Oriental Orthodox Prayers

[Nazarene]

Just found this:

Hymns for the seven days of creation by St. Nerses the Gracious: http://www.geocities.com/derghazar/HYMNDAYS.DOC.

[minasoliman]

Thank you Nazarene for that one.  I always find it fascinating to read these interpretations of the days of creation.  I think parts of this can be also used as OO Church father quotes.

Very beautiful prayers.  Thank you again for finding this.

[Salpy]

St. Nerses the Gracious (Shnorhali) also wrote a very long prayer in verse, entitled Jesus the Son.  Here are the opening lines:


Jesus, the only-begotten Son of the Father,
And the Ray of the Appearance;
Thou, ineffable offspring of the Archetype,
Inseperable from thy Begetter;
Thou, by whom all beings are created:
The intelligible who are unseen;
The disembodied, and the embodied;
The irrational, as with the rational;
The living things, that grow;
And the lifeless, that do not move:
All these offer thanksgiving
Unto thy loving Father and unto thee;
And unto thy coexistent Spirit
Are proffered exaltations on high
From the elect ones most pure
That are admitted unto thine abode.
Receive me also with them, O Lord,
I who have disobeyed the commandment;
I who am like unto the prodigal son,
And the waster of thy Father's goods;
Who ignored the honour that came from thee,
And became the equal unto the brainless one,
I who graze the herd of swine
in the field of demons;
I who am famished, not of hunger for bread,
But to hear thy word, O Lord,
Ardently desiring carob,
the bitterest among the sweet sins.

http://www.orthodoxchristianity.net/forum/index.php/topic,25692.msg408611.html#msg408611

[Salpy]

Here is a youtube tutorial on how to say the Lord's Prayer in Ge'ez and Amharic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73GMOM7wH9A

Here is another resource for Ethiopian Orthodox liturgical prayers:

http://ethiopianorthodox.org/churchmusic/liturgyinenglish/geeze.html

http://www.orthodoxchristianity.net/forum/index.php/topic,4892.msg412395.html#msg412395

[Salpy]

Another source for daily Ethiopian Orthodox prayers:

http://www.ethiopianorthodoxchurch.info/DailyPrayers.html#anchor_95

[Salpy]

A Coptic Doxology to St. Takla Haymanot, translated into English:


The spirit of Comfort, came down from heaven, upon the blessed father, Saint Thecla Haymanot.

*On the third day, of his blessed birth, he proclaimed "One is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit."

And from his childhood, he was filled with the Holy Spirit, and the angels of heaven, overshadowed him.

*Michael the head of the heavenly, was always with him, as was said by, David in the Psalms.

Christ was revealed to you, and He gave you the authority, to loosen and to bind, like the Apostles.

*You became an apostle, chosen by Jesus Christ, the Patriarch of the Ethiopians, the Father of the Monks.

Your name became sweet, on our lips and the Ethiopians', O God of Saint Thecla, the Ethiopian have pity upon us.

*Pray to the Lord on our behalf, O Ethiopian Apostle, Saint Thecla Haymanot, that He may forgive us our sins.
 

http://www.coptichymns.net/module-library-viewpub-tid-1-pid-231.html

[geovar]

Prayer before Sleep attributed to St. Severus of Antioch

O Lord,who doest dwell under the protection of the Most High, protect us beneath the shadow of the wings of your loving kindness.

You who doest hear all , hear the prayers of thy servants in your loving kindness and Have mercy upon us.

Christ our Saviour, grant us an evening full of peace and a night of holiness ,for though art the King of glory.

To thee our eyes are turned, pardon our offences and sins  and in this world and the world to come,Have mercy upon us.

Lord,let thy right hand rest upon us all the days of our lives ,and thy peace reign among us and give hope and salvation to the souls of those who pray to thee.

By the prayers of Mary who bore thee and of all the saints,pardon me Lord,and Have mercy upon me , O God !

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Can any one find out if this prayer is found in Armenian , Coptic tradition ?  Also, though I know this prayer is found in Syrian tradition in India , Is this prayer found in the Syrian prayer book found in Syria and attributed to St. Severus?

