Make Hymns New, Bringing Back what was Lost: Some History of a Hymn

 So, yesterday we learned what a hymn was and got a better understanding of a hymn. Today we will dive right in and learn some history of the Hymn. In my research, I found that there is too much to talk about so I will touch on key historical points.

The earliest Hymn that has been recorded was Oxyrhnchus Hymn was from 100-450 AD. This hymn was found in Egypt. they also found pyrus in 1918 and was published in 1922 is considered to be the oldest Christian hymn pyrus and it is dated 260 AD. they have found bits and pieces of many hymns from the early church and before that even. in the research, I concluded that the oldest hymn was the Oxyrhnchus Hymn and that was probably from when the Jews were in Egypt but I do not know that for sure.

Christian Hymns come from the singing of songs in the Hebrew temple. For that one, the earliest text they have is from 200 CE or earlier and is from the Greek language called Phos hilarion which translated into English is Go, Gladsome Light was translated by a guy by the name of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow a poet of the 19th century.

Hymns were developing in the world as the emperor Constine legalized Christianity in 313 CE and this happened in Syria. The person to be called the father of hymns was a guy named St. Ephraem who was a 4th-century Mesopotamian Hymnist, poet, and deacon.

Moving on in history the first recorded hymnal was created in 1501 in Prague. the hymnal only had texts of the sacred songs contained in the pages of the book. in 1564 a hymnal was published and called the Ausband, an anabaptist hymnal which is still used today by the Hutterites and is known as the oldest hymnal used today.

The church of England did not accept hymns until 1820 when a dispute came from the church called Sheffield. in 1833 the oxford movement began translating old hymns into plainsong melodies. The book of Anglican Common Prayer set the hymns to their proper melody.

I will leave it there for today and tomorrow I will talk about hymns as they pertain to the western world that is America and then move on to important people in hymn history.

Hymn Playlist Day 3

https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/hymns-day-3/pl.u-zPyLBvPFZZ4W1v