Lord have mercy/Memory Eternal

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RileyG

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I notice many Eastern Catholics (and Orthodox as well) say “Lord have mercy” on prayer petitions a lot. Is that the norm when someone asks you to pray for them? Yes, Lord have mercy!

Also, What exactly is “memory eternal”?. Is it like “Eternal Rest O LORD…” etc? What exactly does it mean?

Thanks! 🙂
 
“Lord have mercy” is the English translation of “Kyrie Eleison”. This is the norm for the litanies, although it is perfectly appropriate in personal prayer (notably appearing in a personal version in the Jesus prayer).
 
“Lord have mercy” is the English translation of “Kyrie Eleison”. This is the norm for the litanies, although it is perfectly appropriate in personal prayer (notably appearing in a personal version in the Jesus prayer).
Yes. Kyrie Eleision. + (Lord, have mercy).

So, it is asking for God’s mercy during petitions, basically?

Awesome!

Thanks for your answer. 🙂
 
I notice many Eastern Catholics (and Orthodox as well) say “Lord have mercy” on prayer petitions a lot. Is that the norm when someone asks you to pray for them? Yes, Lord have mercy!

Also, What exactly is “memory eternal”?. Is it like “Eternal Rest O LORD…” etc? What exactly does it mean?

Thanks! 🙂
As I understand it, it’s origins are jewish. Keep in mind that, in the old Jewish system, there was no particular Hell for mortals - One has life because God remembers you. Sheol is a place of dreamless sleep… if God forgets you, you never awaken, never dream, never experience life within you.

to quote a source that agrees with that view, from OCA.org (the official website of the Orthodox Church of America:
It has to be noted here that this song, contrary to the common understanding of it, is the supplication that God would remember the dead, for in the Bible it is God’s “eternal memory” which keeps man alive. Sheol or Hades or the Pit, the biblical realm of the dead also called Abaddon, is the condition of forsakenness and forgottenness by God. It is the situation of non-life since in such a condition no one can praise the Lord; and the praise of the Lord is the only content and purpose of man’s life; it is the very reason for his existence. Thus, this most famous and final of the Orthodox funeral hymns is the prayer that the departed be eternally alive in the “eternal rest” of the “eternal memory” of God—all of which is made possible and actual by the resurrection of Jesus Christ which is the destruction of the Pit of Death by the splendor of Divine Righteousness and Life (see Ps 88; Hos 13:14; 1 Cori 15; Eph 4:9; Phil 2:5-11; 1 Pet 3).

The American Carpetho-Rusyn Orthodox Diocese notes that Eternal Memory means that you will be known when you approach the gates.

oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith/worship/the-sacraments/funeral
acrod.org/readingroom/worship/eternal-memory
 
The norm for the Roman liturgy for the prayers of the people is to respond “Kyrie Eleison”. “Lord hear our prayer” is option B.
 
Whenever the Deacon (or in the case of there being no Deacon, the Priest) completes a petition with “let us pray to the Lord”, the response of the faithful is “Lord, Have Mercy”. If the petition is completed with “let us ask of the Lord”, the response of the faithful is “Grant this, O Lord”. If the petition is calling to remembrance those who have gone to their eternal rest, the response of the faithful is “Eternal be their Memory” or some variation thereof. Another response of the faithful that is often not explicitly published in the text, but is an ancient pious custom is that of “Most Holy Theotokos, save us” when the petition calls us to remembrance of the Panagia, the Ever-Virgin Mary.

Throughout various services, you will commonly hear both All-Holy and Most Holy prefixed to the Theotokos. The difference is in the Greek construction of the associated words: Υπεραγια & Παναγια. (Yperagia, Panagia which mean All-Holy, and Most Holy). Regardless of English simplification, Theotokos does not mean Mother of God. This is evident in the term that is preserved for Mother of God in any icon of the Theotokos, which states in shorthand: Mitir Theou. Theotokos specifically refers to she who gave birth to God. There is something very intentional and theologically defining when we preserve the proper uses and definitions of these blessed terms. It irks me when they get mixed up, even when referring to the same person.
 
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