I read this as a poem just this fall, and did not realize at first that it is the lyrics to a Christmas carol, sung to the same tune as “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming.” I wonder if any of my readers is familiar with it.

I know we are all at least somewhat acquainted with the One whose birth is the glorious mystery about which St. Germanus wrote so long ago.

A GREAT AND MIGHTY WONDER

A great and mighty wonder,
a glorious mystery:
a virgin bears an infant
who veils his deity.

Proclaim the Savior’s birth:
“To God on high be glory
and peace to all the earth!”

The Word becomes incarnate
and yet remains on high,
and cherubim sing anthems
to shepherds from the sky.

While thus they sing your monarch,
those bright angelic bands,
rejoice, O vales and mountains,
and oceans, clap your hands.

Since all he comes to ransom,
by all be he adored,
the infant born in Bethl’em,
the Savior and the Lord.

All idols then shall perish
and Satan’s lying cease,
and Christ shall raise his scepter,
decreeing endless peace.

-Germanus of Constantinople (634-734)
Translated by John Mason Neale