B:  not the most precise but too familiar by now; seems to fit the chant better

literally: Holy (is) God, Holy Strong One, Holy Immortal One,

also: mighty for strong

The Byzantine Forum- The Divine Liturgy Translation

Father David
Member # 1376

posted 08-23-2002 04:28 PM 

After the Third Antiphon, the ancient entrance rite into the Church, the Trisagion is sung. I personally suspect that the Trisagion was itself the first entrance rite, since it first appearance in history - at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 - it accompanied the entrance of the bishops. It is sung three times, and originally had psalm versicles in between, which were probably the verses sung today by the bishop at the beginning of the Liturgy: Look down, O Lord, and bless this vineyard which your right hand has planted .... This is interesting, but not too important for its present usage, and it is certainly one of the all-time favorite hymns of the Eastern Church, found not only in the Byzantine Church, but in the other branches of the Eastern Church also. There was a controversy between the Oriental Orthodox Churches and the Byzantine Church about its meaning. The Oriental Orthodox applied it to Christ, and therefore made insertions, so as, "Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy and Immortal, crucified for us, have mercy on us." The Byzantines consistently applied it to the Triune God: Holy God ( = Father), Holy and Mighty (= Son), Holy and Immortal (= Spirit), have mercy on us. This disagreement became very bitter in less tolerant times. We do have an explicit witness to how this hymn was composed from a fragment of a document written by a monk and found in the ancient library of the Patriarch Photius. Hesaid it was a combination of the passage from the Prophecy of Isaiah, where the heavenly hymn of the angels was revealed, "Holy, holy, holy," (hence the name of the Hymn, Trisagion, Thrice-holy) and Psalm 41:3, "Holy is God, strong and living (changed to immortal for the sake of the chant). This is remarkably not the present Septuagint text of the Psalm, but is found in an alternate version of Scripture. The hymn is unusual, in that the first phrase is declarative and the second phrase imperative, thus literally: Holy (is) God; (he is) holy and strong (or mighty); (he is) holy and immortal: (then addressed to this God) have mercy on us. This hymn was not changed from the 1965 English translation, thus: Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy and Immortal, have mercy on us.
Posts: 62 | From: Pittsburgh, PA | 

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Trisagion Prayer

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Vocabulary