O Word immortal of eternal God

O Word immortal of eternal God

Author: Justinian I; Translator: T. A. Lacey
Tune: SONG 24
Communion Songs
Published in 4 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, MusicXML
Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1 O Word immortal of eternal God,
Only-begotten of the only Source,
For our salvation stooping to the course
Of human life, and born of Mary’s blood;
Sprung from the ever-virgin womanhood
Of her who bare thee, God immutable,
Incarnate, made as man with man to dwell,
And condescending to the bitter Rood;

2 Save us, O Christ our God, for thou hast died
To save thy people to the uttermost,
And dying tramplest death in victory;
One of the ever-blessèd Trinity,
In equal honour with the Holy Ghost,
And with the eternal Father glorified.

Source: The New English Hymnal #303

Author: Justinian I

Saint Justinian, a major figure in the history of the Byzantine state, was also a great champion of Orthodoxy, a builder of churches and a Church writer. He is said to be of Slavic descent, perhaps born in Bulgaria. During his reign (527-565) Byzantium won glory with military victories in Persia, Africa, Italy, as a result of which paganism was decisively routed among the Germanic Vandals and Visigoth tribes. By command of the emperor Justinian the pagan schools in Athens were closed. Justinian sent John, the Bishop of Ephesus, throughout the regions of Asia Minor with the aim of spreading Christianity. John baptized more than 70 thousand pagans. The emperor gave orders to build ninety churches for the newly-converted, and he generously… Go to person page >

Translator: T. A. Lacey

Lacey, Thomas Alexander, s. of G. F. Lacey, was b. at Nottingham, Dec. 20, 1853. He entered Balliol Coll., Oxford, as an exhibitioner in 1871 (B.A. 1876, M.A. 1885), was ordained D. 1876, P. 1879, was from 1894 to 1903 Vicar of Madingley near Cambridge, and since then has been Chaplain of the London Diocesan Penitentiary. He was one of the Committee who compiled The English Hymnal, 1906, and contributed to it twelve translations (8, 66, 67, 69, 104, 123, 124, 174, 208, 226, 249, 325), also one unpublished and one previously published original, viz., 1. O Faith of England, taught of old. [Church Defence.] 2. The dying robber raised his aching brow. [Good Friday.] First in the Treasury, Sept. 1905, p. 482, headed "Sursum." T… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: O Word immortal of eternal God
Author: Justinian I
Translator: T. A. Lacey
Meter: 10.10.10.10
Source: Latin, 14th century
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain
Liturgical Use: Communion Songs

Tune

SONG 24

Orlando Gibbons (b. Oxford, England, 1583; d. Canterbury, England, 1625) composed SONG 24 as a setting for a paraphrase of Lamentations 1. The tune was number 24 (hence, the tune name) in his collection of hymn tunes composed for and published in George Wither's The Hymnes and Songs of the Church (1…

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Timeline

Media

The Cyber Hymnal #5519
  • Adobe Acrobat image (PDF)
  • Noteworthy Composer score (NWC)
  • XML score (XML)

Instances

Instances (1 - 2 of 2)
TextPage Scan

The New English Hymnal #303

TextScoreAudio

The Cyber Hymnal #5519

Include 2 pre-1979 instances
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