Christmas Song #4: One of the Oldest!

I’ve enjoyed our deep-dives into Christmas carols from the past three years, so let’s do it again! And this might be the oldest Christmas carol you know – if you know it.

But first, if you need some background on this Christmas carol series thing, here’s how this all started.

So, what is the oldest Christmas carol? Some smart person might suggest that it’s the carol the angels sang – “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (Luke 2:14) But another smart person will point out, of course, that the angels apparently said these words – there is no indication that they sang.

The question of the “oldest carol” is complicated – the oldest carol that is still sung? The oldest carol that is still used in the same form? And what exactly counts as a carol?

But this carol has origins so ancient that some claim it was written by the half-brother of Jesus, James (the writer of the book of James in the New Testament). Well, there’s no solid evidence for that, but the origins of the carol probably go back to the third or fourth century. So there isn’t any Old English in the original words – we’re talking Greek.

James the Just, as we remember him today, was not a believer during Jesus’ earthly ministry (Matthew 13:55; John 7:5), but eventually became a follower of Christ and an important leader in the church in Jerusalem (Acts 21:17–19). It is possible that the “Liturgy of St. James” developed from some of the early traditions of the Jerusalem church. It is generally dated from the fourth century (with the earliest copy still in existence from the 9th century), but some parts or origins may go back much further.

In the second part of the liturgy, there is a call to worship called the Cherubic Hymn – beginning with the words, “Let all mortal flesh be silent, and stand with fear and trembling…”

Sound familiar yet?

The words are actually based on this section of Habakkuk:

What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols! Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake; to a silent stone, Arise! Can this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in it.
But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.

Habakkuk 2:18-20

The text of the liturgy and this section was adapted and translated over the centuries. It would have been recited or chanted early on, and later parts were put to music. But the “carol” part for an English audience really comes in the 1800s, with a Rev. Gerard Moultrie. Moultrie was an Anglican minister in South Leigh, England (west of Oxford), and eventually a hymn writer.

Moultrie took the words from an English version of the liturgy and “versified” them. The carol was published in 1864 as “Greek Cherubic Hymn” (that is, hymn of the cherubs or angels). Today it’s more commonly known as “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence”.

It may seem a little odd that our Christmas carol this year starts by calling everyone to silence! But we’ll see why as we take a closer look at the first part next week.