The Elene of Cynewulf translated into English prose — John Shaqi
The Elene of Cynewulf translated into English proseCynewulf
Religion
The Elene of Cynewulf translated into English prose
Cynewulf
Christian women saints -- Rome -- Legends; Helena, Saint, approximately 255-approximately 330 -- Legends
Elene heard how the foe and the friend struggled
together, the glorious and the foul on opposite sides, 955
the sinful and the blessed. And she was the gladder
in heart as she heard that the hellish enemy, the
Prince of evil, was vanquished; she marveled at
the wisdom of the man, how in so little time
he was so filled with faith, and how he who had 960
ever been so ignorant was imbued with knowledge.
And she thanked God, the King of glory, that
through the Son of God the joy of both these things
was come unto her--on the one hand at the sight 965
of the tree of victory, and on the other at this
faith which she so clearly understood as a glorious
gift in the breast of this man.
14. THE EMBASSY TO CONSTANTINE.
Then was the fair news of the morning manifest
among the nation, spread far throughout the people,
to the vexation of many who would keep secret the 970
law of the Lord. It was heralded through the cities,
as far as the sea embosoms the land, through every
town, that the rood of Christ, buried of yore in the
earth, had been found, best emblem of victory of
them that were raised aloft before or since, holy 975
beneath the heavens. Unto the Jews, men of misfortune,
it was a most bitter grief and most hated
of fates that they could change neither it nor the
joy of the Christians in the world. Then the queen 980
bade messengers from her noble company make
them ready with haste, for they were to seek the
lord of the Romans over the deep sea, and declare
unto that warrior in person the best of glad tidings--how
the tree of victory, that had been hidden a long 985
time before to grieve the holy ones, the Christian
people, had been discovered and found in the earth
through the grace of the Creator.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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