“ Think of the mighty task laid upon the Church to keep abreast of such a growth, and at the same time to keep the Faith alive in the mass,—for the great majority of this vast population are attached to the Orthodox Church. And this is the task to which the Greek Church addresses herself, to carry the blessings of Christianity to the farthest Russian outpost, and to keep the flame alive where it has already been kindled. ”

“ Call Thou my soul, in love;
That love divine I make my plea,
O may that love encircle me.
[93] τὸν πιστὸν οἰκέτην σου, ἀνάπαυσον
ὡς εὔσπλαγχνος.
Burial of a priest
I
Rest in the Lord, O servant by His grace,
Dwell in His courts, and gaze upon His face,
Know nought of toil, of weariness, or woe,
They rest who serve, not weary, as below.
II
Rest in the Lord, the strife of war is past,
Wear now the wreath of victory at last;
E’en death is slain,—the cross of Christ sufficed,
Death is not death, to those who live in Christ. ”

“ But this offensive and ungrateful spirit is surely unbecoming on the part of those who owe so much to the Church which they censure. If Christian love would abound on all sides, how soon would the wounds of Christ’s Body heal! If those deep wounds are to be bound up, it will only be by pouring in oil and wine. Controversy and argument have been tried for centuries. They have failed. We must all begin where the beloved St. John so feelingly bids us,—“Little children, love one another.” ”

“ Harvest Hymn I
Come, praise with gladness the Lord of all creation,
Heaven tells His glory, earth His bounty shews;
Lowly He sought us, and won for us salvation,
Grace fills our lives with goodness He bestows.
Refrain.
Bountiful Giver, Thine be the praise,
Blessing, and honour, and glory, always.
[110] II
Spring time and harvest, and cloud and summer gladness,
Come to our earth because His promise lives;
Morn smiles with beauty, and evening soothes our sadness;—
Such are the treasures that His bounty gives. ”

“ As the light clad angels say,
Come, behold in reverence meet,
Where the risen Master lay.
VI
Hail the gladness, hail the day,
Bring no spices, bring no tears;
Death has lost its power to slay,
And the grave is reft of fears.
[53] I
Glory to God! The morn appointed breaks,
And earth awakes from all the woeful past,
For, with the morn, the Lord of Life awakes,
And sin and death into the grave are cast.
II
Glory to God! The cross with all its shame,
Now sheds its glory o’er a ransomed world ”

“ It is not [xvii] enough to say that present-day methods must be observed, that people will not come to church unless it conforms to the spirit of the times. The human soul will still desire to dwell in the house of the Lord, to behold His beauty and to enquire, when it feels impelled by the Blessed Spirit of God,—when it longs for peace and spiritual refreshment which can only be found in communion with the Divine. ”

“ In most cases initial Greek headlines have been dispensed with, for the reason that they can serve no useful purpose, nor indicate with any certainty the source of any particular hymn.
[xiv]
When one rises from a contemplation of Christian worship as it is presented to him in the ancient forms of the Apostolic Church, it is with pain that his ears are assailed with charges which he knows to be as lacking in truth as they would be if they were levelled against ourselves. God knows how far we have all drifted from our ideal, and those who have the best excuse, not the farthest. ”

“ Who dwelt with us below.
[158] I
Lord, soothe my anxious, troubled soul,
And bid its doubting cease,
Speak to the crested waves that roll,
To sink in quiet peace;
And bring me to a place of rest,
A haven calm and still,
Where every soul by sin distressed,
May dwell secure from ill. ”

“ Gold on the hilltops in richness is spread;
Heaven decks the earth with a beauty surprising,
Light is the victor, and darkness hath fled.
II
Lord of the morning, our souls are awaking,
Flood them with beauty, and free them from gloom;
Morn speaks of joy, for when morning was breaking,
Free from death’s bands Thou did’st rise from the tomb.
[50] III
Souls that in slumber behold not the beauty,
See not the Master arise in His might ”

“ Hast thou no needs, for which alone
The cross can find supplies?
O Jesus, Lord divine,
Why was such anguish Thine?
IV
For thee the cross was reared;
For thee the Christ was slain;
For thee He sojourned with the dead,
And rose to life again;—
O Jesus, Lord divine,
Thus was the anguish Thine.
[29] I
When Jesus to the judgment hall
By cruel men was led,
He wore a purple robe of scorn,
And thorns upon His head;—
They called Him King, and bowed the knee,
And paid Him homage, mockingly.
II
“Away! let Him be crucified!” ”

“ Many of our Churches have become societies, or guilds (a familiar term in these days) , in which are included every attraction which can appeal to the eyes of the world. A Pleasant Sunday Afternoon, is the guise in which the worship of God is presented to men who are not attracted by the calm and rest of God’s house; and the methods employed are bringing with them their inevitable results. We fear the Church is in danger of forgetting that its prime function is to preserve the Holy Worship of God, and by its means to establish the saints in The Faith ”

“ Angels who said, “The Master hath arisen.”
[56] III
Where now its sting, since death itself is dead?
Where now the power that held the captive bound?
Weave laurels gay to crown the Victor’s head,
Sing carols loud till earth and heaven resound.
IV
Break, happy morn! and let the world be glad,
Night is no more, and all our fears are gone;
Joy fills the souls that erstwhile had been sad,
Hope fills the tomb, where hope had never shone. ”

“ From this enquiry we cannot exclude the Greek Church in Russia, for, while in the [xviii] ancient sphere of that Church’s operation (in Greece, and Turkey, and Asia Minor) much is being done in the domain of education in her schools and theological colleges, and in theological literature, it is in Russia, where none of the grievous hindrances to activity exists which for 600 years have frustrated many of her efforts at home, but where free scope and encouragement for its exercise are guaranteed, that most evidence of progress is seen. ”

“ This sixth series of hymns from the Greek Offices is sent forth in the hope that some of the flowers that bloom in the gardens of the East, in which our Lord prayed and His Apostles tilled, may serve to beautify the homes of the faithful in Western lands. Cut flowers lose their beauty and freshness soon, but not infrequently their perfume remains; and roots transplanted do not always continue to put forth leaves and blossoms in that richness which adorns them in their native soil ”

“ But the Greek Church can boast of many hymn writers in her communion, whose compositions would do no discredit to our Western hymnaries. Any bookseller in Athens would supply a catalogue of Greek hymnological work to any interested enquirer.
The writer has before him at this moment a volume of hymns, ΤΡΙΑΔΙΚΟΝ (Athens, 1909) , the work of Bishop Nektarios, who for many years was head of the great Rhizareion Theological College in Athens. The volume contains about two hundred pieces suitable for use during the Church seasons, and for general use. ”

“ I invite the scholars, not only of Italy, but of [xx] every nation, to make acquaintance with the innumerable collection of books now in the Vatican. They will there find convincing testimony to the intensity of the intellectual work in Russia, and to the scientific vitality of her Church....”
Again, in his book, La Chiesa Russa (Florence, 1908) , he deplores, not the ignorance of the East, but the ignorance of the West. “It is deplorable,” he says, “that the intense scientific production of Russia is almost totally ignored by the West.... ”

“ In Siberia and Asia generally she is ever spreading the Faith, and that among many tribes and tongues and peoples; and she has missions in Japan, China, Persia, Palestine, Alaska, the Aleoutine Islands, and elsewhere.” [2]
What the Greek Church is doing in Russian dominions, she is doing also in her ancient lands, although under quite different auspices. In Turkey and Asia Minor she keeps the flame aglow amid adverse conditions, and provides spiritual food for her vast household. ”

“ One cannot work continuously at a subject, and all the while get the thoughtful criticism of his observers, without improving his methods. From a review of a recent volume by the writer, the following is taken:—“It seems to us that it is in the adaptation, rather than strict translation, that the wealth of thought and emotion buried in the service books of the Eastern [xii] Church will be minted into coin of golden praise meet for sanctuary use, and comparable in worth and beauty to the splendid currency of these latter days.” ”

“ The New Year All-embracing as the Greek Service Books are, curiously enough, strictly speaking, they contain no Thanksgiving services. It has been left for the Russian Church to make them for the Greeks to imitate. ”

“ Let us say frankly, that in our Italy, and even at Rome, we possess no such establishments which for beauty of organization, capable professors, and wealth of libraries, can rival these Russian Ecclesiastical Academies. ”

“ If we could only overtop the mountains of prejudice, and we fear we must add, for it is the parent of prejudice, ignorance, which divide [xxvi] the West from the East, we should be able to look down not upon a barren wilderness, but a fruitful vineyard, in which the servants of Christ are working under the eye of their Master, even as we are working in our separate sphere. ”

“ One cannot spend a day with the Greek service books (say with the Triodion, which contains the incomparable Lenten and Easter offices) without having his mind filled with thoughts the most beautiful, thoughts which can sometimes be expressed in almost identical phrase with the original, but which oftener, in order to do them justice by revealing them in all their richness, require to be dwelt upon, expanded, and clothed in appropriate western phrase. ”

“ A great nation like Russia is not a negligible quantity affected by an intellectual quagmire (p. 671) . The Russian Ecclesiastical literature is rich in monographs on particular subjects, and above all in Patristic theology. In this sphere of research, Russian Orthodoxy can even outrival the German science.” Such is the testimony of one of the most cultured men in Italy.
The question is sometimes asked, What is the Greek Church doing at the present time in the department of hymnody, in which her ancient offices are so rich? Much ”

“ Let us bear in mind that the population of Russia alone is about 170,000,000, that the natural increase goes on at the rate of four millions annually, and that in twenty [xxiv] years the population will amount to about 250,000,000. ”

“ Through all the ages long.
[181] MODERN GREEK HYMNS
[183] Χριστὸς ὁ Λόγος με θεοῖ σαρκούμενος.
The following is a close rendering of a hymn to Christ The Word, taken from a collection of hymns to The Three One God, by Bishop Nektarios, Metropolitan of Pentapolis (vide Introduction, page xxi) . The hymn, which is in anapaests, is at page 10 of the author’s collection, where it bears the title, Ὠδὴ εἰς τὸν κύριον ἡμῶν Ιησοῦν Χριστὸν. The volume was published at Athens, 1909, and is one of many similar collections written by hymn-writers in the communion of the Greek Church. ”

“ Such hymns are used at services extra ecclesiam,—at meetings, church schools, colleges, and monasteries, or at any other non-canonical service. They are, as a rule, set to attractive music, often by eminent musicians. The translation of two hymns from the fore-mentioned collection by Bishop Nektarios, are included in this volume at pp. ”