Prayer

ON AWAKENING

Hymn to Christ the light and life

Christ come among men
as source of light,
your ineffable birth
is before the beginning of time. You are the radiant light shining with the Father. You irradiate lustreless matter
and illumine the souls of the faithful.

You have created the world
and fixed the orbit of the stars;
you sustain the axis of the earth, you save all mankind.
You guide the sun in its course
to light up all our days
and the crescent moon
which dispels the darkness of night. You make the seed to sprout preparing food for the flocks.
From your inexhaustible fount
you pour out the splendour of life making fruitful the whole universe. . .

Synesius ofCyrene

Morning hymn

A festive chirruping announces the day, singing in the light of dawn.
Christ spurs on the soul,
inviting us to a rebirth, this day.

Arise from your beds, he urges,
where a feeble languor makes you inert. Be watchful, chaste, good, and sober;
for I am close to you. .

Let us invoke Jesus, aloud, sorrowing, praying, repentant; an ardent invocation
keeps a pure heart on the alert.

O Christ, drive away sleep, break the chains of night, make good the ancient fault, bring to us new light.

Glory be to God the Father,
and to his only Son,
together with the Spirit, the consoler,
now and for ever.

Prudentius

Prayers on awakening

To the eternal creator of the world

Eternal maker of the world, who rules over night and day dividing up our daily round to ease the body’s weariness.

O night light for wayfarers
Which distinguishes night from night, the dawn bird now sings aloud calling up the light of the sun.

Holy day star unveiled by him, drives darkness from the face of heaven and malefactors in their troops abandon now their brigandage.

Sailors gain strength as he appears, and the sea’s waves grow calm again; hearing him, the Rock of the Church Christ Jesus our only Lord and Saviour, [Peter] weeping, mourns his sin.

Let us arise then speedily.
The cock awakens those who sleep and rouses up the drowsy ones; the perjurors are accused by him.

At cock crow hope is born again, and health returns to those who ail; the brigand hides his dagger now, and faith revives in apostate soul.

Jesus, look on those who waver; and, looking, help us to be firm; under your care shame fades away and tears wipe out the stain of sin.

O light, shine now within our souls and torpor fly from every mind; and at the dawn our voices rise
in songs of prayer and praise to you.

AMBROSE AND AUGUSTINE

Prayer to Christ the Creator

Sun of Justice, blessed ray,
the first source of light;
O ardently Desired, above all else; powerful, inscrutable, ineffable;
joy of the good, vision of fulfilled hope,
praised and heavenly, Christ the Creator;
king of glory, assurance of life,
fill the void of my miserable voice
with your almighty word;
and offer it as a supplication
pleasing to your Father Most High,
for you have come into the world in likeness to me, subjecting yourself to human suffering,
the heritage of the curse.
O blessing of life, watchful providence
for all, both small and great!
If you accepted to die for me,
you, God and Lord of all,
how much more,
for the sake of the body you assumed, of your nature, will you pardon the weakness that leads me into danger, interceding for me, a sinner,
with the Father whose glory you share.

Gregory of Narek

Baptism

Baptismal liturgy

SUNDAY VESPERS HYMNS

I beg you, Son of the living God; you have worked so many miracles; you changed water into wine at Cana to enlighten Israel;
you healed the eyes of the blind,
you restored hearing to deaf ears
and movement to paralysed limbs,
you corrected the stammering tongue,
freed the possessed,
made the lame run like the deer,
raised up the dead,
and taking him by the hand you made Peter walk upon the water, safe from sinking.

You have left us this saying:
“Ask and you will receive,
knock and it will be opened to you.
All that you ask of the Father, in my name,
I too will ask of my Father, that you may have it”.
I ask that I may receive, seek that I may find,
knock that it may be opened to me.
I ask in your name that you will ask your Father and.
he will hear me.
I am ready to pour out my blood,
as a victim, for your name’s sake,
to bear any torment.
You, Lord, are the one who hears and protects me; defend me from the enemy.
May the angel of light protect me,
for you have said, “What you ask of me
with faith in prayer, I will grant” . . .may your Holy Spirit work in me; your will be accomplished in me, that I may be wholly yours all the days of my life.

Eucharist

The first Christian prayer

Father;
May your name be glorified;
Your kingdom come;
Give us day by day,
The bread by which we live;
Forgive us our sins;
As we forgive those who have sinned against us;
And do not allow us to be overcome by temptation.

