Trisagion

Dear friends,

In our 8:00 a.m. service during ordinary time we have included the Trisagion at the beginning of the service:

Holy God, 

Holy and Mighty, 

Holy Immortal One, 

Have mercy upon us

It can be seen as being sourced in the cries of the Seraphim in Isaiah 6:3.

Dr. Bruce Beck relates St. John of Damascus conveyed a tradition that during a near calamity in Constantinople, angels taught this hymn to a boy, all the people sang the hymn, and calamity was averted.   A parallel tradition holds that Constantinople was being racked by earthquakes, an angel appeared to a priest, gave him these words, the priest said them at the altar and the earthquakes ceased.

The Trisagion also hearkens back to Psalm 41, in one translation,

“My soul has thirsted for God, the Mighty One, the Living One.  When shall I come and appear before God?”

But, while these are fun facts, the Trisagion is a tool.  It has a purpose.  It has a meaning.  It can speak to us in this ordinary yet extraordinary time, when we know not if our world is in calamity or if the earth is quaking.  The Trisagion is good medicine for our times.   It recalls that God’s glory shines upon us, that eternity surrounds us, that we are subject to mercy, and we are thus called to be merciful.

If your earth is shaking, if you sense calamity, if you are afraid, if you are lost, say, and breathe, these words.  Three times.

Holy God, 

Holy and Mighty, 

Holy Immortal One, 

Have mercy upon us

CJ+