“We hymn the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—God.” Here we have a hymn, called ancient when cited in the 4th century, that helped Christians all around the Mediterranean articulate the doctrine of the Trinity. We praise God—singular—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Hymns are a theological repository of the church. Through hymns we make a catechism for the generations. As time goes on, hymns come to contain the doctrines most well known and most closely cherished by the people of God. By setting the truth of God to music, the church of God is united not only in orthodoxy of belief, but in worship. The church has been summarizing biblical doctrine through song and passing it on from the very beginning.

One such hymn, possibly the earliest extant example of this wise habit in the church outside of Scripture, is known as Phos Hilaron, or in English, “Hail, Gladdening Light.” It’s unclear how old this hymn exactly is, since our earliest references to it in the 4th century refer to its antiquity, but we do know that it was relatively widespread throughout the early church in its first few centuries.

What stands out about this short hymn, only six lines in length, is how doctrinally rich it is.

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