This prayer from St. John Chrysostom’s Liturgy comes at the end of the service. It is a fitting summation of the Church’s prayer before God.
Blessing those that bless thee, O Lord, and sanctifying those that trust in thee, save thy people and bless thine inheritance, preserve the fullness of thy Church, sanctify those that love the beauty of thy house. Glorify them in return by thy divine power, and forsake us not that hope in thee. Give peace to thy world, to thy churches, to the priests, to all civil authorities, and to all thy people. For every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from thee, the Father of lights, and unto thee do we send up glory, thanksgiving, and worship, to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.
This lovely prayer is so fitting as a closing prayer. At St. Andrews Antiochian Orthodox Church in Lexington (KY), Fr. Tom prays this prayer before the icon of Christ (on the south side of the Royal Entrance) in the hearing of the congregation.
Congratulations, Fr. Freeman, on your blog! I will visit often.
My favorite prayer… so inspiring
Truly…
This is one of my three favorite prayers, along with the Xeruvimi and the Benedictus. I recite the Amvon Prayer each night, as my last prayer before going to sleep. Am trying to learn it in Slavonic now.
Hearing this prayer week after week I always wondered; why the repetition of thought, “for every good gift and every perfect gift…” (our Fr. Joseph says, “all good giving and every perfect gift…”). In my line of work, saying things ONCE is a virtue frequently ignored. I had no idea this portion of the Prayer behind the Ambon is straight from the first portion of James 1:17 – it was listed as a reference to another verse from St. James I’d looked up concerning another of God’s gifts – that of Wisdom – James 1:5 “if anyone lacks Wisdom, let him ask of God…who gives freely…” I was looking for an alternative to the archaic “upbraideth”. An intense desire for Wisdom seems especially timely – hence the motivation for my research.