What shall we bring to Thee?

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What shall we bring to Thee?

Author: St. Anatolius, of Constantinople; Translator: John Brownlie
Tune: OUR OFFERINGS
Published in 3 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, Noteworthy Composer
Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

What shall we bring to Thee?
What shall our offering be
On this Thy natal morn?
For Thou, O Christ, hast come to earth--
A virgin mother gave Thee birth--
For our redemption born.

The whole creation broad
Gives praise and thanks to God,
Who gave His only Son;
And list! the bright angelic throng
Their homage yield in sweetest song,
For peace on earth begun.

65
The heavens their glory shed,
The star shines o'er His head,
The promised Christ and King;
And wise men from the lands afar,
Led by the brightness of the star,
Their treasured offerings bring.

What shall we give Thee now?
Lowly the shepherds bow,
Have we no gift to bring?
Our worship, lo, we yield to Thee,
All that we are, and hope to be--
This is our offering.

Source: Hymns of the Early Church: translated from Greek and Latin sources; together with translations from a later period; centos and suggestions from the Greek; and several original pieces #64

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Author: St. Anatolius, of Constantinople

Anatolius, one of the Greek hymn-writers. No details are known of him. From the fact that he celebrates martyrs who died in the 6th and early part of the 7th century, it is certain that he is not to be identified (as by Neale) with the patriarch who succeeded Flavian in 449, and afterward procured the enactment of the famous canon of the Council of Chalcedon, which raised Constantinople to the second place among the patriarchal sees (Dict. of Ch. Biog., i. p. 110). A letter is said to exist showing that he was a pupil of Theodore of the Studium (759-826). More than a hundred hymns, all of them short ones, are found in the Mensea and Octoechus. From this account, derived from Anth. Graec. Garm. Christ, p. xli, it will be seen that his poems… Go to person page >

Translator: John Brownlie

Brownlie, John, was born at Glasgow, Aug. 6, 1857, and was educated at Glasgow University, and at the Free Church College in the same city. In 1884 he was licensed by the Presbytery of Glasgow; in 1885 he became Assistant Minister of the Free Church, Portpatrick, and on the death of the Senior Minister in 1890 he entered upon the full charge of the Church there. He has interested himself in educational matters, became a Member of the local School Board in 1888, a governor of Stranraer High School in 1897, and Chairman of the governors in 1901. His hymnological works are:— 1. The Hymns and Hymnwriters of the [Scottish] Church Hymnary, 1899. This is a biographical, historical, and critical companion to that hymnal, and is well done and… Go to person page >

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Text Information

Text Information

First Line:	What shall we bring to Thee?
Greek Title:	τί σοι προσενέγκωμεν, Χριστὲ
Author:	St. Anatolius, of Constantinople
Translator:	John Brownlie
Meter:	6.6.6.8.8.6
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain