Christ hath burst His prison!

’Tis the Spring, of souls today;

Christ hath burst His prison;

And from three days’ sleep in death,

—As a sun, hath risen.

All the winter of our sins,

Long and dark, is flying

From His Light, to Whom we give

Laud and praise undying.

Now the Queen of Seasons, bright

With the day of Splendour,

With the royal Feast of feasts,

Comes its joy to render;

Comes to glad Jerusalem,

Who with true affection

Welcomes, in unwearied strains,

Jesu’s Resurrection.

Neither might the gates of death,

Nor the tomb’s dark portal,

Nor the watchers, nor the seal,

Hold Thee as a mortal:

But today amidst the Twelve

Thou didst stand, bestowing

That Thy peace, which evermore

Passeth human knowing.

-St. John of Damascus (676-749)