Scripture Verse

The first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared. Luke 24:1

Introduction

Words: Trans­lated to Eng­lish from Greek (Τὸν πρὸ ἡλ­ίου ἥλ­ιν δύ­ναν­τα πο­τὲ ἐν τά­φῳ) by Will­iam C. Dix in Ly­ra Mes­si­an­ica, ed­it­ed by Or­by Ship­ley (Lon­don: Long­man, Green, Long­man, Ro­berts & Green, 1864), pag­es 292–93.

Music: Al­ba­ce­te Ro­bert F. Smith (1833–1905) (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Smith (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

portrait
William C. Dix (1837–1898)

Origin of the Hymn

This is an Οῑκος, or short hymn, in hon­our of the ho­ly wo­men who brought spic­es to an­oint the bo­dy of Je­sus, and fol­lows in the Greek Of­fice for East­er Day, a κοντάκιον (an­oth­er short hymn), by St. Ro­man­us (q. v.), to whom, pos­si­bly be­cause of this close as­so­ci­ation, it is some­times as­cribed.

It dates prob­ab­ly about 500, and is found in­sert­ed be­tween Odes vi. and vii. of the Gold­en Can­on of St. John of Dam­as­cene in the Pen­te­cos­ta­ri­on.

Julian, p. 1182

Lyrics

illustration
The Holy Women at the Tomb
William Bouguereau (1825–1905)

As those who seek the break of day
Full ear­ly in the morn­ing,
The wo­men came where Je­sus lay,
Who late had borne the scorn­ing.
Sweet oint­ment in their hands they brought,
And ere the sun had ris­en,
The Sun of Right­eous­ness they sought,
Now set with­in death’s pri­son.

And thus they cried—the bo­dy here,
Let us give new an­oint­ing;
The quick­en­ing flesh, the bo­dy dear,
Which by di­vine ap­point­ing
From this dark se­pul­cher shall rise,
And Ad­am’s race de­liv­er,
And lift the fall­en to the skies
To reign in bliss for ev­er.

And like the Ma­gi, hast­en we
To Him with love ador­ing;
Sweet spic­es, too, our gifts shall be,
And we must weep, im­plor­ing
That He, in swad­dling clothes no more,
But in fine lin­en ly­ing,
Would grant the fall­en when life is o’er,
The gift of life un­dy­ing.