Prayers (a litany in verse) (complete)
Authorship disputed: Transmitted with the poems of Orientius; his authorship is doubtful.
Latin text: CSEL 16.1 (Latin text: CSEL, digitized by Open Greek and Latin (csel-dev, University of Leipzig), CC BY-SA 4.0).English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0).
Chapter 1
1CSEL 16.1:252
Tibique, Domine, celsum Cherubim dicatum est, / et illa moles quadriformis machinae / te sempiterno confitentur carmine. / et nos imago consonantis cantici / amen sonamus, alleluia dicimus. / Te septem primi deprecantur angeli, / ceu ciuitatis septem principes uiri, / solio propinqui, ianitores proximi. / et nos imago consonantis cantici / amen sonamus, alleluia dicimus. / Te solis astrum cum sorore menstrua, / Uergiliae Iugula Uesperugo Lucifer, / omnesque guttae praemicantes inuocant. / et nos imago consonantis cantici / amen sonamus, alleluia dicimus. / Aer aquosus siue sudus inuicem, / simulque uenti pluuiae grando flumina, / ritu suomet conditorem concinunt. / et nos imago consonantis cantici / amen sonamus, alleluia dicimus. / Solum statiuum cum fertura mobili / quae paret homini, quaeque f capta de ulla, / tibi cantat ulli, conticescit ceteris. / et nos imago consonantis cantici / amen sonamus, alleluia dicimus. / Oceane, cinctam qui coerces aream / et intestini fossa media gurgitis, / deum sonantes cum marinis beluis. / et nos imago consonantis cantici / amen sonamus, alleluia dicimus.
To you, O Lord, the lofty Cherubim is consecrated, and that mass of the four-formed engine confesses you in everlasting song. And we, the image of the harmonious canticle, sound the Amen, we say Alleluia. To you the seven first angels make entreaty, like the seven chief men of a city, near the throne, the closest keepers of the door. And we, the image of the harmonious canticle, sound the Amen, we say Alleluia. You the star of the sun with its monthly sister, the Pleiades, Orion's Belt, Hesperus, Lucifer, and all the gleaming drops of light invoke. And we, the image of the harmonious canticle, sound the Amen, we say Alleluia. The air, now watery, now clear in turn, and with it winds, rains, hail and rivers, sing their Creator each in its own fashion. And we, the image of the harmonious canticle, sound the Amen, we say Alleluia. The steady ground with its movable produce, which obeys man, and what … taken from …, sings to you alone, and falls silent to all others. And we, the image of the harmonious canticle, sound the Amen, we say Alleluia. Ocean, you who hold in the encircled land, and the channel of the inner sea between, sounding God with the beasts of the sea. And we, the image of the harmonious canticle, sound the Amen, we say Alleluia.
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Ezek 1:5–10 (allusion, medium confidence) · Rev 4:6–8 (allusion, high confidence) · Rev 8:2 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 148:1–10 (allusion, high confidence) · Rev 19:4 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: A litany in which the cherubim, the seven chief angels, the sun, moon and stars, the air and weather, the earth and the ocean each praise God, and the congregation answers with Amen and Alleluia.
- The attribution of these prayers to Orientius is disputed. The cherubim and the "four-formed engine" are the living creatures of Ezek 1 and Rev 4; the seven angels before the throne: Rev 8:2; Tob 12:15. The pattern of creation praising God follows Ps 148 and the Song of the Three Young Men (Dan 3 LXX). Lines 22–23 are corrupt in the edition; translated by sense, uncertain. "Iugula" is Orion's Belt; the "inner sea" is the Mediterranean.
