The Trisagion to the Holy Trinity III
Feb. 22nd, 2021 04:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
homeopathic_meditationsToday we will continue with our explaration of the Trisagion, but first a bit of a disclaimer is due.
In the comments of part 1, I mentioned that a branch of my family comes from the Middle East, and speculated that they might have brought this tradition with them from their homelands. This is, in fact, not known for certain by me. Actually, there is evidence that says otherwise. Please, let me enumerate the facts, as best as I can recall them, and I will leave to you to make your own judgement.
So, all in all, I am sorry if I subjected you to the whole "handed down from Mystic Grandma" tall tale. I get excited about this kind of stuff and got carried along. With that said, let's proceed. Parts 3 and 4 are respectively when we praise God and ask God for his protection. Part 3 is the most beautiful (in my opinion) because it is a poem with 10 stanzas, the first and last are cross-rhyme quatrains, the 8 others are septets. All verses are 8 syllables long. I am afraid I will be unable to create an English poem of any quality, so I will just translate word for word.
LET US PRAY
Highest and incomprehensible God, who from within the sanctuary of your divine nature where nobody comes in keep locked the mystery of your Most Holy Trinity, - whose veil cannot be moved aside to look directly, but instead all creatures must worship deeply from the outside, deign to receive our humble vows, pleas and praises that we present reverently at the feet or the throne of your Ineffable Majesty for the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you lives and reigns in unity with the Holy Spirit, God for the centuries of the centuries. Amen.
COUPLETS TO GOD TRIUNE AND ONE
Lord God, in sweet chant
shall praise you the Cherubim
Angels and Seraphim,
pray Saint, Saint Saint!
Eternal and pure deity
of preeminence incomparable
who within the unity of your essence
encompass the Trinity
The humility of our faith
Adores you in a simple song
Angels and Seraphim,
pray Saint, Saint Saint!
Your mercy and your tenderness
mark the pass of the ages
and in the seas of your kindness
every creature is cast away
You fade away all bitterness
and wipe off the sad weeping
Angels and Seraphim,
pray Saint, Saint Saint!
Of the delinquent man
you collect tender sights
and listen to his prayers
since you are a clement father.
Who can love you and not feel
their grief turn into joy?
Angels and Seraphim,
pray Saint, Saint Saint!
Our parents celebrated
with their paeans of glory
of your wonders the history
they joyfully witnessed.
Oh Lord, they left us our Faith
which is our shield and our charm
Angels and Seraphim,
pray Saint, Saint Saint!
When your fair vengeance
terrifies men with plagues
and makes the Earth's core tremble
and wrathfully throws its lightning
The light of all our hopes
is your sacrosanct name
Angels and Seraphim,
pray Saint, Saint Saint!
Your preeminent blessings
you lavish prodigal and kind,
and to your children, Eternal God,
you shower with ineffable gifts.
For their bliss you set apart
so much good, so many prodigies.
Angels and Seraphim,
pray Saint, Saint Saint!
Who may burn in the holy fires
of the loving Isaiah
to raise their humble prayers
in divine melodies.
May our cold voices be made good
by the seas and the Earth in the meanwhile.
Angels and Seraphim,
pray Saint, Saint Saint!
For the mystery adored
by thine chosen flock, Oh God,
may they follow your holy law
and in the time of death
with its benefactress shadow
may your regal cloak cover us.
Angels and Seraphim,
pray Saint, Saint Saint!
Lord God, in sweet chant
shall praise you the Cherubim
Angels and Seraphim,
pray Saint, Saint Saint!
ANTIPHON
Bless you, Holy Trinity and indivisible unity of our God. We confess this Most August Mystery of your Being with as much reverence as we can, because you never cease to exercise your mercy on us.
In the comments of part 1, I mentioned that a branch of my family comes from the Middle East, and speculated that they might have brought this tradition with them from their homelands. This is, in fact, not known for certain by me. Actually, there is evidence that says otherwise. Please, let me enumerate the facts, as best as I can recall them, and I will leave to you to make your own judgement.
- What I already said about my family is not a lie, there may be errors of interpretation from my part, but the facts ought to be close to what I mentioned before. Also...
- It remains true that I have not known any Mexican outside of my family that is aware of the existence of the Trisagion. I've lived my whole life in a fairly conservative city (Guadalajara), went to Catholic school from age 6 to 18, I actively practice the religion; yet, nothing. On the other hand...
- While it is more common in the Orthodox Church,the Trisagion is also used in the Roman Catholic Church as part of the Liturgy of Good Friday. More over...
- The prayer itself has large parts in verse. They are well constructed poems with rhyme and metric, so at some point someone with real skills devoted a fair amount of time to adapt this to the Spanish language. But then...
- There is the fact that the printer of the copy of the Trisagion I own is a cousin of mine, in second degree. The man does in fact own and work a print shop, and did put his contact information on the copies. Be warned: there's no nihil obstat note on that particular edition, though I am vaguely aware that at some point I have seen other more "official looking" copies around.
So, all in all, I am sorry if I subjected you to the whole "handed down from Mystic Grandma" tall tale. I get excited about this kind of stuff and got carried along. With that said, let's proceed. Parts 3 and 4 are respectively when we praise God and ask God for his protection. Part 3 is the most beautiful (in my opinion) because it is a poem with 10 stanzas, the first and last are cross-rhyme quatrains, the 8 others are septets. All verses are 8 syllables long. I am afraid I will be unable to create an English poem of any quality, so I will just translate word for word.
LET US PRAY
Highest and incomprehensible God, who from within the sanctuary of your divine nature where nobody comes in keep locked the mystery of your Most Holy Trinity, - whose veil cannot be moved aside to look directly, but instead all creatures must worship deeply from the outside, deign to receive our humble vows, pleas and praises that we present reverently at the feet or the throne of your Ineffable Majesty for the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you lives and reigns in unity with the Holy Spirit, God for the centuries of the centuries. Amen.
COUPLETS TO GOD TRIUNE AND ONE
Lord God, in sweet chant
shall praise you the Cherubim
Angels and Seraphim,
pray Saint, Saint Saint!
Eternal and pure deity
of preeminence incomparable
who within the unity of your essence
encompass the Trinity
The humility of our faith
Adores you in a simple song
Angels and Seraphim,
pray Saint, Saint Saint!
Your mercy and your tenderness
mark the pass of the ages
and in the seas of your kindness
every creature is cast away
You fade away all bitterness
and wipe off the sad weeping
Angels and Seraphim,
pray Saint, Saint Saint!
Of the delinquent man
you collect tender sights
and listen to his prayers
since you are a clement father.
Who can love you and not feel
their grief turn into joy?
Angels and Seraphim,
pray Saint, Saint Saint!
Our parents celebrated
with their paeans of glory
of your wonders the history
they joyfully witnessed.
Oh Lord, they left us our Faith
which is our shield and our charm
Angels and Seraphim,
pray Saint, Saint Saint!
When your fair vengeance
terrifies men with plagues
and makes the Earth's core tremble
and wrathfully throws its lightning
The light of all our hopes
is your sacrosanct name
Angels and Seraphim,
pray Saint, Saint Saint!
Your preeminent blessings
you lavish prodigal and kind,
and to your children, Eternal God,
you shower with ineffable gifts.
For their bliss you set apart
so much good, so many prodigies.
Angels and Seraphim,
pray Saint, Saint Saint!
Who may burn in the holy fires
of the loving Isaiah
to raise their humble prayers
in divine melodies.
May our cold voices be made good
by the seas and the Earth in the meanwhile.
Angels and Seraphim,
pray Saint, Saint Saint!
For the mystery adored
by thine chosen flock, Oh God,
may they follow your holy law
and in the time of death
with its benefactress shadow
may your regal cloak cover us.
Angels and Seraphim,
pray Saint, Saint Saint!
Lord God, in sweet chant
shall praise you the Cherubim
Angels and Seraphim,
pray Saint, Saint Saint!
ANTIPHON
Bless you, Holy Trinity and indivisible unity of our God. We confess this Most August Mystery of your Being with as much reverence as we can, because you never cease to exercise your mercy on us.
no subject
Date: 2021-02-24 02:01 am (UTC)Thanks a lot
Date: 2021-03-03 11:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-03-27 08:14 pm (UTC)I also find it interesting how much mystical literature the Church holds onto quietly. A lot of the seemingly mystical hand gestures and such that I do on a daily basis or nothing more than making the sign of the cross over my food myself or others and yet when I do it in front of others I realize that yes...actually it probably looks like magic haha.