Syriac Daily Prayers

An East Syriac Illuminated Cross with the Traditional Calligraphy "Look Unto Him and Be Saved"

Forward by Bp. Joseph (Ancient Church of the West) 

The East Syriac Tradition of Christian Prayer is extremely important to those who come from our English Patrimony, for many reasons, not just because of the significance of Early Coptic and Syriac Missions in England and Ireland. The greatest reason that these gems of Syriac spirituality are so important today for those in the Anglican Patrimony is that the continued existence of certifiably Orthodox saints in the Church of the East, such as St. Isaac the Syrian, long after the supposed Schism between the Roman and Persian Churches, proves again and irrefutably that holiness is not tied to the Byzantine milieu, and that Orthodoxy is a doctrinal position, not a canonical system. 

St. Isaac the Assyrian (AD 613-700), Bishop of the Church of the East, Saint in Assyrian, Oriental, Byzantine, and Roman Churches

By undermining and negating Byzantine canonical fundamentalism, the East Syriac Tradition lays out a roadmap for the restoration of our English Christian Patrimony, without colonialist subjugation to imperialistic churches or a whole-sale selling out to the current "Neo-Patristic Synthesis" that tries to deny grace in all but a few calvinistically "secure" seats of ethnic power. By remembering and engaging with East Syriac Christianity, our contemporary situation is illuminated, and we can see a way forward in a rapidly secularizing, Muslim-dominated, anti-Christian future. In this future, we will have to exists on the margins of power, like the Assyrians under Islam for nearly 1,400 years, and learn to cling to our faith and not to our canons.  

The Prayers: 

The Praise (Tishbukhta) by Mar Ephraim the Great (or, possibly, Mar Awa the Great), used in the daily prayers of the Assyrian Church of the East:

Let us pray; Peace be with us.

To Thee be glory, Oh our God. And to Thee be praise, Oh Our Maker. We bless Thee, Who didst form us. Oh, Compassionate Lord. Oh, Merciful God. Oh, Pitiful Creator. Oh Savior, Who dost preserve us. Who dost help and aid us.

We worship Thee, Oh Our Lord, for Thou art long-suffering, and Thy lovingkindness is great. Oh Merciful One, pity us and have mercy upon us. Turn to us in the multitude of Thy mercies.

Our confident hope and strong refuge. Oh, Lord our God, make Thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. Oh, Thou who receivest the penitent in mercy. Receive our prayer and service. Oh, Thou who hearest the voice of Thy worshippers.

Let our request come before Thee, and have mercy upon us. Oh, Thou Who forgivest the trespasses of mortals in thy compassion. Forgive us our trespasses and sins in Thy compassion. Oh, Thou Who pardonest the sins of the sons of men in thy lovingkindness.

Pardon our many sins, and have mercy upon us. Pardon our many sins, and have mercy upon us. Pardon our many sins, and have mercy upon us.

Oh, Good Hope of the sons of men, give us peace and tranquillity. That we may confess Thy Trinity, Oh, Lord of all, forever and ever!

Amen and Amen!

(Translation by Qasha Fr. Genard Lazar, of the Diocese of California in the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East)

The Lord's Prayer in Eastern Syriac