†...
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Blessed is our[2] God
always, as it is now, was in the beginning, and ever shall be, world without
end. Amen. Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, Lord
Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.
Glory to You, our God, glory to You.
O Heavenly King: The Holy Ghost
†O
Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, You are everywhere and fill
all things, Treasury of blessings, and Giver of life: come and abide in us, and
cleanse us from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.
Trisagion
Gloria
†Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and
to the Holy Ghost, as it is now, was in the beginning, and ever shall be, world
without end. Amen.
All-holy Trinity
†All-holy
Trinity, have mercy on us. Lord, cleanse
us from our sins. Master, pardon our
iniquities. Holy One, visit us and heal
our infirmities for Your Name’s sake.
Lord have mercy (three times).1
Gloria
†Glory
be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it is now, was in
the beginning, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
†Πάτερ
ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς,
Ἁγιασθήτω
τὸ Ὄνομά Σου.* Ἐλθέτω ἡ Βασιλεία
Σου.* Γενηθήτω τὸ Θέλημά Σου.* Ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.* Τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν Ἐπιούσιον
δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον.* Καὶ ἄφες[5] ἡμῖν τὰ ὀφειλήματα[6] ἡμῶν,* ὡς καὶ
ἡμεῖς ἀφίεμεν[7] τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν.* Καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν, ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ. *Εὐχαριστῶ Ὑμῖν, Πατὴρ Ἀββᾶ! Ἰησοῦς! Ἅγιος Πνεῦμα! [8]
[Ὅτι σοῦ ἐστιν ἡ Βασιλεία καὶ ἡ Δύναμις καὶ ἡ Δόξα, (τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος,
νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ) εἰς
τοὺς αἰῶνας (τῶν αἰώνων). Ἀμήν.][9]
Ἐὰν γὰρ
ἀφῆτε τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὰ παραπτῶματα[10] αὐτῶν, ἀφήσει καὶ ὑμῖν ὁ Πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ οὐράνιος. Ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἀφῆτε τοῖς ἀνθρώποις [τὰ παραπτῶματα αὐτῶν,][11] οὐδὲ ὁ Πατὴρ ὑμῶν ἀφήσει τὰ παραπτώματα ὑμῶν.
†Our Father in the heavens,
It was sanctified, Your Name!* She[12] came, Your Kingdom!*
He[13] was born, Your Will!*
As in heaven, also on the earth.[14]* Our bread, the Epiousion[15], You gave us today!* You forgave us our debts!* as
we [must] also forgive our debtors.
[Thank You, Holy Trinity!]
Even though You did not lead us into peril; even so, You delivered us from the evil![16]
*Thank You, Father
Ἀββᾶ!
Jesus! Holy Ghost!]
[Because Yours is the Kingdom,
Power, and Glory, (of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, now and ever and) unto
the ages (of ages). Amen.]
For if you have forgiven
men their trespasses, then your heavenly Father will forgive you. Yet if you have not forgiven [men their
trespasses], neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Lord have mercy (twelve
times)[17].
Gloria
†Glory
be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it is now, was in
the beginning, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Prostration
†O come, let us worship and fall down before our King
and our God. O come, let us worship and fall
down before Christ, our King and our God.
O come, let us worship and fall down before the very Christ Himself, our
Immortal King and our God.
†O come, let us worship and fall down before our
heavenly Father: for He Himself loves us. He has given us His Son to die for us and His
Holy Ghost to lead us.
†O come, let us worship and fall down before the Holy
Ghost for He leads us and empowers us to live the life in Christ.
Σύμβολον τῆς
Νίκαιας4
†Πιστεύομεν[18] εἰς ἕνα Θεὸν Πατέρα,
Παντοκράτορα, Ποιητὴν;[19] οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς; ὁρατῶν τε πάντων καὶ ἀοράτων.
