Hither and With One Accord

Representative Text

Hither, and with one accord,
Sing the servants of the LORD:
Sing each great ascetic sire;—
Anthony shall lead the choir:
Let Euthymius next him stand
Then in order all the band.
Make we joyous celebration
Of their heavenly conversation;
Of their glory, how they rise,
Like another Paradise;
These the trees our GOD hath placed,
Trees, with fruit immortal graced;
Bringing forth, for CHRIST on high,
Flowers of Life that cannot die;
With the sweetness that they fling
Mortal spirits nourishing.
Filled with GOD, and ever blest,
For our pardon make request!

Egypt, hail, thou faithful strand!
Hail, thou holy Libyan land!
Nurturing for the realm on high
Such a glorious company!
They by many a toil intense,
Chastity and continence,
Perfect men to GOD upreared,
Stars to guide us have appeared;
They, by many a glorious sign,
Many a beam of Power Divine,
To the earth’s remotest shore
Far and wide their radiance pour.
Holy Fathers, bright and blest,
For our pardon make request!

By what skill of mortal tongue
Shall your wondrous acts be sung?
All the conflicts of the soul,
All your struggles towards the goal;
And your virtues’ prize immense,
And your victories over sense,
How perpetual watch ye kept
Over passion, prayed and wept;
Yea, like very angels came,
Visible in earthly frame,
And with Satan girt for fight
Utterly o’erthrew his might.
Famed for signs and wonders rare,
Join to ours, great Saints, your prayer:
Ask that we, ye ever blest,
May attain the Land of Rest!

Hymns of the Eastern Church, 1866

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Author: Theophanes, the Confessor

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… 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 >

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