498 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 239. 



RUSSIAN "TE DEUM. 



(Vol. ix., p. 325.) 



The following is a translation of this Greek 

 doxology, as contained in the Prayer-Book of the 

 Greek Church, under the title 'npo\6yiov to t^eya, 

 BtvaTia, Tuiroy. NtKoAaov TKvkt], 1845, p. 75. : 



1. Glory to Thee, the Giver of light. 



2. Glory to God on high, and on earth peace, good- 



will towards men. 



3. We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we worship";Thee, 



we glorify Thee, we give thanks to Thee for 

 Thy great glory ; 



4. O Lord King, heavenly God, Father Almighty, 



O Lord, only- begotten Son Jesus Christ, and 

 Holy Spirit. 



5. O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, 



that taketh away the sin of the world; have 

 mercy upon us, Thou that takest away the sins 

 of the world. 



6. Accept our prayer ; Thou that sittest at the 



Father's right hand, have mercy on us : 



7. For Thou only art holy ; Thou only, Lord Jesus 



Christ, art in the glory of God the Father. 

 Amen. 



8. Day by day I bless Thee, and I praise Thy name 



for ever, and for all eternity. 



9. Vouchsafe, Lord, this day to keep me sinless. 



10. Blessed art Thou, Lord, the God of our fathers ; 



and praised and glorified be Thy name for ever. 

 Amen. 



11. Lord, let Thy mercy be on us, as we trust in 



Thee. 



12. Blessed art Thou, Lord : teach me Thy statutes. 

 IS. Lord, Thou hast been our refuge from one gene- 

 ration to another. 



1 4. I said, Lord be merciful unto me ; heal my soul, 



for I have sinned against Thee. 



15. Lord, I fly to Thee; teach me to do Thy will, for 



Thou art my God: 



16. For with Thee is a well of life ; in Thy light shall 



we see light. 



17. Extend Thy mercy to them that know Thee. 



18. O holy God, holy Strength, holy Immortal, have 



mercy on us. Amen. 



Verses 2. to 7. are identical with the Gloria in 

 JExcelsis, or the Angelic Hymn, sung at the con- 

 clusion of the Lord's Supper in the Anglican 

 Church, but which commences the Mass in the 

 Romish Church. It is of great antiquity, being 

 attributed to Telesphorus, a.d. 139, and is found 

 in the Apostolic Constitutions, vii. c. 48. 



Verses 8, 9. 11. are the same as in the Latin 

 Te Deum. 



Verse 12. is from Psalm cxix. 12. 



Verse 13. is from Psalm xc. 1. 



Verse 14. is from Psalm xli. 4. 



Verse 15. is from Psalm cxliii. 9, 10. 



Verse 16. is from Psalm xxxvi. 9. 



Verse 17. is from Psalm xxxvi. 10. 



T. J. BtJCKTON. 

 Lichfield. 



In answer to your correspondent Honore de 

 Mareville's Query regarding the Te Deum as 

 sung in Russia, I beg to inform him that in 

 whatever language the Emperor Nicholas is most 

 familiar with this hymn, it is sung in all their 

 churches in Sclavonic, which is only intelligible 

 to the priests and a very small number of the 

 laity, the mass of the people being quite ignorant 

 of this old language. All the services in Russian 

 churches are performed in Sclavonic. 



The Old Testament is not permitted to be read 

 by the people in modern Russ, by command of 

 the Emperor ; it is circulated sparingly in Scla- 

 vonic, which is of course useless to most of the 

 people, for the reason named above. The New 

 Testament is, however, allowed to circulate in 

 modern Russ, and not half the population can 

 read that, perhaps not more than a third. 



With regard to their images or pictures (al- 

 luded to by me in Vol. viii., p. 582.), I had not only 

 perused the works mentioned by G. W. (Vol. ix., 

 p. 86.) before I wrote about the Russian religion, 

 &c, but several other works besides.* 



Having been in the country for some little 

 tima, and paid some attention to the subject, I 

 was certainly surprised to find little, if any, men- 

 tion made of their manner of worship or super- 

 stitious customs in Dr. Blackmore's works, and 

 wished to contribute my mite towards giving your 

 readers some information as to the state of this 

 semi-civilised race. 



From Translations of Russian Works you can 

 glean nothing but what the Russian government 

 chooses, as every work goes through a severe 

 censorship before it is allowed to be printed for 

 circulation ; and if there is anything in it that is 

 not liked, it is not permitted to be published 

 unless those parts are suppressed. 



It is perhaps only partially known that there 

 is some difficulty in getting English books and 

 newspapers into Russia, as all must go through 

 the censor's office. The Times (which is however 

 all but, if not quite, prohibited at St. Petersburg, 

 and has been so a long time), Punch, and others 

 of our papers, possess a ludicrous appearance after 

 having passed through the hands of the worthies 

 in the censor's office, sometimes there being very 

 little left of them to read. 



Whilst writing about images, I omitted to name 

 one or two other circumstances that have come 

 under my own notice, showing still farther the 

 superstitious veneration in which they are held 

 by the Russians. 



In the case of a house on fire, one of the in- 

 mates, with his head uncovered, carries the image 

 three times round the burning house, under the 



* Owing to an error in my original MS., or of the 

 printers, they were called the "gods," instead of their 

 gods, answering to the ancient penates. 



