Ode 4. The Irmos.

Iambic. The Irmos.

‘Rod out of Jesse’s root, and flower that blossomed from his stem, O Christ, you have sprung from the Virgin, the praised from the mountain overshadowed by forest; you have come made flesh from her who knew not wedlock, yet God not formed of matter. Glory to your power, O Lord!’

O Christ, whom Jacob foretold in days of old as Expectation of the nations, you have dawned from the tribe of Juda, you have come to plunder the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria, turning error into faith beautiful to God. Glory to your power, O Lord!

O Master, by dawning as a star out of Jacob you filled with joy the watchers of the stars, wise interpreters of the words of Balaam the Seer of old, who were brought to you as first fruits of the nations; you received them openly as they offered you their acceptable gifts.

O Christ, you came down into a virgin womb like rain upon a fleece, and as drops falling on the earth. Ethiopians and Tharsians and the isles of the Arabs, rulers of Saba and Medes, of all the earth fell down before you, O Saviour. Glory to your power, O Lord!

‘Of old Avvakoum the Prophet was found worthy

‘Ineffably to see the figure of the birth of Christ;

‘And he foretold in song the renewal of mankind;

‘For a young Babe, even the Word, has come forth from the mountain,

‘Which is the Virgin, for the renewal of our race’.

Equal to mortals, O Most High, you came

Forth from a Virgin, having taken flesh,

To cleanse the poison of the serpent’s head,

By nature God, leading from sunless gates

All mortals to life bringing radiance.

Nations that once were in corruption sunk

And have the foe’s destruction wholly fled,

Lift up your hands, clap them in songs of praise,

Honouring Christ alone as Benefactor,

Who in compassion has now come to us.

O Virgin, who have sprung from Jesse’s root,

The bounds of mortal nature you have passed,

Bearing the Father’s pre-eternal Word,

As it was his good pleasure to pass through,

In strange self-emptying, your womb still sealed.