Lament that the influence of grace has been ignored.


Prayers that St. Ephraim the Syrian offered up to God.


Prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian 

O Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of sloth, despondency, lust for power and idle talk. (full prostration) But grant unto me, Your servant, a spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love. (full prostration) Thus, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own faults and not to judge my brothers and sisters. For You are blessed unto the ages of ages. Amen. (full prostration) O God, cleanse me, a sinner (12 times, with bows from the waist) (Read the entire prayer through once more from the beginning, followed by a full prostration.)


 9 Lament that the influence of grace has been ignored 


Like the publican I sigh, like the harlot I shed tears, like the thief I call out, like the prodigal son I entreat Thee. O Christ my Savior and Lover of mankind, strengthen my soul which has grown faint, which has been paralyzed with the intoxication of delights; heal its scabs and wash it, blackened with sin, with Thine honorable blood! 


According to the multitude of Thy loving kindness, convert me, O Only Long-suffering One, and deliver me from all sensual indulgence. Extinguish the furnace of my passions, so that they will not burn me up in the end.


Woe is me! Thou, O Lord, hast given me the light of knowledge, and I have clouded it. Woe is me! Constantly hast Thou visited Thy grace upon me and yet dost Thou visit it upon me, but hourly have I rejected this gift for my healing and yet do I reject it.


What a great multitude of gifts hast Thou bestowed upon me and yet dost Thou bestow them upon me, a sinner, O Master; but I who am wretched have always been and continue to be consciously ungrateful before Thee! 


Thy grace comforts me, enlightens me and strengthens me, but I in my negligence turn my attention to vain things and I always sink once again into the bile and bitterness of my passions.


Thou, O All-good One, remindest me of death and of eternal torments and drawest me toward life in order to save me, but I ever shun these saving thoughts. I drive them out and occupy myself with that which is of no benefit to me. Thus have I no justification before Thee.


I knock at the door of Thy loving-kindness, O Lord, that it may be opened to me. I do not cease to pray that I may receive what I request, and unwavering I seek pardon.


Be ever patient with me, depraved as I am; deliver me from the sins which possess me that, having become whole, I may arise from the deathbed of corrupting sin.


Free me from my wanton habits before the end overtakes me, for who will confess Thee in hell?


Make white my garment before the terrible command catches me unprepared and ashamed. 


Deliver my contrite soul from the mouths of the lions and save it according to Thy grace and mercy, by the prayers of our All-pure Lady the Theotokos and of all the saints.


Prayer of Saint Ephrem the Syrian



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