In 2023, John Dickson stood in the vault of a ruined basilica in the deserts of Egypt, where he sang a song that hadn’t been heard there for nearly 18 hundred years.

The location was the ancient Egyptian city of Oxyrhynchus, and the song was a Christian hymn composed by believers sometime in the third century AD (the 200s).

It’s also the song at the centre of a documentary Undeceptions is releasing early next year, called The First Hymn Project.

‘First’ because it’s the oldest Christian hymn yet discovered with both lyrics and musical notation – (meaning we know what to sing and how to sing it) – all recorded on a scrap of ancient papyrus.

Two Oxford scholars found it in the mounds of an ancient rubbish dump on the edge of Oxyrhynchus in 1897.

Bernard Grenfell and Arthur Hunt had decided to mount an expedition to what was once the second-largest city in ancient Egypt (after the port city of Alexandria).

Grenfell and Hunt, pictured here at Oxyrhynchus

Together, they uncovered an incredible horde of half a million papyrus fragments – a literal goldmine in archaeological terms.

For the discipline of ancient history, it’s one of the most important finds of all time, rivalling the famed Dead Sea Scrolls because of the sheer breadth of documents.

Grenfell and Hunt were only partly aware of the value of their discovery–it was just too much for two people to assess and understand.

The pair packed this treasure trove into biscuit tins and shipped them back to Oxford, where they’ve been lovingly cared for, catalogued, and analysed for the last century.

Inside one of those biscuit tins was Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1-7-8-6 – P.Oxy 17-86, our First Hymn.

100 years later, Undeceptions is bringing the hymn back to life; two of the world’s best songwriters have re-written and professionally recorded it (we’ve titled it The First Hymn), and we were there with a camera to capture the whole process.

The song itself will be released next year, alongside the documentary.

In this, the first of a three-part article series leading up to the release (alongside three Undeceptions episodes), we’ll look at why this hymn has captured the attention of scholars – and musicians – worldwide.

What is the significance of ‘The First Hymn’?

Put simply, The First Hymn shines a spotlight on Christianity in its earliest phase, the period before the first Christian Roman Emperor Constantine and before Christians were invited to the seats of power, a period when Christians were still being persecuted for their funny beliefs.

Found in the same rubbish dumps in Oxyrhynchus were things like an arrest warrant for a Christian, another document that mentions a recently removed church, and a formal certificate to prove that a local citizen had offered pagan sacrifice in public—one of the measures the Romans used to weed out Christians in this period!

Work continuing at the site of the ancient city of Oxyrhynchus

The curious thing is this ancient hymn has all the hallmarks NOT of a church hiding away in the shadows. The Christians who composed and sang this song seem to have used it as a piece of third-century “public Christianity”.

This is especially the case when it comes to the actual musical style.

The First Hymn isn’t anything like later church music; it’s actually written in the “pop style “(for ancient Greek-speaking Romans).

It uses the melodic structures we know were being used in taverns and on stage in the pagan theatres and is designed to capture the ears of a wide audience, to draw that audience into a message that also seems deliberately constructed to move people away from local deities to the — as Christians saw it — one true Lord of the universe.

Music with a message

Like today, music was a central part of culture in the ancient world.

Much like how contemporary worship music takes on a contemporary “rock-pop” style, The First Hymn appears to have been an everyday tune – perhaps even one sung in drinking taverns, with Christian lyrics.

In fact, according to former Christian literary professor Dr Charles Cosgrove, The First Hymn might have sounded melodically similar to something a Westerner would hear today.

However, finding pieces of ancient music like this is not entirely unusual.

What sets The First Hymn apart is its theological message: that one true Lord — proclaims this hymn — is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

This mention of the Trinity is significant because it’s evidence that the notion of a triune God was believed by Christians centuries before the official church councils of the 4th and 5th centuries.

It dismisses any notion that the Trinity was dreamed up in this latter period.

“In the first few centuries, the common way to speak this kind of doxological language was to say ‘Praise the Father through the Son’, or ‘Praise God through the Son’, or ‘Through the Son and the Spirit’”, notes Dr Cosgrove.

“(This) formula of ‘Praise Father, Son, and Spirit’, makes them all equal.”

“On many occasions, I’ve had people tell me that the early Christians didn’t think that Jesus was divine—let alone that God was triune, Father, Son, and Spirit,” John Dickson notes.

“They say this idea was forced on the church by the Emperor Constantine at the Council of Nicaea in the fourth century – but here is the doctrine of the trinity, sung in a song from the previous century.”

The fact is, the idea of the Trinity was there from the start of Christianity (2 Corinthians 13 for example).

Sadly though, the idea that this was a notion invented by later Christians – and even authorities – continues to persist; this is what makes The First Hymn papyrus such an important find.

But The First Hymn also shows the power of faith and music going hand in hand.

More on that next time ….

Adapted by Alasdair Belling from the Undeceptions episode ‘First Hymn’.  Listen here

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