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Hymns of the Eastern Church, by J.M. Neale, [1884], at sacred-texts.com


p. 141

Canon for Christmas Day

ODE VI.

by S. Cosmas

σπλάγχνων Ἰωνᾶν.

As Jonah, issuing from his three days’ tomb,
  At length was cast, uninjured, on the earth;
So, from the Virgin's unpolluted womb
  The Incarnate Word, That dwelt there, had His Birth:
For He, Who knew no taint of mortal stain,
Willed that His Mother spotless should remain.

Christ comes, Incarnate God, amongst us now,
  Begotten of the Father ere the day:
And He, to Whom the sinless legions bow,
  Lies cradled, ’midst unconscious beasts on hay:
And, by His homely swaddling-bands girt in,
Looses the many fetters of our sin.

p. 142

Now the New Child of Adam's race draws nigh,
  To us, the faithful, given: This, this is He
That shall the Father of Eternity,
  The Angel of the Mighty Counsel, be:
This the eternal God, by Whose strong hands
The fabric of the world supported stands.


Next: Canon For Christmas Day, Ode VII.