainly because the ground had been so extensively and successfully covered by former translators. With the translations from the Greek the case was different, as for popular use few translations were available in addition to the well known and widely used renderings by Dr. Neale. Mr. Brownlie's translations have all the beauty, simplicity, earnestness, and elevation of thought and feeling which characterise the originals. Their suitability for general use is evidenced in the fact that the number found in the most recently published hymn-books, including Church Hymns, 1903, The New Office Hymn Book, 1905, and The English Hymnal, 1906, almost equal in number those by Dr. Neale. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)

Stanley M. Wiersma

1930 - 1986 Person Name: Stanley Wiersma Meter: Irregular Versifier of "Be Merciful, Be Merciful, O God" in Psalter Hymnal (Gray) Pseudonym: Sietze Buning ********** Stanley Marvin Wiersma (b. Orange City, IA, 1930; d. Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 1986) was a poet and professor of English at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, from 1959 until his sudden death in 1986. He attended Calvin as an undergraduate and received a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1959. His love for the Genevan psalms is reflected in the two books of poetry for which he is most widely known: Purpaleanie and Other Permutations (1978) and Style and Class (1982), both written under the pseudonym Sietze Buning. He also wrote More Than the Ear Discovers: God in the Plays of Christopher Fry and translated many Dutch poems and hymn texts into English, including the children's hymns published in All Will Be New (1982). Bert Polman

Calvin Seerveld

b. 1930 Meter: Irregular Versifier of "Do Not Be Silent, LORD God" in Psalter Hymnal (Gray) Calvin Seerveld (b. 1930) was professor of aesthetics at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto from 1972 until he retired in 1995. Educated at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan; the University of Michigan; and the Free University of Amsterdam (Ph.D.), he also studied at Basel University in Switzerland, the University of Rome, and the University of Heidelberg. Seerveld began his career by teaching at Bellhaven College in Jackson, Mississippi (1958-1959), and at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Illinois (1959-1972). A fine Christian scholar, fluent in various biblical and modern languages, he is published widely in aesthetics, biblical studies, and philosophy. His books include Take Hold of God and Pull (1966), The Greatest Song: In Critique of Solomon (1967), For God's Sake, Run with Joy (1972), Rainbows for the Fallen World: Aesthetic Life and Artistic Task (1980), and On Being Human (1988). He credits the Dutch musician Ina Lohr for influencing his compositions of hymn tunes. Most of his Bible versifications and hymns were written for the Psalter Hymnal (1987), on whose revision committee he ably served. Bert Polman

Brent Chambers

b. 1948 Meter: Irregular Paraphraser of "In the Presence of Your People" in Psalter Hymnal (Gray) Brent Sinclair Chambers (b. Napier, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, 1948) composed this song after experiencing an evening of ethnic music and dance in 1977. Chambers attended the Bible College of New Zealand and Auckland University and then became a self-employed painting contractor and song writer. He has written or co-written over five hundred songs, a number of which have been recorded or published. He based the text on Psalm 22:3, 22 and Psalm 145:7, though the words of the first line could also have been taken from Psalm 52:9b. He named his tune CELEBRATION, and both text and music were published in Scripture in Song (1977), one of the most important Scripture-chorus collections (initially from New Zealand) of the 1970s. The vocable "lai," suggested for the descant line on the repetition of the music, can be replaced with combinations of "ah" and "alleluia." Other stanzas can be added as well. --www.hymnary.org/hymn/PsH/160

Ricardo Villarreal

Meter: Irregular Versifier of "My Shepherd Is the LORD" in Psalter Hymnal (Gray) Bolivia

Marie J. Post

1919 - 1990 Meter: Irregular Versifier (st. 2) of "I Will Sing of the Mercies of the LORD" in Psalter Hymnal (Gray) Marie (Tuinstra) Post (b. Jenison, MI, 1919; d. Grand Rapids, MI, 1990) While attending Dutch church services as a child, Post was first introduced to the Genevan psalms, which influenced her later writings. She attended Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she studied with Henry Zylstra. From 1940 to 1942 she taught at the Muskegon Christian Junior High School. For over thirty years Post wrote poetry for the Grand Rapids Press and various church periodicals. She gave many readings of her poetry in churches and schools and has been published in a number of journals and poetry anthologies. Two important collections of her poems are I Never Visited an Artist Before (1977) and the posthumous Sandals, Sails, and Saints (1993). A member of the 1987 Psalter Hymnal Revision Committee, Post was a significant contributor to its array of original texts and paraphrases. Bert Polman

