Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia
Date:         Thu, 17 Dec 1992 01:03:30 EST
From:         JEK@NIHCU.BITNET
Subject:      The Advent Antiphons

THE ADVENT ANTIPHONS (THE SEVEN O'S)

The Advent Antiphons are at least as old as the ninth century, and a
passage (3:12) in Boethius (d. 525) suggests that he may have been
familiar with them.  They are customarily said at Evening Prayer on
seven days preceding Christmas, from 17 December to 24 December.
     (As you will notice, that is eight days, so you can (a) skip
the Feast of Thomas the Apostle on 21 December, or (b) skip Sunday
20 December, if your Sunday prayers usually follow a different
pattern from your weekday ones, or (c) skip 24 December, if you are
going to be at church that evening, or (d) skip 17 December, if you
get this post too late -- sorry -- to begin their use on that day.)
     One way of using them is to say the antiphon, say an
appropriate psalm or canticle, say the Gloria, and repeat the
antiphon. The most usual canticle for the purpose is the Song of
Mary (Luke 1:46-55). A shorter canticle that is also used is the
Song of Simeon (Luke 2:29-32). But they can also be used with other
hymns or prayers, or by themselves.

     The antiphons address the Saviour under different titles taken
from the Hebrew Scriptures, suggesting various promises that had
been made to the Jewish people about the One who was to come. You
will recognize the seven stanzas of the well-known Advent hymn, "O
Come, O Come Emmanuel," (except that the hymn-writer took the last
and climactic antiphon for his first stanza). Each antiphon is here
printed first in traditional and then in contemporary language, and
then followed by an explanatory comment in parenthesis.

1ST ANTIPHON

O Wisdom who camest forth from the mouth of the Most High, and
reachest from one end of the earth to the other, mightily and
sweetly ordering all things:
   Come and teach us in the way of prudence.

O Wisdom who came forth from the mouth of the Most High, reaching
from one end of the earth to the other, mightily and sweetly
ordering all things:
   Come and teach us in the way of prudence.

(Christ is the Word and Wisdom of God (John 1:1, associated by early
Christian commentators with Proverbs 8:1,22-31), existing with the
Father and the Spirit from all eternity, through whom all things
were made.)

2ND ANTIPHON

O Adonai, and Leader of the house of Israel, who didst manifest
thyself in the bush to Moses in a flame of fire, and didst give him
the law on Sinai:
   Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm.

O Adonai, and Leader of the house of Israel, who revealed yourself
in the bush to Moses in a flame of fire, and gave him the law on
Sinai:
   Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm.

("Adonai" is the Hebrew word for "Lord." Christ is the Lord who
delivered the Israelites out of bondage (Exodus 3) and made them a
people for himself.)

3RD ANTIPHON

O Root of Jesse, who standest as an ensign to the peoples; before
whom kings will shut their mouths, and nations bow in worship:
   Come and deliver us, and tarry not.

O Root of Jesse, you who stand as an ensign to the peoples; before
whom kings will shut their mouths, and nations bow in worship:
   Come and deliver us, and tarry not.

(Jesse is the father of David the King. God took David from his
father's house, and made him King of Israel, and made the kingship
of David an earthly symbol of the Kingdom of Christ. The antiphon
refers to Isaiah 11:1,12 and 52:13-53:12.)

4TH ANTIPHON

O Key of David, and Scepter of the house of Israel, who openest and
none can shut, who shuttest and none can open:
   Come and bring the captives out of the prison house, those who
sit in darkness and the shadow of death.

O Key of David, and Scepter of the house of Israel, you who open and
none can shut, who shut and none can open:
   Come and bring the captives out of the prison house, those who
sit in darkness and the shadow of death.

(The reference is to Isaiah 22:22 and Revelation 3:7. Though the
earthly fortunes of the dynasty of David and of the Jewish people
may rise or fall, God is the Lord of history, and nothing can
prevent the fulfilment of his purposes.)

5TH ANTIPHON

O Dayspring, Brightness of the Light Eternal, and Sun of
Righteousness:
   Come and enlighten those who sit in darkness and the shadow of
death.

O Dayspring, Brightness of the Light Eternal, and Sun of
Righteousness:
   Come and enlighten those who sit in darkness and the shadow of
death.

(From the very last chapter of the Hebrew Scriptures, we have the
prophecy of the Day when the Lord shall be revealed, a consuming
fire to those who reject him, but to his own people a Sun whose rays
bring light and healing and wholeness. Echoing it, we have the words
of the father of John the Baptist (Luke 1:78-79) in what may be
regarded as the last Messianic prophecy, the last inspired utterance
before the birth of Christ.)

6TH ANTIPHON

O King of the nations, and their Desire, the cornerstone who makest
us both one:
   Come and save the creature whom thou hast formed from clay.

O King of the nations, and their Desire, the cornerstone making us
both one:
   Come and save the creature whom you have formed from clay.

(God is in Christ, reconciling the world to himself (2 Corinthians
5:19 and Colossians 1:20), and breaking down the ancient hostility
between Jew and Gentile, between one nation and another, between one
person and another, making of us one building with himself as the
cornerstone, one body with himself as the head.)

7TH ANTIPHON

O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver, the Hope of all peoples and their
Salvation:
   Come and save us, O Lord our God.

O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver, the Hope of all peoples and their
Salvation:
   Come and save us, O Lord our God.

("Imm-anu-el" is Hebrew for "with-us-God," and can be translated,
"God is with us," or simply, "God with us." Matthew (1:23), quoting
Isaiah (7:14), proclaims Jesus as the promised Deliverer, and as God
with us, God our midst, the Word made flesh and dwelling among us.
Thanks be to God.)
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