[Salpy]

Just found this:

Hymns for the seven days of creation by St. Nerses the Gracious: http://www.geocities.com/derghazar/HYMNDAYS.DOC.

I just saw this again and realized the above web address is no longer any good.  I think they took geocities down.  The new web address for Ghazar's site is:

http://www.looys.net/

You can find St. Nerses' beautiful prayers for the seven days of creation here:

http://www.looys.net/symbol.html

I love those prayers.  The one for the sixth day is my favorite, as it tells what our Savior did for us on the Cross:


Friday, The Sixth Day:
  The Crucifixion of our Lord

He who is good by nature,
not enduring to have alone the ineffable good,
created man in his own image
in the morning of the sixth day;
and in the third hour he gave the one born of the ribs
as helper to the one born of the earth
and he put them in paradise to enjoy,
but he forbade them the fruit of death.

After the transgression Adam of old
was struck dumb before the Judge
putting the blame on the woman for the guile
and the woman on the treacherous serpent,
because of which this earth was cursed,
thorns and thistle grew therein,
sentence of death was given to man
that he should return to earth from which he was created.

The Father of glory made haste to abolish
the record of our debt of transgressions,
therefore the merciful Son in the sixth age
took upon himself the body of sin;
according to the good pleasure of the Father
he came willingly to the death of the Cross on Friday,
the Lamb was slain on the old Passover,
instead of the Lambs that prefigured him.

By the luminous way of the commandment
and by the path of righteousness
thou, lifting thyself up on the Cross,
didst lift us up to heaven;
through thine unspeakable humility
and crucifixion willingly suffered,
0 Lord, be reconciled with us in thy compassion
and in thy mercy forgive us our sins.

0 Lord, who art terrible to the seraphim
and fearful to the cherubim,
thou didst humble thyself to endure sufferings
in the passible human nature;
thou didst kill sin on the Cross
and didst make void the sentence of death;
reconcile with us. Lord, in thy compassion
and in thy mercy forgive us our sins.

Thou art supreme over the natures of beings
and art the Maker of all;
when thou wilt raise up the sign of thy Cross
in thy second coming,
them that now worship thee in faith
enlighten with the light of thy Cross,
so that in concord with them that have put on the Cross
we may bless thee for evermore.

[Salpy]

In reply 5, above, I posted the 24 prayers written by St. Nerses Shnorhali, called "I Confess with Faith." 

http://www.orthodoxchristianity.net/forum/index.php/topic,13200.msg199055.html#msg199055

On the website of the Catholicosate of Cilicia, I found an English translation to this ancient preface to the prayers:


THE “PREFACE” TO HAWATOV KHOSTOVANIM [“WITH FAITH I CONFESS”]
BY ST. NERSES THE GRACIOUS (1102-1173)*
 
Translated by Abraham Terian
 


ADMONITORY PREFACE TO THE PRAYER WRITTEN BY LORD NERSES
THE BROTHER OF CATHOLICOS GRIGOR OF THE ARMENIANS
 
 
A prayer of every Christian, to the old and the young, which all ought to learn and to teach one another: priests to the people, fathers to sons, mothers to daughters, and friend to friend. And they should pray using this [prayer] five times a day, kneeling down twelve times at the hour [of prayer], that is: on the morning, at noon, in the afternoon, in the evening and when retiring. But if one becomes slothful and lazy to pray five times, let him pray four times, or three times, or two times, or once a day; at least to realize that one is a Christian, and to come to know oneself that he is a creature of God and worshiper of Him. And if one is slow to learn every word of the prayer (there are those who learn demonic songs with much eagerness), let him learn half of it or less. If they were to learn three of its stanzas and to pray kneeling down three times at the hour [of prayer], it would be acceptable to God. But if any Christian is indifferent about learning and praying this, he should be rebuked and [deemed] as of the company of the Gentiles. Those who teach this prayer to others shall not succumb even in war, much less in peace.
 
