Commontide
The Daily Office
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
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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.