The later Greek hymns had many ecclesiastical and theological phrases difficult to render. They were filled with grotesque figures; the worship of Mary, and even of the saints, is offensive. Being mostly in rhythmical prose, they were not intended to be sung—at most only to be chanted. Really they were not hymns in the ordinary sense of the word; rather they were the raw materials of hymns. As Dr. Brownlie says, “The writers are not poets, in the true sense, and their language is not Greek as we have known it.” The more conspicuous of these later Greek devotional writers do not appear until the eighth century. Andrew of Crete (660-732), an archbishop, was a very voluminous devotional writer. Among his more important works are the “Great Canon,”[2] the “Triodion,” and the “Pentecostarion.” The “Great Canon” has more than three hundred stanzas, illustrating by Scripture examples the feelings of a penitent confessing his sins. He is represented in some of our hymnals by the hymn, “Christian, dost thou see them?” translated by Dr. John Mason Neale and said to be taken from the “Great Canon.” The other hymnists of this century are John of Damascus (d.780), his foster-brother Cosmas, the Melodist (d.760), and Stephen the Sabaite, his nephew (725-794). John of Damascus wrote the best Greek of his generation and was most poetical in spirit and style. Gibbon calls him the “last of the Greek Fathers.” His verse is characterized by being written in iambics (the most common measure in modern hymns). His best-known hymn is “’Tis the day of resurrection,” taken from his great Easter canon, styled the “Queen of Canons” and the “Golden Canon” by the Greek Church. John’s foster-brother, Cosmas, survives in the Christmas hymn, “Christ is born! exalt his name.” Although his canons are very thoughtful, his style is often turgid and difficult to follow. Stephen the Sabaite, the nephew of John of Damascus, the third of this “nest of singing birds” (to use Dr. Gillman’s phrase), came to Mar Saba as a boy and remained there all his life. Dr. Neale found the inspiration of his hymn “Art thou weary, art thou languid?” in some lines of Stephen. These three Greek hymn writers were monks in the monastery of San Saba, to be seen to the north from the highway between Jerusalem and Jericho, on the rugged heights overlooking the Jordan valley. Another group of Greek hymn writers appears a little later, headed by Theodore (759-826), abbot of the Studium, a great monastery at Constantinople. The group was quite controversial, the occasion being not the Deity of Christ, but the enforced destruction of ikons, or images. The hymns of this group were not all controversial. Theoctistus (c.890), an obscure and later member of it, when the heat of strife had presumably subsided, could write this devout hymn of praise to Christ: “Jesu, name all names above, Jesu, best and dearest. Jesu, fount of perfect love, Holiest, tend’rest, nearest.