The Coptic Liturgy of Saint Mark or Saint Cyril (Brightman translation)
The Coptic Liturgy of Saint Mark or Saint Cyril (Brightman translation)
4th–5th century origin; present form medieval
The liturgy of the Coptic Church of Egypt, from the priest’s preparation to the dismissal, with the anaphora of Saint Mark, also called Saint Cyril, which is the old liturgy of Alexandria in its Coptic form; the service as a whole reached its present shape in the Middle Ages. Brightman translated it from a Coptic and Arabic manuscript of the thirteenth century in the Bodleian Library and supplemented it from the Cairo editions of 1887.
The Prothesis
A prayer of the patriarch Severus for the preparation of the holy altar of the Lord (which the priest says secretly)
1 Lord, which knoweth the hearts of all, which is holy and dwelleth in the holy place, which is alone without sin and hath power to forgive sins: thou art the master that knowest mine unworthiness and mine unpreparedness and mine insufficiency for this thine holy service. And I have not the countenance to draw nigh and to open my mouth before the presence of thine holy glory: but after the multitude of thy mercies be merciful to me the sinner and grant me to find grace and mercy in this hour and send down to me power from on high that I may begin and make ready and accomplish after thy goodpleasure thy holy service according to the approval of thy will for a sweetsmelling savour. Yea, o our master, be with us, have fellowship with us in our working: bless us. For thou art the absolver of our sins, the light of our souls, our life and our strength and our boldness, and thou art he to whom we send up the glory and the honour and the worship, the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, for ever. Amen
He places the vessels in their places — A prayer after the preparation of the holy altar, to the Father
2 Thou, o Lord, hast taught us this great mystery of salvation: thou hast called us thy lowly and unworthy servants to be the ministers of thine holy altar: do thou also, o our master, enable us in the power of thine Holy Spirit to accomplish this ministry, to the end that without falling into judgement in the presence of thy great glory we may bring thee a sacrifice of praise, glory and great comeliness in thy sanctuary. God who givest grace, who sendest redemption, who workest all in all: grant, o Lord, that our sacrifice be accepted in thy sight, for mine-own sins and the ignorances of thy people, and that it be sanctified according to the gift of thine Holy Spirit: in Christ Jesus our Lord through whom the glory and the honour and the dominion befitteth thee with him and the Holy Ghost the lifegiver and of one substance with thee now and ever and world without end. Amen.
The priest takes the Lamb: then he washes his hands and says
3 [Thou shalt purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean: thou shalt wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Thou shalt make me hear of joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice I will wash my hands in innocency and so will I go to thine altar, o Lord, that I may show the voice of thanksgiving. Alleluia.
Then he rubs the Lamb with his hand above and below and says
4 Grant, o Lord, that our sacrifice be accepted (and the rest as above) When thou offerest the oblation on behalf of any one whether alive or dead thou shalt mention his name here If he be dead Remember, o Lord, thy servant N or M and grant him a place of rest and refreshment and repose in the dwellings of thy saints, in the bosom of our holy fathers. And if it is on behalf of one who is sick, then he says as follows Remember, o Lord, thy servant N or M and keep him by an angel of peace and make him whole. And if it is on behalf of a traveller or travellers he shall say Keep him by an angel of peace. During the circuit of the Lamb on fasts
The choir
5 {Psalm lxxiv For the thought of man shall turn to thy praise, o Lord, and the residue of thought shall keep festival unto thee by reason of the sacrifices and the oblations. Accept them} And when this is finished he shall wrap the Lamb in a silk veil and raise it on his head and in like manner the ministering deacon shall wrap the cruet of wine in a silk veil and raise it on his head also. And before each of them a deacon shall carry a lighted torch and they shall go round about the altar once while he says as follows Glory and honour unto honour and glory to the allholy Trinity the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Peace and edification upon the one only holy catholic apostolic church of God. Amen. Remember, o Lord, those who have offered thee these gifts and those for whom they have brought them and those through whom they have brought them: grant them all the recompense from heaven.
6 When the circuit is completed according to all that has been explained, he shall stand in his place with his face to the east and the deacon shall stand in his place with his face to the west This is read by the deacon after the circuit of the Lamb during the signs Psalm cxvi O praise the Lord all ye heathen: praise him all ye nations. For his merciful kindness is ever more and more towards us: and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever. Then he shall sign both together three times, i.e. with three crosses When he has inclined to his brethren the priests and said to them they all answer him Then he shall stand in his place with the deacon and make the sign upon the bread and the wine three times In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost one God the first sign
7 Blessed be God the Father almighty: amen the second sign Blessed be his only begotten Son Jesus Christ our Lord: amen the third sign Blessed be the Holy Ghost the Comforter: amen.
He puts the Lamb on the paten
8 Glory and honour unto honour and glory be to the allholy Trinity the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost now and ever and world without end. Amen (He pours the wine into the chalice and adds thereto a little water).
The Enarxis
1 And after the deacons and the singers have answered him, he shall begin as follows Pray
And he shall bow his head to the priests saying — and he shall turn himself towards the west and sign the people with the sign of the cross saying — and after the singers have answered him — he shall say the prayer of Thanksgiving: the first prayer of the morning
2 Let us give thanks unto the doer of good and the merciful, God the Father of our Lord and our God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: for he hath sheltered us, he hath succoured us, he hath kept us, he hath redeemed us unto himself, he hath spared us, he hath helped us, he hath brought us to this hour. Let us therefore pray him that he keep us in this holy day and all the days of our life in all peace, the almighty Lord our God
The deacon
3 Pray that God have mercy upon us, that he compassionate us, that he hear us, that he receive our prayers and our supplications at our hands when we call upon him: that he receive the prayers and the supplications of his saints at their hands in our behalf for good at all times: that he account us worthy to receive from the communion of his blessed mystery the forgiveness of our sins
The priest shall say
4 Master Lord God almighty the Father of our Lord and our God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, we give thanks to thee as touching all things and for all things and in all things because thou hast sheltered us, thou hast succoured us, thou hast kept us, thou hast redeemed us unto thyself, thou hast spared us, thou hast helped us, thou hast brought us to this hour. For this cause we pray and beseech thy goodness, o lover of man, grant us to accomplish this holy day also and all the days of our life in all peace and thy fear. All envy, all temptation, all working of Satan, the counsel of evil men, the uprising of enemies secret and open, [he signs himself] take away from us, [he signs the people] and from all thy people, [he signs the altar] and from this holy place of thine: but those things that are good and those that are expedient supply unto us. For it is thou that hast given us power to tread upon serpents and scorpions and upon all the power of the enemy. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil: in the grace and compassions and love towards mankind of thine onlybegotten Son our Lord and our God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: through whom the glory and the honour and the dominion befitteth thee with him and the Holy Ghost the life-giver and of one substance with thee now and ever and world without end. Amen.
