The First Hymn T-Shirts

Get your own First Hymn T-shirt that’s sure to prompt some questions.

The text is a stylised version of a line from the ancient Greek lyrics found on a papyrus fragment dating to the 200s AD, known as P.Oxy 1786:

To the only giver of all good gifts. Amen. Amen. 

It’s the earliest-known Christian hymn that has both lyrics and musical notation in tact.

“Giver of good gifts” was one of Zeus’s epithets, according to The First Hymn documentary host, Professor John Dickson. But the original writer of the ancient hymn says ‘to the only giver of all good gifts.’ This may be a nod to Zeus; a deliberate construction to move people away from local deities to – as Christians saw it – the one true Lord of the universe.

On our t-shirt, the text fits inside a Coptic Cross, an ancient symbol used by Egypt’s Coptic Christians. P.Oxy 1786 was found in the ruins of Oxyrhynchus, a significant city in Roman Egypt in ancient times. The Christian population was burgeoning there in the 2nd and 3rd centuries – it is the home of our First Hymn.

Supporting Egyptian Christianity for the future.

The First Hymn T-Shirt net proceeds proudly support Anglican Aid, who is working with the Alexandria School of Theology in Egypt to train Christians for ministry and community leadership in Egypt and across the north of Africa. It’s our small way of giving back to Egypt’s coptic Christians, from whom the First Hymn originated.

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