Hymns
In the 9th century, Joseph the Hymnographer gave the title "Zoodochos Pege" (Life-giving Spring) to a hymn (Theotokion) for the Mother of God for the first time.
Apolytikion (Tone 3)
- As a life-giving fount, thou didst conceive the Dew that is transcendent in essence,
- O Virgin Maid, and thou hast welled forth for our sakes the nectar of joy eternal,
- which doth pour forth from thy fount with the water that springeth up
- unto everlasting life in unending and mighty streams;
- wherein, taking delight, we all cry out:
- Rejoice, O thou Spring of life for all men.
Kontakion (Plagal of Tone 4)
- O Lady graced by God,
- you reward me by letting gush forth, beyond reason,
- the ever-flowing waters of your grace from your perpetual Spring.
- I entreat you, who bore the Logos, in a manner beyond comprehension,
- to refresh me in your grace that I may cry out,
- “Hail redemptive waters.”
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Famous quotes containing the word hymns:
“The form of act or thought mattered nothing. The hymns of David, the plays of Shakespeare, the metaphysics of Descartes, the crimes of Borgia, the virtues of Antonine, the atheism of yesterday and the materialism of to-day, were all emanation of divine thought, doing their appointed work. It was the duty of the church to deal with them all, not as though they existed through a power hostile to the deity, but as instruments of the deity to work out his unrevealed ends.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)
“Whether, if you yield not to your father’s choice,
You can endure the livery of a nun,
For aye to be in shady cloister mewed,
To live a barren sister all your life,
Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon.
Thrice blessed they that master so their blood
To undergo such maiden pilgrimage.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“What wondrous love is this
That caused the Lord of bliss
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul”
—Unknown. “What Wondrous Love is this!” L. 3-5, Dupuy’s Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1811)