Such a spotless soul, has ever brought
That bright gift to God in heaven’s home.
So the great Commander, the Lord and Creator, 20
Ordered his angel, his high messenger,
To hasten from the host, fly down this way
To reveal to you in full praise and power
That you should conceive, pregnant and pure,
And bring forth in glory the Son of God 25
In a virgin birth as a mercy to mankind,
And afterwards keep your body unblemished,
Your virginity intact, your innocence untouched.
We have also heard that the prophet Isaiah,
A truth-sayer from the ancient days, 30
Said he was led from earth to an eternal home,
Where he could see the whole of heaven,
The shape of time, the lines of life.
Then the wise one looked far beyond all lands,
Contemplating creation, until he saw 35
A great gate, a glorious in-going,
A decorated door, adorned with treasure,
Secured and bound with mighty bands.
He was sure no man could move that gate
With its bars and bolts, its muscled bonds, 40
Unlock that iron throughout eternity,
Until the angel of God appeared to explain
The meaning and majesty of those mighty doors,
Opened his mouth and began to speak:
“I will tell you the truth as it is coming 45
And has come about, that God himself,
The almighty Father, will penetrate these pure,
Golden gates, these doors of delivery,
By the might of his spirit to visit the earth,
And after his coming through the locks of life, 50
The gates will be bound again for good
Until God the Savior unlocks them again.”
Now the prophecy is fulfilled that the wise one saw
With his own eyes. You are the blessed walls
That the Lord walked through, the gates of his coming 55
And going, the doors of his own delivery.
So Christ the Almighty, Son and Savior,
Found in your virtue both heart and home,
A blessed body beginning in your womb.
Then Christ, the Lord of angels, came, 60
The Giver of life, to close the gates
With a secret key made to match
The spiritual doors like a holy limb-lock,
Leaving you pure, immaculate, intact.
Show us now the grace that Gabriel brought, 65
God’s high messenger, and hear our prayer:
Reveal to us the comfort we crave,
The Redeemer we need, our souls’ desire,
Our Savior, your Son. Then we will see with one
Heart’s hope the blessed child at your breast. 70
Intercede for us now with earnest and enabling
Words of wisdom so that the Christ-child
Will not leave us alone in this valley of death
To be at the mercy of evil and error,
But deliver us home to heaven with our Father, 75
Where we may dwell forever in the arms of faith,
Free from endless suffering and sorrow,
Gathered in glory with the God of hosts.
ADVENT LYRIC X
This lyric is a song of welcome to the newborn Christ and a celebration of the gift of grace that the Advent offers. Garde notes that it “reiterates the coexistence of the Saviour and the Father at the time of creation, including the Holy Spirit in anticipation of the Trinitarian doxology in [Advent Lyric] XI” (87). Burlin points out that the poet has “brought to a climax two themes which, from the beginning … he has held in contrapuntal harmony [wherein] the awesome power of the Deity is again set beside the weakness and perversity of the ‘spiritual exiles,’ and each motif is accorded a conclusive statement” (156). Here finally the Trinity presides over implicit judgment but also provides an escape from the torments of the world and hell by offering the gift of forgiveness and mercy. The antiphon for this lyric, translated from the Latin, is as follows: “O Lord of the heavens, you who are eternal with the Father and one with the Holy Spirit, hear your servants: come and save us now; do not delay” (Muir, 58).
Advent Lyric X
O Lord of heaven, our holy Savior,
You lived with your Father long ago
In that glorious home, before beginning,
Beyond ending, always and eternal.
No angel existed before creation— 5
No heavenly host yet guarded the glory
Of God’s high kingdom, his sacred service,
When you first lived with the eternal Lord,
Ordaining the endless act of creation,
This wide world, these broad plains. 10
Abiding with you both was a sheltering breath,
A guardian ghost, the Holy Spirit.
We humbly pray to you, our Helper and Healer,
Our Savior and Salvation, Christ the Lord,
That you may hear our captive voices, 15
Enslaved by sin, and deliver us from evil.
We are outcasts exiled by our own desires,
Our own weak wills, our worldly longings.
We are bound by the hell-fiends who hate us,
Exiles themselves from their home in heaven. 20
We are wrapped up in their ropes of rage
And the torment of our own souls’ suffering.
There is no power that can release these ropes,
No mercy to end this misery but yours,
Our eternal Lord. Yours is the hand 25
That breaks bonds and soothes the soul.
Offer us hope to end our suffering,
A balm to ease our blame, so that your coming
May be a comfort to the care-worn heart,
A consolation to the sin-locked spirit. 30
Unhasp our hope, unmake our misery,
Even though our little faith, our lust for sin,
Has fixed a feud against you, gracious Lord.
Have mercy upon your humble servants,
As we struggle with sin, enduring exile, 35
Wandering this wide world of earthly woe,
Stumbling and stammering, unable to walk
The righteous road, unable to weave together
The right words to save our sick souls.
