The opening prayers of Orthodox Christianity: O Heavenly King, the Trisagion and the Lord's Prayer

O Heavenly King is the only prayer in the sequence addressed specifically to the Holy Spirit. It was originally a hymn from Vespers of Pentecost, and was later moved up to stand at the head of every hour of prayer. In the tradition's own teaching, placing it first means that no one can pray by their own effort unless the Holy Spirit comes first.

The word Παράκλητος, Paráklitos, comes from the Gospel of John chapters 14 to 16, where Jesus promises to send a Paraclete. Its root meaning is one called to stand alongside, a term used in court for someone who stands beside another to plead on their behalf. Translations understand it differently: some render it the Comforter, some the Advocate, some the Helper, and many keep the word Paraclete. The library's Vietnamese column chooses the Comforter, following the understanding common in Greek sermons, while its English column keeps Paraclete, and the library notes that the original word is broader.

Four titles are arranged in two pairs. The first pair says that the Holy Spirit is present everywhere and fills all things, close to the Wisdom of Solomon chapter 1 verse 7 in the Septuagint, which says that the spirit of the Lord fills the whole earth. The second pair says that he is the treasury of good things and the giver of life.

The word χορηγός, khorighós, has an interesting history. In ancient Athens, the khorēgos was a wealthy citizen who paid for a chorus in the dramatic festivals. Later the word took on the broader sense of one who supplies, one who provides in full. To call the Holy Spirit the khorighós of life is to say that life is something given, not something human beings possess of themselves. This fits the Creed, where the Holy Spirit is called τὸ Ζωοποιόν, the giver of life.

The verb σκηνόω literally means to pitch a tent. It is the word the Gospel of John chapter 1 verse 14 uses to say that the Word became flesh and ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν, pitched his tent among us. A Greek reader hears that echo at once, and a more distant echo too, of the tent of meeting of the people of Israel in the desert.

This is the prayer that gives the whole sequence its name. The three words Ἅγιος echo the song of the angels in Isaiah chapter 6 verse 3, holy, holy, holy. The two titles Ἰσχυρός, the Strong One, and Ἀθάνατος, the Deathless One, have been compared by some with Psalm 41 in the Septuagint, where the soul thirsts for God, the Strong One, the Living One.

Where interpreters differ is on whom the prayer addresses. John of Damascus, in the work already cited, teaches that the three Holies are addressed to the Trinity, one to each Person, and that the closing plea for mercy gathers all three into one. In the fifth century some already read the hymn as addressed to Christ alone, and John of Damascus wrote that very chapter to refute an addition made in that direction. Orthodox Christians read the hymn in the Trinitarian sense.

In the prayer book the hymn is printed once with the rubric ἐκ τρίτου, for the third time, or the sign γ΄, meaning it is read three times. Each time it is read, the reader usually makes the sign of the cross and bows.

This prayer is commonly called the lesser doxology. In Greek books it is often split into two halves: the first begins with the word Δόξα, the second with the words Καὶ νῦν. Because it is so familiar, books print it in shortened form as Δόξα... Καὶ νῦν..., and both sources compared here print it that way. The library writes it out in full so that you can see the whole prayer.

The split into two halves has a practical reason. In the longer services, a hymn is often inserted between the Δόξα half and the Καὶ νῦν half, and the hymn inserted after Καὶ νῦν is usually one honoring the Theotokos, the Mother of God. A regular churchgoer who hears the words Καὶ νῦν knows that a hymn to the Mother of God is coming.

The phrase εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων literally means unto the ages of the ages, a Hebrew turn of phrase carried into Greek to express something without end. The library renders it as to the ages of ages.

This prayer has four clauses. The first addresses the All-holy Trinity as a whole. Each of the other three calls on one title: Κύριε, Lord, Δέσποτα, Master, Ἅγιε, Holy One. And each asks for one thing: to be gracious toward sins, to pardon lawless deeds, to visit and heal weaknesses.

Here interpreters differ. One reading common in Orthodox catechisms holds that the three titles correspond to the three Persons: Lord is the Father, Master is the Son, Holy One is the Holy Spirit. Another holds that all three titles address the whole Trinity, and that the threefold repetition is only for emphasis. A third pays attention to the order of the requests, which moves from sin, through lawlessness, to sickness, like three layers of a wound. The text itself does not say, so the library records all three.

One grammatical detail is worth knowing. The third clause reads τὰς ἀνομίας ἡμῖν with ἡμῖν in the dative, not ἡμῶν in the genitive as in the other two. The closest literal sense is pardon to us the lawless deeds, and both sources compared keep the word ἡμῖν.

These two words are the most repeated prayer in the entire Byzantine liturgy. Here they are said three times. Elsewhere in the same Horologion they are said twelve or forty times in a row: the Compline text on glt.goarch.org clearly gives the rubrics ιβ΄ and μ΄, meaning twelve and forty.

The verb ἐλεέω means to have mercy, to be moved with compassion for someone in distress. A popular explanation that is often repeated holds that the word ἔλεος, mercy, is related to the word ἔλαιον, olive oil, so that asking for mercy is asking to be anointed with healing oil. The two words sound alike, and preachers often use that closeness in their sermons, but linguists do not regard them as sharing the same root. The library records this so that you can tell which part is preaching and which part is etymology.

The Lord's Prayer in the Horologion follows the text of the Gospel of Matthew chapter 6 verses 9 to 13, in the Byzantine textual tradition that the Greek church has always read. The word heaven here is plural, ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, literally in the heavens, following a Hebrew usage in which the word for heaven is used only in the plural. The library keeps the plural in its translation.

Compared with the text printed in many modern editions of the New Testament, the prayer book text differs in two places. In verse 10 the prayer book reads ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, with the article, while some ancient manuscripts have ἐπὶ γῆς. In verse 12 the prayer book reads ἀφίεμεν, we forgive, in the present tense, while some ancient manuscripts have ἀφήκαμεν, we have forgiven. These differences do not change the main sense of the prayer.

The word ἐπιούσιος is the hardest word in the Lord's Prayer. The third century theologian Origen, in his treatise on prayer, noted that he could not find this word anywhere else in Greek, and suggested that the Gospel writers had coined it. Because it occurs only in the Lord's Prayer, there is no other passage against which to check its meaning.

There are three main interpretations. The first divides the word into ἐπί and οὐσία and understands it as the bread needed for life, bread enough to sustain the body. The second connects it with the phrase ἡ ἐπιοῦσα ἡμέρα, the coming day, and understands it as bread for tomorrow. The third, put forward by many Greek Church Fathers, understands it as bread beyond all substance, that is, bread from heaven, and reads the request in connection with the Eucharist. The library translates it according to the first reading, as the bread that sustains us, and notes that this is one choice among several readings.

Matthew uses the language of accounts: ὀφειλήματα, debts, and ὀφειλέται, debtors. Luke chapter 11 verse 4 speaks plainly of sins, ἁμαρτίας, and only then of those in debt. The Greek prayer book follows Matthew, so the library keeps the word debts to stay close to the original.

The phrase τοῦ πονηροῦ has the article, and in this case the grammar does not show whether it is masculine or neuter. Read as neuter, it means evil, wrongdoing in general. Read as masculine, it means the evil one, that is, the devil. Many Greek Church Fathers, among them John Chrysostom in his homilies on the Gospel of Matthew, read it as the evil one. Many Western translations customarily read it as evil.

The library translates it as evil, because that is the broader reading and can contain the other sense, and notes here that the Greek tradition usually understands it as the evil one. The verb ῥῦσαι means to drag out, to snatch away from, a stronger word than keep safe.