Olga
19-04-2005, 06:24 AM
Could anyone provide the text of this hymn in its original Greek? I have drawn a blank from my usual sources.
The Sun Hid its Rays
This hymn, written by George Akropolites, can be sung during the Funeral Procession of Christ during Matins of Holy Saturday (the service of Great Friday evening). Nowadays the long funeral melody of the Trisagion is more commonly sung during the Burial Procession, so that this exquisite hymn is unfamiliar to many. The Slavonic service books contain a related but quite different hymn.
Seeing the sun hide its rays
and the veil of the Temple rent asunder at the Saviour’s death,
Joseph came before Pilate, beseeching him, saying;
‘Give me this stranger,
who from infancy guested in the world as a stranger,
he cried,
Give me this stranger,
whom his own people have hated and slain as a stranger,
Give me this stranger,
at the sight of whose strange death I am bewildered
Give me this stranger,
who gave hospitality to the poor and the stranger,
Give me this stranger,
whom the Hebrews have estranged from the world out of envy,
Give me this stranger,
so that I may hide in a tomb him,
who as a stranger has nowhere to lay his head,
Give me this stranger
whom his Mother saw dead and cried out
"O my Son and God, even if I am wounded to the core and my heart stricken,
as I see you a corpse,
yet with confidence I magnify your Resurrection,"
facing down Pilate with these words
the noble one took the Saviour’s body
and in fear wrapped it in linen and sweet spices
and laid in a new tomb him who bestows on all
eternal life and great mercy.
The Sun Hid its Rays
This hymn, written by George Akropolites, can be sung during the Funeral Procession of Christ during Matins of Holy Saturday (the service of Great Friday evening). Nowadays the long funeral melody of the Trisagion is more commonly sung during the Burial Procession, so that this exquisite hymn is unfamiliar to many. The Slavonic service books contain a related but quite different hymn.
Seeing the sun hide its rays
and the veil of the Temple rent asunder at the Saviour’s death,
Joseph came before Pilate, beseeching him, saying;
‘Give me this stranger,
who from infancy guested in the world as a stranger,
he cried,
Give me this stranger,
whom his own people have hated and slain as a stranger,
Give me this stranger,
at the sight of whose strange death I am bewildered
Give me this stranger,
who gave hospitality to the poor and the stranger,
Give me this stranger,
whom the Hebrews have estranged from the world out of envy,
Give me this stranger,
so that I may hide in a tomb him,
who as a stranger has nowhere to lay his head,
Give me this stranger
whom his Mother saw dead and cried out
"O my Son and God, even if I am wounded to the core and my heart stricken,
as I see you a corpse,
yet with confidence I magnify your Resurrection,"
facing down Pilate with these words
the noble one took the Saviour’s body
and in fear wrapped it in linen and sweet spices
and laid in a new tomb him who bestows on all
eternal life and great mercy.