St. Methodius of Olympus

John Brownlie describes Methodius as a prominent name in ecclesiastical history and a Father of the Church, born about the middle of the third century. He was first Bishop of Olympus in Lycia and, according to Jerome, ultimately Bishop of Tyre; he opposed certain views of Origen but seems to have been influenced by that theologian, and is said to have suffered martyrdom under Diocletian about 311.

Brownlie says the hymn from which his piece is taken is found in Methodius's Banquet of the Ten Virgins; it has twenty-four strophes beginning with the letters of the Greek alphabet in order and ending with a common refrain. This file gives Brownlie's 1900 cento, 'Behold the Bridegroom! Hark the cry'.