Joseph, a native of Sicily, was born about the year A.D. 800. He was captured by pirates and became a slave in Crete. He was later set free and became a monk in Constantinople, where he wrote such a large number of hymns that he became known to posterity as Joseph the Hymnographer. From one of his canons, written about A.D. 840, on the saints Chrysanthus and Daria, John Mason Neale (1818-1866; see Biographies) gained the inspiration to write this hymn, which cannot be identified with any words in the original Greek canon. Joseph died about the year 1883 in the monastery where he had spent much of his life. John M. Neale’s very free translation, or it may be an original hymn, contained eight stanzas and appeared in his Hymns of the Eastern Church, 1862.

The tune VULPIUS, not to be confused with GELOBT SEI GOTT (SDAH 173), which carries the name VULPIUS in other hymnals, is an arrangement from Melchior Vulpius, a German composer who contributed many fine melodies to the Lutheran Church. He was born about 1560 in Wasungen, about 85 miles northeast of Frankfurt on Main, now in East Germany. In 1602 he was appointed cantor at Weimar and remained in that position until his death in August 1615. Prior to this appointment he had been a teacher and cantor in Schleusingen, and then cantor at Zittau. He published Gesangbuch (Hymnbook) in 1609, Cantiones Sacrae (Sacred Songs) in 1602, and Kirchengesänge und geistliche Lieder Dr. Luther’s (Church Hymns and Spiritual Songs of Dr. Luther) in 1604. He composed a St. Matthew Passion, 1612-1614. Vulpius also composed the tune for SDAH 173, GELOBT SEI GOTT.

📖 Reference: Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal by Wayne Hooper and Edward E. White. Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988.