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Prayer-Book (Euchologion)
St Sarapion of Thmuis, tr. Wordsworth, 1899
Chapter 18
V. Commendation of the Dead.
18. Prayer for one who is dead and is to be carried forth (ἐκκομιζομένου).1
God, who hast authority of life and death (Wisd. xvi. 13), God of the spirits and Master of all flesh (cp. Num. xvi. 22), God who killest and makest alive, who bringest down to the gates of Hades and bringest up (1 Sam. ii. 6), who createst the spirit of man within him and takest to thyself (παραλαμβάνων) the souls of the saints and givest rest, who alterest and changest and transformest thy creatures, as is right and expedient, being thyself alone incorruptible, unalterable and eternal, we beseech thee for the repose (κοιμήσεως) and rest of this thy servant or this thine handmaiden: give rest to his soul, his spirit, in green places (ἐν τόποις χλόης, cp. LXX. Ps. xxii. 2), in chambers (ταμείοις) of rest with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all thy Saints: and raise up his body in the day which thou hast ordained, according to thy promises which cannot lie (Titus i. 2), that thou mayest render to it also the heritage of which it is worthy in thy holy pastures. Remember not his transgressions and sins: and cause his going forth (ἔξοδον) to be peaceable and blessed. Heal the griefs of those that pertain to him (τῶν διαφερόντων) with the spirit of consolation, and grant unto us all a good end through thy only-begotten Jesus Christ, through whom to thee (is) the glory and the strength in holy Spirit to the ages of the ages. Amen.
Notes
- See above, Int. § 10. This prayer was apparently said, like our “commendatory prayer,” in the chamber of death.