Christmas Carol Sing-Along · Christmas
A Great and Mighty Wonder
Get ready for Christmas. Practise the carols at home, in your own time, on your own or with family and friends. First hear it, then sing it.
1 Listen
Let the choir sing it to you. Follow the music and the words.
2 Sing
Now it’s your turn. The organ plays, and the gold note shows the way.
On a phone? Turn it sideways and tap the full-screen button, and the music fills the screen.
These words come from a Greek Christmas hymn traditionally ascribed to Germanus, an eighth-century Patriarch of Constantinople. He defended the use of sacred images and was forced to resign in 730. John Mason Neale translated the hymn into English in 1862.
The rest of the story
The tune, ES IST EIN ROS, belongs to a German carol about a rose. It was printed in Cologne in 1599, and Michael Praetorius made the familiar harmony in 1609.
The words
A great and mighty wonder,
a full and holy cure,
the Virgin bears the Infant
with virgin-honour pure.
Repeat the hymn again!
'To God on high be glory,
and peace on earth to men!'
The Word becomes incarnate
and yet remains on high.
And Cherubim sing anthems
to shepherds from the sky.
Repeat the hymn again!
'To God on high be glory,
and peace on earth to men!'
Since all he comes to ransom,
by all be he adored,
the Infant born in Bethl'em,
the Saviour and the Lord.
Repeat the hymn again!
'To God on high be glory,
and peace on earth to men!'
And idol forms shall perish,
and error shall decay,
and Christ shall wield his sceptre,
our Lord and God for ay.
Repeat the hymn again!
'To God on high be glory,
and peace on earth to men!'