Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Some Great Prayers that I use in the Morning

Icon of the Pharisee and the Publican

The following are prayers that I got from an Orthodox website. I "Lutheranized" them, if you will, so that they would be acceptable for me to pray (I removed all prayers that were not addressed to God the Father, Son and or Holy Spirit.) I hope they might be useful to someone else who desires to have a richer prayer life.


+++Morning Prayers+++
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, + and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Prayer of the Publican
O God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Thrice

O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner. Thrice Amen.

Glory to Thee, our God, glory to Thee.

O Heavenly King
O Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth, Who art everywhere present and fillest all things, Treasury of good things and Giver of Life, come and dwell in us, and cleanse us of all impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.

Trisagion (three times Holy)
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us. Thrice
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

O Most Holy Trinity, have mercy on us. O Lord, blot out our sins; O Master, pardon our iniquities; O Holy One, visit and heal our infirmities, for Thy name's sake.

Lord, have mercy. Thrice

Glory to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Our Father
Our Father, Who art in the heavens, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Troparia to the Holy Trinity
Having risen from sleep, we fall down before Thee, O Good One, and we cry aloud to Thee the angelic hymn, O Mighty One: Holy, Holy, Holy art Thou, O God; through Christ, have mercy on us.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

From bed and sleep hast Thou raised me up, O Lord; enlighten my mind and heart, and open my lips that I may hymn Thee, O Holy Trinity: Holy, Holy, Holy art Thou, O God; through Christ, have mercy on us.
Both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Suddenly the Judge shall come, and the deeds of each shall be laid bare; but with fear do we cry at midnight: Holy, Holy, Holy art Thou, O God; through Christ, have mercy on us.

Lord, have mercy. Twelve times

Tuesday Prayer, of St. Macarius **
Having risen from sleep, I hasten to Thee, O Master, Lover of mankind, and by Thy loving-kindness, I strive to do Thy work, and I pray to Thee: Help me at all times, in everything, and deliver me from every worldly, evil thing and every impulse of the devil, and save me and lead me into Thine eternal kingdom. For Thou art my Creator, and the Giver and Provider of everything good, and in Thee is all my hope, and unto Thee do I send up glory, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Daily Prayer to our Lord Jesus Christ
O my plenteously-merciful and all-merciful God, Lord Jesus Christ through Thy great love Thou didst come down and become incarnate so that Thou mightest save all. And again, O Saviour, save me by Thy grace, I pray Thee. For if Thou shouldst save me for my works, this would not be grace or a gift, but rather a duty; yea, Thou Who art great in compassion and ineffable in mercy. For he that believeth in Me, Thou hast said, O my Christ, shall live and never see death. If, then, faith in Thee saveth the desperate, behold, I believe, save me, for Thou art my God and Creator. Let faith instead of works be imputed to me, O my God, for Thou wilt find no works which could justify me. But may my faith suffice instead of all works, may it answer for, may it acquit me, may it make me a partaker of Thine eternal glory. And let Satan not seize me and boast, O Word, that he hath torn me from Thy hand and fold. But whether I desire it or not, save me, O Christ my Saviour, forestall me quickly, quickly, for I perish. Th ou art my God from my mother's womb. Vouchsafe me, O Lord, to love Thee now as fervently as I once loved sin itself, and also to work for Thee without idleness, diligently, as I worked before for deceptive Satan. But supremely shall I work for Thee, my Lord and God, Jesus Christ, all the days of my life, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Morning Prayer
I thank You, my Heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me that the evil foe may have no power over me.
Amen.

Troparion to the Cross
O Lord, save Thy people, and bless Thine inheritance; grant Thou victory to Orthodox Christians over enemies; and by the power of Thy Cross do Thou preserve Thy commonwealth.
Then offer a brief prayer for the health and salvation of thy spiritual father, thy parents, relatives, those in authority, benefactors, others known to thee, the ailing, or those passing through sorrows.

The Glorious Cross of Christ
Oh Lord God, Holy Trinity, You have given Jesus Christ as a holy, pure and perfect offering for me while I was still weak. Jesus, I thank You for humbling Yourself to be born of a Virgin for me while I was yet a sinner. Oh, Lord, Almighty God, You endured the suffering and humiliation of death on a cross as a criminal for me while I was still an enemy. I thank and praise You for Your bounteous goodness. How much more will you save me and hear my prayers now that I have been reconciled to You through Christ? I pray that You would hear my prayers that I ask in faith. Grant me greater faith that I may serve You in thanksgiving all the days of my life.
By Your death I have been given life; by Your cross I have been given victory; by Your wounds I have been healed. Praise the Lord God Almighty and Blessed be His name unto the ages of ages.


Heart of Jesus, think of me.
Eyes of Jesus, look on me.
Face of Jesus, comfort me.
Hands of Jesus, bless me.
Feet of Jesus, guide me.
Arms of Jesus, hold me.
Body of Jesus, feed me.
Blood of Jesus, wash me.
Jesus, make me this Thine own,
Here and in the world to come. Amen.
_____________________________________________________
** I pray a different prayer every morning that is historically attributed to different saints, this was the prayer on the morning I posted this.

7 comments:

Preachrboy said...

Capital O?

Stan said...

Questions...

1. What did you do to suppoesdly "Lutheranize" them?

2. What right does an individual have to change something which belongs to the church catholic? The faulty thinking that allows individuals to change collects as they please is the same faulty thinking which people use to rationalize defacing the liturgy. The liturgy belong to the church, and we maintain our catholicity in the liturgy. When we start changing the liturgy willy nilly (or it's collects) as individuals we strip them away from their rightful owner. It ultimately boils down to a 7th commandment issue.

Apart from this minor item (#2), I appreciate your blog! Pax.

Rev. Jim Roemke said...

Stan,
Thanks for the comments. By "Lutheranizing" these prayers I simply removed, as my original post said, all prayers to saints and other figures besides the Holy Triune God. I believe that by doing this the prayers are more orthodox and in line with what Scripture teaches. For people who take the first commandment seriously, it is totally wrong and heterodox to offer up prayers to any individual or thing other than God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Rev. Jim Roemke said...

Tom.
I missed one-sorry. I believe that "C"atholic might be in there too.

Stan said...

I guess I am more interested in the particular references. My apologies if it is a hassle. I know there are some hotly-debated references to the Theotokos in Eastern Orthodox prayers, and I've been of the opinion of some of them that those references are not heterodox, but more a misunderstanding on the part of us Lutherans. Please don't mark me as an Eastern Orthodox sympathizer, but we too often get skiddish over a reference to the Theotokos or St. John, etc. rather then searching for the value in such references. Anyhow, hence my curiosity in the specificity of the changes.

Pax.

Rev. Jim Roemke said...

Stan,
The specific things that I removed were references to Mary's intercession for sinners. Christ is the only intercessor between God and man. I think that Theotokos, or "God Bearer" is a misunderstood, but accurate title for Mary. I also took out prayers for Patriarchs, Bishops and other offices that are not in the Missouri Synod. Also, these prayers are not complete, they also to be used for personal daily prayer. Thanks for the interest.
The Lord be with you!

Anonymous said...

Stan;

Funny that you'd feel no compunction to ask the car mechanic in the pew next to you to pray for you but wouldn't ask a great Christian of the past? If you truly believe in salvation and life eternal, they are alive as you and me. The Godhead is pre-eternal and ex-temporal.

As for the intercessions of the Theotokos, you might consider the wedding at Cannae where the Blessed Mary has Christ intercede and perform a miracle for humans?

As a Lutheran, don't you find it mildly ironic to call an Orthodox 'heterodox'?