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Prayer of Ephraim the Syrian in Great Lent

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Prayer of Ephrem the Syrian

“Lord and Master of my life, the spirit of idleness, despondency, arrogance and idle talk, do not give me. Grant the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love to me, Thy servant. Yes, Lord, King, grant me to see my sins and not condemn my brother, for you are blessed forever and ever. Amen"

Listen to the prayer:

chant:

http://pravoslavnye-molitvy.ru/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Chants-of-Great-Lent-Sing-sisters-of-Samara-Iberian-monastery-Prayer-of-St. -mon-rya.mp3

Prayer of Ephraim the Syrian with accents

“Lord and Master of my life, the spirit of idleness, despondency, lust and idle talk, do not give me.
.
Hey, Lord King, grant me to see my sins and do not judge my brother, for Thou art blessed forever and ever. Amen."

When is the prayer read?

Read at the services of Great Lent.

At the first reading of this prayer, after each of the three petitions, a prostration is made. Then 12 times a prayer is read to oneself: “God, cleanse me, a sinner,” with bows from the waist. Then the whole prayer is read again, after which one prostration is made.

This prayer is read in the temple at the clock on Wednesday and Friday of Cheese Week and throughout Holy Forty Days, except Saturdays and Sundays; also on the first three days of Holy Week. On the same days, it is included in the home prayer rule.

On Great Wednesday at the end of the liturgy on "Be the name of the Lord ..." the prayer of St. Ephrem the Syrian is read for the last time. The special services of Holy Week begin.

Lord and Master of my life! Do not give me the spirit of idleness, despondency, lust and idle talk.(earth bow)
But grant the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love to me, Thy servant.(earth bow)
Hey, Lord King, grant me to see my sins and do not judge my brother, for you are blessed forever and ever. Amen. (earth bow)
God, cleanse me, a sinner.(12 times with waist bows)

And once again the whole prayer is read in full with one earthly bow at the end.

LORD AND LORD OF MY LIFE - INTERPRETATION

“In my younger years, I was evil-speaking,” recalled St. Ephraim the Syrian, “beat, quarreled with others, bickered with neighbors, envied, was inhuman to strangers, cruel to friends, rude to the poor, entered into quarrels for unimportant matters, acted recklessly, betrayed evil intentions and lustful thoughts.

This prayer of Ephraim the Syrian consists of only ten petitions, however, with its repentant spirit and the ability to lead a person into heartbreak, it surpasses many other prayers.

The Reverend's Prayer Begins Ephrem the Syrian turning to God: Lord and Master of my life... The Word of God reveals to us that our life is connected with God, depends on Him and is kept by Him. In His merciful hands is the fate of the righteous and the unrighteous, the good and the evil, and the entire animal and plant world. No one and nothing can exist for a day or an hour without His creative power of the Holy Spirit, which supports the existence of every created living creature. Therefore, feeling God in our hearts, we cannot begin, continue, or complete any work on earth without prayer to Him, without His blessing. God really is the Lord, the Head, the Ruler of our life.

What do these passions mean in the prayer “Lord and Master of my life…” of St. Ephraim?

In the first petition of Ephraim the Syrian, the monk asks God not to give him a spirit idleness. Idleness is understandable to everyone - it is laziness and negligence about the most pressing matters and, above all, about one's salvation. It can bring a person to immobility, to complete stagnation both in the spiritual life and in the necessary daily activities.

For the ascetic, idleness is sleep on duty. The ascetic must constantly alternate useful labors - prayer, labor, reading, in order to always be like a cauldron on fire. And then it is revealed to the eye of the spiritual worker that the "spirit of idleness" is one of the dominant spirits of our time. The “average” modern person does not want to work or study, but to rest (from what?), to accumulate impressions, to relax. In slang, this is called "break away", "ignite", "go crazy". If it were not for this very idea of ​​idleness and the pursuit of it as true happiness, sin would not march so victoriously through the streets of the cities of the "civilized" world.

But our world is not only a “relaxing” world. He is also a despondent world. The fun of the present often testifies to a deep anguish in the soul of a person. This is not a folk festival after the harvest. This is an attempt to forget or dissolve in the noise. Depression, unwillingness to live, darkness of consciousness, from which drugs and alcohol are saved, that is, even more darkness, these are the diseases of the century. Indeed: “Not the flesh, but the spirit has become corrupted in our days, And the person is desperately yearning ...”.

Despondency there is a fierce ulcer, perhaps the most severe. Despondency is such a gloomy, dreary state of mind, when everything in life is shown to a person only from the dark side.
He does not rejoice at anything, nothing satisfies him, the circumstances seem unbearable to him, he grumbles at everything, gets irritated on every occasion - in a word, life itself then becomes a burden to him. Despondency comes, as the Holy Fathers teach, from the same idleness, from lack of faith, unbelief, from impenitence for one's sins. Previous anger or offenses caused to someone, lack of fear of God, verbosity, or failures in personal life, work, and similar troubles can also lead to despondency. At the same time, despondency itself very often leads to another, more dangerous state of mind, called despair, when a person often admits the thought of premature death and even considers it already an essential blessing on the path of his earthly life. Salvation from this is in prayers.

