Salvation and Grace: A Prayer From John Chrysostom

O my all-merciful God and Lord,
Jesus Christ, full of pity:
Through Your great love You came down
and became incarnate in order to save everyone.
O Savior, I ask You to save me by Your grace!
If You save anyone because of their works,
that would not be grace but only reward of duty,
but You are compassionate and full of mercy!

You said, O my Christ,
“Whoever believes in Me shall live and never die.”
If then, faith in You saves the lost, then save me,
O my God and Creator, for I believe.
Let faith and not my unworthy works be counted to me, O my God,
for You will find no works which could account me righteous.

O Lord, from now on let me love You as intensely as I have loved sin,
and work for You as hard as I once worked for the evil one.
I promise that I will work to do Your will,
my Lord and God, Jesus Christ, all the days of my life and forever more.

- John Chrysostom

Cast Your Cares on God - St. Augustine of Hippo

Behold, O Lord,
I cast all my cares on You,
that I may live
and see wondrous things out of Your Law.
You know my incompetence and my infirmities;
teach me and heal me.
Your only Son,
He in whom are hid all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge,
has redeemed me with His blood.
                                - St. Augustine of Hippo

A Prayer of Basil The Great

We bless you, O God most high and Lord of mercies,
always working great and mysterious deeds for us,
glorious, wonderful, and numberless;
who provides us with sleep as a rest from our infirmities
and as a repose for our bodies tired by labor.

We thank you for not destroying us in our transgressions.
Instead, because of your love toward mankind you have raised us up,
as we lay in despair,
that we may glorify your Majesty.

We appeal to your infinite goodness:
enlighten the eyes of our understanding
and raise up our minds front the heavy sleep of indolence;
open our mouths and fill them with your praise,
that we may unceasingly sing and confess you,
who are God glorified in all and by all,
the eternal Father, the Only-Begotten Son,
and the all-holy and good and life-giving Spirit:
now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

- Basil the Great

You Know Each Soul and Our Prayer - Basil The Great

O Lord,
the Helper of the helpless,
the Hope of those who are past hope,
the Savior of the tempest-tossed,
the Harbor of the voyagers,
the Physician of the sick…

You know each soul and our prayer,
each home and its need.

Become to each one of us what we most dearly require,
receiving us all into your kingdom,
making us children of light,
and pour on us your peace and love,
O Lord our God.
Amen.

- Basil the Great

Copied from Trevin Wax

Our Hearts are Restless: A Prayer of Augustine of Hippo

Everlasting God,
in whom we live and move and have our being:
You have made us for yourself,
so that our hearts are restless
until they rest in you. - Augustine of Hippo (345-430)

The Prayer of Polycarp: Martyrdom

They did not nail him then, but simply bound him. And he, placing his hands behind him, and being bound like a distinguished ram [taken] out of a great flock for sacrifice, and prepared to be an acceptable burnt-offering unto God, looked up to heaven, and said, "O Lord God Almighty, the Father of thy beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the knowledge of Thee, the God of angels and powers, and of every creature, and of the whole race of the righteous who live before thee, I give Thee thanks that Thou hast counted me, worthy of this day and this hour, that I should have a part in the number of Thy martyrs, in the cup [456] of thy Christ, to the resurrection of eternal life, both of soul and body, through the incorruption [imparted] by the Holy Ghost. Among whom may I be accepted this day before Thee as a fat [457] and acceptable sacrifice, according as Thou, the ever-truthful [458] God, hast foreordained, hast revealed beforehand to me, and now hast fulfilled. Wherefore also I praise Thee for all things, I bless Thee, I glorify Thee, along with the everlasting and heavenly Jesus Christ, Thy beloved Son, with whom, to Thee, and the Holy Ghost, be glory both now and to all coming ages. Amen." [459]

Footnotes:
[456] Comp. Matthew 20:22, Matthew 26:39; Mark 10:38.

[457] Literally, "in a fat," etc., [or, "in a rich"].

[458] Literally, "the not false and true God."

[459] Eusebius (Hist. Eccl., iv. 15) has preserved a great portion of this Martyrium, but in a text considerably differing from that we have followed. Here, instead of "and," he has "in the Holy Ghost."

A Morning Prayer - Syrian Clementine Liturgy

A Morning Prayer

O God, Who are the unsearchable abyss of peace, the ineffable sea of love, the fountain of blessings, and the bestower of affection, Who sends peace to those that receive it; open to us this day the sea of Your love, and water us with the plenteous streams from the riches of Your grace. Make us children of quietness, and heirs of peace. Kindle in us the fire of Your love; sow in us Your fear; strengthen our weakness by Your power; bind us closely to You and to each other in one firm bond of unity; for the sakd of Jesus Christ. AMEN.

--Syrian Clementine Liturgy

Hope and Petition: Prayers of Saint Augustine of Hippo

Act of Hope

For your mercies' sake, O Lord my God, tell me what you are to me. Say to my soul: "I am your salvation." So speak that I may hear, O Lord; my heart is listening; open it that it may hear you, and say to my soul: "I am your salvation." After hearing this word, may I come in haste to take hold of you. Hide not your face from me. Let me see your face even if I die, lest I die with longing to see it. The house of my soul is too small to receive you; let it be enlarged by you. It is all in ruins; do you repair it. There are things in it - I confess and I know - that must offend your sight. But who shall cleanse it? Or to what others besides you shall I cry out? From my secret sins cleanse me, O Lord, and from those of others spare your servant. Amen.


Act of Petition

Give me yourself, O my God, give yourself to me. Behold I love you, and if my love is too weak a thing, grant me to love you more strongly. I cannot measure my love to know how much it falls short of being sufficient, but let my soul hasten to your embrace and never be turned away until it is hidden in the secret shelter of your presence. This only do I know, that it is not good for me when you are not with me, when you are only outside me. I want you in my very self. All the plenty in the world which is not my God is utter want. Amen.

Prayer In The Mist of The Storm- Stowe Missal

O God, make speed to save us.

We have sinned, O Lord, we have sinned, spare our sins,

And save us; Thou who guidedst Noah over the flood waves,

Hear us; Who with Thy word recalledst Jonah from the abyss;

Deliver us; Who stretchedst forth Thy hand to Peter as he sank, help us,

O Christ Son of God, Thou didst the marvelous things of the Lord with our fathers, be favourable in our days also;

Stretch forth Thy hand from on high.

Deliver us, O Christ.

Hear us, O Christ."

-Stowe Missal, 9th Century A.D.