Phyllis Tickle Responds
What's up with "the gloria"--where did it come from, and is there any reason it occurs in some of the offices, but not others?
What a positively GREAT question. I love people who observe rhythms, even subtle ones like the Gloria's, and care enough to ask. In all my years of dealing with fixed-hour prayer, this is the first time someone has asked me this without my having to more or less evoke it. So thanks and blessings on somebody there who has a ready heart and a quick mind!
As to the question itself, let me forewarn the asker that I may be about to give more answer than was wanted; but this one is too rich to scimp on.
There are actually two Glorias: the Gloria in Excelsis and the Gloria Patri. Both, obviously, are named in terms of the opening lines, in Latin, of each. The first, the Excelsis one, is known as "the Greater Gloria" or "the Greater Doxology" or sometimes as the Angelic Hymn, and we sing it frequently, especially at Christmas: Glory to God in the highest etc., etc.
The second, the Patri one, is "the Lesser Doxology," and Christians have treasured it for centuries. Most main-line Protestants sing it in metric form every Sunday morning right after the reading of the scripture (most usually, the Gospel selection) appointed for that day: Glory be to the Father and the Son and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, so it is now and so it shall be forever. Amen, Amen."
While the Greater Gloria has its clear roots in the song of the Angels on Christmas morning, the Lesser Gloria really has a more intriguing history. In Judaism, there was a doxology or a form of blessing God that was deeply woven into worship. Our early Christian forebears, being themselves devout Jews, continued that practice. Look, for instance, at Romans 16 in a study bible, and usually you will find the last three verses marked off as a "Doxology." It is verse 27, however, that is the Patri, or the early adaptation of the Jewish blessing over into Christian use. You can find the same thing--of a similar one, anyway--in Philippians 4:20. Or go to Revelations to 5:13 and see the Patri as it is understood by the time of the writing of the Apocalypse.
But the important thing is that the basic doxology was blended very early in the Church's history with the Great Commission on Matthew 28:19: Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations; baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
It is hard for us as contemporary, Western Christians, to understand how bitter was the fight in the early fourth century between the half of the Church who believed God was God while Christ and the Holy Spirit were only lesser or appointed agents of God, and the other half of the Church who held that God was of three co-eternal and co-equal parties, namely God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. The fight between the two halves led to excommunications, bloodshed, and even executions. Finally, in 325 c.e, an ecumenical council was convened to decide the issue. Quite literally, Christianity's future lay in the balance.
When finally the arguments were all heard and the vote was taken, the Council determined, based in no small part on Matthew 28:19, that God was of three co-eternal parts. They decided, in other words, that Jesus was indeed "God among us" and to be reverenced as the Almighty in human form. It was a powerful moment...perhaps the most powerful in the Church's earthly history. And across it burst the words: Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, so it is now and so it shall ever be.
It is this immense assertion of inextricable trinity and of the Christ as God that we celebrate...that we shout, in fact...every time we re-speak the words of our fathers as they arrived at that defining moment.
Now, to return to a less heady level. The Church over the centuries has diddled back and forth about the "rules" for when the Gloria should and should not, may and may not, be used. Because it is so exquisitely important, the poor Gloria has endured all these rules and changes of rules in good spirit.
In general, the Gloria is now used at any time that a Christian (or a prayer manual, for that matter) feels like shouting to God in joy and praise or just in simple assertion of a beautiful understanding. There have been periods, however, when various branches of the Church have found the Gloria to be so precious and so joyous as to be inappropriate during Lent or the last days of Holy Week, or Advent, or at services for the dead, etc.
Accordingly, manuals like TDH, simply note somewhere in the beginning of the offices for those seasons or occasions that some Christians may wish to omit the Gloria until the time of mourning or preparation or penitance has passed. I can, for instance, remember with tears in my eyes to this very day how glorious it was thirty and forty years ago on Easter morning to at last break forth into the resounding chords of "Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost!' After all those seven weeks of not being able to assert my faith, the words rose up out of me like all of time itself were rushing forth....but enough. You see why I loved your question and blessed you for it.
Phyllis Tickle
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