Anon Alpost 6VII/4 — guði ‘God’
Tígnar traustan fögnuð
Tómas fullr af sóma;
sjá var ljúfr í lífi
líkastr guði ríkum.
Postuli prýddr af listum,
prófandi vartu lófa
blóði benjar rauðar
blíðr á drottins síðu.
Hier er helgað inni
háleits Tómas minni.
Tómas, fullr af sóma, tígnar traustan fögnuð; sjá var ljúfr, í lífi líkastr ríkum guði. Blíðr postuli prýddr af listum, vartu prófandi lófa benjar rauðar blóði á drottins síðu. Helgað hier inni er minni háleits Tómas.
Thomas, full of honour, exalts the reliable joy; he was beloved, in life most like almighty God. Gentle Apostle adorned with virtues, you were examining with your hand the wounds red with blood in the Lord’s side. Hallowed herein is a memorial toast for the sublime Thomas.
notes
[3-4] í lífi líkastr guði ríkum ‘in life most like almighty God’: The author alludes to Thomas’s cognomen ‘Didymus’ (= δίδυμος, the Gk equivalent of Hebrew ‘Thomas’), i.e. ‘twin’, used as an alternative name for the Apostle in John XI.16, XX.24, XXI.2. This byname gave rise to a tradition that Thomas was Christi geminus ac similis saluatoris ‘a twin of Christ and like our Saviour’ (IO 73, cf. Brev. 4/1).