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The Library

Forty Centuries of Christian Writing

1774 works catalogued century by century, from the literature the Bible was written among to the present — each with a note on what it is, why it lasted, and where to read it.

701–800

The Eighth Century

1 work

c. 730–749

Greek

The Paschal Canon and the Hymns

John of Damascus · c. 675 – c. 749

The canon sung at the Orthodox Easter midnight service — the day of resurrection, let us be radiant, O people — together with the funeral idiomela, which ask what earthly sweetness remains unmixed with grief, and answer that all is weaker than a shadow.

Byzantine · HymnsExodus1 CorinthiansPsalmsJohnRead elsewhere