Evening Hymn (Phos hilaron) (complete)

Anonymous · Evening Hymn (Phos hilaron) · second or third century · unknown · 1 passage

Greek text: Routh, Reliquiae sacrae 3.English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0).

Chapter 1

1Routh, Reliquiae sacrae 3:515

Φῶς ἱλαρὸν ἁγίας δόξης ἀθανάτου Πατρὸς, οὐρανίου, ἁγίου, μάκαρος, Ἰησοῦ Χριστέ· ἐλθόντες ἐπὶ τοῦ ἡλίου δύσιν, ἰδόντες φῶς ἑσπερινὸν, ὑμνοῦμεν Πατέρα, καὶ Υἱόν, καὶ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα Θεοῦ. Ἄξιος εἶ ἐν πᾶσι καιροῖς ὑμνεῖσθαι φωναῖς ὁσίαις, Υἱὲ Θεοῦ, ζωὴν ὁ διδούς· διὸ ὁ κόσμος σε δοξάζει.

Phōs hilaron hagias doxēs athanatou Patros, ouraniou, hagiou, makaros, Iēsou Christe; elthontes epi tou hēliou dysin, idontes phōs hesperinon, hymnoumen Patera, kai Huion, kai hagion Pneuma Theou. Axios ei en pasi kairois hymneisthai phōnais hosiais, Huie Theou, zōēn ho didous; dio ho kosmos se doxazei.

O gladsome light of the holy glory of the immortal Father, heavenly, holy, blessed, Jesus Christ: having come to the setting of the sun and seen the evening light, we sing the praise of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit of God. You are worthy at all times to be praised with holy voices, Son of God, giver of life; therefore the world glorifies you.

Heb 1:3 (echo, medium confidence) · Rev 5:12 (echo, low confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: An ancient evening hymn praises Jesus Christ as the joyful light of the Father's glory and gives glory to the Trinity at lamp-lighting.

The Phos hilaron, sung at the lighting of the evening lamps, is already called ancient by Basil of Caesarea (On the Holy Spirit 29.73), who quotes its line 'We praise the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit of God'. Routh prints 'at the setting' (ἐπὶ δύσιν); the scan reads 'at the setting of the sun'; the sense is the same.

Topics: Prayer, Trinity, Christology

Cite (SBL): Hymn. vesp. 1 (Routh, Reliquiae sacrae 3:515; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hymnus-vespertinus/1/#p-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek in Routh, Reliquiae sacrae 3 (1846); re-read against the Greek.