Easter Wishes 2007

Happy Easter to all of you who are into that sort of thing. The text for the Ionarts Easter card this year comes from a piece we sang at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception last night and today. It's a real barn-burner, in the Anglican tradition. The text combines the first lines of the Canticle of Moses (from Exodus, proper to the Easter Vigil) and an English translation of an ancient Easter hymn, Ad regias Agni dapes.


Sing ye to the Lord, for He hath triumph'd gloriously.
Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath He cast into the sea.

Mighty Victim from the sky,
Hell's fierce pow'rs beneath Thee lie;
Thou hast conquer'd in the fight,
Thou hast brought us life and light.

Now no more can death appall,
Now no more can grave enthrall;
Thou hast open'd Paradise,
And in Thee Thy Saints shall rise.

Text from an anthem by Edward Cuthbert Bairstow (1874-1946)


Image at right:
The Resurrection (1596-1600) by El Greco, now in the Museo del Prado, Madrid