The Sanctus (, "Holy") is a hymn in Christian liturgy. It may also be called the epinikios hymnos (, "Hymn of Victory") when referring to the Greek rendition and parts of it are sometimes called "Benedictus". Tersanctus (Latin: "Thrice Holy") is another, rarer name for the Sanctus. The same name is sometimes used for the Trisagion.
In Western Christianity, the Sanctus forms part of the Ordinary and is sung (or said) as the final words of the Preface of the Eucharistic Prayer of remembrance, consecration, and praise. The preface, which alters according to the season, usually concludes with words describing the praise of the worshippers joining with the angels, who are pictured as praising God with the words of the Sanctus. In the Byzantine Rite and general Eastern Orthodox Christianity, the Sanctus is offered as a response by the choir during the Holy Anaphora.
Text
In Greek Hágios, hágios, hágios, Kýrios Sabaṓth; plḗrēs ho ouranós kaí hē gê tês dóxēs sou, hōsanná en toîs hupsístois. Eulogēménos ho erkhómenos en onómati Kyríou. Hōsanná (ho) en toîs hupsístois.
In the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and the Liturgy of St. Basil: Ἅγιος, ἅγιος, ἅγιος Κύριος Σαβαώθ· πλήρης ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ τῆς δόξης σου, ὡσαννὰ ἐν τοῖς ὑψίστοις. Εὐλογημένος ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἐν ὀνόματι Κυρίου. Ὡσαννὰ ὁ ἐν τοῖς ὑψίστοις.
Hágios, hágios, hágios, Kýrios Sabaṓth; plḗrēs ho ouranós kaí hē gê tês dóxēs sou, hōsanná en toîs hupsístois. Eulogēménos ho erkhómenos en onómati Kyríou. Hōsanná ho en toîs hupsístois.
In the Liturgy of St. James: Ἅγιος, ἅγιος, ἅγιος Κύριος Σαβαώθ. Πλήρης ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ τῆς δόξης σου. Ὡσαννὰ ἐν τοῖς ὑψίστοις. Εὐλογημένος ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἐν ὀνόματι Κυρίου. Ὡσαννὰ ἐν τοῖς ὑψίστοις.
Hágios, hágios, hágios, Kýrios Sabaṓth. Plḗrēs ho ouranós kaí hē gê tês dóxēs sou. Hōsanná en toîs hupsístois. Eulogēménos ho erkhómenos en onómati Kyríou. Hōsanná en toîs hupsístois.
In Latin In the Roman Rite:Missale Romanum 2002, p. 517 (electronic text) Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dóminus Deus Sábaoth. Pleni sunt cæli et terra glória tua. Hosánna in excélsis. Benedíctus qui venit in nómine Dómini. Hosánna in excélsis.
In the Roman Rite, the Sanctus also forms part of the Te Deum, a solemn hymn of praise, but with an added reference to the "majesty" of the Lord's glory and without the Benedictus:
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Pleni sunt cæli et terra maiestatis gloriæ tuæ.
In the Mozarabic Rite, the hymn appears as at the Te Deum, but with the Benedictus added and ending with a version of the Greek Trisagion:Shawn Tribe, "The Mozarabic Rite: The Offertory to the Post Sanctus" (with regularized spelling). English translation: "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth: Heaven and earth are full of the glory of Thy majesty. Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. Holy, holy, holy art thou Lord God (The Mozarabic Liturgy). Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth: Pleni sunt cæli et terra gloria maiestatis tuæ, Hosanna filio David. Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Hosanna in excelsis. Hagios, hagios, hagios Kyrie o Theos.
In English In Anglicanism, the Sanctus appears thus in the 1549 Book of Common Prayer (and as set to music by John Merbecke in 1550): Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of thy glory Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord: Glory to thee O Lord in the highest.
In the 1552 Book of Common Prayer and 1559 BCP it appears without the Benedictus: Holy, holy, holy, lord god of hostes, heven and earth are ful of thy glory, glory be to the, O Lord most hyghe.
The 1662 BCP has it thus:
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hoſts, heaven and earth are full of thy glory; Glory be to thee, O Lord Moſt High.
Later Anglican prayer books following the ritualist and liturgical movements of the twentieth century,Walker, Charles (1901). The Ritual Reason Why. Revised and edited by T. I. Ball. Oxford; London: A. R. Mowbray. "The words 'Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest,' which are sometimes added to the Sanctus are a restoration of a clause which forms part of the hymn in nearly every ancient Liturgy, Eastern or Western, and which was retained in our English 'Mass' of 1549."Ritual Notes: A Comprehensive Guide to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Book of Common Prayer of the English Church (1926). 7th ed. London: W. Knott & Son. p. 120. restored the Benedictus to this form, yielding:Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of thy glory. Glory be to thee, O Lord most high. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. The following English version was used by most Lutherans in North America until 1978 when the ICET version was adopted in the Lutheran Book of Worship.Service Book and Hymnal: Authorized by the Lutheran Churches cooperating in The Commission on the Liturgy and Hymnal (1958). Co-published: Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House; Philadelphia: Board of Publication, Lutheran Church in America. pp. 32-33, 61. This traditional version has continued to be used in the Divine Service of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod:Lutheran Worship (1982), Divine Service I. The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod. Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House. pp. 148-149.Lutheran Service Book (2006). Divine Service III. Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod. Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth; heaven and earth are full of thy glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest.
In 1973 the International Consultation on English Texts (ICET) produced an ecumenical version that at that time was adopted by Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists and others: Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
Since 2011 the Roman Missal in English has:Excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal. Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
In Coptic As part of the Alexandrian rite, the Benedictus is not present in the Liturgy of Saint Cyril:Liturgy of Saint Cyril copticchurch.net Αγιος, αγιος, αγιος. Ⲭⲟⲩⲁⲃ `Ⲡϭⲟⲓⲥ ⲥⲁⲃⲁⲱⲑ: `ⲧⲫⲉ ⲛⲉⲙ `ⲡⲕⲁϩⲓ ⲙⲉϩ ⲉⲃⲟⲗϧⲉⲛ ⲡⲉⲕⲱⲟⲩ ⲉⲑⲟⲩⲁⲃ `Ⲡϭⲟⲓⲥ Ⲡⲉⲛⲛⲟⲩϯ.
Sources
As Enrico Mazza writes: The Sanctus became part of the Roman Eucharistic Prayer only in the first half of the fifth century; all in all, this was a fairly late period, inasmuch as by then the text of the Roman Canon had become fixed and was regarded as a text possessing great authority.
There exist two fundamental types of Sanctus: the Alexandrian and the Antiochene. The Sanctus of the Roman Eucharist derives from the Antiochene liturgy and has two parts: (a) the Sanctus true and proper, consisting of the acclamation from Isaiah 6:3; and (b) the Benedictus, a christological acclamation taken from Matthew 21:9. The Sanctus has been given a christological interpretation and a trinitarian interpretation, and this in both the East and the West. These differing interpretations may be due to the presence, in the text of the Sanctus, of a theological section, namely, the acclamation from Isaiah 6:3, and a christological part, namely the acclamation from Matthew 21:9.
The text of the Sanctus passed from Jewish use to Christian use at a very early time, since it is cited in the Apocalypse of John and in the letter of Clement to the Corinthians.
As can be read in the same source, in the Alexandrian tradition on the other hand, the Sanctus consisted of only the first part, the citation of Isaiah 6:3, and lacked the Benedictus; this was the earliest form taken by the Sanctus in the Eucharist. This early state can be seen in the testimonies of Eusebius of Caesarea, the Mystagogical Catecheses of Cyril of Jerusalem, and, above all, the Ritual used in the Church of Theodore of Mopsuestia. In the latter, too, that is, in the archaic stage of the Syrian liturgy, the Benedictus was unknown, and the Sanctus consisted solely of the acclamation from Isaiah 6:3.
The first part of the Sanctus, the adaptation from , describes the prophet Isaiah's vision of the throne of God surrounded by six-winged, ministering seraphim. A similar representation is found in . In Jewish liturgy,On the relationship of the Christian Sanctus to ancient Jewish liturgy, see David Flusser, "Sanctus und Gloria," in Abraham Unser Vater: Juden und Christen im Gespräch Über die Bibel Festschrift für Otto Michael (ed. Otto Betz, Martin Hengel, and Peter Schmidt; Leiden: Brill, 1963), 129-152; repr. in David Flusser, Entdeckungen im Neuen Testament (2 vols.; Neukirchener, 1987-1999), 1:226-244. For an English translation of this article, click here. the verse from Isaiah is uttered by the congregation during Kedusha, a prayer said during the leader's repetition of the Amidah (18 Benedictions): Kadosh Kadosh Kadosh Adonai Tz'vaot Melo Kol Haaretz Kevodo.
The text of the second part, beginning with the word Benedictus (Latin for "Blessed") is taken from , describes Jesus' Entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, which is in turn based on the first half of Psalm 118:26. In its present liturgical context "it points to the expected presence of the Lord in the eucharistic gifts".Johannes H. Emminghaus, The Eucharist: Essence, Form, Celebration (Liturgical Press 1997 ), p. 181Tim Gray, Mission of the Messiah (Emmaus Road Publishing 1998 ), pp. 109–110 Within Anglicanism, the 1552 Book of Common Prayer omitted it and, though it is now permitted, "the choice whether or not to use the Benedictus is still for some a matter of Eucharistic theology and churchmanship".Paul Thomas, Using the Book of Common Prayer (Church House Publishing 2012 ), p. 102
The Sanctus appears in the Sacramentary of Serapion of Thmuis (the saint died in 360), but may go as far back to Christian liturgy in North Africa in the year 200.Perspectives on Christian Worship by J. Matthew Pinson, Timothy Quill, Ligon Duncan and Dan Wilt (Mar 1, 2009) pages 64-65
Hymn forms in Eastern liturgies The present form of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, the primary liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox Church, reads (when in Greek) the following text: Ἅγιος, ἅγιος, ἅγιος Κύριος Σαβαώθ· πλήρης ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ τῆς δόξης σου, ὡσαννὰ ἐν τοῖς ὑψίστοις. Εὐλογημένος ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἐν ὀνόματι Κυρίου. Ὡσαννὰ ὁ ἐν τοῖς ὑψίστοις.. For an English translation, see The Orthodox Page: The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostomos
Hágios, hágios, hágios Kýrios Sabaṓth; plḗrēs ho ouranós kaí hē gê tês dóxēs sou, hōsanná en toîs hupsístois. Eulogēménos ho erkhómenos en onómati Kyríou. Hōsanná ho en toîs hupsístois.
The above differs from the Roman Rite Latin text in that the Latin adds to the word Dominus (Lord), which is the regular Latin translation of יהוה, the Deus (God), which is found in neither the Greek nor the Latin translations nor in the original text of Isaiah 6:3, but is found in : "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!" in that the Latin has the plural caeli, and the Greek the singular for the mention of "heaven", which appears in neither the Latin nor the Greek translation of Isaiah 6:3. in that the Greek gives two different forms of the phrase corresponding to Hosanna in excelsis, the second one including an article. The article is not found in Matthew 21:9. The form of the hymn without the article is also used in the Greek Liturgy of Saint James, and in modern settings, practises and contexts.
The Liturgy of Saint Basil of the Eastern Orthodox Church has the same form of the Sanctus as the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom, with its two variants of the Hosanna phrase.