Seraphim of Sarov spoke of this passion as the most difficult. Wherever you run, you bring it with you. The more you strive for fun and lightness, the more severe bouts of despondency you will condemn yourself to. It will not leave, frightened by your laughter. It will patiently stand behind your back, wait, and when you get tired of laughing, it will take you by the throat again. Truly, we have entered an era when the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian has become necessary for everyone without exception.

curiosity it is, simply speaking, the desire to command, rule, manage. Each hand has five fingers, all index fingers.
After all, there are many who have no one to command. But give them a couple of people in submission for just one day - and you will be surprised at the zeal and administrative enthusiasm! And isn't domestic despotism growing from here, when a little man tyrannizes household members, realizing his Napoleonic complexes? At work, he is a good boy and almost an angel, and at home he is a lion who ran out of a cage. They say if you want to know a person, give him power.

And another edge becomes noticeable. Simple professions are now not in honor. Children are being promoted to become lawyers, managers, and the banking sector. That is, where they “rule the process”, and not hammer nails. Soon ten bankers will line up for one electrician, because there will be more bankers than electricians or carpenters. And the root is still there - in arrogance, in a passion for white shirts, leather briefcases, official vehicles and lofty thoughts about personal significance.
Father Ephraim, pray to God for us!

idle talk- this is freedom of speech multiplied by the slavery of thought or its absence. In today's world, we are allowed to say everything or almost everything. But it was ordered to speak loudly and to everyone at once, so that no one would listen to anyone, but everyone would simply speak out. It was in the era of censorship that words were both a weapon and a treasure. In the era of chatter, the most important and capacious speeches risk drowning in tons of waste paper, risk getting lost in the crowd of words spoken unnecessarily, idly.

The culture of the word is connected with the culture of silence. Whoever has nothing to silently think about, and there is nothing to talk about. You can't just say "just like that". It's like eating without feeling hungry, and this destroys health. The word is the seed. It fertilizes if it is alive. And it is not for nothing that there is such a thing as "verbiage" because talking about nothing is a kind of spiritual outpouring of seed on the earth (cf. Gen. 38:9). A little further on it says that it was "evil in the sight of the Lord." Idle talk is the enemy of prayer, the enemy of silence, the enemy of serious thoughts. He alone is enough to end up in hell, because "For every idle word people will answer on the day of judgment."

By verbosity, a person empties his soul, relaxes it and makes it absent-minded. Let's look at the Savior, how short He was in teachings and instructions! The Lord's Prayer is given in just seven petitions, and the beatitudes in nine verses. The angels praise God briefly: "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God of Hosts!" Just as a vessel that is often opened does not retain the strength and aroma of the most fragrant substance placed in it, so the soul of a person who loves to talk much does not retain good thoughts and good feelings for a long time, but spews out streams of condemnation, slander, slander, flattery, etc. That is why the Church prays during fasting: Lord, put a guardianship with my mouth and a door of protection against my mouth. Do not turn my heart into words of deceit (Ps. 140:3-4). Just as weeds litter the soil and prevent good grains from growing on it, so empty, rotten words kill the soul and do not allow good thoughts and feelings to grow in it.

We ourselves, not wanting it in advance, saw that in the four passions listed in the text of the prayer of Ephraim the Syrian, not just four sinful spirits appeared before us. A certain one spirit appeared before us, absorbing all the others. and this spirit is the spirit of this world. This is the spirit of the world of idle, dreary, talkative, arrogant and, oddly enough, self-confident. We live in this contradictory and sick world, the spirit of this world mixes with the air we breathe and poisons us constantly. So how can we not run as fast as we can to the temples of God? How can we remain idle?
Our salvation is through repentance and such prayers as the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian can convey to us in words.

From the materials of conversations between Archimandrite Kirill (Pavlov) and Archpriest Andrei Tkachev

Prayer of Ephraim the Syrian(Greek Ἡ εὐχή Ἀγίου Ἐφραίμ τοῦ Σύρου) - Lenten prayer of repentance, read according to the Orthodox Church charter at divine services of the daily circle, starting from Tuesday (at the end of Vespers), Wednesday and Friday of Cheese Week, daily with the onset of Great Lent (except Saturday and Sunday) ) until the Great Wednesday of Holy Week (inclusive).

The prayer is named after St. Ephraim the Syrian and is traditionally attributed to him. At the same time, like all the prayers attributed to Ephraim the Syrian, it cannot claim authenticity. Ephraim himself spoke and wrote in classical Syriac, (New Assyrian or Aramaic), which is still the liturgical language of the Assyrian Church of the East. The prayer was written in Greek and after the death of Ephraim the Syrian himself. To designate unknown authors of Greek texts that are attributed to Ephraim the Syrian (including the “prayer of Ephraim the Syrian”), a conditional concept has been introduced: “Greek Ephraim”.

Texts

Greek text::

Κύριε καὶ Δέσποτα τῆς ζωῆς μου, πνεῦμα ἀργίας, περιεργίας, φιλαρχίας, καὶ ἀργολογίας μή μοι δῷς. Πνεῦμα δὲ σωφροσύνης, ταπεινοφροσύνης, ὑπομονῆς, καὶ ἀγάπης χάρισαί μοι τῷ σῷ δούλῳ.

