What is the Sanctus?
Here is the liturgy (listen here):
Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven we laud and magnify Your glorious name, evermore praising You and singing:
Holy, holy, holy Lord,
God of power and might!
Heaven and earth, are full of Your glory!
Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is He, who comes in the name, the name of the Lord!
Where do these words come from and why would we say them before receiving the gift of the Lord’s Supper?
The words are not only directly from Scripture but also words sung by the angelic host known as seraphim (seraphim means burning). We see a description of their presence before the throne of God in Isaiah 6:1-2,
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
The Lord God is sitting upon His throne and above Him stand seraphim who are described as having six wings! The reverence and honor they show to our holy God is seen in that they use their wings to cover their face and feet. Verse 3 goes on to describe an anthem they declare back and forth among themselves.
3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
The word holy in Hebrew is Qodesh and means to be set apart. The triple use of the word amplifies it’s meaning to declare that you can’t get anymore set apart than God! To describe the purest form of gold they would say, "gold, gold, gold” and that would mean it is the purest of purest. To say that God is “holy, holy, holy” is to say He is set apart from anything else. This is why they response with such reverent worship to cover their face and feet.
We see the same worship and words being used to worship God in Revelation 4:8,
8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,
“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!”
Every Sunday we join our voices with the angelic host (seraphim) and all saints who have gone before us with this anthem - Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Power and Might!
The Purifying Fire of the Eucharist
Before moving on the to second half of the Sanctus, notice that one of the seraphs carries out an act of ritual purification for the prophet Isaiah by touching his lips with a live coal from the altar (verses 6–7):
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
The placement of the Sanctus is very intentional in that we also recognize that as we receive Christ’s body and blood we receive forgiveness, cleanings and healing, not from a burning coal but from Christ himself!
St. Cyril of Alexandria, a brilliant theologian and Egyptian archbishop who died about A.D. 444. Discoursing on the spiritual meaning of the call of Isaiah, says:
One of the seraphim is sent to Isaiah with a burning coal which he took from the altar with tongs. This is clearly a symbol of Christ, who, on our behalf, offered himself up to God the Father as a pure and unblemished spiritual sacrifice with a most pleasing fragrance. In the same way, Christ is received from the altar. We must, however, explain why Christ is like a burning coal. It is customary in Holy Scripture for the divine nature to be likened to fire. God appeared in this way to the people of Israel as they stood before the Lord at Horeb, which is Mount Sinai.
A similar interpretation of the call of Isaiah is offered by St. John of Damascus, a priest and monk from Syria who lived at the Mar Saba monastery in Palestine until his death in A.D. 749. Insisting upon the actual presence of Christ’s body and blood in Holy Communion, he exhorts communicants:
Wherefore, in all fear and with a pure conscience and undoubting faith let us approach . . . let us receive the body of the Crucified One. With eyes, lips, and faces turned toward it, let us receive the divine burning coal, so that the fire of the coal may be added to the desire within us to consume our sins and enlighten our hearts, and so that by this communion of the divine fire we may be set afire and deified.
Every Sunday in the Divine Service we enter into God’s presence before the altar and receive a cleansing and purifying gift from God in the Holy Eucharist! Next time you receive the body and blood of our Lord reflect upon the imagery here of the cleansing burning coal.
Hosanna
But that only explains half of the Sanctus we say, what about the other half?
Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is He, who comes in the name, the name of the Lord!
The phrase hosanna in the highest appears only twice in the Bible, once in Matthew and again in Mark, during the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. The people were crowded around the gate watching Jesus enter the city, and they were celebrating and calling out, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (Matthew 21:9).
The word hosanna comes from a Hebrew word meaning “save now” or “save us, we pray.” The first word of Psalm 118:25 is translated “Save us!” and the crowd’s use of this word at the triumphal entry was significant—especially as they waved palm branches (Psalm 118 was associated with the Feast of Tabernacles). By saying “hosanna” as Jesus passed through the gates of Jerusalem and referring to David and David’s kingdom, the Jews were acknowledging Jesus as their Messiah. Unknowingly they were also welcoming the “tabernacling” of God with and among His people.
In the Highest
By saying “in the highest,” the crowd was invoking heaven’s blessing on them and the salvation that the Messiah was bringing. The phrase also echoes the song of the angels in Luke 2:14: “Glory to God in the highest.” To paraphrase the shouts of the crowd: “Save us, our Messiah, who comes to fulfill God’s mission! Save us, we beseech you, as you take your rightful throne and extend heaven’s salvation to us!”
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord
Psalm 118 is one of the Hallel psalms, also called the “Egyptian Hallel,” a short series of psalms (Psalm 113—118) incorporated in the celebration of the Passover. The final psalm is sung in the festive processional as the people enter the temple gates to worship. In Psalm 118:26, the congregation welcomes the vindicated king, singing, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD. From the house of the LORD we bless you.”
Originally, this psalm depicted Israel’s exodus journey from Egypt to their eventual arrival at Mount Zion. But its celebratory welcoming of the king was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. All four gospels quote Psalm 118:26: “Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting, ‘Praise God for the Son of David! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the LORD! Praise God in highest heaven!’”
As we come to the altar we say these words because we welcome Christ in our midst!
We declare Hosanna in the highest because we look to Jesus alone to save us who comes to us through his incarnation and ongoing presence through the Lord’s Supper.
We declare Blessed is He (Christ) because is the long awaited King that would bring and has brought deliverance to His people.