Anglican Dictionary: K

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Kyrie

From the Greek for the actual name, Kyrie Eleison, which means, “Lord have mercy.” The Kyrie comes after the Ten Commandments or the summary of the law in some more traditional liturgies, to serve as a reminder to us that we cannot, by our own effort, keep the commandments. It is a plea for grace by fallen sinners. In some less penitential contemporary uses there is no recitation of the Ten Commandments, summary of the law, or Kyrie.