Prayer Cycle (11-17 January 2015): Cyprus, Greece, Turkey

Intercessions

Give thanks for:

• The Christian church and its continued presence in these lands associated with the early churches of the apostles.
• Christians who have remained strong in their faith and continue to be a witness to the gospel.
• The wonders of the Church of St Sophia, the chants on Mount Athos, the frescoes of early churches in Cyprus.
• The blue sea and the mountains.

Pray for:

• Peace and the healing of entrenched hatred between Greeks and Turks.
• Comfort for those who grieve and strength for those who work for justice.
• Survivors of earthquakes and those who assist in bringing long-term relief.
• Refugees who seek shelter and the possibility of new life.
• All who face discrimination as minorities.
• An end to the division of Cyprus.

Prayer

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal,

have mercy on us.

Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
now and forever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

 

Most holy Trinity, have mercy on us.
Lord, cleanse us from our sins.
Master, pardon our transgressions.

Holy One, visit us and heal our infirmities,
for your name’s sake.

Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

 

Our spirit seeks you in the early dawn, O God,
for your commandments are light.

Teach us, O Master, your righteousness
and make us worthy to follow your commandments with all our strength.
Take away from our hearts every darkness.

Grant to us the Sun of Righteousness
and protect our lives from any bad influence
with the seal of your most Holy Spirit.

Direct our steps to the way of peace
and grant to us that this present morning may be peaceful
so that we may send up the morning hymns
to you the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
the only God,
who is more than without beginning
and Creator of all.

 (St Basil the Great, 4th century)

 

O you, beyond all 
(is this not the only permissible praise with which to address you?), 
how can the word sing praise to you, 
since no word can express you? 
How can the mind perceive you, 
since no mind can perceive you? 
You are the only unutterable, 
For all that is uttered comes from you. 
You are the only unknowable, 
for all that is conceived comes from you. 
All beings – those who are endowed with speech 
and those who are deprived of word – 
proclaim you. 
To you is raised a silent hymn 
by all those who perceive your complexity. 
For you alone everything exists, 
to you all tend in a single block. 
You are the end of all things. 
You are one, you are all, and you are none. 
You are not one, and you are not all. 
you who have all the names, how shall I name you? 
You the only unnameable. 
What celestial mind can penetrate your veil 
which is far beyond even the clouds?

(St Gregory Nazianzus, 4th century. As published in Let us Pray to the Lord, ed. George Lemopolos, WCC, 1996, p.12.)

Song

Source: oikoumene.org