Go, Gladsome Light

hymn

Also known as: “Phos hilarion”

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June 29, 2026

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"Go, Gladsome Light" is the English translation of the earliest known Christian hymn, dating back to around 200 CE. This Greek hymn, Phos hilarion, is a song of praise, a characteristic of hymns which originate from the Greek word hymnos.1

Hymns are songs used in Christian worship, typically sung by a congregation and featuring a metrical, stanzaic, non-biblical text. The practice of singing hymns in Christian worship has roots in the singing of psalms in the Hebrew Temple. The expression "hallelujah," meaning "praise the Lord," appears in the Hebrew Bible and was adopted by early Christians in their worship services.12

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hymn
…the Greek “Phos hilarion” (“Go, Gladsome Light,” translated by the 19th-century American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow). Hymnody developed systematically, however, only after the emperor Constantine legalized Christianity (313 ce), and it flourished earliest in Syria, where the practice was possibly taken over from the singing by gnostics and Manichaeans…
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…the Greek “Phos hilarion” (“Go, Gladsome Light,” translated by the 19th-century American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow). Hymnody developed systematically, however, only after the emperor Constantine legalized Christianity (313 ce), and it flourished earliest in Syria, where the practice was possibly taken over from the singing by gnostics and Manichaeans…
Read More