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.
† Holy
God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us (three
times).
† Glory
be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it is now, was in
the beginning, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Salutation
Ҡ Blessed is our God always, as it is now, was in the
beginning, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
... in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Through
the prayers of our holy Ancestors, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us
and save us. Amen. Glory to You, our God, glory to You.”
This prayer is a blending of eastern and western prayers. The purpose of such a blending is to bring
eastern and western churches together on the basis of Truth, not on any
compromise of Truth.
Ҡ Blessed is our God always, as it is now, was in the
beginning, and ever shall be, world without end,” is a standard opening prayer
in the east. Before Liturgy, the opening
prayer is slightly different: “Blessed is the kingdom of the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.” In the morning, evening, and opening prayers
of the hours, the reference to the Trinity is absent, because the opening
prayers are immediately followed with repeated references to the Trinity.
“... in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost. Amen,” is a standard opening
prayer in the west. The three dots
before the prayer continue the sentence, “I baptize you....”
So, both prayers begin with a strong emphasis on the Trinity.
There is another difference, however: the time order and
wording differs from east to west; from, “now and ever, and unto the ages of
ages,” in the east to, “as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end,” in the west. So, the
time order differs from western (was, is, will be) to be eastern (is, was, will
be): still, the western wording was retained. The eastern sequence places the emphasis on
what God is doing in our lives, right now: for we do not live in either the
past or in the future: it stresses the necessary strong REALITY of
Christianity.
The third sentence was changed from “Fathers” to Ancestors
(it seemed simpler than praying Fathers and Mothers)[1]
to remind us of two things.
First, we must never forget the great debt we have to those
who first built The Church as lovers and servants of Christ. We must always stand on their shoulders. Those, who are perpetually restarting
Christianity as a new religion, are quite mistaken. The words of our Ancestors (pre 1000) can
never be treated lightly or with disrespect.
Secondly, we must never forget the great debt we have to our
own personal ethnic ancestors. We may
think of some of their pagan behavior as somewhat laughable; yet, they also are
the children of the Father, their Creator.
We love them, without embracing their pagan errors; we remember how
frequently we err, and we lift all of them up to God. May their memory be eternal: for we are not
so wise as to judge their eternal estate, especially before Christ and the
Spirit came fully into the world in 33 AD.
So, we honor Father and Mother, as well as father and
mother; Christ is the eternal judge of all eternal matters. Our business is to hope and pray always for
the best; and to lift up all those who have fallen aside: they are wounded and
need spiritual “medical-like” attention: we are the Great Physician’s medical
staff and helpers.
[1] Genesis 2:24; 28:2; 37:10; Exodus 20:12; 21:15, 17; Leviticus 19:3; 20:9; Deuteronomy
5:16; 21:18-21; 27:16; Joshua 2:13; Judges 14:2-16; Ruth 2:11; 1 Samuel 22:3; 2
Samuel 19:37; 1 Kings 19:20; 22:52; Psalm 27:10; Proverbs 1:8; 4:3; 6:20; 10:1;
15:20; 19:16; 20:20; 23:22, 25; 28:24; 30:11, 17; Micah 7:6; Matthew 10:35, 37;
12:50; 15:4-6; 19:5, 19, 29; Mark 7:10-12; 10:7, 19, 29; Luke 2:48-51; 12:53;
14:26; 18:20; Ephesians 5:31; 6:2; 1 Timothy 1:9 — the hardest thing in the
task of selecting these supporting texts, was choosing which texts to leave
out: for there are many more, relevant texts on the subject. Nevertheless, these should be sufficient to
convince any reader that the points being made are directly from the
Bible. Just searching for these texts
and reading them, fairly broke my heart and drove me to the brink of tears.
[2]
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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