HOLY GOD, HOLY MIGHTY, HOLY IMMORTAL, HAVE MERCY ON US

My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

THE TRISAGION [THRICE HOLY]

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 hymns.

The roots of the TRISAGION reach back to the ecstasy of Isaiah (Isaiah 6:1-8) and the vision of Saint John the Evangelist (Revelation 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 the Persons worshipped, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. However, the three are addressed as ONE, because the verb HAVE MERCY (in Greek eleison), is 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 (A.D. 451), but it was widely known prior to this time. This hymn originally accompanied the entrance of the bishop into the church and his ascent to the holy AMBON or VEMA, which then stood in the middle of the nave.

At 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 (Divine and Human).

God is CALLED HOLY. But what does "holy" mean "set apart." So a person or an object devoted, consecrated to God is deemed holy, set apart for the service of the Lord. How hoy 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 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 ACKNOWLEDTE HIM AS THE UNIQUE BEING. In a 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 PANTOKRATOR, the Ruler of the universe. ALMIGHTY (OMNIPOTENT). "He spake, and they came into being; He commanded, and they were created"–thus the Psalmist expressed God’s ALMIGHTINESS (Psalm 32:9). God is the Creator of the world. It is He Who cares for the world in His Providence. He is the Pantokrator. He is the One "Who alone doeth wonders" (Psalm 71:19). But if God tolerates evil and evil people in the world, this is not because He cannot annihilate evil, but because HE HAS GIVEN FREEDOM TO SPIRITUAL BEINGS AND DIRECTS THEM SO THAT THEY MIGHT FREELY, OF THEIR OWN FREE WILL, REJECT EVIL AND TURN TO GOOD. 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 ENDS, but only by God’s grace. HOLINESS, MIGHT AND IMMORTALITY are predicated upon God in an absolute sense.

"Here the congregation (the faithful) does not offer its own thoughts in 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.

In the prayers before Holy Communion we read: "I know that I am not worthy or sufficient that Thou shouldest come under the roof of the house of my soul" (Second Prayer). And again, "I am not worthy or sufficient to behold and see the heights of heaven" (Prayer of Symeon the Translator). "Sufficient" signifies here "spiritually adequate," "spiritually wealthy." In God is the SUFFICIENCY of all good things. "O the depth of the riches of both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!" exclaims the Holy Apostle Paul, "for of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things" (Romans 11:33, 36). God has no need for anything, since "He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things" (Acts 17:25). Thus God is Himself THE SOURCE OF ALL LIFE, AND OF EVERYTHING; FROM HIM ALL CREATURES DERIVE THEIR SUFFICIENCY.

ALL-BLESSED. In his epistles, the Holy Apostle Paul twice calls God "blessed"; "According to the glorious Gospel of the blessed God" (1 Timothy 1:11); "which in His times He shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords" (1 Timothy 6:15). The word ALL-BLESSED" must be understood not in the sense that God, having everything within Himself, would be indifferent to the sufferings of the world created by Him; but in this sense: that from Him and in Him, His creatures derive their blessedness. God DOES NOT "SUFFER," but He is "MERCIFUL." CHRIST "suffereth as mortal" (Canon of Pascha)–NOT IN HIS DIVINITY, but in His HUMANITY. GOD is the SOURCE OF BLESSEDNESS. In Him the FULLNESS OF JOY, SWEETNESS, REJOICING FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM, as it says in the Psalm: "Thou wilt fill me with gladness with Ty countenance, delights are in Thy right hand forever" (Psalm 15:11).

The BLESSEDNESS OF GOD has its reflection in THE UNCEASING PRAISE, GLORIFICATION, AND THANKSGIVING WHICH FILL THE UNIVERSE, WHICH COME FROM THE HIGHER POWERS–THE CHERUBIM AND SERAPHIM WHO SURROUND THE THRONE OF GOD AND ARE FLAMING WITH FRAGRANT LOVE FOR GOD. These praises are offered up from THE WHOLE ANGELICT WORLD AND FROM EVERY CREATURE IN GOD’S WORLD: "The sun sings Thy praises; the moon glorifies Thee; the stars supplicate before Thee; the light obeys Thee; the deeps are afraid at Thy presence; the fountains are Thy servants" (Prayer of the Great Blessing of Water, Menaion, January 5th; Festal Menaion, p. 356). [Resources: Orthodox Dogmatic Theology and The Heavenly Banquet)

__________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +

With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George