Requiem Hymn

Christ enthroned in highest heaven,
Hear us crying from the deep,
For the faithful ones departed,
For the souls of all that sleep,
As Thy kneeling Church entreateth,
Hearken, Shepherd of the sheep.

Let Thy plenteous loving-kindness
On them, as we pray, be poured;
Let them through Thy boundless mercy,
From all evil be restored;
Hearken to the gentle pleading
Of Thy Mother, gracious Lord.

When, O kind and radiant Jesus,
Kneels the Queen, Thy throne before,
Let the court of Saints attending
Mercy for the dead implore;
Hearken, loving Friend of sinners,
Whom the cross exhalted bore.

Hear and answer prayers devoutest;
Break, O Lord, each binding chain;
Dash the Gates od Death assunder,
Quell the Devil and his train;
Bring the souls which Thou hast ransomed,
Evermore in joy to reign. Amen.

--from the "Traditional St. Augustine's Prayer Book,"
published by the Anglican Parishes Association

[Singing Note: The above hymn fits nicely to the tune "Pange Lingua" in the Sarum melody. Meter: 87.87.87]

[Rubrical Note: "Christ Enthroned in Highest Heaven" is, apparently, sung after the Requiem Mass, but I don't see why it can't be sung at other times in private prayers for the departed.]

[Textual Note: Kneeling and praying for a restoration from evil for the departed reminds me of the Eastern Rite Kneeling Prayers at Pentecost Vespers, when the Church prays for all those in hell. The Kneeling Prayers have such gravity to them, being the prayers of the Church on her greatest feast for the greatest petition--that God have mercy on those suffering in hell. There are seven Kneeling Prayers, one for each day of the week. A priest I know recommended that we pray one each day. I'll post them later.]

A Morning Prayer

Glory bo to Thee, O Lord,
Glory to Thee.
Glory to Thee
Who hast given me sleep
To recruit my weakness,
And to remit the toils of this fretful flesh.

To this day and all days,
A perfect,
Holy,
Peaceful,
Healthy,
Sinless course,
Vouchsafe, O Lord.

The angel of peace,
A faithful guide,
Guardian of souls and bodies,
To encamp round about me,
And ever to prompt what is salutary,
Vouchsafe, O Lord.

Pardon and remission
Of all sins and of all offences,
Vouchsafe, O Lord.

To our souls
What is good and convenient,
And peace to the world,
Vouchsafe, O Lord.

Repentance and strictness
For the residue of our life,
And health
And peace to the end,
Vouchsafe, O Lord.

Whatsoever things are true,
Whatsoever things are honest,
Whatsoever things are lovely,
Whatsoever things are of good report,
If there be any virtue,
If there be any praise,
That I may think on these things and do them,
Vouchsafe, O Lord.

A Christian close,
Without sin,
Without shame,
And, should it please Thee,
Without pain,
And a good answer
At the dreadful judgement seat of Jesus Christ our Lord,
Vouchsafe, O Lord.
Amen.

--by Lancelot Andrewes
from "The Private Prayers of Lancelot Andrewes"
translated by John Henry Newman
put into verse by EJ
(Andrewes wrote his private devotions in Greek.)

Evidence of Warm Faith in the Alaskan Winter

"On January 23 of 1860, an extraordinary event happened. Before Sunday, I was performing the vigil service during which I read an akathist in honor of the Mother of God. After the service ended I put out all the candles, which I always do myself. After this I, along with the songleader, left the church. As soon as we reached the door of my house, the songleader by chance turned his head back and saw light inside the church. Returning to the church, the reader noticed that right in front of the icon depicting the Mother of God a candle was again aflame. The songleader was scared. With great fear he approached the candle and put out the flame. Then he came back and told me what he had seen. I was so confused I could not find any explanation except telling him that probably somebody might have prayed zealously and that the Mother of God shows us that the pious prayer, as the undying candle, is aflame before Our Lord God."

--Hegumen Nikolai Militov, first clergy missionary to the Kenai Peninsula, quoted from "Through Orthodox Eyes: Russian Missionary Narratives of Travels to the Dena'ina and Ahtna, 1850s-1930s," translated by Andrei Znamenski.

