Christ is risen | Christ is risen" they sing in church

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by Dmitry Sergeyevich Merezhkovsky (1865 - 1941)

Translation © by Shawn Thuris

Христос воскрес!" ‑ поют во храме

Language: Russian (Русский)

Our translations: ENG

"Христос воскрес!" - поют во храме;
Но грустно мне... душа молчит.
Мир полон кровью и слезами,
И этот гимн пред алтарями
Так оскорбительно звучит.

Когда-б Он был меж нас и видел,
Чего достиг наш славный век,
Как брата брат возненавидел,
Как опозорен человек,
И если б здесь, в блестящем храме
"Христос воскрес" он услыхал,
Какими б горькими слезами
Перед толпой он зарыдал!

About the headline (FAQ)

Note: before the poem was first published, the last eight lines were removed by imperial censors. They were rediscovered later and published in 1925. They read as follows:

Пусть на земле не будет, братья,
Ни властелинов, ни рабов,
Умолкнут стоны и проклятья,
И стук мечей, и звон оков, --

О лишь тогда, как гимн свободы,
Пусть загремит: “Христос воскрес!” 
И нам ответят все народы:
“Христос воистину воскрес!”

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Note on Transliterations

Text Authorship:

by Dmitry Sergeyevich Merezhkovsky (1865 - 1941), no title, first published 1888 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Sergei Vasil'yevich Rachmaninov (1873 - 1943), "Христос воскрес", op. 26 (Пятнадцать романсов = Pjatnadcat' romansov (Fifteen songs)) no. 6 (1906) [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

ENG English (Shawn Thuris) , "Christ is risen", copyright © 2005, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 13
Word count: 61

Christ is risen

Language: English after the Russian (Русский)

"Christ is risen" they sing in church.
Yet I am sad... my soul is silent.
The world is steeped in blood and tears,
and so this hymn before the altars
sounds like an insult.

Were He present among us to see
what our glorious age has achieved --
how brother comes to hate his brother,
and how shameful is mankind --
and if, within the shining church,
this "Christ is risen" he were to hear,
what bitter tears 
before the crowd would He sob!

Text Authorship:

Translation from Russian (Русский) to English copyright © 2005 by Shawn Thuris, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in Russian (Русский) by Dmitry Sergeyevich Merezhkovsky (1865 - 1941), no title, first published 1888
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2005-04-27
Line count: 13
Word count: 82