Text of the Great Doxology
Listen:
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we bow to Thee, we glorify Thee, we thank Thee great for the sake of Thy glory. Lord, Heavenly King, God, Father Almighty, Lord, Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit. Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us. Take away the sin of the world, accept our prayer. Sit at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us. For You are the only Holy One; You are one Lord, Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father, amen. I will bless You every day and praise Your name forever and ever. Grant, Lord, that on this day we may be preserved without sin! Blessed are you, O Lord God of our fathers, and praised and glorified is your name forever, amen. May Thy mercy be upon us, O Lord, as we trust in Thee. Blessed art thou, O Lord, teach me by thy justification (three times). Lord, you have been our refuge throughout all generations. Az said: Lord, have mercy on me, heal my soul for those who have sinned against You. Lord, I have come running to You: teach me to do Your will, for You are my God, for You are the source of life, in Your light we will see light. Extend* Your mercy to those leading You! Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us! (three times). Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages, amen. Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us. Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us!
Take up - lifting. Try it - stretch it.
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Great Doxology
Archpriest Dimitry Kuvirtalov
“Glory to You, who showed us the light” - with this exclamation at the end of the all-night vigil, the ancient Church welcomed the beginning of a new day. The Great Doxology - one of the most ancient hymns of the Church - glorifies God the Creator, Provider, Redeemer, Savior and Life-Giver. In this sublime and solemn song we praise, bless, worship, glorify and thank God. Here we confess the Divine Names, through which, like through the rays of the sun, we are touched by Divine warmth, joy and strength.
The central part of the Doxology is the story of our salvation, accomplished by Jesus Christ not for our merits, but according to the ineffable and incomprehensible mercy of God towards us.
“In Your light we will see light.” The Doxology ends with great rejoicing. A person filled with sinful darkness is enlightened by the feeling of the Divine presence. Becoming light, he sees himself next to God as unenlightened darkness; illuminated by the grace of God, he becomes able to see God - “In Your light we will see light! Extend, O Lord, Your mercy to those who know You.”
The Church knows three types of prayer - petition, thanksgiving and doxology. When the soul is filled with the mercies of God, when it thanks God for everything sent down to it, then in reverent delight it glorifies, sings and extols the Life-Giving Trinity. Therefore, the Great Doxology ends with the singing of the Trisagion.
Man cannot live without God; man is akin to God. God made us Himself... Man glorifies God, acquiring a heavenly state of soul.
Synonyms
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As an example, the most suitable of them are:
- Hosanna;
- hymn;
- panegyric;
- praise;
- Akathist;
- chant;
- prayer;
- Oh yeah;
- psalm;
- song;
- a word of praise;
- eulogy;
- praise;
- glorification;
- praise;
- dithyramb;
- glorification;
- praising;
- praising;
- exaltation;
- praise;
- praise;
- incense;
- prayer;
- exaltation;
- chanting;
- honoring;
- compliment;
- ascension;
- triumph;
- madrigal;
- Ascension;
- ovation;
- OK;
- apotheosis;
- prayer;
- prayer service
In continuing to consider the question of what this is “doxology”, it would be advisable to delve into the origin of the lexeme being studied.
Contents of the Great Doxology
Mikhail Skaballanovich. Explanatory Typikon
The doxology itself begins with an angelic song at the birth of the Savior, after which Matins, already nearing its end, returns to its beginning (a favorite device in church songs). Such a high, heavenly song sanctifies our lips (as before Matins) for our own song, which begins with the words: “we praise (actually: “sing”) Thee, we bless Thee, we bow to Thee” (cf. the conclusion to the recent 8th song of the canon), reminiscent in their brevity and generality of the greatest song of the liturgy (“We sing to you”): no matter how it is indicated, for what we sing, we bless and thank the Lord and what we pray to Him for, because then we give thanks for everything and pray for to everyone and the list would be endless, so this is not indicated here either, but the supreme reason for our praise, worship and thanksgiving is indicated - the great glory of God.
This glorification of God in song is followed by a prayer to Him, the transition to which is a prayerful appeal to all the persons of the Holy Trinity separately. From the Holy Trinity, prayer is directed mainly to our Intercessor in heaven, the Lamb of God (the favorite name of the Savior among ancient Christians), from Whom we ask for mercy (the main request of all vigil prayers - litanies), conditioned, among other things, by the acceptance of our present (long and already nearing the end) of prayers.
To be sure of the success of this petition, it consists of that solemn confession of Christ, which is proclaimed at the liturgy just before the communion of the Holy Mysteries: “(For You are) the only Holy One, (You are) the only Lord, Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father” (immeasurable the presence of such a Son further increases the glory of God, although there seems to be nowhere to increase it). This ends the first part of the great doxology, which concludes with the first “Amen” in it.
The second part is no longer so joyful and enthusiastic, moreover, like the 3rd part, it is almost entirely compilative - made up of the words of Holy Scripture. The glorification of God that fills it (“every day”, therefore also in the coming one, “let us bless You”, because Your name will be glorified forever - from Ps. 144, 2nd glorified earlier: “Blessed art thou, O Lord God of our fathers " - Dan. 3:25), is darkened here by the consciousness of our sinfulness, which can, as it were, disrupt and interrupt this eternal glorification (cf. “to the glory ..." of the end of the 1st part) of God with one sinful day, from which may God save us Today. Second "amen".
The third part is exclusively prayerful. The repentant sorrow here is already so intensified that the joyful glorification of God, with which the great praise began and which should be its main subject, barely breaks through here and there in individual expressions (“Blessed are you, the Lord” - Ps. 119:12). This part begins with prayer, and not with praise, in contrast to the first two, with a prayer of a general nature for the mercy of God, but dissolved by hope in God (“Be, O Lord, Thy mercy upon us, as we trust in Thee” - Ps. 32:22) .
