(Gk. and Lat. doxologia: ‘giving of glory’, from Gk. doxa: ‘glory’ and logos: ‘word’).
Liturgical formula of praise, usually occurring at the close of a prayer. Of Semitic origin, doxologies appear in the Old Testament texts. Each of the first four books of the Psalter ends with a doxology (xli.13, lxxii.18–19, lxxxix.52, cvi.48) and Psalms cxlvi–cl could be considered an extended doxology, concluding both the fifth book and the whole of the Psalter. The New Testament is filled with doxologies, many of them with no Christological reference (e.g. Luke ii.14 and Romans xi.36), which are at least based on Jewish precedents if not borrowed directly from Jewish practice of the period. At the same time Christian doxologies emerged that were specifically Christological (e.g. Romans xvi.27, Didache ix.4) or Trinitarian (e.g. the Oxyrhynchus hymn fragment). Most early Christian doxologies concluded with ‘Amen’, a pattern that continues to the present day.
While there is common agreement that doxological precedents in Judaism exist and that there are many doxologies in the New Testament, there is no unanimity as regards the definition of the form. Some contend that a true doxology must include the Greek doxa or its equivalent in another language (e.g. kavod in Hebrew), whereas others would include within the category any praise formula containing the idea of God's eternity (Heinemann, p.135). The former would admit to very few doxologies in Synagogue worship of any era, one exception being the qeddushah; the latter would allow other texts under the rubric of doxology, such as those eulogy-like phrases that are part of the qaddish.
In Christianity doxologies sealed orations and eucharistic prayers, as well as homilies and letters, particularly among Greek-speaking Christians. The 4th-century Arians were aware of the popularity of the genre, especially the form ‘Glory to the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit’, which they used in support of their claim that the Son was subordinate to the Father. The orthodox party protested that the Arians had misinterpreted the mediatory position of the Son in this text, and to avoid future misinterpretation they adopted a doxological form based on the baptismal formula in Matthew xxviii.19, which clearly expressed the equality of the three persons of the Trinity: ‘Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit’.
The second phrase of this ‘lesser’ doxology or ‘Gloria Patri’ (in contradistinction to the ‘greater’ doxology or ‘Gloria in excelsis Deo’) asserts that God's glory will last forever; the history of this phrase is obscure, although a tendency to continue the doxology in such a manner is already evident in the New Testament (e.g. 1 Timothy i.17). While there was no strict uniformity in the East, common patterns for sealing the Trinitarian invocation emerged, such as ‘now and always and unto the ages of ages’, in the Byzantine tradition. A slight variant of this text already appeared in 215 ce in the Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus. It is probable that a similar pattern was originally followed in the West. However, the Second Synod of Vaison of 529 provides some evidence (canon 5) that ‘Sicut erat in principio’ had become the common seal to the lesser doxology in Rome, Gaul and probably Africa. An exception to this usage occurred in Spain where the Fourth Council of Toledo of 633 (canon 15) imposed the form ‘Gloria et honor Patri et Filio et Spiritui sancto in saecula saeculorum’.
In the Roman rite, Anglican and Lutheran worship and some other Protestant traditions, the lesser doxology ordinarily concludes all psalms and canticles in the Office and follows the opening versicle ‘O God, come to our assistance’ (‘Deus in adjutorium’). In the Roman rite, from the time of Amalarius of Metz (d c850), the first part of this doxology is also employed in the Office responsories. In the Byzantine Office, the ‘Glory be’ (the term ‘lesser doxology’ is not used in the Orthodox tradition) serves as part of the opening and closing prayers and most frequently occurs after each antiphon (i.e. a series of psalm verses, each with a refrain of ecclesiastical composition).
The triple use of the lesser doxology in the Western medieval Mass (after the ‘Judica me’, as part of the introit and at the end of the lavabo) was eliminated in the Roman rite with the 1969 Missal, although the current rite and certain Protestant traditions maintain a doxology after the eucharistic prayer and the Lord's Prayer. Doxologies also punctuate the Eucharists of various Eastern rites. In the Byzantine liturgy, for example, the Eucharist begins with a doxology, and there are many others during the rite (e.g. after the litany of peace, the hymn Ho monogenēs huios, the ektenē (litany), the Cheroubikon, the anaphora and the Lord's Prayer).
Outside the Eucharist and the Offices, doxologies punctuated a wide variety of prayers and rituals, from their customary inclusion at the close of the Laudes regiae to their role in separating each decade of the rosary. Doxologies have occurred with such frequency in Christian worship that often the full text was not copied in liturgical books. The most common abbreviation for the lesser doxology in the West has been Evovae, derived from the last vowels of the text (‘seculorum. Amen’).
Since a doxology ordinarily concludes a psalm, hymn or other prayer, its musical setting (whether monophonic or, since the Notre Dame repertory, polyphonic) is generally determined by the music of the text with which it is associated. This also holds true for the metrical hymn which, from virtually its first appearance in Christianity, was sealed with a doxology (e.g. Aeterne rerum conditor of St Ambrose). Occasionally, however, a doxology will receive an independent musical setting (e.g. the chorus ‘Worthy is the Lamb’ from Handel's Messiah). Furthermore, some independent texts such as the Te decet laus and the Te Deum (both proscribed in the Rule of St Benedict from use in the Offices), each with its own music, may also be considered doxologies.
While there was virtually no textual modification of the lesser doxology within the Western Eucharist, considerable textual variation marked the doxologies of Office hymns, many of which might refer to a particular season, feast or saint (e.g. the doxology that seals Te splendor et virtus Patris for St Michael). As a result of the 16th-century Protestant Reformation, doxologies were devised for each metre used in the versification of psalms and hymns. All sanctoral references, however, were eliminated from the doxologies of Reformed Churches (some Churches abandoned the doxology altogether), and in recent reforms the Roman rite has removed many such references too.
F.E. Warren and J. Julian: ‘Doxologies’, A Dictionary of Hymnology, ed. J. Julian (London, 1892, 2/1907/R), 308–10
H. Leclercq: ‘Doxologies’, Dictionnaire d'archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie, ed. F. Cabrol and H. Leclercq, iv (1920), 1525–36
J. Jungmann: Die Stellung Christi im liturgischen Gebet (Münster, 1925, 2/1962; Eng. trans., 1965/R), esp. chap.11
M. Righetti: Manuale di storia liturgica, i (Milan, 1944, 3/1964), 235–45
A. Stuiber: ‘Doxologie’, Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum, ed. T. Klauser, iv (Stuttgart, 1959), 210–22
R. Deichgräber: Gotteshymnus und Christushymnus in der frühen Christenheit (Göttingen, 1967), 25–40
J. Heinemann: Prayer in the Talmud: Forms and Patterns (Berlin and New York, 1977)
EDWARD FOLEY