A prayer over the prothesis of the holy oblation (secretly over the bread and the wine) when thou hast set it on the holy altar: to the Son
5 Master Lord Jesus Christ, eternal Son and Word of the spotless Father, of one substance with the Holy Ghost: for thou art the living bread which came down from heaven and didst aforetime make thyself a lamb without spot for the life of the world: we pray and beseech thy goodness, o lover of man, [he signs the bread] make thy face to shine upon this bread, [he signs the wine] and upon this cup, which we have set upon this thy priestly table: [first sign] bless them, [second sign] sanctify them, [third sign] hallow them and change them, [he points with his hand to the bread] that this bread may become indeed thine holy body, [he points with his hand to the wine] and the mixture in this cup indeed thy precious blood. And may they become to us all for participation and healing and salvation of our souls and bodies and spirits. For thou art our God: the glory befitteth thee and the dominion with thy good Father and the Holy Ghost the lifegiver and of one substance with thee now and ever and world without end. Amen.
6 [Then the priest covers the paten and the chalice each of them with a veil and he covers the whole with the prospharin. And he says the Absolution of the Son: he approaches the table and bows unto God and goes round the table and comes down in front of the altar and reads the absolution of the ministers while they are kneeling upon their knees: but otherwise he that is foremost among the priests shall read it, if he be present]
A prayer of Absolution, to the Son
7 Master Lord Jesus Christ the only begotten Son and Word of God the Father, who hath broken every bond of our sins through his saving lifegiving sufferings, who breathed into the face of his saintly disciples and holy apostles saying to them receive an Holy Spirit: whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whosesoever sins ye retain they are retained: thou therefore now, our master, through thine holy apostles hast given grace to them that labour in priesthood from time to time in thine holy church to remit sins on earth and to bind and loose every bond of unrighteousness. Now again we pray and beseech thy goodness, o lover of man, on behalf of thy servants my fathers and my brethren and mine own weakness, who bow their heads before thine holy glory: grant unto us thy mercy and loose the bonds of our sins, and if we have done ought wittingly or unwittingly or in fear of heart, whether in word or in deed, or from faintheartedness, do thou who knowest the feebleness of men, as a God good and a lover of man, bestow on us the forgiveness of our sins: bless us, purify us, absolve us, fill us with thy fear and direct us into thine holy good will. For thou art our God: the glory befitteth thee and the dominion with thy good Father and the Holy Ghost the lifegiver
8 and the rest May thy servants ministering this day, the presbyter [and he signs the celebrant once], and the deacon [and the deacons once], and the clergy [and the clergy once], and all the people [and the people once], and my weakness [and himself once] be absolved out of the mouth of the allholy Trinity the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost and out of the mouth of the one only holy catholic and apostolic church and out of the mouths of the xij apostles and out of the mouth of the contemplative evangelist Mark the holy apostle and martyr, and the holy patriarch Severus [and our doctor Dioscorus and S. Athanasius the apostolic and S. Peter sacred martyr pontiff and S. John Chrysostom] and S. Cyril and S. Basil and S. Gregory and out of the mouths of the cccxviij who were assembled in Nicaea and the cl of Constantinople and the cc of Ephesus and out of the mouth of our patriarch honoured father abba N or M and out of mine own mouth, the least though I be. For blessed and full of glory is thine holy name the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost now and ever and world without end. Amen.
The Mass of the Catechumens: The Censing
1 [This shall be sung during the offering of the incense of the Paul This is the censer of pure gold bearing the sweet spice that was in the hands of Aaron the priest while he offered a sweet savour upon the altar]
A prayer of the incense (secretly) when thou hast set it on the altar: thou sayest it within the veil
2 God the eternal, without beginning and without end, great in his counsel and mighty in his works, who is in all places and with all beings: be with us also, our master, in this hour and stand in the midst of us all: purify our hearts and sanctify our souls and cleanse us from all sins which we have done willingly or unwillingly and grant us to offer before thee reasonable oblations and sacrifices of praise and a spiritual sweet savour entering in within the veil in the holy of holies And we pray thee, our master: remember, o Lord, the peace of the one only holy catholic and apostolic church which is from one end of the world to the other Remember, o Lord, our patriarch the honoured father abba N or M preserve him in safety unto us many years and in peaceful times Remember, o Lord, our congregations: bless them grant that they be to us without hindrance: that they be held without impediment after thine holy and blessed will, houses of prayer, houses of purity, houses of blessing. Bestow them on us, o Lord, and on thy servants who come after us for ever. Arise, o Lord God, let all thine enemies be scattered, let all them that hate thine holy name flee from before thy face: but let thy people be in blessings unto thousand thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand doing thy will. In the grace (and the rest)
After finishing the three prayers he shall come down and present the incense
3 [Thus is sung before the reading of the Paul on anniversaries and fasts
A prayer after the incense: thou sayest it outside the veil: to the Son
4 We adore thee, o Christ, and thy good Father and the Holy Ghost for thou hast {come}, thou hast saved us]. O Christ our God, the great who art faithful and true, the onlybegotten Son and Word of God the Father, thine holy name is ointment poured forth and in every place incense is offered to thine holy name and a purified sacrifice: we pray thee, our master, accept our supplications and let our prayer be set forth in thy sight as the incense and the lifting up of our hands as an evening sacrifice: for thou art the true evening sacrifice, who was himself offered up for our sins on the precious cross after the will of thy good Father, who art blessed with him and the Holy Ghost the lifegiver and of one substance with thee now and ever and world without end. Amen.
The Lections
I. Epistle of S. Paul
1 [The preface of the Paul: the beginning of the epistle to the Romans Paul the servant of our Lord Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God then the deacon reads three stichoi from the chapter {This know also that in the last days...... to the knowledge of the truth 2 Tim. iii 1-7}
and after that he says if the abba patriarch is present
2 For the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ shall be with thy pure spirit, my lord honoured father pontiff papa abba Cyril when the abba patriarch is not present, if the matran is there or the bishop the following shall be said With our father metropolitan or bishop abba N or M may the clergy and all the laity be saved in the Lord. Amen: so be it and if more of the fathers be present, the following shall be said For grace shall be with you and peace together. Amen: so be it.]
A prayer after the Apostle (said by the associate priest), to the Son
3 Lord of knowledge and dispenser of wisdom, who discoverest deep things out of darkness and divest utterance to them that proclaim good tidings in great power, who of thy goodness didst call Paul, who sometime was a persecutor, to be a chosen vessel and wast wellpleased in him that he should be called to be an apostle and a preacher of the gospel of thy kingdom, o Christ our God: do thou also now, o good and lover of man, we pray thee, bestow on us and on all thy people a mind without distraction and a purified understanding that we may know and understand how profitable are thine holy teachings which have been read to us now through him: and as he was like unto thee, thou prince of life, so make us also worthy to be like unto him in deed and faith, giving glory to thine holy name, glorying in thy cross at all times: and to thee we send up the glory and the honour and the worship with thy good Father and the Holy Ghost the lifegiver and of one substance with thee now and ever and world without end. Amen.
2. The Catholic Epistle — The preface of the Catholicon
4 [our father {James}
then the deacon shall read from the book as many verses as are fitting
5 My beloved {Be patient therefore...... the coming of the Lord draweth nigh S. James v 7, 8}
and at the conclusion he shall say
6 Love not the world neither the things that are in the world: the world passeth away and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. Amen.] A prayer after the Catholicon [said by the associate secretly], to the Father Lord our God, who by thine holy apostles didst make known unto us the mystery of the glorious gospel of thy Christ, and didst give them according to the great immeasurable gift of thy grace to preach among all nations the good tidings of the inscrutable riches of thy mercy: we pray thee, our master, account us worthy of a part and a lot with them. Grant us evermore to follow their footsteps and to imitate their conflict and to have fellowship with them in the labours which they accepted for godliness' sake. Watch over thine holy church which thou hast founded by their means and bless the sheep of thy flock and make to grow this vine which thy right hand hath planted: in Christ Jesus our Lord through whom and the rest.
