Prayer of Saint Mark of Ephesus Before Departing for Italy to Attend the Synod of Ferrara-Florence

 

Prayer of Saint Mark the Eugenikos, 

Metropolitan of Ephesus

 

(Offered Before His Departure For Italy)

 

I who, in the pursuit of virtue, am idle and tormented by thoughts derived from the passions, what can I do, long-suffering Lord? Lest I fall and lose Your great gifts, and to me lest the mystery of Your goodness and good-pleasure become inactive? Don't let that happen to me, O God, You who love compassion and who loves my soul. Let me not be abandoned by You, let me not find myself on the side of the evil one that leads to deprivation, but You who receive the persistent pleas of Your saints and accepts the intercessions of Your sacred angels, especially of our most-superior Lady the Theotokos, give me the strength to follow Your path, demanding from me not the worthy fruit of repentance, but that which is in accordance with my powers. Put in my hard heart Your fear and through it completely cleanse it and soften it in Your immovable love. And when I depart from my body grant me rest in the place inhabited by Your saints, and grant me to be satisfied with the vision of Your eternal glory, for You are blessed unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Source: From Codex 226 of Dionysiou Monastery on the Holy Mountain. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.