For many Christmas is the most Christian of Christian
feast, however In the Early Church there is hardly anything to find about it
and it was not till well into the fourth century that its date was set at
December 25. I was reminded of this because I recently bought a collection of
Latin poetry from the early Church (Lateinische Altkirchliche Poesie (Auswahl),
ed H. Lietzmann, 1910). Looking for an appropriate hymn for this time of the
year, I found nothing. Actually, we know
hardly anything about the birth of Jesus (and his childhood): Mark has nothing
to say, John is philosophical and Matthew and Luke have their narratives based
upon what the Septuagint says about the coming of the Messiah - or rather what
they thought it says. The only thing we know for sure is that Jesus was born –
hardly any historian will deny this – but in all likelihood in Nazareth, not
Bethlehem. The focus of the Early Church was on the miracle of the resurrection
and the glorification of the risen and heavenly Christ. No wonder Byzantine
emperors were more ready to identify themselves with Christ as παντοκρατωρ (ruler of the universe) than
with the earthly Jesus.
There was however one hymn in the collection which with
some good will can be connected with Christmas, namely hymn 7 from the hymns by
Ambrose bishop of Milan (340-497). It is a morning hymn in which Christ is
compared to the rising sun. The idea the deified sun occurs in the Sol Invictus cult (cult of the
Unconquered Sun), a cult which was made official by Aurelian in 274. Constantine too favoured this cult before he
converted to Christianity and it could well be that this explains why some
features of this cult were taken over by Christianity. One of these was the
comparison of Christ with the sun and the other the date of his birth: December
25 was in the cult of Sol Invictus the
birth of the sun. Though it has been argued that this date is a coincidence, I
think the arguments in favour are strong.
With some adaptations in the text, this hymn is used at
some dates of the liturgical year. It has been translated into English about 25
times.
Ambrosius, Hymnus VII.
Meter: iambic
Splendor Paternae gloriae,
de luce lucem proferens ,
primordiis lucis novae
diem dies illuminans.
profero: to
bring forward; primordius: original,
primordial
Verusque sol illabere,
micans nitore
perpeti,
iubarque
sancti Spiritus
infunde nostris sensibus.
Illabor illapsus
sum: to flow into; mico: to shine, beam
nitor nitoris
(m.): brightness, splendour; perpes,
perpetis = perpetuus
(perpeti: abl.)
iubar iubaris (m.): radiance; infundo: pour in
Votis vocemus
et Patrem,
patrem perennis gloriae,
patrem potentis gratiae,
culpam releget lubricam.
votum: vow
culpam etc: may
he drive away the slippery occasions for sin.
Informet actus strenuos,
dentes retundat invidi,
casus secundet asperos,
donet gerendi gratiam.
May He guide our feeble actions,
may He beat back the teeth of the Devil,
may He bring to good end perilous situations,
may He give grace to the acting (rightly).
Mentem
gubernet et regat,
casto, fideli corpore,
fides calore ferveat,
fraudis venena nesciat.
gubernet regat:
subject Pater
ferveo: to
glow
fraudis venena:
the venoms of deceit
Christusque nobis sit cibus,
potusque
noster sit fides,
laeti bibamus
sobriam
ebrietatem Spiritus.
cibus, -us
(m.): food; potus, us (m.): drink
laeti..Spiritus:
Let us gladly drink the sober drunkenness of the (holy) Spirit
Laetus dies hic transeat,
pudor sit ut diluculum,
fides velut meridies,
crepusculum mens nesciat.
We should from daybreak be guided by shame and faith in
our actions so that at the end of the day we have not sinned.
diluculum:
dawn: crepusculum; evening twilight,
darkness (of sin)
Aurora cursus
provehit,
Aurora
totus prodeat
in Patre totus Filius
et totus in Verbo Pater.
In the fierce and sometimes violent discussion at that
time about the relationship between God the Father and Jesus the Son, Ambrose
is taking the orthodox position of complete identity (hence trice totus) of Father and Son. Like the
morning is setting out its course, so the Son is like the morning going
forwards to the Father. That his flock, singing this hymn, may know it!
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