A detail from ‘Prayer in a Time of Drought’ by Grigoriy Myasoyedov (1834–1911), painted in 1878-1881. The crisis that produced the Trisagion Hymn was not a drought in Kharkov (Myasoyedev lived on a farm nearby) but an earthquake at Constantinople, capital of the Roman Empire. It happened on one September 24th sometime between 434 and 446, roughly when St Patrick was training for the priesthood in France and about twenty to thirty years after the Roman Empire, under pressure to defend itself, had abandoned the Province of Britannia.
Part 1 of 2
NOW, those who have compiled the history of the Church say that in the time of Archbishop Proclus [434-446], the people of Constantinople were singing a litany to avert a grave threat brought by heaven,* when a child was taken up out of the crowd and under some kind of angelic training* was taught the Thrice-Holy Hymn: ‘Holy God, Holy Strong, Holy Immortal, have mercy upon us.’
When the child came back again and communicated what he had learnt, the whole crowd sang the hymn and the threat was averted. And it has been handed down to us that the Thrice-Holy Hymn was also sung in this manner at the holy and great Fourth Ecumenical Council — that which was held in Chalcedon, I mean — for so it is reported in the acts of this same holy council.*
* The threat was an earthquake. We are told that it took place on September 24th but we are not told the year. We do know that it happened during the tenure of Patriarch Proclus, Archbishop of Constantinople from 434 to 446.
* The child was not simply taught the words, we gather, but a chant to go with them. Sadly, much of the church music of the Imperial church was handed on from master to pupil without being written down, and was lost when the Roman Empire fell to the Turks in 1453.
* The Council of Chalcedon near Constantinople was held in 451, and affirmed that Christ is both human and divine, so that the Virgin Mary may properly be called the Birthgiver of God (in Greek, theotókos). The Council’s Acts record that after the Patriarch of Alexandria, Dioscorus, was deposed by the other bishops, “the most devout Oriental bishops and those with them said: ‘Many years to the senate! Holy God, Holy Almighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us’.” It is our earliest record of the hymn. The majority believed that Dioscorus and those who shared his opinion were failing to do justice to the reality of Christ’s humanity as attested by Scripture.
Précis
In 451, the bishops assembled for the Council of Chalcedon sang a hymn, ‘Holy God, holy strong, holy immortal, have mercy upon us’. Tradition adds, St John Damascene tells us, that one September a few years before, angels had taught the hymn to a little child during an earthquake in Constantinople, and when everyone sang it the earthquake stopped. (58 / 60 words)
Part Two
Detail from ‘An Apostle with folded Hands’ by Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641), painted in 1618-1620, shortly before his first visit to England: he returned in 1632 to become court painter to King Charles I. The revelation of the Trisagion Hymn was not the last time that God stepped in to help the people of Constantinople. ‘To my Champion and Commander’, a prayer to the Virgin Mary, was sung during an Arab assault in about 866, and in 907, when besieged by the heathens of Kiev, the people were again taught to trust in the Virgin’s protection: see Our Lady’s Mantle. That made it all the worse when, hard-pressed by the Turks, the Emperors chose instead to trust to promises of Western military support. See The Fall of Constantinople.
So it is really laughable and childish for the Thrice-Holy Hymn, which was taught by the angels, confirmed by the abatement of the disturbance, ratified and guaranteed by the council of so many holy Fathers, and sung first of all by the seraphim to express the Godhead in three Persons,* to have been trampled upon, as it were, and supposedly corrected by the absurd conceit of the Fuller* — as if setting himself above the seraphim!* Oh, what presumption — not to say madness! But we will say it like this, though the demons burst: ‘Holy God, Holy Strong, Holy Immortal, have mercy upon us.’
* John Damascene is recalling the vision of Isaiah, who saw the throne of God attended by six seraphim. “Each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory”. See Isaiah 6:1-3.
* Peter, abrasive and much-contested Patriarch of Antioch from 471-488, had formerly been employed as a fuller (a bleacher of cloth). Peter compelled his clergy to say, “Holy God, holy strong, holy immortal, who was crucified for us, have mercy on us.” His worry was that some fashionable clergy in Constantinople split Christ into two, a Son of God and a son of man linked so tenuously that (they said) the Son of God did not suffer birth or death any more than a king suffers when his statue is defaced. That was certainly heresy of the grossest sort, but Peter’s addition either made the Trisagion about the Son of God only, which nobody had ever thought it was, or implied that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit had all been crucified, which utterly mangled the doctrine of the Trinity and the stories of Christmas and Easter. Either way, it was at best presumption, and at worst heresy itself.
Précis
The pedigree of the hymn, traced back by John Damascene not only to the Council and the stilling of the earthquake, but even to the vision of Isaiah, was such that he could not conceive how Peter of Antioch could have presumed to alter it so soon, and so clumsily. John vowed to sing the unadulterated version, come what may. (60 / 60 words)
