The Sarum Cathedral Graduale now assigns the following Hymn to be sung. While the Clergy and Monastics each come up individually, and kneel three times, each time drawing closer to the Cross until they kiss Its Feet.

Faithful Cross, above all other
One and Only Noble Tree;
None in foliage, none in blossom,
None in fruit Thy peer may be;
Sweetest Wood, and Sweetest Iron!

Sweetest Weight is hung on Thee.

Faithful Cross, above all other
One and Only Noble Tree;
None in foliage, none in blossom,
None in fruit Thy peer may be;
Sweetest Wood, and Sweetest Iron!

Sweetest Weight is hung on Thee.

Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle,
Sing the last, the dread affray;
O’er the Cross, the Victor’s Trophy,
Sound the high triumphal lay,
How the pains of death enduring,
Earth’s Redeemer won the day.

Faithful Cross, above all other
One and Only Noble Tree;
None in foliage, none in blossom,
None in fruit Thy peer may be;
Sweetest Wood, and Sweetest Iron!

Sweetest Weight is hung on Thee.

He, Our Maker, deeply Grieving
That the first-made Adam fell,
When he ate the fruit forbidden

Whose reward was death and hell,
Mark’d e’en then This Tree the ruin
Of the first tree to dispel.

Faithful Cross, above all other
One and Only Noble Tree;
None in foliage, none in blossom,
None in fruit Thy peer may be;
Sweetest Wood, and Sweetest Iron!

Sweetest Weight is hung on Thee.

Thus the work for our salvation
He ordained to be done;

To the traitor’s art opposing
Art yet deeper than his own;
Thence the remedy procuring

Whence the fatal wound begun.

Faithful Cross, above all other

One and Only Noble Tree;

None in foliage, none in blossom,

None in fruit Thy peer may be;

Sweetest Wood, and Sweetest Iron!

Sweetest Weight is hung on Thee.

Therefore, when at length the fulness

Of th’ appointed time was come,

He was Sent, the world’s Creator,

From the Father’s Heav’nly Home,

And was Found in human fashion,

Offspring of the Virgin’s womb.

Faithful Cross, above all other
One and Only Noble Tree;
None in foliage, none in blossom,
None in fruit Thy peer may be;
Sweetest Wood, and Sweetest Iron!

Sweetest Weight is hung on Thee.

Lo! He lies, an Infant Weeping,
Where the narrow manger stands,
While the Mother-Maid His Members
Wraps in mean and lowly bands,
And the swaddling clothes is winding
Round His Helpless Feet and Hands.

Faithful Cross, above all other
One and Only Noble Tree;
None in foliage, none in blossom,
None in fruit Thy peer may be;
Sweetest Wood, and Sweetest Iron!

Sweetest Weight is hung on Thee.

Thirty years among us Dwelling,
His appointed time fulfill’d,
Born for this He meets His Passion,
For that this He freely will’d;

On the Cross the Lamb is lifted,
Where His Life-Blood shall be Spill’d.

Faithful Cross, above all other
One and Only Noble Tree;
None in foliage, none in blossom,
None in fruit Thy peer may be;
Sweetest Wood, and Sweetest Iron!

Sweetest Weight is hung on Thee.

He endur’d the Nails, the spitting,
Vinegar, and Spear, and reed;
From That Holy Body Broken
Blood and Water forth proceed;
Earth, and stars, and sky, and ocean,
By That Flood from stain are freed.

Faithful Cross, above all other
One and Only Noble Tree;
None in foliage, none in blossom,
None in fruit Thy peer may be;
Sweetest Wood, and Sweetest Iron!

Sweetest Weight is hung on Thee.

Bend Thy Boughs, 0 Tree of Glory,
Thy relaxing sinews bend;

For awhile the ancient rigour
That Thy birth bestow’d suspend;
And the King of heav’nly beauty
On Thy Bosom gently tend.

Faithful Cross, above all other
One and Only Noble Tree;
None in foliage, none in blossom,
None in fruit Thy peer may be;

Sweetest Wood, and Sweetest Iron!

Sweetest Weight is hung on Thee.

Thou Alone wast counted worthy
This world’s Ransom to sustain;

That a ship-wreck’d race for ever

Might a port of refuge gain;
With the Sacred Blood Anointed
Of the Lamb for sinners Slain.

Faithful Cross, above all other

One and Only Noble Tree;
None in foliage, none in blossom,
None in fruit Thy peer may be;
Sweetest Wood, and Sweetest Iron!

Sweetest Weight is hung on Thee.

Praise and honour to the Father,
Praise and honour to the Son,
Praise and honour to the Spirit,
Ever Three and ever One,
One in might, and One in glory
While eternal ages run.

Faithful Cross, above all other
One and Only Noble Tree;
None in foliage, none in blossom,
None in fruit Thy peer may be;
Sweetest Wood, and Sweetest Iron!

Sweetest Weight is hung on Thee.

__________________________________________

The Good Friday Services
© St. Gregory Press, West Milford, NJ, USA

St. Gregory Press is the official publication arm of
the Archdiocese of New York & New Jersey
His Eminence Archbishop John (LoBue), diocesan prelate

Of the

Autonomous Orthodox Metropolia of Western Europe & the Americas
His Beatitude Metropolitan Evloghios of Milan (Italy), Chief Hierarch

http://milansynodusa.org/press.html

A pdf copy of the complete Good Friday Services according to the Sarum Cathedral Use is available in our Hermitage’s online Library here.