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 17
Speaking with God from the Depths of the Heart
A
Now, tormented by bitter grief I pray
to you, keeper of imperiled souls.
Do not add to the pain of my sighs.
Do not wound me. I am already injured.
Do not condemn me. I am already punished.
Do not torture me. I am already tormented.
Do not cudgel me. I am already beaten.
Do not push me. I have already fallen.
Do not destroy me. I am already discredited.
Do not reject me. I am already banished.
Do not exile me. I am already persecuted.
Do not embarrass me. I am already humbled.
Do not scold me. I am already cowering.
Do not crush me. I am already broken.
Do not upset me. I am already agitated.
Do not shake me. I am already quivering.
Do not confuse me. I am already bewildered.
Do not flay me. I am already picked over.
Do not pound me. I am already crushed.
Do not taint me. I am already debased.
Do not blind me. I am already in the dark.
Do not frighten me. I am already perplexed.
Do not roast me. I am already charred.
Do not kill me. I am already dying.
Do not overload me. I am already weakened.
Do not yoke me. I am already bent over.
Do not double my wailing. I am already weeping.
Do not till my soil too deeply.
Do not scatter my ashes too harshly.
Do not judge my works too roughly.
Do not blow my dust too meanly.
B
Do not measure your greatness against my smallness,
your light against my dimness,
your good nature against my native evil,
your cornucopia of blessing against my cursed fruit,
your genuine sweetness against my complete sourness,
your unchanging glory against my total debasement,
your shrine of life against my vessel of clay,
your lord of lords against my dust of the earth,
your undimishing fullness against my slavish poverty,
your unpillaged abundance against my
abandoned torment,
your unblemished goodness against my
most wretched squalor,
for who can reach morning and
at the light of daybreak expect dark,
or at the portal of life expect death,
or at liberation expect bondage,
or at grace expect condemnation,
or at salvation expect destruction,
or at renewal expect ruination,
or at blessing expect banishment,
or at cure expect injury,
or at fullness expect want,
or at abundance of bread expect famine,
or at the flow of rivers expect drought,
or at motherly compassion expect deception,
or at the care of God’s right hand expect persecution?
C
And now with my body shaken by disease
and my soul in peril I pray,
“Lord, if you want you can make me clean.”1
Like a groping blind man,
I cry with laments and call to you
not only the son of David,
but also profess your divine birth.
I not only call you, “Rabbi,”2
the name of honor given to teachers
who claim to know the truth, but I also
believe you to be the Lord of heaven and earth.
I not only expect to be cured when you are close,
O compassionate God, by the touch of your hand,
but also when we are separated by great distances
through the power of your words.
I do not draw a line between your will
and your compassion, a line of doubt,3
for I believe that you will, because
you are compassionate and you are able,
because you are our creator.
Say the word and I will be cured.4
Let me join the centurion in his faith.5
Let my faith be not just for the short
distances from altar to altar,
for I know you are able to raise
the dead and make them whole.
Even sitting in heaven you work miracles
over the whole world below.
And I have nothing to give in return.
D
Grant me forgiveness, with the word of your judgment,
even as you forgave the debt
of 500 dinars in the case of the prostitute,
God of goodness, Lord of bliss.
The more you bestow, the greater your glory.
The more you give, the more you are loved.
The more your mercy, the more your greatness.
For all your benevolence, you are rightly praised.
Though Lord of all, you came to us as our equal.
Though possessing everything, you weigh by
our measure.
Though you have gifts beyond telling,
you accept our skimpy payment.
And to the account of mortals, you grant
unlimited credit. Your generosity is sublime,
yet not too high to receive our meager praise.
Show the same compassion to me with my
countless debts so that I might
in expressing gratitude for your gifts
also commemorate your love.
To you glory in all things.
Amen.
___________________
1. Mt. 8:2.
2. Mt. 20:31.
3. Mk. 9:21.
4. Mt. 8:8.
5. Mt. 8:5-10.
Acknowledgements: |
Source:
St.
Gregory of Narek © 2002, Thomas J. Samuelian. Published with the permission of the author. |
See also: |
Biography
of Grigor Narekatsi (in Armenian) |