Pavel Grigorievich Chesnokov (transliterated Tschesnokoff, Tchesnokov, Tchesnokoff, or Chesnokoff) was a Russian Empire and Soviet composer, choral conductor and teacher. Salvation is Created is a communion hymn based on a Kievan syndonal chant melody, with text based on Psalm 74:12 (For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.) Although it is not directly related to any Messianic prophecies, the text does remind us that God is the creator of salvation, which is offered to us through the advent, birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. ¶ By the age of 30, Chesnokov had completed nearly four hundred sacred choral works, but his proliferation of church music came to a standstill at the time of the Russian revolution. Communist rulers prohibited musicians and other artists from producing any form of sacred art. Salvation is Created was among the very last sacred works composed before Chesnokov was forced to turn to secular arts by the Soviet government. He never heard his composition performed. Under USSR-imposed state atheism, many church institutions were systematically destroyed. Chesnokov served as choirmaster at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, Czar Nicholas’ great memorial to Russia’s having survived attack from Napolean. In 1931, when Stalin demolished the Cathedral to reclaim tons of gold in the edifice and make room for a memorial to Lenin, Chesnokov was so deeply disturbed that he stopped writing music altogether. Chesnokov died in 1944. Most source information from Wikipedia.