Scripture Verse

Our Savior Jesus Christ…hath abolished death, and…brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. 2 Timothy 1:10

Introduction

Words: Trans­lat­ed from Greek (῾ϒμνοῦμέν σου Χριστὲ, τὸ σωτήριον Πάθος) to Eng­lish by Will­iam C. Dix in Ly­ra Mes­si­an­ica, ed­it­ed by Or­by Ship­ley (Lon­don: Green, Long­man, Ro­berts & Green, 1864), pag­es 277–78.

Music: Tun­ce­li George B. Lis­sant, in Ca­rols Old and Car­ols New, ed­it­ed by Charles L. Hut­chins (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: Par­ish Choir, 1916), num­ber 190 (🔊 pdf nwc) (re­peats last line of each verse).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Lis­sant (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els), or a bet­ter one of Dix,

portrait
William C. Dix (1837–1898)

Lyrics

Christ, we sing Thy sav­ing pass­ion,
Thine aris­ing glo­ri­fy;
Death for ev­er to abol­ish
Thou up­on the cross did die;
Then from Ha­des Thou didst hast­en,
As alone om­ni­po­tent;
Grant us peace in life, Re­deem­er,
Joy when earth­ly life is spent.

Sing we now Thy con­des­cen­sion,
Christ, with God the Fa­ther One;
We in lof­ty hymns will praise Thee,
Mary-Mo­ther’s bless­èd Son.
Thou for us as man didst suf­fer,
Willingly the cross didst bear,
That Thy re­sur­rect­ion glo­ry
We, the sons of men, may share.

Coming as from brid­al cham­ber,
Robed with ori­ent morn­ing light,
Bringing to the world sal­va­tion,
Spoiling Hell of all her might;
Raising by Thy re­sur­rect­ion,
Man to dig­ni­ty most high;
Christ, may we with pure thanks­giv­ing
Thee for ev­er glo­ri­fy.