Sanctus

In Greek

Ἅγιος, ἅγιος, ἅγιος Κύριος Σαβαώθ· πλήρης ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ τῆς δόξης σου, ὡσαννὰ ἐν τοῖς ὑψίστοις. Εὐλογημένος ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἐν ὀνόματι Κυρίου. Ὡσαννὰ (ὁ) ἐν τοῖς ὑψίστοις.

In the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and the Liturgy of St. Basil:

In the Liturgy of St. James:

In Latin

In the Roman Rite:

In the Mozarabic Rite:

In English

The Sanctus appears thus in the 1549 Book of Common Prayer (and as set to music by John Merbecke in 1550):

In the 1559 BCP it appears without the Benedictus:

English version of some Lutherans:

In 1973 the International Consultation on English Texts (ICET) produced an ecumenical version that at that time was adopted by Catholics, Anglicans and others:

Since 2011 the Roman Missal in English has:

According to the liturgy of Ss. Addai and Mari (used by the Assyrian Church of the East):

Hymn forms in Eastern liturgies

The present form of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, the primary liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox Church, reads (when in Greek) the following text:

The above differs from the Roman Rite Latin text

in that the Latin adds to the word Dominus (Lord), which is the regular Latin translation of יהוה, the Deus (God), which is found in neither the Greek nor the Latin translations nor in the original text of Isaiah 6:3, but is found in Revelation 4:8: "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!"

in that the Latin has the plural caeli, and the Greek the singular οὐρανός for the mention of "heaven", which appears in neither the Latin nor the Greek translation of Isaiah 6:3.

in that the Greek gives two different forms of the phrase corresponding to Hosanna in excelsis, the second one including an ὁ article. The article is not found in Matthew 21:9. The form of the hymn without the article is also used in the Greek Liturgy of Saint James, and in modern settings, practises and contexts.

The Liturgy of Saint Basil of the Eastern Orthodox Church has the same form of the Sanctus as the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom, with its two variants of the Hosanna phrase.

In older Greek liturgical manuscripts, various forms of the hymn are attested; the ones that will follow below, belong to the ones edited by Swainson in his 1884 book The Greek liturgies; among these forms, there are variations of the hymn being composed of practically only the Old testament part. Others include:
In the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom, one of them excludes not only the article ὁ, but also the article «τῆς»:

The Liturgy of Saint James as given in Swainson reads as follows:

This text not only omits the article ὁ that is used in the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom, but also has Kyrie (vocative case) where the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom has Kyrios (nominative).

In current use, the Liturgy of Saint James may use the nominative rather than the vocative case of Κύριος; the article ὁ is also not present in this form at the concluding Hosanna.

Moreover, a different variant of the Liturgy of Saint James is found in the margin of a manuscript that gives only the three words Ἅγιος, ἅγιος, ἅγιος in the body: "In the margin, much abbreviated, may be discerned the following: Κύριος σαβαώθ, πλήρης ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ τῆς δόξης σου. Ὡσαννὰ ἐν τοῖς ὑψίστοις· εὐλογημένος ὁ ἐλθὼν καὶ ἐρχόμενος ἐν ὀνόματι Κυρίου· ὡσαννὰ ἐν τοῖς ὑψίστοις. This produces the text:

This version adds "he who came and" before "he who comes"; in this it resembles the Liturgy of Saint James in the tradition of the Syriac Orthodox Church:

The Syriac Orthodox Church also has what it calls the Liturgy of Saint Dionysius, in which the Hosanna phrase appears only at the end:

The form used in the ancient Liturgy of Addai and Mari is much shorter:

The Coptic version of the Liturgy of Saint Basil also gives a short text of what it calls the Hymn of the Seraphim:

Alternative ancient names and ancient secrecy

The priest's introductions, following the rubrics that set what should be done by whom with each passage, uniformly call the hymn the ἐπινίκιος ὕμνος, i.e. "the hymn of victory". On the other hand, it used to be that, as Swainson notes about an attested variant form wherein only Ἅγιος, ἅγιος, ἅγιος is being quoted:

In the margin, much abbreviated, may be discerned the following: Κύριος σαβαώθ, πλήρης ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ τῆς δόξης σου. Ὡσαννὰ ἐν τοῖς ὑψίστοις· εὐλογημένος ὁ ἐλθὼν καὶ ἐρχόμενος ἐν ὀνόματι Κυρίου· ὡσαννὰ ἐν τοῖς ὑψίστοις. Chrysostom frequently refers to this: sometimes as τὸ μυστικὸν μέλος; sometimes as ὁ πανάγιος ὕμνος; sometimes as the τρισάγιος ὕμνος. The knowledge of it as a whole was confined to the faithful.

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth; pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of Hosts; Heaven and earth are full of Your glory. Hosanna in excelsis Hosanna in the highest Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord

Hosanna in excelsis

Musical settings

The Sanctus has been set to numerous plainchant melodies, many of which are given in the Roman Missal, and many more composers have set it to polyphonic music, both in single settings and as part of cyclic mass settings. In addition, music duo Simon and Garfunkel adapted the second to last line of the hymn in Latin into their song, "Benedictus" on the 1964 album Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M..

Accompanying gestures

In the Tridentine Mass the priest joins his hands while saying the word "Sanctus" and then, bowing, continues to recite the whole of the Sanctus in a lower voice, while a small bell is rung; then, on reaching the words "Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini", he stands erect again and makes the Sign of the Cross. He then continues immediately with the Canon of the Mass, while the choir, if there is one, sings the Sanctus, pausing for the Consecration and continuing with the Benedictus part afterwards. As a result of this division, the Sanctus has sometimes been spoken of as "Sanctus and Benedictus". a However, the Vatican Gradual has consistently forbid the splitting of the Sanctus since the 1800start with the rubric ("De ritibus servandis in cantu missæ, VII).

In the Mass revised in line with the Second Vatican Council, the only ceremony prescribed for the priest is to join his hands. He and the people sing or recite together the whole of the Sanctus, before the priest continues the Eucharistic Prayer.