The Prayer of St. Hippolytus of Rome

The Prayer of St. Hippolytus is one of the earliest prayers in existence outside of the Bible. It is poetic in its rhythm and repetition. The repeated words “Christ is risen” is like a refrain that anchors the prayer and is the foundation for the development of its ideas. Such repetition, combined with its rhythmic pulse, makes it ideal for memorization.

Christ is Risen: The world below lies desolate

Christ is Risen: The spirits of evil are fallen

Christ is Risen: The angels of God are rejoicing

Christ is Risen: The tombs of the dead are empty

Christ is Risen indeed from the dead,

the first of the sleepers,

Glory and power are his forever and ever.

 

‘A Better Resurrection’

The poem titled ‘A Better Resurrection’ by Sylvia Plath is almost like a prayer. It is as short as Prayer of St. Hippolytus but has less repetition and more rhyming words. ‘Tears’ rhymes with ‘fears’ to heighten the sense of despair and ‘grief’ rhymes with ‘falling leaf’ to signify the grief that leads to death. There is reference to the stone that covered Christ’s tomb – ‘my heart within me like a stone’ – and to the intense grief similar to that of his disciples  ‘numbed too much for hopes or fears’. The last line is a prayer out of great distress that nevertheless carries hope: ‘O Jesus, quicken me’. There is hope because Jesus rose from the dead and gives hope of ‘a better resurrection’ for her as well.

I have no wit, I have no words, no tears;

My heart within me like a stone

Is numbed too much for hopes or fears;

Look right, look left, I dwell alone;

A lift mine eyes, but dimmed with grief

No everlasting hills I see;

My life is like the falling leaf;

O Jesus, quicken me.

 

‘Easter Wings’

George Herbert wrote ‘Easter Wings’ in the form of a striking pair of angel’s wings. It is a poem about resurrection with the focus firmly on rising out of ‘sicknesses and shame’. He dreams of the lark that rises on the wings of the morning and sings triumphantly. ‘O let me rise/ As larks, harmoniously,/ And sing this day thy victories’. He ends the poem asserting his confidence in the resurrection and his resolve to face the affliction that ‘shall advance the flight in me.’

 

Lord, who createdst man in wealth and store,

Though foolishly he lost the same,

Decaying more and more,

Till he became

Most poore:

With thee

O let me rise

As larks, harmoniously,

And sing this day thy victories:

Then shall the fall further the flight in me.

 

My tender age in sorrow did beginne

And still with sicknesses and shame.

Thou didst so punish sinne,

That I became

Most thinne.

With thee

Let me combine,

And feel thy victorie:

For, if I imp my wing on thine,

Affliction shall advance the flight in me.

 

‘The Hold-fast’

Another poem by George Herbert is called ‘The Hold-fast’ because it captures the essence of faith in Christ’s resurrection. Herbert tries to follow all the strict decrees of God with ‘all my power and might’, but is confused by advice from different people about how to do it. One said he must trust in God, another said he must confess ‘that nothing is our own’. The poet ‘stood amaz’d’ and ‘troubled’ until his friend explained its meaning. Though man can do nothing to gain or keep forgiveness or resurrection, Jesus has done it all and holds fast the reward. ‘What Adam had, and forfeited for all, Christ keepeth now, who cannot fail or fall.’

I threaten’d to observe the strict decree

    Of my dear God with all my power and might;

    But I was told by one it could not be;

Yet I might trust in God to be my light.

“Then will I trust,” said I, “in Him alone.”

    “Nay, e’en to trust in Him was also His:

    We must confess that nothing is our own.”

“Then I confess that He my succour is.”

“But to have nought is ours, not to confess

    That we have nought.” I stood amaz’d at this,

    Much troubled, till I heard a friend express

That all things were more ours by being His;

    What Adam had, and forfeited for all,

    Christ keepeth now, who cannot fail or fall.