Library › St Sarapion of Thmuis › Prayer-Book (Euchologion)
Prayer-Book (Euchologion)
St Sarapion of Thmuis, tr. Wordsworth, 1899
Chapter 25
[The hand-washing and the peace?]
25. Prayer on behalf of a Bishop and the Church.1
We invoke thee the Saviour and Lord, the God of all flesh and the Lord of every spirit, thou that art blessed and the provider of every blessing, sanctify this Bishop2 and keep him outside every temptation, and give to him wisdom and knowledge. Lead him rightly in thy rules of discipline (ἐπιστήμαις). We beseech thee also for the Fellow-presbyters, sanctify them, give them wisdom and knowledge and right doctrine: cause them to be ambassadors of thy holy doctrine rightly and unblameably. Sanctify also the Deacons, that they may be clean in heart and body and be able to minister (λειτουργῆσαι) in a clean conscience and to give attendance (παραστῆναι) to the holy body and the holy blood. We beseech thee also on behalf of the Subdeacons and Readers and Interpreters.3 Give rest to all (who are) of the Church and give to all mercy and compassion and advancement. We beseech thee on behalf of all who are living as Solitaries (μοναζόντων), and for the Virgins who are keeping their estate (εὖ οὐσῶν). Let them finish their course (2 Tim. iv. 7) unblameably and their life unfailingly, that they may be able to pass through all their days in cleanness and holiness. Have mercy also on all who are married, the men and the women (γύναια) and the children, and give to all a blessing of advancement and improvement, that all may become living and elect men, through thy only-begotten Jesus Christ, through whom to thee (is) the glory and the strength both now and to the ages of the ages. Amen.
Notes
- This clearly answers to the second of the “Three (great) prayers” in the Egyptian Liturgies. The first for peace and the third for the safety of the congregations do not occur here. See Int. § 5, p. 38.
- This prayer, then, might be said by an assistant Bishop or Presbyter. The Bishop and his Presbyters were properly always con-celebrants.
- It is evident from the absence of Ordination forms for these three classes of “ministers” that they were not ordained in the ordinary sense in the church for which these prayers were collected. There are, indeed, forms for ordaining Subdeacons and Readers, with laying on of hands, in Apost. Const. viii. 20—22: see Int. § 8, p. 54. But the order to lay hands on them contradicts earlier documents of the same class, e.g. Can. Hipp. vii. 48 for Readers, and Egyptian C.O. (Lagarde) 36, for Subdeacons. A comparison of Canon 66 of Agde (A.D. 506) with that of Laodicea 21, shows that early in the sixth century Subdeacons (ὑπηρέται) were considered “insacrati ministri.” Even in the ninth century Amalarius writes (De officiis Eccl. ii. 6) that they do not receive ordination before the altar.
“Interpreters” are rarely mentioned as a separate class. It is natural to find them specially honoured in Egypt, St. Mark being known as the “Interpreter” of St. Peter. Epiphanius (Expos. fidei, 21) is quoted as mentioning them, and Procopius the martyr was Reader, Exorcist and Interpreter of the church of Scythopolis in Palestine.