A shaft of sunlight penetrates the cool darkness of the Stavropoleos Monastery in Bucharest, Romania.
The Prayer of St Ephraim
This prayer, attributed to St Ephraim the Syrian (306-379), is said over and over again in the Eastern churches throughout Lent. It is a reminder to address some of the most persistent and destructive weaknesses in human nature, from the urge to meddle in other people’s lives to the temptation to take the path of least resistance ourselves.
The Prayer of St Ephraim, from the Slavonic books.
O LORD and Master of my life, grant not unto me a spirit of slothfulness, of discouragement, of lust of power, of vain babbling. But vouchsafe unto thy servant the spirit of continence, of meekness, of patience, and of love. Yea, O Lord and King, grant that I may perceive my own transgressions, and judge not my brother. For blessed art thou unto ages of ages. Amen.
Then we say O God, cleanse thou me, a sinner* twelve times before saying the Prayer once more.*
* See also The Prayer of the Heart.
* Translated from Church Slavonic by Isabel Hapgood.
Another Version, from the Greek text.
O LORD and Master of my life, grant not unto me a spirit of idleness,* of busy-bodying*, of lust for power or of idle words;* but vouchsafe unto thy servant the spirit of sobriety,* of humility, of patience, and of charity.* Yea, O Lord and King, grant that I may perceive my own transgressions, and judge not my brother.* For blessed art thou unto ages of ages. Amen.
* Translating ἀργία, literally ‘want of employment.’ Much of the prayer is summed up in St Paul’s warning to Timothy in 1 Timothy 5:13, which there concerns young widows who enter community life and then abandon it, but clearly is applicable much more widely.
* Translating περιέργεια, an idea which in the AV is connected with busy-bodying, filling idle hours by meddling in other people’s lives: see 2 Thessalonians 3:11. It can also refer to the ‘curious arts’ practised by pagans, such as astrology, which converts were required to give up: see Acts 19:19.
* Translating ἀργολογία, which does not occur in the New Testament but the idea is found at Matthew 12:36. At 2 Peter 1:8 the word for ‘idle’ is translated ‘barren.’ In the Gerontikon we read: “One man reckons he is silent, but in his heart he condemns others; he is always ‘talking.’ Another talks from morning to evening, but keeps silence inasmuch as he does not say anything he ought not to say.”
* Translating σωφροσύνη, in e.g. 1 Timothy 2:9. It implies a sound mind, and therefore self-control.
* Translating ἀγάπη, translated in the AV as ‘charity’ in e.g. 1 Peter 4:8, and also as ‘love’ in e.g. 1 Thessalonians 3:12. The disadvantage of ‘charity’ is the modern association with handouts; the disadvantage of ‘love’ is the modern association with the youthful lusts that St Paul explicitly contrasts with love in 2 Timothy 2:22. For the true meaning of the word, which is essentially selfless, see 1 Corinthians 13. Compare what Elizabeth Bennet said to Mr Darcy: “The letter, perhaps, began in bitterness, but it did not end so. The adieu is charity itself.”
* See Matthew 7:1-5. ‘Judging’ is perhaps better translated as ‘sitting in judgment’, pronouncing sentence. We are still required to exercise discernment over right and wrong, and to reprove sinners, but gently, helping others to carry the burden of temptation and repentance as if it were our own: see Galatians 6:1-5.