English prayer text below.
Tuesday of Ba’utha
| In pain and tears and fervent prayer, we cry to you, good Lord above! Be our healer and our wise guide: deep are our wounds; bitter our pain. We have no right to plead to you: our faults abound, our malice soars. The sea and land, and all therein have quaked and raged due to our sin. In our own time, as Scripture says, the end of days has come upon us. In mercy, save us from distress, for height and depth have been confused. O Good Shepherd, come tend your flock, for whose sake you endured the cross. Make peace for us in Church and world, that we may live a tranquil life. May we be yours, as is your will: Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost. From age to age, amen, amen. | b-hash-sha w-dim’e wib-nonetha, k-qarukh illukh Mara tawa. hwy lan hakkym m-basmana d-mer-e hash-shan w’siqlih kewan. d-leban kene tad mar-dha-lukh ‘awlan ‘shin-leh wzid-lay gnahan. w-yama w-yawsha wkul biryatha zi’lay sh-ghish-lay ‘al by-sha-than. bzaw-nan kmil-lah haya kthyw-ta dhar-theh d-‘alma ‘illan mte-la. b-rah-mukh mkha-lis-lan m-balaye dim-bul-bil-lay rawma w-‘umqa. Ra’ya Tawa, mar`y l-`irwukh mbeyd talibay hash-sha t`in-nukh. wmat-wy l-kul-lan b-‘edta w-‘alma d-khay-ukh ‘umran bshe-na-yutha. w-hawukh diy-yukh mikh ‘ij-bonukh Baba wBrona wRuha d-Qudh-sha l-‘alam ‘almyn, amen w-amen. |
Petitions
* Let us all stand composed, in contrition and diligence, let us implore and say: Lord, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us. | Maran, mrahim illan.
* Eternal God, who through his Word made all creatures, both visible and invisible, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* God, Lord of all, with whom heaven and earth are filled, and who provides for all creatures, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* O Merciful and Compassionate One, who cares for our humanity, renews our nature and provides for all good things, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* He who created us from the beginning in his grace and redeemed us in the last times through his Christ, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* He who brings joy to all visible and invisible creatures, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* O Patient and Powerful one, whose judgment is just and whose wisdom is great, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* He who gave us this world for our instruction, and who keeps the world to come as a reward for the just and the punishment of the unjust, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* For those who are troubled and persecuted because of their true faith, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* For those who have been wronged and hurt, for those suffering and prisoners of evil, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* For travelers and for those lost on their path, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* For the healing of the sick, the peace of the suffering, the happiness of those in distress, and the consolation of the depressed, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* Hear our pleading; have mercy on us.
(kneel) Hear our pleading; have mercy on us.
Shmo’ ba’uthan, w-rahim illan.
* O Good Father, have mercy on us:
(stand) Hear our pleading; have mercy on us.
* Son Eternal, have mercy on us:
(kneel) Hear our pleading; have mercy on us.
* Holy Spirit, have mercy on us:
(stand) Hear our pleading; have mercy on us.
* Hidden in his Life, have mercy on us:
(kneel) Hear our pleading; have mercy on us.
* Incomprehensible, have mercy on us:
(stand) Hear our pleading; have mercy on us.
* Miracle Worker, have mercy on us:
(kneel) Hear our pleading; have mercy on us.
* Our Great Helper, have mercy on us:
(stand) Hear our pleading; have mercy on us.
* O Giver of Life, have mercy on us:
(kneel) Hear our pleading; have mercy on us.
* Our Great Refuge, have mercy on us:
(stand) Hear our pleading; have mercy on us.
* Hear our cry and have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.
Maran, mrahim illan.
* For the sake of the churches and the world, and the peaceful life you provide, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* For our country and for all countries, and all the faithful who live there, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* For the health of our holy fathers… we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* For the priests, deacons, every rank of the church and all those who believe in the Christ, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* For those who take their example from the life of the angels, the just whom the world does not accept, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* O Merciful God, who guides all in his mercy, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* He who is glorified in heaven and worshiped on earth, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* Save us all, O Christ our Lord, in your grace, increase your peace and tranquility within us and have mercy on us: Lord, have mercy on us.
* Let us pray, peace be with us, and let us bend our knee.
(kneel)
* Arise in the power of God
(stand) Glory to the power of God. | Shuha l-hayleh d-Alaha.
