Introduction
Cynewulf (possibly the 8th century bishop Cynewulf of Lindisfarne) reflects on Christmas and the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, and praises God for sending his Son, God of God and Light of Light, to earth as one of us, to bring his dazzling sunrise into the night of this life.
O EÄRENDEL!* Brightest messenger sent to men of middle-earth,* radiance of the Sun,* steadfast and true, outshining the stars, ceaselessly lighting from thyself the ebb and flow of all things!*
As thou, God only-begotten from God, Son of the true Father, hast dwelt forever without beginning in heaven’s glory, so now in its need thy own creation calleth boldly upon thee: Shine thy bright Sun upon us,* come thyself and give us light, who have sat in darkness,* in gloom of endless night, these long years, wrapped in sin, enduring the dark shadow of death.*
Hopeful now, we have faith in the saving health brought through God’s Word to mankind’s host, through him that from the foundation of the world was ever with God the Almighty Father,* and hath now become spotless flesh,* borne by a maiden to comfort the grieving.
God was with us, visible yet without sin, one child, mighty Creator and son of man,* dwelling mildly among his people.
Eärendel is the Old English name for the Morning Star, that is, Venus in the eastern sky before the rising of the Sun. The title is placed on Christ’s lips by his close friend St John the Theologian and Evangelist in Revelation 22:16.
In Norse mythology, Midgard or Middle Earth was the part of the universe inhabited by mortal men. A similar word in Gothic, Midjungards, was used to translate the Biblical Greek word ecumene, οἰκουμένη, lit. ‘the dwelt-in [part]’, that is, the inhabited and civilised world, especially the Roman Empire. See for example Luke 2:1.
According to the prophet Malachi, God promised Israel that “unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings”, Malachi 4:2.
‘From thyself’... It is essential for Christian teaching that the light of God is not a created substitute, but the light of God himself shining out ‘from himself’, as Cynewulf says. This was painstakingly clarified at the Fifth Council of Constantinople in 1341. See ‘To the Heights!’.
Wisdom is said to be “is the brightness of the everlasting light, the unspotted mirror of the power of God, and the image of his goodness” in Wisdom 7:24, a text applied by the author of the Letter to the Hebrews to emphasise that Christ is not a mere angel, but something altogether superior to angels: see Hebrews 1:1-4. In New Testament teaching, the Son of God is the Father’s Word and his Wisdom.
St Matthew writes that “The people which sat in darkness saw great light”, Matthew 4:16, recalling Isaiah 9:2.
According to the Letter to the Hebrews, the fear of death keeps man enslaved to sin, but Christ broke death by his resurrection: see Hebrews 2:14-15.
That is, the Son of God was begotten before anything was created, and through him all things were created, as St John says in John 1:1-4. In the fourth century, an Alexandrian priest named Arius claimed that the Word of God was the first of God’s creatures, a plainly non-Scriptural opinion that was roundly rejected at the First Council of Nicaea in 325, as Cynewulf would know well. His contemporary St Bede had a particularly bleak opinion of the Arian controversy’s impact on the British Isles: see Lost Innocence.
Christ was “like unto his brethren” Hebrews 2:17, “tempted like as we are, yet without sin” Hebrews 4:15.
‘Son of man’ is a phrase basically meaning ‘human being’ in e.g. Psalm 144:3. It was used by Jesus to speak of himself; it is rarely used on other lips in the New Testament. An exception is the vision of Stephen in Acts 7:55-56, who is recalling Christ’s own prophecy at his trial in Luke 22:66-71, both based on the vision of Daniel in Daniel 7:13-14.
Précis
The Anglo-Saxon poet Cynewulf wrote that the birth of Jesus Christ was like the rising of the morning star or a bright sun in this world’s night. He emphasised that Christ was a real human being but also God’s Son, begotten as light from light, and that his birth from the Virgin Mary brought relief from death’s fearful shadow. (59 / 60 words)
The Anglo-Saxon poet Cynewulf wrote that the birth of Jesus Christ was like the rising of the morning star or a bright sun in this world’s night. He emphasised that Christ was a real human being but also God’s Son, begotten as light from light, and that his birth from the Virgin Mary brought relief from death’s fearful shadow.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, because, despite, just, may, otherwise, unless, until.
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Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Among. Dark. Flesh.
2 Bring. Its. We.
3 Radiance. Steadfast. Through.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Homonyms Find in Think and Speak
Each of the words below has more than one possible meaning. Compose your own sentences to show what those different meanings are.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1. Bore. 2. Own. 3. Bear. 4. Bright. 5. Host. 6. Man. 7. Long. 8. Light.
High Tiles Find in Think and Speak
Make words (three letters or more) from the seven letters showing below, using any letter once only. Each letter carries a score. What is the highest-scoring word you can make?
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