Ναί, Κύριε Βασιλεῦ, δώρησαι μοι τοῦ ὁρᾶν τὰ ἐμὰ πταίσματα, καὶ μὴ κατακρίνειν τὸν ἀδελφόν μου, ὅτι εὐλογητὸς εἶ, εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν. Church Slavonic text:

Church Slavonic text in civil script:

Lord and Master of my life, the spirit of idleness, despondency, lust and idle talk, do not give me.
the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love grant me, your servant.
Hey, Lord King, grant me to see my sins and do not judge my brother, for Thou art blessed forever and ever. Amen.

Pre-split text: currently available in two versions among the Old Believers:

Option 1 (Text according to the Charter "Church Eye" of 1633):

Lord and Master of my life, the spirit of despondency and negligence, idle talk and vanity, love of money and lust, get away from me.

Option 2 (Text according to the Book of Hours of 1652):

Lord and Master of my life, the spirit of despondency, negligence, love of money and idle talk, banish from me. But grant the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love to me, Thy servant. Hey, Lord King, let me see my sins, and do not judge my brother, for you are blessed forever, amen.

Interpretations

my belly- my life spirit of idleness- prone to idleness or laziness, despondency(ancient Greek περιεργία) - unnecessary work, unnecessary chores, fussiness; excessive curiosity (in modern Russian and Church Slavonic languages ​​the word despondency has different meanings) ambition- lust for power, that is, the love to rule and rule over others, idle talk- pronunciation of empty words (idle talk), as well as bad and swear words, don't give me- don't let me.

Chastity- sanity, prudence, modesty, as well as purity and purity of soul, humility- consciousness of our imperfection before God, and when we do not think about ourselves that we are better than others (humility), patience- patience is needed when enduring any inconvenience, deprivation and misfortune, in order to finish the good work begun, love- genitive case from love (to God and neighbor).

Hey Lord- Oh my God, give me vision- let me see, realize. By brother here is meant any other person.

How blessed are you Because you are worthy of praise.

After each of the three verses, an earthly bow is placed, then “God, cleanse me, a sinner and have mercy on me” is read 12 times with waist bows, and the whole prayer is repeated once more with a bow to the ground at the end. This is the custom in Russian Orthodoxy after Nikon.

Other Orthodox traditions have their own peculiarities in performing this prayer.

In literature

The penitential prayer of Ephraim the Syrian inspired Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin six months before his death to create the poem “The desert fathers and the wives are blameless…”:

Desert fathers and blameless wives,
To fly with your heart in the region of correspondence,
To strengthen it in the midst of the valley storms and battles,
Laid down many divine prayers;

But none of them make me happy

Like the one that the priest repeats
In the sad days of Great Lent;
More and more often she comes to my lips

And strengthens the fallen with an unknown force:

Lord of my days! The spirit of idleness is dull,
Love of command, this hidden serpent,
And do not give idle talk to my soul.

But let me see my, oh God, sins,

Yes, my brother will not accept condemnation from me,
And the spirit of humility, patience, love
And revive chastity in my heart.

Notes

Literature

• Ephraim the Syrian Prayer // Orthodox Encyclopedia. - M.: Church-Scientific Center "Orthodox Encyclopedia", 2008. - T. XIX. - S. 74. - 752 p. - 39,000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-89572-034-9.

Links

• Prayer of Ephraim the Syrian on the ABC of Faith website.
• Archpriest Andrey Tkachev. Prayer of Saint Ephraim. Portal "Pravoslavie.Ru" (30.3.2011). Retrieved February 10, 2017.

When is the prayer of Ephraim the Syrian read? How should you pray? The most important thing about prayer in the material of Pravmir.

Great Lent every day - from Sunday evening to Friday, an amazing prayer of Ephraim the Syrian is read

The prayer attributed by tradition to one of the great teachers of the spiritual life, St. Ephraim the Syrian can indeed be called a Lenten prayer, because it stands out among all the hymns and prayers of Lent.

The text of the prayer of Ephraim the Syrian

Lord and Master of my life,

Do not give me the spirit of idleness, despondency, arrogance and idle talk.

Grant the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love to me, Thy servant.

Hey, Lord, King!

Grant me to see my sins,

And don't judge my brother

For blessed are you forever and ever.

Prayer of Ephraim the Syrian. Video:

When is the prayer of Ephraim the Syrian read?

The Prayer of Ephraim the Syrian is read twice at the end of each Lenten service from Monday to Friday (it is not read on Saturdays and Sundays, since the services of these two days, as we will see later, differ from the general Lenten order). At the first reading of this prayer, after each petition, a prostration is made. Then 12 times a prayer is read to oneself: “God, cleanse me, a sinner,” with bows from the waist. Then the whole prayer of Ephraim the Syrian is read again, after which one prostration is made.

Why does this short and simple prayer take such an important place in the entire Lenten service?

Because it enumerates in a special way peculiar only to this prayer all the negative and positive elements of repentance and defines, so to speak, a list of our individual exploits. The purpose of these feats, first of all, is liberation from some basic illness that directs our whole life and prevents us from embarking on the path of turning to God.

The main ailment is idleness, laziness, negligence, negligence. This is that strange laziness and passivity of our whole being that always pulls us “down”, and does not lift us “up”, which constantly convinces us of the impossibility, and therefore the undesirability of changing anything. This is truly a cynicism deeply rooted in us, which answers every spiritual call: “why?” and thanks to which throughout our life we ​​waste the spiritual forces given to us. “Idleness” is the root of all sins, because it poisons spiritual energy at its very source.