Mawtwa
| Response: Lord, have mercy on us, Lord, accept our supplication, Lord, be pleased with your servants. | ‘unaya: Maran, ithraham ‘layn, Maran, qabbil ba’uthan. Maran, ith-ra’a l-‘awdayk. |
Hpakhatha
May we labor for your pay, Master who gives servants strength.
May we proclaim your Gospel, may it ring to all the earth.
Good Shepherd, gather your sheep, for they beg for your succor.
Grant us, O Lord, unveiled face, that we may ask for mercy.
We cannot speak before you; our sins have multiplied so.
May our prayer be a key, that opens up your doorway.
Grant us, O Lord, forgiveness, that we may come to your door.
Kind One, accept our pleading, now, as is your own custom.
O Lord, who loves the penitent: open the door to our prayer.
Your mercy daily overcomes, the sins we do before you.
Your grace is overflowing, to sinners who call to you.
In your kindness, Merciful One: may your aid come to save us.
You have begun in your grace; in your mercy, complete us.
In grace was the beginning; in it be the completion.
Begin and end in your grace: that in both we may thank you.
First Qiryana/Reading
Jonah preached in Nineveh, Jew among a gentile race,
He approached a citadel, and they were stunned by his cries.
The gentiles were made to mourn, by this prophet Hebrew born,
And like the sea they were tossed, by him who came from the sea.
Words struck through them violently; like the ocean with its waves,
Jonah had shaken the sea, and made the land quake with fear.
The sea shook when he had run; the land quaked when he proclaimed,
The sea calmed once he had prayed; and the land when they atoned.
He prayed when within the whale; Nineveh within its walls.
Prayer saved Jonah who ran; and Nineveh, its remorse.
Jonah once had run from God; the Ninevites from purity,
So Justice imprisoned them, both together, as guilty.
Both of them together prayed; they repented, and were saved.
Jonah was saved in the sea, the Ninevites, on the land.
And thus, Jonah learned to know; that those who repent are saved;
Grace used his own life to show; to sinners a parable.
As he was pulled from the sea, he would pull a city drowned,
Nineveh was tossed like sea, by him who came from the sea.
When Jonah proclaimed his words, Nineveh heard in penitence;
One preacher of Hebrew blood, shook the city to its core.
He had cried out, “Woe is you!” There he distributed death.
This weak preacher stood up then, in a city of great men.
His voice terrified the king: “Your city will overturn.”
Thus, with a voice of despair, he gave them the cup of wrath.
The king heard and fell to earth, bent his head, took off his crown.
Nobles heard and they were stunned; they changed to sackcloth from silk.
The old wise men heard as well, they covered their head in ash.
The rich heard and opened up; all their treasures to the poor.
Those who were owed money heard, and they let their debtors free.
Those who owed them money heard, and they paid back all their debt.
Debtors, paying back their debt; and creditors letting free.
Each one, from his part, made best; to bring all to righteousness.
There was not a single one, who attempted to decieve.
To the fight of justice came, each one, to win his own soul.
The thieves heard the prophet’s words; returned all the stolen goods,
And those robbed forgave the thieves; they let pass the crime to them.
Each of them judged just himself; and on others had mercy.
No one judged his fellow man, each one judged only himself.
No one chastised someone else; God’s wrath would fall on them all.
They all partners had become; in the verdict placed on them.
Murderers admitted, too, their own unnatural crime,
Judges heard, and understood, that their judgment is no more.
They could not judge them harshly, lest they too be judged harshly.
Each one seeds of mercy sowed; hoped to harvest salvation.
Sinners all heard Jonah’s voice; they confessed all of their sins.
That whole vicious city heard, and took off all of her vice.
All those who owned slaves heard him; they gave all their slaves freedom.
Servants heard him righteously, and they served more faithfully.
Free men, when they heard his voice, put on sackcloth like the poor.
Truly did they all repent, and lowered their arrogance.
Compared to their penitence, our own is more like a dream.
Compared to their ba’utha, ours is but a shadow here.
Compared to that humbling, ours is not a distant shape.
Few were those who had allowed; a bitter thought in their mind.
The Ninevites poured out their hearts; let us end our jealousy.
Nineveh freed all of its slaves; you, have mercy on the free.
When Jonah was sent to them, to that city filled with sin,
Justice armed him, kept him safe, with words both fearful and bold.
For wounds, Justice gave to him, the bitterest medicine.
A doctor of terror sent, to the city filled with sin.
