"Gloria in excelsis Deo" гимні және Бахтың кантатасы

Christian hymn
the Bach cantata

"Gloria in excelsis Deo" (Latin for "Glory to God in the highest") is a Christian hymn known also as the Greater Doxology (as distinguished from the "Minor Doxology" or Gloria Patri) and the Angelic Hymn/Hymn of the Angels. The name is often abbreviated to Gloria in Excelsis or simply Gloria. The hymn begins with the words that the angels sang when announcing the birth of Christ to shepherds in : Douay Rheims (in Latin). Other verses were added very early, forming a doxology.

Gloria in excelsis Deo is an example of the psalmi idiotici ("private psalms", i. e. compositions by individuals in imitation of the biblical Psalter) that were popular in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Other surviving examples of this lyric poetry are the Te Deum and the Phos Hilaron. In the 4th century it became part of morning prayers, and is still recited in the Byzantine Rite Orthros service. The Latin hymn thus uses the word excelsis to translate the Greek word ὑψίστοις – hypsístois (the highest) in : Douay Rheims, not the word altissimis, which Jerome preferred for his translation. However, this word is used near the end: tu solus Altissimus, Iesu Christe (you alone the Most High, Jesus Christ).

In the Byzantine Rite (used by the Eastern Orthodox and some Eastern Catholic Churches), the Gloria is referred to as the Doxology, and there are two forms: the Greater Doxology and the Lesser Doxology. The Greater Doxology is always sung, whereas the Lesser Doxology is read. There are certain textual differences between the two, and the order is somewhat altered in the two forms. The Greater Doxology is used in the Orthros (Matins) on Sundays and feast days. The Lesser Doxology is used at Matins on simple weekdays and at the Apodeipnon (Compline), but not in the Divine Liturgy. The first verse of the hymn is also recited at the dismissal of the Divine Liturgy before the chanting of the "Concluding Canon". A tradition recorded in the Liber Pontificalis attributes to Pope Telesphorus (128–139?) the use of the hymn at the Mass of Christmas Day and to Pope Symmachus (498–514) its use on Sundays and the feasts of martyrs, but only by bishops; the right to use it was later extended to priests, at first only at Easter and on the day of their ordination, but by the end of the 11th century priests, as well as bishops, used it in the Mass on Sundays and feasts outside of Lent and Pre Lent. After the 12th century Advent began to be considered a penitential period in imitation of Lent, to the exclusion therefore of the Gloria in excelsis Deo.

In the Church of England's 1549 edition of the Book of Common Prayer, it was used in the same position as in the Roman Rite but was later moved to the end of the service, immediately before the concluding blessing. At High Mass the priest intones the opening phrase, while the deacon and subdeacon stand behind him; then they join him at the altar and together with him quietly recite the rest of the hymn, after which they sit down and wait for the choir to finish its singing of the same text. The Roman Missal as revised in 1970 simplifies this, saying: "The Gloria is intoned by the priest or, if appropriate, by a cantor or by the choir; but it is sung either by everyone together, or by the people alternately with the choir, or by the choir alone. If not sung, it is to be recited either by all together or by two parts of the congregation responding one to the other." No particular ritual gestures are prescribed.

In the usage of the Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite, the Great Doxology is one of the high points of the festal Matins service. The priest puts on his phelonion (chasuble). When it comes time for the Great Doxology the deacon opens the Holy Doors, and the priest raises his hands orans and exclaims: "Glory to Thee, Who hast shown us the Light! ", and the choir begins chanting the Doxology, while all of the oil lamps and candles in the temple are lit. The Great Doxology concludes with the chanting of the Trisagion and leads into the chanting of the Troparion of the Day. If the bishop is present he vests in his full pontifical vestments for the Great Doxology, and the subdeacons stand behind the Holy Table (altar) holding the lit dikirion and trikirion. When the Lesser Doxology is called for, it is simply said by the reader, the priest does not put on his phelonion, the Holy Doors remain closed and no lamps or candles are lit. The Lesser Doxology does not end with the Trisagion and is followed by an ektenia (litany). In liturgical calendars it is symbolized by a red mis shapen semicircle (with the opening to one side) with three dots inside.