The Thrice-Holy Hymn, by St John Damascene

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So it is really laughable and childish for the Thrice-Holy Hymn, which was taught by the angels, confirmed by the abatement of the disturbance, ratified and guaranteed by the council of so many holy Fathers, and sung first of all by the seraphim to express the Godhead in three Persons,* to have been trampled upon, as it were, and supposedly corrected by the absurd conceit of the Fuller* — as if setting himself above the seraphim!* Oh, what presumption — not to say madness! But we will say it like this, though the demons burst: ‘Holy God, Holy Strong, Holy Immortal, have mercy upon us.’

by St John Damascene ?636-749

From ‘An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith’ by St John Damascene (?675-749), Chapter 54 (Book III Chapter 10). The translation below is a blend of the English translations given in ‘A Select library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church’ Volume 9 (1908) edited by Philip Schaff (1819-1893) and Henry Wace (1836-1924) and ‘The Fathers of the Church’ Volume 37 (1958) translated by Frederic H. Chase, by reference to ‘Εκδοσις Ακριβής της Ορθοδόξου Πίστεως’ (1976) edited by Nikos Matsoukas.

* John Damascene is recalling the vision of Isaiah, who saw the throne of God attended by six seraphim. “Each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory”. See Isaiah 6:1-3.

* Peter, abrasive and much-contested Patriarch of Antioch from 471-488, had formerly been employed as a fuller (a bleacher of cloth). Peter compelled his clergy to say, “Holy God, holy strong, holy immortal, who was crucified for us, have mercy on us.” His worry was that some fashionable clergy in Constantinople split Christ into two, a Son of God and a son of man linked so tenuously that (they said) the Son of God did not suffer birth or death any more than a king suffers when his statue is defaced. That was certainly heresy of the grossest sort, but Peter’s addition either made the Trisagion about the Son of God only, which nobody had ever thought it was, or implied that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit had all been crucified, which utterly mangled the doctrine of the Trinity and the stories of Christmas and Easter. Either way, it was at best presumption, and at worst heresy itself.

Précis

The pedigree of the hymn, traced back by John Damascene not only to the Council and the stilling of the earthquake, but even to the vision of Isaiah, was such that he could not conceive how Peter of Antioch could have presumed to alter it so soon, and so clumsily. John vowed to sing the unadulterated version, come what may.

Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

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