All people who use The Book of Common Prayer are familiar with what is referred to as Gloria Patri.

Before and after the praying of the Psalms in the Morning and Evening Services the Gloria Patri is recited. Further, it is also recited at the end of the Canticles.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

The discipline of reciting the Gloria Patri reaches back at least to the fifth century in the daily worship of the Christian Church.

Several observations may be made upon this Doxology and its use.

1. The Gloria Patri is an act of praise not of thanksgiving. Thanking for God his mercies and blessings is a most appropriate activity for baptized Christians. It is a privilege and a duty. However, Praising God is a more profound activity of the soul for in praise God is being glorified for the revelation of His Nature and Character in the giving of blessings and mercies. "Glory" is a word used in Christian discourse to refer to the unique nature of God and to the unique praise and adoration that he deserves.

2. Using the Gloria Patri in relation to the Psalter means that the Psalms are not being understood (a) in terms of the original intention of their authors, or (b) in terms of Jewish interpretation in the time of Jesus. Rather they are being used specifically as Christian Prayer, prayed by those who are united in the Body of Christ to Jesus Christ himself. They were the prayers of Jesus in the flesh in Judea and Galilee on earth, and they remain the prayers of Jesus as the exalted High Priest in heaven. Using the Psalter His people pray in and with the Lord Jesus Christ.

3. The doctrine of the Blessed, Holy and Undivided Trinity being proclaimed in the Gloria Patri is that dogma contained in the Nicene Creed and made more explicit in the western Church in the Quicunque Vult (Athanasian Creed). One and the same glory is offered to each and all of the Three Persons (the Father & the Son & the Holy Ghost) for all possess wholly and undiminished the one divine substance (deity, godhead). If we remove the word "and" and insert one or another preposition (e.g., through, by, with) we run the danger of undermining the orthodox dogma of the Holy Trinity and creating "Arianism", which is a form of tritheism. Likewise, if in the interests of political correctness, we insert "Creator and Redeemer and Sanctifier" instead of "the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost", we run the danger of undermining the orthodox teaching.

4. The Church militant on earth, the Church expectant in the intermediate state waiting for the Last Judgment, and the Church triumphant in heaven, that is the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church of God the Father joins as one to praise and magnify the Trinity in this Doxology. Thus it is world without end, unto ages of ages and for ever and ever. Amen.

During the long TRINITY SEASON let us truly and really offer praise and glory to the Blessed, Holy and Undivided Trinity of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost.

Part II
Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto

Those who say the Daily Offices praise the Holy Trinity as they recite after Canticles and before and after the praying of the Psalms, "Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost." In the Early Church there were other forms of the Doxology. Let us go back to the great Cappadocian theologian, Basil, to notice one.

On September 7, 374 St Basil "the Great", Bishop of Caesarea, was praying with his people and glorifying the Holy Trinity in two related but distinct ways:

(1) "Glory to the Father together with the Son and together with the Holy Ghost [Holy Spirit]; (compare "Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost [Holy Spirit].")

(2) "Glory to the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit."

Some people there accused him of being illogical and contradictory in his speech by using the two doxologies.

After pondering what they said and their reasons Basil decided to write a treatise to explain that both doxologies are scriptural and orthodox and necessary. Thus we have his book, "Treatise on the Holy Spirit."

We may say that (1) is a coordinating doxology and is intimately connected to the Great Commission of Jesus [Matthew 28] where he commands that we are to be baptized in "the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." The use of the conjunction "with" or "and" places the Three together on the same divine plane as Three Equals, related in a distinct order, with the Father first in order. And each of the Three receives the same glory as the other Two for each of the Three possesses the one and the same identical Godhead/divine nature. The Doxology using "and" has been used everywhere in the Western Church.

We may say that (2) is a statement of the logic of Christian worship, prayer, service and consecration, which we find stated in many ways in the New Testament and expressed in the great Liturgies of the Church. All is offered to the Father through the one mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Son of the Father, and in the Holy Spirit [in his presence and by his power]. All is so offered because all [creation, redemption etc] has previously come from the Father through the Son and in the Holy Spirit

Further we may say that (1) points to God as God is in Himself and unto Himself as a Trinity of Persons in His own infinity and eternity (what theologians have called "the Immanent Trinity') while (2) points to God as He has made Himself known in the work of creation, salvation, reconciliation and redemption (what theologians have called "the Economic Trinity"). The first is the language suitable to the Confession of Faith (see e.g., the Quicunque Vult) while the second is suitable to the teaching and proclamation of the Gospel.

Now the two forms of the doxology are needed in the one Church to be used by all in order to preserve orthodox Christian understanding of God as The Holy Trinity. If (1) stands alone then the Trinity can seem to be a doctrine that has no practical application to Christian life on earth for God in his Trinitarian bliss is remote. In contrast, if (2) stands alone then it may be interpreted (as did the ancient Arians and Semi-Arians) as meaning that the divinity of the Holy Spirit is an inferior kind to that of the Son and the divinity of the Son is of an inferior kind to that of the Father.

In terms of the history of salvation as we find it set forth in the Canon of the Old and New Testaments, we may say with Bishop Gregory of Nazianzus, a friend of Bishop Basil, that the divinity of the Father is revealed and recognized by the Old Testament, that the divinity of the Son is revealed and recognized by the New Testament, and the divinity of the Holy Ghost while revealed in the New Testament is only fully recognized when the same Spirit is present and active in the Church of God. Thus the full confession of the Holy Trinity and the conscious and systematic giving of glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost as Three Persons, equal and distinct, occurs after the period of the New Testament and in the period of the ancient Fathers.