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Thanks be to the Good One, who freed our race from slavery to the devil and death and reconciled us with the heavenly Truth, which was angry with us for our unrighteousness. Blessed is the Merciful One, who sought us out when we did not seek Him, rejoiced at our salvation, and in the parable of the lost sheep presented an image of how we wandered and were brought back. The Heir and Son cried out and returned our lost nature, died and rose again, and through our repentance and conversion brought joy to the hosts of spirits. The great love that the Lover of Mankind showed is indescribable, for from our family He took an Intercessor and through Him reconciled the world with His greatness. God performed a great new miracle for us and for all creation in our humanity. For He has made our body a church, to fill it with that which is venerable to all. Come, earthly and heavenly, marvel and be amazed at the greatness of the dignity, because our race is elevated to the excessive heights of the unattainable Divinity. Let heaven and earth and all that is in them praise with us the One who magnified our race, because He renewed His image in us, blotted out our sins, gave us His name and subjected everything to us. He who exalted us above all is worthy of all glorification from those who honor Him! Let us all unanimously sing praises to Him, and to the Father who sent Him, and to the Holy Spirit! Holy, Holy, Holy! Blessed is He who humbled Himself according to His good pleasure and betrothed the Holy Church to Himself! Your light, our Lord Jesus, has shone over creation and dispelled the darkness of error. May Thy light shine now in our souls, Jesus our King, the true Light. Deliver us from all harmful thoughts that confuse the soul. Then with a pure mind we will praise You, Son of the Hidden Father, for You are the true Light. The inattention to eternal blessings and endless torment is incomprehensible. Call to Destruction Alas for me! What consolations and what sweets are prepared for us, but there is no one who strives, there is no one who desires! On the contrary, we prefer the present, the temporary, the impermanent, but we do not even think about eternal benefits. What blinding! What an enemy deception! Alas for me! What kind of torment is prepared as a punishment for sinners like me, who live carelessly, and there is no one who fears or trembles, but we read what is suggested to us as if it were idle talk, rejoicing in the passions of the flesh, because we are bound by them like iron chains, and there is no one who is opposed - but, being bound, we rejoice. O all-destructive machinations of the unclean serpent! How he has darkened the minds of everyone, so that we might think wrongly and love what is harmful more than future blessings! Come, let us break our hearts and weep day and night before the Lord. Come, let us remind ourselves of this hour and the inevitable need, and in contrition we will shed tears. Come, let us remember these indescribable and indescribable blessings and be contrite. Come, let us remember this terrible and terrifying Throne and the shame that awaits us before it, and we will weep for ourselves. Come, let us remind ourselves how the righteous will be enlightened like the sun, and sinners will turn out to be like burnt on a pot, and, contrite in heart, we will be zealous for good deeds. Come, let us establish ourselves in the fear of God, so that we may be worthy of eternal blessings. Come, let us fall to God in contrition and simplicity of heart, because He is good and merciful and will save those who repent. Let us beg Him to lead us into His Kingdom, indescribably blessed and without end. To the Mother of God. I myself do not have the courage, pray, You, ambulance Helper! Virgin Lady Theotokos, Most Blessed and God-Blessed, incline Your ear and listen to my words spoken by my foul and unclean lips! Do not despise me, poor one, do not allow me, your unworthy servant, to perish completely, but use your motherly prayers and heal my accursed soul, mercilessly crushed by my evil passions. The evil enemy, having crushed her with the sins of voluptuousness, trampled her into dust. Therefore, filled with all shame, I cannot even think and have no face to ask my man-loving God for forgiveness for my many sins and healing of my unhealed ulcers. For I desecrated the physical church, brought into it a lot of uncleanness with my obscene desires, and damaged all my feelings with impermissible deeds. Why do I not have the courage to raise my hands to heaven, defiled by evil practices? Therefore, before Your ineffable mercies, O all-immaculate Lady, I prostrate myself, poor and prodigal. For I have no other refuge than You, my only consolation and immediate protection. I trust in You, do not leave me. Pleasant are Thy petitions to Thy Only Begotten Son; He rejoices at Your intercessions and quickly fulfills Your prayers for us. Do not despise me, the poorest one, and let the lewdness of my deeds not stop Your immeasurable mercy, Mother of God. Accept this insignificant request of mine and with Your motherly prayers make it favorable to Your Son and God, making me worthy of the Heavenly Kingdom, praising and blessing the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. I don’t dare myself - pray, saints! Who will not cry for me, who for a small pleasure has despised the eternal Kingdom, placing endless fire at nothing? By indulging in passions, I destroyed the dignity of my soul and became like senseless beasts. I once rested enriched with talents, but now I have fallen in love with the poverty of passions. He became alien to virtues, having gone to the distant land of vice. I am half dead and show very little of the rest of my life. Being like this spontaneously, I cannot raise my eyes to the merciful Lord. Weep, reverend and righteous, for me, consumed by passions and sins! Weep, devotees of abstinence, for me, a glutton and a sensualist! Weep, merciful and forgiving, for me, unmerciful and grieving! Weep, you who please God, for me, a people-pleaser! Weep, you who have acquired meekness, for me, irritable and angry! Weep, you humble ones, for me, the highly intelligent and proud one! Weep, you who have acquired apostolic non-covetousness, for me, committed to material things and burdened with covetousness! Weep, you who loved crying and hated laughter, for me, who loved laughter and hated crying! Weep, containing in your mind the Judgment after death, for me, who claims that I remember the Judgment, but I do the opposite! Pray, saints of God, for a soul overwhelmed by all sorts of passions; Help as much as you can, saints of God! For I know that if you pray to God, the Lover of Mankind, everything will be given to you from the sea of ​​His goodness. And just as God loves mankind, so you, who are begged by me, a sinner, do not despise my request, because I myself, due to