Agnus Dei (liturgy) whose canons had forbidden the iconographic depiction of Christ as a lamb instead of a man. Based upon John the Baptist's reference in to Jesus ("Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world"), the text in Latin is: which means: The text used in the Roman Catholic and Episcopal Church (Rite Two) is: The following three versions are all found in the Church of England's "Common Worship" liturgical resources, and also in the Episcopal Church's liturgical resources: The version found in the Lutheran Service Book of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod is: The General Instruction of
Agnus Dei (Barber) that version to the conductor, who premiered it in New York with the NBC Symphony Orchestra. In setting it to the liturgical Agnus Dei, a part of the Mass, Barber changed the music only a little. As with the other arrangements of "Adagio for Strings", it was published by G. Schirmer. Graham Olson describes the composition for Allmusic. After reflecting the history and pointing out the "Adagio"s associations with mourning, nostalgia, love and passion, qualified as "sentimental Romanticism", he writes about the choral setting: "Barber brought to the surface the work's sense of spirituality." He observes similarities to works of