Exalt, Exalt, the Heavenly Gates

Representative Text

“Exalt, exalt, the Heavenly Gates,
Ye chiefs of mighty name!
The Lord and King of all things waits,
Enrobed in earthly frame.”
So to the higher seats they cry,
The humbler legions of the sky.

For Adam’s sake, by Serpent-guile
Distressed, deceived, o’erthrown,
Thou left’st Thy native Home awhile,
Thou left’st the FATHER’s Throne:
Now he is decked afresh with grace,
Thou seek’st once more the Heavenly place.

213

Glad festal keeps the earth today,
Glad festal Heav’n is keeping;
The Ascension-pomp, in bright array,
Goes proudly sky-ward sweeping:
The LORD the mighty deed hath done,
And joined the severed into one.

Her fetters of the barren womb it rent,
It crushed the malice of the insolent,
The cry of her—the prophetess, who brought
A contrite spirit, and a humble thought
To Him, Who bids His Throne by earnest prayer be sought.

Hymns of the Eastern Church, 1866

Author: Joseph of the Studium

Joseph of the Studium [Joseph of Thessalonica]. This person not the same person wrongly named by Dr. Neale in his Hymns of the Eastern Church as Joseph of the Studium, author of the great Canon for the Ascension. That Joseph is St. Joseph the Hymnographer. Joseph of Thessalonica, younger brother of St. Theodore of the Studium, q.v., was some time Bishop of Thessalonica, and died in prison, after great suffering inflicted by command of Theophilus. He was probably the author of the Triodia in the Triodion, and certainly of five Canons in the Pentecostarion to which his name is prefixed. His pieces have not been translated into English. [Rev. H. Leigh Bennett, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907) Go to person page >

Translator: John Mason Neale

John M. Neale's life is a study in contrasts: born into an evangelical home, he had sympathies toward Rome; in perpetual ill health, he was incredibly productive; of scholarly tem­perament, he devoted much time to improving social conditions in his area; often ignored or despised by his contemporaries, he is lauded today for his contributions to the church and hymnody. Neale's gifts came to expression early–he won the Seatonian prize for religious poetry eleven times while a student at Trinity College, Cambridge, England. He was ordained in the Church of England in 1842, but ill health and his strong support of the Oxford Movement kept him from ordinary parish ministry. So Neale spent the years between 1846 and 1866 as a warden of Sackvi… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Exalt, Exalt, the Heavenly Gates
Author: Joseph of the Studium
Translator: John Mason Neale (1862)
Meter: 8.6.8.6.8.8 with refrain
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Timeline

Instances

Instances (1 - 3 of 3)
Page Scan

Christ in Song #306

Page Scan

Hymns and Poetry of the Eastern Church #158a

TextPage Scan

Hymns of the Eastern Church (5th ed.) #212

Suggestions or corrections? Contact us