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
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
posted by Eric John at 11:27 PM
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