Kyrie Eleison in Holy Communion (1928 BCP)
Kyrie Eleison in Holy Communion (1928 BCP) is the short cry for mercy used near the beginning of the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer order for Holy Communion. In the 1928 rite it appears in two related forms: as the people's repeated response to the Decalogue, and as the threefold Lesser Litany after the Summary of the Law when the Decalogue is omitted.
Text in the 1928 Rite
When the Decalogue is omitted, the 1928 Communion office gives the Kyrie in its concise threefold form:
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
The placement is controlled by the rubric that allows the Decalogue to be omitted only under a monthly-use rule, and then requires the Summary of the Law:
The Decalogue may be omitted, provided it be said at least one Sunday in each month. But NOTE, That when ever it is omitted, the Minister shall say the Summary of the Law, beginning, Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith.
When the Decalogue is said, the Kyrie is expanded into the congregational response after each commandment. The rubric explains the purpose of those responses before the commandments begin:
Then shall the Priest, turning to the People, rehearse distinctly The Ten Commandments; and the People, still kneeling, shall, after every Commandment, ask God mercy for their transgressions for the time past, and grace to keep the law for the time to come.
The first and last responses show the pattern: the congregation asks both pardon and sanctification, ending with the biblical language of the law written inwardly.
I am the LORD thy God; Thou shalt have none other gods but me.
Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.
Lord, have mercy upon us, and write all these thy laws in our hearts, we beseech thee.
Prayer After the Kyrie
The threefold Kyrie is followed by a collect-like prayer asking that mercy become ordered obedience in both heart and body:
O ALMIGHTY Lord, and everlasting God, vouchsafe, we beseech thee, to direct, sanctify, and govern, both our hearts and bodies, in the ways of thy laws, and in the works of thy commandments; that, through thy most mighty protection, both here and ever, we may be preserved in body and soul; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
This sequence guards the Kyrie from becoming a vague devotional refrain. It follows Christ's Summary of the Law, asks mercy, and immediately asks God to govern the whole person in the ways and works of his commandments. The 1928 rite therefore joins penitence, moral instruction, and grace: the people hear God's law, confess need, and ask for the inward gift that makes obedience possible.
Scriptural Foundations
The words "Lord, have mercy" are a direct biblical form of prayer. In the Gospels they are often spoken by the needy to Jesus as Lord and Son of David:
And, behold, two blind men sitting by the way side, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace: but they cried the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David.
The 1928 Holy Communion use is therefore Christological. The people do not appeal to an abstract mercy, but to the Lord before whom the commandments are heard and from whom pardon and healing are sought. It also fits the penitential movement of the rite: the Collect for Purity asks cleansing of the heart, the Law exposes sin and duty, the Kyrie asks mercy, and the later confession, absolution, Comfortable Words, and Communion proclaim the gospel remedy.
Prayer Book History
The 1549 English Communion rite retained the older Kyrie before the Gloria in excelsis, after the introit psalm:
Then shall he saie a Psalme appointed for the introite: whiche Psalme ended the Priest shall saye, or els the Clerkes shal syng,
iii. Lorde have mercie upon us.
iii. Christ have mercie upon us.
iii. Lorde have mercie upon us.
The 1552 Prayer Book moved the Decalogue to the beginning of Communion and made the Kyrie language the people's answer to each commandment:
Then shal the Priest rehearse distinctly all the Ten Commaundments: and the people knelyng, shal after every Commaundment aske Gods mercy for theyr transgression of the same, after thys sorte.
Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere describe that change as a deliberate adaptation of the older Kyrie:
The ten Commandments were prefixed to the Liturgy as a penitential preparation, and the old ninefold Kyrie was altered to serve as responses after the several Commandments: the old petition — in its English dress, ‘Lord have mercy upon us’ — was repeated after each Commandment, amplified by the addition of the words ‘and incline our hearts to keep this law’ after the first nine, and the words ‘and write all these thy laws in our hearts we beseech Thee’ after the tenth.
Percy Dearmer gives the same theological point in simpler form, emphasizing both antiquity and congregational prayer:
The "Lesser Litany," for instance (Lord, have mercy upon us), is the Kyrie Eleison which takes us back to the early days when the people of Imperial Rome spoke Greek.
The Ten Commandments are from the ancient Jewish Church, ages before the coming of our Lord. The Responses to them contain the Lord, have mercy, which, as we have already seen, comes from the Primitive Church long before S. Gregory.
