The Day of Resurrection

The Day of Resurrection. Greek, St John Damascene* (ca. 655 - ca. 745), translated by John Mason Neale* (1818-1866). Neale’s translation was printed in his Hymns of the Eastern Church (1862) in ‘The Second Epoch’ of Greek Hymnody, which Neale dated from 726 to 820. The three verses, beginning ‘Αναστáσεως ήμέρα’, made up Ode I of the ‘Canon for Easter Day, called the Golden Canon, or, The Queen of Canons’, from the Pentekostarion Kharmosynon (‘Joyful Pentecostarion’), used from Easter Day to the first Sunday after Pentecost (see Litvack, 1994, p. 131). It had nine ‘Odes’ or sub-divisions, and was sung first at midnight on Easter Eve. With his enthusiasm for the glories of the Eastern...