Kyrie eleison

American  

[keer-ee-ey e-ley-uh-sawn, -son, -suhn, kee-ree-e e-le-ee-sawn] / ˈkɪər iˌeɪ ɛˈleɪ əˌsɔn, -ˌsɒn, -sən, ˈki ri ɛ ɛˈlɛ i sɔn /

noun

1. (italics) the brief petition “Lord, have mercy,” used in various offices of the Greek Orthodox Church and of the Roman Catholic Church.

2. the brief response or petition in services in the Anglican Church, beginning with the words, “Lord, have mercy upon us.”

3. Also called Kyrie.  a musical setting of either of these.

---

Kyrie eleison British  

/ ˈkɪrɪɪ əˈleɪsən /

noun

1. a formal invocation used in the liturgies of the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Anglican Churches

2. a musical setting of this

---

Etymology

Origin of Kyrie eleison

1300–50; Middle English kyrieleyson < Medieval Latin, Late Latin Kyrie eleīson < Late Greek Kýrie eléēson Lord, have mercy

Example Sentences

From the majestic opening statement of the Kyrie eleison the bloom and richness of the choral sound gloriously resonated within Carnegie Hall.

From New York Times • Mar. 8, 2012

Mr. Suzuki’s approach was clear from the opening Kyrie eleison, which begins with the chorus, fortified by the orchestra, singing anguished cries of “Lord, have mercy.”

From New York Times • Mar. 23, 2011

With elegiac melancholy, Beckett intones a Kyrie eleison without God.

From Time Magazine Archive

With the first full-throated assault of the opening "Kyrie eleison" the choir had its audience�1,100 packed in the church, another thousand on the sunlit lawns outside�thrilling to attention.

From Time Magazine Archive

It is now almost illegible and crumbling fast away, but it was "Kyrie eleison anime Fratris Johis Lyon."

From Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Gloucester [2nd ed.] A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief History of the Espicopal See by Massé, H. J. L. J. (Henri Jean Louis Joseph)