Some prayers from the Orthodox tradition

Heavenly King

O heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, who is in all places and dwells in all things, the Treasury of blessing and the Giver of life. Come and abide in us, and cleanse us from every stain, and save, O gracious One, our souls. Amen

Trisagion

Holy God, Holy Strong, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.

The Jesus Prayer

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”

-----

Lenten Prayer of St Ephraim the Syrian

O Lord and Master of my life,

Do not give to me the spirit of laziness, faintheartedness, lust for power, and idle talk.

But give to me, Your servant, the spirit of purity, humility, patience and love.

O Lord and King, grant me to see my own faults and not to judge my brother or sister,

for blessed are You unto ages of ages. Amen.

The great Canon of St Andrew the Great (read on Wednesday before Easter)

http://www.spc.rs/files/u5/2016/03/greatcanon_sts-8a99f61.pdf

Easter Canon

Christ is risen from the dead! Death has destroyed death, and to those who were in the grave, Life has been given.

-----

Prayer of Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow

O Lord, I do not know what to ask of You.

You alone know what are my true needs.

You love me more than I myself know how to love.

Help me to see my real needs which are concealed from me.

I do not dare to ask either for a cross or for consolation.

I can only wait on You.

Visit and help me, for the sake of Your great mercy.

Strike me and heal me; cast me down and raise me up.

I worship in silence Your holy will and Your unsearchable ways.

I offer myself as a sacrifice to You.

I have no other desire than to seek to fulfil Your will.

Teach me to pray. Pray You Yourself in me. Amen

Comments

Isaiah 49:1-7 What does it mean to be a servant of God?

Isaiah 49:1-7 This passage speaks of two servants. The first servant is Israel, the people of God. The second servant will bring Israel back to God. But then it seems that the second servant is also Israel. It is complicated! But Christians have understood that this passage is speaking of Jesus. He is both the servant, who called Israel back to God, but he is also Israel itself: he is the embodiment, the fulfilment of Israel In the British constitution the Queen is the head of the State. But she is also, to a degree, the personal embodiment of the state. What the Queen does, at an official level, the UK does. If the Queen greets another head of State, then the UK is greeting that other nation. And if you are a UK citizen then you are, by definition, a subject of Her Majesty. She is the constitutional glue, if this helps, who holds us all together. So she is both the servant of the State, but she is also the embodiment of the State. And Jesus, to a far greater

The separation of good from evil: Matthew 13.24-30,36-43

Matthew 13.24-30,36-43 We look this morning at a parable Jesus told about the Kingdom on God (Matthew talks of Kingdom of heaven but others speak of it as the Kingdom of God) 1. In this world, good and evil grow together. ‘The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; 38the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, 39and the enemy who sowed them is the devil’ (v37) The Son of Man (Jesus) sows the good seed. In the first story that Jesus tells in Matthew, the seed is the Word of God, and different kinds of people are like the different soils which receive the seed. Here the illustration changes a bit, and we become the seed. There is good seed and there is weed, evil, seed. This story is not explaining why there is evil. It is simply telling us that there is evil and that it was sown by the enemy of God. And it tells us that there is good and there is bad. There are people who have their face turned towards

On infant baptism

Children are a gift from God. And as always with God’s gifts to us, they are completely and totally undeserved. You have been given the astonishing gift of Benjamin, and the immense privilege and joy of loving him for God, and of bringing him up for God. Our greatest desire for our children is to see them grow, be happy, secure, to flourish and be fulfilled, to bring blessing to others, to be part of the family of God and to love God. And in baptism you are placing Benjamin full square in the family of God. I know that those of us here differ in our views about infant baptism. The belief and the practice of the Church of England is in line with that of the historic church, but also – at the time of the Reformation – of Calvin and the other so-called ‘magisterial reformers’ (which is also the stance taken in the Westminster confession). They affirmed, on the basis of their covenantal theology, which sees baptism as a new covenant version of circumcision, of Mark 10:13-16 , and part

Talks, Sermons and Reflections

Search This Blog