Through the Blessings

• 1. A literal translation of the lines σαν τις παλιές αμαρτωλές / που δεν τους στάθηκε αγκαλιά ούτε κρυψώνα would be "like the sinners of old / that he tolerated neither their embrace nor hiding place." Given the overall sense of these lyrics, I think the subject position in the final line/clause should be "He," not "he." To me, it seems this entire verse alludes to mankind's Fall from Grace. Thus, this verse is helping to set up the two choral verses of the song (#3 and #4), which convey the idea that the Saints are playing an essential role in redeeming the fallen world.
• 2. Δι’ ευχών των αγίων ημών is a phrase that forms a part of the Greek Orthodox liturgy. These words begin the blessing offered by the priest near the end of the service as congregants prepare to leave the church and return to the outside world. In its entirety, the blessing goes like this: "«Δι᾿ εὐχῶν τῶν ἁγίων πατέρων ἡμῶν, Κύριε Ἰησοῦ Χριστὲ ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς» = "Through the blessings of our holy fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us."
• 3. γη is a word with many associations: the planet earth, earth's inhabitants, dry land, soil, a region, a place to which one has emotional ties. "Soil" has a smaller range of associations in English, but it seems to fit the overall image pattern.
• 4. The Greek term for English "Holy Spirit" is Άγιο Πνεύμα. But the word that ends this line is πνοή = breath. How close in meaning are πνοή and πνεύμα? Very close. They are both nouns rooted in the same verb, πνέω, which means "to pant, to breath." In a similar way, English the words "spirit" and "respire" are both rooted iin the Latin spiritus, which meant "breath, wind" but also "spirit, breath of god." A Bible story helps illustrate the stress that Christianity places on the importance of breath in terms of the spiritual connection between god and humanity. In the account found in Genesis, God uses his breath to animate the first human being, who had been only a sort of wet clay figurine up to that point. And by extension, the animating breath of God resonates with the idea of the human soul (that which animates our bodies and lives on after the body's death).
• 5. "Mount Zion" does not appear in the original Greek. It is a mountain located in Jerusalem. A literal translation of this line would be "the dynamite of my soul breaks the stone." I wanted to end the line with a word that would fit the general sense while also chiming with "song," the final word of this verse, and with "chrismon" and "talon" in the next verse. I considered using "Helikon" instead of "Zion" here, but Helikon has associations with Greek mythology, whereas, these lyrics are engaged exclusively with references to Christian figures and symbolism.
• 6. I think τα πέντε μέτρα makes sense here only in its usage meaning "measures" (i.e. bars of a song), one of the word's standard meanings in Greek. Thus, this line is a meta-comment on the song itself, which in contrast to its themes of faith, is participating in a form of popular music-making that is, (ironically from the speaker's perspective) generally secular and commercial.
• 7. There is no "(crismon)" in the Greek original. But its meaning and its sound (rhyming with "talon" in line 4 of this verse) felt right to me. "Crismon" is the Latin word for the superimposed Greek letters xi-rho, a symbol used extensively in Christian churches because these are the first two letters of the word "Christ" (Χριστοσ) in Greek. So the crismon is probably the most widely distributed example of "engraved initials" using Greek characters, although I can't be certain this is what the writer had in mind.
• 8. νύχι can mean "fingernail" or "claw/talon" or "hoof." Since the speaker seems to identify with the falcon mentioned in verse 1, "talon" (while a bit startling here) seemed like a good choice to me. Metaphorically, a pen could be considered a talon, useful for seizing meanings before they can scurry back to their burrows.