Πιστεύομεν καὶ[20] εἰς ἕνα Κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν, τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸν Μονογενῆ, τὸν ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς γεννηθέντα πρὸ πάντων τῶν αἰώνων,
φῶς ἐκ φωτός,
Θεὸν ἀληθινὸν ἐκ Θεοῦ ἀληθινοῦ,
γεννηθέντα, οὐ ποιηθέντα,
ὁμοούσιον τῷ Πατρί;·δι'
οὗ τὰ πάντα ἐγένετο.· Τὸν δι'
ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους,
καὶ διὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν σωτηρίαν,
κατελθόντα ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν, καὶ σαρκωθέντα ἐκ Πνεύματος Ἁγίου καὶ Μαρίας τῆς παρθένου, καὶ ἐνανθρωπήσαντα. Σταυρωθέντα τε ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἐπὶ Ποντίου Πιλάτου, καὶ παθόντα,
καὶ ταφέντα, καὶ ἀναστάντα τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρα,
κατὰ τὰς γραφάς,
καὶ ἀνελθόντα εἰς τοὺς οὐρανούς,
καὶ καθεζόμενον ἐκ δεξιῶν τοῦ Πατρός, καὶ πάλιν ἐρχόμενον, μετὰ
δόξης, κρῖναι ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς;·οὗ τῆς βασιλείας οὐκ ἔσται τέλος.
Πιστεύομεν καὶ εἰς τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ Ἅγιον, τὸ Κύριον, τὸ Ζῳοποιόν,
τὸ ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐκπορευόμενον,
†τὸ σὺν Πατρὶ καὶ Υἱῷ συμπροσκυνούμενον καὶ συνδοξαζόμενον,
τὸ λαλῆσαν διὰ τῶν προφητῶν.
Πιστεύομεν καὶ εἰς μίαν,
ἁγίαν, καθολικὴν καὶ ἀποστολικὴν ἐκκλησίαν;
ὁμολογοῦμεν ἓν βάπτισμα εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν;·προσδοκοῦμεν ἀνάστασιν νεκρῶν,
καὶ ζωὴν τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος.
Ἀμήν.
Psalms
Psalm 20 (LXX: 19)
Psalm 20 (LXX: 19)
At this point Psalms
may be prayed: perhaps Psalm 20 (LXX 19), Psalm 21 (LXX 20), or other Psalms.
When
the Psalter is being studied, every effort is made to pray through the Psalter
every week, at a rate of about 22 Psalms a day: counting Psalm 119 as four
Psalms, and Psalm 151 yields a total of 154 Psalms, 154 divided by 7 is
22. If this interests you, you will
easily find complete schedules on the internet.[21] Such schedules pray through about 14 Psalms in
the morning, and about 8 Psalms in the evening, on average. It is easier than you might think, but you
can’t know until you’ve tried it. This
plan produces an excellent overall grasp of the Psalms, and helps those who
pray to see the Psalms as a summary review of the entire Old Testament; as well
as, a prophetic preview of the entire New Testament. We venture to claim that this plan will help
anyone understand the Bible as they have never understood it before: even
though it requires a great deal of effort.
Another
plan involves praying through the Psalms in five or six days, praying one Book
of the Psalms each day (the Psalter is divided into Five Books), perhaps
allowing two days for Book Five, because of its great length. This plan differs from the first plan, in
that it develops the ability to see each of the Five Books of Psalms as
separate entities with distinct themes.[22]
[1]
These prayers are adopted and condensed from the Orthros and Vespers prayers of
the Eastern Orthodox Church.
[2]
All prayers are set in the third person plural.
Nothing is prayed that is not prayed on behalf of all 7.25 billion
fellow human beings, on behalf of 1 billion fellow Christians, on behalf of 325
million fellow Americans, on behalf of 120 thousand fellow townspeople. Is a friend or relative suffering from
cancer: the word, us, embraces all who are suffering. Is someone dying or grieving: the word, we,
embraces all who are dying and grieving.
Our compassion goes to every father, mother, sister, brother, son, and
daughter: for each of us is cut from the same cloth. We are all sons of Adam and daughters of
Eve. We are all beset with the same
problem: sin. We are equally dependent
upon God for our redemption. I cannot
pray for my own family without praying for yours.
[3] Optional:
with deep bows or prostrations. If
bowing and prostration seem strange, it may help to remember that Christ is the
King of Kings. Because America has no
earthly king, all memory of the practice has faded away. Learning the practice of bowing in prayer
should not be offensive for we readily sing, “Bow down before Him, love and adore
Him.” This is a habit that will not harm
us to cultivate.