Father Nikolai is one of the few Russian Orthodox missionaries who served in Alaska to his last breath, leaving his bones amongst the Natives. He is buried on the Kenai Peninsula, where he served. He was a man full of Christian charity and love and as a missionary, he was lenient. He did not insist on his own way, but was instead an example of Orthodox piety, rather than an enforcer. --EJ

Prayers to the Holy Spirit

Almighty, beneficent, lover of man, God of all, maker of the visible and the invisible, savior and restorer, provider and pacifyer, O mighty Spirit of the Father, we entreat thee with open arms and pray with sighs and cries standing before thine awful presence.

We draw near with great trembling and utmost fear to offer first this reasonable sacrifice to thine unsearchable power, as to the sharer of the unalienable honor of the Father in throne, in glory and in creation; to thee, the searcher of the hidden depth of the mysteries of the all-perfect will of the Father of Emmanuel, who sendeth thee and who is the savior, the life-giver and the creator of all.

Through thee was made known to us the triune personality of the one Godhead, whereof thou also art known to be one, O thou who art incomprehensible! By thee and through thee did the ancient scions of the patriarchal family, named seers, declare in plain language the things past and the things to come, the things that have come to be and the things that have not yet come to be.

O Spirit of God, Moses proclaimed thee as the one who, moving on the surface of the waters -- uncircumscribed power as thou art -- and brooding with tremendous envelopment and covering and defending the newly born under thy wings in tenderly love, hast made known the mystery of the font.

On the example of the same pattern, before setting up the fluid element of the last screen, thou didst form in lordly manner, O mighty one, the complete natures of all beings and of all things out of nothing.

Through thee all these thy creatures are created for the renewing of the resurrection, which will be in that time which is the last day of this life and the first day of the land of the living. The first-born Son, being of the same generation as thou art and of the same essence of the Father, obeyed thee also with oneness of will, as he did his Father. He, being in our likeness, announced thee as very God, equal and consubstantial with his mighty Father. He declared blasphemy against thee to be unforgiable and he stopped the impious mouths of them that rebel against thee, as of such that fight against God, while he forgave blasphemy against himself, the righteous and the spotless one, finder of all, who was betrayed for our sins and rose again for our justification. Unto him be glory through thee, and unto thee be praise with the Father almighty, unto the ages of ages. Amen.

(I shall again repeat the same order of speech, until confidence in the upward contemplation of light be wonderfully revealed, announcing and bringing the good news of peace once more from on high.)

We beseech and implore thee with tearful sighs from the depth of our souls, O glorified creator, uncorruptible, uncreate, timeless, merciful Spirit, who makest intercession for us to the Father with unutterable groanings, who keepest the saints and cleansest the sinners and makest them temples of the living and life-giving will of the Father most high.

And now, deliver us from all unclean deeds that are not agreeable to thy dwelling, and may the shining light of thy grace be not quenched within us, in the perceiving eyes of our understanding; for we have learnt that thou dost unite with us by means of prayers and of approved behavior that are sweet like incense.

And inasmuch as one of the Trinity is offered and another accepteth the same, being well pleased in us through the reconciling blood of his first-born, do thou accept our supplications and prepare us to be habitations of honor in all readiness to be worthy to taste the heavenly Lamb and to receive, without the punishments of damnation, this immortalizing manna of life of the new deliverance.

And let our offence be consumed by this fire, as was that of the Prophet by the live burning coal held to him with the tongs, that in all things thy compassion be proclaimed, as the loving-kindness of God the Father was proclaimed through the Son, who brought the prodigal son into the paternal inheritance and advanced the harlots into the heavenly kingdom of the blessed righteous.

Yea, yea, I also am one of them. Receive me also with them as one who is in need of great loving-kindness and who has been freed by thy grace and has been purchased by the blood of Christ; that in all this thy Godhead may be made known to be in all, being glorified with the Father, in equal honor, in one will and in one praised authority. For thine is the compassion, the power, the loving-kindness, the strength and the glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.


Gregory of Narek
from the Armenian Divine Liturgy of St. Gregory the Illuminator,
translated by Archbishop Tiran Nersoyan, 1958

St. Edward the Confessor

Today is the feast of St. Edward the Confessor, who was known for his charity and the miracles God worked through him even during his lifetime. He died in January of 1066, on the eve of the Norman Invasion of England, and is counted among the patron saints of that country.