Come to us now, King of mankind, 40
Maker of mercy, Creator of comfort.
Rescue us now, our righteous Lord.
Don’t delay too long—our need is dire.
We yearn for the gift of divine grace,
The offer of redemption, salvation for our souls 45
Let us serve your purpose among all people
So that now and forever we may finally attain
The motive we were made for, to work your will.
ADVENT LYRIC XI
This lyric begins with a praise-song to God, sung by both angels and humans as they celebrate the heofoncund þrynes, “the heavenly Trinity,” and the revelation of this divinity in human form since the Lord dugeþum cwome / heanum to hroþre, “came to mankind as a solace to the lowly.” Garde points out that “through the Advent of the Son, whose death and Resurrection removed the curse of death and bestowed the gift of eternal Life, man can now hope to return from his earthly exile to his heavenly home” (88). In the Sanctus at the end of the poem, the angels all begin the praise-song, but the human audience again joins in so that the poet “creates the impression that the hymn is coming from the mouths of both God’s mortal and immortal worshippers” (Campbell, 33). The liturgical source(s) for this lyric are debated (see Burlin, 162–64; Campbell, 99; and Clayton, 368–69). Muir (400) argues for a combination of the following antiphon and Sanctus, translated here from the Latin as follows: “Let us praise the Lord, whom the angels praise, whom the Cherubim and
Seraphim proclaim, ‘Holy, holy, holy,’” and “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts. Heaven and earth are filled with your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest” (Muir, 59–60).
Advent Lyric XI
O heavenly Trinity, high and holy,
Full of honor, glory, and radiant grace,
Blessed and worshipped in this broad world,
Whom speech-bearers, poor earthly inhabitants,
Must rightly praise with all their might— 5
Now that God our Savior has revealed himself
To us according to both promise and prophecy
So that we might know him, we raise our voices
Humbly before you as do those bright angels,
The righteous and faithful race of Seraphim, 10
Crowned in glory, confirmed in honor,
Always adoring, eagerly exalting,
Their voices vibrating, radiating praise
With untiring power, both strong and sweet,
A majestic music both far and near. 15
They have a sublime service with the King.
Christ gave them the gift that they might gaze
With adoring eyes on his powerful presence,
His eternal grace, far and wide forever.
And with their bright wings wrapped round 20
In heavenly bliss, a feathery radiance,
They might also guard the grandeur of God,
His exalted aura, his infinite face.
The angels thrive about his throne,
Flying here and there, quick throngs of light, 25
Hoping to land near their beloved Lord
In that noble court of unending peace.
There they praise their beloved Prince,
Singing their songs in the radiant air,
Gathering and giving back great glory 30
To the Lord, the noble source of creation
The Author of everyone. So the angels sing:
“Holy art thou, Lord of archangels,
Holy in heaven, our victorious Prince,
Holy on earth among all peoples, 35
In all ages and seasons, Lord of all lords.
Your earthly dominion will endure forever,
Always eliciting the praise of the faithful.
You are the God of hosts, our shield and shelter,
Filling heaven and earth with your endless glory, 40
Your eternal blessing, your might made manifest.
Let Hosannas on high be yours in heaven,
And praise-songs by all the people on earth.
Blessed are you who have come among us
In the name of the Lord as a solace to the lowly, 45
Carrying comfort to the care-worn heart,
Bearing mercy to those bound in misery.
Let us offer you on high our eternal adoration
And everlasting honor without end.”
ADVENT LYRIC XII
The last of the Advent lyrics is a simple conclusion to the themes of the preceding lyrics. The mystery of Christ’s coming as God and man is made manifest to the world, inspiring human hope and joy over the meaning of this miracle. Burlin calls this lyric a kind of coda, produced with “the utmost economy and hushed simplicity,” and concludes: “The essential meaning of the earlier sections is epitomized: God was made man through the mystery of the Virgin Birth, but greater than this fact were the consequences of His Coming, that He brought help to all the human race and continues daily to mete out His mercy and forgiveness to errant mankind” (170). The antiphon for this lyric, translated from the Latin, is as follows: “O wonderful exchange: the Creator of the human race, assuming a living body, deigned to be born from a Virgin; and, becoming man without seed, bestowed on us His divinity” (Muir, 61).
Advent Lyric XII
O what a wonder, what a transformation,
This miracle for mankind, that our mild Creator
Took a living body, received from a maiden,
An innocent virgin, undefiled flesh—
She was untouched by man, unsullied by sin. 5
The Lord of victory, the Christ-child came,
Not through a husband’s eager embrace,
Nor through the seed of any mortal man.
That was a greater craft than any earth-dweller
Can understand. No man is so wise 10
That he can unravel this riddle, make clear
This mystery—how the high Lord of heaven
Brought help to mankind through his mother’s womb.
