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 52
Speaking with God from the Depths of the Heart
A
Blessed in holy essence,
boundless and unchangeable, truly good,
worthy of adoration, happiness professed
by all the earth,
most complete revelation of persistent hope,
compassionate and merciful,
without grudges even for the blinking of an eye
despite the sin of many years.1
Lord, with a new showering of grace and streams of mercy from on high,
who delights in pouring forth enlightenment
miraculously without end,
more abundantly than upon the nations of old
and who opened and broadened those
narrow windows2
through which knowledge glimmers as Solomon said,3
for him, and with him for me, a wretched sinner.
You lift the screen which blocked the entry4
of God’s freely given mercy,
the good news that was foretold
in the Old Testament obliquely, for example:
“Turn toward me and I will turn toward you,”5
and “when you turn and regret, then you shall revive.”6
B
For he changes the gloom of twilight
into the brightness of snow,
and people drenched in blood he washes white as wool.7
In the midst of anger you still remember mercy.8
The deserted cities of Israel are inhabited anew.9
The overgrown byways abandoned by men
are trod again.
Those wasting from the famine of the soul are restored by your hand.
God withdrawing in anger, returns in mercy,10
granting pardon and refuge, and
in the midst of reprimands grants double protection.
With his heartache, he also feels compassionate caring.
C
The venerable voices of the prophets, foretold
the liberating mission of your blessed coming,
which is beyond human telling.
For the manifestations of the revelation
of your good news
and the salvation of the cross,
are countless and varied,
faint and feeble,
old and fleeting.
You raised your altars everywhere as testimony to
the blood of your new covenant,
which echoes more resoundingly
than the condemnation of Abel’s murder.11
Your victory in the battle for goodness,
for a new, immortal life of grace, baptism, resurrection, and renewal,
for our kinship with you and union with
your Holy Spirit,
for forgiveness, liberation, and enlightenment,
for eternal purity, true bliss,
in communion with the angels, in unfading glory,
is the plea for reconciliation upon our lips voiced by
our Lord on high.
And what is more awe-inspiring,
for it is a monument to your magnanimity: the gift of
divine nature by election of your grace,12
uniting us with you, Creator, by partaking of your body
and sharing in your light of life,
the fulfillment of the good promise,
which, in Paul’s words, the Old Law did not have.13
You, Savior, came with your father’s bounty,
perfected and fulfilled in perpetuity
our undiminishing hope in you, Redeemer of all.
To you glory with your Father,
with praise and blessings to the Holy Spirit,
forever and ever.
Amen.
___________________
1. Ps. 103 (Arm. 102):8-10.
2. 1 Kg. 6:4.
3. S. of S. 2:9.
4. 2 Cor. 3:8-18.
5. Mal. 3:7, Zech. 1:3.
6. Is. 30:15.
7. Is. 1:18, Zech. 9:7.
8. Hab. 3:2.
9. Is. 6:11, Is. 44:26.
10. Hos. 5:15, Hos. 6:1-3.
11. Heb. 12:24.
12. 2 Pet. 1:3.
13. Heb. 7:19.
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) |