As for our people, they never mention the name of God outside a place of worship, for they do not care about the orders of prayer as befits worshipers of God; rather, they prefer vain talk over prayer. And if at times some were to come to pray before the priest, they either stand with their mouths shut or chatter with one another; for they neither know the words of prayers nor allow the priests to concentrate on psalms and worship. For this reason we wrote this prayer in simple and clear words, so as to be easily understood, for the dull are slow to understand. In not too many words, it has twenty-four stanzas, in accordance with the hours of day and night and the number of prophets, and it is conceptually powerful – since it encompasses more than the needs for which we petition God.
 
And we offer it to our people to learn, that every Christian may learn this. And wherever they meet at the hour of prayer, they may speak with God through it – whether in church or at home, whether at rest or at whatever work, or when traveling. And all those who learn it and pray attentively, with a passionate heart and with tears, they shall have every request written in it fulfilled to them in life as well as after death. But those who despise it and neither learn nor pray, they shall themselves see the harm done to themselves. We have exhausted our reasons for coming up with this prayer – so that they will no longer make excuses that “we don’t know a prayer’s words, therefore we don’t pray”. Let such people know that Satan makes no greater effort to prevent our various acts of benevolence as [he does to prevent] prayer, for he knows that only through prayer he is chased away from us and God comes to dwell in us. We shall therefore ask the benevolent God to open the eyes of your minds, that you may willingly learn and pray this, and be loved of God.
 
And when you pray, remember Grigor the Catholicos of the Armenians and his brother Nerses, the author of this prayer, before Christ. And those of you who copy this prayer in writing, copy also these words of admonition. And those who copy this shall be registered in the book of eternal life. And those who shall learn and pray shall receive mercy from Christ. Those who teach their friends shall be rewarded by God. And those who copy it, let them not confuse any letter or word, departing from the original copy, or omit [anything] when copying, lest the words become distorted. Rather, let all [copies] be alike, whenever copied. As for those not skilled in lettering, let them give it to those trained in orthography to copy.
 
Glory to Christ, forever. Amen.
 
__________________________
*The Armenian text of this rarely encountered preface is found in several ancient manuscripts, and in print at the end Girk’ Saghmosats’ Dawt’i [The Psalms of David] (Jerusalem: St. James Press, 1873), pp. 341-344.
 
 

http://www.armenianorthodoxchurch.org/v13/doc/News%20in%20English.htm#22

[Hermogenes]

Online Coptic Orthodox Book of Hours:

http://agpeya.org/

It's a pretty cool site.  The prayers are beautiful.

Yes. The Coptic hours are very close to those prayed by the original desert monks. Some of the prayers are referred to in St. John Cassian and St. John Klimako. They are available as a small book, published by

Keemy Brothers
PO Box 397
Hayward, CA  94543

I got mine from Amazon, but they only had two at the time.

[Hermogenes]

This is a beautiful Theotokeia from the Coptic Church:

First Part:

The crown of our pride, the head of our salvation, the confirmation of our purity, is the Virgin Mary.

+ Who for us gave birth to, God the Word, who became man, for our salvation.

And after He became man, He is also God, wherefore she gave birth to Him, while a Virgin.

+ Exalted is the wonder, of her pregnancy, and her delivery, is unutterable.

For of His own will, and the pleasure of His Father, and the Holy Spirit, He came and saved us.

Second Part:

+ Great is the glory, of your virginity, O Virgin Mary, the perfect one.

You have found grace, and the Lord is with you, you are the ladder, which Jacob saw.

+ Set firmly on the earth, reaching to heaven, where the angels, come down upon it.

You are the bush, which Moses has seen, flaming with fire, and was not consumed.

+ This is the Son of God, who dwelt in your womb, the fire of His divinity, did not consume your body.

You are the field, that was not planted, but you did give, the fruit of life.

+ You are the treasure, that Joseph bought, and he found the pearl, hidden in its midst.

Our Savior Jesus, was found in your womb, you gave birth to Him for the world, so He might save us.

+ For of His own will, and the pleasure of His Father, and the Holy Spirit, He came and saved us.