[4]
Since I do not have the gift of tongues, all of the Greek prayers are prayed
aloud. The purpose in this is the prayer
that I might attain fluency in the Greek text of the Bible, so that I might
better pray for and with all the nations of the earth.
[5] ἄφες, second person singular,
aorist active imperative of ἀφίημι: excuse, forgive. We tend to translate the Greek past tense as
an English present tense. Here we take
the view that the Greek past tense should be translated as an English past
tense. It is, of course, impossible to
have an imperative mood past tense in English.
We believe that imperative mood is a misnomer in Greek; that a more
appropriate, descriptive title would be the emphatic mood. Moreover, we believe that voice is a critical
element for grasping the Greek mindset; translating the voice out of the verb
is once again destructive for grasping the Greek mindset.
[6] ὀφειλήματα: debt, duty. The idea of duty, and being excused from
performing a duty implies the specific failure to keep the Decalogue, which is
the specific duty of both Jews and Christians.
[7] ἀφίεμεν, first person plural, present active
indicative of ἀφίημι: excuse, forgive. Alexandrian text has ἀφήκαμεν, aorist active indicative, first person plural, of ἀφίημι. This appears to be a Byzantine annotation to incorporate the theological
tense with the verses that follow immediately after the prayer. This appears to be best understood as a
contrast between what God has already done and what we must yet do, as the
following verses indicate. The Byzantine
text must be taken as a note that clarifies any misunderstanding that might
arise from the original Alexandrian text.
[8] The
asterisks and this phrase are my own personal antiphons. The more I meditate on the meaning of this
prayer, the more I realize that I need to be ever more grateful and
thankful. I am not nearly as grateful
and thankful as I need to be for all the wonderful things that God has done.
[9]
Alexandrian text omits the entire sentence.
We have now taken the position that the Alexandrian text is the text of
the New Testament; that the Byzantine text is the very important fourth century
notation of the master students of Scripture from the Byzantine community. These master students are the best students
of the Greek Bible that the world has ever known; it is vital to the life of
The Church that their opinions not be neglected. It is even possible that their notations
publish misplaced autograph scraps. The
work of the Byzantine master students is far more important than any
commentary, and is rightly included with the Alexandrian text. This particular sentence is a Byzantine
liturgical tradition, the reasonable response to the prayer. However, this response exists universally
throughout the practice of the Church, and the prayer sounds strange without
it. It is an appropriate antiphon to the
prayer.
[10] παραπτῶματα or παραπτώματα: stumbling, fault, offense,
transgression. The step of sinners is on
slippery ground (Deuteronomy 32:35). The
change in inflection from circumflex to acute is possibly musical, its exact
use is lost to us. It is more likely
that the Byzantine culture would reflect correct musical tonalities. This argument cuts both ways, but it is not a
translatable difference.
[11]
The phrase, τὰ παραπτῶματα αὐτῶν, is included in both the
Byzantine and B. Its absence in א leaves that which is to be forgiven open and unspecified, which
implies forgive everything, even corrupt and deliberate acts of aggression and
violence. Since the very salvation of
the forgiven, insists that they must be a forgiving people, it would appear
that forgiving all, is the correct view. Nevertheless, א
is not adequately supported to sustain an Alexandrian variation. The evidence must stand that B maintains the
correct New Testament text. That being
said, the Byzantine notation requiring that the least little thing be forgiven,
inadvertently opens the door to the idea that major breaches of the Law, ὀφειλήματα, are not necessarily
forgiven: this false conclusion is impossible, because we have already forgiven
ὀφειλέταις as well. The Alexandrian variation invites us to weigh
these implications very carefully, so that each of us ensures that we come to
God without any minute shred of unforgiven offenses clinging to us.
[12]
She, because kingdom is feminine. The
kingdom is the bride of Christ.
Everywhere, the kingdom is the bride of the king, indicating in Greek
thought that the king is to love her, not dominate her.
[13]
Properly, it, because will is neuter.
Even so it is impossible to escape the implication that these things are
the gift and work of Jesus Christ in life and in death, while the very next
phrase emphasizes His incarnation.
[14]
The incarnation of the Son of God causes earth to function like heaven. Life on earth may now be lived in the
presence of God. With the coming of the
Holy Ghost on the Day of Pentecost, 33 AD, this becomes a powerful reality in
the birth of The Church. The Church is
divinized. We ought not to think of The
Church as a scattered bunch of warring political enemies; but rather as an
indivisible living organism, a bride in the process of preparation for her
wedding. Divinization is often
attributed to individuals; however, in reality it applies to the body as a
whole, The Church, not to any individual.
