Great Lent is the most important period in our life, for it is a time for
cleansing ourselves of sin. During this period, both at church and at
home, in the course of every prayer rule, the penitential prayer of St. Ephraim
the Syrian is read. According to the Church rubrics, during Great Lent it
is read on all days other than Saturday and Sunday
O Lord and Master of my life, a spirit of idleness, despondency, ambition, and idle talking give me not. (Full prostration).
But rather a spirit of chastity, humble-mindedness, patience, and love bestow upon me Thy servant. (Full prostration).
Yea, O Lord King, grant me to see my failings and not condemn my brother; For blessed art Thou unto the ages of ages. Amen. (Full prostration).
O God, cleanse me a sinner (twelve times, with a reverence each time).
Repeat the entire prayer: “O Lord and Master of my life...” and conclude with a full prostration.
O Lord and Master of my life.
This is an appeal to our Lord God: “O Lord and Master of my life, Thou art my
teacher, my wisdom, my inspiration and my comforter. Thou openest to me
the mysteries of the world and of nature. Thy Commandments were, are, and
always will be righteous at all times, ‘unto ages of ages.’ That bears
witness to the fact that Thou art, and that they are from Thee.
I wish to live according to Thy teaching. Thy Commandments are true.
My life’s path and my salvation lie in obeying Thy Commandments. In them
lies the salvation of my family, my relatives, my friends, my people, and of the
entire world.
O Lord, strengthen me in my faith in Thee and in Thy salvific teaching.
A spirit of idleness, despondency, ambition and idle talking give
me not.
Rid me of a spirit of idleness, despondency, ambition, and idle talking.
A spirit of idleness. O Lord, grant that I not be idle and frivolous,
spending my time carelessly. Each person has talents given him by Thee, talents
that should be utilized to benefit people and to Thy glory.
O Lord God, there are so many seekers who do not know that they are searching
for Thee. They need to be helped to find Thee. There are so many
people with whom — through Thy Providence — we come in contact, and they need to
be helped in word or deed. It is so important to help in deed, but no less
important to help in word: to teach, to inspire, to bring them to Thee, the
Source of all good, knowledge, and wisdom.
I need to do so much, to spiritually improve myself, to become closer to my
Lord God and to better serve people. Many do not think of others, do not
see their woe, and do not want to help; they find thousands of reasons for not
doing so.
O Lord, grant that I not be idle, that I not occupy myself with trivialities,
spending my time carelessly and unwisely.
A spirit of despondency. One who falls into despondency does not
believe in Thy Providence, in Thy care over us, in the fact that each of us has
an assigned task, and that everything has its purpose. Therefore, we
should always believe, pray, hope and expect help from Thee.
O Lord, grant that I not become despondent.
A spirit of ambition. O Lord, grant that I not love to rule over others, to
control people and order them around, to always be in charge, to insist upon my
own position, to be proud. Grant me not to put my wishes over those of
others. Grant me to be obedient to Thy will alone. Help me to be
modest and not to yield to the contrary course of our world.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven”
(Matthew 5:3), taught our Lord Jesus Christ in His Sermon on the Mount. To
be poor in spirit is to not aspire to rule over others, but instead to possess
humility. Spiritual growth begins with “poverty of spirit,” i.e. with humility.
It is from this that our spiritual improvement toward theosis, our path and
ultimate goal, begins.
O Lord, grant that I not love to be domineering.
A spirit of idle-talking. O Lord, grant that I not engage in idle talking
— saying idle things, speaking of idle subjects of use to no one. Grant
that I not sin through excessive talk, idle conversations that give rise to
condemnation and insults.
Grant me the wisdom to interact with others, and to understand the power of
good words and bad. Through words, a person changes for better or worse.
O Lord, grant me the wisdom and knowledge to sow Thy good and healing words, to
sow love, peace, calm, tranquility, forgiveness, understanding and
reconciliation.
Our Lord God Jesus Christ Himself taught us regarding the power of words:
“But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give
account therof in the Day of Judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be
justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” (Matthew 12:36-37). St.
Ephraim the Syrian said, “Silence is the mystery of the age to come, while words
are the weapons of this age.”
O Lord, grant that I not engage in idle talk.
A spirit of chastity, humble-mindedness, patience, and love bestow upon me Thy servant.
A spirit of chastity. Help me, O Lord, to be chaste. (The Dal’
Russian dictionary defines “chaste” as preserving oneself incorrupt, in virginal
or marital purity.) Help me, O Lord, to be morally pure in word, thought,
and deed.
The teaching on chastity comes from the Seventh Commandment in the Old
Testament (Thou shalt not commit adultery), and from our Lord Jesus Christ’s
teaching on its deeper meaning. He said that not only is committing
adultery a sin [against the Seventh Commandment], but so is looking upon a woman
with impure thought: “...whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath
committed adultery with her already in his heart....” (Matthew 5:28). When the
Hebrews of old began to accuse Him of teaching something new, the Lord Jesus
Christ replied, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I
am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” (Matthew 5:17).
In accordance with the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ, Orthodox
Christians give a broad interpretation to the Ten Commandments. The
Commandments are like chapter headings or shorthand for a whole way of thinking.
Thus, not only is violation of the Commandments a sin; any action leading to a
violation of the Commandments is also a sin. Accordingly, the Seventh
Commandment may be explained as follows: “Infidelity in marriage and any illicit
or impure love are forbidden. One must observe purity in one’s thoughts,
desires, words and actions. One must avoid anything that could give rise to
impure feelings (in oneself or others): indecent hints, allusions, double
entendres, jokes, paintings, films, books, songs, dances, and clothing.” To live
with one’s spouse in a pure and righteous manner before God, one must obtain the
blessing of the Church, through the Mystery of Holy Matrimony.
In his widely-known book The Law of God for Families and School, Fr. Seraphim Slobodskoy wrote as follows:
“The seventh commandment of the Lord God forbids adultery, that is,
unfaithfulness to one’s spouse and all unlawful lust.
God forbids a husband and a wife to break the bonds of mutual faith and love.
Of the unmarried, God requires pure thoughts and desires, to be chaste in word
and deed, in thought and desire.
In order to do that, it is necessary to avoid everything that could give rise
to unclean feelings in the heart, obscenity, immodest and shameless songs and
dances, suggestive plays, movies, and pictures, immoral books, drunkenness, etc.
God’s Word commands us to maintain our bodies in purity, because our body is
‘a member of the body of Christ and a temple of the Holy Spirit.’
‘Fornicators sin against their own bodies,’ and weaken the health of their body,
inflict illness upon it, and impair its spiritual capacity, especially
imagination and memory.”
Help me, O Lord, to be chaste in the broadest sense of the word.
A spirit of humble-mindedness and patience. Help me, O Lord, to be humble,
to be calm, and not to rise to indignation without cause: help me to be
patient. The absence of these qualities closes our spiritual eyes, and we
cannot see things as they are. Humility and patience resolve many
difficulties.
Help me, O Lord to be humble and patient.
A spirit of love. “God is love.” (I John 4:8) Thou, O Lord, art Love, and
Thy teachings are the personification of love. Thou hast explained to us
what love is. All of Thy teachings are love and the expression of love and
of Thy kind attitude toward man.
Help me, O Lord, to love everyone in word, deed, and thought. Help me
to remember that this love is love for mankind - good will, hospitality, concern
for neighbor, and assistance to others, and that at the very minimum, it is a
smile of welcome. Love is the opposite of self-love and selfishness.
Love is the key to fruitful and proper life.
Grant me, O Lord God the ability to love.
Yea, O Lord King, grant me to see my failings and not condemn my brother.
“O Lord King, help me to see my sins and not condemn others.”
To judge others is a great sin and stems from our self-love, ill will, and
envy toward others. Ordinarily, we fail to notice our own sins, or we
justify them as insignificant. We see the sins of others, even the
smallest of sins, quite clearly. In His Sermon on the Mount, the Lord
Jesus Christ taught, “And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s
eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” (Matthew 7:3).
In order not to sin through judging others, we must learn to see our own sins;
when we do, it becomes easier to tolerate others’ weaknesses and to be less
inclined to judge them.
O Lord, help me to see my sins, and not to judge others.
For blessed art thou unto ages of ages. Amen. The conclusion of the prayer: O Lord, mayest Thou be blessed for all time, Amen.