Tradition

This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.

Christianity Hymns gathers twenty three of the atlas's Christian hymns, ranging from the earliest surviving hymn in continuous use to modern hymnals, and spanning liturgical chant, congregational song and devotional poetry across the Western and Eastern churches.

The oldest strand carries Phos Hilaron, sung at evening lamp lighting and already ancient when Basil described it in the fourth century as sung from ancient times, and the Cherubic Hymn and Trisagion of the Byzantine Divine Liturgy, the Akathist to the Theotokos, the Deggua of St Yared ascribed to the sixth century Aksumite deacon, and the Paschal Troparion of Orthodox Easter. Latin hymnody runs from the Te Deum and Veni Creator Spiritus through Thomas Aquinas's Pange Lingua and Venantius Fortunatus's Vexilla Regis to the judgement sequence Dies Irae and the passion hymn Stabat Mater, alongside the daily canticle Magnificat and the Mass hymn Gloria in Excelsis Deo.

The Reformation era gives Luther's A Mighty Fortress; English and American hymnody gives Amazing Grace, John Newton's testimony as a converted slave ship captain, and the Old Order Amish Ausbund, the oldest hymnal still in continuous use. Denominational hymnals of their own include John Wesley's Collection of Hymns for the Methodists, the Latter Day Saint Collection of Sacred Hymns compiled by Emma Smith, and the Moravian Easter Morning Litany begun at Herrnhut in 1732. The Ave Maria and the Trisagion are also treated among the atlas's hymns as well as its mantras.