the multitude of my sins, do not have boldness. Your job, saints, is to intercede for sinners; God's work is to have mercy on the desperate. So, saints of God, beg the King for the captive, beg the Shepherd for the sheep, beg Life for the dead man, so that he may send a helping hand and strengthen my humble soul in its yearning! Everything will come out there. Hurry up to get better while there is still time! I fall to the bounty of Your goodness, Lord of all! Accept the sinner’s prayer, sweeten the soul tormented by the bitterness of sin, give drink to the thirsty from the source of life and guide me along its path! As the Lord, deliver His servant from captivity, so that I may become free from slavery to the dishonest passions with which my heart is entangled! May Your compassions precede me, O Lord, before I am dragged into hell along with those who practice iniquity! Then everything that I am doing now in darkness will come into reality. Alas, what shame will come over me when they see me condemned, who now think that I am blameless, while, having abandoned spiritual work, I, poor one, work for the passions! Alas, my soul, why is your intelligent sun darkened by the darkness of passions? And why does this darkness not disappear when rays of light appear? Why do you allow passions to draw you to the earth and instead of freedom have you chosen bonds? You made richly woven clothing unfit for use and unworthy of a royal marriage, you voluntarily gave yourself up to sins, and enslaved yourself to the enemy of life. What will you say to the Judge on that terrible and trembling day? Come to your senses while there is still time. While you are still the mistress of thoughts, while your mind is still in action and your body is in motion, while grace can still touch your heart and you can shed cleansing tears, rise courageously against the passions and, with God’s help, valiantly fight Goliath. Hurry and do not let any robber warn you, or forestall the entrance of any harlot, or block the door of anyone who is rapt in the Kingdom of God with force. Hurry, because when the list ends, it is inappropriate to look for competitions, when bargaining stops, it is inappropriate to look for purchases, and when deeds are sealed, it is inappropriate to look for activity. While there is time, hurry to enter into battle, so that, having overcome your enemies, you will appear worthy to receive crowns. Blessed is the one whom You admonish through Your love, O Lord, because You do not turn away from those whom You love. Do not turn away from me, Lord, so that the evil one does not destroy me. According to Your goodness, have mercy on me, the weak, and grant me the forgiveness of many of my sins, so that with all those who have pleased You, I too may glorify Your goodness. Have mercy, O Lord, according to Your goodness and have mercy on all of us, rejected by Your truth because we did not keep Your word, by observing which we would receive salvation. And I am rejected with all such, even more than all of them. So, make me worthy, by Your goodness, to receive forgiveness of sins, and by the power of this forgiveness, the hope of salvation. With love I studied Your word every day. Make me worthy, together with the righteous, to proclaim this praise: “Praise be to Him who has mercy on me! Glory to Him who has forgiven me!” The height blesses You, the depth magnifies You, You are worshiped by everyone, because everything was created by You. Everything praises You, merciful Lord! Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your great mercy and according to the multitude of Your mercies, cleanse my iniquity! For if You have mercy on me, freeing me from the pitiful illness of passions - if You only have mercy on me, then I want to be obedient to Your goodness. If You work according to the abundance of Your goodness, You will deliver me. If You pour out Your goodness on me, I will be saved. I am sure that this is possible for you. I know that You have had and will have mercy on all those who turn to You with all your strength. I confess that I, too, have made use of Your grace many times, but later, having rejected Your grace, I sinned like no one else has sinned. But You, Who raised the dead, also raise me, killed by sin! You, who healed the blind, enlighten the darkened eyes of my heart! You, who delivered Adam from the mouth of the serpent, rescue me from the mire of my iniquities, because I too belong to the number of Your sheep and, according to my desires, I became food for lions! Sins have made me a dog, but, healed by Your grace, I will be a son. I was abandoned like a dead man, but if you wish, I will be revived. I know that I sinned knowingly, but I have Your saints as prayer books for me. I know that I exceed all measure with my sins, but Your goodness is irresistible. You, who gave advantage to the publican, give it to me, who (I confess) did even more evil. You, Lord, had mercy on Zacchaeus as worthy, but have mercy on me as unworthy! Paul was once a wolf and drove away the sheep of Your flock, but by Your goodness he became a shepherd, diligently following the sheep. I know that out of ignorance he committed a sin and, as one who did not know, was granted remission of sins and greater grace. But You, Lord, having condemned the sin I committed in my knowledge, have mercy on me according to Your abundant grace! Blessed is the one who, having enlightened the eyes of his heart, always sees the Lord in himself, as in a mirror - he will receive relief from passions and evil thoughts. Blessed is he who loves beautiful, kind speeches, but hates shameful and corrupting words, because he will not fall into captivity to the evil one. Blessed is he who edifies his neighbor with the fear of God and does not deceive his soul, hourly fearing the iron rod of the Great Shepherd. Blessed is he who is obedient to his neighbor according to God and endures sorrows with thanksgiving, for such a one will be crowned by becoming a confessor in the Lord. Blessed is he who loves abstinence according to God and is not condemned for his belly as a sensualist and unclean, for such a one will be exalted in the Lord. Blessed is he who does not get drunk with wine, but always rejoices in the remembrance of the Lord, in whom all the saints continually rejoice. Blessed is he who disposes of his property according to God and is not subject to condemnation from God the Savior as a lover of money and unmerciful to his neighbor. Blessed is he who stays awake in prayer, reading and good deeds: he will be enlightened and will not sleep into death. Blessed is he who has become a beautiful spiritual land and has caught many to the Good Lord: he will be highly praised in the Lord. Blessed is he who has become an excellent example for his neighbor and has not offended the conscience of a servant like himself with indecent deeds: he will be blessed in the Lord. You might be interested in: