The Glory Be: the text of the doxology and why it has two sentences
The prayer
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
In short
The Glory Be, also called the lesser doxology, is the shortest prayer in common use: two sentences. The first names the three persons of the Trinity in the order of baptism. The second, added in the sixth century, states that it was always so — and it was added because of an argument.
- Written by
- Raphael Navarro Schmitt
- Reviewed by
- Maria Luisa Navarro Schmitt
- Published on
- Reading time
- 6 min read
When to pray it
It closes each decade of the rosary and each psalm of the Liturgy of the Hours. Otherwise it works as a prayer of thanks when there is no time for anything longer: under ten seconds, and it asks for nothing at all.
The prayer asks for nothing, and that is rare. Every other prayer on this site has a verb aimed at God in the form of a request — give, forgive, deliver, pray. The Glory Be only states. It is the difference between asking and acknowledging, and it explains the formula’s liturgical job: it closes, and whoever closes is no longer asking.
The order of the names comes from baptism, not from rank. Father, Son and Holy Spirit is the sequence of Matthew 28:19, and that is what fixed the formula. The fourth-century quarrel, in fact, was not about the order but about the prepositions: saying “to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit” is not the same claim as “to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit”, and choosing the first is a theological position taken aloud, every day, by millions of people who do not know it.
In the rosary it has a practical function alongside the devotional one: it marks the end of the decade. Ten Hail Marys in a row dissolve any sense of quantity, and the doxology is where attention returns and the next mystery is announced. Anyone who has lost count while praying knows it is the Glory Be that gives the place back.
Being extremely short, it is the prayer that fits where no other one does — before a meeting, on seeing something beautiful, on getting good news. Ten seconds and no petition is a hard format to refuse, even on days when praying feels like too much.
Where this prayer comes from
When it appeared First sentence, second to fourth centuries; second, sixth century
A doxology is literally a word of glory: a short formula of praise with no petition in it. This one is called the “lesser” to distinguish it from the “greater”, the Gloria in excelsis sung at Mass. The first sentence is very old and grows out of the habit of closing prayers and psalms by naming the three divine persons, in the order of the baptismal formula in Matthew 28.
The shape of that first sentence was disputed in the fourth century. Earlier it was common to say “glory to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit”, with a different preposition for each person. During the Arian controversy that came to be read as a ladder — the Father above, the Son as the one through whom, the Spirit as the one in whom — and the coordinated form, with “and” linking the three as equals, prevailed. Basil of Caesarea devotes much of his treatise on the Holy Spirit, written in 375, to defending both forms as legitimate, which shows how large the quarrel had become.
The second sentence is Western and has a date. The Second Council of Vaison, in Gaul, in 529, ordered that “as it was in the beginning” be added to the praise, and the reason recorded is the persistence of Arianism in the region. The sentence is not describing God’s past out of curiosity: in five words it denies that the Son ever began to exist.
Little-known details
The second sentence is doctrine dressed as praise
The Eastern churches do not say the second sentence
“World without end” no longer means what it says
It is the most repeated formula in the Roman liturgy
What the passages say
19Therefore, go forth and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
The order of the three names in the prayer comes from here, not from a later liturgical preference. Notice that the text says “in the name”, singular, followed by three names — that construction is what the doxology repeats every time it is said.
20Now to him who is able to do all things, more abundantly than we could ever ask or understand, by means of the virtue which is at work in us:
21to him be glory, in the Church and in Christ Jesus, throughout every generation, forever and ever. Amen.
A closing burst of praise from Paul with the same structure as the doxology: the glory ascribed, then its extent in time, “forever and ever”. It is the nearest relative the Glory Be has inside the New Testament.
36For from him, and through him, and in him are all things. To him is glory, for all eternity. Amen.
Another closing formula, more compact still: from him, through him and in him are all things, to him be glory. Three prepositions in one sentence — exactly the kind of construction the fourth-century controversy forced the church to examine word by word.
13The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the charity of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
The blessing that closes the letter names the three persons in a different order from baptism — Jesus, God, Holy Spirit. It shows that the fixed order of the doxology is a later liturgical decision and not a requirement of the biblical text.