Poems ascribed to Orientius

Contents

1. 1.1A short poem on the feast of Christ's birth: he who reigns with the Father took flesh, and after his death carried man back into heaven.
2. 2.1A list of the names of Christ drawn from Scripture, ending with the confession that God is greater than all his names.
3. 3.1A hymn of praise to Christ, the eternal Word, one with the Father in substance, with the Spirit completing the equal Trinity, followed by a long series of his titles.
4. 3.31Christ, eternal judge and mediator of two natures, suffered on the cross, was mocked and given gall and vinegar, and rose and ascended to the Father's throne, from which he will return.
5. 3.60The cross is Christ's trophy; its four arms signify his rule over the world, its shape the hands of one praying, and its Greek letters, the rho, the iota, alpha and omega, Christ himself; blood and water from his side signify martyrdom and baptism.
6. 3.90Death came through the tree of Eden and life through the tree of the cross; Christ's miracles have earned him a thousand titles, and praise cannot equal them.
7. 4.96The first part of an explanation of the names of Christ listed in poem 2, from Door to Hand.
8. 4.126The explanation of Christ's names continues, from Head to Eagle, including the corner-stone joining two peoples, the second Adam, the high priest who offers himself, and the fish as author of baptism.
9. 5.147The last names of Christ, Eye, Prophet, Angel, Arm, Agios, Emmanuel, Lord Sabaoth, lead into a prayer to the crucified Christ for mercy and protection under the sign of the cross.
10. 5.177The prayer ends asking that the cross protect the house, and that the tower, once stained with sacrilegious blood, now shine with the sign of the cross.