noun
definition
A short prayer or petition including the phrase kyrie eleison, meaning “Lord, have mercy”.
definition
A setting of the traditional kyrie text to music for a Mass.
Examples of kyrie in a Sentence
Mass was then sung; but instead of the ordinary responses to the Introit, Kyrie, Gloria, &c., the congregation chanted "Hinham" (Hee-haw) three times.
The fire was then kindled, and his voice as it audibly prayed in the words of the "Kyrie Eleison" was soon stifled in the smoke.
It so happens that the supremely important parts of the Mass are those which have the smallest number of words, namely the Kyrie, important as being the opening prayer; the Sanctus and Benedictus, embodying the central acts and ideas of the service; and the Agnus Dei, the prayer with which it concludes.
Thus the Four Short Masses of Bach are called short, not because they are on a small scale, which is far from being the case, but because they consist only of the Kyrie and Gloria.
In the Anglican Book of Common Prayer the Kyrie is introduced into the orders for Morning and Evening Prayer, and also, with an additional petition, as a response made by the congregation after the reading of each of the Ten Commandments at the opening of the Communion Service.
These responses are usually sung, and the name Kyrie is thus also applied to their musical setting.
In the Lutheran Church the Kyrie is still said or sung in the original Greek.
In many parts of Germany the seasons of Lent and Advent are still marked by the use of emblems of mourning in the churches, by the frequency of certain phrases (Kyrie eleison, Agnus Dei) and the absence of others (Hallelujah, Gloria in excelsis) in the liturgical services, by abstinence from some of the usual social festivities, and by the non-celebration of marriages.
Kyrie eleison, ninefold, and sometimes lengthily farsed representing an older, now obsolete, litany.
Music with Latin words is not excluded from the Lutheran Church, and the Kyrie and Gloria are frequently sung in succession and entitled a Mass.