When it is said
It is sung at Great Compline, an evening service of Great Lent. It comes after the canon, a long set of hymns, and is sung again after each verse of Psalm 150.
Where it comes from
No author known
From the book of hours
No writer is named for this hymn, and no one knows when it was written. It stands in the Horologion, the Orthodox book of hours, in the service of Great Compline. The Greek and the Slavonic books have the same words. Isabel Hapgood’s English service book of 1906 prints it too.
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Great Compline (Greek); Isabel F. Hapgood, Service Book (1906), The Office of Grand Compline
Sung loud and slow
The Church Slavonic book of hours asks for it loud and slow, with one choir singing it back to the other. The Greek book ends it with both choirs singing together, more slowly. In Lent, the Russian rule adds a bow from the waist at the hymn and at each of its verses.
Chasoslov (Church Slavonic book of hours), Great Compline, on Azbyka.ru; Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Great Compline (Greek)
Not only in Lent
In Great Compline the Church asks God to keep us this night without sin. It is served in Lent, and on the eves of Christmas and Epiphany it is joined to Matins, the morning service, to make the all-night vigil.
Isabel F. Hapgood, Service Book (1906), The Office of Grand Compline
What the words mean
Lord of Hosts
The Greek says “Lord of the powers”, and so does the Slavonic. English Bibles say “Lord of Hosts”, as Psalm 46 does: “The LORD of Hosts is with us.” The hymn turns that line into a plea: be with us.
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Great Compline (Greek)
The Scripture in it
The LORD of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.
In Greek
Κύριε τῶν Δυνάμεων, μεθ' ἡμῶν γενοῦ·
ἄλλον γὰρ ἐκτός σου βοηθόν, ἐν θλίψεσιν οὐκ ἔχομεν,
Κύριε τῶν Δυνάμεων, ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς.