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 69
Speaking with God from the Depths of the Heart
A
And now, by your hand, great Lord and God,
artist who with infinite ingenuity shaped my being
in the crucible of your love where
I am daily refined but never purified,
continuously stirred but never smooth.
It is in vain, O silversmith, my heavenly architect,
that you squander effort working on me.
As the prophet said in his well known parable,
my wickedness does not melt away.1
Because I am woefully misguided
I dare speak out of turn
like some pathetic, possessed maniac,
increasing the burden of my sin
instead of finding a means of reconciliation.
And so that the punishment awaiting me in the next life
does not come as a shock,
extraordinary event, or unprecedented calamity,
he planted as a reminder here in my body
the token of that first curse,
that through this small insignificant speck the larger
illness might be examined.
B
For in the womb are born and spontaneously multiply
all manner of squirming worms,
intestinal worms gnawing in secret,
burning tumors, stinging ulcers, abnormal growths,
and host of other sweaty, noisome, disgusting, annoying, itching conditions.
Plus other savage marauders,
like demons attacking in the night,
barbarous mercenaries from the legions of darkness,
with the ferocity of Arabian wolves,
stalking with their head curved down, their
melancholy color,
their crooked, hooked jaw,
resembling that of a scorpion,
piercing with crude thorns,
sucking, drawing blood,
to turn the bed of rest into an instrument of punishment.
And when one lifts one’s hand to give them their due,
they sense the danger in advance that man poses
and immediately take flight
with their hairless bodies and dwarfed size,
and hopping this way and that like grasshoppers
they scatter,
and with the slyness of foxes conspire against the good,
escaping through secret places, as if they have found deliverance from death.
And such vile and miserable beings,
not only pursue the vulgar and motley mob,
but also powerful and fearsome kings,
driving them to the attic of their habitations,
or even forcing them to live outside.
Courageous and brave men, who rule crowds
and govern peoples and take cities of nations,
have witnessed defeat at the hands of this virulent
force, saying
“We were not able to resist these tyrants, stronger
than ourselves;
therefore we took flight and reached this point.”
C
And why have I discoursed about
such miniscule and abject things worthy of ridicule?
Only because they are the most powerful and irrefutable advocates for the
Divinity,
reminding me of what awaits me in the next life, these bitter fruits
of my unruly body.
And even so deadly diseases happen upon us and
eat away relentlessly.
From these there is no riddance
other than through physical pains which foretell
the punishment that is to come.
And there is no place to seek refuge,
to escape them by fleeing.
For without the signal of your will,
human efforts and methods fail.
But you, who do good, hold in ample measure the
life-giving cure for everything.
You have but to will it, in order to save, renew, pardon, cure and give life.
To you glory forever and ever.
Amen.
___________________
1. Jer. 6:29.
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) |