Theological Use
In classical Anglican use, the Kyrie belongs to the evangelical logic of Holy Communion. The Law is not read so that the congregation may claim righteousness by its own strength. It is read so that sin may be confessed honestly, mercy sought from Christ, and obedience received as grace. The final Decalogue response, "write all these thy laws in our hearts," echoes the biblical promise of inward renewal and prevents the rite from reducing obedience to external rule-keeping.
In High Church and Anglican Catholic interpretation, the Kyrie also bears witness to the Prayer Book's continuity with ancient liturgical prayer. The 1928 rite does not preserve the 1549 placement unchanged, but it preserves the essential cry and embeds it in a distinctly Anglican penitential preparation before the Collect, Epistle, Gospel, Creed, sermon, offertory, confession, absolution, and sacramental Communion.
Use in Worship
The Kyrie should be heard with the Summary of the Law and the Decalogue, not isolated from them. Where the Decalogue is said, the people answer each commandment with a prayer for mercy and a new heart. Where the Decalogue is omitted under the 1928 rubric, the threefold Kyrie keeps the same penitential note after Christ's Summary of the Law. In both forms, the congregation approaches the Holy Table as people who need mercy, receive grace, and are called into holy love of God and neighbor.
See Also
- Book of Common Prayer (1928)
- Holy Communion (1928 BCP)
- Collect for Purity (1928 BCP)
- Decalogue in Holy Communion (1928 BCP)
- Summary of the Law (1928 BCP)
- General Confession in Holy Communion (1928 BCP)
References
- ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer, Standard Book accepted in 1928, "The Order for the Administration of the Lord's Supper, or Holy Communion," Lesser Litany after the Summary of the Law, p. 69; Society of Archbishop Justus transcription, Holy Communion - The 1928 Book of Common Prayer. Local comparison:
sources/justus1928/HC.htm, lines 166-171. - ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer, 1928, Holy Communion rubric before the Decalogue and Summary of the Law, p. 68; Society of Archbishop Justus transcription, Holy Communion - The 1928 Book of Common Prayer. Local comparison:
sources/justus1928/HC.htm, lines 88-92. - ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer, 1928, Holy Communion rubric before the Ten Commandments, p. 68; Society of Archbishop Justus transcription, Holy Communion - The 1928 Book of Common Prayer. Local comparison:
sources/justus1928/HC.htm, lines 80-83. - ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer, 1928, Holy Communion, first commandment and congregational response, p. 68; Society of Archbishop Justus transcription, Holy Communion - The 1928 Book of Common Prayer. Local comparison:
sources/justus1928/HC.htm, lines 93-98. - ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer, 1928, Holy Communion, final Decalogue response, p. 69; Society of Archbishop Justus transcription, Holy Communion - The 1928 Book of Common Prayer. Local comparison:
sources/justus1928/HC.htm, lines 146-151. - ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer, 1928, Holy Communion, prayer following the Kyrie when the Decalogue is omitted, p. 69; Society of Archbishop Justus transcription, Holy Communion - The 1928 Book of Common Prayer. Local comparison:
sources/justus1928/HC.htm, lines 172-179. - ↑ Matthew 20:30-31, Authorized Version.
- ↑ Church of England, The Book of Common Prayer (1549), "The Supper of the Lorde and the Holy Communion, commonly called the Masse," text after the introit; Society of Archbishop Justus transcription, The 1549 Book of Common Prayer: Holy Communion.
- ↑ Church of England, The Book of Common Prayer (1552), "The Order for the Administracion of the Lordes Supper, or Holye Communion," rubric before the Ten Commandments; Society of Archbishop Justus transcription, The 1552 Book of Common Prayer: Holy Communion.
- ↑ Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, with a Rationale of Its Offices, revised edition (London: Macmillan and Co., 1910), chapter XII, "The Communion Service," p. 464; Society of Archbishop Justus transcription, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, chapter XII.
- ↑ Percy Dearmer, The Prayer Book (London: Wells Gardner, Darton and Co., 1907), chapter I, pp. 5-6; Project Canterbury transcription, The Prayer Book, by Percy Dearmer.
- ↑ Percy Dearmer, The Prayer Book (London: Wells Gardner, Darton and Co., 1907), chapter I, p. 6; Project Canterbury transcription, The Prayer Book, by Percy Dearmer.