Prayers for Sunday of the Holy Cross

3rd Sunday of Great Lent

O God and Father of Glory, Who didst give Thine Only-begotten Son for us, and through Him didst make us to be sons, and furthermore didst bestow Thy Holy Spirit upon us:

Take pity now on us, though we have transgressed against Thy commandments, and bring us not to perdition with those that have forsaken Thee,

neither leave us in hunger of Thy spiritual gifts; but grant that we may draw nigh unto Thee with our lips and heart;

make us worthy of the adoption of sonship; shew us in deed to be imitators of the prodigal son's return to Thee, wherein Thou madest known Thine ineffable compassion towards sinners,

so that we may attain unto Thine inexhaustible good things, which Thou hast prepared for them that do Thy will; and be Thou the Defender of the Orthodox Christians against every enemy and adversary.

Through the grace and compassions and love for mankind of Thine Only-begotten Son, with Whom Thou art blessed, together with Thine All-Holy, and Good, and Life-creating Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

(Orlov, Prayer No. 56, p. 334-5).

A Prayer before the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord

O most honorable and Life-creating Cross of the Lord, sanctified by the Blood of Christ our God, and become for us, through His Death, the deliverance from eternal death!

Thou art the sign of victory over our enemies, visible and invisible! Thou shalt appear at the hour of the dread Judgment of Christ: to thee I bow down in humility, I touch thee with honor and embrace thee in love, offering this prayer to Him Who was crucified on thee, that He might heal me by His Power which is in thee, from all of my ills of body and soul, and preserve me from enemies


visible and invisible, and cause me to stand uncondemned on the right hand at His Judgment Seat.

Yea, O holy and Life-giving Cross, on thee the Saviour, dying for humanity which was dead in sin, gave up the ghost like a mortal, and shed blood and water, and by these three, wrought for us one Salvation of which we have need more than all things: unto the glory of God the Father, the Source of Living Waters; and unto Himself, God the Son, incarnate of the Virgin's blood, and God the Holy Spirit, Who enliveneth the spirit of man:

Help me to glorify these Three in One Godhead in my gratitude, having received the incorrupt faith through the waters of Baptism, and the communion of the Body and Blood of the Lord in unshaken hope, a spirit contrite in penitence and love unfeigned:

and not only in this life filled with tears, which passeth as waters flowing by, full of battles and shed blood, and like steam doth vanish, but also in the blessed life to come let me glorify the Lord, by the aid of thy strength, O thrice-blessed Cross, so that I may glorify in the very Presence Him,

in Whom I have believed, on Whom I have hoped and Who is my beloved delight:

The One glorified in the Holy Trinity, for ages of ages. Amen.

(This prayer appears in the "Polny Sbornik Molitv" under the section "Prayers to the Saviour and the Holy Trinity". The words of the prayer speak to the Cross in the second person, by way of personification)

Provided by Fr John Shaw , via email