Gloria in excelsis Deo

For the Bach cantata, see Gloria in excelsis Deo, BWV 191.
The melody in neume notation

"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[1][2]/Hymn of the Angels.[3] The name is often abbreviated to Gloria in Excelsis or simply Gloria.

Gloria VIII from the Roman Gradual
Gloria VIII
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The hymn begins with the words that the angels sang when announcing the birth of Christ to shepherds in Luke 2:14: Douay-Rheims (in Latin). Other verses were added very early, forming a doxology.[4]

An article by David Flusser links the text of the verse in Luke with ancient Jewish liturgy.[5]

  1. ^ Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford University Press 2005 ISBN 978-0-19-280290-3), article Gloria in Excelsis
  2. ^ "Encyclopædia Britannica". Britannica.com. Retrieved 2012-03-11.
  3. ^ ""Hymn of the Angels", North American Diocese of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church".
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference CE was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ English translation of an article that originally appeared in Unser Vater: Juden und Christen im Gespräch über die Bibel: Festschrift für Otto Michel zum 60. Geburststag (ed. Otto Betz, Martin Hengel, and Peter Schmidt; Leiden: Brill, 1963), 129–152