Extrabiblical texts: Pr Azar 35-65 (Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Young Men [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; allusion); Tob 12:15 (Tobit [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; echo)
Cite (SBL): Orientius, Orat. 1 (CSEL 16.1:252; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/orientius-orationes/1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/orientius-orationes/1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin (CSEL 16 or Migne's Patrologia Latina, digital text; slips and editors' notes removed by logged corrections). No public-domain or FOTC English exists; re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 31
31CSEL 16.1:252–253
Infernae sedis flamma, fulua tartara, / trucesque praesidentes pariter angeli, / amen minaci decantantes carmine. / et nos imago consonantis cantici / amen sonamus, alleluia dicimus. / Postremo dico deprecandi canticum. / id facio quantum per uiginti cantica. / sed ne quis audax interpellet quippiam, / anguem magistrum falsitatis increpo, / ut non adiciat neue demat litteram. / Quod si quem laedit spiritalis lectio, / ei licebit lectionem spernere, / non commutare lectionis normulam. / anguem magistrum falsitatis increpo, / ut non adiciat neue demat litteram. / Si scriptor errat in mutanda littera, / ignarus errat; uenia Christo, t si praesto est. / nam non uoluntas, uerum dextra labitur. / anguem magistrum falsitatis increpo. / ut non adiciat neue demat litteram. / Ad illos homines interdictum pertinet, / qui uoce uera nominantur physici: / si non probatis, praeterire liberum est. / anguem magistrum falsitatis increpo, / ut non adiciat neue demat litteram. / et nos a faece (hac) ethnicorum emersimus, / eamque tandem rupimus caliginem, / dum spiritales exaudimus angelos. / anguem ma(gistrum falsitatis increpo, / ut non adiciat neue demat litteram.)
Flame of the infernal seat, tawny Tartarus, and the fierce angels who preside there too, singing the Amen in threatening song. And we, the image of the harmonious canticle, sound the Amen, we say Alleluia. Lastly I speak the canticle of entreaty; this I do as much as through twenty canticles. But lest anyone, bold, interrupt anything, I rebuke the serpent, master of falsehood, that he add not, nor take away, a letter. But if the spiritual reading offends anyone, he will be free to spurn the reading, not to change the little rule of the reading. I rebuke the serpent, master of falsehood, that he add not, nor take away, a letter. If the scribe errs in changing a letter, he errs unknowing; pardon from Christ, if it is at hand. For it is not the will but the right hand that slips. I rebuke the serpent, master of falsehood, that he add not, nor take away, a letter. The prohibition applies to those men who with a true name are called natural philosophers: if you do not approve, you are free to pass by. I rebuke the serpent, master of falsehood, that he add not, nor take away, a letter. And we have emerged from these dregs of the heathen, and at last have broken that darkness, while we listen to the spiritual angels. I rebuke the serpent, master of falsehood, that he add not, nor take away, a letter.
Rev 22:18–19 (allusion, high confidence) · John 8:44 (echo, medium confidence) · Deut 4:2 (echo, low confidence) · Phil 2:10 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Even hell and its angels sing the Amen; the poet closes with a prayer of entreaty and a refrain forbidding the serpent, father of lies, to let any letter be added or removed, excusing scribes' slips and warning the philosophers.
- The refrain adapts Rev 22:18–19 (adding to or taking away from the book) and applies it to copyists of this text. "physici" (line 52) are natural philosophers; the target of the warning is not certain. The end of the final refrain is the editor's supplement. A stray dash at the start and a stray full stop before line 56 are in the digital text.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray dash in the digital text; stray full stop in the digital text): - Infernae → Infernae; . et nos a faece → et nos a faece.
Topics: Prayer
Cite (SBL): Orientius, Orat. 31 (CSEL 16.1:252–253; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/orientius-orationes/31). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/orientius-orationes/31
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin (CSEL 16 or Migne's Patrologia Latina, digital text; slips and editors' notes removed by logged corrections). No public-domain or FOTC English exists; re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 60
60CSEL 16.1:253
designo sextum praecauendam spiritu / f mortis Dei prophetas instrumenta daemonum / t numa et mortis semper in saeculum. / deus sancte, te rogamus Patrem Unigeniti, / Christe Deus, te precamur uiuum Dei Filium, / sancte Christe, te obsecramus iudicem uerum Deum.
I mark out the sixth, to be guarded against by the Spirit: … of death … the prophets, instruments of demons, … and of death, forever and ever. Holy God, we ask you, Father of the Only-begotten; Christ, God, we pray to you, living Son of God; holy Christ, we beseech you, judge, true God.
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Matt 16:16 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: A damaged fragment that ends in a short threefold prayer to the Father and to Christ, the living Son of God and judge.
- Lines 1–3 are corrupt in the edition (marks of corruption) and translated by sense only; the "sixth" probably refers to a numbered series of prayers or warnings that is lost. Line 5 echoes Matt 16:16.
Topics: Prayer, Christology
Cite (SBL): Orientius, Orat. 60 (CSEL 16.1:253; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/orientius-orationes/60). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/orientius-orationes/60
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin (CSEL 16 or Migne's Patrologia Latina, digital text; slips and editors' notes removed by logged corrections). No public-domain or FOTC English exists; re-read against the Latin.