Отделение девятое

On behalf of the Lord, a reproach to a careless soul With the eyes of my heart I saw the Lord sitting in great glory, and (as if I heard that) He said to my soul: “Why did you, soul, abhor your heavenly palace, which is filled with the light of glory? Why did you abhor the blessings that I prepared for You in the light of life? Why have you become alien to Me through obscene deeds and thoughts? Why are you not concerned about how to present yourself worthily to Me at My Coming? Why do you not keep your lamp ready in anticipation of the voice: “Behold the Bridegroom is coming,” so that you may come to meet Me with joy? Why don’t you try to prepare decent attire for the wedding? Why don’t you prepare yourself so that you can enter the holy heavenly palace with joy? Why do you not cleave to Me, Who redeemed you from death? I entered into fellowship with death in order to prepare you as My bride. I have prepared an everlasting Kingdom for your inheritance. I have entrusted all My blessings to you as a King. I became a Man for you, wanting to redeem your life from corruption. I have prepared for you a palace in heaven and have the Angels guide you into this palace and you enter there with joy. But you have turned away from Me, your Bridegroom, and from the unspeakable blessings that I have prepared for you. But who is more desirable than Me, who saves every creature with My bounties? What father will give life as I give? And you forsook Me, O soul, having loved the alien and the hated!” Who will not be in awe and horror at these words? Who will not fall in shame and, shedding tears, will not cry out: “Why did I come out of my mother’s womb to provoke the holy, good and merciful God?” But, Lord, grant us to sober up from vanity, come to our senses and return to You, in Whom alone is all our true good! For the sake of tears, turn and grant to bear the fruits of repentance! Hear, O Master, my cry and accept the words of my prayer that the sinner brings to You, Long-suffering and Many-merciful. Do not do to me according to my deeds, do not remember my great iniquities, with which I have grieved Your grace, O all-merciful Master. Your goodness endured the sins of my youth, of which there were a great many. May she also tolerate my lewdness, inattention and carelessness. You swore by Your bounty, O Lord, Lover of Mankind, that you do not want the death of a sinner, but that you should turn... and live (Ezek. 33:11). With these bounties of Thy beg me also for me, a sinner, to have mercy and show mercy to me. Look, O Christ the Savior, at the sources of my tears, at the contrition and sighing of my unworthy soul! May Your mercy come and cover me before the terrible decree of death comes and finds me unprepared and confused. May Your goodness grant me some time for true repentance. For she was accustomed to have mercy on every sinner who sheds tears and forgive him all the sins he has committed. Make me, too, bring You the fruit of repentance! Draw me to life and save me. Grant me, with a pure heart, to serve You all the days of my life and, having pleased You with good deeds, be worthy, after passing through this life, to enter into eternal bliss, which You have prepared for all Your saints who have pleased You in every way. To the Mother of God on the guidance of life and intercession in death Virgin Lady Theotokos, who bore in her womb Christ the Savior and our God, I place all my hope in You, I trust in You, the highest of all heavenly powers. You, Most Pure One, protect me with Your all-powerful prayers! Direct my life and guide me in accordance with the holy will of Your Son and our God. Grant me remission of sins, be my refuge, protection, protection and Guide, leading me into eternal life. In the terrible hour of death, do not leave me, my Lady, but speed up to help me, rescue me from the bitter torment of demons. For in Your will you have the power to do this, as truly the Mother of God and sovereign over all. Do not cease to beg for all of us, Your unworthy servants, that we may be delivered from every wiles of the evil one and from every extreme, and be kept unhurt in the face of every poisonous attack. And even to the end, through Your prayers, keep us uncondemned, and, saved by Your intercession and Your help, we will always send up glory, praise, thanksgiving and worship to the One God in the Trinity, the Creator of all. Correct all the sinners here! Almighty God, the only One who has power over life and death, show me, a sinner, Your great mercy at that hour of Your terrible Coming, so that there before Your Throne I will not be a reproach and great shame for the angels, archangels, prophets, apostles, patriarchs, martyrs, ascetics and all the righteous looking at me. Here, my Savior, here, where I enjoyed the charm of sin, admonish me as a merciful and child-loving Father, and there forgive me as a merciful God, the only Sinless One. Every sin was committed by