To God - Gregory Nanzianzen

O Thou, the One supreme o’er all!
  For by what other name
May we upon thy greatness call,
  Or celebrate thy fame?

Ineffable! to thee what speech
  Can hymns of honor raise?
Ineffable! what tongue can reach
  The measure of thy praise?

How, unapproached, shall mind of man
  Descry Thy dazzling throne,
And pierce and find thee out, and scan
  Where thou dost dwell alone?

Unuttered thou! all uttered things
  Have had their birth from thee;
The one unknown! from thee the springs
  Of all we know and see!

And all things, as they move along
  In order fixed by thee,
Thy watchword heed, in silent song
  Hymning thy majesty.

And lo! all things abide in thee,
  And through the complex whole,
Thou spread’st thine own divinity,
  Thyself of all the goal.

One being thou, all things, yet none,
  Nor one nor yet all things;
How call thee, O mysterious One?
  A worthy name, who brings?

All-named from attributes thine own,
  How call thee as we ought?
Thou art unlimited, alone,
  Beyond the range of thought.

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Gregory Nanzianzen (329 - 390) Turkey
Translated by Allen W. Chatfield