Third Part:

Hail to the Mother of God, the rejoicing of angels, hail to the chaste one, the preaching of the prophets.

+ Hail to you who has found grace, the Lord is with you, hail to you who accepted, the joy of the world.

Hail to her who gave birth, to the Creator of all, hail to her who is worthy to be called, the Mother of Christ.

+ Hail to you who brought, salvation to Adam and Eve, hail to her who nursed, the Provider of everyone.

Hail to the saint, the mother of all the living, you are the one we entreat to, intercede for us.

+ For of His own will, and the pleasure of His Father, and the Holy Spirit, He came and saved us.

Fourth Part:

If someone contemplates, about you, O holy Virgin, and Mother of God.

+ And about the mystery, full of wonder, which dwelt in you, for our salvation.

He would keep silent, for he cannot utter, he would make us, rise up for praise.

+ Because of the greatness, of the wonderful, Maker of all things.

For the living Word, of God the Father, came down to give the Law, on mount Sinai.

+ He covered the peak, of the mountain, with smoke darkness and mist, and with storms.

Through the sound, of the trumpets, He was teaching, the people standing with fear.

+ He also descended on you, O speaking mountain, that spoke with humility, and love of mankind.

And likewise, He took flesh from you, without alteration, a speaking body.

+ Coessential with us, and perfect, and also has, a rational soul.

He remained God, as He is, and became, a perfect man.

+ So as to abolish, the iniquity of Adam, and that He may save, those who perished.

And to make him a citizen, of heaven, and restore his leadership, according to His great mercy.

+ For of His own will, and the pleasure of His Father, and the Holy Spirit, He came and saved us.

Fifth Part:

The honor of the Virgin, is unutterable, for God desired her, and came and dwelt in her.

+ He who abides in light, that is unapproachable, dwelt in her womb, for nine months.

Mary gave birth to, the Invisible, and infinite One, and remained a Virgin.

+ For this is the rock, which Daniel saw, which was cut, from a mountain.

The hands of men, never touched Him, for He is the Word, of the Father.

+ He came and took flesh, from the Virgin, without the seed of man, in order to save us.

For of His own will, and the pleasure of His Father, and the Holy Spirit, He came and saved us.

Sixth Part:

+ You became a branch, of purity, and a vessel, of the faith.

Of the Orthodox, our holy fathers, O chaste Mother of God, the honored Virgin.

+ For you gave birth for us, God the Word, our Savior Jesus, He came and saved us.

For of His own will, and the pleasure of His Father, and the Holy Spirit, He came and saved us.

Seventh Part:

+ You are the Mother of Light, the honored Mother of God, you have carried, the uncircumscript Logos.

After you gave birth to Him, you remained a Virgin, with hymns and blessings, we magnify you.

+ For of His own will, and the pleasure of His Father, and the Holy Spirit, He came and saved us.


http://tasbeha.org/hymn_library/view/467

This is beautiful. I wonder if St. Francis of Assisi was familiar with any of these prayers, since his often take similar forms.

[geovar]

This prayer in the name of Jesus in Orthodox Church tradition of the Indian /Syrian Church is found in Moonu Noyambu (Ninevah Fast) prayer . Very similar to this is another  prayer of closing on each Holy Qurbana ( Posting a link to it).

"Jesus, Be our Helper
Jesus Be our Shelter
Jesus, Strengthen us-
Jesus Guard us
Jesus, Remove the wicked from us
Jesus, Absolve our sins and our evil deeds
Jesus, have mercy on the judgement day"

http://orthodukso.blogspot.com/2010/06/orthodox-service-closing-prayers.html

[Salpy]

A beautiful prayer of St. Gregory of Nareg which describes the Holy Church:


This spiritual, heavenly mother of light
cared for me as a son more than a earthly, breathing, physical mother could.
The milk of her bosom was the blood of Christ.
If one were to consider her the image of the Mother
of God, it would not be impious.
Like the sign of the cross of salvation with amazing
powers and handiwork, it performs miracles.
The terrifying tribunal of the last judgment
is established there visibly.
Through her the babbling mouths of immoral heretics
are silenced.
She also has intelligent, speaking stones,
by which she chases away the beastly and unclean.78
She gives birth to godly mortals,79
saints in the image of the sole God, Christ.80
She faces east, our first place of habitation.81
She points the way to the second coming of God,
and making us face east guides us toward
the Lord’s brilliant light.82
The dawn and rising of the sun foreshadow
for the creatures of earth the vision of Christ
on the day of the last judgment.
She drives away pain, heals the infirm, overcomes
the tyranny of demons.
Like a jubilant bridal party the twelve apostles
encircle her the life-giving fountain, the womb of life.
So much have her blessings and bliss increased
and flourished that she has been called by the name of
the Savior himself83
and by those close to the only begotten Son,
she was consecrated in the name the radiant
Mother of God.
For sinners tossing about on the sea, she is a safe harbor;
for the heavenly choirs, a place of jubilation.
For the perplexed mortal, a place of sure healing.
The Holy Trinity, beyond telling, is glorified in her,
the blessed in all. 


Prayer 75L of the Book of Lamentations

http://www.stgregoryofnarek.am/book.php?parent_id=76&type=2&type_1=none

[geovar]

Found this part of prayer , by Blessed Moses of Mardin, very touching

By no means, O Lord, shall I be kept from turning to the Lord because of controversies that are like a small ship of the soul cast about on a stormy sea besieged by crowded waves and abandon you in the abyss of destruction.




Entire text
http://newandoldmonks.blogspot.com/2010/02/prayer-of-moses-of-mardin.html

[binoj]

I belong to Malankara (Indian) Orthodox Syrian Church. My favourite prayer in our church (we follow syriac orthodox tradition) is private prayer of the priest during the fraction of Holy Mysteries

 The Prayer of Breaking and Signing of the Holy Mysteries by Dionysius Bar Salibi

Thus truly the Word of God did suffer in flesh, and was sacrificed and broken on the Cross, and His soul separated from His Body, while His Godhead never separated neither from His Soul nor from His Body. And He was pieced in His side with a spear, and there flowed out of Him blood and water, the atonement of the whole world. And his Body was stained with them. And for the sin of the whole world, the Son died on the Cross, and His Soul came and united with His Body. And He turned us from the work of the left to that of the right. And by the Blood of His Person, He reconciled, united and combined the heavenly with the earthly, the people with the gentiles and the Soul with the Body. And on the third day, He rose from the tomb. One is Emmanuel, and cannot be divided into two natures after the indivisible unity. Thus we believe and thus we confess and thus we confirm that this Flesh is of this Blood and that this Blood is of this Flesh.

http://sor.cua.edu/Liturgy/Anaphora/James.html

Binoj

[binoj]

Regarding Trisagion Hymn; In Syriac Orthodox Tradition, it is:

Holy art Thou, O God, Holy art Thou, Almighty, Holy art Thou, Immortal, +Crucified for us, have mercy on us.

In Syriac, I think it is (correct me if I am wrong):

Qadeeshat Aloho, Qadeeshat haylthono, Qadeeshat lo moyootho, destlebth hlofayn ethraham' alayn.

Thanks,

Binoj

[Salpy]

The Lord's Prayer in Armenian Sign Language:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWiuSvPqKDc

Here it is in American Sign Language:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSBfZxj99f8

[Shanghaiski]

This is a wonderful thread. I just ordered St. Gregory of Nareg's Lamentations from Amazon. Is there a liturgy attributed to him? If so, I bet it is very beautiful, and very long. I've noticed that the further east you go, the longer the prayers get.

