O my Creator, who have freely given me Your Flesh as food, O Fire which consumes the unworthy, consume me not. Enter, rather, into my members, into every part of me, into my very heart and soul.
Burn up the thorns of all my sinning; cleanse my soul, sanctify my imagination; bind firmly together my joints and bones; illumine the five senses of my body; fix my entire being in the fear of You. Guard, protect and shelter me always from every deed and word which stains the soul.
Let me prove to be the dwelling-place of Your Spirit alone, and in no way the dwelling-place of sin. Let every passion and every evil deed take flight, as from a fire, from this house of Yours, when what I have received enters in.
I set before You the prayers of all the saints: of the leaders of the angelic hosts, of Your forerunner, of the wise Apostles and, above all, of Your pure and spotless Mother.
In Your compassion, accept their prayers, O my Christ, and make Your servant a child of light. It is You alone, O Blessed One, who bring holiness and light to our souls, and each day we give You the glory which befits You as God and Master.
The Byzantine Liturgy, p. 80-81
3rd Revised Edition
The Russian Center
Fordham University
New York, NY
