Light of Christ

As light, O Christ, Thou cam’st to earth;
In Thee I live, in Thee I shall arise;
Thou art my joy, Thou my new birth,
To blessèd life Thou openest mine eyes.
For me Thou to the cross didst go,
For me Thou gav’st Thy blood to flow.

For me, in dark Gethsemane
Alone Thou, Christ, with sin and death didst fight;
Alone with God didst plead for me,
That I in Thee might see the blessèd light.
From all my heart, while I may live,
Eternal thanks to Thee I’ll give. 

—Excerpts from “AS LIGHT, O CHRIST.”  Words: Un­known au­thor; trans­lat­ed from Russ­ian to Eng­lish by Ro­bert G. Kat­su­noff (1887-?).