To You, Lord, Lover of Mankind, having risen from sleep, I come running, and I strive for Your works with Your mercy, and I pray to You: help me at all times, in every thing, and deliver me from all worldly evil things and the devil’s haste, and save me, and lead me into Your eternal Kingdom. For You are my Creator and the Provider and Giver of every good thing, in You are all my hope, and I send up glory to You, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.
I come running - I come, looking for help, asking for help. I strive for Your mercy - that is, according to Your mercy. Devilish haste - assistance of the devil, devilish temptation (haste - help in achieving something). Provider - Provider. All my hope is in You—in You—all my hope.
To You, Lord, Lover of Mankind... I resort... Although in modern language the verb to resort, to resort (to resort to decisive measures) has been preserved, like the related word refuge, the meaning of the word, its internal form usually eludes our consciousness. Children's perception of the word resort as running is completely correct. Just as a child, out of fear, always resorts to his mother’s womb, and to the protection of his mother’s hands, so in prayer we resort to the protection of the Lord, His Mother, His saints. Let us recall the image of a medieval city - a space enclosed by stone walls. The city fence very soon began to not accommodate the inhabitants, who were forced to settle outside, behind the walls (suburban residents). But when the enemy’s troops were approaching, the country residents fled (often burning their houses) to the city-city - a refuge, a refuge, to which they looked with great hope. This image leads us to God and the Most Holy Theotokos: They are our refuge from any enemy invasion.
The famous image of the Mother of God “The Unbreakable Wall” (in the Church of St. Sophia of Kyiv) embodies precisely this symbol.
...And deliver me from all worldly evil things and the devil’s haste, and save me, and bring me into Your eternal Kingdom. Let us supplement this line from the prayer of St. Macarius the Great with the words of his teachings. “The soul, truly striving for the Lord, fully and completely extends its love to Him and, as much as it has strength, becomes attached to Him alone by its will, and in this it acquires the help of grace, denies itself and does not follow the desires of its mind, because because of the evil that is inseparable from us and deceives us, it walks deceitfully. Thus, as soon as the soul has loved the Lord, it is snatched from the snare by its own faith and great diligence, and together with help from above, it is made worthy of the Eternal Kingdom and, having truly loved it, of its own will and with the help of the Lord, will no longer be deprived of eternal life.”
“I tell you that every person desires and desires all this: fornicators, tax collectors, and unjust people would like to receive the Kingdom so easily, without labor and deeds. This is why temptations, many trials, sorrows, struggles and shedding of sweat are laid out on the path, so that those who really loved the one Lord with all their will and with all their strength, even to death, and with such love for Him no longer had anything else desired for themselves, would become evident. Therefore, in truth, they enter the Heavenly Kingdom, having renounced themselves, according to the Lord’s word, and having loved the only Lord more than their breath, which is why they will be rewarded with high heavenly gifts for their high love.”
For you are... the Provider and Giver of all good... The Lord is called here the Thinker: the One who creates and directs everything in the world with His thought that anticipates and determines all things. Let us remember the words of the Bible: What You have thought has come to pass: what You have determined, that has appeared and said: Here am I (Judith.9:5-6). More often we use the noun providence (sometimes in the Slavic text - industry) - “the unceasing action of the omnipotence, wisdom and goodness of God, by which God preserves the existence and strength of creatures, directs them to good goals, helps every good, and the evil that arises through removal from good stops or corrects and turns to good consequences” (“Long Christian Catechism” of the saint) Philaret of Moscow). In secular dictionaries of the modern Russian language we can find a word of the same meaning and extremely similar form - providence; Wed Church Slavonic: looking (another word of the same meaning).