He showed them their medicines, those with sharp and bitter taste.
And his cries were thundering, and cut through hearts like a sword.
So God’s grace, for this purpose, had sent the prophet to them:
Not to overturn their land, but rather to heal their wounds.
But the preacher did not tell; Ninevites they should repent.
Thus he showed to all who mourn, that they should go aid themselves.
He locked the door in their face, to show how hard they should knock.
The judgment that Jonah made, had the opposite effect.
Thus he showed how penitence, has the power to save all.
And how much the penitent, can gain mercy with boldness. Repeat.
First Madrasha/Meditation
Our Creator from nothing, reject us not, like nothing;
for if our faults are many, your grace is overflowing.
Baroyan min la mindy, la maslit-an kh-la mindy.
W-in htahayn kaby-relay, na’me diyyukh shpikh-teyla.
To your mercy do we beg:
open the door to our pleading
which knocks at the door of grace.
Hold back Justice, O Gracious One,
lest you be enraged by sin.
Let your Will’s Love pacify.
May you not seek all our faults,
nor examine us in judgment.
Because our pleading is short,
and cannot reach your great throne,
extend us your Mercy’s hand
and through it grant forgiveness.
As enormous is our sin, it is small to your mercy,
and though it has no equal,
it is a shadow to you.
Therefore do not shut your door,
that our hearts may turn to you.
Second Qiryana/Reading
Such things the Ninevites said, to their friends and relatives;
When they would be comforted, they prophesied about peace;
Now that they were penitent, they prophesied like the just:
Honest was their penitence; thus their prophecy was true.
Along with this type of talk, they did not cease from their tears.
And, despite this comforting, they did not forget their grief:
Their fasting strengthened by fear, their prayer by their terror.
They saw it with true wisdom, that if even just men fail,
How much more must sinners plead, with death standing at the door.
The people beheld their king; saw his sackcloth, and they wept.
He cast down his kingly robes; his fear of God humbled him.
The king, seeing his city; in pain, he wept openly.
The king wept before the crowd, wearing sackcloth, crowned with ash.
All the people wept as one; and the very stones would weep.
Who on earth has prayed like this? Who on earth implored like this?
Who else has humbled himself? Who else has bowed down so low?
Who else has stripped off his vice, that outside and that within?
Who has cut off and thrown down, pleasures like a body part?
Who heard but a single voice, and tore his heart in penance?
Who heard but a single word, and was tortured in his thoughts?
Who, hearing a simple man, felt the whole terror of death?
Who, once having pictured God, fell to earth in penitence?
Who has seen a righteous man, who has removed his scepter?
Who has seen enormous crowds, begging and weeping as one?
Who was able to withstand, children wailing with their cries?
Who was able to withstand, children wailing with their cries?
Those who looked forward to life, heard that their years were cut short.
Who was able to withstand, the groaning of the old men?
The gravediggers and the graves, heard their city would upturn.
Who was able to withstand, the great weeping of the young?
Those awaiting marriage beds, instead were called to the graves.
Who was able to withstand, the wailing of brides-to-be?
Those seeking to build a home, were called to the tombs instead.
Who could hear and not lament; of the king when he would weep?
In place of his palaces, he was invited to Sheol.
He, the king of the living, would be dirt among the dead!
In place of his chariot, he would be in his casket.
In place of all his delights, he heard death would swallow him.
In place of his couch and bed, a great abyss of distress.
The living called unto death; the king and the crowd as one.
The king called his warriors, and they wept, one for the next.
The king counted before them; all the wars they fought and won,
Then the king reminded them; how many armies they beat.
He shrunk, then, put down his head; no army can aid them now.
He started to say to them: “This fight is not like the rest.
Then, we went to battlefields, and were victors, every time.
Even warriors would quake; at the name ‘Assyria.’
We have conquered many men, and one Hebrew conquers us.
Our voice shook the hearts of kings, and we tremble at his voice.
We destroyed the citadels; in our home, he panics us.
‘Nineveh, mother of the great;’ she fears a lone, simple man.
The lioness in her own den, was shamed by a Hebrew man.
Assyria roared in the world; Jonah roars within her walls.
How has all this come to be? Nimrod’s seed has fallen low.”
The king told his warriors, his mighty men, and his knights:
“My dear ones, I now advise, in this battle, still to fight.
Let us fight like mighty men, lest we die like weakly ones.
Where is he who once was brave? Let him take heart now and win.
If he dies, a mighty one; if he lives, victory-crowned.
In death, there is a good name; in life, he wins victory.
In both, he at least would gain; and be noble in his fight.
In the same way, there are two; wounds to gain if we give up.
Death filled with all shame and guilt; or life with an evil name.
Be armed, therefore, and assault; be warriors again and win.
And if we lose everything, we will gain a glorious name.
We have heard from long ago, in the books of men of old,
That there is a righteous God, but he, too, is merciful.
In justice, he disciplines; in mercy, he pities us.
Let us justice satisfy, and honor mercifulness.
For if justice is content, mercy will come to our aid.
But if justice is upset, there is no harm in pleading.
And if it is not content, there is no harm in begging.
Between justice and mercy, penitence will never lose.
Second Madrasha/Meditation
Accept our pleading, Kind One, our imploring, Son of God.
We implore in pain and tears – do not turn your eyes from us.
Qbol-lah tawa ba’uthan, w-broneh d-tawa shaplaptan.
b-hash-sha w-dim’e kim-nonukh, la path-lit khya-rukh minnan.
Hear the pleading of your sons,
O Kind One who grants his grace,
and accept the fruits of our lips,
we offer to your Majesty.
Send us, from your treasury,
pity, mercies, salvation
to be unto forgiveness,
lest we be condemned justly.
To you do our souls cry out,
Kind One who loves the penitent.
Open the door of mercies,
for we knock, Pitying One!
Have mercy, correct, regain,
leave us not to destruction,
you are our hope and glory;
turn not away from our pleas.
If our malice testifies,
forgive us for your Image.
Let not your work be ruined,
because of your great mercies.
you established us in being
by your good and kind command;
may you now appease yourself,
we cannot stand with unveiled face.
Blessings
(After the Rites of Absolution and Communion, pp. 315-328)
O you who hold height and depth in the palm of his hand,
En, Mar. [Yes, Lord!] [kneel]
look upon your own creation, and have mercy.
Amen. [stand]
O Spring of Life, from whom life flows unto mankind,
aid the world troubled by its sins by your mercies.
Bless now, O Lord, protect, O Lord, and uphold, O Lord,
the great shepherd, the Patriarch, head of our Church.
His prayer be like fine incense to your Godhead,
Hear all his prayers and intentions as you promised.
Bless now, O Lord, the crown of the year in your grace,
let all kings be peaceful in their earthly duties.
Bless now, O Lord, this our country with all blessings,
And keep all of its citizens under your wings.
And let them all be successful in their labors,
and grant them all that they may ask of your Greatness.
Protect us all in this life and at every time,
Let us all together enjoy earthly blessings.
Bless now, O Lord, those who hold the power of leadership,
Strengthen their hearts, give them virtue, that they lead well.
Bless now, O Lord, all religious men and women,
and grant them reward for their works in your kingdom.
Bless now, O Lord, all our priests and all our deacons,
and elect them, when they stand before your altar.
Bless now, O Lord, all the elderly and sickly,
Keep them sustained in their old age and eternity.
Grant to the young great advancement to maturity,
and to children, give many years in your good grace.
Command that clouds may give rain to crops and dry land,
and let our fields bear fruit through the dew of mercies.
Bless now, O Lord, seeds and vineyards, the fruits of the earth,
feed your servants through your goodness, that they praise you.
Bless now, O Lord, orphans and provide for widows,
for you are the Father of orphans and widows.
Grant now, O Lord, in the mercies that sent you to us,
that we never become strangers to your kingdom.
Grant us, O Lord, to sing praise to you at your right hand,
and love you along with the just who befriended you.
When the trumpet sounds on the day of resurrection,
make us worthy to see you in that blest kingdom.
May your mercies intercede for us before you,
may our sins never estrange us from you, O Lord.
The day you come, when the world will see your splendor,
make us worthy of the chamber of light with your saints.
May the weak one who lovingly said these blessings
be granted your mercies and not be judged harshly.
Defend him, Lord, who was crucified for our sake,
and let him not be sent to the outer darkness.
Let us lift praise to him who raises his servants,
may his mercies be upon us from age to age.
| Lord, have mercy on us, Lord, accept our supplication, Lord, be pleased with your servants. | Maran, ithraham ‘layn, Maran, qabbil ba’uthan. Maran, ith-ra’a l-‘awdayk. |