"I Am the Vine; the Branches—You": Fabricius's Third Hymn

Upbuilding Discourses | March 27, 2023

“I Am the Vine; the Branches—You”: Fabricius’s Third Hymn

In this post, I offer a translation of the third poem in Book 1 of Georg Fabricius’s Hymns. I have once again used iambic tetrameters with rhyme in the second and fourth lines of each stanza.

First, in Latin:

CHRISTUS APOSTOLOS docens, et pro iis orans.

I. Ioan. II. Advocatum habeamus apud patrem, Iesum Christum, iustum: et ipse est propitiatio.

HORA OCTAVA.

Tristem timorem pellite:
In me, Patremque credite:
Sum vita, veritas, via,
Et spes salutis unica.
Sum vitis, et vos palmites,
Efferte fructus uberes.
Vos mundus odit: at Pater
Caelestis ipse diligit.
Hunc inuocate per meum
Nomen, sacrum qui spiritum
Demittet: is contra mala
Vos roborabit omnia.
Te sancte, te voco Pater,
Nato tuo da gloriam:
Et quos dedisti, quos dabis,
Pios ministros protege.
Uno perenni et mutuo
Iungantur omnes vinculo,
Fungantur et Pater tua
In sempiternum gloria.
Pater, dedisti quos mihi,
Mecum, volo, sint singuli:
Eos ama, ante condita
Ut diligis me saecula.

Next, in English:

Christ Teaching the Apostles

1 John 2: “We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is our propitiation.”

At the eighth hour.

Put forlorn fear swiftly to flight;

     Put faith in my Father and me.

     I am the life, the truth, the way,

     Salvation’s only guarantee.

I am the vine; the branches—you;

     Bring forth the fruit that I create.

     The Father’s love undoes above

     The wounding of the world’s hate.

Therefore through My name call Him who

     Will send the Holy Spirit down;

     He’ll strengthen you against all ills,

     Like oak trees rooted in the ground.

You, Holy Father, You I call:

     Give glory to Your only Son.

     The servants whom You’ve given, guard,

     And those You’ll give in days to come.

Let all by one mutual love

     Be bonded everlastingly;

     And may they, Father, pay to You

     Glory now and eternally.

Father, may those You’ve given me

     With me be severally one;

     Love them as you love me before

     The world of time had yet begun.^[1]

References[+]

References
↑1	The apparently awkward present tense of “love” is intentional and reflects Fabricius’s usage. The Father’s love for the Son is eternal and always “is”— the present of divine love extends even to what creatures bound in time think of as “before.” To reinforce this point, I have translated saecula, which can mean both “worlds” and “ages,” as “the world of time.”