ORTHODOX HOUSE
Orthodox HousePrayer BookDeath and Commemoration of the Departed

Prayers in anticipation of death

РусскийالعربيةБългарскиČeštinaDeutschΕλληνικάEnglishEspañolFrançaisქართულიМакедонскиPolskiRomânăSlovenčinaShqipСрпскиУкраїнська
The dying prayer of the Hieroschim. Parthenia of Kiev1

When I, depressed by illness, feel the approaching end of my earthly existence: Lord, have mercy on me.

When my poor heart, at its last beats, languishes and languishes in mortal pain: Lord, have mercy on me.

When my eyes are watered with tears for the last time at the thought that throughout my life I have offended You, O God, with my sins: Lord, have mercy on me.

When the rapid beating of my heart begins to accelerate the outcome of my soul: Lord, have mercy on me.

When the mortal pallor of my face and my cold body strikes my loved ones with fear: Lord, have mercy on me.

When my vision is darkened and my voice is cut off, my tongue turns to stone: Lord, have mercy on me.

When terrible ghosts and visions begin to drive me to despair of Your mercy: Lord, have mercy on me.

When my soul, struck by the memories of my crimes and the fear of Your judgment, becomes exhausted in the fight against the enemies of my salvation, who are trying to drag me into the darkness of torment: Lord, have mercy on me.

When the sweat of death drenches me, and the soul with painful suffering moves away from the body: Lord, have mercy on me.

When mortal darkness closes all the objects of this world from my dim gaze: Lord, have mercy on me.

When all sensation in my body ceases, my veins become numb and my muscles turn to stone: Lord, have mercy on me.

When human speech and earthly sounds no longer reach my ears: Lord, have mercy on me.

When the soul appears before Your face, O God, in anticipation of Your appointment: Lord, have mercy on me.

When I begin to heed the righteous sentence of Your judgment, which determines my eternal fate: Lord, have mercy on me.

When the body, abandoned by the soul, becomes the prey of worms and decay and, finally, my entire composition turns into a handful of dust: Lord, have mercy on me.

When the sound of the trumpet awakens everyone at Your second coming and the book of my deeds is opened: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, Your sinful servant (name). In Your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit. Amen.

* * *

Prayer is different

Heavenly Father, Redeemer Jesus Christ, Holy Soul God, true, only and highest Comforter! When my time is fulfilled, which You have appointed for me, when my days, which You have written in Your book, have reached their end, then grant me a blessed and peaceful departure from the seed of life, drive out from me the love of the world and the desire to live longer; give me a heart that is ready to leave here with joy. Ban all horror and fear; keep me from the temptation of the enemy. Arm my soul with the weapons of Your righteousness, the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation; because You, Lord Jesus Christ, are my wisdom, my righteousness, my sanctification and redemption, my life, my consolation, my peace and my joy. Place on me the wedding garment of Your righteousness, that my soul may appear before You pure, without spot or wrinkle, and let me hear Your joyful word: Come, O blessed of Lord, inherit the kingdom of your Father, prepared for you from the beginning, and enter into the joy of your Lord. Amen.

* * *

Holy Great Martyr Barbara

All-wise and most beautiful saint, Great Martyr of Christ Barbara! Blessed art thou, for the worldly wisdom of God has not revealed the flesh and blood of God to you, but God Himself the Heavenly Father, who is also yours, for the sake of faith from an unfaithful father, abandoned, cast out and the one who was slain was accepted as His beloved daughter: for the corruption of earthly possessions, incorruptibility was granted to the flesh; labors of martyrdom for the repose of Heaven, changing the Kingdom; glorify your temporary life, stopped by His death for the sake of His calico, with honor, like a soul from the faces of the heavenly ordering spirits, but a body on earth in their angelic temple the angel of the commandment to keep intact, honestly and miraculously. Blessed art thou, Christ the Son of God, the Heavenly Bridegroom, an ignorant virgin, who desires to have His goodness, thy caretaker, through all her suffering, wounds, pleasure, cutting and self heads by truncation, as if you tried to decorate them with the most precious utensils: yes, as a wife is faithful to the head of her husband, Christ is united in spirit and body inseparably, saying: got it. But my soul loved Him, held Him, and did not forsake Him. Blessed are you, for the Holy Spirit has rested upon you, and you have been taught spiritual reasoning by the spiritual, and you have rejected all the spirits of wickedness in idols, as they are destructive, and Having come to know the one God the Spirit, as a true worshiper, you deigned to bow down in spirit and truth, preaching: I honor the Trinity, one Divinity. You glorified this Holy Trinity, even in life and death, through your confession and suffering, and begged for me, my representative, as I am always triple, faith, love and hope, I honor the Holy Trinity as virtue. The Imam is the lamp of faith, but the oil of good deeds is vain: you, wise virgin, your suffering flesh, filled with blood and shed with wounds, like a lamp that has, give from of your oil, so that by decorating my soul I will be worthy, and I, your unworthy servant (name), will be worthy to enter into the palace of heaven for you. I am a sojourner on earth and a stranger like all my fathers: eternal blessings to the heir and a blessed meal in the Kingdom of Heaven to the partaker, as on the journey of life, meal of divine treats, here and in the exodus from the world, grant me the desired guidance: and when in the end the sleep of death begins to fall asleep, touching then my flesh fainting, like sometimes the angel of Elijah, saying: Arise, eat and drink, for by the grace of the divine Body and Blood of the Mysteries I am strengthened, I will pass into the fortress of my soul the long path of death, even to the mountain of heaven: and there, through the three bath windows, you saw the Trinity through the faith of God, together with you face to face, yes I will be worthy to see and glorify Him forever. Amen.

* * *

Psalm 38

Reh: I will keep my ways, lest I sin with my tongue: I have kept with my mouth, that the sinner should never arise before me. I became mute and humbled, and kept silent from the blessings, and my illness was renewed. My heart will warm within me, and a fire will burn in my teaching: with the words of my tongue: tell me, O Lord, my end and the number of my days, which there are, so that I understand that I'm losing my az. Behold, Thou hast laid down my days, and my composition is as nothing before Thee: but every living man is all vanity. For a man walks like this, but he is in vain; he hoards treasures, and I don’t know who will collect it. And now who is my patience? Isn't it the Lord? and my composition is from You. Deliver me from all my iniquities: you have given me reproach to the fool. I was dumb and did not open my mouth, as You have created. Leave Thy wounds from me: Thy hands have disappeared from the fortress. In reproof of iniquity you punished man, and you consumed his soul like a spider: but every man was in vain. Hear my prayer, Lord, and inspire my prayer, do not silence my tears: for I am a stranger with You and a stranger, like all my fathers. Relax me, let me rest, before I even leave, and I won’t be with anyone.

1 Venerable Parthenius of Kyiv (Krasnopevtsev). Prayers and instructions.

2 Synodal translation.

See DEATH

✒ Orthodox House translation — being checked against the traditional text.
Prayer Book · Orthodox House
⚠ Report a mistake
Tap a line to highlight it. The highlights are saved on this device.