This general prayer then takes on a more specific character and comes down to a request from God to teach us His justifications, a request expressed in the words of Ps 118: “Blessed art thou, O Lord, teach me by Thy justification” and repeated three times - to the 3 Persons of the Holy Trinity (and This repetition is done not with a change in the text, as at Vespers in “Lord Vouchsafe,” but with literal precision, which enhances the effect).
Further, this still rather general request is developed and explained: in order to realize God’s justifications in life, one needs cleansing from sins and the ability to do the will of God. Both can be given only by God Himself, to Whom we must resort for help, as everyone has always resorted to Him (“Lord, you have been a refuge for us throughout generation and generation” - Ps. 89:1); First, cleansing from sins is asked from Him (in the words of Ps. 40:5: “Az reh” - a strong request: “Lord, have mercy on me, heal my soul, for those who have sinned against You”); and then even more intensely (“Lord, I have come to You...”) - teaching His will (Ps. 142:9).
Prayer consists of firm confidence in its fulfillment, justified (as in the exclamations after the litany: “As You are”) on the special closeness to us of God (“My God,” Ps. 143:9,10), the source of life and light (“in in Your light we will see the light,” that is, the morning light - a return to the initial exclamation of the great doxology at the end of it). With your last words: “extend (extend) Your mercy to those who lead You,” together with the previous ones: “As You have...” (Ps. 35:10,11) the third part of the great doxology returns to its beginning, and its initial petition for God’s mercy to us (“wake up”) is intensified here (“probavi”).
It is impossible not to notice that the indicated connection between the individual sentences of this long song is not very close; the transitions in it from one thought to another are quite unexpected. The song, in fact, consists of fragmentary exclamations of prayer and praise, each of which is too complete, complete in itself, to require continuation or completion. All expressions are taken from Holy Scripture, and the strongest ones are selected from there.
***
At weekday (non-doxology) and Lenten holiday matins, as well as at Compline, the Great Doxology is replaced by the reading of the daily doxology.
Stichera on praise
After the canon at Matins, a short text is read, briefly speaking about the spiritual essence of the holiday and bearing the special name “luminary,” which roughly translates as “heralding the approach of light.” In the Sunday canon, this chant is called by the Greek word “exapostilary” - from the verb “I send,” because in ancient times, to sing this chant, a singer was sent from the choir to the middle of the temple.
On major holidays, this luminary can be sung by the choir.
After this, the choir sings stichera beginning with the words “Let every breath praise the Lord.” They, like at Vespers, are timed to coincide with special, glorifying, “praising” psalms of God - the 148th, 149th and 150th. That’s why they are called “Stichera on praise”.
The content of the “stichera on praises,” like other stichera on the All-Night Vigil, praises the gospel or church event celebrated on a given day or the memory of the celebrated saint.
Text of the daily doxology:
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we bow to Thee, we glorify Thee, we thank Thee, great for the sake of Thy glory. Lord, Heavenly King, God, Father Almighty, Lord, Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit. Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us. Take away the sin of the world, accept our prayer. Sit at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us. For You are the only Holy One; You are one Lord, Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father, amen.
Every night I will bless You and praise Your name forever and ever.
Lord, you have been our refuge throughout all generations. Az said: Lord, have mercy on me, heal my soul for those who have sinned against You. Lord, I have come to You, teach me to do Your will, for You are my God, for You are the source of life, in Your light we will see light. Show Your mercy to those who lead You.
Etymology
The noun under study is formed from two others, “glory” and “word”. Each of them will be considered separately below.
The noun “glory” is interpreted in the dictionary as widespread fame, honor, admiration. In a figurative sense, it means praise, gratitude. It comes from the Proto-Slavic slava, from which also came:
- Old Russian and Old Slavonic “glory”;
- Ukrainian, Belarusian, Bulgarian “slava”;
- Serbo-Croatian "glory";
- Slovenian, Czech and Slovak sláva;
- Polish, Upper Luga and Lower Luga sɫaw a.
The lexical unit being studied is connected by the alternation of vowels with the verb “reputed”. The meaning of the latter is “to be considered as someone, something”, “to be known as someone or something”.
Related to nouns such as:
- Lithuanian šlóvė – “praise”, “honor”;
- Eastern Lithuanian šlãvė – “glory”, “honour”, šlovė – “luxury”, “splendor”;
- Latvian slava, slave – “rumour”, “glory”;
- Greek κλέος - “glory”;
- Old Indian c̨rávas – “honor”, “glory”, “praise”;
- Avestan sravah – “word”;
- Old Irish - "glory".
And also verbs:
- Old Indian c̨rāváyati – “listen”; “forces”, “proclaims”;
- Avestan sravayeiti - in the same meaning;
- New Persian sarāуīdan – “to sing”;
- Eastern Lithuanian šlãvinti – “glorify”.
As for the lexeme “word”, it has a very large number of meanings, but for the case under consideration it is most suitable to use it in a figurative sense. Here it is interpreted as “verbal expression of a thought or feeling,” “utterance.”
It comes from the Proto-Slavic noun slovo, from which came:
- Old Russian, Old Slavonic, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian “word” in the meaning of “letter”, “word”;
- Serbo-Croatian "word" meaning "letter";
- Slovenian slovô – “farewell”, slóvo – “letter, word”, slòv – “name”, “call”;
- Czech slovo – “word”, sloveso – “verb”;
- Slovak slovo – “word”;
- Polish, Upper Luga and Lower Luga słowo;
- Polabian slüvǘ.
