On Easter

Behold, the favour of the reviving world bears witness
that all gifts have returned together with its Lord.
For in honour of Christ rising triumphant
after His descent to the gloomy Tartarus,
the grove on every side with its leaves expresses approval,
the plants with their flowers express approval.
The light, the heaven, the fields, and the sea duly praise the God
ascending above the stars, having crushed the laws of hell.
Behold, He who was crucified reigns as God over all things,
and all created objects offer prayer to their Creator.
Hail, festive day, to be reverenced throughout the world,
on which God has conquered hell, and gains the stars!
The changes of the year and of the months,
the bounteous light of the days, the splendour of the hours,
all things with voice applaud.
Hence, in honour of you, the wood with its foliage applauds;
hence the vine, with its silent shoot, gives thanks.
Hence the thickets now resound with the whisper of birds;
amidst these the sparrow sings with exuberant love.

O Christ, You Saviour of the world, merciful Creator and Redeemer,
the only offspring from the Godhead of the Father,
flowing in an indescribable manner from the heart of Your Parent,
You self-existing Word, and powerful from the mouth of Your Father,
equal to Him, of one mind with Him, His fellow, coeval with the Father,
from whom at first the world derived its origin!
You suspend the firmament, You heap together the soil, You pour forth the seas,
by whose government all things which are fixed in their places flourish.
Who seeing that the human race was plunged in the depth of misery,
that You might rescue man, Yourself also became man:
nor were You willing only to be born with a body, but You became flesh,
which endured to be born and to die.
You undergo funeral obsequies,
Yourself the author of life and framer of the world,
You enter the path of death, in giving the aid of salvation.
The gloomy chains of the infernal law yielded,
and chaos feared to be pressed by the presence of the light.
Darkness perishes, put to flight by the brightness of Christ;
the thick pall of eternal night falls.
But restore the promised pledge, I pray You, O power benign!
The third day has returned; arise, my buried One;
it is not becoming that Your limbs should lie in the lowly sepulchre,
nor that worthless stones should press that which is the ransom of the world.
It is unworthy that a stone should shut in with a confining rock,
and cover Him in whose fist all things are enclosed.
Take away the linen clothes, I pray; leave the napkins in the tomb:
You are sufficient for us, and without You there is nothing.
Release the chained shades of the infernal prison,
and recall to the upper regions whatever sinks to the lowest depths.
Give back Your face, that the world may see the light;
give back the day which flees from us at Your death.

But returning, O holy conqueror! You altogether filled the heaven!
Tartarus lies depressed, nor retains its rights.
The ruler of the lower regions, insatiably opening his hollow jaws,
who has always been a spoiler, becomes a prey to You.
You rescue an innumerable people from the prison of death,
and they follow in freedom to the place whither their leader approaches.
The fierce monster in alarm vomits forth the multitude whom he had swallowed up,
and the Lamb withdraws the sheep from the jaw of the wolf.
Hence re-seeking the tomb from the lower regions,
having resumed Your flesh,
as a warrior You carry back ample trophies to the heavens.
Those whom chaos held in punishment he has now restored;
and those whom death might seek, a new life holds.
Oh, sacred King, behold a great part of Your triumph shines forth,
when the sacred laver blesses pure souls!
A host, clad in white, come forth from the bright waves,
and cleanse their old fault in a new stream.
The white garment also designates bright souls,
and the shepherd has enjoyments from the snow-white flock.
The priest Felix is added sharing in this reward,
who wishes to give double talents to his Lord.
Drawing those who wander in Gentile error to better things,
that a beast of prey may not carry them away,
He guards the fold of God.
Those whom guilty Eve had before infected, He now restores,
fed with abundant milk at the bosom of the Church.
By cultivating rustic hearts with mild conversations,
a crop is produced from a briar by the bounty of Felix.
The Saxon, a fierce nation, living as it were after the manner of wild beasts,
when you, O sacred One, Apply a remedy,
the beast of prey resembles the sheep.
About to remain with you through an age with the return of a hundred-fold,
you fill the barns with the produce of an abundant harvest.
May this people, free from stain, be strengthened in your arms,
and may you bear to the stars a pure pledge to God.
May one crown be bestowed on you from on high gained from yourself,
may another flourish gained from your people.