My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
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PRAYER OF THE TRISAGION (Thrice-Holy Hymn)
Deacon, Let us pray to the Lord.
Priest (inaudibly): Holy God, Who rests among the holy ones, praised by the Seraphim with the thrice-holy hymn, glorified by the Cherubim and worshipped by all the heavenly powers; Who has brought all thing out of non-existence into being and created man in You image and likeness, adorning him with all Your gifts; Who gives wisdom and understanding to those who ask, and do not reject the sinner, but have established repentance for our salvation; Who has enabled us, Your lowly and unworthy servants, to stand at this hour before the glory of Your holy altar, and to offer You due worship and praise: Master, accept the Thrice-Holy Hymn also from the lips of us sinners and visit us in Your goodness. Forgive us every offense, voluntary and involuntary, sanctify our souls and bodies, and grant that we may worship You in holiness all the days of our lives, by the intercessions of the Holy Theotokos and of all the Saints who have pleased You throughout the ages.
Priest: For You are Holy, our God, and to You we send up glory Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and forever.
People: Amen.
The power of the Trisagion (Thrice-Holy Hymn) should be read out loud, as this has always been the practice of the Church. Saint Nicholas Cavasilas attests to this practice, when he says that the prayer was read, "before the Trisagion is begun." He specifically testifies that the prayer of the Trisagion was read out loud: "When he has recited this [prayer] aloud, he adds the doxology, thus giving the congregation of the faithful the signal for beginning the Trisagion.
Prior to the prayer, the Deacon prompts the faithful to pray, let us pray to the Lord.
This prayer is truly magnificent and serves as a model of prayer, God, Who is unapproachable and incomprehensible, is known from His attributes, Holiness is His chief characteristic. Yet God is known particularly from the world He created out of non-existence, and especially from the human beings, whom He endowed with the imprint of His image and after His likeness. Although He is the Most High God Who dwells in the highest, He does not disdain to also dwell among the lowly and the weak and the contrite in heart, with whom He is pleased to rest. Mercy is His other characteristic, for He is acknowledged by human beings as their Savior, Who accepts their worship despite their sinfulness.
The priest, on behalf of all the faithful, implores God to forgive them and accept from their mouths the Thrice-Holy Hymn as He accepts it from the Seraphim. As the unworthy creature dares to praise the Triune God, the priest humbly acknowledges God's utter Holiness and recognizes the human being's complete dependence on Him. It is tragic that in many instances this meaningful prayer is left out, in order to shorten the Liturgy by a whole minute!
People: Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; both now and forever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.
Deacon: Dynamis.
People: Dynamis. Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.
In the early Liturgy, the Trisagion served as the entrance hymn. This function of the hymn is seen today at funeral services, as we process into and out of the church chanting this hymn.
The roots of the Trisagion reach back to the ecstasy of Prophet Isaiah and the vision of Saint John the Evangelist (John 4:8). It is a magnificent hymn in its simplicity because it is addressed to the Holy Trinity, the One God in three Persons. The triple repetition of the word "Holy" and the triple repetition of the hymn indicate the Trinity of Persons worshiped, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. However, the three are addressed as one, because the verb have mercy (in Greek eleison), is in the second person singular to indicate the unity of the Three Persons into one Divine Being.
The first liturgical use of the Trisagion hymn is attested by the Fourth Ecumenical Synod (451 A.D.), but it was widely known prior to this time. The hymn originally accompanied the entrance of the bishop into the church and his ascent to the holy Amvon or vema, which then stood in the middle of the nave.
At the Divine Liturgies the Trisagion hymn is chanted alternatively between chanters and clergy, who chant an elaborate version of it, known as tou vematos, "from the vema". In the days of Saint John Chrysostom, the bishop blessed the people with a simple blessing. Today the bishop solemnly blesses the people with the dikerotrikera--two sets of bundled candles, one with three, the other with two--which are said to signify respectively the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity and the two natures of Christ.
God is called Holy. But what does "holy" mean? The word holy, (Greek - agios), means "set apart." So a person or an object devoted, consecrated to God is deemed Holy, set apart for the service of the Lord. How holy then is He for Whom something or someone is set apart! God is the One Who is totally apart from anything else, He is unlike anything we know. What we know of Him is that He is unlike anything that we know. What we know of Him is that He is unlike anything that we know and will ever know. He is the One Who is absolutely different from anything else that exists. He is truly one of a kind. Therefore to say that God is Holy is to acknowledge Him as the unique Being. In the moral sense, God is apart as totally pure, completely separate from evil, perfect in every respect.
Besides being Holy, God is also Almighty, another of His attributes. Nothing lies outside His power. He is the Pantocrator, the Ruler of the universe. Another attribute of God is immortality, meaning He is without beginning or end, without change, always the same. Everything else has a beginning. The Angels and our souls have no end, but only God's grace. Holiness, might, and immortality are predicated upon God in an absolute sense.
"Here the congregation does not offer its own thoughts or poetry but is taken out of itself and given the privilege of sharing in the cosmic song of praise of the Cherubim and Seraphim". Let us then sing this hymn with fear of God, great piety and contrition of heart, praising and glorifying the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, worshipping Him "in spirit and truth" (John 4:23) resembling the Holy Angels in heaven. (Source: The Heavenly Banquet by Fr. Emmanuel Hatzidakis)
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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" - Saint John Chrysostom
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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George