The Cyber Hymnal ‎#5447

5447. O Unity of Threefold Light

1. O Unity of threefold light,
Send out Thy loveliest ray,
Add scatter our transgressions’ night,
And turn it into day;
Make us those temples pure and fair
Thy glory loveth well,
The spotless tabernacles, where
Thou may’st vouchsafe to dwell.

2. The glorious hosts of peerless might,
That ever see Thy face,
Thou mak’st the mirrors of Thy light,
The vessels of Thy grace.
Thou, when their wondrous strains they weave,
Hast pleasure in the lay:
Deign thus our praises to receive,
Albeit from lips of clay.

3. And yet Thyself they cannot know,
Nor pierce the veil of light
That hides Thee from the thrones below,
As in profoundest night.
How then can mortal accents frame
Due tribute to their king?
Thou, only, while we praise Thy name,
Forgive us as we sing.

Text Information

• First Line: O Unity of threefold light
• Title: O Unity of Threefold Light
• Greek Title: Τριφεγγησ μονασ Θεαρχικη
• Author: Metrophanes of Smyrna (ca. 900)
• Translator (from Greek): John M. Neale
• Meter: CMD
• Language: English
• Source: Translation in Hymns of the Eastern Church, 1862
• Copyright: Public Domain

Tune Information

• Name: OLD 22ND
• Meter: CMD
• Incipit: 11235 44314 32215
• Key: D Major
• Source: Anglo-Genevan Psalter, 1556
• Copyright: Public Domain