Luke 11, 2-4

Acts of Peter

Offertory prayer

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all, now and for ever and through the ages! Amen.
Lift up your hearts!
To you, God of Abraham, of Isaac, of Israel, O King of glory! The offering is made to God, the Lord of all things.
- It is right and praiseworthy so to do.
it is right that every tongue should glorify, every voice attest, every creature venerate and celebrate the adorable and glorious name of the most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who created the world in their loving kindness and out of their goodness saved men and granted to mortals eternal benefits. ‘
Thousands upon thousands of heavenly spirits bless and adore you, myriads and myriads of angels, their spirits on fire, sing to your name. With the cherubim and seraphim, they glorify and adore your grandeur saying to each other as they proclaim unceasingly: Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts; heaven and earth are filled with his wonderful presence, with the splendour of his greatness.
Hosanna in the highest, hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes and who will come with heavenly power in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
We affirm your presence, Lord, we, your servants, to whom you have made an immense gift which we cannot possibly repay.
You clothed yourself with our humanity, you came down from heaven with your divinity, you have raised up our littleness, lifted us from our prostration, raised to new life our mortal flesh, pardoned our sins, condoned our debt; you have brought light to our minds, vanquished our enemies, given honour to our poverty. Lord, our God may our song meetly give glory, acknowledgement and adoration to your superabundant grace, now and for ever and through all ages. Amen.

Chaldean liturgy

Prayer to the Divine Master

Be propitious, O Father, Master, to your disciples;
O Father, Guide of Israel, Father and Son who are one: Lord. Grant to those who obey your precepts, to be modelled in your image, and to enjoy, after they have been proved, the goodness of God and not the severity of his judgement.
Grant that we may all live in your peace,
that we may walk in the ways that lead to your city,
resolutely passing over the waters of sin,
sure of the guidance of the Holy Spirit,
your ineffable wisdom.
Grant that day and night, till our last hour,
we may pray in thanksgiving and give thanks in prayer
to the one Father and Son, the Son and the Father;
the Son, the leader and master,
together with the Holy Spirit.
All belongs to the One, in whom is all.
Through him all is one; eternity is his.
We are all his members; all ages are his glory.
To Goodness, to Beauty, to .Wisdom,
To the Just One, all. To him be glory,
now and for all ages.
Amen.

Clement ofAlexandria

Prayer over the people

The hand of the only Son, alive and uncontaminated, the hand which cures all our ills,
which sanctifies and protects, is stretched out over the bowed heads of these people. May the light of the Spirit,
the blessing of heaven, .
the invocation of prophets and apostles
descend upon them.
May it keep their bodies pure in chastity,
their minds intent on study and the knowledge of the mystery. All in union, may they be blessed Father almighty,
through your only Son, Jesus Christ;
through him your glory and omnipotence is known
in the Holy Spirit,
now and for all ages.
Amen.

Serapion of Thmuis

Thanksgiving to Jesus

Lord Jesus, I give you thanks,
not only with the lips and heart,
which often comes to little, but with the spirit, with which I speak to you, question you,
love you, and recognise you.
You are my all, and everything is in you.
In you we live, and move, and have our being.

You are our father of believers, our brother, our all;
and to those who love you, you have promised such things as no one has ever seen or thought of,
no one ever enjoyed.

Make the gift of these things to your humble faithful; you who are God, true and good,
and there is no other besides you.

You are the true God, the true Son of God, to whom be honour and glory and majesty in eternity and for all ages to come.

Gallican Formularies

Prayer to Christ

Jesus, immaculate Lamb,
you are both father and lamb
my brother and my friend; . . .
You are he who is all, and that all is in me;
You are he who is, and nothing exists apart from you.
Take refuge in him, you too, my brothers who will yet believe from the heart;
and when you have understood that only in him will you have life, then you will receive that joy that was promised:
“That which eye has not seen
nor ear heard,
nor has it entered into the heart of man to imagine”.

Grant to us, then, what has been promised.

We praise you, we thank you, we bear witness to you; we, weak mortals, give you glory,
you who alone are God in the flesh, for there is no other, living, reigning, ruling with God our Father in the unity and power of the Holy Spirit our Paraclete,
Glory to you, unceasingly, now and always and unto the endless ages of ages to come.
Amen.