HYMNS I MISS Art Thou Weary? Great Songs of the Church No. 2, #341 Christian Hymns No. 2, #226 Praise for the Lord, #47 The text is said to be based on an early Greek hymn that is usually attributed to Stephen the Sabaite who was born around A. D. 725, probably in Damascus, Syria. Following the ravaging, pillaging, burning, and bloodshed in Palestine, first by the Persians and then the Arabs, the land was in turmoil and poverty. The only escape for many peasants was the desert and the religious life. After wandering around the Dead Sea and the rocky Kidron gorge and for five years, wearing a camel’s hair costume in imitation of John the Baptist, Stephen became a monk at the monastery of Mar Saba, near Jerusalem, founded in the sixth century, where he was placed at the age of ten by his uncle, John of Damascus, who was also a hymnwriter and is credited with The Day of Resurrection. Here Stephen met Cosmas the Melodist, still another early Greek hymnwriter who helped to contribute to Stephen’s style. Stephen remained at Saba for 59 years and became the abbot in 790. The poem is dated around 794. Whether the words of the hymns attributed to Stephen were actually his or not cannot be determined. Stephen died at the age of ninety at Mar Saba, around 815, although some sources give the date of his death as early as 794. he English version was originally identified as a very free translation by John Mason Neale (1818-1866). It was originally entitled Idiomela, in the Week of the First Oblique Tone and first published in his 1862 Hymns of the Eastern Church. Neale seems to have been inspired by four Greek words out of an ancient volume from Constantinople which he came across in his extensive reading of that language. Later he said that it contained so little that is from the Greek that it should not have been included as a translation, and it is now generally considered an original hymn by Neale which was suggested by his reading of the Greek fragment. The tune that is most often used with it (Stephanos) was composed for this text by Henry Williams Baker (1821-1877). It was first published in the 1868 Appendix to Hymns Ancient and Modern (originally published in 1864), of which he was the general editor. The harmonization was made by the musical editor, William Henry Monk (1823-1889). Originally in seven stanzas, the song is used in many modern hymnbooks with only four stanzas. Various alterations in certain stanzas have been made by different hymnbook editors through the years, especially with the final stanza in The Hymnal Companion to the Book of Common Prayer of 1870 by Edward Henry Bickersteth (1825-1906). Stanza 1 (GS, CH, PFTL) Art thou weary, art thou languid, Art thou sore distressed? ‘Come to Me,’ saith One, ‘and, coming, Be at rest.’ In an apparent attempt to update the language, some books read, Are you weary, heavy laden, Are you sore distressed? Whether this is an actual improvement upon the original is questionable. In any event, sin is pictured as a heavy burden that causes us to be weary and languid, meaning weak; this is one of the problems we face–I recognize the need to be understandable, but why should we have to discontinue using perfectly good words just because our society has become functionally illiterate? Stanza 2 (PFTL) Hath He marks to lead me to Him, If He be my Guide? ‘In His feet and hands are wound-prints, And His side.’ Stanza 3 If I find Him, if I follow, What His guerdon here? ‘Many a sorrow, many a labor, Many a tear.’ Stanza 4 (GS, PFTL) If I still hold closely to Him, What hath He at last? ‘Sorrow vanquished, labor ended, Jordan passed.’ Stanza 5 (GS, CH, PFTL) If I ask Him to receive me, Will He say me nay? ‘Not till earth and not till heaven Pass away.’ Stanza 6 (GS, CH) Finding Him, and following, keeping, Is He sure to bless? ‘Saints, apostles, prophets, martyrs, Answer, Yes!’ The original read: Finding, following, keeping, struggling, Is He sure to bless? Angels, Martyrs, Prophets, Virgins, Answer, Yes!’ The stanza most often omitted in modern hymnbooks (#3) is: Is there diadem, as Monarch, That His brow adorns? ‘Yea, a crown, in very surety, But of thorns.’ The forms of musical expression in religious singing have changed through the years. The older type hymn, of which this song is an example, was replaced in popularity among some by the gospel song of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Now in many circles the gospel song has been replaced in popularity by the so-called praise song (someone has referred to many of these as seven-eleven songs–seven words sung over eleven times). Some claim that the older hymns no longer speak to today’s modern generation (of course, the same thing is said about the Bible), and it is true that as musical tastes change there is always the need for new musical expressions of faith. But to those whose hearts are truly attuned to God’s word, hymns such as this one can still speak to us as it asks, Art Thou Weary?
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 22:45:35 +0000
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