The Noble Army of Martyrs

Pastor Allen introduced the Te Deum as a prayer from the Book of Common Prayer, as it is, but its roots are actually older. When the Catalina Foothills Church Chorale sang the Te Deum on Reformation Day in 2006, I wrote these notes for the bulletin, and thought you might like to see them as a follow-up to yesterday’s posting of the prayer itself:

“…it is important to remember that our Presbyterian roots connect us to all the most ancient traditions of Christendom. Although we live in a time when non-denominationalism characterizes most American congregations, we trace our roots to a revelation in the sixteenth century which reformed our theological understanding of God and salvation along purely Biblical lines. Hence, Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone) was one of the watchwords of the Reformation.

This reform did not completely disconnect us from the great history of the church in prior centuries. For that reason, this ancient prayer, the Te Deum (To Thee, O God), is retained today in Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Reformed worship.

The prayer itself was probably initiated by Nicetus, Bishop of Remesania in the late fourth or early fifth century. Its text is prescient of the affirmation to be later encapsulated in the Apostle’s creed in the eighth century. Therefore, the Te Deum is probably the oldest Christian hymn still used in close to its original form.

As in the Apostle’s Creed, the Te Deum affirms the Trinity, God’s work of creation, substitutionary atonement, the coming judgment, the communion of saints, and the future glory.”