And so our Savior, moving forth in time,
Bears grace and forgiveness as a gift to mankind 15
Each day, each season, each laboring life long,
For which gift we praise him in words and works,
Service and song. This is wise counsel
To any man who has a knowing mind
And a deep memory and who can comprehend 20
The meaning of this miracle: he must devoutly
Honor God, the Holy Savior himself,
Loving his Lord who will return that love,
Reward that faith, redeem that humble follower
In a land he yearned for but never knew, 25
That heavenly kingdom so far from home,
In the endless joy of the always living,
Where the blessed abide with their Holy Savior,
Surrounded by bliss in a world without end.
Amen.
CHRIST II: THE ASCENSION
This second part of the Christ triptych begins with a reference to the Advent and ends with a reference to the Last Judgment. It seems therefore to stitch together the other two gateway moments in Christ’s life so that in terms of the liturgical calendar, as Frese argues, the Ascension is “at the exact midpoint between His first and His second coming” (330). Alexander notes that “Cynewulf’s Christ II (or Ascension) lacks some of the lyricism of I, and some of the dramatic energy of III, but it is a consistently exalted work, integrated around the theological programme of its source, Gregory the Great’s 29th Homily on the Gospels [which] Cynewulf supplements … from Bede’s hymn On the Lord’s Ascension” (210). The poem begins with what seems to be a trivial exegetical question: Why did the angels not attend Christ’s birth, robed in white, when they were so arrayed at the Ascension? The answer, according to Gregory, is as follows: “When the Lord was born, divinity seemed humiliated; but when the Lord ascended, humanity was exalted … indeed, white garments are more in keeping with the exaltation than with humiliation” (Calder and Allen, 79).
Key sections of the poem include the disciples’ lament as they watch their Lord ascend, the gifts of men passage at lines 244 ff. (see similar passages in The Gifts of Men and The Fortunes of Men), and the six great leaps of Christ that derive from Solomon’s statement in Canticles 2:8: “Behold, He comes leaping upon the mountains and springing across the hills” (noted in Greenfield and Calder, 191). Calder and Allen point out that Gregory describes five of these leaps as follows: “He came from heaven into the womb; from the womb He came into the manger; from the manger He came onto the Cross; from the Cross He came into the sepulchre; from the sepulchre He returned into heaven” (80). The poet adds the sixth leap, the harrowing of hell. The language of leaping is distinctive, startling, even finally playful, perhaps as a way of indicating that Christ’s coming into the world is a comic and cosmic mystery or a holy riddle, a theme repeated in The Dream of the Rood. Bjork notes that the poet “admonishes his audience to be ready for the last Judgment and concludes his rumination with an extended simile reminiscent of that found in The Seafarer, in which the life of mortals is likened to a sea voyage” (2013, xii).
This poem is one of four that contains the signature of Cynewulf or Cynwulf embedded in runes whose names also carry meaning in the poem; the others are Fates of the Apostles, and Elene: Helena’s Discovery of the True Cross in the Vercelli Book and Juliana in the Exeter Book
(see later in this section). Each runic name in OE is given in the text in parenthesis with the letter value in bold; the name translated is part of the text itself. For example, “need (Nyd)” means that the N rune, called Nyd, means need. The names and meanings of the Cynewulfian runes here and elsewhere are much debated, as is the identity of Cynewulf himself. We know almost nothing about the name or its exact significance in these poems. For more on this, see the articles by Elliott (1953a), Diamond (1959), and Frese in The Cynewulf Reader (ed. Bjork, 2001); see also Niles (2006, 285 ff.) and Bjork (2013, vii ff.).
Christ II: The Ascension
O wise and wonderful unraveler of mysteries,
Wrap your deep and discerning mind
Around this miracle, so you will know why—
When the Almighty was born a babe in Bethlehem,
Pure and spotless from a virgin’s womb, 5
In the sanctuary and shelter of his mother Mary,
The flower of maidens, the first of women,
That angels appeared, not dressed in white
Or clothed in radiance, as the Prince arrived.
The holy messengers, according to scriptures, 10
Sang to shepherds hosannas in the highest,
Announcing their joy, that the Son of God
Was born in middle-earth in Bethlehem.
Books however don’t say that in that glorious hour—
Angels were arrayed in robes of white, 15
As they were later when the Lord of light
Summoned in splendor his glorious followers,
His beloved band, to the city of Bethany.
The faithful disciples did not despise
Their leader’s words but came without delay 20
To the holy city to meet their master,
Their supreme teacher and treasure-giver.
The gatherer of glory and bestower of grace
Made plain to them many signs and sayings,
Parables and prophecies, before he ascended, 25
The only begotten Son, one with the Father,
Forty days after he rose from the dead.
Thus he fulfilled the words of the prophets
Who spoke of his coming, sang of his glory
Throughout the world, predicting his power, 30
The gift of his sacrifice, the grace of his passion.
His disciples praised their Lord of life,
The Father of creation. They were loyal thanes,
Whom he richly rewarded in later days.
Then the Lord of angels, who offered mercy 35
The Complete Old English Poems Page 42