3. The Acts of the Apostles — The choir
7 [Response of the Praxis Blessed art thou in truth with thy good Father and the Holy Ghost: for thou hast {come}, thou hast saved us] [He completes the three prayers and the three circuits and offers the incense. The preface of the Praxis of our fathers the apostles: their holy blessing be with us then the deacon shall read from the book as many verses as are fitting {And when they were come to Jerusalem..... even as he did unto us Acts xv 4-8} and at the conclusion he shall say this But the word of the Lord shall grow and shall be multiplied and shall be mighty and shall be established in the holy church of God. Amen.]
The Trisagion
8 [After the reading of the synaxar this shall be said before the prayer of the Gospel
4. The Gospel — A prayer before the Gospel, to the Son
9 Master Lord Jesus Christ our God, who said to his saintly disciples and holy apostles many prophets and righteous men have desired to see the things which ye see and have not seen them, and to hear the things which ye hear and have not heard them: but ye, blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear: may we be accounted worthy to hear and to do thine holy gospels through the prayers of thy saints And remember again, our master, all them that have bidden us to remember them in our prayers and supplications which we offer unto thee, o Lord our God: give rest to them that have fallen asleep heretofore, heal them that are sick: for thou art the life of us all and the salvation of us all and the hope of us all and the healing of us all and the resurrection of us all and to thee we send up the glory and the honour and the worship with thy good Father and the Holy Ghost the lifegiver and of one substance with thee now and ever and world without end. Amen.
10 [After the reading of the prayer of the Gospel, the Psalm shall be recited {Let the hills be joyful together before the Lord: for he is come to judge the earth with righteousness shall he judge the world: and the people with equity Ps. xcviii 9, 10} and at the end of it shall follow Alleluia alleluia alleluia and this chant at all seasons of the year except (when a proper is provided) Bless the crown of the year with thy goodness, o Lord, the rivers and the springs and the sowings and the fruits Alleluia.
The deacon at the door of the haical — Before the Gospel — And after the reading of the Stand with fear in arabic the deacon shall say
11 To our Lord and our God and our Saviour and the king of us all Jesus Christ the Son of the living God be the glory for ever {The same day there came.... in the name of the Lord S. Luke xiii 31-35}
and at the conclusion he shall say
12 The glory is our God's world without end. Amen
The choir shall answer — A prayer after the Gospel (said by the associate secretly), to the Father
13 O longsuffering, of great mercy and true, receive from us our prayer and our supplication, receive from us our petition and our penitence and our confession upon thine holy altar stainless in heaven. May we be accounted worthy to hear thine holy gospel and to keep thy precepts and thy commandments and to bear fruit therein an hundredfold and sixtyfold and thirtyfold: in Christ Jesus our Lord, o thou who art blessed with him and the Holy Ghost the lifegiver and the rest 14 Remember, o Lord, those of thy people that are sick: visiting them in mercies and compassions, heal them. Remember, o Lord, our fathers and our brethren who are gone abroad: bring them back to their dwellingplaces in peace and safety. Remember, o Lord, the sowings and the increase of the land: may they grow and multiply. Remember, o Lord, the airs of heaven and the fruits of the earth: bless them. Remember, o Lord, the waters of the river: bless them, bring them up after their right measure. Remember, o Lord, the fowls of heaven and the fishes of the sea. Remember, o Lord, the safety of men and beasts. Remember, o Lord, the safety of this thine holy place and all places and all monasteries of our orthodox fathers. Remember, o Lord, the king of the land thy servant: keep him in peace and righteousness and fortitude. Remember, o Lord, the captivities of thy people. Remember, o Lord, our fathers and our brethren who have fallen asleep: receiving their souls give them rest. Remember, o Lord, the sacrifices, the oblations, the thankofferings of thy servants. Remember, o Lord, them that are afflicted in tribulations and prisons and deliver them. Remember, o Lord, catechumens thy servants: have mercy on them, stablish them in the faith in thee, banish all remains of idolatry from their heart, stablish in their heart thy law, thy fear, thy precepts, thy righteousnesses, thine holy commandments: grant them to know the certainty of the words wherein they have been instructed and in the time appointed may they be accounted worthy of the washing of regeneration for the remission of their sins: prepare them to be a temple of thine Holy Spirit:
15 in the grace and mercies and love towards mankind of thine onlybegotten Son our Lord and our God and our Saviour Jesus Christ through whom and the rest. (Then shall follow the Sermon and the necessary notices shall be given).
The Mass of the Faithful: The Prayers
1 The beginning of the order of the holy Anaphora of our holy father Mark the apostle which the thriceblessed Cyril the allwise confirmed In the peace of God. Amen
The Prayer of the Veil — A prayer of our holy father John of Bostra for the Veil, to the Father
2 Maker of all creation visible and invisible and whose providence is over all things, for they are thine, our Lord thou lover of souls: I beseech thee, o Lord, who hath power over all things, I the weakest and neediest and most useless of all thy ministers, while I approach thine holy of holies and handle this holy rite grant me, o Lord, thine Holy Spirit, the fire immaterial and incomprehensible which consumeth all feebleness and which burneth up evil inventions: may he mortify the members of the flesh which are upon the earth and may he bridle the motions of the mind that are led into imaginations full of passion, and mystically and as becometh priests make me to rise above every dead thought, and may he put within me the consecrating words to perfect this gift that is set forth, to wit the mystery of all mysteries, in the fellowship and the communion of thy Christ, o thou whom the glory befitteth with him and the Holy Ghost the lifegiver and of one substance with thee now and ever and world without end. Amen.
The prayers
3 [This (greek) petition belongs peculiarly to the fast of Nineveh and to the holy fast of the XL days. It (is now) said at the offering of the morning incense after the interpretation of the prophecies. And each time shall be said
Then the priest goes up to the haical and signs the people and says
4 [Pray Then he begins the reading of the three great prayers]
For peace
5 Again let us pray God almighty the Father of our Lord and our God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. We pray and beseech thy goodness, o lover of man: remember, o Lord, the peace of thy one only holy catholic and apostolic church which is from one end of the world to the other: bless all the peoples and all the lands: the peace that is from heaven grant in all our hearts, but also the peace of this life bestow upon us graciously. The king, the armies, the magistrates, the councillors, the multitudes, our neighbours, our goings in and our goings out, order them in all peace. O king of peace, grant us thy peace for thou hast given us all things: possess us, o God, for beside thee we know none other: we make mention of thine holy name. Let all our souls live through thine Holy Spirit and let not the death of sins have dominion over us thy servants nor all thy people.
For the pope
6 Again let us pray God almighty the Father of our Lord and our God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. We pray and beseech thy goodness, o lover of man: remember, o Lord, our patriarch honoured father abba N or M Preserve him to us in safety many years in peaceful times fulfilling that holy pontificate which thou hast thyself committed unto him according to thine holy and blessed will, rightly dividing the word of truth, feeding thy people in holiness and righteousness, with all the orthodox bishops and presbyters and deacons and all the fullness of thy one only holy catholic and apostolic church. Bestow on him with us peace and safety from all places: and his prayers which he maketh on our behalf and on behalf of all thy people [he shall put on an handful of incense] and ours as well on his behalf do thou accept on thy reasonable altar in heaven for a sweetsmelling savour. And all his enemies visible and invisible do thou bruise and humble under his feet shortly, but himself do thou keep in peace and righteousness in thine holy church.
For the congregations
7 Again let us pray God almighty the Father of our Lord and our God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. We pray and beseech thy goodness, o lover of man: remember, o Lord, our congregations: bless them Grant that they be to us without hindrance, that they be held without impediment after thine holy and blessed will, houses of prayer, houses of purity, houses of blessing. Bestow them on us, o Lord, and thy servants who come after us for ever [he censes towards the east]. Arise, o Lord God, let all thine enemies be scattered, let all them that hate thine holy name flee from before thy face, [he censes towards the west] but let thy people be in blessings unto thousand thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand doing thy will: in the grace (and the rest).
The Creed
1 [Bless M
The people
2 We believe in one God, [God the Father almighty, who made heaven and earth, things visible and invisible. We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, light of light, very God of very God: he is begotten, he is not made: he is of one substance with the Father: by whom all things were made: who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, took flesh of the Holy Ghost and of the virgin Mary, was made man and was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate: he suffered and was buried and the third day he rose again from the dead according to the scriptures: he ascended into heaven, sat down at the right hand of his Father and shall come again in his glory to judge the quick and the dead: whose kingdom is unfailing. Yea, we believe in the Holy Ghost the Lord, the giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father: with the Father and the Son he is worshipped, he is glorified: who spake in the prophets. In one holy catholic apostolic church: we acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins: we look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen
3 One of the ministering deacons shall stand with the book in his hand at the head of the entry of the haical with his face to the west with two of the deacons, on his right hand and on his left, and in the hand of each of them a candle. And he shall recite this creed in coptic and the people remain silent until he come to of sins: and then at this point all the deacons shall respond with the rest of the creed in a chant. And after that a second deacon shall advance and interpret it in arabic and at the conclusion all the deacons shall respond to him in one melody in the voice of a chant saying Amen. And as for the people they shall recite it quite quietly with the interpreting deacon].
The Kiss of Peace
Then he shall wash his hands and sign the people with the sign of the cross and say — After the people have answered
1 [he shall say] a prayer of the Kiss of Peace [to the Father], of the holy patriarch Severus: thou sayest it in the anaphora of S. Cyril Prince of life and king of the ages, God to whom every knee boweth of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, unto whom every man is subjected and is in the bond of servitude, bowed to the sceptre of thy kingdom, whom the angelic hosts glorify and the heavenly ranks and the intellectual natures with unsilenced voice that celebrates thy godhead, and who hast been wellpleased in us also, weak inhabiters of earth, that we should minister to thee, not by reason of the purity of our hands; for we have wrought nothing good upon the earth; but for that thou willest to grant us of thy purity, luckless that we are and unworthy 2 Accept us, good and lover of man, as we draw near to thine holy altar after the multitude of thy mercy and vouchsafe us the peace of heaven which befitteth thy godhead and is full of salvation, that we may give it one to another in perfect love and greet one another with an holy kiss, not with thoughts disdainful and contemptuous of thy fear, not with crafty mind and full of the maliciousness of the traitor, for that our conscience is bound up in wickedness, but with eagerness in our souls and joy in our hearts, for that we have the great and perfect sign of the love of thine onlybegotten Son. And cast us not away, thy servants, by reason of the defilement of our sins: for thou knowest, as the creator of our frame, that none that is born of woman shall be justified in thy sight. Vouchsafe us therefore, o our master, with a pure heart and a soul full of thy grace to stand before thee and offer thee this sacrifice, holy reasonable spiritual and unbloody, for pardon of our trespasses and forgiveness of the errors of thy people: for thou art a God compassionate and merciful and to thee we send up the glory and the honour and the worship, the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, now and ever and world without end. Amen
The Anaphora: The Thanksgiving
The deacon says at the lifting of the prospharin
1 so it is. Jesus Christ the Son of God, hear us and have mercy upon us.
The priest (shall make the sign on the people once while he says)
2 The priest [shall make the sign on the ministers towards the west while he says]
The priest (shall make the sign on himself once and say) — The priest
3 it is meet and right and it is holy and becoming and expedient for our souls and bodies and spirits, eternal, master, Lord God the Father almighty, at all times and in all places of thy sovereignty, to praise thee, to hymn thee, to bless thee, to serve thee, to adore thee, to give thanks to thee, to glorify thee, to confess to thee night and day, with unceasing lips and unsilenced heart and unwearied doxologies. Thou art he that hath made the heavens and the things that are in the heavens, the earth and all things therein, the seas, the rivers, the fountains, the lakes, and all things that are therein. Thou art he that hath made man after thine own image and after thy likeness, and thou hast made all things through thy wisdom, thy true light thine onlybegotten Son our Lord and our God and our Saviour and the king of us all Jesus Christ through whom we give thanks, we offer unto thee with him and the Holy Ghost, the holy consubstantial undivided Trinity, this reasonable sacrifice and this unbloody service which all nations offer unto thee from the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same and from the north to the south, for thy name is great, o Lord, among all the Gentiles and in every place incense is offered unto thine holy name and a purified sacrifice.
The Intercession
1 And over this sacrifice and this offering
The priest
2 we pray and beseech thy goodness, o lover of man We shall begin now with the aid of God with what is appointed for the deacon and we shall set it above every prayer according to the arrangement of the ancient coptic tradition and likewise in the greek copies also, with intent that the order of the prayers be observed according to the reading of them and that the delivery be not disconnected from its continuation, based as it is upon what the judgement of the fathers thought good therein by the aid of almighty God and his help and guidance. During the reading of the kuddas the priest shall make a sign to the deacon that he pray and inform the congregation of the contents of the prayer and the suitable exhortation from the beginning of the kuddas to the end of it in each several prayer according as it is arranged in the sacred horologia likewise. Unto the peace of God. Amen
3 First as follows Pray for the peace of the one only holy catholic apostolic church, the salvation of God among the peoples and stability in all places: that he forgive us our sins
The priest
4 Remember, o Lord, the peace of thy one only holy catholic and apostolic church, which is from one end of the world to the other: bless all the peoples and all the lands: the peace that is from heaven grant in all our hearts but also the peace of this life bestow upon us graciously. The king, the armies, the magistrates, the councillors, the multitudes, our neighbours, our goings in and our goings out, order them in all peace. O king of peace, grant us thy peace for thou hast given us all things: possess us, o God, for beside thee we know none other: we make mention of thine holy name. Let all our souls live through thine Holy Spirit and let not the death of sins have dominion over us thy servants nor all thy people
The deacon
5 Pray for our fathers and our brethren who are sick of whatsoever sickness whether in this place or in all places: that the Lord God bestow on us with them salvation and healing: that he forgive us our sins
The priest
6 Those of thy people that are sick, visiting them in mercies and compassions, heal them: take from them and from us all sickness and all disease: the spirit of sicknesses do thou drive away. Those who have lain long in diseases raise up and comfort, set free all them that are vexed with unclean spirits: them that are in prisons or mines or in exile or captivity or held in bitter bondage, o Lord, set them all free and have mercy on them. For it is thou that loosest them that are bound and settest up them that are cast down, the hope of the hopeless, the help of the helpless, the comfort of the weak-hearted, the harbour of the tempesttossed. To every soul that is in affliction and that is oppressed give mercy, give rest, give refreshment, give help. And for us also, o Lord, heal the sicknesses of our souls, cure those of our bodies, o physician of our souls and our bodies: overseer of all flesh, visit us with thy salvation
The deacon
7 Pray for our fathers and our brethren who are gone abroad or who are minded to go, in all places: direct all their ways whether by sea or rivers or lakes or highways or by what means soever they go: that the Lord God bring them back to their dwellings in peace: that he forgive us our sins
The priest
8 Our fathers and our brethren who are gone abroad or who are minded to go, in all places, direct all their ways whether by sea or rivers or lakes or highways or by what means soever they go: all in every place restore to a tranquil haven, to a haven of safety: vouchsafe to be a fellowvoyager, a fellow-wayfarer with them: grant them to their own, in joy to the rejoicing, in health to the healthful: be a fellowworker with thy servants in all good things. And for us also, o Lord, guard our pilgrimage in this life without harm, without storm, without disquiet unto the end
The deacon
9 Pray for the rising of the rivers of waters in this year: that Christ our true God bless them, that he bring them up after their due measure, that he give gladness to the face of the earth, that he nourish us the children of men, that he give safety to the beasts: that he forgive us our sins
The priest
10 Vouchsafe, o Lord, to bless the waters of the river: bring them up after their due measure, after thy grace: gladden the face of the earth: may her furrows be watered, her fruits be multiplied: prepare it for seed and for harvest: provide for our life as may be most expedient according to thy holy and blessed will. Bless the crown of the year with thy goodness for the sake of the poor of thy people, for the sake of the widow and the orphan and the stranger and the sojourner and for the sake of us all who hope in thee and supplicate thine holy name: for the eyes of all wait upon thee, o Lord, for thou givest them their meat in due season. Deal with us after thy goodness, who givest food to all flesh: fill our hearts with joy and gladness that we also always having sufficiency in all things may abound in every good work
11 When thou art come to the end of the month paopi thou sayest Vouchsafe, o Lord, to bless the sowings and the increase of the earth and the rest of the prayer of the fruits. And likewise when the month athor is in midcourse thou sayest Vouchsafe, o Lord, to bless the fruits of the earth and the rest. And likewise at the end of the month athor thou sayest Vouchsafe, o Lord, to send rains of blessing and ordered weathers and plenteous dews on the fruits of the earth: bless them and the rest. When thou hast reached the 12th of the month paoni thou sayest Vouchsafe, o Lord, to bless the fullness of the rivers of water: bring them up till the middle of the month paopi. And from the 15th of the month paopi thou sayest Vouchsafe, o Lord, to bless the waters of the river: gladden the face of the earth
12 and the rest
The deacon
13 Pray that God grant us mercies and compassions before the ruling powers: that he soften their hearts towards us unto good at all times: that he forgive us our sins
The priest
14 Thy servant the king of the land preserve in peace and righteousness and strength. May all the barbarous peoples that delight in wars be subdued unto him for the prosperity of us all: speak to his heart for the sake of the peace of thy one only holy catholic and apostolic church: grant him to think peaceable things towards us and towards thine holy name: that we also living a quiet and restrained life may be found dwelling in all godliness and honesty towards thee
The priest
15 To our fathers and our brethren who are fallen asleep, whose souls thou hast taken, give rest, remembering all saints who have been wellpleasing to thee since the world began: our holy fathers the patriarchs, the prophets, the apostles, the evangelists, the preachers, the martyrs, the confessors, all just spirits who have been made perfect in the faith, and most chiefly her that is holy glorious mother of God and evervirgin, the holy theotokos Mary, and S. John the forerunner and baptist and martyr, and S. Stephen the protodeacon and protomartyr, and S. Mark the apostle and evangelist and martyr, and the holy patriarch Severus and S. Cyril and S. Basil and S. Gregory and our righteous father the great abba Antony and our father abba Paul and the iij abbas Macarius and our father abba John and our father abba Pishoi and our Roman fathers and our father abba Moses and the xlix martyrs and our father abba John the black and the whole choir of the saints. Not that we, o master, are worthy to intercede for their blessedness who are there, but with intent that standing before the tribunal of thine onlybegotten Son they may in recompense intercede for our poverty and weakness. Be the remitter of our iniquities for the sake of their holy prayers and for thy blessed name's sake whereby we are called. Remember, o Lord, our holy orthodox fathers and archbishops who have fallen asleep afore-time, who have rightly divided the word of truth, and give us also a part and a lot with them, remembering also those whom we remember to-day
16 The names of them that have fallen asleep are recited here Pray for our fathers and our brethren who have fallen asleep and gone to their rest in the faith of Christ since the world began: our holy fathers the archbishops and our fathers the bishops, our fathers the abbats and our fathers the presbyters and our brethren the deacons: our fathers the monks and our fathers the laics, and for all repose of christians, that Christ our God may grant rest to all their souls: that he forgive us our sins]
Then the priest shall say (after the diptych)
17 And these, o Lord, and all whose names we have recited and those we have not recited, them that each of us has in memory and them that are not in our minds, who have fallen asleep and are gone to their rest in the faith of Christ, vouchsafe to grant rest to all their souls in the bosom of our holy fathers, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob: nourish them in a place of pasturage beside the waters of comfort, in the paradise of joy, whence sorrow and sighing and weeping have fled away, in the light of thy saints. Raise up their flesh also in the day which thou hast appointed according to thy true promises that cannot lie: grant them the good things of thy promises, which eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entered into the heart of men, the things which thou hast prepared, o God, for them that love thine holy name. For there is no death unto thy servants but a passage: but if some listlessness have seized them or some heedlessness, as men who have worn flesh and dwelt in this world, yet do thou, as a God good and a lover of man, vouchsafe to forgive them: for there is none clean from blemish, not even if his life on earth be but one day. To those, o Lord, whose souls thou hast taken, grant rest: may they be counted worthy of the kingdom of heaven. And to us all grant that our end be christian, wellpleasing in thy sight, and give them and us a part and a lot with all thy saints
The deacon
18 Pray for those who have charge of the sacrifices, the oblations, the firstfruits, the oils, the incense, the coverings of the altar: that the Lord God recompense them in the heavenly Jerusalem: that he forgive us our sins
The priest
19 The sacrifices, the oblations, the thankofferings of them that offer honour and glory to thine holy name, receive upon thy reasonable altar in heaven for a sweetsmelling savour, into thy vastnesses in heaven, through the ministry of thine holy angels and archangels: like as thou didst accept the gifts of righteous Abel and the sacrifice of our father Abraham and the two mites of the widow, so also accept the thankofferings of thy servants, those of the great and of the small, the hidden and the open, of them that will to offer to thee and have not wherewithal, and of them that have offered to thee these gifts this day. Give them things incorruptible in requital of things corruptible; heavenly in requital of earthly, eternal in requital of temporal: their houses, their garners fill with all good. Compass them about, o Lord, with the host of thine holy angels and archangels. Like as they have remembered thine holy name upon earth, do thou remember them also, o Lord, in thy kingdom, and in this world forsake them not
The deacon
20 Pray for the life and confirmation of our honoured father patriarch abba N or M that the Lord God preserve him alive unto us for many years and in peaceful times: that he forgive us our sins
The priest
21 Our patriarch honoured father abba N or M preserve to us in safety many years in peaceful times fulfilling that holy pontificate which thou hast thyself committed unto him according to thine holy and blessed will, rightly dividing the word of truth, feeding thy people in holiness and righteousness. Bestow on him with us peace and safety from all places: and his prayers which he maketh on our behalf and on behalf of all thy people and ours as well on his behalf, do thou accept on thy reasonable altar in heaven for a sweetsmelling savour. All his enemies visible and invisible do thou bruise, humble under his feet shortly and himself do thou keep in peace and righteousness in thine holy church
The deacon
22 Pray for our fathers orthodox bishops in all places and the presbyters and the deacons and every order of the church, that the Lord God stablish them in the orthodox faith unto the last breath: that he forgive us our sins
The priest
23 Remember, o Lord, the orthodox bishops in all places, the presbyters, the deacons, the subdeacons, the readers, the singers, the exorcists, the monks, the virgins, the widows, the orphans, the celibates, the laics, them that are knit in marriage and them that are bringing up children, them that have bidden us remember them and them that have not bidden, those we know and those we know not, our enemies and our beloved: o God, have mercy on them
The deacon
24 Pray for the residue of the orthodox in all places of the world: that the Lord God deliver them from all evil: that he forgive us our sins
The priest
25 Remember, o Lord, the residue of the orthodox in all places of the world
The deacon
26 Pray for the stability of this holy place and all places of our fathers, the deserts and the ancients that dwell therein, and the stability of the whole world together: that the Lord God deliver them from all evil: that he forgive us our sins
The priest
27 Remember, o Lord, this thine holy place and every orthodox monastery and every city and every country and the villages and every house of the faithful, and keep us all in the orthodox faith unto the last breath: for this alone is our hope
The deacon
28 Pray for those who stand in this place and have fellowship with us in prayer: that the Lord God accept their prayers: that he forgive us our sins
The priest
29 Remember, o Lord, them that stand in this place and have fellowship with us in prayer, our fathers and our brethren and the rest and them that are in all places of the world: keep them with us amid armies of holy hosts and deliver us from the fiery kindled dart of the devil and every diabolic ambush and the snare of false justification
The deacon
30 Pray for all that have bidden us remember them, each one by his name: that the Lord God remember them for good at all times: that he forgive us our sins
The priest
31 Remember, o Lord, all that have bidden us remember them in our prayers and our supplications which we offer before thee, o Lord our God, and at this time of this holy anaphora, those whom we remember at all times and those who are in the mind of each one of us, and let the remembrance of them which has been made at this time be to them in recompense a strong and prevailing defence against all hurt of the devils and the counsel of evil men
The deacon
32 Worship God in fear and trembling thou, o priest, alone Remember, o Lord, my feeble and wretched soul and grant me to understand how great a thing it is for me to stand at thine holy altar, and cut off from me all pleasures of ignorance and those of youth, that this be not unto me for a burden in the defence of that fearful day: and deliver me from all working of the adverse power and destroy me not with mine iniquities neither being angry with me for ever reserve my evils for me, but show me also thy goodness and save me that am unworthy, according to thy mercy which is abundant towards me cry aloud here that I may bless thee at all times all the days of my life
The deacon
33 Pray also for this holy sanctuary and every orthodox hieratic order: that our Lord God deliver them from all evil: that he forgive us our sins
The priest
34 Remember also, o Lord, this thine holy sanctuary and every orthodox hieratic order and all thy people which stands before thee: remember us also, Lord, o Lord, in mercies and compassions and blot out our iniquities, as a God good and a lover of man: have fellowship with us while we minister to thine holy name
The deacon
35 Pray for this our congregation and for all congregations of the orthodox peoples: that the Lord God perfect them in peace: that he forgive us our sins
The priest
36 Our congregations do thou bless. Root out utterly from the world the worship of idols. Satan and all his evil hosts bruise, humble under our feet shortly. Bring to nought offences and them that make them: let the deadly divisions of the heresies come to an end. The enemies of thine holy church, o Lord, as at all times so now do thou humble: consume their pride and show them their weakness shortly: bring to nought their envyings, their plottings, their machinations, their knaveries: all their calumnies which they bring against us, o Lord, make of none effect, and frustrate their counsel, o God, who frustrated the counsel of Ahitophel. Arise, o Lord God, let all thine enemies be scattered, let all them that hate thine holy name flee from before thy face, but let thy people be in blessings unto thousand thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand doing thy will
The priest
37 Loose them that are bound deliver them that are in straits them that are hungry satisfy them that are weakhearted comfort them that are fallen set upon their feet them that stand stablish them that have strayed bring back bring them all into the way of thy salvation reckon them with thy people and us also redeem from our sins who art a watch and a shelter over us in all things.