Marjorie Jillson

1931 - 2010 Meter: Irregular Versifier of "Praise the LORD!" in Psalter Hymnal (Gray) Marjorie Jillson was born in 1931 in Detroit and graduated from the College of Wooster, Ohio (B.A. in Religion, 1953). She was employed in various secretarial positions by the U.S. Government, Washington, D.C. She returned to Detroit and worked as a dental secretary (1973-1980) until she became ill. A member of Grosse Point Memorial Presbyterian Church, Jillson wrote the texts for Three Simple Melodies (1972) and Five Hymns (1973). The music for both collections was composed by Zimmermann. --The Presbyterian Hymnal Companion, 1993

Casiodoro Cardenas

Meter: Irregular Versifier of "I Will Exalt My God, My King" in Psalter Hymnal (Gray) Ecuador

Leonard E. Smith

b. 1942 Person Name: Leonard E. Smith, Jr. Meter: Irregular Versifier of "Our God Reigns" in Psalter Hymnal (Gray) Leonard Earl ‘Lenny’ Smith, Jr USA 1942-present. Born at Philadelphia, PA, the son of a career Marine Corp father and Catholic mother. The family moved around frequently due to his father’s transfers. They lived in PA, VA, CA, NC, Guam, and finally NJ. He was raised Protestant, though his mother was a devout Catholic. She would drop the children off at a Protestant church at the insistence of her non-religious husband, then attend her own church. When Smith was 12, his father left the family, he then attended the Catholic church with his mother. He wished to prepare for the priesthood and in 1960 studied at Jordan Evangelical Theological Seminary, Menominee, MI, then at Mt St Paul Seminary, Waukesha, WI. and Mt St Mary’s Seminary, Emmitsburg, MD, where, in 1965, he started writing songs for the guitar masses introduced there. In 1967 he left the seminary, but lead mass at different Catholic churches. He then attended at Augustinian Catholic Villanova University, Villanova, PA. In 1968, over the course of five years, he was a teacher for three Catholic high schools and one public school. After his first year at a high school in Haddon Township, NJ, he was dismissed, due to a ‘strained relationship’ with the principal over a student being abused by another teacher, and he reporting it. The next year he taught at Gloucester Catholic HS, Gloucester, NJ, and had a good year there. Smith married Marian Wehrle, and they had five children: Daniel, Rachel, Megan, David, and Andrew. He and wife Marian became involved in the Catholic Charismatic Movement, that included expressive dancing, and speaking in tongues. In 1970 they attended a Protestant Charismatic church in Philadelphia called The Gospel Temple. For two years Smith lead similar worship at an off-shoot church in NJ, called the Living Word Community, but resigned over concerns about the church’s doctrine of ‘shepherding’. The next year he wished to teach at a public school and taught Latin and English at Cinnaminson HS, Cinnaminson, NJ. During this time, he became involved with the Charismatic Movements and had a dramatic spiritual awakening. He decided to teach his regular coursework Monday-Thursday and teach Bible on Fridays, though many students were Jewish. Parental complaints resulted in his being let go at the end of the school year. In 1970 he returned to Gloucester Catholic HS teaching religion. Along with standard curriculum, he brought his guitar to class, sang, prayed, and read the Bible. He held a once-a-month prayer gathering in town for his students. The priests there were worried that he was starting a cult, and at year-end he was let go. He then took on carpentry and house painting work to support the family. In 1972 he started teaching religion at Bishop Eustace Prep School, Cherry Hill, NJ. He continued bringing his guitar to class and leading mass in the chapel. The head of the religion department refused to let him teach that Jesus was the only Messiah, wanting him to teach that there were many Messiahs, like Martin Luther king, and Mahatma Gandhi. When Smith refused, he was forced to resign. He returned to house painting, and eventually remodeling and building houses. For the next 35 years he worked on houses by day and wrote songs at night, and lead worship in various churches on Sundays. Depressed and without work in 1973, he read Isaiah 52:7 and wrote the gospel song ‘Our God Reigns’. A traveling evangelist, Bob Mumford, heard Smith sing his song at church and loved it. Mumford taught it at each church and conference he visited all over the world during the next couple of years. An Australian Company, Scripture in Song, released a songbook in 1979 with two of Smith’s songs in it, and a Catholic Prayer community in Ann Arbor, MI, also released a songbook and album, after which world-wide attention was brought to his songs, ‘Our God Reigns’ was embraced and used by Protestant and Catholic denominations around the world. It was a favorite of Pope John Paul II, and was used during his North and South American visits in 1999. Pope Benedict XVI heard it sung at his papal mass at Bellahouston Park, Glasgow, Scotland in 2010. Smith was involved with both Catholic and Protestant Charismatics and Pentecostals because both groups had interest in the same things. His home church became the Gospel Temple of Philadelphia. A singer, songwriter, and music publisher of pop, gospel, folk, and contemporary Christian music, Smith, now retired, still works on his music for his publishing company, Great Comfort Records, Clarksboro, NJ. His son, Daniel also started a recording label titled: Sounds Familyre Records, and eldest daughter, Rachel, writes and records worship music on Smith’s record label. John Perry