It is impossible to be sanctified and glorified as a separate
individual.
This signals the return to and lasting presence on earth of
the Shekinah. Since around
516 BC the Israelites had been frustrated with an empty worship. God had departed from among them in 586
BC. They were able to build a second
temple, reconstruct the city walls and defend them, and encourage one another
from Scripture they had recovered.
However, they never recovered the Arc, its Mercy Seat, the Urim and
Thummim, or the Autographs of Moses and the Prophets; the Shekinah
would not return until around 4 BC, before the death of Herod. With the birth and incarnation of Jesus, the
Shekinah returns. With the
Day of Pentecost the Shekinah indwells the people of God; so that in
The Church, The Holy Ghost recreates and redefines the Temple of God, not as a
building made with stones, but as the living body of Christ Himself, with
members in both heaven and earth. This
new presence of the Shekinah on earth will last as long as The
Church lasts on earth.
Because of the fracturing, the rending of The Church into
thousands of little pieces, we may be given pause to wonder, has the Shekinah
already begun to depart from us? Did he
begin His departure at 1054 AD? … At
1202-1204? … At 1309? … At 1378?
… At 1449? … At some other date?
[15]
The Epiousion is Jesus Himself. This is
what He teaches in John 6 and several other places. That which is beyond (mere) substance, that
which is more than bodily food, is the true Manna of God, the hidden Manna,
which is elsewhere called angel’s bread or food, the bread of heaven, the
Eucharist. It is that which compels us
and empowers us to Christlikeness.
[16] At Your Son’s cross, burial, victory
over hell, resurrection, ascension, and future coming in glory. Join us mortals here on earth to your Son’s
work, so that we may participate in it with joy immortal.
O Christ,
God-man, You have done all these things for us by your mighty works in life and
in death. Enable us to enter into the
majesty of your prayer, by receiving Your most-pure Body and like precious
Blood. Empower us to be obedient to its
beauty and goodness, that we might become a truly forgiving people. Inspire us to behold its glory, so that we
might be evermore like You in all that we think, say and do, both now and ever
and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
[17]
Because such forgiveness is impossible among men, we continually cry out for
God’s mercy, so that He would complete our forgiveness, and elevate it to His
Divine level. It is God like forgiveness
to which we aspire.
[18] The
original wording of the Nicene Creed does not have πιστεύω (I believe), it has πιστεύομεν (we believe): we have restored
the original wording. In 325 AD; The
Church, now being legal for the first time in its history; 318 pastors met and
confessed their faith in the face of rising Arianism. It is important that we stand with them in a
united Christian front in opposition to all the works of Satan. This Creed, this Statement of Faith, blazed across
the Empire, was amended, and confirmed in its now final form in 381 at
Constantinople. For nearly two-thousand
years it has stood as the Statement of Faith of The Church. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicene_Creed
[19] It
makes little difference that we have not followed the usual punctuation. The original document was most likely without
punctuation. Thus the usual punctuation
represents the opinion of modern western scholars. We hold the opinion that the three words
beginning with P, “Πατέρα, Παντοκράτορα, Ποιητὴν,” are emphatic and intended to hang
together. This gives a three dimensional
quality to the first paragraph: the divine dimension (Father, Almighty,
Creator); the phenomenal dimension (heaven and earth); and the noumenal
dimension over-spanning that which is merely phenomenal (all things seen and
unseen).
[20] The
Creed does not repeat the word, πιστεύομεν,
three more times as we have done. Among
the several uses of the word, καὶ,
is the indication that a previous topic is being continued, the topic of πιστεύομεν, what we believe. Since this is not perfectly clear in English
we thought it necessary to make the three editorial additions at the beginning of
each paragraph.
[21] http://orthodox.seasidehosting.st/seaside/home,
or http://swantec.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-psalms-prayer-schedule.html
[22] If
you have been blessed or helped by any of these meditations, please repost,
share, or use any of them as you wish.
No rights are reserved. They are
designed and intended for your free participation. They were freely received, and are freely
given. No other permission is required
for their use.
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