The fruit of idleness is despondency, in which all teachers of spiritual life see the greatest danger to the soul. A person in the grip of despondency is deprived of the opportunity to see anything good or positive; for him it all comes down to denial and pessimism. This is truly the devil's power over us, because the devil is first of all a liar. He lies to man about God and the world; it fills life with darkness and denial. Despondency is the suicide of the soul, because if a person is in the grip of despondency, he is completely incapable of seeing the light and striving for it.

Curiosity! Love for power. Strange as it may seem, it is idleness, laziness and despondency that fill our lives with ambition. Laziness and despondency pervert our whole attitude to life, devastate it and deprive it of any meaning. They force us to seek redress in a totally wrong way with other people. If my soul is not directed towards God, does not aim at eternal values, it will inevitably become selfish, self-centered, which means that all other beings will become means to satisfy its desires and pleasure. If God is not the Lord and Master of my life, then I myself turn into my master and master, become the absolute center of my own world and consider everything from the point of view of my needs, my desires and my judgment. Curiosity, therefore, fundamentally perverts my attitude towards other people, trying to subjugate them. It does not always motivate us to really command and dominate other people. It can also be expressed in indifference, contempt, lack of interest, attention and respect for other people. The spirit of idleness and hopelessness in this case is directed at others; and spiritual suicide is combined here with spiritual murder.

After all this - idle talk. Only man among all creatures created by God received the gift of speech. All the Holy Fathers see in this the “imprint” of the Image of God in man, because God Himself is revealed to us as the Word (Jn 1:1). But, being the highest gift, it is at the same time the greatest danger. Really expressing the very essence of man, his self-fulfillment, it is thanks to this that he can become a means of falling, self-destruction, deceit and sin. The word saves and kills; the word inspires and the word poisons. The truth is expressed by the word, but the devil's lies also use the word. Possessing the highest positive force, the word therefore has an enormous negative force. It creates positive and negative. When the word deviates from its divine nature and purpose, it becomes idle. It “reinforces” the spirit of idleness, despondency and arrogance, and life turns into a living hell. The Word then becomes really the power of sin.

Repentance is thus directed against these four manifestations of sin. These are obstacles that need to be removed. But only God alone can do it. Therefore, the first part of this Lenten prayer is a cry from the depths of human helplessness. Then the prayer moves on to the positive goals of repentance. There are also four of them.

Chastity! If we do not attach to this word, as is often done, only its sexual, secondary meaning, then it must be understood as the positive opposite of the spirit of idleness. Idleness, first of all, means dispersion, division, brokenness of our opinions and concepts, our energy, the inability to see things as they are, in their whole. The opposite of idleness is exactly integrity. If chastity is usually considered a virtue opposite to sexual corruption, then this is only due to the fact that the brokenness of our existence does not express itself anywhere so much as in sexual depravity, in the alienation of the life of the body from the life of the spirit, from spiritual control. Christ restored integrity to us, restored the real hierarchy of values, bringing us back to God.

The first miraculous fruit of this integrity or chastity is humility. We have already talked about it. First of all, it is the victory of truth in ourselves, the destruction of all the lies in which we usually live. Some humble people are able to live in truth, to see and accept things as they are, and through this to see God's greatness, kindness and love for all. That is why it is said that God gives grace to the humble and opposes the proud.

Chastity and humility are naturally followed by patience. A “fallen” person in his natural nature is impatient, because, not seeing himself, he is quick to judge and condemn others. These concepts about everything are incomplete, broken, distorted. Therefore, he judges everything according to his tastes and from his own point of view. He is indifferent to everyone except himself, so he wants life to become immediately successful for him.

Patience is truly a divine virtue. The Lord is patient not because He is “indulgent” towards us, but because He really sees the very depth of things, which we do not see due to our blindness, and which is open to Him. The more we approach God, the more patient we become, the more we reflect in ourselves the caring attitude, respect for each individual being, characteristic of God alone.

Finally, the crown and fruit of all virtues, all efforts and exploits is love, that love which, as we have already said, can be given by God alone. This is the gift that is the goal of all spiritual training and experience.

All this is brought together in the last petition of the Great Lenten Prayer of Ephraim the Syrian, in which we ask: "to see your sins, and not condemn your brother." In the end, we face one danger: pride. Pride is the source of evil, and evil is the source of pride. It is not enough, however, to see one's sins, because even this seeming virtue can turn into pride. The Scriptures of the Holy Fathers are full of warnings against this kind of false piety, which, in fact, under the cover of humility and self-condemnation, can lead to diabolical pride. But when we “see our sins” and “do not condemn our brother”, when, in other words, chastity, humility, patience and love are united in us into one whole, then and only then our main enemy - pride - is destroyed in us.

How to read the prayer of Ephraim the Syrian?

