Ceremony at the Kyrie

King David, the woman of Canaan, the father of the epileptic, and the two blind men outside of Jericho have much in common with you, for they all prayed the prayer that you pray every Sunday: “Lord, have mercy”.[1]  It is in our great need, in humility, reverence, repentance, faith and awe that we approach God in the Divine Service. 

Each Sunday we begin by speaking God’s Word back to Him (Introit), and then immediately we pray that He be merciful to us according to His Promise[2].  That prayer is the ancient Kyrie.  Unworthy to approach Him, and yet expectantly, hopefully, even joyfully standing before Him, in the Kyrie we seek the mercy of the One who is truly merciful.

In his reform of the Mass, Luther retains the Kyrie.  In 1523 he writes “…we accept the Kyrie eleison in the form in which it has been used until now…”[3]  The older form to which Luther refers is the nine-fold Kyrie, spoken or sung responsively between the Celebrant and the Deacon or Subdeacon.  Luther Reed chronicles the development of the Kyrie as we know it from the ancient Ektenia (ἐκτενής), noting that the earliest liturgies did not include it.  The Kyrie is seen in the fourth century liturgies, and it is sung responsively between the choir and the Celebrant.  The fourth century pilgrim Etheria relates that it was used at the close of Vespers.  Gregory the Great, in the late sixth century, identifies the Kyrie as “a comparatively recent item.”[4]

In 1526, Luther shortens the Kyrie, writing “Then follows the Kyrie eleison in the same tone, three times instead of nine…”  The tone given is very close to that of TLH pg. 17.  Luther does not provide rubrics for the Kyrie in either the Latin or the German Mass.  Chemnitz and Andreae also omit any rubrics for the Kyrie their 1569 Church Order, writing only “…first, an Introit of the Time shall be sung, then the Kyrie eleison and the Gloria in excelsis; likewise, the Et in terra pax, at times in Latin, at times in German.”[5]

Modern rubrical manuals in the Lutheran tradition allow for a three-fold or nine-fold Kyrie, spoken if the Mass is spoken, sung if the Mass is sung, responsively between the Celebrant and the congregation. Fr. Piepkorn includes the comment “There is no authority for substituting Hymn No. 6 for the Kyrie”. [6]

Modern rubrical manuals agree on the rubrics for the Celebrant at the Kyrie.  The congregation stands.  The hands may be folded, thumbs crossed right over left (the posture of reverence).  If the Celebrant speaks or sings the Introit from the Epistle horn, he returns to the center of the altar, facing the altar, with hands folded, and speaks or chants the Kyrie with the congregation.

The Celebrant bows his head slightly during the Kyrie, the posture of humility, and the congregation may do the same as we seek together, as Christ’s Body, the Lord’s promised mercy.  Similarly, the head bowed, the Celebrant may cross his hands, palms against his chest, right over left, the posture of repentance, when speaking or singing the Kyrie.

Our prayer for mercy is granted in Christ, who was shown no mercy.  God hears your prayer as He has promised.  He bestows upon you the mercy that Christ won for you, the mercy for which you pray.  In joyful thanksgiving to God for His mercy, the Celebrant raises his head and his hands, praising God, and singing “Glory be to God on high…”

[1] Psalm 6:2, Psalm 9:13, Matthew 15:22, Matthew 20:30

[2] Romans 9:15

[3] AE 53.23

[4] Reed, Luther.  The Lutheran Liturgy. [Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1947] 266-271.

[5] Martin Chemnitz and Jacob Andreae, Church Order for Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel: How Doctrine, Ceremonies, and Other Church-Related Matters Shall (by God´s Grace) Be Conducted Henceforth, vol. 9, Chemnitz´s Works, trans. Jacob Corzine, Matthew C. Harrison, and Andrew Smith, ed. Jacob Corzine and Matthew Carver [CPH, 2015], 81.

[6] See, for example, Piepkorn, Arthur Carl, The Conduct of the Service [St. Louis: Concordia Seminary Print Shop, 1965. Reprinted Fort Wayne: Redeemer Press, 2006],12.