[Severian]

I belong to Malankara (Indian) Orthodox Syrian Church. My favourite prayer in our church (we follow syriac orthodox tradition) is private prayer of the priest during the fraction of Holy Mysteries

 The Prayer of Breaking and Signing of the Holy Mysteries by Dionysius Bar Salibi

Thus truly the Word of God did suffer in flesh, and was sacrificed and broken on the Cross, and His soul separated from His Body, while His Godhead never separated neither from His Soul nor from His Body. And He was pieced in His side with a spear, and there flowed out of Him blood and water, the atonement of the whole world. And his Body was stained with them. And for the sin of the whole world, the Son died on the Cross, and His Soul came and united with His Body. And He turned us from the work of the left to that of the right. And by the Blood of His Person, He reconciled, united and combined the heavenly with the earthly, the people with the gentiles and the Soul with the Body. And on the third day, He rose from the tomb. One is Emmanuel, and cannot be divided into two natures after the indivisible unity. Thus we believe and thus we confess and thus we confirm that this Flesh is of this Blood and that this Blood is of this Flesh.

http://sor.cua.edu/Liturgy/Anaphora/James.html

Binoj

We have basically the exact same prayer in the Coptic Church. We call it "The Syrian Fraction".

[William]

Here are some prayers from the Sunrise Service (Prime) of the Armenian Church.  The prayers were written by St. Nerses Shnorhali in the 12th century.

O Light!  Creator of light, primal light that dwellest in unapproachable light, O heavenly Father, blessed art Thou by the ranks of the luminous ones.  At the rising of the morning light, shine forth upon our souls Thine intelligible light.

O Light!  Born of the Light, righteous Sun, ineffable generation, Son of the Father, Thy name is praised with the Father before the sun.  At the rising of the morning light, shine forth upon our souls Thine intelligible light.

O Light!  Procession from the Father, source of goodness, Holy Spirit of God, the children of the Church praise Thee together with the angels.  At the rising of the morning light, shine forth upon our souls Thine intelligible light.

O Light!  Triune and one indivisible Holy Trinity, we, born of the earth, glorify Thee always together with the heavenly hosts.  At the rising of the morning light, shine forth upon our souls Thine intelligible light.

Beautiful prayer. It seems like the counterpart of the "Phos Hilaron" which is sung in Byzantine rite Vespers.

[Shanghaiski]

Here are some prayers from the Sunrise Service (Prime) of the Armenian Church.  The prayers were written by St. Nerses Shnorhali in the 12th century.

O Light!  Creator of light, primal light that dwellest in unapproachable light, O heavenly Father, blessed art Thou by the ranks of the luminous ones.  At the rising of the morning light, shine forth upon our souls Thine intelligible light.

O Light!  Born of the Light, righteous Sun, ineffable generation, Son of the Father, Thy name is praised with the Father before the sun.  At the rising of the morning light, shine forth upon our souls Thine intelligible light.

O Light!  Procession from the Father, source of goodness, Holy Spirit of God, the children of the Church praise Thee together with the angels.  At the rising of the morning light, shine forth upon our souls Thine intelligible light.

O Light!  Triune and one indivisible Holy Trinity, we, born of the earth, glorify Thee always together with the heavenly hosts.  At the rising of the morning light, shine forth upon our souls Thine intelligible light.

Beautiful prayer. It seems like the counterpart of the "Phos Hilaron" which is sung in Byzantine rite Vespers.

Phos Hilaron, IIRC, comes from St. Athenogenes, who was Armenian. He sang it before the pagans burned him alive.

[Hermogenes]

This is a wonderful thread. I just ordered St. Gregory of Nareg's Lamentations from Amazon. Is there a liturgy attributed to him? If so, I bet it is very beautiful, and very long. I've noticed that the further east you go, the longer the prayers get.

I don't know where the joke originated, but in the Russian church we say, "why use one word when 10 will do?"

[Hermogenes]

I particularly love the imagery of intoxication--an allusion to the notion of "spiritual/sober drunkenness"--which seems to be popular in Syrian Orthodox descriptions of elevated states of spiritual experience.

The part about "increase my faith" reminds me of one of the Roman Catholic rosary prayers--"Increase my Faith; Strengthen my Hope; and inflame my heart with the fire of Divine Love."

[Salpy]

Coptic Agpia for mobile phones:

http://www.agpia.org/

[Shanghaiski]

Coptic Agpia for mobile phones:

http://www.agpia.org/

And it's free! And navigable! (Although the version I have has a couple errors and omissions.)

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