XXI.

On the Death of a Presbyter.

(CANON LVII., tom. vi., p. 324.)

"My brethren, present on my behalf A supplication to the King;

And

pray

for me with tears,

Who have departed from you for ever!

Offer up for me, my brethren,

A supplication to the King;

That my course may tend to happiness,

And that I may attain to the place of light."

"Be comforted, oh, our brother,

For sin did not rule over thee;

The Blessed One will come forth to meet thee, And give thee the reward of thy labours."

"But the judgment is decreed, it now hasteneth ; The end of my days is completed;

And before I had prepared for my journey,"
The King sent and took me away!"

"He is bountiful' in his mercy;

He can make thy pound ten thousand;

The bridegroom whose truth thou hast preserved,

Will place a crown upon thy head."

"Behold! the end of my days is accomplished,

And my Angel suddenly removed me;"

Pray for me with weeping,

And remember me who have departed!

My feeble heart is agitated,

Lest I should light upon the fire.d

Pray for me that I

may overcome

The flame which is so terrible !"

"The Blessed One will furnish thee
With might to conquer the fire ;
He will provide thee with wings,
That thou mayest fly over it !"

THE metre of this hymn is probably like the former one, hexasyllabic, although its structure is so irregular as to make it difficult to give a positive decision.

Many verses have six

By dint of the frequent

syllables, but others have five or seven. use of synæresis and diæresis the hexasyllabic type may be established.

a "Before I had prepared for my journey."-Before I had got ready my viaticum, 1201 as in Hymn XV.

“He is bountiful.”_____ facilis, generosus. The meaning is fixed by the use of the word in 1 Tim. vi. 18, where for evμeradorovs vai, the Peschito has? OOOLO that they be liberal in giving.

C 66 Suddenly removed me."-This may refer to a want of preparation only in the deceased, but a comparison of this with the

fourth strophe, produces a conviction that the hymn was intended for one who had died without much warning.

d "Lest I should light upon the fire."-See Hymn XV. and the note on the last strophe; also Hymn XIII.

e "He will provide thee with wings."-Literally, will cause wings to grow on thy sides.

XXII.

For a Cime of Pestilence.

(CANON LXIX., tom. vi., p. 338.)

THE Church is desolate and sits mournfully,

For no one enters or departs;

THY decree hath destroyed them!

And the priests groan in the holy place,
With loud sighs for their companions,
Who have departed from them for ever!

Howl, old age, and weep!

For already is snapped in sunder
The staff on which thou leanedst ;-

Who shall hold and raise thee up?

For Death hath broken it and caused it to decay, He hath entered and placed it in the tomb!

Who would not weep, my brethren,

With bitter wailings?

Who does not suffer and groan and sigh,

For the sword which is in our streets?
Young men, beloved and comely,

Wither suddenly like flowers!

Oh God, the Father, who hath fashioned us
For His great glory,

Now deliver us and in Thy pity let us live!

Let not Thy fair image perish

And become a derision to its enemies,
But pardon us and save our lives!

No deaths are so grievous

As the evil death of the wicked man ;
His iniquity addeth to the burning,

And the flame can not be quenched;

Hope and escape are cut off.

Save us from it, and in Thy grace let us live!

Confess us and put us not to shame

Before the nations who know Thee not;
Since we have not declined from Thy law,
Nor from the precepts of Thy doctrine,
Preserve us from the judgment which hasteneth,
And from the wrath which threatens us !a

HEPTASYLLABIC, in strophes of six verses. In this hymn, as in many others, the last verse of each strophe is redundant in syllables, in some instances having an Alexandrine length.

a Some fine hymns on seasons of pestilence, of greater length than this occur. (See Canons LXIII. and LXIV.)