After each request for the prayer of Ephraim the Syrian, we bow to the ground. But not only during the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian make prostrations; they constitute the distinctive characteristic of the entire Great Lenten service. But in this prayer their meaning is best revealed. In the long and difficult feat of spiritual rebirth, the Church does not separate the soul from the body. Man fell away from God entirely, soul and body. And the whole person must be restored in order to return to God. The sinful fall consists precisely in the victory of the flesh (animal, lust in us) over the spiritual, divine nature. But the body is beautiful, the body is holy. So holy that God Himself "became flesh." Salvation and repentance then is not contempt for the body, not neglect of it, but the restoration of the body in its present service, as an expression of life and spirit, as a temple of a priceless human soul. Christian asceticism is not a struggle against the body, but for it. That is why the whole person - soul and body - repents. The body participates in the prayer of the soul, just as the soul prays not outside, but in its body. Thus, prostrations to the ground, a “psycho-corporeal” sign of repentance and humility, worship and obedience, are a distinctive feature of Lenten worship.

Other materials about prayer in Pravmir:

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Venerable Ephraim the Syrian

Lord and Master of my life,
do not give me the spirit of idleness, despondency, arrogance and idle talk.
Grant the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love to me, Thy servant.
Yes, Lord, King, grant me to see my sins and not condemn my brother,
so blessed are you forever and ever. Amen

The Prayer of Ephraim the Syrian is a penitential prayer composed in the 4th century. Venerable Ephrem the Syrian (Syrian). It is rightfully considered the main prayer of Great Lent and is read at all fasting services.

The reading of this prayer begins on Wednesday and Friday of Cheese Week, which is preparatory to Great Lent. It is read in the temple on the Clock. Then the prayer of Ephraim the Syrian continues to be read throughout Holy Fortecost, except for Saturdays and Sundays, as well as on the first three days of Passion Week. On those days she included in the home prayer rule- morning and evening prayers, as well as other prayer rules, read with a blessing or penance.

Saturdays and Sundays, in fact, are not part of Great Lent, but, as it were, fall out of it: they even have some relaxation of the strict fasting diet. It should also be noted that the new church day does not start in the morning, and in the evening - at the moment when the evening service connects with the morning one (for simplicity, we count from 18.00). This applies to worship and prayers. It is noteworthy that fast days, nevertheless, begin at 00.00 hours and coincide with the calendar. Thus, the prayer of Ephraim the Syrian is not read already on Friday evening (after 18.00) and again its reading is resumed on Sunday evening.

On Great Wednesday, at the end of the liturgy on "Be the name of the Lord ..." the prayer of Ephraim the Syrian is read for the last time. After this, special services of Holy Week begin.

How to read the prayer of Ephraim the Syrian

Regardless of whether you are in the temple and repeat the words of the prayer after the priest, or you read the cell (home) prayer rule, you should read the prayer like this. At the first reading of this prayer, after each of the three petitions (highlighted by me in square brackets), a prostration is made (we kneel and touch the ground with our forehead). Then the prayer is read 12 times: “God, cleanse me, a sinner,” with bows from the waist (we touch the earth with our hands). Then the entire prayer is read again, after which one prostration is made.

When praying at home with the laity the prayer of Ephraim the Syrian is read once (that is, the entire set of prayers and bows listed in the previous paragraph is performed once) at the end of each prayer rule: once - after morning prayers, once - after evening prayers, once - after any additional rule read during the day .

In the temple, during the service, the prayer of Ephraim the Syrian is read by the priest in front of the Royal Doors or in front of the Holy See. All those present should repeat the words of the prayer and bow down after him. Unauthorized reading of this prayer in the temple during the service is not allowed and is outrageous. You can read more about when it is appropriate and when it is not appropriate for an Orthodox to bow, you can read in this

Lord Lord of my life

Lord and Master of my life,

Do not give me the spirit of idleness, despondency, arrogance and idle talk.

Grant the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love to me, Thy servant.

Hey, Lord, King!

Grant me to see my sins,

And don't judge my brother

For blessed are you forever and ever.

Amen.

“The Almighty and King of my life, the Lord of the joy of sadness, you will not send any curiosity and idle talk to us. The giver of wisdom, humility, patience and love, send me, a servant of God. O Almighty, Lord of Heaven, send me the ability to see all my sins and not condemn my loved one, and I will be the happiest now and forever and forever. Amen".

This prayer book of Ephraim the Syrian is a prayer of repentance, written in the fourth century by a holy father who lived in Syria. Prayer is said during services during Great Lent.

During the first reading of this prayer, after the pronunciation of three requests, a deep bow is made to the very ground. Then a dozen times it is necessary to whisper the following text in a whisper: “Lord, forgive me a sinner,” and when reading this prayer, you must bow to the waist. After that, the whole prayer is again pronounced, at the end of which one deep bow is made.

Prayer is said in the church during Cheese Week on Wednesdays and Fridays, as well as during Holy Forty Days, but only on weekdays; it is also read on the initial three days of the Easter week, at the same time the prayer must be read at home in front of the home iconostasis.

On Holy Wednesday, at the end of the divine service, “The name of God will be ...”, the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian is pronounced at the end, because from the next day special services of Easter week are read.

Why is this prayer read during the service during Great Lent?

This prayer was created by the great Orthodox ascetic and Christian minister of the church, Ephraim the Syrian.

It is noteworthy that Ephraim was called to serve the Almighty by a heavenly attraction - Holy Insight.

All because he wasted his life without thinking about the future, did not observe moral standards and God's commandments, and was frivolous. Once he ended up in prison on an unfair slander, as an accomplice in the theft of livestock, but in fact he was torn to pieces by wild animals.

