BOOK OF PRAYER

Tenets of Prayer Prayer 1 Prayer 2 Prayer 3 Prayer 4 Prayer 5 Prayer 6
Prayer 7 Prayer 8 Prayer 9 Prayer 10 Prayer 11 Prayer 12 Prayer 13 Prayer 14
Prayer 15 Prayer 16 Prayer 17 Prayer 18 Prayer 19 Prayer 20 Prayer 21 Prayer 22
Prayer 23 Prayer 24 Prayer 25 Prayer 26 Prayer 27 Prayer 28 Prayer 29 Prayer 30
Prayer 31 Prayer 32 Prayer 33 Prayer 34 Prayer 35 Prayer 36 Prayer 37 Prayer 38
Prayer 39 Prayer 40 Prayer 41 Prayer 42 Prayer 43 Prayer 44 Prayer 45 Prayer 46
Prayer 47 Prayer 48 Prayer 49 Prayer 50 Prayer 51 Prayer 52 Prayer 53 Prayer 54
Prayer 55 Prayer 56 Prayer 57 Prayer 58 Prayer 59 Prayer 60 Prayer 61 Prayer 62
Prayer 63 Prayer 64 Prayer 65 Prayer 66 Prayer 67 Prayer 68 Prayer 69 Prayer 70
Prayer 71 Prayer 72 Prayer 73 Prayer 74 Prayer 75 Prayer 76 Prayer 77 Prayer 78
Prayer 79 Prayer 80 Prayer 81 Prayer 82 Prayer 83 Prayer 84 Prayer 85 Prayer 86
Prayer 87 Prayer 88 Prayer 89 Prayer 90 Prayer 91 Prayer 92 Prayer 93 Prayer 94
Prayer 95 Colophon

Prayer 13

Speaking with God from the Depths of the Heart

Beneficent, almighty, awe-inspiring God,
good Father, charitable donor of mercy,
whose very name heralds the good news of
your grandeur, compassion and fatherly affection,
you are gentle even toward the bitter and discontented.

With you also is your Son, who is like you,
whose hand is strong like yours,
whose awesome reign is eternal like yours,
whose exaltation is shared with you in your creation.

So too the Holy Spirit of your truth,
that flows from you without end,
the perfect essence of existence
and eternal being, is equal to you
in all things, reigning with the Son
in equal glory.
Three persons, one mystery,
separate faces, unique and distinct,
made one by their congruence
and being of the same holy substance and nature,
unconfused and undivided,
one in will and one in action.
One is not greater, one is not lesser,
not even by an eyelash, and because
of the unobscurable light of heavenly love
revealed in our midst both have been
glorified with a single crown of holiness
from before the ages.

For verily, as Peter’s open profession of
faith in the Trinity earned for him
the blessed name, Rock, so
in expectation of your clemency,
do I, a sinner condemned, await exoneration,
O deliverer of captives.
And though all rewards may be yours,
so too is all mercy,
but you are not so acclaimed for rewards as for mercy,
for while the first brings glory, the second merely
recognizes the effort of labor,
since rewards are compensation for merit,
but mercy is an act of generosity toward the unworthy.

And now, God of compassion, may human deeds
not prevail over your grace, even if they transgress
the laws of nature, but rather may your forbearance
triumph so that your ways may never be less
than those of mortals.
For when your light came to herald the new covenant,
those, like the Jews who prided themselves
in keeping the law, were abandoned to greater heartache
and became more needy of your charity,
than those wretched persons,
forever lost in the wilderness.
Since everything is possible for you, O benevolent God,
hear my sighs of supplication to you.
Have mercy, save us, and be generous.
For yours is forbearance, gentleness, salvation,
atonement and glory for all time, to all peoples.
Amen.

Acknowledgements:

Source: St. Gregory of Narek
Provided by: Thomas J. Samuelian