Commontide

For Guidance

O God, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and light rises up in darkness for the godly: Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what you would have us do, that the Spirit of wisdom may save us from all false choices; that in your light we may see light, and in your straight path we may not stumble; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Commontide
Prayer
Worship & the Office

The Kyrie

The Daily Office

Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

Κύριε, ἐλέησον. Χριστέ, ἐλέησον. Κύριε, ἐλέησον.

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Original-language source

Provenance

Antiochene, c. 380

Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.

One of the oldest prayers in Christian worship, the Kyrie eleison – Greek for "Lord, have mercy" – was already being sung in Jerusalem by the 380s AD. The threefold Western form (Lord, Christ, Lord) is a Roman addition attested by Pope Gregory the Great around 598. Every Anglican prayer book since 1549 has carried it.