In the dungeon, he was visited by an unknown person, who claimed that, although Sirin is now imprisoned unfairly, God's providence is also present in this situation. The man recommended Ephraim to think and remember everything he had done in life. Then, as soon as the mysterious visitor left Sirin, he decided to make sense of his life. He remembered how once, just for fun and because of his frivolity, he opened a corral belonging to a poor peasant, in which there was a cow. As a result, predatory animals ate the poor cattle, and new troubles and difficulties were added to the poor peasant, who already lived a difficult and joyless life, and no one knew that these were the tricks of Ephraim.

After that, the mysterious visitor promised the prisoner that the truth about the crime he was accused of complicity would come out, which soon happened. The real thief was caught and suffered a well-deserved punishment - it was a shepherd who overslept his flock, and Ephraim was released into the wild.

Having been released, Ephraim began to think differently and tried to rethink and change his way of life - to live according to God's commandments, and after that he decided to give up worldly fuss and devote his life to serving the Lord.

Until the end of his days, Ephraim the Syrian was full of feelings of deepest repentance and gratitude to the Almighty for all Heavenly blessings. A unique, submissive and guilty character, characteristic of a true supporter of the teachings of Jesus Christ, who found a way of expression in prayer, which is known as the prayer of Ephraim the Syrian.

True, this prayer appeal is short, but at the same time it broadly and picturesquely expresses one of the most important requests of believers who are aware of their inner poverty and are trying to curb all the temptations and shortcomings that they present to the Almighty, the Giver of all values ​​and the inspirer of all living things (James 1:17 ).

During Great Lent, it is advisable to say the prayer of Ephraim, since at this hour believers need to turn an intensified look at their way of life, their sinful deeds and their morality.

At such a time, believers are required to take enhanced measures to change their lifestyle, and all this can be done only with the participation of the Lord (John 15:5). That is why Christian believers will contribute requests to the Almighty for the remission of sins and support in prayers, and especially in the petition of St. Sirin.

What does the following text mean in prayer: “Lord, you do not send joy, sorrow, curiosity and idle talk to us”?

Does this mean that the Almighty sends us not only blessings, but also temptations and vices? At present, many believers are interested in: why is the Lord righteous and omnipotent, and people are still subject to temptations and vices; why then our whole life is filled with sinful deeds and godlessness? Maybe all this is due to the fact that our Lord is not too holy and omnipotent?

In addition to this, the above-mentioned text of the prayer petition of St. Sirin makes even more confusion. If we understand these words literally, then it turns out that as the Lord, it is the Almighty who gives everything and in particular fun, sadness and curiosity, and idle talk, and all sorts of vices.

How can this be explained? Our Lord is in Himself the perfect Holy Spirit (John 4:24), unconditional Good, and therefore, God can in no way push anyone to vicious passions.

Taking all of the above into account, we are still obliged to realize that what happens and is being done in our world, including many sins, come from God's providence.

In God's Providence, it is necessary to single out several main components: favor and indulgence. The Almighty likes everything good, constantly bestows all good people, and constantly pushes to good: accomplishments, thoughts and intentions. Talking about evil, the Almighty, as a perfect Holy Spirit (Lev.20:26), despises it (Ps.44:8).

But if you think about it well, then the ability of a person to commit sinful deeds is conditioned by Our Creator. Strange, but why? If people did not possess this ability, then they could not deliberately and freely come to good. Indeed, without all these components, people would not have embarked on the righteous path, the holiness of which is based and arises on their own free choice, and not coercive and obligatory. Checking the boundaries of people's desires, the Almighty allows people to commit illegal actions (to the extent that he considers possible), both at the slander of an unclean spirit, and at his own request.

Summing up the consideration of the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian, in whose prayer we pray the Almighty "not to send" us the spirit of joy, sadness, curiosity and idle talk, we actually beg to slightly reduce the limit of permissibility, as a result of which we, as morally not limited, we can freely commit such transgressions. But nevertheless, despite all this, we ask the Almighty for divine help, so that we can resist temptations or, when they appear, successfully overcome them. In addition, the prayer of Ephraim the Syrian is very close in its content to another prayer addressed to God “Our Father”, in which we also ask not to lead us into temptations.

About the prayer of St. Ephrem the Syrian, it can be said that it best, most simply and most briefly expresses the meaning and spirit of what Christians have been calling Great Lent for centuries. This prayer is repeated at the end of each Lenten service: the faithful read it at home, in their private prayer. (Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann.)

About Ephrem the Syrian.

Venerable Ephraim the Syrian- Christian poet, theologian, great teacher of repentance, prayer book, preacher. Ephraim the Syrian was born at the beginning of the 4th century in Mesopotamia. In a poor Christian family.
Efrem Sirin is a widely educated person of his time. He spoke Hebrew, had a wide knowledge of the geography and ethnography of Palestine, attaches particular value to his interpretations of Holy Scripture. The number of works of Ephraim the Syrian reached 1000, not counting the prayers he composed, poems that expounded church teaching. Many poems were set to folk tunes.
St. Ephraim the Syrian taught that the forgiveness of sins in the sacrament of Repentance is not an external justification, not the forgetfulness of sins, but the complete annihilation of sin. Tears of repentance wash away sin, transform the sinful nature, give strength " walk in the way of the commandments of the Lord".
The sermons of Ephraim the Syrian speak of the benefits of knowledge and education, which are "higher than wealth!".

Prayer of Ephraim the Syrian.

The legend about the origin of the prayer of Ephraim the Syrian is amazing.

The origin of the prayer of Ephraim the Syrian.

A vision descended upon a saint who lived in the wilderness. His eyes appeared to the angels who descended from heaven and carried a large scroll, written on both sides. They asked each other: Who can receive this scroll? And there was a voice from heaven: Only Ephraim, my chosen one"And they brought St. Ephraim and gave this scroll to be swallowed. And a wondrous deed happened: like a vine that grew over the whole earth, the wondrous words of St. Ephraim spread. Such a wondrous word of St. St. Ephraim the Syrian is prayer " Lord and Master of my life...".

Prayer: "Lord and Master of my life!".

Lord and Master of my life! The spirit of idleness, despondency, arrogance and idle talk do not give me. (earth bow) The spirit of chastity, humility, grant me patience and love, Thy servant. (earth bow) Hey, Lord the King, grant me my sight transgressions and do not judge my brother, so blessed are you forever and ever. Amen. (earth bow)

Lord and Master of my life! do not give me a tendency to laziness, to carelessness, to lust for power and idle talk. (earth bow) The purity of the soul, humility, patience and love send me, your servant. (earth bow) Yes, King Lord, let me see mine own sins and not condemn my brother, for blessed are you forever and ever Amen. (earth bow)

God, cleanse me, a sinner/sinner.(12 times with waist bows)

(And once again the entire prayer in full with one prostration at the end)

For more than one thousand six hundred years, in all Orthodox churches and the homes of parishioners, during the days of Great Lent, the words of the prayer of repentance, once written by the holy Rev. Ephraim the Syrian, have been heard. Compiled, according to scientists, in Syriac or Aramaic, it became the property of the world in the Greek version, and was already translated from it into Church Slavonic. Laconic in form, but unusually capacious in its philosophical depth, the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian is a true masterpiece of theological thought.

Mistakes of turbulent youth

Saint Ephraim the Syrian was born at the beginning of the 4th century in the city of Nizibia, located in the southeastern part of modern Turkey. Behind the prescription of years, information about his young years is very contradictory. According to some sources, he was born into the family of a pagan priest and was driven out of the house by his father for his early adherence to the teachings of Christ. According to other sources, his parents were pious people, and he left his father's house due to the unbridledness of his young disposition.

But, one way or another, his biographers agree that in his younger years the future saint was, as they say, a problem child, and once, having stolen a sheep from his neighbors, he even ended up behind bars. Being in prison, as you know, few people benefit, but in this case it became an exception to the general rule. At least, the life of the monk says that it was there that he was honored to hear the voice of God. What exactly the Almighty said is unknown, but only since then the young man was transformed and, having gone free, first of all went to the local bishop Jacob (also later canonized).

On the path to serving God

Becoming his disciple and asking in prayers of repentance for forgiveness of past sins, the Monk Ephraim showed outstanding abilities in preaching. Fulfilling the obedience imposed by his new spiritual father, the future saint with fiery speeches turned his compatriots to the path of Christian life, helping them escape from the darkness of paganism.

When the Lord called his teacher to His Heavenly Halls, the Monk Ephraim withdrew from the world, and, having settled in the mountains, spent time in fasting and prayers until in 363 the Persians, who captured Nisibia, forced him to move to the Greek city of Edessa, where conducted a wide preaching activity.

Works of St. Ephraim the Syrian

Having completed his earthly journey in the year 373, the monk left behind an extensive theological legacy, amounting, according to a number of researchers, to at least 1,000 prayers and other works. The most famous of them are the prayer of Ephraim the Syrian read in Great Lent and the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures, translated today into all languages ​​of the Christian world. An important place in his work is also occupied by poetic works written on biblical subjects. Later set to music, they entered the golden fund of Christian hymnography.

How and when is the prayer of Ephraim the Syrian read?

According to the Charter of the Orthodox Church, this prayer should be read during the services of the daily circle, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday of Cheese Week, that is, the week preceding the incantation for Great Lent. With the advent of Great Lent, it is read daily, except for Saturday and Sunday, until the Great Wednesday of Passion Week.

The reading of the prayer of Ephraim the Syrian is performed in a certain order, established in accordance with the Orthodox tradition. It is read twice, and during the first reading of each petition, it ends with a bow to the ground. Next, mentally say a short prayer 12 times: “God, cleanse me (that is, me), a sinner,” this time accompanied by bows from the waist. Then the entire text of the prayer is read again, and another prostration is made.

A lofty example of Christian repentance

The text of the Lenten prayer of Ephraim the Syrian is given at the beginning of the article. Let us turn to him and try to follow the train of thought of the outstanding theologian and understand why this short and simple, at first glance, prayer occupies such an important place in the rites adopted during the days of Great Lent.

It is commonly believed that the reason for this is a special order, peculiar only to St. Ephraim the Syrian, of presenting both the positive and negative elements of repentance. At the same time, the author succinctly, but at the same time, unusually capaciously outlines the range of spiritual feats necessary for a person to free himself from the sinful inclinations most characteristic of him.