me, the accursed one, I surpassed everyone in debauchery. I deserve punishment, and if I start asking for repentance, then I have no tears. Alas, with what eyes will I, sinful and careless, look at that terrible Throne on which You, Lord, will sit and denounce what I have done? I have wasted my entire life in fornication, constantly wallowing in the mire of voluptuousness. You alone know all my secret falls and all the vastness of my sins, my Creator. No one was such an abode of sin as I was. No one has grieved Your grace so much, Master, as I have, by following the aspirations of sin. But You, like a sea of ​​goodness, dry up the destructive seas of my sins and, like an abyss of mercy, drown the abyss of my sins! Do not reward me for what I have done and do not condemn me to the fire of Gehenna! For Your wrath is unbearable, O Lord, and who can endure Your threats? Fear, soul, Judgment and Gehenna and shake off the heavy sleep of negligence and the slumber of terrible carelessness. The end is near, Judgment is at the door. What will greet us after separation from life? Come to my aid, holy and righteous, who have fought a good deed, and weep for me as if I were dead, or take pity on me as if I were alive, but half-dead, because I am full of shame and do not have boldness because of the sins I have committed in my knowledge. Pour your mercy on me as on a captive, as on one covered with rotten sores. Have mercy on me, you, the mysteries of the merciful God our Savior, and beg Him to turn me into tuna and so that at the hour of His Coming you will not find yourself unworthy of me and not hear this terrible definition: “Depart from Me, you worker of unrighteousness, I tell you that I do not know you!” Prayer for the bestowal of every virtue Then grant me, O Son of the All-Good, what my thoughts strive for, and add to that what pleases Your will. Grant me the will to do good and not deviate from Your will in anything. Do not allow me to be a wicked and hypocritical disciple and to break Your commandments. Protect me from the thought of walking Your path only for show and deceiving those who see me with my hypocrisy, so that they proclaim me blessed. Grant that my heart may please Your greatness in secret and that my right life may glorify You openly. Let the truth be a teacher to me, Thy admirer; May she, both near and far, keep me in chastity. Deliver me from the misfortune of knowing Your law and, knowing Your law, not having the desire to please You. Honor me with a community of simple people, but who are experienced and wise in the practice of virtues. My flesh is weak, strengthen me with Your strength. Help and crush the arrows of the treacherous enemy and number me among the host of Your firstborn. Grant me, Lord, to always be Your property and to do what is pleasing to You without fear. And as soon as I begin to do something good, You, Lord, strengthen me to do it. I know that I have sinned against Your will, I clearly see that I have violated Your commandment. But You, Your shining sun on the evil and the good, are pleased that Your light may shine in my darkened mind. By this light of Thy sins will be driven out - these murderers and robbers who have settled in my insides. The evil one does not see any evil in me that does not come from him, for I have become evil from him; however, I was defeated by him of my own free will: the evil one entangled me, because I myself taught him this. The lazy and timid flee from Your yoke; the careless are put to shame by Your love. Praise be to Your goodness, this mother of teachers, who, no matter how painful their blows are, admonishing the stubborn, compassionately gives medicine to the repentant. We adore Your Father and Your Spirit, who rejoices at our conversion! Blessed is he who has become generous and merciful and has not enslaved himself to wild irritability, that is, to evil anger: he will be exalted by the Lord. Blessed is he who, having risen in love, has become like a city built on the top of a mountain, from which the enemy, having looked at him, withdraws in fear, fearing that he stands firm in the Lord. Blessed is he who shone forth with faith in the Lord, like a clear lamp on a high candlestick, and enlightened the darkened souls who followed the teachings of the infidels and the wicked. Blessed is he who always loves the truth and has not given his lips to lies as a weapon of wickedness, fearing the commandment that prohibits even idle speech. Blessed is the one who does not condemn his neighbor as unwise, but as a reasonable and spiritual person first tries to remove the beam from his own eye. Blessed is he who abstained from his eyelids and was neither mentally nor sensually deceived by the skin of the flesh, which will soon exude pus from itself. Blessed is he who has before his eyes the day of the passing and has hated pride before our natural insignificance is exposed by rotting in the grave. You might be interested in: