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Kyrie


Kyrie, a transliteration of Greek Κύριε, vocative case of Κύριος (Kyrios), is a common name of an important prayer of Christian liturgy, also called the Kyrie eleison /ˈkri. ˈl.sɒn/ (Greek: Κύριε, ελέησον, translit. Kýrie eléison, lit. 'Lord, have mercy').

In John 13:13, John reports Jesus as saying "You call Me Teacher and Lord (Κύριε), and you say well, for so I am".

The prayer, "Kyrie, eleison," "Lord, have mercy" derives from several New Testament verses in particular. In Matthew 15:22, the Canaanite woman cries out to Jesus, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David." In Matthew 20:30, 31, two unnamed blind men call out to Jesus, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David." Finally, in Mark 10:46, Blind Bartimaeus cries out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me." There are other examples too, such as Luke 18:39 and Matthew 9:27, but the phrase "Lord, have mercy" was well-enough established in the Gospel narratives to become the basis for the use of "Kyrie, eleison" as a liturgical prayer. An important difference is that in the New Testament the expression is always personalized by an object after the exclamation, while in the Eucharistic celebration it can be seen more as a general expression of confidence in God's love, especially in view of the litany form in which it originated (infra).


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