In the last days of Advent, the Church raises one of its oldest prayers: the seven greater antiphons, traditionally known as the «O» antiphons. They are sung or recited in the prayer of Vespers from December 17 to 23 and constitute an authentic synthesis of Christian messianic faith.
Far from being a simple liturgical ornamentation, these antiphons express the deep longing of God’s people for the coming of the promised Savior. Each one invokes Christ with a biblical title taken from the Old Testament and culminates in a direct supplication: veni, «come».
The greater antiphons are documented at least from the sixth century and form a stable part of the Roman Divine Office. Their structure is simple, but theologically dense: a messianic title, a brief acclamation that recalls God’s saving action in history, and an explicit petition for redemption.
Tradition has preserved seven antiphons, one for each day before Christmas Eve, thus underscoring the progressive intensification of the wait.
The first antiphon, O Sapientia, presents the Messiah as the Wisdom that proceeds from the mouth of the Most High and orders all things with firmness and gentleness. It is not an abstract attribute, but a fundamental confession: the incarnate Logos is the rational and moral principle of the world.
With O Adonai, the liturgy explicitly identifies Christ with the Lord who revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush and gave the Law on Sinai. It is the same Lord who now acts definitively in history. The Incarnation does not break the covenant; it fulfills it.
The central antiphons deepen the historical and real dimension of the Messiah. O Radix Jesse proclaims Christ as the root of the lineage of David, the one in whom the promises made to the royal house of Israel are fulfilled. Against any merely symbolic reading, the liturgy insists on genealogical and salvific continuity.
In O Clavis David, Christ is presented as the one who has authority over history and man’s destiny: he opens what no one can close and frees the captives. The image is not moralizing, but soteriological. The captivity spoken of is real: that of sin and death, from which only He can free us.
The antiphon O Oriens, sung on December 21, significantly coincides with the winter solstice. Christ is the rising Sun that overcomes the night. But the light it announces is not metaphorical or sentimental. It is the light of revealed truth, capable of guiding man when darkened reason no longer knows how to distinguish good from evil.
In O Rex Gentium, the liturgy confesses Christ as king of the nations and cornerstone that unites what was divided. It is not a modern political affirmation, but an objective proclamation of his lordship. Against passing kingdoms, the Messiah is presented as the foundation of true human unity.
The last antiphon, O Emmanuel, summarizes and culminates the entire wait. The Messiah is not only Wisdom, Law, or King: he is God present. The Incarnation is not a spiritual metaphor, but a historical fact by which God enters history without ceasing to be God. The final supplication—come to save us—does not appeal to a feeling, but to an objective need of fallen man.