The Day of Resurrection

As you will have realised if you're following this blog, during the Easter season, I'm keeping the focus on hymns and songs which celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Day of Resurrection is one of the oldest hymns which we still sing in the English-speaking church, thanks mainly to the translation into English by John Mason Neale (1818 - 1866), which he published in his Hymns of the Eastern Church (1862).  The original hymn was written in Greek by St John of Damascus, in about 750 AD.  Together with another hymn translated into English by Neale, Come, ye faithful raise the strain, it was written as part of a series of Easter poems.  Neale's translation is apparently quite a loose one; John Julian in his Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)  (p 789) describes Neale's translations of Greek hymns as 'adaptations rather than translations'; Neale omitted those sections (eg praising the Blessed Virgin Mary) with which, as an Anglican, he disagreed.  Julian also points out Neale's amazing skill as a translator of verse: "He had all the qualifications of a good translator . . .  [his] exquisite ear for melody prevented him from spoiling the rhythm by too servile an imitation of the original; while the spiritedness which is a marked feature of all his poetry preseved that spring and dash which is so often wanting in a translation." (Julian, p 787).

The version we sing today is not exactly as Neale translated it; it was altered originally by the compilers of Hymns Ancient and Modern so that all the verses were in the same meter.  The tune with which I am familiar is called Ellacombe.  It was first published in Germany in 1784, even though its name comes from a village in Devon.

For me, The Day of Resurrection is another hymn which is an essential part of Easter, full of joy and triumph.  One description (here) is that it "explodes with Easter triumph", which puts it very well.

          The day of resurrection!
               Earth, tell it out abroad;
          the Passover of gladness,
               the Passover of God;
          from death to life eternal,
               from earth unto the sky,
          our God hath brought us over
               with hymns of victory.

          Our hearts be pure from evil,
               that we may see aright
          the Lord in rays eternal
               of resurrection-light;
          and, listening to his accents,
               may hear so calm and plain
          his own 'All hail', and, hearing,
               may raise the victor strain.

          Now let the heavens be joyful,
               and earth her song begin,
          the round world keep high triumph,
               and all that is therein;
          let all things seen and unseen
               their notes of gladness blend,
          for Christ the Lord is risen,
               our joy that hath no end.

You can find a recording of this hymn here or here.