Last time, we saw how, during the Great Entrance in the Byzantine rite, the congregation sings the Cherubic Hymn, which identifies the worshiping body with the angels worshiping at God’s throne in Isaiah 6. This image was relevant to the Byzantine liturgists and commentators because of an established tradition to sing the angels’ hymn from Isaiah 6.3 during the Anaphora, or Eucharistic Prayer, a tradition which remains in all Christian traditions with liturgical roots in the ancient Church. The hymn goes like this:
Holy! Holy Holy, Lord of Hosts!
Heaven and earth are filled with your glory.
Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest!
If you know your Bibles, you’ll know that this is actually a mash up of two different texts, the first two lines coming from Isaiah 6.3, and the last three from Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem in Matthew 21.9, which itself quotes Psalm 118.26. Today we’ll focus on the first half, known as the Sanctus, and leave the second half (the Benedictus) for Palm Sunday.
Isaiah 6.1-5 is a fascinating and truly glorious passage, telling the story of a vision Isaiah has of YHWH being worshiped on high by an angelic throng:
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the LORD [that is, YHWH] sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.’
The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: ‘Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!’ (Isaiah 6.1-5)
And so, this is a hymn associated not just with worship, but also with mysticism and mystery, with being drawn into the presence of God in a powerful and terrifying (in the sense of over-awe-ing) way. (As it happens, the book of Revelation (4.8) uses the same language to describe heavenly worship in John’s vision.) By singing it here during the Eucharistic prayer, it’s an assertion that we too are being brought into God’s presence in a powerful and over-awe-ing way through our participation in the sacrament. This is remarkable mystical and sacramental theology, and touches on deep mysteries of our faith.
I’ll touch on this hymn again in a few days, when I’ll focus on the Benedictus. (If you’d like to learn more about Isaiah 6, check out posts here, here, and here.) But for now, let us pray, with the angels, saints, and all the faithful around the world:
Holy! Holy Holy, Lord of Hosts!
Heaven and earth are filled with your glory.
Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest!
Matthew Root 