When it is said
In the Apostolic Tradition, everyone is to hurry to bring the first fruits of their crops to the bishop as soon as they appear. He offers them to God, names the person who brought them and gives thanks in these words.
A family might say the same words over the first of their own harvest.
Where it comes from
Author doubtful
How old it is
The scholar Burton Scott Easton translated the Apostolic Tradition into English in 1934 and dated it close to AD 217. It was first written in Greek. The oldest text of it is a very literal Latin translation, made in the 4th century and copied in about the 6th century into a manuscript now in Verona.
Burton Scott Easton, The Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus (1934), introduction
Who wrote it?
Tradition credits it to St Hippolytus of Rome. In AD 235 he and Bishop Pontianus of Rome were sent as convicts to Sardinia, where both soon died, and the Church honoured them as martyrs. Many scholars now doubt that Hippolytus wrote the Apostolic Tradition. Some think it gathers material from the 2nd to the 4th century into one book, put together about AD 375 to 400.
Burton Scott Easton, The Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus (1934), introduction; Apostolic Tradition, Wikipedia
Which fruits were blessed
Right after this prayer, the Apostolic Tradition lists the fruits that could be blessed this way: grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, pears, apples, mulberries, peaches, cherries, almonds and plums. It rules out pumpkins, melons, cucumbers, onions and garlic. Whatever people eat, they are still to give thanks to God for it.
What the words mean
What are first fruits?
First fruits are the first crops of the year. The Law told Israel to bring the best of them to the house of the LORD (Exodus 23:19). In the Apostolic Tradition, Christians bring theirs to the bishop, and in Easton’s view these gifts were the main support of the clergy.
The Scripture in it
Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.
Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, each bearing fruit with seed according to its kind.” And it was so.
Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit contains seed. They will be yours for food. And to every beast of the earth and every bird of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth—everything that has the breath of life in it—I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.
He makes the grass grow for the livestock and provides crops for man to cultivate, bringing forth food from the earth: wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil that makes his face to shine, and bread that sustains his heart.
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.
In Latin
Gratias tibi agimus, Deus,
et offerimus tibi primitiuas fructuum,
quos dedisti nobis ad percipiendum,
per uerbum tuum enutriens ea,
iubens terrae omnes fructus adferre
ad laetitiam et nutrimentum hominum
et omnibus animalibus.
Super his omnibus laudamus te, Deus,
et in omnibus, quibus nos iuuasti,
adornans nobis omnem creaturam uariis fructibus
per puerum tuum Iesum Christum, dominum nostrum,
per quem tibi gloria in saecula saeculorum.
Amen.
From the Latin of the Verona palimpsest, edited by Edmund Hauler (1900), page 115.