The Thanksgiving Continued
The priest
1 For thou art God that art above every principality and every power and every virtue and every dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come: for before thee stand the thousand thousands and the ten thousand times ten thousand of the angels and archangels serving thee: for before thee stand thy two living creatures honourable exceedingly, the sixwinged and manyeyed, seraphim and cherubim, with two wings covering their faces by reason of thy godhead which none can gaze upon nor comprehend, and with twain covering their feet, with twain also flying cry aloud, o priest for at all times all things hallow thee. But with all them that hallow thee, receive our hallowing, o Lord, at our hands also, praising thee with them and saying
The priest
2 Truly heaven and earth are full of thine holy glory through thine onlybegotten Son our Lord and our God and our Saviour and the king of us all Jesus Christ. Fill this also thy sacrifice, o Lord, with the blessing that is from thee, through the descent upon it of thine Holy Spirit, and in blessing bless and in purifying purify these thy precious gifts which have been set before thy face, this bread and this cup For thine onlybegotten Son our Lord and our God and our Saviour and the king of us all Jesus Christ in the same night in which he gave himself up to undergo the passion in behalf of our sins and the death which he accepted of his own will himself in behalf of us all [he shall take the bread upon his hands saying] took bread upon his holy spotless and undefiled and blessed and lifegiving hands, [he shall raise his hands with the bread while his gaze is directed upwards and shall say] looked up to heaven to thee his own Father, God and master of all: [he shall make the sign on the bread and say: first sign] when he had given thanks he blessed it [second sign]
3 he hallowed it [third sign]
he shall divide the host into two thirds and one third
4 He brake it, he gave it to his own honourable saintly disciples and holy apostles saying take, eat ye all of it: for this is my body which shall be broken for you and for many and be given for the remission of sins: do this in commemoration of me
The priest shall put his hand on the side of the chalice and shall say
5 And likewise also the cup after supper, he mingled it of wine and water: [he shall make three signs over the chalice: first sign] when he had given thanks he blessed it [second sign] he hallowed it [third sign] he tasted, he gave it also to his own honourable saintly disciples and holy apostles saying [he shall move the chalice in the form of a cross] take, drink ye all of it: for this is my blood of the new testament which shall be shed for you and for many and be given for the remission of sins: do this in commemoration of me
The priest shall point with his hands towards the body while saying
6 For as often as ye shall eat of this bread [and he shall point towards the chalice while saying] and drink of this cup ye do show my death, ye do confess my resurrection, ye do make my memorial until I come N
The Invocation
The priest
1 Now also, o God the Father almighty, showing the death of thine only begotten Son our Lord and our God and our Saviour and the king of us all Jesus Christ, confessing his holy resurrection and his ascension into the heavens and his session at thy right hand, o Father, looking for his second advent, coming from the heavens, fearful and glorious at the end of this world, wherein he cometh to judge the world in righteousness and to render to every man according to his works whether it be good or bad
The priest
2 Before thine holy glory we have set thine own gift of thine own, o our holy Father
The people (shall say while bowing down) — The priest (bowing shall say the mystery of the descent of the Holy Ghost)
3 We pray and beseech thy goodness, o lover of man, put us not to shame in the everlasting contempt neither reject us from among thy servants, cast us not away from thy presence, say not unto us I know you not: but grant water to our heads and fountains of tears to our eyes that we may weep day and night before thee by reason of our transgressions: for we are thy people and the sheep of thy pasture. Pass by our iniquities, pardon our transgressions, those we have done wilfully and those we have done without our will, those we have done wittingly and those we have done unwittingly, the secret and the open, those we have heretofore confessed and those we forget, which thine holy name knoweth. Hear, o Lord, the prayer of thy people, give heed unto the groan of thy servants, nor by reason of mine own sins and the defilements of my heart deprive thy people of the descent of thine Holy Spirit
4 Here the priest cries aloud For thy people and thy church beseech thee saying
The people
5 Have mercy upon us, o God the Father almighty
The priest: thou alone
6 Have mercy upon us, o God the Father almighty, and send down from thine holy height and from heaven thy dwellingplace and from thine infinite bosom, from the throne of the kingdom of thy glory, him, the Paraclete thine Holy Spirit, who is hypostatic, the indivisible, the unchangeable, who is the Lord, the giver of life, who spake in the law and the prophets and the apostles, who is everywhere, who filleth all places and no place containeth him: and of his own will after thy goodpleasure working sanctification on those in whom he delighteth, not ministerially: simple in his nature, manifold in his operation, the fountain of the graces of God, who is of one substance with thee, who proceedeth from thee, the sharer of the throne of the kingdom of thy glory with thine onlybegotten Son our Lord and our God and our Saviour and the king of us all Jesus Christ: send him down upon us thy servants and upon these thy precious gifts which have been set before thee, upon this bread and upon this cup that they may be hallowed and changed [they shall raise their heads and] [shall sign the host three times and] cries aloud and that he may make this bread the holy body of Christ
he shall sign three times on the chalice and shall say aloud
7 and this cup also his precious blood of the new testament even of our Lord and our God and our Saviour and the king of us all Jesus Christ that they may be to us all who shall receive of them unto faith unsearchable, unto love without dissimulation, unto endurance perfected, unto hope established, unto faith, unto watchfulness, unto healing, unto joy, unto renewal of soul and body and spirit, unto glory of thine holy name, unto fellowship of blessedness of eternal life and immortality, unto forgiveness of sins, that in this also as in all things thy great holy name, in all things honoured and blessed, may be glorified and blessed and exalted with Jesus Christ thy beloved Son and the Holy Ghost
The Consignation
A prelude of the prayer of Our Father which art in heaven
1 Again let us give thanks to God the almighty, the Father of our Lord and our God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, for that he hath vouchsafed us again at this time to stand in this holy place and to lift up our hands and to minister to his holy name. Let us again pray him that he account us worthy of the fellowship and the participation of his divine and immortal mysteries
he shall take the pure body in his left hand and shall put his right finger upon it saying
2 the holy body
The people shall say
3 [We worship thine holy body]
then he shall dip his finger in the blood and make a sign on the blood saying
4 and the precious blood
The people shall say
5 [and thy precious blood
The Fraction and the Lord’s Prayer
A prayer for Our Father which art in heaven, of the patriarch Severus: thou sayest it at the anaphora of S. Mark — The priest shall say while dividing the holy body
1 God who hath predestined us to sonship through Jesus Christ our Lord, according to the goodpleasure of thy will unto the honour of the glory of thy grace which thou hast bestowed upon us in thy beloved, in whom we have our redemption through his holy blood, unto the remission of sins: we give thee thanks, o Lord our God the almighty, for that thou hast accounted us worthy, even us sinners, to stand in this holy place and to accomplish these holy mysteries of the heavenly places with intent that, like as thou hast accounted us worthy to accomplish them, so also we may be accounted worthy of communion in them and participation of them. Thou who didst open the eyes of the blind, open the eyes of our hearts, that casting away from us all darkness of malice and wickedness, even the semblance of a stain, we may be able to lift up our eyes to the beauty of thine holy glory. As thou didst cleanse the lips of thy servant Isaiah the prophet when one of the seraphim took a live coal in the tongs from off the altar and laid it on his mouth and said to him Lo this hath touched thy lips: it shall take away thine iniquities and purge all thy sins:
2 in like manner for us also humble sinners, who receive mercy, thy servants, vouchsafe to purge our souls and our bodies and our lips and our hearts, and grant us this true coal, quickening soul and body and spirit, which is the holy body and the precious blood of thy Christ, not unto judgement nor unto condemnation nor unto reproach and reproof of our transgressions, lest receiving of them unworthily we prove guilty of them; that the abundance of thy gifts, o our master, be not to us for an occasion of an exceeding weight of condemnation, as being unthankful to thee, even thee our benefactor: but bestow upon us thine Holy Spirit that with a pure heart and an enlightened conscience, with face unconfounded and faith unfeigned, with perfect love and stablished hope we make bold in fearless confidence to say the holy prayer which thy beloved Son gave to his own holy disciples and saintly apostles saying unto them For at all times, so ye be going to pray, pray on this wise and say Our Father which art in heaven
The people
3 Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven: give us this day our bread of tomorrow and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil
A prayer after Our Father which art in heaven (secretly)
4 Yea, we beseech thee, o Lord our God, lead none of us into temptation which we are not able to bear by reason of our weakness but with the temptation give us also the way of escape that we may be able to quench all the fiery kindled darts of the enemy, and deliver us from the evil one and his works: in Christ Jesus our Lord through whom and the rest.
The Inclination
The priest shall say the prayer of Inclination — A prayer before the receiving of the mysteries, of John of Bostra, to the Father
1 To thee, o Lord, we bow our minds and our bodily necks acknowledging thy sovereignty and confessing our servitude and asking also for what is expedient for each one of us: thou therefore, o good and lover of man, we pray thee, set us free from the passions which trouble us, the risings of the love of the sin of the flesh and the passionate pleasings of ourselves and divisions full of antipathy and all warfare one with another and all inward corruption that lies in heretical words and strifes to no profit and disputes full of contentiousness: wipe them all out, o our master, from the conversations of us all and in all things account thine own what is ours: strengthen us in the patience of thy will. Grant us also now force of knowledge and strength of understanding that rising above the earthly senses we may receive these gifts in sincerity and without passion and conformably to the nature of the mystery of thine onlybegotten Son, unto salvation of us all, unto glory and honour of thine holy name, the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, now and ever and world without end. Amen.
A prayer of Absolution, to the Father
2 Master Lord God almighty, the healer of our souls and our bodies and our spirits, thou who saidst to Peter by the mouth of thine onlybegotten Son our Lord and our God and our Saviour Jesus Christ thou art Peter: upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell prevail not against it: I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: what things thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and what things thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven: let thy servants therefore, o master, my fathers and my brethren and mine own infirmity be absolved out of my mouth and through thine Holy Spirit, o God good and lover of man, who takest away the sin of the world. Be ready to receive the repentance of thy servants for a light of knowledge unto forgiveness of sins:
3 for thou art merciful and gracious, thou art long suffering and abundant in thy goodness and truth. But if we have sinned against thee whether in word or in deeds, pardon, forgive us, as a God good and a lover of man. Absolve us [and absolve all thy people here he mentions whom he will] from all sins and from all curses and from all denials and from all false oaths and from all intercourse with the heretics and the heathen. Bestow on us, o our master, understanding and power that we may utterly flee from every evil work of the adversary, and grant us at all times to do thy goodpleasure: write our name with the choir of thy saints in the kingdom of heaven: in Christ Jesus our Lord through whom and the rest.
The Elevation, Consignation and Commixture
The priest (shall take the asbadikon in his hands and) hallow saying — The priest (shall sign with it on the precious blood once and say)
1 The priest [shall raise it from the chalice with care and shall make one sign with it on the pure body and shall say]:
then he shall sign the blood with it once and shall put it in the chalice saying — then he shall take the middle third in his hand and say
2 The body and the blood of Emmanuel our God this is in truth. Amen. I believe, I believe, I believe and I confess unto the last breath that this is the quickening flesh which thine only-begotten Son our Lord and our God and our Saviour Jesus Christ took of the lady of us all the holy theotokos S. Mary: he made it one with his godhead without confusion and without mixture and without alteration. Having confessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate he gave it also for us on the holy tree of the cross by his own will, himself for us all. I verily believe that his godhead was not severed from his manhood for one moment nor for the twinkling of an eye. It is given for us to be salvation and forgiveness of sins and life everlasting to them that shall receive of it. I believe that this is so in truth. Amen [he shall lay the elements from his hand on the paten
The deacon
3 Amen amen amen: I believe, I believe, I believe that this is so in truth. Amen Pray for us and for all christians who have bidden us remember them in the house of the Lord].
The Communion
1 O praise God in his holiness praise him in the firmament of his power and the rest of Ps. cl
A prayer which the priest says alone when he would receive of the holy mysteries — And he says Amen and prays on this wise saying
2 Allholy and consubstantial and undivided and unspeakable Trinity, grant me to receive this holy bread unto life and not unto condemnation and grant me to bring forth fruit wellpleasing unto thee, that evidently pleasing thee I may live in thee doing thy commandments, calling upon thee, Father, making bold and invoking thy kingdom and thy will: and hallowed also be thy name in me: for mighty art thou in all things and blessed. Thine is the glory for ever. Amen And after this prayer let him receive the holy body: and in partaking also of the chalice let him say Amen twice to apply to the body and the blood.
When he communicates any one he shall say
3 [This is in truth the body and blood of Emmanuel our God. Amen
And the communicant shall say
4 Amen: I believe] [When the paten is brought down to communicate the women the deacon shall say blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord].
The Thanksgiving and the Inclination
A thanksgiving after receiving, of John of Bostra
1 We that have received of spiritual incorruption have been healed in the powers of our soul, and unto thee, beneficent God plenteous in thy gifts, we offer songs of thankfulness and we pray thee, o our master, turn not our festivities into mourning nor our hymns into sadness. Thou exactest not judgements and takest not vengeance by reason of strict examination of the participation of these holy mysteries. But giving indulgence unto the weakness of our nature, forgive us, spare us, have compassion upon us, accounting not thy gifts to us for judgement or for condemnation but for sanctification and preservation and provision for the journey of our salvation: in Christ Jesus our Lord through whom and the rest.
The Inclination — The priest shall say: a prayer of Inclination after receiving, of John of Bostra
2 Thou art he to whom we have committed our life, Lord Lord who fillest all: guard us in all places whereon we shall light: and the compunction which has come to us through prayer and the encouragement unto right life guard unto us unstolen and unrepented of, that at all times and in all places of thy sovereignty, looking unto thee and walking in the things that please thee and wherein thou delightest we be not confounded in the day of the righteous judgement wherein every one shall receive retribution while angels stand and thine only-begotten Son giveth judgement, our Lord and our God and our Saviour Jesus Christ through whom and the rest.
The Dismissal
1 Likewise also a prayer of Imposition of hands after the receiving of the mysteries: thou sayest it in the anaphora of S. Cyril 2 God who art blessed by the seraphim and the cherubim, whom all the angelic hosts glorify and all the choirs of the righteous worship, the foundation and the stability of the world, who sustainest all creation by thine holy godhead and hast made every nature visible and invisible through thine only-begotten Son in the Holy Ghost: bless thy servants with all spiritual blessing who have come beneath thy right hand, have bowed their neck to thee: guard them in the way of righteousness: may they be holy and without blemish: deliver them and preserve them from every operation of the adversary and every power of the devil, open thou their eyes unto the holy mysteries of thy law, fill them with the grace of thine Holy Spirit and keep them without blame from this evil world that now is, comfort them with spiritual and heavenly comfort: may they be accounted worthy of thine inheritance incorruptible to come: by the intercession of the holy glorious evervirgin theotokos S. Mary and the prayers and the supplications of the holy archangels Michael and Gabriel, and S. John the forerunner and baptist and martyr, and S. Stephen the protodeacon and protomartyr, and our holy fathers the apostles, and S.
3 Mark the apostle and evangelist and martyr, and the holy patriarch Severus and our righteous father the great abba Antony and our father abba Paul and the iij abbas Macarius and our father abba John and our father abba Pishoi and our Roman fathers and our father abba Moses and the xlix martyrs and the holy abba John the black and all the choirs of the saints, through whose prayers and supplications vouchsafe us, o our master, to attain unto a part and a lot with them in the kingdom of heaven: in Christ Jesus our Lord through whom all glory and all honour and all worship befitteth thee with him and the Holy Ghost the lifegiver and of one substance with thee now and ever and world without end. Amen
Then the priest shall pour water upon his hands and shall make the sign with a little thereof upon the table and shall say
4 Angel of this sacrifice soaring on high with this hymn make memorial of us before the Lord that he forgive us our sins. Then he shall wipe his face with his hand and his brother priests above and below and the whole congregation (shall do the like) and he shall bless them and give them the dismissal and shall end with reading the blessing. And to our Lord be glory always]. The holy anaphora of S. Mark is finished His blessing be with us in the peace of God Amen