Idleness and laziness

In his prayer, Ephraim the Syrian begins the list of ailments of the soul that prevent it from entering the path of communion with God, with idleness, which is such a widespread and destructive vice. Being the sister of laziness and negligence, she condemns the entire human being to passivity, and prevents him from making even a small fraction of efforts to change his spiritual and material condition for the better. This inclination destroys in a person all the talents bestowed upon him by the Lord, and sometimes turns his best aspirations into evil. After all, it is not for nothing that they say: "Idleness is the mother of all vices."

Despondency is the suicide of the soul

The next vice that St. Ephraim the Syrian mentions in his prayer is despondency. It, in turn, being a product of idleness and laziness, is fraught with the greatest danger. Despondency obscures the inner gaze of a person, makes it impossible to see the positive aspects of the life around him, and, dooming him to hopeless pessimism, reduces all judgments only to denying the possibility of change for the better.

The Church Fathers often call despondency a manifestation of the devil's power over people, since it is based on a lie, of which he is the progenitor. Instilling false ideas about God and the surrounding world into a person's soul, the devil fills his heart with darkness and denial. No wonder despondency is considered to be the suicide of the soul.

The sin of lust for power

A deep connoisseur of the human soul, St. Ephraim the Syrian, it is no coincidence that he mentions arrogance, that is, love to rule, immediately after despondency and laziness. The course of his thought is quite obvious: a person who has devastated and perverted his life with these two vices is looking for compensation for what he has lost and sometimes finds it in a completely distorted relation to the people around him.

Experience shows that in those cases when a person does not strive for God and does not seek the acquisition of eternal values, he inevitably becomes selfish and considers all other people only as an instrument to satisfy his needs and desires. The concept of God as the Lord of the world is replaced in it by the cult of one's own "I", which inevitably leads to the desire to subjugate other people. The prayer of Ephraim the Syrian warns us against this sin during Great Lent.

Idle talk ─ the path to spiritual death

Having created man in His image and likeness, the Lord endowed him with the gift of speech. However, with an unreasonable approach, this mercy of God can be the cause of many human misfortunes and falls. The word has great power. It can be the cause of salvation and destruction, inspiration and death of any thought.

In the mouths of people, it becomes both a conductor of God's truth and the devil's lies. Having deviated from its divine nature, the word becomes idle and serves as a breeding ground for the three previously listed vices: idleness, despondency, and in many cases, arrogance. Reading the prayer of Ephraim the Syrian, we sincerely ask the Lord to deliver us from this scourge.

Chastity in the broadest sense of the word

When the prayer of Ephraim the Syrian is read, not only vices are listed, the deliverance from which is the goal of repentance, but also virtues, the gift of which is asked from God. The first of these is chastity. Despite the fact that in the generally accepted understanding it means mainly abstaining from debauchery, in reality its meaning is much wider. In this case, chastity is interpreted as the integrity of a wise attitude to life. This is a virtue that is opposed not only to sexual sins, but to all manifestations of the brokenness of human nature.

Humility, patience and love are inseparable sisters

The fruit of chastity, that is, a wholesome and wise approach to life, is humility ─ the opposite of pride and conceit. It gives a person the opportunity to live in truth, and, perceiving the world as it is, to see in it manifestations of the greatness of God. We know from the Gospel that the Lord opposes the proud and grants grace only to the humble.

The virtue that comes from humility is patience. A person who possesses this quality is in many ways likened to the Creator, who is able to see the depth of things hidden from human eyes. Everything in this world is subject to the will of God and will be done in due time. Therefore, there is no reason to rush things.

Finally, the main virtue that Ephraim the Syrian asks for is love. It was she who became the cornerstone of the divine teaching given to people by Jesus Christ. For her sake, He accepted the pains of the cross, bequeathed her to all the children of the Church he founded.

The final part of the prayer

All of the above petitions for protection from sinful impulses and the sending down of virtues seem to merge into one in the last part of the prayer, where we are talking about gaining the gift of seeing one's own sins and not condemning "one's brother." This is exactly what Ephraim the Syrian said in his prayer about those who hate and offend us or fall into any other sins.

As the holy fathers point out, the consciousness of one's own sinfulness, and especially its open recognition, is by no means always the result of virtue, since it can be generated by pride and false piety. Only in combination with the ability to fulfill God’s commandment in relation to one’s neighbor: “Do not judge, lest you be judged,” repentance becomes evidence of the reign in the soul of all those high qualities that Ephraim the Syrian mentioned in his prayer.

From the anger that overwhelms us, from pride surging into the heart or from some other devilish instigation, the final words serve as a sure weapon: "God, cleanse me a sinner." They must be pronounced with complete humility and contrition of the heart. They are the sum total of all that has been said and experienced. The prayer of Ephraim the Syrian ends with bows, which were mentioned at the beginning of the article.

Pushkin's Arrangement of the Lenten Prayer

This prayer, which was a model of the highest spirituality, sometimes became not only for theologians, but also for poets. Widely known, for example, is the poem by A. S. Pushkin given in the article below, dedicated to this prayer, and representing its poetic transcription.

Created in July 1836, it became a model of his late work. There is an opinion among literary critics that, perhaps, Pushkin subconsciously associated himself with the personality of the compiler of the Lenten prayer. What could be in common between these two brilliant people?

Perhaps the sins of stormy youth and the repentance that came to replace them and the realization of the primacy of the spiritual world over everything earthly and transient. This is clearly conveyed by the poet in the poem we have quoted, where he echoes the wise words of St. Ephraim the Syrian.