Kyrie

For other uses, seeKyrie (disambiguation).

"Lord, have mercy" redirects here. For other uses, seeLord Have Mercy (disambiguation).

"Kyrie Eleison" redirects here. For the song by the Electric Prunes, seeMass in F Minor.For the song by Mr. Mister, seeKyrie (song).

"Lord, have mercy upon us" redirects here. For other uses, seeLord Have Mercy (disambiguation).For the work by Mendelssohn, seeLord, have mercy upon us (Mendelssohn).

KyrieXI ( "orbis factor" )—a fairly ornamented setting of theKyrieinGregorian chant—from theLiber Usualis

Kyrie,atransliterationofGreekΚύριε,vocative caseofΚύριος(Kyrios), is a common name of an importantprayerof Christianliturgy,also called theKyrie eleison(/ˈkɪəri.eɪɪˈleɪ.ɪsɒn,-sən/KEER-ee-ay il-AY-iss-on, -⁠ən;Ancient Greek:Κύριε, ἐλέησον,romanized:Kýrie, eléēson,lit. 'Lord, have mercy').

In the Bible

Further information:ChesedandEleos

The prayer,Kýrie, eléison,"Lord, have mercy" derives from a Biblical phrase. Greekἐλέησόν με κύριε,'have mercy on me,Lord',is theSeptuaginttranslation of the phraseחָנֵּנִי יְהוָהoften found in thePsalms(6:2,9:13,31:9,86:3, and123:3).

In theNew Testament,the Greek phrase occurs three times inMatthew:

• Matthew 15:22: theCanaanite womancries out to Jesus, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David." (Ἐλέησόν με κύριε υἱὲ Δαβίδ)
• Matthew 17:15: "Lord, have mercy on my son" (Κύριε ἐλέησόν μου τὸν υἱόν)
• Matthew 20:30: two unnamed blind men call out to Jesus, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David." (Ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς κύριε υἱὸς Δαβίδ)

In the Parable of thePublican and the Pharisee(Luke 18:9–14) the despised tax collector who cries out "Lord have mercy on me, a sinner" is contrasted with the smugPhariseewho believes he has no need for forgiveness.

Luke 17:13 hasepistates,'master',instead ofkyrios,'lord',(Ἰησοῦ ἐπιστάτα ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς), being less suggestive of thekyrios'lord'used aseuphemismforYHWHin the Septuagint.

There are other examples in the text of the gospels without thekyrie'lord',e.g. Mark 10:46, where blindBartimaeuscries out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me."

In the biblical text, the phrase is always personalized by an explicit object (such as "on me", "on us", "on my son" ),while in the Eucharistic celebration it can be seen more as a general expression of confidence in God's love.

In Eastern Christianity

See also:Hesychasm

The phraseKýrie, eléison(Greek:Κύριε, ἐλέησον), whether in Greek or in other languages, is one of the most oft-repeated phrases inEastern Christianity,including theEastern Orthodox,Oriental Orthodox,Assyrian Nestorian,andEastern Catholic Churches.The Greek phrase,Kýrie, eléison,is for instance extensively used in theCoptic(Egyptian) Christian liturgy, which uses both the Coptic and the Greek languages.

The variouslitanies,frequent in Eastern Orthodox rites, generally haveLord, have mercyas their response, either singly or triply. Some petitions in these litanies will have twelve or even forty repetitions of the phrase as a response.

The phrase is also the origin of theJesus Prayer,beloved by eastern Christians as a foundation of personal prayer, and is increasingly popular among some Western Christians.

The prayer is simultaneously a petition and a prayer of thanksgiving; an acknowledgement of what God has done, what God is doing, and what God will continue to do. It is refined in the Parable of the Publican (Luke 18:9–14), "God, have mercy on me, a sinner", which shows more clearly its connection with the Jesus Prayer.

In Western Christianity

Kyriefrom theGregorianMass XI

In Rome, the liturgy was first celebrated in Greek. Josef Jungmann suggests theKyriein the Roman Mass is best seen as a vestige of alitanyat the beginning of the Mass, like that of some Eastern churches, retained after Latin became normative.

As early as the sixth century,Pope Gregory the Greatnoted that there were differences in the way in which eastern and western churches sangKyrie.In the eastern churches all sing it at the same time, whereas in the western church the clergy sing it and the people respond. Also, the western church sangChriste, eléisonas many times asKýrie, eléison.In theRoman Riteliturgy, this variant,Christe, eléison,is a transliteration of GreekΧριστέ, ἐλέησον.

Kýrie, eléisonmay also be used as a response of the people to intentions mentioned in the Prayer of the Faithful. Since 1549,Anglicanshave normally sung or said theKyriein English. In the 1552Book of Common Prayer,theKyriewas inserted into a recitation of theTen Commandments.Modern revisions of the Prayer Book have restored the option of using theKyriewithout the Commandments. Other denominations, such asLutheranism,also useKýrie, eléisonin their liturgies.

Kyrieas section of the Mass ordinary

See also:Mass ordinary § I. Kyrie

In theTridentine Massform of theRoman Rite,Kýrie, eléisonis sung or said three times, followed by a threefoldChriste, eléisonand by another threefoldKýrie, eléison.Collectively, the nine invocations are said to unite the petitions of the faithful to those of the nine choirs of angels in heaven.

Text

Kýrie, eléison(Κύριε, ἐλέησον)

'Lord, have mercy'

Christe, eléison(Χριστέ, ἐλέησον)

'Christ, have mercy'

Musical settings

Further information:Mass (music) § I. Kyrie

TheKyrieis the first sung prayer of theMass ordinaryand is usually part of anymusical setting of the Mass,one exception being theearly English school,whose liturgy featured atropedKyriethat was thereforeproper to the day.Kyriemovements sometimes have aternary(ABA) musical structure that reflects the symmetrical structure of the text. Polyphonic settings can be found in five (or four) movements, calling foralternatimperformance, i. e. alternating withGregorian chantor withorgan versets.Musical settings exist in a variety of styles.

Use in litanies

TheKyrieserves as the beginning of litanies in the Roman Rite.

Modern Catholic thought

The termsaggiornamento(bringing up to date) andressourcement(light of the Gospel) figure significantly into the documents ofVatican II:“The Church carries the responsibility of scrutinizing the signs of the times and interpreting them in the light of the Gospel” (Gaudium et spes,4).Louis Bouyer,a theologian at Vatican II, claimed that there was a distortion of theEucharisticspirit of theMassover the centuries, so that "one could find merely traces of the original sense of the Eucharist as a thanksgiving for the wonders God has wrought.”TheGeneral Instruction of the Roman Missal(GIRM) notes that at theCouncil of Trent"manuscripts in the Vatican... by no means made it possible to inquire into 'ancient and approved authors' farther back than the liturgical commentaries of theMiddle Ages... [But] traditions dating back to the first centuries, before the formation of the rites of East and West, are better known today because of the discovery of so many liturgical documents "(7f.).

Consonant with these modern studies, theologians have suggested that there be a continuity in praise of God between theopening songand the praise of theGloria.This is explained by Mark R. Francis ofCatholic Theological UnioninChicago,speaking of theKyrie:

Its emphasis is not on us (our sinfulness) but on God’s mercy and salvific action in Jesus Christ. It could just as accurately be translated "O Lord, you are merciful!" Note that the sample tropes all mention what Christ has done for us, not how we have sinned. For example, “you were sent to heal the contrite,” “you have shown us the way to the Father,” or “you come in word and sacrament to strengthen us in holiness,” leading to further acclamation of God’s praises in the Gloria.

In this same line,Hans Urs von Balthasarcalls for a renewal of the focus at the Eucharist:

We must make every effort to arouse the sense of community within the liturgy, to restore liturgy to the ecclesial plane, where individuals can take their proper place in it…. Liturgical piety involves a total turning from concern with one’s inner state to the attitude and feeling of the Church. It means enlarging the scope of prayer, so often narrow and selfish, to embrace the concerns of the whole Church and, indeed – as in the Our Father – of God.”

In theNew Dictionary of Sacramental Worship,the need to establish communion is reinforced as it quotes the GIRM to the effect that the purpose of the introductory rites is “to ensure that the faithful who come together as oneestablish communionand dispose themselves to listen properly to God's word and to celebrate the Eucharist worthily” (GIRM,46, emphasis added).

See also

• Jesus Prayer
• Kyriacos
• List of Greek phrases

References

General and cited references

• Hoppin, Richard.Medieval Music.New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1978.ISBN0-393-09090-6.pp. 133–134 (Gregorian chants), 150 (tropes).

Attribution

This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Kyrie Eleison".Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.